At the beginning of his stay, Ouyang Yun had considered this question. If the Japanese army wanted to encircle and annihilate him regardless, should they stick to their original intention and ensure that the vast majority of the people in Nanjing were evacuated?
Ouyang Yun is not a saint. Even if he is a saint, his butt determines his head. He can disregard life and death, but he has to consider the safety of his subordinates, the Sichuan Army and the Northeast Army.
Before Chiang Kai-shek convened the meeting, Liu Xiang, the top leader of the Sichuan Army, was sent to Hankou for medical treatment because of illness. As for the Northeastern Army, although the Marshal allowed him to build it well, if these two divisions are really completely wiped out, If so, how could he have the face to see the young marshal? Another very important point is that the Nanjing garrison is not monolithic. If there is a siege, even if the Xuebing Army, the Northeast Army and the Sichuan Army can overcome the national crisis, those Central Army Well, although when the front-line combat tasks were assigned, Wang Tianfu, Fu Kaihang and Wang Xu (three division commanders of the Central Army) all strongly requested to join the front-line troops, in view of historical experience, Ouyang Yun did not dare to entrust him with important tasks.
The so-called second set of combat plans was formulated for a breakout. Once this happens, the defenders will abandon their front-line positions and instead fight in street battles with the Japanese army, using the complex terrain in Nanjing to consume the Japanese army. At the same time, the defenders will Organize two divisions to cross the Yangtze River north to ensure the safety of the retreat route.
Zhu Zaiting, Xie Changan, including Qian Guangming, although these three division commanders rushed out unwaveringly and quickly gained a suppressive advantage, there was always a shadow in the hearts of the three of them. The 9th Division spent so much money The cost of blasting the entire Ming city wall, which is about two hundred meters long, would be child's play if we only had the current means.
It's not so easy for the Japanese, right?
After Liu Zheliang conveyed Ouyang Yun's order via walkie-talkie, Qian Guangming began to control the formation and advancement speed of the troops. At the same time, he issued the "destruction order".
The "Destruction Order" was issued by Ouyang Yun after the discovery of a new Japanese tank in the Battle of Pukou. Once the tank lost its ability to move, the crew had the responsibility to completely blast it to ensure that some key equipment would not fall into the hands of the Japanese army.
In that time and space, the rise of Japan resulted in the Japanese's excellent imitation and innovation capabilities. In view of this, Ouyang Yun now had to adjust his previous strategy to help the little devil become stronger. Enough was enough, in case the opponent was stronger. If you have finished playing with the country, wouldn't Ouyang Yun become a criminal in history? He will really be infamous for thousands of years.
As for the defenders, there are only two regiments of infantry that have actually entered the battlefield. After the fighting just now, the two regiments currently have a total of only about 1,200 people left. The 1,200 people are following closely behind the tank array. Because of the cover of tanks, they no longer need to do the hard work of stabbing. Now they only need to follow behind with guns in hand to pick out the fish that have slipped through the net.
After the tank regiment slowed down, the infantry also slowed down. Kuang Cheng and his men arrived at the battlefield after running for about ten minutes. Then, a company of men dispersed and quickly conveyed Ouyang Yun's order. ,
At this moment, the Japanese army began to retreat. Xie Changan, Zhu Zaiting and others, who had already received the order, immediately realized that the Japs might be trying to kill them, so the two regiment commanders issued an order to stop the defenders from advancing. They retreated and ran towards the back one after another. As a result, a ridiculous scene appeared on the battlefield. The two warring parties who were fighting fiercely were rushing to retreat towards the rear. This strange scene would have happened to anyone who did not know the truth. In my eyes, I thought the two sides were playing a "literary fight".
A few minutes later, thunder could be heard in the distance. In a moment, the sound of artillery shells breaking through the air became the most piercing sound on the battlefield. Whether it was the Japanese army or the Chinese army, everyone's expressions immediately changed.
The tank phalanx was a key target of the Japanese army's shelling from the very beginning. When one tank after another was knocked down, and even violent explosions occurred and turned into burning fires, Qian Guangming saw this scene and thought to himself that this is not possible, it can't be done. The good thing is the fate of the entire regiment being destroyed. "Everyone spread out and stay away from each other. I reiterate once again that once you lose your mobility, blast it immediately. Don't feel bad. Brothers, as long as you can get back alive, you can drive the tank." "
The fierce bombardment lasted for a full twenty minutes, and continued from the battlefield into the city. Yoshihashi Ryosuke was so cruel this time that he ordered all the artillery shells to be fired. The tank regiment suffered heavy losses in this bombardment. , out of more than 50 tanks, only 13 finally evacuated to a safe area, including two that were seriously injured.
In Qian Guangming's command post, soon, the self-propelled artillery brigade that was ordered to arrive at position three called and reported to Ouyang Yun that it was ready to counterattack.
Ouyang Yun handed the phone to Bai Xiaofeng, an artillery staff officer who was responsible for surveying the Japanese artillery positions. Bai Xiaofeng had been observing and calculating the shooting of Zhu Yuan as early as when the Japanese fired the first artillery. After receiving the phone, he immediately reported the data A few minutes later, a dull thunder sounded from the southeast of Zijin Mountain in Nanjing City. After the Japanese heavy artillery regiment showed off its power for twenty minutes, the Xuebing Army's artillery finally began to fight back.
One after another, the fire dragons roared from the direction of Purple Mountain. Amidst the hissing sound, Zhu Zaiting and more than thirty Sichuan soldiers stopped at the same time and looked up.
