At about three o'clock in the morning, at Shimonoseki Pier, under the illumination of the headlights of several off-road vehicles, batches of soldiers with guns and ammunition were boarding the ship nervously and orderly, while on the other side of the river, there were exciting explosions
Amidst the sound of gunfire and gunshots, illumination bombs rose into the air from time to time, illuminating the surrounding areas as bright as day. At the same time, groups of fires rose up one after another. Obviously, a fierce battle was taking place there.
The Nanjing garrison's breakout operation finally began. As the commander-in-chief of the first echelon, Li Hanhun was personally sitting at Xiaguan Wharf. Under his dispatch, the three divisions of the first echelon, headed by the 5th Xue Division, were accelerating their crossing.
Jiang, in order to provide timely support to the friendly forces stationed in Jiangpu,
According to the plan, the retreat time of the first echelon was supposed to be at nine o'clock in the morning. However, because three divisions of the Central Army appeared in Gaoyou prematurely, directly threatening the flanks of the Japanese 18th Division, Ushijima Sadao decisively ordered
The troops marched towards Jiangpu, and at around one o'clock this morning, they launched a fierce offensive against the Pukou train battle.
Pukou Railway Station is only stationed with a regiment of the 3rd Xuexi Division, so it is naturally no match for the Japanese army. Once Pukou is occupied, it means that the Nanjing defenders' only escape route to the north of the Yangtze River is blocked. Of course, Ouyang Yun cannot allow this situation to occur.
So an urgent order was issued for the front hooves of the first echelon to start a retreat.
Because they needed to cross the river, Ouyang Yun's biggest worry was that the Japanese army would use their sea and air superiority to attack halfway across the river. When the Fifth Learning Division began to cross the river, he asked Li Hanhun to completely pull the artillery brigade belonging to the first echelon.
On the riverside, and then supplemented by two captured Japanese gunboats, they formed a cordon that could threaten the river twenty kilometers away.
An hour before the first echelon's retreat was about to begin, the Japanese army noticed it, so as a matter of course, the Japanese siege troops launched a full-scale attack. Among them, Guanghua Gate's offensive was the strongest. After Guanghua Gate was blasted, Ouyang Yun knew
, this will definitely be the key offensive direction of the Japanese army, so half of the troops of the 3rd Xuexi Division were placed here, and a battalion of tanks was also allocated.
It dawned early in summer. At around three o'clock, dawn had already appeared in the east. Li Hanhun personally watched soldiers from a regiment of the Fifth Division board dozens of wooden boats and sail toward the other side of the river, leaving Ye Zhao to continue to supervise the other brigades of the Fifth Division.
During the regiment's cross-river operation, he came to the command vehicle and contacted Ouyang Yun through the walkie-talkie: "Commander, we have found out that the only one attacking Pukou is the 18th Division. We already have one and a half brigades in Pukou.
, there is absolutely no problem in holding it. What I am worried about now is whether the Japanese army will increase its troops. If the Japanese army blocks our army's retreat route with heavy troops, everything we are doing now will still be in vain. Do you think if we let the 10th Division come down, Wujiang will still be there.
There is He County, which we must occupy, and Yuxikou."
From Wujiang to He County to Wuhu, this is the front end of the retreat route planned by Ouyang Yun and others. Since Yuxikou is the starting station of the Huainan Railway, it is of extraordinary importance to the Northeastern Army and the Sichuan Army.
Ouyang Yun said resolutely: "The Tenth Division must not move in Wuhu. We must beware of the Japanese troops moving south. The south bank of the Yangtze River is basically in the hands of the Japanese army. If Matsui Iwane deploys heavy troops to attack Wuhu from the south of the Yangtze River, what should we do? Yuxikou
It is not far from Wuhu. There is no problem of dispersing the troops. I have sent the 10th Division there in one regiment. Lao Li, you must speed up the crossing of the river. Jiangpu must not be lost. Pukou Railway Station must be completely controlled. The Japanese army is here.
There are also heavy troops in Jiangbei, and we must beware of them using the Jinpu Railway to quickly mobilize troops to encircle them."
"yes."
After Ouyang Yungang finished talking to Li Hanhun, He Zhengjiang ran in disgraced. Amidst the rumbling sound of artillery, he loudly said: "Commander, the Japanese army mobilized heavy artillery again outside Guanghua Gate. Our army has no artillery fire to suppress it. Soldiers They suffered heavy casualties."
After the Guanghua Gate was blasted, the best choice for the defenders was to use the abundant buildings in Nanjing to engage in street fighting with the Japanese army. However, considering that this was likely to be cut off and surrounded by the Japanese army, Ouyang Yun chose to hold on.
As early as a quarter of an hour ago, Ouyang Yun had been psychologically prepared from the intensity of Japanese artillery fire. The Third Xuexi Division guarding Guanghuamen would definitely suffer heavy casualties this time. Now after listening to He Zhengsheng's report, his expression remained unchanged. It became quite ugly. He looked outside and found that the sky was still very dark, which should not be conducive for Japanese reconnaissance planes and fighter planes to attack. He nodded and said: "In this way, let the artillery group fire a round of rapid fire, and then quickly hide."
The entire third echelon, the Third School Division, is equipped with a regiment of self-propelled artillery. This is done to take the worst case scenario and minimize the losses in case of being surrounded, and try to destroy the entire artillery regiment. We must also keep technical secrets,
"I understand." After He Zhengjiang said this, he immediately ran out. It seemed that he wanted to personally command the artillery regiment.
