The Battle of Baoshan Another story about the Six Hundred .

There was another battle in the "Battle of Songhu".

In terms of scale, this battle is not too big either.

The number of Chinese defenders was about the same as the number of the Sixing Warehouse Defense.

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However, the ending is different.

August 31, 1937

Yao Ziqing's camp took over Baoshan City

By the time the Battle of Songhu reached the end of August in 1937, the situation in Shanghai had changed.

After struggling to block the desperate attack of the squadron, the thousands of Japanese marines who were stubbornly waiting for reinforcements finally looked forward to the good news they longed for day and night:

On August 23, the Japanese army's two divisions, the 3rd and 11th Divisions, under the cover of the Japanese Navy's dense naval guns, forcibly landed in the vicinity of Wusongkou Wharf, Shishilin, and Chuanshakou in Shanghai. Although the Chinese defenders stubbornly resisted, the gap in firepower between the two sides was too large, and the positions were broken one after another, and finally a large number of Japanese reinforcements landed successfully.

The situation that was originally an all-out attack by the squadron was reversed overnight.

Chiang Kai-shek, knowing that the situation was not good, immediately recruited his close confidant, Chen Cheng, who was then the deputy minister of the Ministry of Military Affairs, and ordered him to form a new 15th Army, which immediately went to the landing site of the Japanese army, and did his best to prevent the enemy from further breaking through into the downtown area of Shanghai.

The 15th Group Army was under the jurisdiction of Luo Zhuoying's 18th Army, Xia Chuzhong's 98th Division, and Wang Yaowu's 51st Division and Yu Jishi's 58th Division, all of which were the elite of the ** army - after investing in the 87th, 88th and 36th divisions, Chiang Kai-shek completely threw out his cards.

Since August 23, the Chinese and Japanese armies have been centered on a small town called "Luodian" in the north of Shanghai, and the two sides have invested more than 100,000 soldiers before and after, launching an unprecedentedly tragic offensive and defensive battle, so that the "Battle for Luodian" has become one of the bloodiest battlefields during the entire Battle of Songhu, known as the "Flesh Mill".

In the battle for Luodian, due to the high groundwater level in Shanghai, water seeped out when the trenches were dug to a depth of 1 meter underground, so they could not provide too good shelter. (For the relevant plot, please refer to "Further Reading [1]).

At this time, the command of the Japanese "Shanghai Dispatch Army" found a small county town on the map, which became a target that had to be taken.

This county seat, although the radius is only ten miles, but the east and north are close to the Yangtze River, ten miles to the south is the Wusong Fort, to the west ten miles is the Lion Forest Fortress, located in a dangerous place, for the soldiers must fight for the place.

If the Japanese army were to continue to advance along the line of Luodian and Yuepu, then this county town would be stuck in their throat like a thorn.

This county seat is Baoshan.

The county seat of Baoshan is located on the rear side of the landing Japanese army, and its strategic location is very important

The attack on Baoshan City was the main force of the Japanese Third Division and the 11th Division, while the defending squadron was the 6th Division under the command of Zhou Zhe (same as "Yan"). After several bloody battles before, the Sixth Division had a broken lineup and retreated after being unable to fight.

At the critical moment, Chen Cheng, commander of the 15th Group Army, gave Xia Chuzhong of the 98th Division a death order:

You must take Baoshan City, or you will see you!

The 98th Division belongs to the ** army, and it is from Chen Cheng's own "civil engineering department", * equipment and soldier quality are higher than ordinary troops, and the division commander Xia Chuzhong is also a famous general.

Chen Cheng, the adjutant of education after the establishment of the Whampoa Military Academy, and the commander of the artillery company after the Whampoa Army was formed, entered Chiang Kai-shek's field of vision with his military exploits in the "Battle of Mianhu" (see Further Reading [2]).

Chen Cheng's faction in the National Revolutionary Army was called the "civil engineering department", because "earth" was dismantled into "eleven", and "wood" was dismantled into "eighteen", referring to the eleventh division and eighteenth army that Chen Cheng started. Because Chen Cheng played an exemplary role, the overall style of the "Civil Engineering Department" was relatively clean and the combat effectiveness was strong, and it was the main force of the ** army at that time.

