On August 13, 1937, Japanese warships moored on the Huangpu River shelled the Chinese troops in Zhabei District, and the Chinese troops and a Japanese Marine Corps stationed in Shanghai exchanged fire near the Bazi Bridge in Shanghai!
Since then, the "Battle of Songhu", which sacrificed the most and fought the most fiercely in the eight-year War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, has officially begun!
Figure | Battle of Songhu: an inch of mountains and rivers and an inch of blood
However, unlike the almost completely passive situation of the Chinese army in this campaign when fighting in the Pingjin area, the Chinese troops stationed in Shanghai had long been prepared for the invasion of the Japanese army, and made corresponding defensive arrangements on the outskirts of Shanghai a year in advance!
According to the nationalist government's predetermined plan, if the two sides go to war, then the Chinese army can rely on its superior strength to drive the Japanese troops stationed in Hongkou, Shanghai, into the Huangpu River to eliminate the threat of the Japanese army to the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions of China's political and economic center!
On August 14, the 87th and 88th Divisions, the most elite of the Nationalist forces, took the lead in launching an offensive against the Japanese.
These two divisions were the first units to defend Shanghai, originally the guard units of the Nationalist government, and at the same time they were also "model divisions" trained by German advisers.
However, it seems that the Chinese army occupies a great advantage in numbers, and its combat effectiveness is not bad, but in fact it is at a disadvantage! Why?
At that time, according to the area around Shouhongkou, there were more than 5,000 People in the Various Departments of the Japanese Marine Corps, in addition to more than 3,000 "Ronin", which is commonly known as "Japanese Samurai".
In addition, the Japanese army can also receive support from more than 300 naval guns on more than 20 large and medium-sized warships of the Japanese Third Fleet anchored on the Huangpu River, as well as air support from bombers and fighters flying from the Japanese mainland.
The Japanese Marine Corps was well-trained and well-equipped, its fortifications were very strong, its firepower was well-placed, and tanks and armored vehicles served as points of fire for swimming.
Most importantly, the Japanese infantry was also equipped with a 37 mm caliber flat-fire gun, which, although limited in power, was not a small threat to our heavy fire points. So that in actual combat, as soon as our army's machine guns opened fire, they were quickly suppressed, and it was almost impossible to organize firepower to counterattack!
The 87th and 88th Divisions, although they were the "ace divisions" of German equipment, were equipped with large-caliber howitzers, which were not only in small numbers, but also lacked special ammunition.
Therefore, in this situation, the offensive troops of the Chinese army suffered heavy casualties at one time, and on the 14th alone, 7 company commanders of the 527th Regiment were martyred.
In addition, the command post of the 264th Brigade of the 88th Division was shelled by the Japanese, and the brigade commander, Major General Huang Meixing, was killed, and he was also the first general killed during the Battle of Songhu!
However, despite this, the morale of the Chinese army was high, and they regarded death as a homecoming, and attacked the Japanese army in turn regardless of casualties.
Under the powerful offensive of our army, the Japanese troops stationed in Shanghai had to retreat to the British concession, and as a result, the British army surrendered its weapons.
Shortly thereafter, however, the Japanese 11th and 3rd Divisions landed near Chuanshakou and Wusong in northern Shanghai in an attempt to encircle our forces.
Due to the weak garrison of our army along the coast, the Japanese army soon landed successfully and set up beachhead positions to seize Luodian and other places. When General Luo Zhuoying and his troops arrived, Luo Dian had already fallen!
Subsequently, Luo Zhuoying immediately ordered the 11th Division to retake it, and for more than a month afterward, Luo Zhuoying commanded his troops to repeatedly compete with the Japanese for Luodian and Liuhe areas.
The battle was very fierce, Luo Bu suffered heavy losses, and after this battle, Luo Zhuoying also became a generation of famous anti-Japanese generals in the hearts of Chinese, and was successively promoted to the commander of the Sixteenth Army and the commander-in-chief of the Fifteenth Army.
At this time, the Songhu Campaign fell into a stalemate, the Japanese army was constantly increasing its troops, and after September, the Japanese army completely seized air supremacy and cut off the supply line of our army. At that time, many troops could only eat one meal a day, and weapons and ammunition were even more difficult to replenish!
Under such circumstances, the Chinese army had to stop taking the initiative to attack and turn to the defensive stage! At the same time, troops from all over the country were also rushing to Shanghai, including General Yang Hucheng's Northwest Army!
And the protagonist of our article, Yu Deyuan, is the deputy of the second lieutenant company of the third battalion and one company of the Yang Hucheng Special Agent Regiment of the Northwest Army.
Figure | Elder Hero of Yude
After the Battle of Songhu began, Yang Hucheng was ordered to dispatch the elite forces of the Seventeenth Route Army to form a "reinforcement regiment" to Songhu, and Yu Deyuan was among them!
According to records, the reinforcement regiment had a total of more than 1,800 soldiers, each armed with an 8-pound knife, six grenades and a machine gun. After arriving in Shanghai, they were incorporated into the 88th Division, and their main task was to defend the Bund positions!
However, the Bund positions were low-lying, and when the soldiers built the fortifications, their trenches were dug less than a meter and began to seep water. There was no way, the warriors had to stand in waist-deep water to fight the enemy.
Despite the harsh environment, Yu Deyuan and his comrades-in-arms had no complaints and still fought the most brutal confrontation with the enemy.
But the Japanese fire was still too fierce! Yu Deyuan they faced the elite Japanese army with well-equipped aircraft, tanks, and artillery, and as soon as the battle began, the comrades around them were constantly wounded and killed, and the water in the trenches was stained red with blood. This shows how fierce the battle is!
