On December 1, artillery was rumbling outside the city, and the Japs' vanguard troops were approaching the suburbs. Inside the Jiangyin garrison headquarters, the disgraced senior generals gathered together in a solemn atmosphere.
"Everyone, don't stand still and say nothing. Whether you want to withdraw or continue to fight, you have to express your stance."
The thin face of Liu Xing, commander of Jiangfang Group Army, became more and more haggard. He looked at the silent people, reached out and knocked on the table, breaking the silence in the conference room.
"Then let me say a few words first. Yixing fell, Liyang and other places were also broken through by the local enemy's 114th Division. The main force of our National Revolutionary Army has moved westward. Jiangyin has become a prominent part of the front and an isolated city.
There is no point in defending any longer. My opinion is to organize a retreat immediately while the waterway is still open. Otherwise, when the waterway is cut off, there will really be no way out. I'm done."
After the deputy commander, Major General Zeng Yiding, finished speaking, he sat back on his chair and waited quietly for the others to express their opinions.
Major Li Yuchun, acting chief of staff of the 112th Division, had just arrived from the front line to attend the meeting. He was shot in the arm by a bullet and was hanging a bandage around his neck. He picked up the jar on the table and took a sip of water before standing up.
"I agree with Commander Zeng's suggestion that we should retreat immediately. Early this morning, the Japanese gathered dozens of planes to bombard our position of the 667th Regiment in Huashan indiscriminately. The position changed hands several times. If the fight continues, all the brothers will be wiped out.
"
"Our 103rd Division also suffered heavy losses. The nearly 10,000 troops are now reduced to nothing. If you don't believe it, go and see. There are so many corpses in front of us. If we continue to fight, I, the division commander, will be reduced to nothing."
, I also recommend retreating immediately!”
After finishing speaking, Lieutenant General He Zhizhong, the commander of the 103rd Division, smoked his cigarette fiercely and watched his brothers die in front one by one. His heart was bleeding.
Lieutenant General Ouyang Ge, the principal of the Lightning School, was silent for a while and then spoke: "The command from the superior department is to stick to it for three days. We might as well hold on for one more day. If we evacuate now, we will inevitably be charged with disobeying the military order, which is not worth it."
After hearing Lieutenant General Ouyang Ge's words, Lieutenant General He Zhizhong, who had just sat down, slapped the table angrily: "Ouyang Ge! Go to the f*cking front line and take a look. My brothers are bleeding desperately, in patches.
They are dead! All the bullets have been used, and we are fighting hand-to-hand with the Japanese with bayonets every moment! Go and ask them if they can hold on for another day! If you don’t feel sorry for the person who died who is not yours, I feel sorry for you!”
Lieutenant General Ouyang Ge also stood up suddenly: "Why the hell are you angry with me! Aren't my people dead? All my people died half a month ago! They all sank into the river to feed the fish, and I also
It hurts, but the superior department asked us to stay for another three days, and you withdraw now, are you worthy of those brothers who died?!"
"I want to evacuate now because I don't want everyone who is still alive to die. Orders, orders, bullshit orders. How can those idiots from the commander's department care about our lives? They are all busy running for their lives!"
"Mr. He, be careful what you say!" Liu Xing saw the excited He Zhizhong starting to bring the topic to the senior officer's department and hurriedly stopped him.
"Principal Ouyang, please sit down too. If you have anything to say, please talk to me. This is a meeting, not a market." Liu Xing waved his hand to Ouyang Ge, the principal of Dianlei School, to sit down.
The atmosphere in the conference room was a little solemn for a while. Liu Xing was silent for a while and then turned his attention to the fortress commander Lieutenant General Xu Kang, who was smoking heavily.
"Lao Xu, please tell me your opinion."
Xu Kang threw the cigarette butt on the ground and stomped it out. He looked around at the frowning people and said slowly: "I advocate holding on to the end. We still have enough artillery shells in several forts in Jiangyin. Withdraw the infantry outside into the city. With that,
With the help of the fort, we will destroy as many Japanese as they come."
The reason why Xu Kang advocated holding on was that he did not want to betray the infamy of losing his position. You must know that the Jiangyin Fortress government invested a lot of manpower and was unable to build it. The cannons of several forts in Xishan and Huangshan were bought from Germany. The retreat would definitely not be able to bring them back.
Go, he is not willing to destroy it or leave it to the Japanese.
"You are willing to let all my brothers die here!" He Zhizhi slammed the heavy jar on the table and said angrily while kicking his eyes.
"Raising an army for a thousand days and using it for a while. If all the soldiers are afraid of death, then they might as well go back to farming!" Xu Kang retorted.
"Okay! Stop arguing!" Liu Xing, the commander of the Jiangfang Group Army, looked at the noisy people and felt particularly irritable. Some people wanted to continue fighting and some wanted to withdraw, which made it difficult for him to make a decision for a while.
Liu Xing was silent for a moment and then ordered: "Call Nanjing now and tell them our situation. Whether to fight or withdraw, we will obey the order."
Soon, Jiangyin's phone call went directly to Nanjing. The Military Commission who stayed in Nanjing quickly gave a reply. It was meaningless to consider defending Jiangyin and asked the Jiangyin defenders to dismantle the new artillery and immediately break out towards Nanjing.
"Everyone, our army has tried its best to defend Jiangyin. Although we suffered heavy losses, we have also wiped out thousands of enemies. I hope you will convey your message to our soldiers. They fought bravely and tenaciously and showed the bloody spirit of our army.
, Today’s evacuation is not a failure, it is a strategic consideration to preserve our strength, and we will definitely come back here again!”
After Liu Xing finished speaking, although Xu Kang, the fortress commander who insisted on holding on, was extremely reluctant, he still agreed to evacuate.
"From six o'clock this afternoon, all the forts will fire at the enemy until twelve o'clock to cover the retreat of our infantry regiments. After the infantry has withdrawn, blow up all the artillery and make sure not to leave them to the enemy. General Ouyang, you lead
People try to collect speedboats and fishing boats as much as possible and leave them to the blocking force..."
Under intensive arrangements, the commander of Jiangyin Fortress issued an order for the Jiangyin defenders to break out and retreat.
In accordance with the requirements for retreat, the forward units took turns to cover the retreat to Zhenjiang. The commander took a boat to Nanjing, and the troops responsible for the rear cover crossed the river to Jingjiang.
"Battal Commander, Battalion Commander, go up to the peak and let us retreat!" Company Commander Qin Shou was sent by Yang Ling to the commander to ask for ammunition, but the ammunition was not returned, but he came back with good news.
When they heard that they were about to retreat, the soldiers in ragged clothes on the position burst into violent cheers. Many of them cried and cried excitedly that they could withdraw from the position alive.
"Go and invite Battalion Commander Zhao over." Yang Ling immediately ordered someone to call Zhao Wenbin.
Retreating is not as simple as simply abandoning the position and running backwards. Once the enemy on the opposite position finds out and bites them, not only will they not be able to evacuate, but they will be trapped in a bitter battle, and the retreat is likely to fall into a huge rout.
When they retreated from the Songhu battlefield, it was due to improper command that the retreating troops fell into chaos. The Japanese pursued the troops and fought fiercely. This led to a huge rout in the later period, so Yang Ling did not want to make the same mistake again.