A Journey Through the Flames of War in the Republican Era

"Counterattack! Charge forward! Push the enemy to the very end!"

Yi Anhua immediately ordered a counterattack at the front. The 87th Division's general-purpose machine guns and semi-automatic rifles gave them a firepower advantage in close combat with light weapons. The Japanese army could not withstand the attack and retreated in panic.

The National Revolutionary Army was in high spirits and pursued the enemy bravely until they were stopped by the Japanese naval guns and heavy artillery fire. Only then did Yi Anhua order a halt to the pursuit.

The Japanese attack was unsuccessful, and with no foothold in the open, they had no choice but to retreat far back to the riverbank positions along Jungong Road, which runs parallel to the Huangpu River. They occasionally bombarded the exposed firing points of our positions with sporadic artillery fire.

The Japanese troops facing them were the 3rd Battalion of the 68th Regiment of the 3rd Division. Two companies in one attack wave failed to achieve anything and lost dozens of men. Lieutenant Colonel Ito Hiroshi, the battalion commander, was furious in the command post.

In particular, the well-hidden heavy machine gun positions of the Chinese army caught the attacking units off guard with their fierce firepower, causing them to suffer heavy losses. Ito Hiro, consumed by rage, unleashed a torrent of curses, first cursing the air force, then the navy's incompetent naval guns, and finally the artillerymen, calling them all useless.

Except for those officers and sergeants who had to stay at their posts and couldn't leave, the rest of the officers and sergeants in the battalion headquarters had kept their distance, afraid of getting into trouble. Their battalion commander, Ito Hiroshi, was someone who would slap people at the drop of a hat.

After finishing his tirade, Ito Hiroshi grabbed the phone to call Colonel Takamori Takashi, commander of the 68th Regiment, requesting a more intense artillery barrage against the Chinese army! He also demanded that rapid-fire artillery be brought in to support the attack, determined to destroy all those damned Chinese heavy machine guns!

Regimental Commander Takashi Takamori was furious that the main force of his regiment was bogged down in a fierce battle and stalled in the Wusongkou-Zhanghuabang area. The offensive he had deployed on the left flank of the 3rd Battalion along the Jiangwan-Yinxingzhen-Lujiazhai line was actually a feint, intended to distract and divert the attention and strength of the Chinese army. His plan was to take the lead if possible, and if not, to hold them off relentlessly.

During the phone call, Ito Hiroshi confidently stated, "The 87th Division of the Chinese Army has deployed a large force here. The enemy's firepower is very strong, and I have already engaged the enemy's main force! Give me some more artillery reinforcements, and I will crush the 87th Division and take the Jiangwan Municipal Government Building in one fell swoop!"

Takamori Takashi was speechless, thinking to himself what an arrogant and ambitious guy he was!

However, despite being speechless, the morale and fighting spirit of the subordinates still need to be encouraged.

"Yoshi, Ito-kun! This is the true spirit of an indomitable soldier of our Empire!" Takamori Takashi encouraged Ito Hiroshi, "I hope you will carry forward the Bushido spirit of the Imperial soldiers and make great contributions to the Heavenly Locusts!"

"Hai! Captain!" Ito Hiroshi said arrogantly.

Takamori Takashi immediately agreed to reinforce Ito Hiroshi's 3rd Battalion with a 37mm rapid-fire gun squad and a mountain gun squad.

After hanging up Ito Hiroshi's call, Takamori Takashi thought for a while and then called Katayama Riichiro, the commander of the 5th Brigade, and Fujita Susumu, the commander of the 3rd Division, requesting the division commanders to coordinate with the air force and naval gunnery to carry out another round of comprehensive fire coverage on the Chinese army in Jiangwan!

Lieutenant General Fujita Susumu, commander of the 3rd Division, pondered for a long time while looking at the battle map. He knew that the 68th Regiment, which was responsible for the division's left flank offensive, was under tremendous pressure. At present, the main force of the division was facing the Chinese army's tenacious anti-landing operations on the Wusong battlefield on the western front, and the progress was extremely slow. The fighting was fierce, and both sides were bleeding profusely.

"Perhaps we can find a breakthrough at the Jiangwan battlefield on the eastern front and break the stalemate," Fujita Susumu thought.

藤田进决定给东线加强师团炮兵联队的第一大队，该大队战时采用混编制，下辖2个野战炮中队、1个榴弹炮中队，共有三八式75毫米野战炮8门、九一式105毫米榴弹炮4门。

Then, Fujita Susumu picked up the phone again and made a call to the headquarters of the Japanese Navy's Third Fleet and the Shanghai-based Marine Corps.

