Chapter 17 4. Generals of the Cantonese Army who risked their lives to break through

Only Ye Zhao's 66th Army and Deng Longguang's 83rd Army were the ones who actually carried out the order of the Garrison Command to break through the encirclement.After receiving the order to break out of the siege, the two army commanders discussed: the 66th Army will lead the battle, and the 83rd Army will be the rear guard.The troops left the city from the Taiping Gate, and made a frontal breakout from the northern foot of Zijin Mountain to the south. After returning to the military headquarters, Ye Zhao quickly delivered the retreat order, and then came to the Taiping Gate with Luo Cequn, acting commander of the 159th Division, and stood by the gate in person, commanding the troops to remove the sandbags blocking the Taiping Gate and open the city gate.In the chaos of Nanjing City, the Sixty-sixth Army left the Taiping Gate with a team that generally maintained its organizational system.There were trenches and mines everywhere along the way, and the troops made slow progress. When they reached the fork in the road, they were finally discovered by the Japanese army, and the enemy immediately blocked them.The troops charged several times but failed to repel the enemy, so the acting division commander Luo Cequn rode his horse and raised his whip and shouted: "Come with me! Let's fight the enemy! We can't be cowards!" After repelling the enemy, General Luo Cequn died a heroic death in this battle.

After rushing through the fork in the road, the troops had dispersed, and under the cover of night, they broke through separately.Army Commander Ye Zhao and Chief of Staff Huang Zhinan groped their way through the dark mountains. In the early morning of the 14th, I went to a village near Tangshan, bought two sets of plain clothes from a local farmer, disguised myself as a refugee and hid in the mountains.The cold wind was blowing, and the mountain road was rough and difficult. The two of them hadn't eaten for a whole day, and they were very hungry.In the evening, I went down the mountain to look for food. Under the dim moonlight, I suddenly found a pile of sweet potato skins beside the road.After a full meal, put the remaining sweet potato skins in your pockets for emergencies.

The next morning, the two saw groups of refugees passing by on the road, and they immediately mixed into the group of refugees.After walking not far, they suddenly encountered a group of Japanese soldiers marching from east to west. They met on a narrow road, and it was too late to hide.Unexpectedly, the enemy's road was narrow, and the Japanese soldiers took a fancy to them, so the two Chinese generals immediately became temporary porters of the Japanese army.Huang Zhinan walked six or seven miles with his luggage, and suddenly his feet hurt unbearably, and he couldn't keep up with the team.The Japanese soldier was so angry that he screamed. Seeing that it was impossible, he kicked a few times, and Huang Zhinan fell to the ground, foaming at the mouth, with his eyes closed, and the luggage of a Japanese soldier fell on the commander Ye Zhao. shoulder.Has the army commander Ye Zhao ever tasted the pain of carrying a burden in his life?It is really difficult to rush on the road suddenly loaded with dozens of catties.The Japanese soldiers looked at the Chinese porter. He had gray hair, a long beard, and a thin, pale, haggard face. He was indeed a useless old man, so he had to arrest another young farmer to replace him, and then severely scolded him a few times. In a word, after lifting the leather boots, Ye Zhao rolled to the side of the road. After the Japanese army was gone, he hurriedly found Huang Zhinan.At this time, Huang Zhinan's "illness" and feet healed. The two learned the painful lesson from this time, and since then they have stayed away from the road and hid in the mountains. Guangdong.

Guo Yongbiao, chief of staff of the 66th Army, broke up at the fork in the road and arrived at Mudong Village at the foot of Jiuhua Mountain in Jurong County on the 13th.Here he saw many wandering Cantonese soldiers, scattered and chaotic, with no one to lead them. Not only did the troops lose many precious soldiers, but also the Cantonese soldiers were unfamiliar and wandering, easily degraded and trapped in a miserable predicament. East Village set up a military depot to accommodate them.An insider asked him privately: "You have no money, how can you have such courage?" Guo Yongbiao replied: "I guess those who break out of the city will always have military supplies with cash. Even if they don't, they will find a way at that time. Officials can't just sit back and ignore the scattered soldiers, right?!"

On the 14th, Lin Shixue, the deputy of the 159th Division Battalion of the Sixty-sixth Army, led a relatively complete company to the east of the tomb. Lin Weichou, the brigade commander of the fifth brigade, also came to the east of the tomb one after another. Lin Weichou set up another brigade headquarters to assist in planning and coordinate operations.A few days later, Weng Yongnian, a second lieutenant of the Sixty-sixth Army, brought more than 10,000 yuan in cash, and the troops' supplies were settled smoothly. From December 14th to 30th, 17 days before and after, a total of more than 1,300 officers and soldiers were accommodated.All officers and soldiers were organized into three battalions, led by Lin Weichou, Mo Furu, and Guo Yongbiao. They set off after dinner on the 30th, passing through the foot of Damao Mountain, Majia, Tianwangsi, etc. in the counties of Lishui, Liyang, Langxi, and Guangde. land, arrived in Ningguo, Anhui on January 10, 1938, and finally completed the task of breaking out.

