Chapter 184: The Battle of Defense of Nanjing (8)

In the early morning of August 8, with the shrill air defense alarm sounding, sixty or seventy Neon troops flew over Nanjing and carried out the most intense bombing of the positions of the Nanjing Chinese defenders and the urban area of ​​Nanjing since the war started. Just as the Chinese defenders who were standing on the periphery and Fukuo positions were ready to prepare for the ground attack of the Neon Army, they were surprised to find that after the air strike, the Neon Army did not launch an attack.

At this time, one of the Neon Army planes hovered over Nanjing City and threw down something with a parachute. The swaying parachute landed near the Tang Shengzhi Mansion, Baitingzi, the head of the Nanjing Garrison Commander-General. The guards responsible for defending the garrison commander-in-chief, ran over and saw that it was an airdrop bag with the letter "General Tang Shengzhi, the head of the Nanjing Garrison Commander." So, the officers and soldiers of the guards did not dare to neglect and quickly handed them to the commander-in-chief.

After Tang Shengzhi got it, he opened it and saw a few big words "Surrender Advice" written on it. It was written below: Millions of Neon Army have swept across the south of the Yangtze River, and Nanjing City is surrounded. From the perspective of the general situation of the war, there will be many harms and no benefits in the future. However, Jiangning is the ancient city in the central region, the capital of the Republic of China, the Xiaoling Mausoleum of the Ming Dynasty, and the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, which has a sense of the essence of East Asian culture. Although the Neon Army is extremely fierce and does not forgive the resistance, it is generous to innocent people and the invincible Chinese national team, and does not infringe on it. As for East Asian culture, it is particularly enthusiastic about protection. If your army wants to continue fighting, Nanjing will inevitably be inseparable from war, which will cause the culture of thousands of years to be ashes, and the ten years of operation will eventually become a bubble. Therefore, the commander advises your army to open Nanjing City peacefully and then deal with it according to the method.

The following signature is Matsui Ishione, commander-in-chief of the Central China Front Army of the Great Japanese Empire. It also states that the reply to this advice should be handed over to the sentry line on Jurong Road, Zhongshan Road before noon on August 9. If your army dispatches the responsible persons of the commander-in-chief, the commander is also preparing to send representatives to sign a necessary agreement on the acceptance of Nanjing City at that time. If no reply is received within the above designated time, the Neon Army has to start an attack on Nanjing City.

The surrender advice was circulated in the hands of two deputy commanders Luo Zhuoying and Liu Xing. Before Luo, Liu and the other two expressed their opinions, Tang Shengzhi sneered and tore the surrender letter to pieces: "Transfer my order and prepare to fight to the death with the Neon Army. All troops must live and die with the positions. Those who retreat without authorization shall be punished according to the law of co-sitting!"

Since the war in Shanghai started, Tang Shengzhi, who was sitting on the bench, has always been a tough war pro-war faction. He was the only one who strongly advocated defending the battle in Nanjing. Although the situation of the war was as expected from the beginning, Tang Shengzhi was not vague in terms of resistance and surrender. What's more, he was also very clear that most of the troops under the Nanjing Garrison Command are Lao Chiang's direct troops, so they would not be vague in their fight against Japan. However, if it was surrender, I am afraid that even Xu Yuanquan's Second Corps and the 66th and 83rd Army of the Guangdong Army would not agree.

"In addition, all ships obtained by each army shall be handed over to the Transportation Command for safekeeping, and shall not be detained privately. The commander of the 78th Army, Song Xilian, was sent to command the command. Along the river, the police strictly prohibited the troops from crossing the river by boat, and those who violated the violations shall be arrested and punished strictly. If they dare to resist, they shall be stopped by force. Notify Hu Zongnan of Jiangbei that if there is no order from the commander-in-chief of the garrison commander, any ships may cross north without authorization, and can fire." Tang Shengzhi immediately issued the second order, which was in a position of fighting against the water.

After hearing the second order, Xiao Shanling, the mayor and police director of Nanjing, who came to report on his work early in the morning, suddenly became anxious and hurriedly said: "Captain Tang, there are nearly 200,000 ordinary people in the city yet. Now the Neon Army is attacking Wuhu, and the evacuation of civilians can only go to Jiangbei."

"Why are there so many more?" Tang Shengzhi couldn't help but frown. It's been almost ten days since the martial law and evacuation order were issued. He didn't expect that there were so many civilians in Nanjing.

Xiao Shanling shook his head bitterly and said, "At the beginning, many ordinary people were unwilling to leave. Now all the personnel from our municipal government and police department have gone down to do their work. Besides, many of our own personnel and families have not yet evacuated!"

Tang Shengzhi then remembered the order he had issued before that as long as there is a commoner in the city, the families of all the municipal government personnel were not allowed to retreat.

