Late at night, the headquarters of the Jiangfang Group was brightly lit and busy. The Japanese army was pressing on the border. The war in southern Jiangsu worsened sharply. The 21st Army and the 40th Division, which had withdrawn from Shanghai and were rearing, could not withstand the Japanese onslaught and collapsed one after another.
With the fall of several defense lines such as the Zhajia Line, the pressure on Jiangyin suddenly increased. After all, this was the last line of defense leading to Nanjing.
The haggard-looking commander of the Jiangfang Group, General Liu Xing, was wearing a woolen army coat and standing in front of a huge combat map. He frowned as he looked at the intricate enemy and enemy situations on the map.
Facing the menacing enemy, Liu Xing did not have many available troops. He only had the Northeastern Army, the Hubei Army and the four divisions allocated to the Jiangfang Group within the Qian Army system. However, because they were all provincial armies, their weapons and equipment had varying effectiveness.
Facing the well-equipped Japs, it would be very difficult to defend Jiangyin.
The Thirteenth Japanese Division has already attacked the front line of Yunting South Gate, and the entire defense line is in a state of emergency. Most of the fortress artillery in the Huangshan Fort in the fortress are fixed artillery. Facing the Japanese troops attacking from the side and rear, if they are unable to catch them, they can only
He watched helplessly as Jiang Fang's infantry fell into a bitter battle and had no choice but to do anything.
"Ding ding ding..." Just when General Liu Xing, the commander of the Jiang Defense Group Army, was frowning, a rapid ringing of the phone suddenly rang in the headquarters.
Before the adjutant could react, General Xu Kang, the commander of the fortress, strode over and quickly grabbed the phone: "I'm Xu Kang..."
Before General Xu Kang put down the phone, Liu Xing couldn't wait to ask: "But is it from Huashan?"
Xu Kang nodded: "It's from the Huashan 667 regiment."
Liu Xing put out the cigarette butt in his hand and walked over excitedly: "How are the commandos? Did they destroy the enemy artillery positions in Dingshan?"
"The 667th Regiment reported that the commandos they received were not the commandos we sent out to blow up the Japanese artillery positions, but a force that had retreated from Shanghai, numbering more than 800 people."
Hearing this answer, Liu Xing's face fell with excitement. What he urgently wanted to know now was the situation of the commando team, but he quickly reacted and looked up at Xu Kang with a shocked face: "
What did you say? The troops who retreated from Shanghai? There are more than 800 people?"
Xu Kang nodded and said: "I also don't believe it, but the 667th regiment reported that it has been confirmed repeatedly. It is indeed our people who retreated from Shanghai. There are people from various armies. They should have been separated and temporarily gathered together.
Yes, the leader is a regimental deputy from the 174th Division's supplementary regiment."
Liu Xing was stunned for a few seconds and then ordered: "Call the 667th Regiment to bring the deputy to the headquarters. I want to see him in person!"
No wonder Liu Xing was eager to see Liu Ming, deputy commander of the supplementary regiment, because the 21st Group Army and the 40th Division that covered the retreat had been defeated and withdrawn a few days ago, and the entire southern Jiangsu area had fallen.
There were also sporadic broken troops that broke through and came back.
But as time went by, except for the Japanese who came in force, Liu Xing had not heard of any broken troops coming back for several days. He thought that there was no organized Chinese army in southern Jiangsu. Even though
Yes, some were also wiped out by the Japanese.
After so many days, not only did another army break out from the Japanese heavy troops, but their number reached more than 800 people. This made General Liu Xing unbelievable. Their luck was too good, so he
Now he is eager to see the commander of this defeated army.
If it is really this regimental deputy who leads the broken troops belonging to different numbers to break out from the heavy enemy troops, then the future of this regimental deputy is limitless. If they have a record of annihilating the Japanese during the breakout, then
It is undoubtedly a major encouragement for the current difficult situation and declining morale.
As the commander of Jiangyin Fortress, Xu Kang saw that Liu Xing attached so much importance to him, and after a moment of thought, he figured it out. He immediately turned around and asked for the phone number of the 667th Regiment, asking them to immediately send someone to supplement the breakout regiment.
The deputy commander sent it to the headquarters.
As soon as the phone was put down, the staff officer from the Communications Department hurried into the headquarters.
"Sir Liu, our radio station received news of a commando sent to Dingshan to attack the Japanese artillery position.
"Oh? Come and take a look."
The staff officer of the Communications Department immediately handed the folder of the telegram to Liu Xing, who threw away the cigarette butt. Liu Xing quickly read the telegram at a glance.
"How is it?" Xu Kang, the commander of the fortress, saw Liu Xing's bad expression and asked hurriedly.
Liu Xing sighed heavily and closed the message: "Their raid failed, most of them died, and only one company commander and more than 40 people were left to break out."
Although they originally didn't have much hope that they could blow up the Japanese artillery positions, now they heard the news of the failure and the loss of nearly two hundred people. Their heavy hearts and loss were incomprehensible to others.
"Should we ask the remaining people to go back and try again? Maybe there will be unexpected results." A staff officer was unwilling to give up and suggested.
Liu Xing shook his head: "They only have more than forty people left, and they are short of explosives and ammunition. If the Japanese artillery positions are so noisy, the alert will definitely be strengthened. If they go back, they will only increase casualties. Let them come back according to the planned retreat route."
."
"Then that's all we can do now." General Xu Kang also agreed with Liu Xing's idea and waved to the staff of the Communications Department to send electricity to Lao Yanqiang and the others to withdraw.
In a hidden wormwood bush in the north of Yunting Town, Lao Cigarette and more than 40 soldiers in a state of embarrassment are hiding here. The antenna is raised high, and the radio station equipped for them is communicating with the headquarters.
"What did the headquarters say?" the dirty smoker asked impatiently when he saw the telegraph operator taking off his earmuffs.
The telegraph operator replied: "The mission failed. The headquarters asked us to withdraw according to the planned retreat route."
Lao Yanqiang looked towards Dingshan with a look of reluctance. Hundreds of brothers were lying there, but they had only blown up a dozen Japanese cannons. This was a useless battle.
I originally thought that it would be a sure thing for two hundred people to blow up the Japanese artillery position, but they were inexperienced and the little Japanese's strength was at a low level. Who knew that there were two squadrons of Japanese infantry stationed at the artillery position, so they failed in vain.
Fatty Tian San, carrying a 79 rifle in his hand, approached Lao Yanqiang and said, "Company commander, shall we withdraw?"
Although Lao Yanqiang was unwilling to give in, he also knew that there was no other way but to withdraw now. If they waited until dawn and the Japanese reconnaissance plane took to the sky, they would be in trouble.
"Okay, put the radio station away and prepare to evacuate." Lao Yanqiang waved his hand and ordered.
At the headquarters of the Japanese 104th Brigade in Yunting Town, a Japanese captain hurriedly rushed into the room of the brigade commander, Major General Tomidi.
"Brigade commander, our listener detected an unfamiliar radio signal."