A Journey Through the Flames of War in the Republican Era

With the lieutenant general in charge, Yi Anhua dared not slack off in the slightest. Staff officers from the 522nd Regiment headquarters rushed over, and the communications troops had already set up communication lines.

Yi Hua'an transformed this place into the regimental command post, where personnel from all walks of life were busy with their work. Staff officers and messengers were running briskly, relaying orders one after another to the battalions and companies.

The tense atmosphere of impending battle permeated the entire command post, as if a single match could ignite it.

Song Hongfei and Wang Youping were engrossed in studying defense deployment.

Song Hongfei said, "Although Jiangwan is flat and has no natural defenses, the overall terrain is advantageous to our side. The Japanese army attacks from the riverbank with their backs to the river, and their only support is the river embankment and the Jungong Road line. After that, they have no cover. Our army is backed by villages and the new city center buildings. There are also some scattered civilian houses between the rear and the front line. We can make full use of these houses to form strong defensive fortifications, which will greatly reduce the power of the Japanese artillery fire."

Wang Youping and Chief of Staff Xia Sheng nodded in agreement.

Yi Anhua ordered all battalions and companies to quickly build and renovate fortifications according to the requirements of flexible defense. The allocation of light and heavy weapons and machine gun firepower was also very reasonable, forming a deep, tiered defense system with crisscrossing lines and powerful firepower.

87师261旅旅长刘安祺今天原本在西线张华浜一带的521团视察，接到522团部报告师长和宋鸿飞正在522团一线，带着几位副官和随从匆匆赶来了。

"Commander! Chief of Staff Xia!" Liu Anqi strode into the command post, treating Song Hongfei with great courtesy. "Upon learning of the arrival of the renowned Colonel Song Hongfei, I rushed here to humbly seek your guidance!"

"You flatter me! Commander Liu, you're too kind!" The two saluted each other.

This wasn't their first meeting; Liu Anqi had also visited the Training Corps and taken Song Hongfei's modern tactics course at the Army University.

Wang Youping looked at him and asked, "Anqi, what's the situation with Zhang Huabang on the left wing?"

Liu Anqi said: "The battle was fierce, with both sides locked in a stalemate around Zhanghuabang Station. My 522nd Regiment and the 2nd Regiment of the Training Corps fought tenaciously and repelled many Japanese attacks. However, the enemy's land, sea and air artillery fire was too fierce, and our army suffered heavy casualties and was unable to drive the enemy into the sea."

“The entire Shanghai-Nanjing area is locked in a stalemate.” Wang Youping nodded. “Come and take a look. This is the tactic of flexible defense. Facing the superior artillery fire of the Japanese army, it can preserve manpower while inflicting greater casualties on the enemy.”

"Elastic defense?" Liu Anqi immediately became very interested and stared at the deployment map in thought.

Song Hongfei briefly explained from the side: "The core idea is a layered defense in depth, with dispersed forces and concentrated firepower, a light forward and heavy rear deployment, and a combination of frontal blocking and flank mobile counterattacks."

"No wonder I saw the 522nd Regiment building fortifications deep behind their lines all along the way. This way, the entire defensive depth has indeed been greatly expanded compared to the previous second-line configuration," Liu Anqi said with a hint of realization.

Song Hongfei mentally calculated the troop and firepower deployment and said to Wang Youping, "A reinforced regiment, two battalions defending the front, plus more than one battalion attacking the flanks, and only one company and one platoon of artillery are still a bit weak. If we had a heavy artillery battalion, I guarantee that the Japanese artillery concentrated along the river embankment east of Jungong Road would have no chance to wreak havoc!"

"Even a skilled cook can't cook without rice!" Wang Youping said helplessly. "We're stretched thin everywhere. Not to mention the size of a regiment in this battle. Even the 10th Regiment, the only 150mm heavy artillery unit on the entire Shanghai-Nanjing battlefield, required Commander-in-Chief Zhang Wenbai to request permission from the Military Commission before it could be used."

Song Hongfei also understood that at that time, the entire National Revolutionary Army only had this one 150mm German-made mechanized heavy artillery regiment that had been fully organized and trained. Another heavy artillery regiment's artillery and equipment had been delivered thanks to the efforts of the delegation to Europe, but its organization and training were not yet complete, making it impossible to deploy in actual combat.

