Chapter 3: Invincible (5)

After sitting in the stuffy tank train for three days, he arrived in Wuhan, and after the transition, he took the train on the Pinghan line, and at this time Mo Di already knew his destination, Xuzhou. Bai Chongxi finally adopted his own suggestion, but the Yellow River positioned the 21st Group Army of the Gui system as the second echelon, and the Japanese army would not fight without crossing the Yellow River.

Mo Di was very satisfied with this arrangement, and he believed that after arriving in Xuzhou, he could be given another month to complete the training of the whole regiment. Looking at the general trend of Xuzhou, it will take some time for the Japanese army to occupy the north of the Yellow River, and as for the limited number of Japanese troops in the area of the Jiaoji Line in Shandong, they dare not act rashly against the national army on the Longhai Line. In this way, I still have more time to prepare well and fight a prepared battle.

The soldiers of the 1056 regiment were very excited, the first time they took a fireboat, the first time they took a train, the first time they changed into a fast 79 rifle, the first time they put on the clothes of the regular army, a standard backpack, a standard water bottle, rubber bottom cloth shoes under their feet, light and comfortable, nearly a month of training, this more than 1,000 rookies have been reborn, no matter in terms of appearance or temperament, they are not far from a standard soldier.

One by one, sitting on the ground, the sliding door of the carriage was locked with iron chains, and only a slit of less than twenty centimeters could be opened, ventilation and drainage, and the soldiers who peed out from this place for the first time were very excited to see their urine fall far behind, until the third day, the freshness finally passed, and there was a faint sense of boredom with the train.

This train was loaded with a whole 526 brigade, in addition to the stuffy tank car for transporting troops, it also brought two ticket cars, the brigade commander Ling Zhuxi and the brigade headquarters personnel occupied one ticket car, and the 1056 regiment headquarters and the 1055 regiment headquarters shared another ticket car car. Mo Di, Qin Zhenyuan, Huang Tianhua and others sat in the ticket car at the front of the car, looking at the ticket car they took for the first time. There are chairs in the carriage, although the wooden backrests are not very comfortable, but they are much more elaborate than sitting on the floor. Mo Di is also the first time to meet the 1055 regiment, the head of the 1055 regiment Xie Dingxin is thirty-seven or eighteen years old, a native of Cangwu, Guangxi, speaking an official dialect with a Cantonese accent, very short hair, medium build, kind face, very smiling. is also the regiment commander, Mo Di's military rank is lieutenant colonel, and the other party is a colonel, Mo Di saluted honestly, the so-called official level crushes people to death, and the rank is not the case. Seeing the glorious image of Mo Di, Xie Dingxin was surprised at first, he didn't expect Mo Di to be so short, unlike people who lead troops into battle.

The two of them chattered a few words, and Xie Dingxin told Mo Di in the tone of his predecessors that he was in Shanghai during the 128th Songhu War, serving as the commander of the 4th Regiment of the 61st Division of the 19th Route Army, and he had worked face-to-face with the Japanese. Mo Di listened attentively, had a sincere attitude, and finally said from the bottom of his heart that he hoped that his seniors would give him more advice and take care of him when he was fighting.

The time of arrival in Xuzhou was September 9, and news came that two days before the loss of Baoshan, Yao Ziqing, the third battalion of the 583rd Regiment of the 292nd Brigade of the 98th Division of the 18th Army, led 600 men to stubbornly resist the Japanese attack, and finally all of them were martyred for the country.

The troops settled down outside the city of Xuzhou, where there was no sound of artillery and no gunsmoke, and the battlefields in the north, east and south were not close to here, and it was a peaceful scene. Autumn in northern Jiangsu is beautiful and pleasant, the sky appears high and vast, noisy for a whole spring and summer fields, become heavy, the color also from dark green to golden. Crops waiting to be harvested are spread across every fertile field. The lotus is ripe, waiting for the village girl to pick, the grass is yellow, waiting for the cattle and sheep to eat, and the farmer walks slowly through the field, startling the grasshoppers and bees in the grass, they are still dreaming about summer. Autumn in northern Jiangsu is a ripe season, and the old people are thinking about what kind of surprise they should give to their children; The boys were thinking about how to marry the girl home; The young couple calculated, and it was time to add a mouth, the maple leaves were red, the osmanthus flowers were fragrant, the chrysanthemums were gorgeous, and the moon was bright......

