A Journey Through the Flames of War in the Republican Era

The six 47mm anti-tank guns of the 3rd Training Regiment and the two guns of a platoon from the 2nd Regiment, which were reinforcements, had long since removed the camouflage of their bunker-style firing ports. The dark muzzles of the guns were menacingly aimed at the Japanese tanks, and the gunners' sharp eyes were filled with murderous intent.

"Fire!"

The anti-tank gun company commander, Yan Xiru, shouted the order.

"Soldier position one, gun position two, destroy the tanks on the bridge! Don't let them escape back!"

Gunner Zheng Sanpao had been aiming for a while, at a distance of less than 500 meters, at a stationary target. He was very confident, shouting, "This time you'll all call me Zheng Yipao!"

"boom!"

Zheng Sanpao fired a shot, and the Type 89 medium tank on the bridge was hit as if by a thunder hammer. The vehicle shook violently, armor fragments flew everywhere, and a thick smoke billowed from the turret.

Immediately afterwards, another "boom" rang out!

This was a penetrating explosive shell. Thick smoke rose up along with bursts of flame, and the once imposing Type 89 tank was reduced to a pile of scrap metal.

"Enemy anti-tank guns! Counterattack! Fire back!" roared the burly-faced Nishizumi Kojiro. "Baka! Damn Chinese army!"

Kojiro Nishizumi's squadron commanded the tanks to advance in the order of the first two tank squads. When the first two tank squads crossed the bridge and found themselves blocked by anti-tank trenches, they immediately spread out to the left and right, but there were also trenches on both sides, and there was a pond on the left, so they could not go around it.

When Kojiro Nishizumi's command vehicle caught up, he realized that something was wrong. The squadron was trapped in a semi-circular encirclement with a radius of about fifty or sixty meters formed by anti-tank trenches. The vehicles behind were blocked on the stone bridge, and the squadron could neither advance nor retreat.

"This is clearly a trap." Nishizumi Kojiro sensed the danger and broke out in a cold sweat.

Following his habitual thinking, he immediately ordered the communications soldier to signal to each squad with flags: form a ring defense!

But it was too late. A violent explosion came from behind. A tank on the stone bridge was destroyed by anti-tank guns, and its retreat was blocked!

Immediately following a series of violent explosions, anti-tank shells came one after another, and Kojiro Nishizumi felt only despair.

The Japanese tank company was caught off guard.

Kojiro Nishizumi's so-called ring defense was doomed to failure. In the past, for other Chinese armies lacking anti-tank firepower, facing the Japanese tanks huddled together in an iron turtle formation, it would have been impossible to break through with cluster grenades or explosive charges, let alone get close.

But today they are facing the most elite training corps of the Chinese National Army.

我军8门两翼布置的战防炮快速进行齐射，47mm战防炮在400多米的距离可以非常轻松地打穿89式战车17毫米的正面装甲。

After firing a salvo, Company Commander Yan Xiru ordered, "Change to armor-piercing rounds!"

One after another, Japanese tanks were reduced to piles of burning scrap metal and campfires.

Our soldiers saw this scene from afar and cheered on the position, their excited shouts and cheers resounding throughout the heavens and earth!

The morale of the troops was greatly boosted, and their fighting spirit soared!

Kojiro Nishizumi was in immense pain. Some tanks were hit by the metal jets of the armored bullets, causing their magazines to explode. The tanks became burning coffins, and not a single crew member was able to escape.

The remaining tanks frantically retaliated with their tank guns, but the tank squadron, caught in chaos, was completely on the defensive.

Our artillery, mortars, and 75mm infantry guns, which had been hidden and waiting for a long time, also began to roar in retaliation, focusing their fire on the Japanese tanks that were trapped within a radius of only a few dozen meters.

Kojiro Nishizumi's eyes were bloodshot as he shouted hoarsely, "Deploy smoke grenades to obscure the enemy gunners' vision!"

"Contact the engineers to come and blow up the trench immediately!"

