Following Yao Ziqing's order, the hundred soldiers around him opened fire.
At this time, a gap of about four to five meters wide had been blown open in the city wall. The Japanese army's goal was to break in from here.
As a result, most of the firepower of the defenders was focused on this gap in the wall.
The dozen or so Japanese infantrymen who were at the front were immediately killed. A few of the Japanese soldiers who had medicine flags hanging on their rifles were the first to be shot and fell one after another.
A few grenades were thrown down from the city wall. Boom! A few explosions sounded, and the remaining Japanese soldiers screamed and fell to the ground.
"Shoot! Shoot! Kaka!" A few hundred meters away, a Japanese major who was in charge of supervising the battle was waving his military saber and roaring at the top of his lungs.
Hundreds of Japanese soldiers fired back as they charged forward.
The Japanese had a large number of people, so their firepower was naturally more concentrated than the defenders.
A large number of hot bullets whizzed over and hit the city walls and the ruins of the city, immediately picking up a cloud of dust.
Next to Yao Ziqing, two riflers were unfortunately hit by the bullets and fell into a pool of blood.
Yao Ziqing's eyes were wide open. He crouched down and quickly moved to a light machine gun position that had been silenced by the Japanese. He pushed away his sacrificed subordinates in grief and indignation and picked up the light machine gun that had been dyed red with blood. He roared fearlessly,"Little Japanese, come on! Grandpa will send you to the afterlife!"
After saying that, he decisively pulled the trigger. The light machine gun immediately let out a deafening roar. A dense and hot bullet whistled out and hit the Japanese like a storm.
"Ahhhhh!" Seven or eight of the soldiers couldn't dodge in time and fell to the ground one after another.
After finishing the bullets in the magazine, Yao Ziqing took out a new magazine from a fallen subordinate next to him. After loading it, he simply stood up with the machine gun and continued to fire wildly at the Japanese army.
The soldiers felt their commander's heroic performance and their morale was boosted. They all fired back without caring about their own safety.
Some of the soldiers even threw grenades with all their might, causing the charging Japanese soldiers to scream and fall.
Under Yao Ziqing and his soldiers 'relentless resistance, the attack of the Japanese soldiers was forced to stop due to the large number of casualties. Hundreds of Japanese soldiers left behind at least a hundred corpses and retreated like a tide.
As soon as the Japanese troops retreated, their artillery immediately opened fire. A wave of artillery shells whistled through the air, not giving Yao Ziqing and his soldiers any time to react.
It had to be said that the combat quality of the Japanese invaders at this time was very high. The coordination between infantry and tanks, as well as the coordination between infantry and artillery, was far from what the untrained Chinese army could compare to. Even the 88th, 87th, 36th, and 98th Divisions, which were the trump cards of the Central Army, could not compare to the Japanese.
The previous battle was the best evidence of this. The Central Army had three divisions, one brigade, and two heavy artillery regiments. Nearly 50,000 people besieged the defense force composed of only 3,000 marines and more than 1,000 retired soldiers, but they still could not make an effective breakthrough.
In the end, they were unable to wipe them out before the arrival of the Japanese reinforcements, causing the battle to drag on to such an unfavorable stalemate.
Of course, the enemy had the advantage in firepower.
But don't forget, the Central Army also had an air force, and the 88th Division also had tanks and anti-tank guns, which were considered advanced equipment.
However, when the tanks of the Central Army were charging, the infantry could not effectively cooperate with each other, causing them to be destroyed by the Japanese artillery one by one. This showed that they lacked the combat experience of the Central Army's infantry and tank coordination.
In terms of light weapons, the Central Army, which was equipped with German-style weapons, even had an advantage. The Chinese rifles were not inferior to the Japanese's 38th edition, and the Soviet light machine guns were even more superior to the Japanese's 11th edition, which was also known as the notorious crooked light machine guns.
Even so, they still had the absolute advantage in numbers. It was almost ten against one, but they still could not win.
From this, it could be seen how poor the tactics of both sides were, the quality of their individual soldiers, and the coordination between the various units and arms.
Of course, the soldiers of the country were still very brave and fearless. There was no doubt about this. It was just that some of the commanders of the national army were not as good. Their thinking was old-fashioned and their tactics were rigid. It was not surprising that they could achieve such results.
Leader Mao once said that the decisive factor in determining the outcome of a war was not the quality of weapons and equipment, but people.
The flexible use of tactics could make up for the lack of weapons to a great extent.
The War to Resist America and aid Korea was the best evidence of this. The great Chinese People's Liberation Army volunteers had used millet and rifles to force the 18-nation allied forces led by the United States to shake hands and make peace. They had signed the first armistice agreement in the history of the United States that was not a victory.
Back then, the US army had just finished World War II. Their weapons, equipment, and quality of soldiers were at their peak.
From individual weapons to all kinds of heavy equipment, to logistics, sea, land, and air, the Americans had an absolute advantage.
Even so, they were still defeated by the volunteers and suffered heavy losses. In the end, they had to stop fighting at the 38th parallel.
From this, it could be seen that there were no troops that could not fight, only commanders that could not.
This was the so-called saying that a soldier was a raging general, and a nest of raging generals.
The reason why Yao Ziqing's troops could withstand the onslaught of thousands of Japanese soldiers was because of their proper command and reasonable tactical arrangements. They blocked the three gates in the north, south, and east in advance, leaving only the west gate to enter and exit. They also built defense and air defense fortifications in the city in advance.
In addition, the soldiers were fearless and fought with their lives, erupting with unprecedented combat strength.
Otherwise, under the powerful bombardment of the Japanese navy and air force, it would have collapsed long ago. How could it have held on for seven days and nights?
At this time, there were more than 30 Japanese warships anchored at the mouth of the Huangpu River. Some of the battleships and cruisers had a minimum caliber of 120 mm, and most of them had a caliber of 200 mm.
200mm was a concept. If it was in the field, a single artillery shell could wipe out a platoon or even more of the defending forces. With the current technology of the Chinese army, any defensive works built would be useless under the bombardment of such a powerful artillery shell.
Yao Ziqing's troops were defending the city. There were all kinds of buildings in the city that could greatly offset the lethality of the enemy's artillery shells. That was why they were able to survive under the enemy's barrage of fire.
In comparison, the artillery fire of the Japanese army was much weaker. A dozen shells landed, but only a few soldiers were unfortunately hit by the devastating shrapnel.
Yao Ziqing immediately gave the order to retreat to cover and defend against the cannons, preparing to fight again.
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