The most critical problem was that, since the new Zhuzhou artillery factory of the Ordnance Department had not yet been completed, the artillery could not be produced and replenished on its own. Under the attack of Japanese aircraft and counter-battery fire, every artillery piece damaged by our army was one less piece. From the Military Commission to all units, everyone was extremely cautious about the use of artillery.

Song Hongfei could only sigh helplessly.

Wang Youping thought for a moment and then said, "You've reminded me. We can ask General Wenbai for help from the 3rd Artillery Regiment of the Central Army stationed near Jiangwan."

Upon receiving Wang Youping's report, Commander-in-Chief Zhang Wenbai of the Central Route Army was full of praise for the flexible defense strategy.

After more than half a month of arduous fighting, Zhang Wenbai and other high-ranking generals realized that modern warfare was vastly different from previous civil wars.

In the past, during civil wars, both sides were equipped with millet and rifles, perhaps with a few machine guns and cannons at most. After a few shots from the machine guns and rifles, the two sides would rush to each other and engage in close-quarters combat. Therefore, the army with strong organization, daring to fight, and fearlessness of death often prevailed.

When fighting the Japanese army in the Battle of Shanghai, they discovered that the tactics they used in the civil war were no longer effective. The Japanese army had coordinated multiple branches of the military, including the navy, land forces, and air force, with aircraft above and tanks and artillery below. The aircraft would bombard the enemy first, followed by a round of artillery bombardment from the ground, and finally, tanks and armored vehicles would lead the infantry in an assault.

The Chinese army's long-standing outdated military concepts and tactics—such as large-scale wave charges in attack and holding out in trenches to defend the front line in defense—were incompatible with modern warfare and taught the enemy a lesson, resulting in extremely heavy casualties.

Commander-in-Chief Zhang Wenbai highly praised the grassroots troops' courage to break with tradition and explore new tactics for defeating the enemy, and immediately expressed his encouragement and support. He not only approved the transfer of a 75mm mountain gun company from the 3rd Artillery Regiment, but also assigned a 20mm anti-aircraft gun company to serve as the air defense for the artillery positions.

This greatly enhanced the artillery of the 87th Division, forming two artillery groups, one in the east and one in the west.

Song Hongfei and Wang Youping paid special attention to the camouflage and air defense of the artillery positions, requiring that the firing positions and observation posts be absolutely concealed. They also deployed 20mm mortars and regimental-level anti-aircraft "Civilian 24" general-purpose machine guns around the artillery positions to form a tight air defense fire network.

On the opposite side, the Japanese 68th Regiment's Ito Hiroshi Battalion was also making troop movements.

Both sides' war machines were operating efficiently, deploying troops, making combat arrangements, and preparing for war in order to achieve their respective objectives.

The sky was overcast, with large, dark clouds moving slowly, and weak streaks of white light struggling to pierce through the gaps. War clouds gathered, and the tense, oppressive atmosphere before the impending battle, like the gloomy sky, enveloped everything. Unknown streams and fields lay silent in the clouds.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Another eerie howl erupted! Thunderous artillery fire suddenly exploded across the position! The earth trembled! The Japanese army had begun a new round of intense firepower preparation!

The weak Nationalist artillery had no means of retaliating, and the soldiers could only silently hide in anti-tank bunkers and shelters, enduring the earth-shattering artillery fire.

Prior to this, all the soldiers of the 522nd Regiment had been working desperately to reinforce the bunkers and fortifications. All available wood, stones, and sandbags were used without any prompting from their superiors, because everyone understood that these fortifications were things that could protect their lives.

The Japanese heavy artillery fire was extended, and support artillery fire at the regimental and battalion levels was launched again.

"Kill him!"

Koji Nomura's company, the 3rd Battalion of Hiroshi Ito, launched the first attack from the left flank.

Koji Nomura led his squadron across a small, unnamed ditch. Ahead lay a flat plain, and the front lines of the Chinese army could be seen in the distance. The vanguard squads, led by Squad Leader Yamada, advanced in alternating shifts with exceptional skill.

Our well-concealed heavy machine guns had already set their firing range. The machine gunner's eyes gleamed with murderous intent, his steady and powerful hand gripping the handle tightly, the dark muzzle pointing directly at the Japanese elite squad.