Heavy artillery shells kept exploding on the Nationalist army's positions, causing landslides, smoke to billow, the earth to tremble, and even the air to seem to be burning.

Ito Hiroshi was satisfied to watch the spectacular artillery display from afar in his command post on the east side of Jungong Road. All the places that had been considered Chinese army firing points during the previous probing attacks had been given special attention.

Ito was already immersed in a wonderful fantasy: once his battalion successfully broke through the Jiangwan defense line of the Chinese National Army, honors and promotions would surely follow!

He couldn't help but feel waves of elation.

To Ito Hiroshi's surprise, after the Nationalist troops who had crossed the line to pursue were intercepted by artillery fire, most of them retreated back to the main position, with one platoon from each battalion hiding about 200 meters from the front line.

The area was riddled with craters resembling lunar craters from the heavy artillery fire of the Japanese army. This platoon quietly used these craters to construct fortifications, greatly reducing the amount of work required.

Wang Youping and Yi Anhua devised a plan and decided to strike while the iron was hot during the counterattack. They decided to set up this area as a forward outpost, deploy an infantry squad as a sentry post, and have the other troops quickly build in-depth defensive fortifications.

Although everyone understood that they had only repelled a probing attack by the Japanese army and would face even fiercer shelling and attacks in the future, the 87th Division was overjoyed and filled with the joy of victory after their hard-fought victory.

Wang Youping said, "Dr. Song is someone we can't invite even on ordinary days, it's a rare treat that he graces us with his presence today. He'll be there to give us some pointers and teach us how to conduct flexible defense operations on the spot! All the officers and soldiers of my 87th Division will be at your command!"

Wang Youping, on the other hand, was extremely frank and cheerful.

Since the division commander had spoken, no one else had any objections.

Song Hongfei was deeply moved, but at the same time he was also very clear that, out of respect for the authority of military orders and the prestige of other unit commanders, and in order to prevent chaos in the command system, he could not interfere with the combat command of other units.

"I am deeply grateful for Commander Wang's trust, but I dare not accept it," Song Hongfei said frankly. "I will do my utmost to offer advice and suggestions."

Wang Youping nodded and said, "Then Colonel Song Hongfei will serve as the chief advisor for the 87th Division in this battle. You can give it your all!"

Upon hearing this, the officers and soldiers of the 87th Division were all in high spirits, eager to fight the Japanese army to the death!

"Just now, our army successfully repelled the Japanese attack and expanded a forward outpost, creating a favorable situation for our army! The forward companies should be commended!" Song Hongfei said with a slight smile. "Next, we cannot just passively take the beating."

"We need to accelerate the construction of the depth deployment. The troops must be deployed with a light force in the front and a heavy force in the rear. At the same time, we must reserve reserve forces and mobile forces, and secretly station troops on the flanks." Song Hongfei gestured on the map.

"By combining frontal blocking with flank counterattacks, and when the enemy's offensive momentum is thwarted, our elite mobile forces will launch a counterattack from both flanks to kill or completely eliminate the enemy's attack spearhead! In this way, the Japanese offensive forces will be deeply trapped in our echeloned and in-depth defense system, and will be subjected to the dual blows of multi-layered firepower and mobile counterattacks."

"To prevent the enemy from capturing my defensive positions, or to make it impossible for them to gain a foothold if they occupy my front lines, and ultimately to restore my entire defensive line!"

Looking around at everyone who was deep in thought, Song Hongfei solemnly said, "This is elastic mobile defense!"

"Brilliant! Brilliant!" Wang Youping was overjoyed and shouted, "From now on, our division's defensive operations will follow this plan! Regimental Commander Yi, immediately organize your regiment's operations staff to draft a detailed operational plan!"

"Yes!" Yi Anhua was also very excited.

Wang Youping pondered for a moment, then asked, "Hongfei, how large a force do we need to deploy?"

Song Hongfei said, "The enemy we face is a battalion of the Japanese 2rd Division. Their previous attack consisted of about two companies, which was clearly a probing attack. Their next attack will likely involve the main force of the entire battalion in a tiered assault. I think Commander Yi's 522nd Regiment is sufficient to ensure that the Japanese will not return after their next attack!"

Wang Youping laughed loudly and said, "Tell me quickly! I'm incredibly looking forward to it."

