At dawn, two squadrons of attack planes of the 3rd Flying Regiment of the Japanese Army Aviation appeared almost simultaneously over Jinshan County and Songjiang, and immediately began to bomb Jinshan County and Songjiang City indiscriminately.

Half an hour later, the Japanese attack planes returned, followed by the Japanese artillery began shelling.

The 6th Brigade of Field Heavy Artillery was still bombarded the county town of Jinshan, compared to only one Mountain Artillery Wing and a small number of infantry guns of the 6th Division that shelled Songjiang.

However, the effect of the shelling was very different.

The 367th Regiment guarding Jinshan County was shrunk in the city, and most of the officers and soldiers were hiding in the sturdy traffic buildings or tunnels, and only a small number of guard sentries were stuck in the ruins, so the casualties were very small, and the hundreds of tons of shells thrown by the devils in Jinshan County can be said to have been thrown in vain.

However, the losses of the 67th Army were much more severe.

Wu Keren is also an old soldier like Zhang Kongyi, and the two have almost the same views.

Therefore, Wu Keren placed the two divisions of the 67th Army outside Songjiang City, the 107th Division was placed south of the new East Gate, along both sides of the road, and the 108th Division was placed on the line from the west of Songjiang City to the south bank of Suzhou River.

In other words, more than 10,000 officers and soldiers of the 67th Army were placed outside Songjiang City.

Because of the flat terrain and wide field of vision of Songjiang, the officers and men of the 67th were almost unable to take advantage of the terrain when building the fortifications, so most of the fortifications were civil structure fortifications, not to mention the aerial bombs of the little devils, and even the 70mm caliber 92 infantry shells could not withstand it.

Therefore, under the wanton and indiscriminate bombardment of the devil's air force and artillery, the 67 officers and men suffered heavy casualties.

After an hour of artillery bombardment, the Kunisaki detachment and the 6th Division launched an attack on Jinshan County and Songjiang Fucheng almost at the same time, although the 367th Regiment had only one regiment, and the strength was far less than the more than 10,000 people of the 67th Army, but due to the proper tactics and Zhong Yi's superb command, the situation of the 367th Regiment was much better!

After a morning of fierce fighting, the Kunisaki detachment still failed to capture the three core fortifications of the 367th Regiment, but the 6th Division had already crushed the 107th Division that was holding on to the new east gate of Songjiang! Zhu Zhirong, the commander of the 321st Brigade of the division, was martyred, and Wu Qian, the commander of the 319th Brigade, was seriously injured! Three of the four regiment commanders at the bottom died!

The 107th Division of the Northeast Army was really defeated!

……

The news was transmitted back to Nanjing, and the high-level was shaken!

Chairman Chiang had already said that he would accompany Madame Chiang to Meiling Palace in the afternoon, but after receiving the news of Songjiang's crisis, he immediately canceled the trip and rushed to the headquarters.

Chairman Jiang had just entered the battle hall when Chen Cheng and other senior generals immediately greeted him.

"Resignation, what's going on?" Chairman Jiang frowned and asked, "Before dawn, didn't you call Zhang Fakui to confirm that the Japanese army was still not found outside Songjiang City, why did the Japanese army suddenly appear in Songjiang and defeat the 107th Division in less than half a day?" ”

Chen Cheng said: "Commission, this should be caused by poor communication, because the Japanese army had captured Jinshan County before noon yesterday, so I boldly speculated that the Japanese army had advanced outside Songjiang City before dark yesterday and was ready to attack!" ”

Chairman Chiang said in a deep voice: "Even if the Japanese army had advanced to Songjiang before yesterday evening and was ready to attack, Songjiang should not have been lost so quickly!" Wu Keren's 67th Army has an army of more than 10,000 people! Zhang Kongyi's 367 regiment only has more than 1,000 people, and it has been guarding Jinshan County for a long time! ”

Chen Cheng said: "The Japanese army dispatched aircraft and artillery to bomb the positions of the 67th Army indiscriminately......

"I don't want to listen to that." Chairman Chiang said, "Speaking of aircraft artillery, which unit on the Songhu battlefield has not been bombed indiscriminately by the aircraft artillery of Little Japan? And they weren't the only ones in the 67th Army who were bombed! ”

After a pause, Chairman Jiang said angrily: "It is also said that Songjiang will be held for at least seven days, this is only half a day, this is only half a day, Songjiang will be lost, and Songjiang will be lost in half a day!" ”

Chen Cheng whispered: "Commission, strictly speaking, Songjiang City has not been completely lost. ”

"Is it interesting to fight for this now?" Chairman Jiang said angrily, "Yes, strictly speaking, Songjiang has not been lost, but the Shanghai-Hangzhou railway has been cut off by the Japanese army, and the troops and materials gathered in the western battlefield of Shanghai have no way to retreat through this railway line, what is the difference between this and the loss of Songjiang?" ”

Chen Cheng was immediately speechless, because he couldn't find the words to refute.

Because the reason why the 67th Army was ordered to defend Songjiang was to ensure the smooth flow of the Shanghai-Hangzhou railway.

But now, the Shanghai-Hangzhou railway has been cut off, is it still a difference whether Songjiang has been lost or not?

"Niang Xipi, a bunch of rubbish!" Chairman Jiang said angrily, "I also said that I would hold on for seven days, and I couldn't hold on to the last day, I was just a bunch of wrecks!" Rubbish! ”

Bai Chongxi really couldn't help it, and said: "Commission, it's pointless to talk about this now, let's think about it first, how to deal with the current crisis." ”

After a pause, he continued: "The Japanese army is about to capture Songjiang, the Shanghai-Hangzhou railway has been cut off, and the Japanese army that landed from Baimaokou is also about to capture Taicang and cut off the Shanghai-Nanjing railway. So the top priority is to quickly order a retreat! ”

"Yes, commission, hurry up and order the withdrawal of troops!"

"Jiansheng is right, it really can't be delayed any longer!"

He Yingqin, Chen Cheng and other staff members also echoed one after another.

"No way!" Chairman Jiang flatly refused, "In the morning, I also received an urgent telegram from Wei Jun from Brussels, saying that the Nine-Power Pact will meet today and discuss the China incident!" ”

After a pause, he said: "Order the front-line troops, no matter what, hold on for another day!" ”

"The ...... of the commission" Chen Cheng wanted to persuade again, but Chairman Jiang interrupted with a wave of his hand.

"Cixiu, I'm still the same as before." Chairman Chiang said, "When considering the problem, you must not only consider the military, you must consider comprehensively from many aspects such as politics and economy, and if you hold on to Shanghai and West for one more day, it may cause relatively large losses, but it will make the Western countries see Japan's face more clearly, and also make the Western countries more convinced of our determination to resist to the end in China, so it will be easier to obtain assistance from the Western countries in the future!" ”

Hearing this, Chen Cheng, Bai Chongxi, He Yingqin and other staff members immediately drooped their heads.

Chairman Chiang refused to withdraw his troops, so what could they do? I can only continue to stiffen!

Gritting his teeth, He Yingqin said in a deep voice: "Then there is nothing to say, at the moment, I can only give the 67th Army a death order, and tell Wu Keren that even if you fight to the last soldier, you can't let the Japanese army cross Songjiang!" ”

"Yes." Chairman Jiang said, "That's it!" ”