Next, it must be to defend Baoshan.

According to the strategic deployment, the main force of the 98th Division is to build fortifications and defend along the area of Yuepu Town, among them, the 584th Regiment clamped down on the Japanese troops in the direction of Luodian in the positions of Hanzhai and Wudoujing east of Luodian, the 587th Regiment held on to the area of Zhuzhai and Sunjialou, and the 588th Regiment took into account the Lion Forest-Yuepu-Baoshan line, and the battle line was already very long.

In other words, Xia Chuzhong no longer had any troops in his hands to defend Baoshan City.

But everyone knows the importance of Baoshan County, and the order of the governor Chen Cheng cannot be disobeyed.

After thinking about it, Xia Chuzhong thought of the 292nd Brigade and the 583rd Regiment under his command.

At this time, the 583rd Regiment also fought hard for many days, although its morale was still there, but it was seriously reduced, and it also undertook important defense. After calculating, Xia Chuzhong decided to invest in the 3rd Battalion of the 583rd Regiment.

The 3rd Battalion of the 583rd Regiment was originally a strategic reserve, which had basically not undergone the baptism of artillery, and there were still less than 600 people in the whole battalion (more than 700 people).

On August 31, the commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 583rd Regiment of the 98th Division, who had entered the city before, was ordered to lead the whole battalion to officially take over the defense of Baoshan County.

The battalion commander's name is Yao Ziqing.

Yao Ziqing, whose name is Qi, was born on December 24, 1908 in Pingyuan County, Guangdong Province, and is a Hakka person.

Yao Ziqing is the fifth child in the family. Although the family was poor, his father Yao Cangshi still worked hard to provide him with education. Yao Ziqing has excelled in his studies since he was a child, but after finishing middle school, he, like many patriotic young people at that time, believed that only by throwing his pen to work in Rong could he save his motherland.

In October 1926, Yao Ziqing was admitted to the sixth phase of the Whampoa Military Academy, and after graduation, he entered the 11th Division of the National Revolutionary Army as a trainee officer. During the Central Plains War, Yao Ziqing, as a platoon commander, took the lead, but he still refused to retreat after being shot in the leg, made meritorious contributions and was promoted to company commander. By April 1936, at the age of 28, he had been promoted to the commander of the third battalion of the 583rd Regiment of the 292nd Brigade of the 98th Division.

Yao Ziqing

Since 1931, the Chinese have endured and endured, retreated and retreated, and now, they are finally going to open up and fight with the Japanese with real swords and guns.

Yao Ziqing set off for the battlefield with the determination to die. Before the departure of the troops, he wrote a letter to his wife at home, in which he wrote:

If you can survive here, it is a great luck, if there is an accident, don't be sad, but raise your children well, and be filial to Aunt Weng."

And after stationing in Baoshan City and inspecting it, Yao Ziqing actually basically had a bottom about his fate in this battle:

Not surprisingly, this is the place where he was martyred.

Baoshan County is located in a key area and is a place that the Japanese army must take. However, although the county town has walls, they are all made of mud and are very low, and once they are attacked by the enemy, not only is it very easy for the opponent to climb, but it will collapse with a bang. The moat outside the city is also very shallow, making it difficult to build any effective fortifications.

In a word, Baoshan County is "easy to attack and difficult to defend".

The former site of Baoshan County

From any point of view, using a battalion to defend this county seat is a mortal task.

But Yao Ziqing sent a telegram to the brigade commander:

It is the responsibility to defend the land, and swear to live and die with Baoshan, please rest assured that the brigade commander. ”

From September 1, the tentative offensive of the Japanese army around the periphery of Baoshan had actually begun.

The 68th Wing of the Third Division was responsible for attacking Baoshan County, with about 3,000 people. Among them, the first brigade of about 1,100 people is responsible for the main attack, and the second and third brigades are responsible for blocking the southwest area of Baoshan County and blocking the reinforcements of the first brigade.