Mo Di didn't know what the purpose of transferring his group army here was. Jiang Chunyang, director of the Political Department, told him that this was entirely the selfish moon of Bai Chongxi, chief of staff, who did not send troops to say that the people of Guangxi were not active in resisting Japan, and that they had sent troops to Xuzhou, which was calm and war-free. As for where to go next, no one knows, but one thing is clear, the north of the Yellow River will definitely not go.

Mo Enemy laughed dumbly, Lao Bai's heart can be said to be known to passers-by, the enemy is current, and there are these twists and turns! Or in Bai Chongxi's view, the troops from Guangxi will be his most important pawn, to be used at the critical moment when he thinks it is the final blow.

In the leisurely life and intense training, September passed. On September 30, the Nationalist army withdrew from the downtown area of Shanghai and moved to the south of Yunzaobang to establish a position, where the water network was dense, the swamps were criss-crossed, and the land was flat, with no geographical advantage and no cover. The national army did not have steel and concrete, so it had to use mud to build inferior fortifications, and how could these fortifications withstand the continuous shelling of Japanese artillery, and the national army suffered heavy casualties. In October, the Japanese army concentrated on mobilizing 6 divisions to reach the first line, forcibly crossed Yunzaohama, and stormed the south bank of Dachang in an attempt to break through from the center.

The situation in Shanghai is very precarious.

Around the Double Tenth National Day, Bai Chongxi finally transferred the Seventh Army and the Forty-eighth Army to the front line. The 170th and 171st Divisions of the Seventh Army arrived in Shanghai on October 11 and immediately entered the battle, taking over the defense areas of Hu Zongnan's First Army on the front line of Yanghang, Yunzaobang, and Jijiaqiao, so that the First Army, which had a casualty rate of 80 percent, had a chance to breathe and retreat to Kunshan to replenish.

The vanguard of the 48th Army was the 173rd and 174th Divisions, which arrived in Shanghai on October 15, and on the 19th, as the main force of the whole army, as the first sharp knife, went all out to counterattack, storming Shengzhai, Qiaoting and other positions. There was a scuffle, a night of fighting, and heavy casualties on both sides. The gunfire continued until the 21st, when the Japanese army fully retreated, and the Nationalist army was unable to organize a large-scale offensive and retreated to hold its position. On the 22nd, the two sides confronted each other for a day, and on the 23rd, under the cover of the air force and artillery, the Japanese army set off poison gas bombs, and the national army was in chaos and retreated.

The 176th Division, to which Mo belonged, arrived in Shanghai late at night on October 19 and immediately entered the battlefield as a general reserve.

As soon as he arrived at the battlefield, Mo Di knew that Bai Chongxi had miscalculated, and it was too early to replace the Gui army into the battlefield as a new force, and it did not become the last straw that crushed the camel, but became a consumable to spend with the Japanese army. Jiang Chunyang believes that the main reason is that Chief Bai can no longer withstand the pressure from all walks of life, so he has to put the Gui army into the battlefield in advance. Mo Di thinks that this is also reasonable, it is impossible for all the armies of the whole country to enter the battlefield, and only the children of the chief of the general staff are still watching the scenery in Xuzhou.

The work of covering the entire retreat was given to the 176th Division. The 176th Division had two routes, the first of which was Qiu Qingying's 525th Brigade, which became the reserve army of the 173rd Division and took over its positions. The 173rd Division covered the retreat of the 174th Division in turn. The 1055 Xie Ding New Regiment took over the position of the 171st Division of the Seventh Army in Chenjiaxing, covering the retreat of the 171st Division to the line from Zoumatang to Xinjing Bridge. The 1056th Modi Regiment went to Tanjiaqiao to cover the retreat of the 170th Division of the Seventh Army to Jiading.

