Chapter 11 heart sank

Carlson also came to Nanjing by boat.The Nanjing city in front of him has become a dead city, the streets are empty, only military trucks are running back and forth non-stop. The purpose of Carlson's trip was to get a military pass to the area controlled by the Eighth Route Army through Chiang Kai-shek's foreign adviser, Duan Na.Because his friend Snow told him that the Eighth Route Army was implementing a tactic called "guerrilla warfare" in the north, and Carlson was very interested in it. Of course, there is another thing that Carlson is eager to know.Under the recommendation of others, he met Tang Shengzhi, the commander-in-chief of the city defense.Tang Shengzhi assured him: "I will defend Nanking to the last man. The Japanese may eventually take the city, but they will pay a great price for it."

Compared with oath and determination, how to defend the city is more critical.However, in the conversation between the two, Tang Shengzhi mainly talked about barricade tactics and defensive measures used in the city, and did not even mention a word about establishing a foothold outside the city. From a military point of view, the premise of defending the city is that the key points on the outskirts of the city must be guarded, so as to form a defensive depth, otherwise it is very easy to be breached.Tang Shengzhi, who graduated from Baoding Military Academy, has more than 20 years of experience in the army. He even fought against Chiang Kai-shek in the melee of warlords. Obviously, he is not ignorant of this, but he lacks enough confidence in defending the suburbs.

Carlson's heart sank.Before he got the military pass and left Nanjing, he concluded that the first capital of the Ming Dynasty was about to fall, and the time of fall was not far away. In fact, most of the generals who received the order to guard Nanjing also thought the same way. They were in the south of the Yangtze River but their hearts were in the north of the Yangtze River.For this reason, Chiang Kai-shek specially convened a military meeting to defend Nanjing. At the meeting, he clearly stated the topic: Nanjing is not only the capital of China, but also the location of the "Father of the Nation" Sun Yat-sen's mausoleum. Abandoning it will affect both international reputation and morale of the army. , so now it is not a question of whether you can keep it, but that you must keep it.

Tang Shengzhi then stated that he was willing to do his best and die.After the two of them spoke, the other generals present at the meeting looked at each other in blank dismay, swallowing their original objections one by one. Although Yu Jishi and Wang Yaowu lacked the confidence and certainty to stick to Nanjing, they had no choice but to deploy according to the order. On December 3, the 74th Army marched into the existing positions in Chunhua Town and Niushou Mountain. Among them, the 51st Division was responsible for guarding Chunhua Town, the 58th Division was responsible for guarding Niushou Mountain, and the military headquarters was located in Tongji. In a village outside the gate.

The existing positions in the suburbs of Nanjing were also built before the war. They were all reinforced concrete defense fortifications. However, due to hasty use and unreasonable original designs, there was a considerable disconnect between them and actual combat needs.When the Seventy-Fourth Army entered the position, some machine gun positions had locked doors, and they didn't know who to ask for the key, and some machine gun bunkers were too large, making it very easy for the enemy to find the target.In addition, there are neither tunnels, trenches, nor depth between fortifications and bunkers.

Three baskets of rotten peaches are not as good as one fresh apricot. This kind of fortifications and bunkers make people want to roll their eyes a hundred times.The Seventy-Fourth Army had no choice but to carry out emergency repairs and reinforcements again. If the door couldn't be opened, they simply smashed it down. Even so, due to the lack of engineering materials and transportation force of the troops themselves, the position still couldn't reach the expected level of strength. Chunhua Town and Niushou Mountain are the places where the Japanese army must pass through when they attack Nanjing. On December 7, when the Seventy-Fourth Army was still rushing to repair the fortifications, the small Japanese troops advancing on Chunhua exchanged fire with the security troops of the 51st Division.On the second day, under the cover of aircraft and artillery, the large Japanese army launched a fierce attack on Chunhua Town and Niushou Mountain at the same time. The fragile defensive positions were completely covered in the gunfire and smoke, and some places were almost razed to the ground.

Although at a disadvantage from the beginning, the main position is still in the hands of the 74th Army. On December 9, the Japanese army launched a larger-scale attack, especially the attack on the 51st Division in Chunhua Town.The sharp weapon they use to destroy the fortification bunker is mainly the 37mm flat-fire infantry gun, which is a kind of artillery that can charge with the infantry. It is specially used to destroy the opponent's firepower point, and the shooting accuracy is quite high. Defects in the structure of defense fortifications have become a nightmare for Chinese soldiers.The flat-fire shells came in through the oversized opening of the machine gun bunker. Many of the heavy machine guns of the 74th Army were blown up, and the officers and soldiers suffered heavy casualties. Some had their legs and arms broken, and some even had their brains blown out. The scene was horrible.The 301st Regiment of the 51st Division, which was on the front line, was almost wiped out. Except for the regiment leader Ji Hongru who was seriously injured, nine of the twelve company commanders in the regiment were killed or injured, and more than 1,400 people were killed or injured in the lower ranks. .

On the same day, the Chunhua Town and Niushou Mountain positions were breached successively.Seeing that the situation was not good, Yu Ji hurriedly reported the battle situation to Tang Shengzhi. Tang Shengzhi made a decision to have the Seventy-Fourth Army withdraw to the vicinity of Shuiximen. At that time, one division would serve as the defense and the other would serve as the reserve team. At dusk, the 74th Army assembled towards Shuiximen, and Wang Yaowu ordered the 305th Regiment to cut off the rear.That night, the 305th Regiment started fighting with the Japanese troops who were chasing up. When the troops were about to be overwhelmed, the head of the regiment, Zhang Lingfu, personally held a portable machine gun and led the temporarily organized death squads to launch a countercharge.

During the battle, Zhang Lingfu was shot in his left arm and was seriously injured, but he persisted in not going out of the line of fire, and fought bloody battles with Xiang Yu's spirit that he could not die in Jiangdong.A regiment leader took the lead to fight for his life, and everyone in the 305th regiment fought bravely, and finally blocked the Japanese army temporarily in the southeastern suburbs of Nanjing through night battles.