A Journey Through the Flames of War in the Republican Era

The Japanese 9th Division, at the cost of nearly a thousand casualties per day, tore a gap in the western defense line of the Wusong River, occupied the area south of Yaojiadu and Zhangxiang, and consolidated its bridgehead, but all attacks on the Tianduoli-Xujiaxiang-Qujiaqiao line failed.

Caijiazhai, which lies between Zhangxiang and Qujiaqiao, is a small village with only about 20 houses and thatched huts within a radius of just over 100 meters. Surrounded by canals, ponds and moats, it was originally an important stronghold of the National Army's second line of defense and the outer city wall of Qujiaqiao.

In recent days, Caijiazhai has been bombarded to dust by the fierce fire of Japanese aircraft and heavy artillery. No one who attacks it can gain a foothold, and it has become the dividing line between the two sides.

国军67师397团、398团、401团、402团4个主力团已被打残，将屈家桥一线交接给教导总队后撤下来整编，剩下的士兵只够凑一个团了。

The 402nd Regiment, which was defending the right flank of Caijiazai, suffered the heaviest casualties. After several days of protracted fighting, the regimental commander Zhao Tianmin and Lieutenant Colonel Ye Di were seriously wounded, and Major Wang Jiajun was killed in action. Most of the battalion and company commanders were killed or wounded, and the casualties among the soldiers were even more severe.

The 46th Division on the left flank had already exhausted its resources multiple times since joining the Battle of Shanghai. It held its ground at Xujia Lane for several days, and the position remained unmoved. It was not until the fifth day of fierce fighting that the position was handed over to the Training Corps for replacement.

After the 67th and 46th Divisions withdrew, the 3rd and 1st Regiments of the Training Corps immediately took over the front-line positions at Qujiaqiao and Xujialong, repaired fortifications overnight, and redeployed their defenses by utilizing the terrain, features, and camouflage.

After days of bloody fighting, the Japanese army was exhausted and had no way to expand its breakthrough. They were compressed into two small villages at the bend of the Wusong River and were in a very passive position.

"Hurry up! Dig faster, don't slack off!" The company and platoon leaders patrolled the position, urging them on. "The more you sweat now, the less you'll bleed when the fighting starts. It's a matter of life and death!"

Song Hongfei ordered several battalions to dig out a large number of real and fake positions and fortifications overnight.

A company commander asked, puzzled, "Regimental commander, why are we digging so much? This place isn't suitable for setting up firing positions."

"What are we doing? Setting up false targets to avoid Japanese air bombardment and deceive Japanese artillery fire," Song Hongfei told the company and battalion commanders in a serious tone. "This is called deceiving the enemy."

Several battalion and company commanders laughed and gave instructions.

Some veterans, while working, would boast and intimidate the new recruits who had never been in combat: "The Japanese artillery can only scare you greenhorns who have never been on the battlefield. If we were to encounter it, it would be like a blank shot, completely useless. You need to know how to find cover and use your ears to locate the shells, understand?"

He was also making sounds: "If it's a 'buzzing' sound, that's a big cannonball; a 'hissing-whoosh' sound is a small cannonball. If the sound is coming towards you, you'd better run away quickly! Also, when the big cannon fires, the sound of the small cannons will be drowned out. Remember to be alert at all times!"

The new recruits were completely taken aback.

Some veterans were slacking off, squatting to the side and secretly smoking.

The officer immediately spotted the fire and started yelling at them from a distance: "Who's looking to die? Don't they think they're going to live? Are you trying to give the Japanese their targets?"

The veteran was so frightened that he quickly stubbed out his cigarette and made a hasty escape before the officer came over.

These past few days, Matsui Iwane has been feeling both depressed and extremely disappointed.

The offensive of the 9th Division on the west flank could not be sustained.

Meanwhile, the 68th Regiment of the 3rd Division on the east side was repelled after crossing the river at Zhoujiaqiao. The 34th and 18th Regiments attacking Liujiazhai and Yujiazhai in the middle were exhausted and unable to continue their expansion.

Matsui Iwane, this old Japanese soldier, had served in the military for decades, and his military capabilities were certainly sufficient. Upon learning that the elite Nationalist Army Training Corps, a fresh force, would replace the Qujiaqiao defense line, he immediately made adjustments to his deployment.

Matsui Iwane gave the order:

The 11th Division on the western front continued its attack on Nanxiang and joined forces with the 101st Division to attack Jiangqiao, threatening the flank and rear of the Nationalist Army, relieving pressure on the right flank of the 9th Division, and supporting its attack on the salient on the south bank.

A portion of the 101st Division was transferred to cooperate with the 9th Division to jointly expand the breakthrough.

He then ordered three battalions of reserve reinforcements to be sent to the 9th Division to replenish its strength and allow it to continue fighting.

Both sides are working through the night to repair their fortifications and intensify their preparations for battle.

The next morning, the Japanese army again launched a massive air raid on our positions. Then, they raised observation balloons in the rear and unleashed another round of heavy artillery bombardment.

The officers and soldiers of the Training Corps hid in the rear positions and watched with great excitement as a large part of the Japanese artillery fire was bombarded on fake positions and fake targets.

After the heavy artillery and mountain guns were deployed, the Japanese army used Type 92 infantry guns to target and eliminate our front-line fortifications and firing positions in order to cover the infantry offensive. Naturally, many of the targets exposed were just decoys set up by our army.

Wang Jingxiong, the battalion commander of the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Regiment of the Training Corps, observed through binoculars and said, "The Japanese army's opening three moves are truly unshakeable."

The 1st Battalion's position was on the right flank, where it had to defend against the Japanese troops on the right bank of the Wusong River to the east, and also face the Japanese troops in Zhangxiang to the north. Song Hongfei assigned the 1st Battalion the position with the greatest defensive pressure.

