Warlords: Rising from the Northwest Border and Sweeping Across the Powers

Chapter 202: Bloody Trench Warfare on the Shura Battlefield in Shanghai

After the 9th Northern Expedition Army led by Bai Qigang launched a desperate and reckless attack at all costs, the two forward trench positions of the Skeleton Division outside Shanghai finally showed signs of falling under tremendous pressure.

The 52,53nd and rd Divisions of the Ninth Army suffered heavy casualties after the four division-level units that launched the attack temporarily withdrew from the front battlefield and began to take over the important task of continuing to attack the defensive positions of the Skeleton Division. During the offensive and defensive battle that lasted for more than days, the Ninth Army of the Northern Expedition saw the dawn of victory for the first time. It crossed the open area of ​​more than meters in front of the trench position of the Skeleton Division and rushed into the trench. The two sides began hand-to-hand combat.

During this period of time, the open area in front of the SKELETON DOWN Division's defensive position was called the Yellow Springs Road by the Southern Army. Countless soldiers were torn to pieces by the fierce firepower of the SKELETON DOWN Division on the way to the charge and were buried forever in this land. Even now, when the soldiers of the Ninth Army hear the sound of the MG42 ripping machine, they feel cold all over and their hair stands on end.

This weapon of war, which was called the nightmare of the Allied Forces during World War II on Blue Star, also became the lingering nightmare of the Ninth Army on the battlefield in Shanghai.

I don’t know how many soldiers’ lives were taken.

"Kill!"

A soldier from the 52nd Division crossed the barbed wire in front of the trench position and pounced on a soldier from the Death's Head Division. The soldier calmly used the bayonet in his hand to viciously stab the chest of the soldier riding on him. The enemy soldier let out a scream, and blood gushed out like a fountain. He fell to the side in an instant, and after struggling and twitching for a while, he became silent.

The vanguard troops that entered the trench position of the Skeleton Division were the assault and suicide squads specially formed by the 52,53nd and rd Divisions. The tense situation on the battlefield at this time made every soldier nervous. After entering the trench, many soldiers in the assault and suicide squads even held wooden-handled grenades and pulled the strings directly. For a while, the trenches were filled with continuous explosions.

When the two sides were facing each other, machine guns and rifles had lost their original effects. At this time, the submachine guns equipped in large numbers by the soldiers of the SKELETON DIVISION came into play. The SKELETON DIVISION was organized into squads, and all squad leaders and deputy squad leaders were equipped with MP40 submachine guns. In this kind of short-range encounter, the submachine gun, which could fire continuously and at a very fast rate of fire, was like the sickle in the hands of the god of death. The submachine gun bullets, like a torrential rain, could kill the enemy soldiers in an instant.

Under the command of officers at all levels of the SS Division, the soldiers of the SS Division began to gradually retreat, leaving behind a part of the rearguard troops to deal with the enemy's entanglement.

This kind of close-range exchange of fire and hand-to-hand combat was particularly bloody and cruel. Except for the soldiers on both sides who were determined to die and resolutely pulled the pin of the grenade, the vast majority of soldiers on both sides directly put on their bayonets and started a bloody hand-to-hand fight with white knives in and red knives out.

The battlefield was filled with hysterical shouts and cries. In the hand-to-hand combat, the Skeleton Division had an absolute upper hand. Once the three-edged bayonets in their hands pierced into the enemy's body, it would immediately cause heavy bleeding, and there would not even be a chance for rescue. The mortality rate was even over 80%. In addition, the soldiers of the Skeleton Division were superior to the enemy soldiers in terms of psychological quality and close combat ability. For a moment, the two company-level rear guard troops of the Skeleton Division that were left behind actually blocked the enemy's continuous, tidal-like attacks.

As a large number of main forces of the SS Division withdrew from the front trench positions, the small group of troops left behind faced a huge disparity in numbers and began to find it difficult to stand alone. They had to fight and retreat, leaving behind a large number of bodies of the sacrificed SS Division soldiers in the trenches.

"Kill them for me! They can't hold on any longer! Take down the enemy's defensive positions and charge into Shanghai!"

Under the urging of the supervision team composed of officers from the Ninth Army, more and more soldiers poured into the trenches. Judging from the situation on the battlefield, it seemed that the loss of the outer trench defense positions of the SS Division had become a foregone conclusion.

It was not until they entered the defense trenches of the Totenkopf Division that the officers of the 52,53nd and rd Divisions discovered that the enemy had dug sufficiently deep and strong underground fortifications at the connection points of each trench. No wonder that no matter what kind of artillery bombardment they faced, the Totenkopf Division soldiers in the trench positions were able to maintain their tenacious fighting will and amazing combat capabilities from beginning to end, making it impossible for them to move for more than twenty days.

When the 52nd and 53rd Divisions occupied most of the trench positions and arrived at the rear trench, they were stunned by the scene that happened before their eyes again. When they saw the enemy coming, the soldiers of the Skeleton Division in the trench actually stepped on the wooden ladders as high as 2.5 meters, leaned on the edge of the trench, and climbed up in the opposite direction with their equipment in extremely neat and tidy movements. When they jumped into the trench, they found that the depth of the trench at the rear was more than meters. It was extremely difficult for the soldiers who entered the trench to climb up with their bare hands without any auxiliary tools.

After the soldiers of the SKULL Division completely withdrew from the trench position, they instantly detonated a large amount of explosives that had been buried in the rear half of the trench position. For a moment, corpses and blood flew everywhere, deafening explosions were heard everywhere, and clods of earth mixed with the enemy's blood were scattered everywhere.

Dozens of explosions sounded in succession. According to preliminary estimates, at least hundreds of enemy soldiers were sent directly to the underworld in this explosion, and the number of injured was countless.

After losing half of its men in four divisional units and suffering heavy casualties in the subsequent two divisional assault units, the Ninth Army led by Bai Qigang finally achieved a temporary victory and captured the outer defense positions of the Skeleton Division in Jinshan and Qingpu districts.

Of course, if Ike hadn't intentionally lured the enemy deep into their territory, with the SS Division's combat capability and its fearless and tough spirit, even if the Ninth Army had fought to its death, it might not have been able to capture the outer positions guarded by the SS Division.

"Commander! After six hours of intense fighting, our 52,53nd and rd divisions finally succeeded in taking down the enemy's outer defense positions with a desperate fighting spirit! The enemy fled in panic, and our army killed more than enemies in total, without any surrendered prisoners."

The commander who came to report on the battle situation at the front line, Yu Changle, commander of the White Faction's Sixth Army, was obviously avoiding the important issues. Although they successfully captured the outer positions of the Skeleton Division, the casualties they paid were at least twenty times more than that of the Skeleton Division.

But at this moment, Bai Qigang had no intention of thinking about the details at all. When he heard that they had finally taken the outer positions and broken through the iron wall of fire blockade of the Skeleton Division, Bai Qigang's eyes were red, his expression was excited, and he waved his right arm with clenched fists.

"Great! Great! We have finally lived up to the President's expectations and have opened up the situation on the Eastern Front! As long as we take down their outer defense positions, the rest of the journey will be smooth sailing! Shanghai is already in the hands of our Ninth Army!"

"Send a telegram to the president immediately! After a long and arduous battle, our army has finally broken the undefeated golden body of the Skeleton Division under Su Zhengyang, annihilated thousands of enemies, and successfully captured the enemy positions outside Shanghai City. Within seven days! Our Ninth Army of the Northern Expedition will definitely take back the control of Shanghai City and completely wipe out the Skeleton Division! Show the power of our Northern Expedition Army!"