lcionline Chapter 198: The Battle of Songhu Shocked the Southern Kingdom’s Skeleton Division
Chapter 198: The Battle of Songhu Shocked the Southern Kingdom’s Skeleton Division
The Northwestern Revolutionary Army had just taken control of the entire Mengzhou Province. On the Southern Government side, the 200,000-strong army of the Ninth Corps of the Northern Expedition also launched a full-scale attack on Shanghai.
The 14th and 16th Armies of the Southern Government's Central Army Group, totaling six division-level combat units and more than people, launched a full-scale attack on Jinshan District in the south of Shanghai and Qingpu District in the west.
Like a tide, the southern soldiers, after the two artillery brigades carried out a large-scale artillery baptism on the front trench positions of the SKELETON DIVISION, began to launch a fierce attack in regiments.
On the side of the Skeleton Division, experienced army commanders had already dug a large number of underground fortifications more than four meters deep and connecting the trenches in the front-line positions. During the Southern Government's artillery bombardment, a large number of soldiers had already retreated into the fortifications and did not suffer heavy losses due to the opponent's intensive artillery shells. At the same time, the armored heavy artillery regiment in the city launched a counterattack without hesitation after the opponent exposed its artillery positions.
骷髅师的装甲重炮团，一共拥有36门105MM的榴弹炮，48门75MM山炮，12门150MM的重型榴弹炮，以及2门203MM口径的雷神之锤。
Judging from the quality and quantity of artillery alone, the armored artillery regiment of the SS Division has more ferocious firepower than the two artillery brigades of the enemy.
Deafening artillery sounds rang out one after another. Before the two artillery brigades of the Southern Government had time to relocate their artillery positions, they were blown to pieces by the armored artillery regiment of the Skull Division, especially the Thor's Hammer of the 203rd Army. The shells alone weighed one hundred kilograms and required fifteen artillerymen to operate. The effective range was eighteen kilometers. When a shell landed on the enemy's artillery position, the power was so devastating that it even caused the entire ground nearby to tremble noticeably.
After a fifteen-minute artillery counterattack, the Southern Government's artillery brigade suffered heavy losses, with at least 40% of its artillery and artillery being blown to pieces. By the time the commanders of the two artillery brigades stabilized the situation and prepared to launch a counterattack during the lull in the artillery fire of the Skeleton Division, the armored artillery regiment had already used the mobility brought by a large number of tractors to switch to new artillery positions.
It can be said that the confrontation between the artillery units of both sides has already revealed a very obvious gap.
The 14th and 711,712th Fire Assault Regiments of the th Central Army of the Southern Government soon arrived at the trench positions outside the Qingpu District of the Skeleton Division. In their misconception of the commander, after several rounds of intensive artillery attacks, a large number of defensive soldiers in the trenches of the enemy positions must have suffered extremely heavy losses. They had been dizzy from the continuous artillery shells and could not put up any decent resistance at all.
Unfortunately, there is often a huge gap between ideal and reality.
At the frontline, in countless criss-crossing trenches, a large number of SKULL DIG soldiers poked their heads out of the trenches and set up a large number of MG42 general-purpose machine guns. The sound like a cloth-tearing machine rang out one after another, and the dense rain of bullets dealt a head-on blow to the charging Southern Army soldiers. The characteristics of MG42, such as high precision, small recoil, large ammunition supply and extremely fast firing rate, were fully utilized.
The 42st Skeleton Infantry Regiment stationed in the outer trench positions of Qingpu District was organized into companies, with each company of 711 men stationed in one trench. Each platoon had two or more MG712 general-purpose machine guns. The dense heavy firepower network caused the th and th Regiments, which attempted to charge the trench positions, to suffer massive casualties in less than half a quarter of an hour. On the battlefield, soldiers from two regiments were constantly shot into sieves by dense bullets, blood mist filled the air, and corpses fell on the way to the charge.
There were screams and gunshots everywhere, smoke everywhere, and blood flowing like a river. This is the true appearance of war.
The assault troops of the 711,712th and th Regiments had to retreat in a hurry. They came quickly and left even faster, leaving behind a trail of corpses on the road of charge and evacuating in a panic.
On the other hand, in the 1st Totenkopf Infantry Regiment of the Totenkopf Division, after the enemy retreated, all the officers, including the lower-level soldiers, did not show a trace of joy of victory on their faces.