As an armored corps officer, Kojiro Nishizumi was well aware that the power of armored vehicles lay in their strong mobile assault capabilities, not in serving as fixed artillery emplacements, much less in their current tragic state as fixed targets of enemy fire.

At this moment, Nishizumi Kojiro, who always prided himself on his knowledge of Chinese culture, inexplicably muttered a saying: "A tiger fallen into the plains is bullied by dogs."

Of course, if his understanding of Chinese culture isn't so poor, the most fitting description would be: a turtle in a jar!

Communications officer Yoshinobu Shinagawa opened the hatch of the light armored vehicle and used signal flags to direct the remaining tanks. This time he wasn't so lucky; he was quickly hit by a hail of bullets, his body hanging halfway from the hatch.

In the command post of the 35th Regiment in Zhangxiang, behind Japanese lines, Regiment Commander Fujii Sue, 5th Tank Battalion Commander Hosomi Koreo, and 6th Brigade Commander Akiyama Yoshiyuki, who was on the front lines, witnessed the ambush from beginning to end through binoculars. They were completely stunned.

With a pale face, Hosomi Yukio muttered to himself in a mournful voice, "This is impossible! This is impossible! This is absolutely impossible!"

Akiyama Yoshiyuki stood there stunned for a moment, then roared like a madman, "Order the infantry to charge! Charge! Order the artillery to blast away the Chinese army's anti-tank guns!"

The infantry of the Japanese 3rd Division launched a full-scale attack under orders.

The 3rd and 1st Regiments of the Training Corps and the 154th Division on the west side launched a fierce counterattack, and the battle between the two sides was extremely intense.

For a time, the sound of gunfire and artillery filled the air along the western section of the Wusong River defense line.

Song Hongfei's 3rd Regiment faced the most intense attack from the Japanese army. The 7th and 35th Regiments launched simultaneous attacks from the left and right. The 3rd Regiment fought tenaciously, taking advantage of the natural terrain of the unnamed ditch. The reserve 3rd Battalion had also been committed to the battle.

The heavy casualties caused by the minefield and the fierce close-quarters firefights had severely weakened the Japanese army's fighting spirit.

However, the Japanese attacks were extremely frenzied. They would often retreat dozens of meters after being repelled for a short rest, and then charge forward again under the hysterical orders of their officers.

"Order the artillery battalion to attack the enemy at the front of the 3rd Regiment and cut off their follow-up forces!"

"Order the 2nd Reserve Regiment to reinforce the 3rd Regiment with two battalions!"

At the critical moment, Captain Gui Shuaizhen gave an order.

"Fire with all your might!" Battalion Commander Lou Dishan, nicknamed "The God of Artillery," had been holding back his energy for a long time.

After each company's benchmark guns were test-fired, the 75th Mountain Artillery Battalion of the General Corps, which had been silent and concealed until now, launched a rapid-fire attack from the entire battalion. The Japanese assault formation in front of our positions was annihilated by bursts of fire and rising smoke.

"Firepower coverage!" Lou Dishan roared.

Shells roared out of the barrels and slammed into the Japanese attacking echelons. The brothers in the artillery battalion desperately blocked and blocked the attack at almost maximum rate of fire, creating a sea of ​​fire.

They all knew that after firing, they had to immediately pack up and move on, and before the enemy's planes and heavy artillery could retaliate, they had to do their utmost to provide artillery support to the infantrymen who were holding out at the front.

The 2nd Regiment's reinforcements deployed part of their forces to reinforce the front and part to flank the enemy, finally holding off two regiments of Japanese troops at the nameless river ditch defense line.

Under the intense firepower of our army, the Japanese infantry were never able to break through the breach torn open by the tanks at the stone bridge and expand the breach.

The Japanese engineering detachments that bravely charged forward were also swept down by the fierce firepower of our mobile general-purpose machine guns.

Kojiro Nishizumi's face was ashen. The power unit of the command vehicle he was in had been destroyed. The gunners bravely returned fire with the tank gun, and the driver took over operating the machine gun from the machine gunner who had been killed by the armor-piercing jet.

