From this point of view, the National Army is indeed very commercially credible. After receiving Jiang Cheng's 3 million French currency, three pontoon bridges were built in just five days.
Although he knew that many people in Nanjing already knew about this matter, in order to conceal it from others, Jiang Cheng decided to temporarily sink the pontoon bridge into the water and prepare to use it at a critical moment. Zhou Weiguo and Wang Yong built a large number of bunkers one after another.
Controlling the pontoon, fortunately this place is relatively remote and outsiders are prohibited from entering and exiting in the name of military control, so not many people found it.
While Jiang Cheng was planning a way out for Nanjing's soldiers and civilians, the Japanese army was gradually approaching Nanjing. Zhenjiang was lost six days later. The citizens of Nanjing could already see countless Japanese aircraft flying over their heads. Although Jiang Jie
I hope to defend Nanjing for a while, but I don't have any extravagant hopes of victory in the battle to defend Nanjing, so the precious aircraft will naturally not be placed in Nanjing. Nanjing has become a playground for the Japanese aviation force, and bombs are constantly falling on it.
The long period of passive beatings at the forward positions and military and political institutions caused an air of uneasiness to hang over the city of Nanjing.
"Boom!!" Another building was blown up by Japanese bombs. Tang Shengzhi, who was in the basement, was anxiously waiting for news from Wuhan. The complete loss of air control made the defenders too passive.
"Wuhan called back." The communications soldier nervously decoded the code and stood up.
"Show me quickly. I heard that the Soviet Union gave us a military loan of 100 million US dollars and a lot of aircraft. I believe that the committee will give us support soon." Tang Shengzhi pretended to be calm and said to Luo Zhuoying and Liu Xinger next to him.
people said.
Tang Shengzhi then picked up the telegram and saw that his face turned white first, then blue, then red, and finally white again. It was just like the face-changing in Sichuan opera, which was an eye-opener for Liu and Luo.
"Commander? What's wrong? What did the commissioner say?" Luo asked curiously.
"The committee said that there are not many pilots for Soviet aircraft and they are in the running-in period. Shanxi, Shandong and other North China regions are not yet able to effectively supply them. The Soviet aviation fleet, led by Prokofiev, had fierce battles with the Japanese army and suffered considerable losses.
"We cannot guarantee safety over Nanjing for the time being. Let us overcome the difficulties for the time being and be patient for the country." Tang Shengzhi threw the telegram aside as he spoke.
"Where are the reinforcements? When will the reinforcements arrive?" Liu Xing continued. You must know that Jiang Jie had promised at the beginning that he would personally bring the reinforcements to rescue Nanjing.
Tang Shengzhi shook his head and said nothing. Liu and Luo looked at each other and understood in their hearts.
"Order the troops and prepare to die in service to the country." After speaking, Tang Shengzhi stood up and walked out of the headquarters.
At this time, Tang Shengzhi understood in his heart that Nanjing had been abandoned, and Wuhan, which was not even willing to send planes, would order reinforcements to come to the rescue. What made Tang Shengzhi even more chilling was that he went to Nanjing just to win the favor of Chiang Kai-shek.
, but at this time, there was not even a plane to take him out of Nanjing. Tang Shengzhi was completely panicked.
At this time, the peripheral battle outside Nanjing had begun.
The Japanese army deployed a total of the 3rd, 6th, 9th, 10th, 16th, 18th, 114th, Yamada detachment (13th Division, 130th Brigade) outside Nanjing.
), in addition there are 2 independent field heavy artillery brigades and 3 other field heavy artillery, siege heavy artillery regiment, 7 siege heavy artillery battalions, 1 heavy mortar battalion, 1 heavy artillery squadron, 16 anti-aircraft artillery teams and 3
A reserve mountain artillery team, 21 independent vehicle teams and other support units, with a total strength of more than 200,000. The weapons are equipped with 240mm howitzers, 150mm cannons and other heavy artillery, including more than 700 anti-aircraft guns, rapid-fire guns, infantry guns, and mortars.
and more than 2,000 grenades and 300 tanks and armored vehicles. On the north route, the Shanghai Expeditionary Army led by King Jiuyan of Asaka Palace attacked along the railway. On the south route, the Tenth Army led by Yanagawa Heisuke attacked Jurong-Moling Pass first.
The front line then returns to attack Nanjing.
At this time, more than 100,000 troops had been gathered in Nanjing City, most of which were composed of unsatisfied troops who had retreated along the Shanghai line. Their combat effectiveness was weak, and their fighting will was as frightened as a bird in a bow.
