Chapter 39 Kill to the gate of the division

By the evening of December 1, the number of defenders of the 57th Division was less than 1,000, and the positions were lost piece by piece. In the urban area, Yuanqing Street, Changqing Street, Daqing Street, Daxiao Gaoshan Lane, Fuping Street, Yuanyuan Street, Huangdi Street, etc. Jingtai, Guanmiao Street, Hanshou Street, Ji'e Lane, Weikoukou, Linyuan Street and other strongholds in all streets and alleys were successively occupied by the enemy, leaving only five strongholds in the southwest corner of the city. Headquarters), Old Sihai on Shuangzhong Street (170th Regiment Headquarters of Sun Jinxian), Fuwen Temple in Tiejiaqiao (171st Regiment Headquarters of Du Ding), Asia Hotel at Baijiekou (169th Regiment Headquarters of Chai Yixin), Daxing The Huajing Glass Factory (the defensive point of the 169th regiment) on the street was not broken by the Japanese army.

In order to ensure these five strongholds, Yu Chengwan ordered the ministries to demolish the houses around the strongholds to 15 meters to 20 meters away, so that the enemy's artillery fire could not reach the buildings inside the key points.At the same time, Yu Chengwan organized personnel to build large and small bunkers around the five strongholds with stones, sandbags, and earth bags, and each used a squad of troops to control them. As long as the enemy was found approaching, he would immediately shoot to stop them.He originally wanted to issue a third order, that is, prepare death squads for each stronghold, and when the enemy swarms up, he will rush out and blast the grenade to exchange ten for one, but there are only a handful of soldiers he has, and he has no strength to carry out his operations conceived.

It was just dawn on December 2, and the enemy's offensive in the city became more and more fierce.In front of the core position of the national army at Xingjiekou, the Japanese army continued to advance on the ruins with an absolutely superior force and under the cover of powerful artillery fire.Kong Yiyu, the battalion commander of the National Army’s pursuit artillery battalion, led less than 50 remnants of the 3rd Battalion of the 169th Regiment to fight desperately. They are allowed to retreat in any way, so all the officers and soldiers are like cast iron, sticking to both sides of the covered corridor, making the enemy hit the wall repeatedly.

Seeing that the front could not be pushed forward, the Japanese army divided Xiaoximen's troops into two groups, extending one way to Daximen and the other way to outflank the Northeast Street, in an attempt to encircle the Central Bank in a roundabout way.The 1st Battalion of the 169th Regiment was guarding the line of defense from Wenchang Temple to the North Gate. The remaining brothers in the battalion had no choice but to take the initiative to rush out of the position to counterattack, but due to the disparity in numbers, they all died heroically. About 300 Japanese soldiers rushed to Daximen. They shelled, burned and attacked the defenders in turn.At this time, the 171st Regiment of the National Army in Daximen had to contain the enemy's disturbance and also deal with the enemy's attack outside the city, causing heavy casualties. However, Daximen was related to the survival of all defenders at this time. The central bank will collapse on its own.Lu Kongwen, the acting battalion commander of the 3rd Battalion, who was in charge of commanding operations on this line, led the soldiers to counterattack the enemy behind them with white knives and howling.The soldiers of the national army came back victorious, but they realized that the acting battalion commander Lu was missing. They immediately went back to the battlefield to search, only to find that Lu Kongwen was shot and lying under a broken wall, his heart had stopped beating.

The Japanese army outflanked Wenchang Temple to the northwest, and after breaking through the line of defense connecting Wenchang Temple to the North Gate, they joined up with the enemy at Jiandao Lane and the old battalion office, and stormed the back wall of the headquarters of the 57th Division of the Central Bank.After a fierce battle, the Japanese army has approached the foot of the wall and began to cut through the wall. The situation is extremely critical!Battalion Commander Meng Jidong arrived in time with his troops. He personally charged and fired with a machine gun. After the division was in an emergency, Commander Yu Chengwan had neither Deputy Commander Chen nor Commander Zhou Yizhong by his side, so he felt extremely struggling, so he thought of transferring Long Chuyun back.