Even so, only three or four tanks remained capable of firing back. At this point, they were subjected to even more intense concentrated fire. Even if the engineers could flatten the trenches, it would be of no use, and they would all be reduced to bonfires one by one.

Apart from the three tanks that failed to cross the bridge, the only ones that were undamaged and did not fire a single shot were the two tanks that crashed into the anti-tank ditch shortly after crossing the bridge due to poor observation.

Kojiro Nishizumi didn't know whether to feel fortunate or sad, but at this moment he could only close his eyes in despair and pain: "It's meaningless now. Training a qualified armored soldier is not easy. Let's abandon the tanks..."

Kojiro Nishizumi could only contact the infantry and engineers to destroy the tanks if necessary, and then abandon the tanks and retreat with the remaining crew members who could still move.

With a deathly pale face and bloodshot eyes, Nishizumi Kojiro glanced back at the nightmarish battlefield and murmured, "This is the graveyard of tanks."

While the enemy's artillery was focusing its fire on the 3rd Regiment and the artillery battalion of the brigade, the 1st Training Regiment and the 154th Division launched a series of fierce and short counterattacks in front of the lines. Our soldiers, with high morale, pounced on the Japanese army, which had been determined to break through the Wusong defense line just an hour earlier, like tigers descending the mountain.

That's how it is on the battlefield sometimes; when things are going well, the more you fight, the better you get.

The swarming Japanese infantry were driven back by our army.

The retreating Japanese soldiers were covered in gunpowder, their eyes were vacant, and their expressions were numb. The Japanese frontline commanders, including the two brigade commanders, Akiyama Yoshiyuki and Ide Nobutoki, knew that it would be difficult to expect them to muster the fighting spirit to launch a new attack in the short term.

Several attacks ended in failure and heavy losses, which severely aggravated the fragile nerves of the 9th Division Commander, Yoshizumi Ryosuke. This short man with eagle eyes was furious in the division headquarters.

"Damn it! How can the Chinese army still have such fierce artillery fire?! Are the heavy artillery regiments just sitting around doing nothing?! Order the heavy artillery to bombard all of the Chinese army's artillery!"

"Get me Commander Matsui and request air support!"

After a brief respite, the Japanese army, having regrouped, launched an unprecedentedly fierce counterattack with heavy artillery fire. The thunderous roar of the cannons once again put everyone on edge!

Furthermore, under the command of observers, Japanese artillery fired colored smoke bombs at the anti-tank guns, infantry guns, and mountain gun positions exposed during the battle, guiding heavy artillery bombardment and using this to guide aircraft bombardment.

"Beware of artillery fire! Prepare for air defense!" Song Hongfei ordered several battalion commanders.

Song Hongfei remained calm and composed. He had meticulously laid out a trap. In his battle plan, he intended not only to turn this place into a graveyard for Japanese tanks, but also for Japanese aircraft!

Commander Gui Shuaizhen called: "This battle was well fought! What are the casualties? The Japanese heavy artillery counterattack was fierce, and the artillery battalion of the brigade had to relocate. Can the 3rd Regiment continue fighting?"

Song Hongfei replied, "The casualties in each battalion are considerable, but they can still continue fighting."

"Well done! The Japanese have fired colored smoke bombs, and their planes will be here soon. Your regiment's position will face the Japanese's main attack. You will be in unified command of the two battalions from the 2nd Regiment that are reinforcing you. Prepare for air defense operations according to the plan! The other three artillery companies are ready to coordinate!"

"Yes! I understand! Captain, do we have any colored smoke grenades?"

Commander Gui Shuaizhen paused for a moment, then said, "You want to deceive the Japanese planes? You're something else! I'll go find some for you!"

The piercing sound of air raid sirens rang out from afar, enveloping the western suburbs of Shanghai.