The battle first started in Jurong.
Guarding Jurong was Ye Zhao's 66th Army. This unit first participated in the Battle of Songhu and then the Battle of Jiangyin. It was already extremely exhausted. Under the indiscriminate bombardment of Japanese artillery fire and aircraft, it was
I was so depressed that I couldn't even lift my head.
"Hey, is this the military seat? We can't hold on here anymore. Please support us. Please support us." Luo Cequn, the deputy commander of the 159th Division at the front line, called frantically on the phone.
"What? I can't hold on anymore? Do you know where is behind you? Where is your division commander? Tell him to come over and answer the phone." Ye Zhao cursed angrily.
I only heard Luo Cequn say with a cry, "The division commander has gone up. Now I am the only one in the headquarters. Military seat, the Japs have divided their forces to attack. Our position has been divided and out of control. Without reinforcements, we are doomed."
!”
After saying that, I heard a burst of gunfire from the other side of the phone, and Ye Zhao anxiously shouted, "Hey, hey! Talk, are you there?"
"Yo Xi, who are you?" The unfamiliar Chinese with a Japanese accent made Ye Zhao's scalp explode. Ye Zhao said in disbelief, "Who are you?"
"Wow, hahaha, oh my, Colonel Takashi Takamori of the Third Division of the Imperial Army of Japan, your unit is finished. Please wash your neck and wait for me to cut off your head and give it to our Emperor as a gift.
Gift!" After the person on the phone finished speaking word by word, he hung up the phone. Ye Zhao's whole back was sweating profusely in the cold wind of December.
"Military seat, Military seat, are you okay?" the staff officer next to him said anxiously.
"Withdraw, retreat quickly. Immediately order the troops to withdraw to Qilin Gate. Jurong has been lost. Send a message to Commander Tang. The entire 159th Division has been wiped out." Ye Zhao sat down slowly as if his whole body had been drained.
——Nanjing Headquarters
Tang Shengzhi felt as if the whole sky was about to collapse. More than 200,000 Japanese troops surrounded the city of Nanjing, attacking from three sides. The railway that he thought was safe was cut off instantly by the Sixth Division. If he hadn't seen the people who escaped back, he would have been killed.
Still unaware of this, Tang Shengzhi looked at the map and saw that except for the fact that there were no Japanese troops on the river, there were Japanese troops everywhere, and Gu Zhu's fellow soldiers facing the river were defending Yangzhou and Chuzhou. This was his only way to survive.
But Tang Shengzhi took the initiative to volunteer. If he retreated on his own initiative, he would still have a good life in the future. Tang Shengzhi could only continue to send reports to Wuhan, reporting on the battle situation, hoping that Chiang Kai-shek would take the initiative to order the Nanjing garrison to retreat.
At this time, a correspondent came in and reported, "Report, the 66th Army urgently sent a telegram, Jurong has been lost, and the entire 159th Division has been wiped out."
Tang Shengzhi was shocked and said, "Send electricity to Wuhan to explain the matter, and add that I, Tang Shengzhi, are willing to lead the whole city to imitate the 159th Division. I only want the jade to be broken, not to destroy the whole. I will fight to the death with the spirit of "burning the cauldron" to repay the party and the country for peace."
The grace of knowing and meeting me.”
Mount Jiuhua outside Nanjing had become the temporary headquarters of the Japanese army. Matsui Iwane and Prince Asaka Palace Hatohiko sat together and discussed the situation in Nanjing. At this time, Matsui Iwane had been promoted to the commander of the Central China Front.
Take a look at the overall situation. The two of them were wearing military uniforms, with tea sets and a wall in front of them, and a Japanese artist playing the shamisen next to them, which made them feel quite uncomfortable.
King Jiuyan of Chaoxiang Palace took a sip of tea and said with eyes closed, "This fruit from the south of the Yangtze River is really extraordinary. Even the brewed tea has a softness to it. It's really beautiful."
"I think it is only a matter of time before the city of Nanjing is broken. The Chinese defenders must be in constant panic now. It is better to strengthen efforts to persuade them to surrender in order to reduce the losses of the imperial army." Matsui Iwane looked at the favorable battle reports coming from the front and smiled at Asaka Palace.
King Jiuyan said.
King Asaka Palace Kyuhiko shook his head and snorted and said, "These Chinese people deserve to die. If we let them live, they will only fight against the imperial army secretly. Does General Matsui still remember Manchuria? The resistance of the Chinese people there has not stopped until now."
, I think it would be easier to kill them all."