"Now everything must be put first in war. Citizens who have not had time to retreat have retreated from the west of the city to the suburbs." Tang Shengzhi said with his eyebrows locked in his mouth for a moment. In fact, Tang Shengzhi did not believe that the neon army proposed at the meeting last time that the Neon Army would kill innocent people after entering the city, and ordered the evacuation of citizens was largely for preparations for future street fighting.

"As for the families of municipal government personnel, after the evacuation work is completed, the Transportation Command will arrange a unified arrangement to retreat to Jiangbei."

Xiao Shanling had no choice but to nod.

"Captain Tang, the airdrop of the Neon Army was so accurate just now, I probably had already discovered the location of my garrison commander's headquarters. I think it would be better to move the headquarters to the basement of the Ministry of Railways." At this time, Chief of Staff Zhou Lan said with a worried look on his face.

In fact, Zhou Lan's reminder was well aware of it. If you reject the Neon Army's surrender advice, it will definitely become the target of Neon Army's aircraft bombing tomorrow. However, compared to your own safety, Tang Shengzhi knew in his heart that he had issued an order to defend the dead and had to set an example for all the soldiers. He said without changing his face: "I can't be afraid of the Japanese bombing, so I move out of this house. However, other personnel can move to the basement of the Ministry of Railways to work. You Qing and Tiefu stay here."

All the soldiers who lived in the military for half their lives were well aware of the benefits and interests. Seeing Tang Shengzhi's expression of swearing, Zhou Lan no longer advised him. While preparing for the relocation, she transferred an anti-aircraft gun company around Tang Shengzhi's mansion to ensure the safety of the three commanders and commanders who continued to work here.

The day-long ceasefire gave both Chinese and Japanese troops a chance to breathe. Both sides dispatched troops to make up for their weak links. With the cooperation of the Honorary First Division in Fangshan positions, the 74th Army's confidence in defending Chunhua Town increased greatly. Wang Yaowu pieced together a regiment from the 151st Brigade retreating to Jiangning Town and transferred it to Chunhua, which was commanded by Li Tianxia, ​​deputy division commander and 153rd Brigade commander.

At 1:00 p.m. on August 10, Matsui Ishigen, who had not waited for Tang Shengzhi to surrender, issued an attack order, and ordered all troops outside Nanjing to capture Nanjing City within three days. The 6th Division, which was still struggling outside, launched an attack on Fangshan and Chunhua Town at the same time; the 114th Division also put all its main forces into the attack at Moling Pass. The 9th Division, which had already broken through the outer position, attacked the Wulong Mountain Fortress, and the 16th Division launched an attack on Zijin Mountain, the main position of Fukuo.

At the same time, the Japanese Navy Aviation Corps Mugenjin Brigade was responsible for the air cover of the offensive troops. For a time, the outer positions of Chunhua Town, Fangshan, Zijin Mountain, and Wulong Mountain Fortress were trapped in a sea of ​​fire under the crazy bombing and dive strafing of the Mugengjin Brigade. Aircraft bombardment, cannons were bombarded, and then the chariots were driven by the ground troops to attack the above positions. However, the brave Chinese defenders still firmly guarded the positions. The Sixth Division even broke through the defense line of Chunhua Town several times, and the two sides launched brutal hand-to-hand combat, but the Neon Army that had broken into Chunhua Town several times was driven out by the suicide squad organized by the 153rd Brigade.

Just as the battle was in full swing, a small black dot suddenly appeared in the sky to the west. As the small black dots got closer and closer, a roaring motor sound came.

"Our plane is our plane." The officers and soldiers of the teaching corps responsible for defending the main position of Zijin Mountain were the first to see clearly the badges on the plane with blue sky and white sun.

It turned out that as the situation in Nanjing continued to deteriorate, especially the bombing of Neon Army aircraft caused great casualties to the Nanjing defenders. With Tang Shengzhi's request for help, Chiang Kai-shek, who was far away in Wuhan, sent the Fourth Battalion of the air combat hero Gao Zhihang, who performed well on the battlefield in the Songhu battlefield, to reinforce Nanjing.

The Mugenjin Brigade of the Neon Naval Air Force and Gao Zhihang's Fourth Brigade are old rivals. The Mugenjin Brigade suffered many losses above the Songhu Battlefield. The enemy was particularly jealous of the meeting. The Mugenjin Brigade, which had originally suffered heavy losses this time, was piloted by the latest Type 97 carrier-based attack aircraft that had been added recently. The Fourth Brigade also received volunteer pilots from the Soviet Air Force with the signing of the Sino-Soviet Treaty.