After Long received the call, he left Daximen and rushed to the division headquarters. Since there was no way to go, he had to go around in a detour.About to walk to Lewang Palace (or Yaowang Palace), more than a dozen houses were burning ragingly, blocking the way and unable to move forward. Moreover, there were enemy gunshots on the left and right sides of the fire, and there was no possibility of detour. Izumo was helpless, so he walked back again.He groped to the east and then south, turning around in the ruins of the houses. After two hours of turning around, he turned to the upper south gate.When passing through the intersection of Wenchang Temple from the upper south gate, the burning fire illuminated the street red like a dream. Under the red light, Long Chuyun encountered walking Japanese soldiers twice.For the first time, he ducked under a pile of bricks.The second time he was walking along the street, the footsteps of Japanese soldiers' leather boots could be heard from the street entrance. Long Chuyun saw seven or eight dead bodies on the ground, so he threw himself into the pile of dead bodies, pretending to be dead.

The Japanese army kept coming and going here, and it seemed that it had become a supply line for the attacking troops in front, so a wave of enemies passed by, and Long Chuyun was afraid that there would be a second wave coming. He didn't dare to get up, but rolled on the spot, After rolling under a corner, Cai Mao got up and went into a ruin. From here to the west, there is already the position of the national army. Under the smoke of the fire, he saw two people jumping and flashing from the opposite side, who looked like his own, so he asked the password first: "Reinforcements!"

"Come early!" It was my brother! Taking a closer look, it turned out that it was a messenger and an orderly from the division headquarters, both of which were his subordinates. "Director, are you injured?" The orderly was a little surprised. "Ah?" Long Chuyun didn't know it himself. He looked down, only to find that his right arm had been scratched by stray bullets at some point, and the blood flowed out, turning his sleeve into a hard lump. "Let's help the director back to the division headquarters." The orderly said. "Okay." The orderly replied, and at the same time came forward to help the dragon out of the cloud.

Long Chuyun walked into the division headquarters with difficulty amidst the fireworks, and knowing that Commander Yu was still sitting calmly in the basement, he went in to have an audience. "Ah, you're back!" Seeing Long Chuyun, Yu Chengwan showed joy on his face, "Sit down quickly, sit down quickly." After Long Chuyun sat down in Deputy Commander Chen's seat, he reported how he supervised the battle. The Cantonese shredded tobacco that Yu Chengwan smoked was out of stock long ago, and the cigarette rolls were also sold out two days ago. Now his only stimulus is a half-cup of cold water in a small glass on the table, which he takes a sip from time to time. Take a sip.After listening to Long Chuyun's report, he commanded with concern: "I see that your face is pale, probably because the wound is bleeding a lot, go and rest first."

Long Chuyun insisted on refusing, saying that he would share some work for the teacher.Yu comforted him and said, "I know that you have made a lot of military exploits. There is no task now, so you should find a place to lie down." To be honest, Long Chuyun was so weak that he had no strength at all. He was afraid that his eyes would turn dark and he would fall in the command room and disturb the teacher's attention, so he agreed and agreed to go outside to rest for a while.After leaving the basement, the orderly ran over immediately, and said in a low voice: "Director, you are walking unsteadily, are you struggling? Come, let me find a safe place for you, and you can sleep for a while."

The orderly helped Long Chuyun to a gap between two walls and told him to sit on the ground.Long Chuyun couldn't hold on any longer, and immediately lowered his head and closed his eyes into a foggy state. In a daze, his body suddenly fell forward, and Long Chuyun woke up with a start.He saw a flash of white light outside the window next to him, and the thick smell of sulfur rushed in along with a burst of thick smoke. The violent explosion that shook the house shot up to the sky in front, back, left, and right, deafening.He knew it was dawn, and the Japanese planes came again for the bombing before the morning attack.For a week now he had eliminated the fear of death, and with the thought of dying at any moment in his mind, any bullets and flames did not matter.Sitting in place, he saw that the house was completely filled with bomb smoke, and he could not see anything two feet away when he opened his eyes. He only felt waves of flying sand blowing towards him. It can be imagined that the bomb was very close, so he sat calmly, waiting for the call of death.But suddenly, he heard the sound of the transmitter in the headquarters "tick-tick-tick", and then he suddenly thought of the division commander! "How is the teacher?" He was suddenly jumped up by a fearful worry. When he ran into the basement of the teacher's house panting, he saw that Yu Chengwan was still sitting in the original seat, but there was an extra grenade in his hand. "Teacher, you?" He breathed out, and stopped halfway through the question. "Ah, you're here. Go check it out at the gate." Yu Chengwan's tone was still very calm. "But you..." Long Chuyun asked worriedly. "You go to carry out your mission, don't worry about me. I have a grenade here, which is enough for myself." Yu Chengwan wasn't nervous when he said this, he seemed to be reminding Long Chuyun that as a soldier, it was very natural for him to come to this point. "Yes, Commander!" Long Chuyun raised his injured arm and tried his best to give a standard military salute.