As the Japanese troops drew closer, our platoon leader at the outpost roared, "Machine guns, fire!"

"Da da da da da!"

"Ta-ta-ta! Ta-ta-ta!"

Koji Nomura was filled with grief and indignation as he watched as the elite squad was suddenly ambushed by machine gun fire from the Chinese army. Judging from the sound, there were not only several light machine guns, but also heavy machine guns! He clearly saw the long bursts of muzzle flashes from the guns from time to time!

Caught completely off guard, the Japanese elite squad was caught off guard by the dense crossfire. Squad leader Yamada was instantly riddled with bullet holes in his chest and back by heavy machine gun fire, and he collapsed before he could even let out a scream.

“警戒阵地前沿150-200米！8发急促射！打敌前锋梯队！”522团2营长林潇湘大吼着给迫炮排下令。

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" Our 82mm mortars roared in retaliation! They accurately struck the Nomura squadron's attack formation, blasting down a large number of them.

In the brief but intense exchange of fire, the Japanese elite squad fell dead one after another, their offensive momentum immediately faltered, and the remaining Japanese soldiers fled back in a very disheveled state.

Intense gunfire could be heard from the right flank in the distance, indicating that the Sakamoto Company had also been ambushed by the Chinese army!

"Baka!" Koji Nomura was furious, his face contorted in rage.

Nomura was well aware that the heavy machine guns of the Chinese Central Army were deployed at the battalion level, and could only be dispersed to the company level in wartime at the squad or platoon level.

But he just couldn't understand how his squadron could be attacked by heavy machine gun fire when it was only 4 or 5 meters away from the Chinese army's front-line positions!

Since the sniper squad leader, Yamada, had been killed in action, the soldiers who escaped were all talking at once and couldn't clearly explain how many troops the Chinese army had, what their firepower configuration was, or from which direction they had ambushed them.

"Damn the Chinese army, so cunning! They've actually extended their defensive positions forward and hidden heavy machine guns!"

Koji Nomura peered out and observed for a while, concluding that he had seen through the Chinese army's tactics.

"Sodis-ne!" Captain Ito Hiroshi, who had just received Nomura Koji's report, stared at the battle map and had the same opinion.

Subsequently, Ito Hiroshi ordered the two squadrons on the left and right flanks to launch several more probing attacks, first luring the Chinese army to expose all their light and heavy machine gun positions!

Under the cover of mountain guns and infantry guns, Nomura Koji on the left flank and Sakamoto's company on the right flank launched several probing attacks, all of which were met with fierce machine gun fire from our forward outposts and mortar fire from the rear.

The Japanese army, believing they had figured out the layout of our machine gun positions, retreated to their attack launch position.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

At the same time, Japanese naval guns and long-range heavy artillery on the Huangpu River launched another round of overwhelming artillery bombardment! Shells rained down with sharp whistling sounds, causing landslides, flying sand and stones, and blasting out huge craters, as if trying to turn the land upside down.

Even Koji Nomura, who was hundreds of meters away, could feel the powerful force of the explosion and couldn't help but shrink back.

On the Chinese army's position, sparks flew and flames engulfed the area, and the sound of machine guns immediately fell silent.

The forward observation post reported that only about a platoon of Chinese troops remained on the position, and they had fled back to the rear in panic.

"Yoshi!" Ito Hiroshi smiled as he enjoyed the spectacle of artillery fire through his binoculars.

Even though the Chinese army put up a stubborn resistance, it was nothing more than a mantis trying to stop a chariot in the face of the empire's overwhelming military might!

Neither Hiroshi Ito nor Koji Nomura expected that after the Japanese attack echelon retreated from its starting position, the two outpost platoons on the left and right outposts of our army had also quietly retreated to the rear.

Our soldiers, hiding in well-constructed anti-artillery fortifications in the rear, watched with great excitement as the Japanese artillerymen vigorously performed their bombing of the airspace and ground.

No matter how fierce the Japanese heavy artillery was, it merely plowed through our already largely deserted guard and forward positions. Its destructive power only allowed their attacking forces to occupy positions that were no longer usable, leading to even greater losses in their subsequent offensives.