Matsui Iwane put the telegram aside and said, "We cannot let our warriors sacrifice themselves at the last moment. We should take more emperor's warriors back to their homes. After Nanjing was destroyed, China was destroyed, and our warriors also died.
You can go home."
King Jiuyan of Asaka Palace said in disbelief, "After Nanjing is broken, will China really surrender? Chiang Kai-shek has already reorganized troops in Wuhan. I don't think he will surrender so easily."
Matsui Iwane said nonchalantly, "That's better. We will continue to attack and capture Wuhan. If he goes to Changsha again, we will capture Changsha. This will only take a few months. Besides, there are many people in Chiang Kai-shek's intermediary government."
If people are willing to cooperate with the empire, we can just find others when the time comes, and these are not problems."
King Jiuyan of Chaoxiang Palace nodded in agreement.
Nearly a hundred planes were seen flying over Nanjing, but this time, they did not drop bombs, but dropped a large number of declarations, hoping to get Tang Shengzhi to surrender.
Tang Shengzhi opened it and read: "One million Japanese troops have swept across the south of the Yangtze River, and the city of Nanjing is under siege. Judging from the general situation of the war, future fighting will be harmful but not beneficial. However, the land of Jiangning is an ancient city in central China and the capital of the Republic of China.
The collection of historical sites such as Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum and Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum has a sense of the essence of East Asian culture. Although the Japanese army was extremely harsh and unforgiving towards the resisters, it treated innocent people and the non-hostile Chinese army with leniency and did not harm them;
As for the culture of East Asia, I am particularly keen to protect it. If your army continues to fight, Nanjing will inevitably be spared the scourge of war, which will turn thousands of years of culture into ashes and ten years of operation will eventually become a bubble. Therefore, on behalf of the Japanese army, my commander advises your army,
When the city of Nanjing is opened peacefully, otherwise the Japanese army will have to attack Nanjing. Commander-in-Chief of the Japanese Army - Matsui Iwane"
Tang Shengzhi immediately tore up the surrender letter and said with a smile, "Look, everyone, this little devil is arrogant. He thinks that our National Army is a coward who dare not shoot. What do you think we should do?"
The sergeants nearby heard sparks in their eyes and shouted, "Fight to the death, never retreat, fight to the death, never retreat."
Tang Shengzhi nodded, expressed satisfaction and said, "Send the full text to Wuhan and tell the Chairman that none of the soldiers in the army have been deceived and are willing to defend Nanjing." Then he returned to his office. Tang Shengzhi, who returned to the office, slowly took out a
He smoked a cigarette vigorously, this was the only way he could relieve the fear in his heart.
Tang Shengzhi looked to the northwest, anxiously waiting for Agent Jiang's response to his constant hints.
——Wuhan
Jiang Jie, Bai Chongxi and others were also looking at the map of Nanjing at this time. Seeing that Nanjing was surrounded on three sides, Jiang Jie knew in his heart that Nanjing could no longer be defended.
"The committee should inform Tang Shengzhi in advance and let him prepare for the retreat. When Shanghai retreated, it was because he was too anxious that the entire army trampled on itself and lost tens of thousands of people due to the retreat. We cannot make this mistake again." Bai Chongxi advised.
Agent Jiang nodded and said, "Send a report to Nanjing and ask Commander Tang to prepare a retreat plan."
When Tang Shengzhi saw the telegram, he seemed to be jumping for joy, but a second later, he immediately said with an angry expression, "The tomb of the former Prime Minister is here. If you want me, Tang Shengzhi, to be this evil person, what will happen after my death?"
Go and see the former Prime Minister in person."
Luo Zhuoying saw that Tang Shengzhi was still pretentious at this time, and said anxiously, "Commander Tang, since the commission has said it, we as soldiers should just follow it. After all, soldiers have obedience as their bounden duty, right? Now
We should collect the ships immediately."
Tang Shengzhi glared and said, "Why are you so anxious? Are you running away in such a hurry? The commission only asked us to prepare a plan, and did not ask us to actually retreat. Well, we will send a report to Wuhan, hoping that the headquarters will give clearer instructions."
After hearing this, Liu and Luo looked at each other and smiled. Tang Shengzhi was really afraid of taking the responsibility of abandoning Nanjing. After all, he was the one who boasted about it, and it would be difficult for him to withdraw now.
