Major General Ushijima Mitsuru personally flew to Shanghai Central China Dispatch Force Headquarters and reported the defeat to the commander, General Hata Shunroku.
His Excellency, Hata Shunroku was extremely shocked.
The imperial army fought in China, no matter how brutal the battle, it would not lose the regiment flag. , it seems that the tenacity of the Beitai defenders far exceeded expectations.
Shunroku Hata immediately summoned Lieutenant General Eijiro Ehashi, commander of the Army Air Corps, and ordered him to suspend the bombing of Wuhan and organize a powerful air force to carry out a devastating attack on Beitai.
The aviation force dispatched the 60th Heavy Bombardment Squadron and the 10th Combat Squadron to fly to North Thailand in an aggressive manner to carry out the first round of revenge.
At the Jiangnan air defense post, the air defense observer under the cover of lush foliage heard a dull roar from the horizon and hurriedly picked up his telescope to observe.
He saw a black mass of aircraft coming over the sky.
He was so frightened that he quickly grabbed the phone and shook his head: "Hey, hey, Japan.
There are hundreds of planes coming.”
The air-raid alarm on the Beitai City Hall building rang loudly, and people rushed into the nearest air-raid shelter.
Beitai designed many civil defense fortifications during the construction period.
After the war started, residents were encouraged to dig simple air-raid bunkers in their yards. , just to resist the Japanese bombing.
The people entered the air-raid shelter, but the army went to the roof and set up machine guns.
In the anti-aircraft artillery position, the artillery quickly took up its position, shook the handle, and pointed the muzzle to the sky.
Before the seventy-two Type 93 heavy bombers flew over the Huaijiang River, dozens of Soviet-style Yi-16 fighter jets appeared in the air.
It turned out that the North Thai side had long expected that the Japanese army would send bombers to retaliate, and after coordination with the Wuhan Military Commission, they borrowed The Soviet volunteer aviation force fought an air blockade.
The Japanese fighter jets responsible for covering came forward and fought with the Soviet aircraft.
The bombers were not affected and continued to move forward.
The focus of their bombing trip was the Beitai Railway Station, steel plants, and barracks.
Looking from a distance, Beitai's power plant chimneys and cooling towers were still smoking.
The city was not big, but it was very organized.
It must have taken a lot of effort to build such a city, the pilots thought silently.
Intelligence showed that the China Army was equipped with imported Oerlikon anti-aircraft guns, so the bombers maintained an altitude of five thousand meters and carried out horizontal bombing.
The pilots looked at the city below indifferently, pressed the bomb release button, and a series of bombs fell. .
Suddenly, the plane trembled, anti-aircraft shells exploded next to it one after another, and clouds of smoke rose up.
The plane was hit.
The pilots shouted, hurriedly put on their parachute bags and jumped out.
They opened their parachutes in the air and saw themselves.
People's planes fell one after another.
Looking at the feet, there were anti-aircraft fires everywhere, and the firepower density seemed to be stronger than that in Wuhan.
There are not many anti-aircraft guns that can hit an altitude of 5,000 meters.
The Chinese army only has a few imported German FK36 88mm anti-aircraft guns that can reach this level.
Beitai, a small country, is actually equipped with no less than ten 88mm guns.
It is simply incredible.
With the 88 guns equipped with proximity fuses, all aircraft were vulnerable.
The 60th Heavy Bombardment Team hurried back without dropping their bombs.
They were important aviation units and could not be lost in insignificant places.
There were winners and losers in the air battle.
The Soviet Air Force lost three aircraft and the Japanese fighter planes lost six.
This battle was another great victory.
The news reached Wuhan, and Chairman Chiang Kai-shek personally issued a commendation order.
A ship full of condolences was shipped from Hankou.
The Military Commission also realized the importance of Beitai.
If the Japanese invaders want to press Wuhan, they must first remove Beitai. , so the highest authorities appointed Chen Zikun as the commander-in-chief of defense in the middle reaches of the Huaijiang River, leading his troops to resist the Japanese invaders.
Here comes the embarrassing problem.
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There is no regular army in the entire Jiangbei area.
They rely entirely on police and militia groups to fight.
This is unjustifiable both emotionally and rationally.
They want to send more troops, but after the Songhu Battle, the Central Army’s troops are stretched thin and they still have to defend key cities.
In fact, they want to send more troops.
Unable to spare any troops.
Amidst all the difficulties, Chen Cheng suggested that the Chairman of the Generalissimo should restore the organization of the Model Seventeenth Division and let the people of Jiangdong defend their homeland on their own.
At this time, Chen Qilin, Liu Xiaoyong and others had been sitting on the bench in Wuhan for several months.
During the war years, the government agencies were in chaos, and too many troops were disorganized.
Polish commanders were all over the streets, shouting for restoration.
To organize and recruit troops, the central government does not have so many weapons, equipment and strong men.
The central army itself cannot even feed it, let alone the miscellaneous armed forces.
Although Chen Qilin is a direct descendant of Huangpu, he has gradually become alienated from the Central Committee after serving as chief of staff in Jiangdong for many years.
Although those old classmates have become division commanders and brigade commanders, they can't speak in the Military Commission and see that their subordinates can't even eat. , Chen Qilin was so anxious that his hair was almost turning gray.
Suddenly news came that Beitai had three victories in three battles, annihilating thousands of Japanese invaders, and the trophies were all sent to Wuhan for exhibition.
Chen Qilin thought this was an opportunity, and hurriedly reported to the Ministry of Military Affairs.
In the past, he was always rejected, but this time he finally got something good.
With a look on his face, a car took him to the Chairman's residence.
Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Meiling personally summoned him and even gave him a meal.