Deng Longguang, the commander of the Eighty-Third Army, was also very difficult when he broke through the encirclement.After Deng Longguang crossed the fork, only Chief of Staff Chen Wen, Colonel Counselor Ke Shenfu, Chief of Staff Liu Shaowu, and Adjutant Wang Zhi remained beside him.Fumbling to the vicinity of the airport by night, he was intercepted by the Japanese army again. Deng Longguang ordered the spy company to suppress the enemy's firepower with a sudden attack, and then used the bunkers near the airport to cover and leap forward one by one. Finally, he got rid of the enemy's firepower. More than half.So Liu Shaowu, chief of staff, led people to explore the road ahead, away from the lights, and chose dark places to detour, but did not dare to make a sound, and often lost contact with each other.At 3 o'clock in the morning on the 14th, there were only about 10 people left around. Suddenly they heard the sound of hurried footsteps. Everyone hurriedly lurked and listened, and gradually heard the voice of Cantonese. Knowing that it was our own, they followed behind the team. go ahead.Arriving near a small town before dawn, he asked farmers about it. He knew that Chunhua Town was in front of him. There were Japanese troops infested and enemy tanks patrolling the road. Deng Longguang decided to hide in a remote village and wait until night to cross the Beijing-Hangzhou Highway.

At 6 o'clock in the evening on the 14th, just as they were about to set off to cross the road, a team suddenly passed by the village. Deng Longguang asked his adjutant to contact him. He knew it was a small group of officers and soldiers led by the brigade commander Ma Weilong of the teaching corps.So Commander Deng immediately met with Brigadier Ma. After the two sides discussed, it was decided that Ma Weilong would lead the troops as the vanguard, and Deng Longguang and others would follow up.The troops groped their way to the side of the highway at night, and Ma Weilong immediately commanded the troops to quickly cross the Beijing-Hangzhou National Highway.At this moment, several enemy armored vehicles suddenly drove up from Chunhua Town, heading towards Nanjing.Deng Longguang had no choice but to wait for the enemy's armored vehicles to pass before crossing the road. He lost contact with the horse department, so he had to use the map to correct the direction and groped forward to the south.Arriving near Moling Pass after midnight, they encountered a large group of Japanese soldiers preparing to go out, so they turned back and lurked in a remote village. Each of them bought clothes from farmers and disguised themselves as refugees.When putting on makeup, Deng Longguang wanted to burn all the breakout orders and business cards. Chief of Staff Liu Shaowu suggested that now is not the time to eliminate traces of soldiers, and these things may be useful in the future.Deng Longguang thought for a while, then put these documents back into his pocket.On the same day, a young farmer Qiang Runtian was found to guide them, and they set off in the evening.After bypassing many obstacles, they arrived at a busy town in Anhui on the 19th. After learning that the enemy was active 60 miles away from the town, everyone decided to rest here for a day.Without hesitation, Deng Longguang immediately took out his business card and ordered the adjutant to look for the mayor. The mayor heard that there was a military commander visiting the town, and he came to pay a respectful visit. He properly resolved the board and lodging issues of the group, and sent a security team Serve as a vigilante.After resting here for two days, he arrived at Shangguan Yunxiang's station in Nanling on the 21st, and then transferred to Tunxi, Anhui to contain the troops.The Eighty-Third Army received a total of one or two thousand officers and soldiers who broke through the siege from Nanjing, and Wang Dequan led them to Hunan for intensive training.

In the breakout of Nanjing, in addition to Luo Cequn, the deputy commander of the 159th Division of the Ye Zhao Division of the 66th Army (the division commander of the breakout era), Situ Fei, the chief of staff of the 160th Division of the 66th Army, and the 15th Division of the Deng Longguang Division of the 83rd Army were killed. Yao Zhongying, chief of staff of the Sixth Division, and Li Lanchi, deputy commander of the 112th Division of the Liuguang Department of the Jiangfang Army, and other generals died heroically in the encounter with the enemy.And another senior general, Lieutenant General Xiao Shanling, deputy commander of the military police who graduated from the Baoding Army Military Academy, led the military police to retreat to the riverside in Xiaguan.After the Japanese search troops arrived at the riverside, they attacked by water and land. Xiao Shanling commanded hundreds of gendarmes around him to resist with all their strength.