Ten minutes later, in Nanjing City, a few miles away from Ouyang Yun's temporary command post, "rumbling" artillery sounded. In just five minutes, the artillery regiment of the Third Division fired hundreds of artillery shells.
The attack was thwarted the day before yesterday, which once again dealt a heavy blow to Yoshihashi Ryosuke's personal prestige. Hisao Tani had considerable prejudice against him before this, so he held back and still mobilized a brigade of troops to support Guanghuamen. It was hoped that the deadlock could be broken in one fell swoop and the tortoise shell of the Nanjing defenders could be broken. However, the seemingly ingenious attack plan was abandoned halfway due to the appearance of the tanks and artillery units of the Xuebing Army. Even those who did not hesitate to work hard from other places The Japanese troops coming from this direction didn't even have a chance to attack.
Of course, there are two sides to the matter. The power of the light-type tanks and self-propelled artillery also gave Yoshihashi Ryosuke the reason for failure. In order to defeat these two powerful weapons of the defenders, after a short consultation, several divisions The regiment leaders agreed that they could launch another major attack to lure the artillery of the Academy Army to appear, and then dispatch attack aircraft to deliver a devastating blow.
This plan was not bad, but the defenders' early breakout forced them to launch an attack in advance, which once again gave the Xuebing Army's artillery a chance to show off its power.
The Japanese artillery outside Guanghua Gate was seconded by Yoshihashi Ryosuke from the 6th Division and other Japanese troops with Matsui Iwane's "chicken feathers". Among them, there was a considerable number of heavy artillery. However, because the cannons and the original technical Compared with the Xuebing Army's self-propelled howitzers, the range and strike capability were more than 10% worse. Even though the Xuebing Army only dispatched one artillery regiment, and only fired rapidly for five minutes, it still gave the Japanese artillery The troops suffered a huge blow. The Japanese army lost nearly a regiment of artillery units. In this round of attacks, two brigades were lost. This forced Yoshihashi Ryosuke to consider the consequences and had to withdraw the remaining artillery units from their positions temporarily. was shelved, and once the artillery fire support was lost, the Japanese army's firepower advantage was lost, and the attack once again reached a stalemate.
In the past, the Japanese were the least afraid of fighting a war of attrition. Why? Because based on the battle loss ratio between China and Japan, once the Japanese army suffered heavy casualties, the Chinese army would inevitably suffer more heavy casualties. In this way, in the end, first of all Those who cannot hold on and are defeated are often the Chinese army with numerical superiority.
Of course, this situation changed when the Xuebing Army suddenly emerged in North China. Not to mention the three to one that everyone recognized, sometimes it was even the other way around, such as one to one point five, or even one to two. Take the current situation on the battlefield inside and outside Guanghua Gate as an example. The Japanese army, led by the 9th Division, has been bombarding the ruins of Guanghua Gate for more than an hour. What a large army of troops,
The Japanese attack sequence consisted of several divisions taking turns, and basically all the divisions that besieged Nanjing City were involved. As a result, everyone suffered casualties. Among them, there were a few officers at the level of captains who were a bit overwhelmed. Stop being angry,
Someone suggested: "Why don't we stop first and wait until dawn?" The subtext is that at dawn, the aviation force will be able to enter the battle. At that time, they can use this absolute advantage to push the Chinese from their existing positions. Drive away, and as long as they enter the city together, the number of Japanese troops currently gathered outside Guanghua Gate will definitely be able to cut Nanjing City into several areas, and then the great cause of division, encirclement and annihilation can be carried out.
Yoshizhu Ryosuke vetoed this proposal at once: "Absolutely not, we must firmly hold back the Chinese, especially the Xuebing Army. Once they leave, they will definitely run faster than rabbits. Ouyang Yun and I fought After dealing with each other, this person has a very strong ability to judge the situation. Once the situation is broken today, it will be difficult to find such an opportunity again."
"But if this continues, the casualties will be too great."
"No matter how heavy the casualties are, it is worth it. Once we reduce the scale of the attack, Ouyang Yun will definitely leave one unit alone to hold on, and then lead the larger army to escape. Don't forget, this person is now the number one enemy of the empire. If we don't seize this If we have the opportunity to destroy him, the empire's three-month plan to capture China will be severely disrupted. Please believe me again." After Yoshihashi Ryosuke said this, he turned to a group of people much lower than himself. The Japanese officer bowed deeply,
Among the officers from other divisions of the Japanese army gathered outside Guanghua Gate, the highest ranking ones were brigade commanders, division chiefs of staff and the like. In a hierarchical army like the Japanese army, Yoshihashi Ryosuke originally had no need to deal with them. They were pretending, but because he had lost consecutive battles and made wrong calculations, his prestige had been ruined and he could only gain support from everyone in this way. Of course, as a lieutenant general, he and other major generals even Even if they were dissatisfied with the colonel's low gesture, they could only endure it.
"Then do as your Excellency the General says."
"All for the great cause of His Majesty the Emperor."
As a result, another brigade was filled on the battlefield, and this time, the Japanese army did not use artillery. As if in response to their point, the artillery did not appear in the Xuebing Army, and this meant that the officers and soldiers of both sides would face Another seemingly fair life-and-death fight,