"Clean up the battlefield immediately. Let the rescue team take care of the wounded and collect the bodies. Everyone should replenish their ammunition and stay in the trenches to rest. The kitchen team will deliver food and water in batches soon. After a short rest, prepare to face the next round of enemy attacks!"
The soldiers of the SKULL Division carried out their superiors' orders in an orderly manner, waiting for a new wave of enemy attacks.
And this is just a microcosm of the entire Shanghai war.
The two large trench positions set up by the SKELETON DIGESTINO on the outskirts of Shanghai effectively blocked wave after wave of attacks from the 9th Corps of the Northern Expedition. In the areas closer to the inner layer, the SKELETON DIGESTINO built a large number of concrete fortress bunkers to form a second line of defense. The two armored grenadier regiments, as mobile forces, could use their mobility to reinforce any area on the entire Shanghai battlefield at any time.
The reconnaissance battalion kept a close eye on the enemy's changes, offensive firepower, and troop deployment. The gendarmerie and guard regiment imposed martial law throughout the city of Shanghai to prevent any small group of Southern Government troops from infiltrating in disguise.
The close cooperation between the armored artillery regiment and the rocket artillery battalion made the southern government's artillery units miserable. Once the artillery positions were exposed, a series of intensive artillery bombardments would follow, causing very serious losses.
The 28,000 combat troops of the Skeleton Division made the entire city of Shanghai impregnable. The high-intensity war lasted for three days. The 20th Army of the 9th Corps of the Northern Expedition racked their brains, but could not even break through the outer trench defense positions set up by the Skeleton Division in Jinshan District and Qingpu District. Instead, they suffered extremely heavy losses. A full ten regiments and 20,000 troops were crippled or even defeated as a whole.
This iron-blooded and invincible Skeleton Division once again proved to the outside world what a truly world-class top force is.
Su Zhengyang, who was in Linzhou, could get the latest news from the Shanghai battlefield from the Northwest Intelligence Bureau every day.
The Skeleton Division did not disappoint him or the Northern Frontier government. It held the city and exhausted the energy of the 200,000 Northern Expedition troops, but they were unable to pose any threat to Shanghai.
Even the 115th Division of Feng's faction in the city did not have to enter the front-line battlefield. It only needed to serve as a logistics force to ensure that all logistical supplies of the Skeleton Division were replenished in a timely manner.
The setbacks on the East and West Shanghai battlefields brought about a series of chain reactions. The First and Second Corps of the Northern Expedition Army led by Huang Guangtai personally encountered tough resistance from the 250,000-strong coalition force of the Lian and Feng factions in Jiangzhou. The two sides won and lost alternately and temporarily entered into a tug-of-war.
Only the 450,000-strong army led by Song Yuanfeng inflicted huge damage and losses on the Yuan faction of Mingzhou and the Chen faction of Dongzhou on the battlefield in the central region. In half a month, they successively captured two major provinces and nearly 30% of the area.
"Ask Bai Qigang! What on earth is he doing! It's been nearly half a month, and they haven't even been able to occupy the outermost areas of Shanghai. Not only have they made no progress, but they have also suffered serious losses to the 200,000 troops of the Ninth Corps! Tell him that if he fails to achieve a phased victory and a breakthrough in three days, I will remove him from his post! He is such a good-looking but useless piece of trash!"
Looking at Huang Guangtai, who was furious and gloomy, Gan Lin, the commander-in-chief of the Junzhou Security Army, said, "Mr. President, according to the information from our intelligence department, the Skeleton Division under Su Zhengyang is most likely a world-class elite division trained by the Peace Company at a great cost. Whether in terms of personnel combat quality, battlefield execution or equipment firepower configuration, it is far superior to our Ninth Corps. It is understandable that Deputy Commander Bai did not achieve a breakthrough result."
Huang Guangtai glared and shouted, "This is not a reason why 115 troops cannot take Shanghai! How many people are there in the Skeleton Division? At most, including the th Division of Feng's faction in the city, there are no more than people. Our troops are at least four times more than the enemy! The failure to take Shanghai is a problem of Bai Qigang's personal ability. You don't have to speak for him. Immediately follow my instructions and send a telegram to Bai Qigang, the loser!"