When Agent Jiang from Wuhan saw the call back, as a veteran in politics for decades, how could he not know the twists and turns in Tang Shengzhi's heart, but he really had no choice. Since the original idea was to hold Nanjing for a while and then withdraw, then
It must require troops with stronger combat effectiveness and better organization. Therefore, Chiang Kai-shek sent his most elite 36th Division, 87th Division, 88th Division, the Central Teaching Corps, and one of the five main forces, the 74th Division, which lost more than half of their troops in Songhu.
All the troops were left in Nanjing. If all these troops were wiped out, Chiang Kai-shek would have to cry out in his diary.
Chiang Kai-shek thought for a while and sent another telegram, which said, "If the situation cannot last long, we can retreat in order to organize the situation and then counterattack." At this time, Chiang Kai-shek's heart was bleeding, and he fought tooth and nail.
The Battle of Songhu actually ended like this.
However, the international rescue that he was eager to see through was still slowly lingering in the "verbal condemnation" stage. In times of crisis, only a few great international scientists and philosophers such as Einstein and Russell sent messages of support, no matter how much appeals were made by Chiang's intermediaries.
Asking for help, the European and American powers still have nothing to do with themselves and are watching the fire from the other side.
Chiang Kai-shek left the headquarters and returned to his residence. The more he thought about it, the angrier and more uncomfortable he became. He finally couldn't hold it back any longer. He took out his diary and wrote, "Fighting against superiors and subordinates, confronting life and death, confronting the difficulties of building a capital city."
I can't bear to give up for a day, and my attachment is beyond words!" After writing, he was about to lie down, but then he remembered the international aid that made him uncomfortable, so he got up and wrote, "It has been nearly five months since the war started, and there is still no news of international aid.
With certain support from the Soviet Union, only constant self-improvement and self-reliance are the only way out for the overall situation of resisting Japan."
After writing this, Jiang Jie finally felt relieved. He thought about the performance of the Eighth Route Army, and wrote, "Recently, there have been frequent reports of good news from the Red Party. It is suspected that there is support from the Soviet Union. The affairs of the Red Party should not be taken lightly. The Soviet Union's heart is definitely not good." Jiang
The agent then fell asleep peacefully.
When Tang Shengzhi in Nanjing saw the clear statement of retreat in the telegram, he finally made up his mind and ordered a meeting of all officers above the division level.
At this time, the Japanese army had already defeated Qilinmen and the Wulongshan Fort on the edge of the Yangtze River.
In fact, the Nanjing government attaches great importance to the city of Nanjing, which is easy to attack and difficult to defend, and has built a large number of bunkers. However, many bunkers are built on top of mountain tops and mountain ridges, which are very conspicuous and can be seen from several miles away. This kind of The fortifications are all steel and concrete structures, which is enough to deal with warlords of various domestic factions and the Red Army, because they do not have any heavy weapons, so light and heavy machine guns and mortars alone cannot destroy these fortifications.
But it is not possible to deal with the Japanese army, because the Japanese army has a large number of mountain artillery and field artillery, which can follow the front-line troops. Although this kind of bunker is strong, it is impossible to resist the attack of this kind of artillery. After a few rounds of Japanese artillery, these bunkers were basically destroyed, and the inside The garrison officers and soldiers were either blown to death or shocked to death, but it actually had no effect.
More importantly, because the Nationalist Government was actually ready to abandon Nanjing, it naturally would not give Nanjing too many heavy weapons. At this time, Nanjing only had one battalion each of the 8th Artillery Regiment and the 10th Artillery Regiment, and the total number of artillery was no more than a dozen. There are also 8 anti-tank guns, plus a light tank company of 10 tanks.
Such heavy firepower may not be enough to fight against the Japanese army's more than 700 75mm or above artillery pieces and 2,000 other artillery pieces, even if one of them is against a hundred pieces of artillery. Therefore, the war is advancing very fast. The war has already reached the front line of Lion Rock.
--late at night
After a day of fierce fighting, all parties in Nanjing finally took a break. In fact, both the defenders and the Japanese army were extremely tired. Both sides had been fighting continuously for more than three months. What is the concept? The three-day exam made many people feel extremely tired. Fatigue, and the fierce battle between China and Japan could not compare with the tension of an exam. This was a place where one could die at any time. Therefore, at night, even the Japanese army had to give up the idea of attacking overnight to capture Nanjing as soon as possible.
In the headquarters, there was no smile on everyone's face. In less than three days, Nanjing's outer positions had been completely lost. Only the most important Yuhuatai was still completely in the hands of the National Army. The other positions were almost undefendable. We stayed there and discussed privately that it had only been two or three days since the Japanese army invaded Nanjing. Where to go? It was enough to make everyone panic.