At the moment of the war, Yao Ziqing convened the whole battalion to speak

Brethren, remember what I said before I came to Shanghai? Raise soldiers for a thousand days, and use them for a while. Right now, the Japanese devils have hit our doorstep, killing my compatriots, raping my sisters, invading our country's land, and deceiving people too much! Not expelling the devils is a great shame for every one of our soldiers! Now the time has come for us to take revenge, brothers. Fight to the end with the devils! ”

The soldiers of the whole battalion were enthusiastic and shouted together:

People are in the position! ”

However, in the face of the enemy's artillery fire and aircraft bombing, the hot-blooded Chinese ** people felt sadness and helplessness.

Putting aside the disadvantage in the number of troops, in terms of equipment, the three battalions of the 523 regiment belonging to the 98th division have been calculated in the squadron: in addition to conventional rifles, the whole battalion is also equipped with more than 20 light machine guns and 6 heavy machine guns, and is equipped with a certain number of mortars, and the fighters are even equipped with German-style M35 steel helmets. However, in front of the Japanese wing, which was equipped with 12 75mm infantry guns and 4 75mm field guns, the squadron's firepower still looked so weak.

What's more, in addition to the coordinated attack of aircraft and tanks, the Japanese destroyers and cruisers anchored on the river were suppressed by naval guns. If Japan's army was not strong in the world during World War II, then Japan's navy was indeed the world's best at that time.

At that time, the Japanese armored cruiser "Izumo" moored on the Shanghai River. This battleship can only be ranked second rate in the Japanese Navy at most, but it also has a displacement of nearly 10,000 tons, and the main gun is a quadruple two-seat 203 mm, and the power of this cannon is far from being comparable to the power of the army's field guns.

After Fang Jing, the commander of the 294th Brigade, learned that Yao Ziqing was in a desperate situation, he sent the deputy brigade commander Gong Chuanwen to personally inspect Baoshan City, and after witnessing the poor defensive conditions, Gong Chuanwen suggested that Fang Jing send reinforcements. Fang Jing ordered a battalion of the 587th Regiment to rush to the aid and authorized Yao Ziqing to take unified command of the two battalions.

However, the reinforcements of this battalion were strafed and bombed by Japanese planes on the road, and they were so heavy that they could only be forced to retreat.

Yao Ziqing's only reinforcement was cut off.

On September 4, after indiscriminate bombardment by artillery and aviation, the Japanese 68th Wing launched an attack on the west of Baoshan City.

Yao Ziqing led his troops to take the initiative to attack and repelled the enemy.

However, the overall situation around Baoshan took a sharp turn for the worse: after a night of hard fighting, the Chinese defenders in the surrounding Lion Forest and other positions had no choice but to retreat in the face of the strong Japanese firepower, and their positions fell into the hands of the enemy.

Baoshan County is surrounded on all sides and has become a lonely city in the true sense.

On September 4, more than 30 Japanese ships anchored at Wusongkou also began to concentrate their artillery and bombard Baoshan fiercely. In front of the huge power of the naval guns, the fortifications built by the squadron were easily smashed into pieces like mud.

Japan** opened fire on Baoshan County** (Japanese army data**).

Everyone knows that after the artillery fire is prepared, the Japanese army is about to launch a general attack.

At dawn on September 5, after cutting off the county town of Baoshan from all squadrons, the general offensive of the Japanese army began.

In the sequence of attacking Japanese troops, in addition to the 68th Infantry Wing a day earlier, the 12th Infantry Wing, the 43rd Infantry Wing and a tank squadron were added, as well as three additional artillery brigades.

These thousands of people are facing a lonely city in Baoshan with a broken city wall, and more than 500 people who will not retreat.

Japanese troops firing artillery at the county seat of Baoshan

The enemy had more than 30 warships lined up on the river at our east gate, and more than 10 planes bombarded our city gates. ”

In one morning, the Japanese launched four charges, all of which were repulsed by Yao Ziqing's troops.

In desperation, the Japanese army began to fire sulfur bombs, and Baoshan City suddenly burst into flames: the enemy was ready to burn the city.

At this time, more than half of the Chinese defenders had already been killed, and Yao Ziqing counted the list: 3 of the 4 company commanders were killed, and 6 of the 9 platoon commanders were killed.

Yao Ziqing ordered:

All handymen, including linemen, cooks, and heralds, are to go to the front line! ”

Subsequently, despite the dissuasion, he also came to the East Gate position.