“My battle plan is as follows,” Song Hongfei said solemnly. “The 1st and 2nd battalions at the front will continue to build tiered fortifications and make flexible defensive deployments. One platoon will be deployed at the battalion’s forward outpost.

“预备队3营以2个连于右翼2营的侧后隐蔽屯兵。另1个连于左翼1营的侧后隐蔽屯兵，由1营长统一指挥。同时以特务连接替3营作为团的预备队。”

"When the enemy launches an attack, the 1st and 2nd Battalions will conduct flexible defensive operations on the front to deplete the enemy's first wave of attacking forces. When the enemy's first wave is blocked by our forces, the 3rd Battalion on each flank will launch a flanking attack, while the artillery of the division and regiment will coordinate to block the Japanese army's subsequent attacking waves, preventing its first wave from retreating and its subsequent waves from reinforcing! Afterwards, our army will launch a full-scale counterattack to wipe out its first wave!"

The officers of the 87th Division were shocked. A regiment had defeated an elite Japanese battalion in a head-on confrontation and even wiped out two of its companies. They had never dared to imagine such a thing before.

"Cutting off the connection between the first and second echelons of the Japanese army is the key to this battle, and it also depends on how many guns the division artillery battalion and regimental artillery company can commit to the battle?" Song Hongfei added.

“We’re not like your Training Corps. You have a whole Bofors 75mm mountain artillery battalion, and each regiment also has infantry gun companies, anti-tank gun companies, and small gun companies. It’s enviable.” Wang Youping realized what he meant and sighed with a wry smile.

“我们87师炮营总共就3个连12门山炮，另有2个37战防炮连，1个20小炮连。团没有火炮，只有一个迫击炮连。”

宋鸿飞方知第87师还是临战前才紧急补充完整了师属山炮营，其余的战防炮、高射炮和步兵炮都严重缺编，团以下只配齐了团属6门制82迫击炮连和营属的2门制82迫炮排，这导致87师的火力投射能力远远达不到预期效果。

Due to insufficient heavy firepower and a lack of mastery of advanced tactics such as the "three-three system" and "small groups on multiple routes" in coordination with new semi-automatic rifles and general-purpose machine guns, the 87th Division could only rely on increasing the density of attacking forces to carry out dense infantry assaults, resulting in staggering losses for the infantry in the battle.

If even the 87th Division, an elite reorganized unit, is like this, then other units are even more likely to be affected.

"That's just how difficult things are in this country," Song Hongfei could only sigh inwardly, momentarily speechless.

Wang Youping made a decision: "I will transfer half of the artillery battalion's artillery! Due to the rampant enemy aircraft, in order to avoid being attacked by enemy aircraft, our artillery needs to be deployed in a dispersed manner with platoons as the firing unit."

"We lack heavy firepower, so we can only make up for it with close combat! We may have less steel, but we have plenty of spirit!" Song Hongfei said.

"Fortunately, we have superior light weapons firepower. The flank assault forces should be centered around squad leaders and key sergeants armed with semi-automatic, semi-automatic, and automatic weapons, with machine guns as the mainstay of firepower. They should form squad and platoon combat formations, and these elite combat groups should carry out small-group, multi-pronged assaults to avoid being killed by enemy artillery fire when their formations are too dense! Other units should cooperate to provide support and expand the gains. We must bravely break into close combat! Cut off the communication between the enemy's attack echelons!"

Wang Youping laughed loudly again: "I can't wait for this battle!"

"Colonel Song Hongfei and I are the chief advisors for this battle!" Wang Youping ordered. "Regimental Commander Yi, you are the commander-in-chief for this battle! This is your regimental command post! I will also transfer the mortar company of the 518th Regiment, the division's reserve, to you for command!"

Yi Anhua stood at attention: "Yes, sir!"

“夏参谋长，命令师炮营山炮1连又2连一个排、518团迫击炮连立即调过来！由山炮1连长王承柱担任炮群指挥，协同522团作战！命令518团一个营做好战斗准备，随时待命增援！”

Chief of Staff Xia Sheng stood at attention and replied, "Yes, sir!"

"Everyone!"

"Swish!" A chorus of sounds of people standing at attention.

Wang Youping's pre-battle mobilization was also passionate and brimming with murderous intent:

"Our nation has been humiliated to such an extent, and we soldiers bear the primary responsibility. This is intolerable! This battle is the time for us soldiers to avenge our country and wipe away this shame. Sacrificing for our country must begin with each and every one of us! All officers and soldiers of the division must work together with one heart and one mind! We are determined to win this battle! We wish you a successful victory!"

"Yes!"