4.16 Surprise

The outstanding performance of the 99th Division on the night of August 13 made General Zhang ecstatic!

After getting Huang Haoran's battle report, General Zhang said three good things in a row!

It's no wonder that this famous anti-Japanese general is so excited, you must know that the 99th Division wiped out almost half of the Japanese army in Shanghai on the first day of the attack, and the devil headquarters in Hongkou is now close at hand!

Victory is like a crumbling peach hanging on a branch, which makes people think about it!

On August 13, when the supreme authorities officially ordered the attack, General Zhang was still a little worried about the strong fortifications built by the Japanese. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Although the Shanghai Special Marine Corps of Major General Dachuan is not large, due to the repeated hesitation of Nanjing, it has been fully prepared!

The Shanghai Special Marine Corps is mainly concentrated in Hongkou and Yangshupu, with the Huangpu River in the back, and the front is directly facing the Zhabei and Jiangwan areas of the Huajie in downtown Shanghai, and spanning the area north of the Suzhou Creek in the public concession and the cross-border road construction zone.

Its position starts from Huishan Wharf, along Wusong Road, North Sichuan Road, Jiangwan Road, and ends at Hongkou Park and its nearby Marine Corps Headquarters, forming a "long snake".

The Marine Corps Headquarters Building is the head, Huishan Wharf is the end, and the Gongda Yarn Mill on Jungong Road is the main military base point of its outer line. The Marine Corps Headquarters Building and the Huishan Wharf are the two core positions, as the former is home to the command center of its troops, and the latter is the main link between the land and the river fleet. On the eve of the war, in addition to reinforcing the fortifications in the above-mentioned positions, the Japanese army also dispatched part of its forces to expand the outlying positions, and built temporary strongholds and barricades in Hongkou Park, Gongda Yarn Mill, Japanese Navy Playground, Navy Club, Fine Printing Factory, Taikang Flour Mill, and Broadway Road (now Daming Road).

It can be said that the seventh major general of Okawa has a complete defense system!

The order for the attack of the highest authorities reads as follows:

(1) The Beijing-Shanghai Garrison was reorganized into the 9th Group Army, with Zhang Zhizhong as the commander-in-chief of the group army, and attacked the enemy at Hongkou and Yangshupu on the 14th of tomorrow.

(2) The Soviet and Zhejiang border armies were reorganized into the 8th Group Army, with Zhang Fakui as the commander-in-chief of the group army, garrisoning the north shore of Hangzhou Bay and sweeping away the enemy in Pudong, attacking Puxi Huishan Wharf and Gongda Yarn Factory with artillery units, and supporting the 9th Group Army in Puxi.

(3) The Air Force will be dispatched on the 14th of tomorrow to cooperate with the Army in combat and to defend the air in important areas.

At the same time, the supreme authorities ordered the 11th, 14th, and 67th Divisions of the 18th Army transported from Wuhan to Shijiazhuang to stop moving north, turn to Suzhou, and speed up the transfer of the 36th Division.

If this operational order of the highest authority is followed, General Zhang's originally planned surprise attack would have to be changed to a frontal assault, which would inevitably increase the casualties of our army!

However, the frenzied counterattack of the Japanese army caused by the forward insertion of the 99th Division caused the attack of the 9th Army to be advanced by a whole day!

Since it was the Japanese army that first attacked the 99th Division at Chichi University, the all-out exchange of fire between the 99th Division and the Japanese army became justified!

Little Japan strikes first! Internationally, morality, China also has the upper hand!

During the day, General Zhang had already told the media and diplomats of various countries in Shanghai the news of the Japanese attack on the downtown area of Shanghai.

These foreigners expressed their shock and understanding of the Chinese army's counterattack!

Only the British attitude seems more ambiguous, and General Zhang suspects that the British have long known about the actions of the Japanese, or simply breathe out of the same nostril with the little devil!