However, despite this, Yu Deyuan and his comrades were not frightened by the blood, but shouted indignantly: "We must not let the Japanese take down the position!" ”
For the Japanese aircraft cannons, Yu Deyuan and his comrades were not afraid at all, and at this time they had only one thought in their minds: to destroy the Japanese Kou!
The battle is still in full swing! The enemy's aircraft cannons were tearing at the Bund positions where Deyuan and his comrades were stationed, and shells hit the positions one after another, and suddenly the flames soared into the sky and scorched earth...
Just at this moment, a bullet suddenly crossed the top of Yu Deyuan's head, Yu Deyuan only felt that his forehead was hot, his eyes were suddenly blurred, the bullet peeled off his scalp, and the blood covered his eyes!
Now that the war was tense, Yu Deyuan still had to bandage the wound, and after a simple wipe, he continued to fight with the Japanese Kou with a gun.
In the next few battles, Yu Deyuan's left leg and neck were successively painted, and his body was already injured in many places! But at this time, he couldn't care about these things at all, he had already put life and death aside, and vowed to coexist and die with the position!
In the case of the logistics supply line being cut off by the Japanese army, Yu Deyuan and his comrades had difficulty replenishing their weapons and ammunition, and after a fierce battle, they were already in the predicament of running out of ammunition and food.
But no one retreated from beginning to end, and they continued to hold their positions, staring angrily at the enemy ahead. Then, they drew a large knife from their backs and prepared to fight with the Japanese!
Speaking of fighting the Japanese with a large knife, one has to think of the patriotic general General Song Zheyuan who led the Twenty-ninth Army to resist when the Japanese army invaded the mouth of the Great Wall in 1933.
However, due to the shortage of weapons and ammunition supplies, and the weapons and equipment of the Twenty-ninth Army were far behind the Japanese army, in order to fight the enemy to the death, General Song Zheyuan formed a "big knife team". When fighting against the enemy's short troops, the "big knife team" severely defeated the Japanese army, and thus became famous!
Since then, the most primitive cold weapon such as the "big knife" has been favored by various combat units. Mr. Ma Fengtu, a famous martial artist in the Republic of China period, also specially invented the "Eight Broken Blades" specifically for the characteristics of the Japanese army!!
In addition, Mr. Ma Fengtu also wrote the "Eight Knives of Breaking the Blade" and the "White Blade Tactical Tutorial" for the Northwest Army, trained a brave and tenacious large knife team for the Northwest Army, and played an active role in the War of Resistance Against Japan.
Yu Deyuan, who was born in the Northwest Army, naturally needless to say about his big knife kung fu!
Figure | A large knife that frightens Nikko
Yu Deyuan and his comrades-in-arms shouted in unison and rushed towards the enemy!
Wielding eight-pound knives in the enemy group, they began to engage in a fierce and brutal hand-to-hand combat with the enemy, and suddenly blood and flesh were splashed, and the shouts of killing, screaming, and groaning were connected...
Gradually, the Japanese did not move, and all kinds of noisy sounds gradually subsided - the battle was over!
But when the battle ended, Yu Deyuan himself did not know, his first reaction was - "I am still alive!" And when he thought about it carefully, he killed 13 Japanese troops in succession!
After more than a month of bloody fighting in the rain of bullets and bullets, Yu Deyuan and his comrades-in-arms withdrew to Shaanxi in October, but only 600 of the 1,800-strong team finally returned, and the remaining 1,200 comrades-in-arms all sacrificed their lives for the country, and the blood spilled on the battlefield!
In 2006, the "Generation of Knife Gods" died of illness at the age of 90!
Some people say that the reason why Old Master Yu was able to live 90 years old and die peacefully was because he killed too many enemies that year, defended his family and defended the country, and God rewarded him with the number of lifespans!
On November 4, 1937, the Japanese 10th Army landed at Hangzhou Bay, and the Eighth Army, which was originally deployed in this area for defense, was successively transferred to the Pudong front due to the tight war in Shanghai, resulting in only two companies of the Sixty-third Division and a small number of local troops facing the Japanese army!
So the final result can be imagined, the Japanese army almost effortlessly completed the landing, and began to attack the flank rear of our army.
According to the current war situation, at this time, our Shanghai defenders were already in danger of being encircled and annihilated, but Chiang Kai-shek ordered the troops to hold out for another three days.
It was not until 4 days later, when the Japanese 10th Army began to cross the Huangpu River and attack our Shanghai garrison with the "Shanghai Dispatch Army", that Chiang Kai-shek ordered a retreat.
However, the retreat was too late at this time, and the means of communication were extremely backward at that time, so that the order reached the troops on November 9.
A hasty retreat will eventually only lead to confusion among the troops, and the retreat will eventually become a "rout"! Sure enough, the right wing of the Chinese defenders soon fell into chaos and were hit hard by the Japanese army!
By the 11th, Shanghai had declared its fall, and the Battle of Songhu, which lasted for nearly 3 months, was officially over!
History proves that the defeat of the Battle of Songhu had a very bad impact on the entire domestic war situation at that time, which directly led to the passive situation of the "Nanjing Defense War" in early December, and finally the tragic Nanjing Massacre in the history of human warfare occurred!
Of course, there are many reasons for the defeat of this campaign, among which the backwardness of our army's weapons and equipment is an important reason; in addition, some erroneous decisions made by the Kuomintang top brass headed by Chiang Kai-shek are also one of the important reasons for the defeat of this campaign!
But then again, in this campaign, the indomitable spirit of our Chinese soldiers also moved the people of the whole world, and the Japanese army's attempt to threaten to "destroy China in three months" finally vanished, and began to sink into the Chinese battlefield step by step!
In addition to Yu Deyuan, a large number of patriotic heroes also emerged in this war, and they made indelible contributions to China's cause of the War of Resistance!