A week later, Chen Qilin took a letter of appointment and hundreds of subordinates and sailed to Beitai.
The organization of the 17th Model Division was finally restored.
However, the Military Commission did not have enough soldiers for him and only drew two companies from the garrison.
Putting up the airs of the Seventeenth Division was enough for Chen Qilin.
What he wants is not soldiers and equipment, but an opportunity to go into battle and kill the enemy.
The reinforcements from Wuhan have once again boosted the morale of the North Thai army.
This shows that they are not fighting alone.
In fact, the official has been claiming that they can get a steady stream of supplies from the rear.
In fact, the food and ammunition transported from Wuhan are only a handful.
Shu, Beitai is fighting alone.
Fortunately, Chen Zikun took precautions and hid a large amount of arms.
Refugees from Beitai gathered together.
When the recruitment flag was raised, there were people to eat food.
In just a few days, he recruited two thousand strong men.
At least he raised the 17th Division, including Beitai.
There are regular troops stationed there.
Chen Zikun continued to ask for supplies from Wuhan.
Food, ammunition and gasoline were urgently needed in Beitai, but these supplies were needed even more in the rear, especially gasoline, which was extremely valuable.
The chairman personally approved the note and only replenished a hundred barrels.
Gong Zijun had some idea.
He went to Wuhan in person with gold bars and US dollars, and successfully obtained a batch of gasoline.
It turned out that it was not that there was no gasoline, but that most of it had been hoarded by people with connections.
As long as he was willing to spend money, he could buy it. .
The Japanese army was eager to deal with the enemy in Beitai and sent warships north along the river.
Unfortunately, the lower reaches of the Huaijiang River were densely covered with mines.
After losing a destroyer, the navy expressed its inability to do anything and asked the army to solve the problem on its own.
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The headquarters of the Central China Expeditionary Force was moved from Shanghai to Nanjing and began to implement the war guidance points centered on autumn operations formulated by the General Staff Headquarters to destroy Wuhan, the last center of Chiang Kai-shek's regime.
To conquer Wuhan, Beitai must be eliminated first.
General Hata Junliu mobilized 50,000 troops, including the mecha regiment and the heavy artillery brigade, and approached Beitai with a sledgehammer.
He claimed to the base camp that this was also the key to the Wuhan strategy. part.
The engineering troops first repaired the railway destroyed by the Chinese army, and then pulled the troops one by one to the south bank of the Huaijiang River.
The 240mm super-heavy howitzers carried on the trains began to bombard them.
The huge 240-caliber artillery shells required a crane to be loaded.
Every time a round was fired, the earth trembled.
The shells roared and fell into the urban area of Beitai, and there was a sea of fire everywhere.
On the south bank, the 150mm field cannon of the Independent Heavy Artillery Battalion also joined the bombardment.
This time the Central China Expeditionary Forces spent a lot of money, and the shells poured into the north bank for free without stopping for a moment.
The north bank was unable to fight back.
The only ones that could reach the Japanese army were four 105mm howitzers, but there were only a few shells left.
Since Germany recognized Manchukuo in February, the arms trade with China had stopped, and the number of shells fired was one less.
After the shooting, these four cannons were useless.
The city trembled under artillery fire, countless houses were destroyed, and there was a sea of fire everywhere.
The most serious losses were in the refugee camp in the west of the city.
The tents here were densely covered, and the aerial reconnaissance looked like a barracks, so they suffered the most shells.
The refugees suffered heavy casualties, which was horrific.
According to the statistics afterwards , thousands of people died.
Just as the bombardment stopped, the bombing began.
The protagonist this time was the Type 96 land attack of the Japanese naval aviation.
The rising sun emblem filled the sky like the bloody mouth of the god of death.
Four fighter jets from Beitai shot down three bombers and five escort fighter jets.
Later, all were shot down.
The Japanese bombers focused on taking care of the airport in Beitai.
The runway was riddled with bomb craters and looked useless.
The worst part was that the oil depot was hit by bombs and exploded, and all the gasoline that had been saved was gone.
The docks were also heavily bombed, and three cargo ships were sunk.
The underground command post of the city hall was filled with gloom and gloom.
Although it had been known for a long time that the power of Beitai City could not withstand the Japanese overwhelming force, at the last moment, everyone was still very sad.
"Cheer up, there is still a tough battle to be fought tomorrow."
Chen Zikun said bravely.
Three days of continuous shelling and bombing made him exhausted.
At dawn the next day, the Japanese army shelled again, but Beitai was still unable to fight back.
The Japanese army sent a squadron of infantry to sneak onto the Huaijiang Iron Bridge.
In the mist of dawn, the railway tracks stretched into the distance like two long snakes.
The infantrymen wore 90-inch iron caps on their heads and carried Type 38 rifles.
They walked cautiously.
They were scouts and were born to be cannon fodder.
If the Chinese army opened fire , the artillery in the rear will perform fire suppression.
In other words, they use their lives to attract the enemy to expose their firepower points.
But the Chinese army did not fire.
A squadron of Japanese troops all passed the iron bridge.
A burst of intense gunfire erupted on the other side.
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Five minutes later, a green signal flare rose into the sky.
This was a signal that the bridgehead had been successfully established.
The mecha brigade took action upon hearing the news, and thirty-two Type 95 light tanks braved the smoke and drove onto the Huaijiang Iron Bridge, with infantry covering both sides of the convoy.
In the bunker on the north bank, Chen Zikun put down his telescope and said calmly: "It's time."
Xiao Lang closed his eyes and pressed the switch for electric detonation.
The Huaijiang Iron Bridge was broken into four parts by the violent explosion and fell into the river.
At the same time, the artillery on the north bank, which had been dormant for many days, let out its final roar
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