"Brigade, it's our artillery."
"The artillerymen of the Xuebing Army have finally shown their power. He NND, Ouyang Yun, this son of a bitch, why didn't he fire the artillery earlier? If it had been earlier, my brother might not have died." The speaker was a strong man with a sinewy face. , he held a bloody arm in his left hand, and carried on his back a young Sichuan soldier who was covered in blood and missing his left arm.
Zhu Zaiting ignored the soldiers around him. He turned his head and looked behind him. The Japanese artillery was still raging. The nearest explosion point to them was twenty meters away. The smoke and dust caused by the explosion covered the sky. At this moment, there was no place here. It's like the world, more like hell. He didn't initiate the charge, but without his call, the current situation probably wouldn't have been formed. The situation at that time, if we stick to it, we should be able to hold it, he thought. , I don’t know whether his previous decision was the right one or the wrong one. Nearly two thousand people went out. Now they came back. He looked at it carefully and calculated in his mind. He was very silent. In total, there are at most five people. A hundred people, and in order to cover the infantry retreat as much as possible, Qian Guangming ordered the tank regiment to be the last to evacuate the battlefield. Now, the tank regiment is still shrouded in artillery fire.
"The little devil is so damn cruel, he even dares to blow up his own people."
"Damn it, I'm not dead. I've made a lot of money this time. I killed at least five of them. Big blackhead, how many of them did you kill?"
The big black head was the guy with a sinister face. There was anger in his eyes, and tears were still hanging from the corners of his eyes. He roared: "No matter how much I kill, it will be useless. My brother is dead, 5555... let me go back." How can I explain to my mother, Ouyang Yun, a bastard like me? Since the Xuebing Army has cannons, why didn’t they take them out earlier?”
"Hu" shells flew through the air, and a battalion commander walking at the back shouted: "Lie down." Then he rushed towards Zhu Zaiting and pressed him under him.
This shell exploded five meters away from them, with a loud "boom". Three people in the team of more than 30 people were killed on the spot, and five others were injured by shrapnel.
The explosion woke up Zhu Zaiting. After he got up, he picked up a wounded man and shouted: "Brothers, if you want to survive, run away."
The artillery of the Xuebing Army has not appeared frequently so far. Perhaps because of this reason, when Captain Hatoyama Ichiro of the 9th Division's Heavy Artillery Regiment commanded the troops to continue shelling, he was completely unaware that they were also will be subject to retaliatory bombardment,
A brigade of the Xuebing Army has an astonishing fifty-four self-propelled artillery pieces, while a Japanese heavy artillery regiment has three heavy artillery brigades, each with twelve 150mm cannons, totaling only thirty-six. Fifty-four guns versus thirty-six guns were fired deliberately and unintentionally. The result is self-evident. After the Xuebing Army's self-propelled artillery fired five rapid shots, only a mere cannon was left on the Japanese artillery position that could still stand proudly. of three doors,
Fortunately, Ichiro Hatoyama escaped this round of covering artillery fire. When he saw that the situation was not right, he thought that if he encountered the tank troops of the Xuebing Army again, he would need heavy artillery to deal with them. He decisively ordered the withdrawal of the position and used three trucks to tow it. He dragged three cannons and fled in panic from the position where the fireworks were raging.
Just after all the Japanese artillery went silent, Bai Xiaofeng made a prompt decision and decisively commanded the artillery brigade to launch a pursuit attack on the retreating Japanese 6th Brigade.
Akiyama Yoshiyun's 6th Brigade had only three brigades left before attacking Guanghuamen. Yesterday, one brigade was wiped out. This time, only two brigades, the Japanese from the two brigades, and Zhu Zaiting were fighting in hand-to-hand combat. , the infantry led by Xie Changan lost five to six hundred people during mutual attacks. Later, the tank regiment led by Qian Guangming ravaged more than five hundred people, and their own artillery devoured more than three hundred people. Originally there were only six to seven hundred people left, but after being chased by this round of artillery fire, only a hundred or so people finally returned to the Japanese main line safely.
For Yoshihashi Ryosuke, the appearance of the Xuebing Army artillery was undoubtedly another accident, and the appearance of this accident also forced him to reconsider whether the previously formulated combat plan was still necessary to continue, and Hisao Tani and others People are different. He has fought with the Xuebing Army many times and knows the characteristics of the Xuebing Army's artillery unit, which is its terrible maneuverability. Under the current technical level, self-propelled artillery is definitely a high-end weapon. After the Second Great Wall Battle, , the Kwantung Army once tried every means to obtain the relevant technical parameters of self-propelled artillery. However, because the Xuebing Army gave up North China and fought in Fujian and Guangdong, all the arrangements of the Kwantung Army came to nothing.
After moving from Pukou to Nanjing, Ouyang Yun hid most of the artillery divisions tightly. His original idea was to use them as a trump card, but Japanese reconnaissance planes repeatedly sent out reconnaissance, but only on the riverside. After discovering one, they thought that most of the Xuebing Army's artillery had already gone to Wuhu, or even returned to Fujian and Guangdong, so they launched an unscrupulous bombardment.
Now that the artillery of the Xuebing Army was showing off, Yoshihashi Ryosuke naturally did not dare to take it lightly, and the battle plan he had drawn up had to be put on hold for the time being.
By about ten o'clock in the morning, the fighting on the Nanjing battlefield centered on Guanghua Gate temporarily ceased.