A moment later, Wang Jingxiong shouted, "Their infantry is coming up! Enter the position!"

As the Japanese infantrymen leaped out of their starting positions and continued to advance, they gradually realized that the Chinese troops coming up to relieve them were different from the previous ones.

The Japanese infantry had not yet deployed into attack formation during their advance.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The sound of the 82mm mortar of the Training Corps rang out. The well-trained gunners fired with great accuracy. They had conducted plenty of live-fire exercises in their daily practice.

The gunners fired a rapid volley of four mortar shells, which struck the Japanese troops directly, halting their advance and forcing them to deploy their formation prematurely.

A Japanese platoon leader leading the attack shouted incoherently, "Continue the attack! Advance!"

Captain Okamoto, the forward company commander, propped himself up in a bunker to observe, seemingly lost in thought. He thought to himself, "As expected of the model elite division of the Chinese army, their artillery fire is very accurate. This round of blocking fire is intended to disrupt our offensive rhythm. The Chinese army is cunning; they can conceal their artillery so well."

The mortars inflicted casualties on the Japanese troops and continued firing, becoming even more accurate after the previous round of calibration.

Captain Okamoto was very frustrated. The Nationalist army's mortars were beyond the range of the grenade launchers, and he could only take the hits without being able to fight back.

Captain Okamoto searched carefully, trying to find the mortar position that posed a great threat to him, and then report to the battalion headquarters to take it out with direct-fire guns or infantry guns.

Of course he couldn't find them. The 82mm mortars were all deployed in very concealed firing positions, making them undetectable from the ground. Furthermore, because mortars make very little noise when fired, they are extremely difficult to spot even from observation balloons in the air.

The infantry was getting closer to the front lines of the defending troops, and Captain Okamoto couldn't help but feel a surge of joy, thinking that success was in sight.

Often, as long as the Japanese troops get close enough to charge, they will launch a fierce attack without hesitation, creating a local advantage in firepower and manpower, tearing open a gap, and breaking into the front line. The National Revolutionary Army often cannot hold out for long before wavering. This tactic has been repeatedly successful for the Japanese.

Just as they were about to deploy their attack formation and launch their charge, they were suddenly struck by a devastating attack.

"Da-da-da! Da-da-da!"

Suddenly, a burst of machine gun fire erupted, and our troops, who had been silent all along, opened fire.

The Type 24 general-purpose machine guns, arranged in a crisscross pattern on both flanks, unleashed their full firepower, spewing forth countless tongues of fire to form an impenetrable net of death.

At the same time, mortar shells rained down, exploding in the enemy's formation, shrapnel raining down and sweeping away the Japanese troops who had not yet deployed.

The sudden barrage caught the Japanese soldiers off guard, and they were swept away like wheat by the barrage of bullets.

Squad leader Sawada was shot through the chest by several machine gun bullets, which then ripped chunks of flesh and blood from his back. He died instantly without uttering a sound.

The surviving Japanese soldiers scattered and fled, seeking cover in order to escape the terrifying hail of bullets.

However, they were in a vast, open field, with no shelter or natural defenses. The only barrier was the Cai family residence in front of them, which had been blasted to dust by days of aerial bombs and heavy artillery shells, but there were no buildings left to rely on.

The Japanese troops could only lie down on the spot, desperately seeking cover, and firing wildly at our troops with light and heavy machine guns.

"Grenade launcher, counterattack! Enemy machine gun fire at 10 o'clock, 200 meters!" Sergeant Matsushima of the Okamoto Company shouted frantically as he gave orders.

Several grenade launcher gunners bravely set up their grenade launchers in the open and unobstructed area, firing a barrage of shots in an attempt to bombard our machine gun positions that were spitting fire. In their panic, of course, they were inaccurate.

Before the Japanese grenade launchers could fire more than a few rounds, our machine guns swept across, the dense barrage interspersed with tracer bullets, clearly indicating their location.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!" Several 82mm mortar shots sent the Japanese grenade launcher team flying into the air.

"Take out the Chinese army's machine gun positions!" the Japanese battalion commander in the rear shouted angrily.

Positioned behind the attack echelon, the Japanese infantry guns and anti-tank guns, waiting for our firing positions to be exposed, aimed and fired directly at our troops, posing a great threat to our forces.

Our machine gunner grabbed the general-purpose machine gun, quickly moved to another firing position, and fierce flames spewed out again.

However, before the new firing point had been firing for long, the cunning Japanese artillery seemed to have noticed it, and shells began to whistle toward the firing point.

"The Japanese direct-fire artillery is targeting us!" shouted the machine gun platoon leader, who was reinforcing the forward company. "Don't stay in one spot, fire one or two belts of ammunition and then move on!"

The machine gun team fired for a while, then shouldered their machine guns and moved to the next safe location. In this way, they constantly changed positions on the battlefield, and the Japanese troops were continuously subjected to fierce machine gun fire from our forces.

The Japanese infantry gunners and field gunners were extremely frustrated. No matter how accurately they aimed and fired, the Nationalist troops on the other side seemed to never stop firing. Those heavy machine guns were like ghosts, always able to disappear without a trace at crucial moments, and then reappear unexpectedly to continue to inflict heavy damage.

This elusive tactic left the Japanese army helpless, unable to eliminate the Nationalist army's heavy machine gun suppressive fire, and launching an attack would only result in sending their own people to their deaths.

The Japanese heavy artillery could only watch helplessly as the two attack echelons on the left and right were already very close to our positions. The heavy artillery dared not bombard them anymore, lest they also blow up their own men.

Two Japanese companies in one attack wave found themselves in an awkward situation where they could neither advance nor retreat. Under the fierce firepower of the National Revolutionary Army, they suffered heavy casualties, and their offensive collapsed.