Regardless of the reaction of these foreigners, the first operational goal of the highest authorities to suppress the Japanese morally in the international sphere has already been achieved!

General Zhang was just about to send away these foreign journalists who were like flies, but Division Commander Huang sent him another heavy gift!

The battle flag of the 3rd Brigade of the Japanese Marine Corps! Due to the rapid performance of the 99th Division at Zhizhi University, this battle flag was only cut to pieces by the flag guards with bayonets, and it was not burned before it could be burned.

Huang Haoran asked the guards to put together the fragments of the military flag, the sun flag with blood and bullet holes, which was obviously very much appetizing to foreign journalists, and the command knife of Shigeru Ito sent with the military flag, both of which murdered a large amount of film!

General Zhang had no choice but to once again make an impassioned anti-Japanese declaration!

With these trophies as embellishments, those foreign reporters were obviously much more serious than when General Zhang spoke for the first time!

War still depends on strength!

However, due to the late decision of the supreme authorities, the 9th Army was not fully prepared for the attack, and until 17 o'clock in the afternoon of August 13, the operational positions of the units of General Zhang's 9th Army were:

(1) The 99th Division occupied the first line from the Bazi Bridge to Zhizhi University and the Patriotic Girls' School, and the main force was deployed in the area of the Bazi Bridge, and there was a fierce exchange of fire with the Japanese army.

(2) The main force of the 87th Division is located in Jiangwan, along the line from Qiujiang Road to Qiujiang Bridge, and the first part is located in Wusong.

(3) The alert force of the 88th Division, facing the enemy across the Hengbang, was mainly located at the Shanghai North Railway Station and the east of Hongxing Road and the line of Qianjiangtang.

(4) The 1st Battalion of the 10th Artillery Regiment is in the Jinan New Village and Dachangjian area; The 3rd Artillery Regiment entered positions near Lingnan Villa and Jiangwan Town; The 8th Artillery Regiment was advancing towards Pengpu Town and could reach the designated location that night.

(5) The 169th Brigade of the 57th Division arrived at Longhua at noon and had been ordered to advance to Xujiahui and follow the Hongqiao Road to the line of the Ministry and the Miaoshu.

(6) The 658th Regiment of the reinforced brigade of the 61st Division assembled in Nanxiang, and the 659th Regiment assembled at Xinjing Town and Hongqiao Airport in the north when the 169th Brigade advanced.

(7) The main force of the 56th Division has reached Taicang, and ordered it to advance to the line of Baoshan, Liuhe, and Hupu, and directly guard the ports along the river, and the first part is advancing to Hexing Street.

(8) The Shanghai Police Corps is located between Qiujiang Wharf and Zhang Huabang to serve as a guard.

(9) The security corps assembled near Jinan New Village.

After receiving the order, General Zhang seized the time to formulate offensive arrangements, and planned to launch an attack on the Japanese army after the bombardment by the air force on the 14th, and the offensive route was from Shanghai North Railway Station and Baoshan Bridge along Hengbang to Zhizhi University, Shajing Port, Railway Bridge, Jinjiazhai, and Chunjiang Road, focusing on the west of Yangshupu Port to the Hongkou Japanese Army Headquarters. After pressing the Suzhou Creek and the Huangpu River, they were surrounded and annihilated.

Obviously, the plan could not keep up with the changes, and the 99th Division's night attack pressed the battle line to Hongkou Park and the area of Gongda Yarn Factory in one fell swoop, and the Japanese army headquarters in Hongkou was far away!

What's more, the Japanese army in Shanghai suffered great attrition!

It's really hard to imagine how Huang Haoran's 99th division did it!

General Zhang thought about how wide the mouths of those wavering factions who were pessimistic about the Sino-Japanese war situation should be when they learned that the war situation had developed so much tomorrow morning!

What a pity! If the determination of the highest authorities could be made faster, the 9th Army would be able to capture the headquarters of Okawa Uchidenqi in one go!