Before leaving, he made an explanation:

I died, the company commander took over my command, the company commander died, the platoon commander took over, the platoon commander died, the squad leader took over, the squad leader died, and the veteran took over. At that time, there is no need to ask for a report, just take over automatically. ”

In the evening, the commander of the 68th Wing of the Japanese Army, Takashi Takamori, took the lead himself, and under the cover of tanks, led the army to launch another charge towards Baoshan Castle.

In the face of the Japanese tanks rushing to the front of the position, the grenades of the Chinese defenders could not play a role, so the most common tragic scene on the anti-Japanese battlefield was staged again in the Baoshan position:

Li Weiming, a senior soldier of the second company of the third battalion, strapped grenades around his waist and held two more in his hands, roared, jumped up, and got under the tracks of the Japanese tanks.

With a loud bang, the tank was paralyzed, and the Japanese retreated.

At sunset, Yao Ziqing counted the number of people again in the ruins and found that there were only more than 100 people left in the whole camp.

A still from the movie "The Defender".

Baoshan City is related to the overall situation, and the battalion commander should rely on the will of the commission, and he must defend it until every soldier fights. The battalion should take Baoshan as its destination and establish immortal miracles. and should be prepared for street fighting, and in case the city falls, it should be killed with the enemy."

Yao Ziqing knew that it was impossible for the division headquarters to send reinforcements again.

The "letter of persuasion" that the Japanese army put into Baoshan City was sternly rejected by Yao Ziqing

Chen Cheng later recorded in his diary:

Because the division was too large and there were only more than 500 combat soldiers left, Division Commander Xia urgently asked for help, but there was no soldier in his hand to help. At present, there is still one battalion in the division, and you (referring to Xia Chuzhong, commander of the 98th Division) should have the determination of you, the battalion commander, to save the overall situation with one battalion. In short, I hope to tell the subordinates that they have decided to stick to it without an order, and that the Shangguan will never make worthless sacrifices to the ministry, and that the whole plan has been carried out. ”

That night, Yao Ziqing called back to the division headquarters:

With the purpose of swearing to die with the enemy, stick to the city walls, survive a breath, and fight to the end. ”

In the early morning of September 6, another wave of Japanese attacks began.

In the roar of the heavy artillery of the Japanese army, the city wall of Baoshan County collapsed in many places, and there were countless gaps.

The Japanese army climbed the wall of Baoshan County (Japanese army information**).

The scene when the Japanese army captured the south gate of Baoshan County (Japanese army information**).

No suspense: street fighting.

One house and one tile, resolutely not retreating.

At 10 o'clock in the morning, at this time, there were only about 20 brothers left around Yao Ziqing, but still no one flinched.

The Japanese army has already swarmed into the city, and the city is broken, and it is just around the corner.

People are destined to die from birth, but heroes die like they die! ”

Under Yao Ziqing's call, all the surviving officers and soldiers loaded their guns with bayonets and resolutely rushed towards the Japanese troops who were surging like a tide.

There is no exact information on how Yao Ziqing died in the end, some say that he was hit by a shell, and some say that he was hit by a bullet.

What is certain is that Yao Ziqing was martyred at around 10 a.m. on September 6 at the age of 29.

On the evening of September 5, Yao Ziqing sent a soldier of the 9th Company named Wei Jianju to go out of the city at night to report on the battle. Except for this Wei Jianju and a few survivors who were sent out of the city in advance due to injuries, from Yao Ziqing onwards, all fought to the death.

The third battalion of the 523rd Regiment of the 98th Division, the whole battalion was martyred in Baoshan City.

Stills from the movie "The Defender" (the crew used the previous statement that Yao Ziqing was martyred on September 7, but according to Chen Cheng's telegram at the time, Baoshan County was broken on September 6, and Yao Ziqing's sacrifice that morning should not be disputed).

The 68th Wing of the Japanese Army, which had stormed the city, also fell silent after a brief cheer.

The aggressor troops, who had just set foot on Chinese soil at the beginning of August, were still educated until they left their country and boarded the ship

The army of China is vulnerable, and as long as we are **, they will retreat.

At this point, I'm afraid they won't be able to figure it out either:

Obviously, there is no rescue anymore, and there is such a huge difference in strength, but why would the squadron in front of him rather fight to the last drop of blood than sacrifice all?