Before long, a formation of more than 20 Japanese Ki-2 Type 93 twin light bombers adjusted their course in the air and circled around from our side and rear, forming several attack waves to bomb the ground.

More than a hundred heavy artillery pieces and field guns turned our army's defense line on the south bank of the Wusong River into a sea of ​​fire. The overwhelming smoke made the sky dark and the sun and moon lost their light.

The people in the nearby villages and towns were terrified by the horrific war scene. Window glass was shattered by the powerful explosions and shockwaves of aerial bombs. Some body parts, limbs, and internal organs were blown off and hung on the bare, leafless trees. The earth was shaking, the houses were swaying, and the doors, windows, beams, and pillars were creaking as if they were about to collapse at any moment.

People huddled in what they thought was a safe corner, their ears ringing, having briefly lost their hearing amid the seemingly endless, deafening explosions.

Our army used colored smoke grenades to indicate many false positions and targets to the Japanese army, and at the same time, we also dropped colored smoke grenades on the Japanese army's positions, forcing the Japanese aircraft to repeatedly lower their bombing altitude to prevent accidental bombing.

Since our air force had long been completely destroyed and lost air superiority, Japanese aircraft used to rely on our army's lack of anti-aircraft weapons to fly over our positions as if they were in an empty field, frequently carrying out ultra-low-altitude bombing and strafing, acting recklessly and extremely arrogantly.

The Type 24 anti-aircraft machine guns of the various regiments and battalions of the Training Corps fired trails of tracer bullets, which intertwined in the air to form a net of fire.

But the arrogant Japanese pilots scoffed at the weak anti-aircraft firepower that seemed disproportionate to the massive formation of aircraft. After dropping a round of bombs, they circled back and descended to a smug and triumphant air.

The arrogant squadron leader, Major Ishii, gave a hand signal to Lieutenant Yoshikawa, who was piloting his wingman, then pushed the control stick and nimbly rolled out of formation, descending directly to a lower altitude.

Just as the Japanese aircraft formation continued to bomb and straf the enemy with impunity, two signal flares suddenly rose into the air from our positions. The four artillery companies of the Training Corps, which were arranged in a crossfire formation along the enemy aircraft's dive route, suddenly removed their camouflage and opened fire on the Japanese aircraft formation with more than 20 20mm autocannons and all the anti-aircraft machine guns.

The anti-aircraft guns unleashed a barrage of fire, like fireworks exploding in the sky, weaving a deadly web of fire.

"Baka! There's an ambush!"

Major Ishii cursed loudly, and with his extensive experience, he quickly pulled up the nose and flipped the wings, barely avoiding the oncoming tracer rounds, and sped away.

But Lieutenant Yoshikawa, the first wingman, was not so lucky. Yoshikawa's plane was targeted by concentrated fire and then plunged into the field amidst flames and black smoke. After a series of crashes and rolls, a violent explosion followed.

Caught off guard, four of the nine Japanese aircraft in the first wave were shot down on the spot, and three more were shot down in the second wave. Several other Japanese aircraft fled in panic, billowing black smoke.

The third wave of Japanese aircraft dared not perform low-altitude dives anymore. They quickly climbed to avoid the enemy, then hastily dropped their bombs and fled the battlefield in a sorry state.

Cheers erupted on our positions. The civilians who had been hiding in the far corners could no longer hide and ran out to cheer and celebrate our victory. The cheers were deafening!

This brilliant anti-aircraft ambush, with its resounding success, seemed to have stunned the Japanese army. Their heavy artillery fell silent, and the 9th Division's fierce offensive of the day vanished into thin air.

From then on, Japanese aircraft no longer dared to bomb and strafe our positions at low altitudes without restraint. They could only increase their flight altitude, which greatly reduced the accuracy of their bombing and weakened the effectiveness of their air strikes.

The Training Corps successfully reversed the passive situation on the battlefield. Although our artillery still needed to carry out dispersed and mobile "guerrilla" operations, it no longer had to hide during the day and avoid Japanese aircraft as it had in the past.