Support of fighting side by side. Pilots from China and the Soviet Union flew planes bravely to fight against Japanese planes. Fighters with blue sky and sunshine and Japanese planes with menstruation flags flew up and down, forming a ball. On the ground, they heard the rumbling sound of cannons and the strafing sound of airborne machine guns, but they couldn't tell which side of the shooting sound was. Only when they saw the menstruation flag signs on the plane dragging down with thick smoke, the officers and soldiers guarding the city cheered together.

However, although the air warriors of China and the Soviet Union fought bravely, the planes of the Kikino-jin Brigade had an overwhelming advantage in terms of performance and quantity.

After shooting down seven or eight Neon Army aircraft, the Fourth Battalion finally retreated to Hefei Airport due to insufficient fuel and ammunition and the loss of five of its own aircraft. Although the air support played a very small role in the entire battle situation, the participation of the Air Force brought great encouragement to the morale of the defenders on the ground.

The teaching team defending Zijin Mountain was like a gate, resisting the enemy that was rushing like a tide in the front of Nanjing. The teaching team relied on the preset position of steel and concrete to stubbornly block the enemy. The 16th Division left corpses everywhere in front of the position.

The teaching corps suffered the smallest losses on the Songhu front line, and there were still 30,000 people. They were well-equipped and their combat effectiveness did not suffer much weakening. However, in the case of resisting the crazy attack of the 16th Division, the casualties were still heavy. However, the command of the corps commander Gui Yongqing was very clear, with sixteen words: "Resist firmly and do not retreat. If there is any mistake, come and see you."

Zhou Zhenqiang, the deputy commander of the frontier commander and commander of the First Brigade, was under the pressure of this deadly order, and quickly became aware of favorable terrain and fortifications, and used a few troops to deal with the enemy. The troops took turns to rest, which not only reduced casualties, but also regained their energy. This move did work. The 16th Division lost troops and lost generals, but it was still difficult to move forward.

Faced with the tenacious resistance of the teaching corps, Nakajima Isago, the commander of the 16th Division, was also extremely anxious and kept walking around the tent of the temporary command center.

"His division commander." Chief of staff, Colonel Nakazawa, who had been lying on the map to study countermeasures, raised his head and reported.

"Na Ni?" Nakajima Ashigo walked quickly to the map when he heard the sound. He now urgently needed the Chief of Staff to come up with a practical solution.

"Secretary Commander, see, this is the Zijin Mountain we are attacking. On the left is Xiaoling Guard. There is no other place to defend except for a Huaengshang School for defense. We can send a corps to continue to attack Zijin Mountain and restrain the teaching team on Zijin Mountain. Then the main force of the division bypasses Zijin Mountain and directly attacks Xiaoling Guard. Once it breaks through, we can directly attack Guanghuamen." Mifu Nakazawa pointed to the map and explained in detail to Ashigo Nakajima.

"Yoxi, this plan is completely feasible." Nakajima Atsugo looked at the map carefully and finally smiled: "Order the Ninth Regiment of the 19th Brigade to continue attacking Zijin Mountain. The 30th Brigade immediately bypassed Zijin Mountain and launched an attack on Xiaolingwei."

The only battalion of the 261st Brigade of the 87th Division was defending the Xiaolingwei Engineering School. The Neon Army was attacking the Zijin Mountain position. The defenders of the Engineering School never dreamed that a large number of Neon Army appeared in front of them. It was caught off guard and it was difficult to organize effective defense. Under the fierce attack of the 30th Brigade of the 16th Division, the Engineering School fell instantly. The 30th Brigade suddenly bypassed Zijin Mountain and broke into Guanghua's sect.

At this time, Wang Jingjiu, the commander of the 87th Division, was squatting in the division headquarters in the basement of Fuguishan, and he lowered his head and smoked. He heard the news of the loss of the Engineering School, and was shocked to jump up and threw the cigarette, unable to speak for a long time.

"Teacher, I'm afraid this situation should be reported to the commander-in-chief's headquarters as soon as possible!" Qiu Qingquan, the chief of staff of the teaching corps next to him, hurriedly reminded him.

Wang Jingjiu woke up as if he was dreaming and hung up the phone number from the commander-in-chief's headquarters. As soon as the Engineering School was lost, the Guanghua Gate of Nanjing City was first exposed to the Neon Army. What Wang Jingjiu heard on the phone was Tang Shengzhi's scolding. However, his troops' dereliction of duty made him have no reason to refute.

Wang Jingjiu, who was so angry that he was not furious, immediately connected to the brigade headquarters of the 261st Brigade. After cursing at the brigade commander of the 261st Brigade, he shouted: "You organize the troops quickly and must take back the Engineering School."

But at this time, the follow-up troops of the Neon Army had been continuously driving outside Guanghua Gate, and it was obviously impossible to retake the Engineer School.
Chapter completed!