This question will accompany them from Shanghai to Xuzhou, from Wuhan to Changsha.

Until they were defeated and surrendered in 1945.

End of text).Yaqiu said

used to watch the TV series "Bright Sword", and his subordinates called Chu Yunfei, the commander of the 358th Regiment, "the regimental seat", and even the commander of a battalion under his command was also called "the battalion seat".

According to research, not to mention "battalion seat" and "regimental seat", even titles such as "division seat" and "military seat" were rare in the army at that time, and they were all interpretations of TV dramas.

Chiang Kai-shek has what is really often called "X seat", that is, "commission".

So the reason why there are imaginary titles such as "regimental seat" and "battalion seat" is probably because in the sequence of an army, regimental and battalion-level officers, who are already colonel-level officers, can reach the baseline of "leading cadres".

The tragedy of a battle can actually be seen from the number of regimental and battalion-level officers killed.

In the first battle of Songhu, within three months, the squadron lost 28 regiment commanders, 44 battalion commanders, company commanders and below, no exact statistics were found, but taking the 98th Division as an example, the number of officers below the battalion level, including deputies and those who were promoted in battle, reached 200 people.

In a campaign, starting from the command of the Supreme Command, the strategic intent is transmitted through the commanders of the theater, the commanders of the group armies, the corps commanders, and the division commanders, and finally reaches the nerve endings and embodies the overall strategic intent and the will to fight.

However, compared with the army commanders and division commanders in the Battle of Songhu, among the regiment commanders and battalion commanders who died, except for Xie Jinyuan, Yao Ziqing and a few others, how many names can we report? Not to mention the company commanders, platoon commanders and squad leaders who lay down in the trenches with their comrades to block the attack, and rushed out with bayonets to fight hand-to-hand.

Xie Jinyuan (in fact, he was just a group of people before) was widely reported by ** because he led his troops to guard the Sixing Warehouse, and he left his name in history; Yao Ziqing led his troops to defend the county seat of Baoshan, and finally alarmed Chiang Kai-shek (called "a pioneering example of modern warfare. This kind of glory and sorrow shocked China and foreign countries"), so it became a model. Of course, they are admirable, but you and I both know that in addition to them, there are too many regiment commanders, battalion commanders, company commanders, platoon commanders and squad leaders, and even thousands of ordinary soldiers, whose names we don't know.

But although we do not remember their names, history does not forget them, and even, their enemies do not.

On the day of the fall of Baoshan County, Second Lieutenant Toshio Nishimura, a member of the Third Section sent by the Japanese General Staff Headquarters to Shanghai to inspect the county, sent a report to Tokyo, the first of which was:

The enemy's resistance was so stubborn that it never retreated, whether it was shelled or surrounded. ”

To a certain extent, during the war years, the backbone of the squadron and the spirit of the Chinese nation were displayed through these officers and soldiers who were fighting on the front line -- how well they behaved represented how the nation behaved.

Maybe they didn't leave a story, or even a name, but we will all remember it.

Don't worry about the road ahead, there is no confidant, and everyone in the world will remember you.

Salute! Hats off!

End of full text).

p.s The last attached picture was sent to me yesterday by my friend, saying that it was taken outside the Shanghai Sixing Warehouse Memorial Hall.

2. "The Latest Achievements in the Study of the History of the Songhu War in Fudan: Chen Cheng's Telegram Decrypts the Date of the Fall of Baoshan" (Shen Zhushi, Wen Wei Po, August 13, 2015).

3, "The Hero Battalion Commander of Baoshan City - Yao Ziqing" (He Lansheng, "Whampoa" Military Academy Alumni Association Network, 2007 02 issue).

4. "Anti-Japanese Martyr Yao Ziqing" (Feng Xihuang, "Yuanliu", 2015 Issue 06).

5. "Yao Ziqing Baoshan's Bloodshed" (Li Zhuang, People's Political Consultative Conference, August 23, 2007).

6, "The Battle of Baoshan in the First Public Photo of the Japanese Army Not Permitted" (Netease History Channel· passerby" column).

7. "War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression" (Wang Shuzeng, People's Literature Publishing House, first edition in June 2015).