Xie Dingxin was a veteran who participated in the 128th Shanghai War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, graduated from the Guangdong Lecture and Wutang, followed the former premier Mr. Sun Yat-sen in his early years, participated in the Crusade against Thieves and the Northern Expedition led by Mr. Sun Yat-sen, two Eastern Crusades and the pacification of the Yang-Liu Rebellion, and made contributions to the unification of the revolutionary base areas in Guangdong. He has received a good military education, has more than 10 years of experience in the career of fighting horses, and has a clear understanding of Shanghai's geographical conditions and operational advantages and disadvantages. He believed that attacking a well-trained and well-equipped Japanese army without the cooperation of air force and ground artillery and relying only on rudimentary weapons and equipment was tantamount to hitting a stone with an egg. However, in the face of the national crisis, we must do what we know we can't do, and we have no hesitation even if we die in vain; this is the time when soldiers repay the people, and the officers and men of the regiment are required to be mentally prepared to sacrifice their lives for the country.

Under the leadership of Xie Dingxin, the whole regiment entered the position at night and replaced the almost desperate 171st Division.

Under the leadership of division commander Yang Junchang, the 171st Division fought with the Japanese army for six days and six nights, sacrificing two-thirds of its soldiers, regiment commanders Yan Shengwu, Li Shigu, and Shen Zhi were wounded, and Qin Lin, commander of the 511th Brigade, was killed. Seeing Xie Dingxin and his troops coming, Yang Junchang said hatefully: "What kind of battle is this, it will be filled with people, we have finished filling it, it is your turn, we have one division left, you have a regiment, how many can be left, only God knows!" ”

Let the only remaining regiment commander, Colonel Li Benyi, the acting brigade commander of the 511 Brigade, gather all the ammunition of the 171st Division and leave it to the 1055 Regiment, Yang Junchang left the position with the remnants of the wounded, as for the dead, except for Brigade Commander Qin Lin, the others can't take care of it! Qingshan is fortunate to bury the bones of the faithful, why should the horse leather shroud be returned.

After taking over the position, Xie Dingxin carefully inspected the surrounding terrain, sighed, and said: "There is no advantage, you can only work hard." ”

The next morning, just after dawn, the Japanese army arrived as scheduled. Xie Dingxin spent one night digging a number of trenches in three horizontal and four vertical trenches, leaving a company of troops on the first line, and also set up some bunkers and hiding holes, and all other troops were placed on the second and third lines. He knew that the Japanese artillery fire was fierce enough, so he did not dare to put too many people on the front line. He told the soldiers that we would be able to retreat as long as we were able to hold out for two days and allow our brother troops to establish defensive positions in the rear, and for these two days, not only to repel the enemy's attack, but also to preserve ourselves. The soldiers shouted: Even if you drag, you have to drag the devil in Chenjiaxing for two days.

The brutal offensive began. Shells rained down on the positions, and on the heads of the soldiers on the front line, the bunkers collapsed, the caves of the Tibetan soldiers collapsed, and the soldiers of a company were like leaves in a typhoon, floating and rolling and dying.

The shells gradually thinned out, the Japanese rushed up, and the soldiers who were still alive in the first trench shook their heads, shook the dust off their heads, cleared their buzzing ears, and lay down in front of the trenches, holding their guns, staring at the Japanese who were getting closer and closer, yellow clothes, low stature, crossed legs, running very fast, it turned out that the Japanese looked like this!

Beat! The angry bullet went out of the chamber and hit the Japanese chicken breast, and the same bright red blood came out, it turned out that the blood of the Japanese was also red!

In four longitudinal trenches, the brothers of a battalion were rushing to the front line.

For two days and two nights, for two days and two nights, Xie Dingxin's 1055th Regiment was like a needle that fixed the sea, firmly nailed to Chen Xing, and became a thorn in the eyes of the Japanese army. The air force bombarded wildly, the mountain artillery was bombed, and the infantry attacked the positions of the 1055th Regiment day and night.

On the evening of the 24th, the first brigade of the 63rd Wing of the 18th Brigade of the Japanese Army occupied Xiaoshiqiao, and attacked the 1055th Regiment from three sides.