On December 10, most of the outer positions of Nanjing city fell, and the Japanese troops tightened the siege on all sides. Nine army divisions with more than 200,000 elite troops, plus the support of naval and air force fighter planes and warships, surrounded Nanjing like an iron barrel.
Japanese commander-in-chief Matsui Iwane issued the siege order at 13:00 on December 10.
The 9th Division launched a fierce attack on Guanghua Gate, the 114th Division, the 6th Division on Zhonghua Gate, and the 16th Division on Purple Mountain at the same time.
The Chinese defenders guarding various defense lines had already suffered heavy losses. Facing the influx of Japanese soldiers, they fought to the death with their own flesh and blood and defended the city behind them to the death.
Gui Yongqing's teaching corps defended Purple Mountain. They relied on the reinforced concrete preset positions to tenaciously block the Japanese attack. Both sides killed corpses everywhere.
After the Battle of Songhu broke out, the Teaching Corps quickly expanded to 9 regiments with a total of more than 40,000 soldiers. Although they suffered heavy losses in Shanghai, they still had more than 30,000 people after being reorganized when they withdrew to Nanjing, and their combat effectiveness was still strong.
But this time the Japanese went crazy, and the "Iron Guard" teaching corps, known as the Chairman of the Generalissimo, couldn't stand it anymore.
In order to stabilize the morale of the Nanjing garrison, the Chairman of the Standing Committee asked the teaching corps to stay in Nanjing, and Gui Yongqing agreed without hesitation.
At that time, his idea was that Nanjing was the capital, and people all over the country were watching. They taught the Corps to participate in the battle to defend Nanjing.
retreat.
But in the face of the Japanese's crazy attack, Gui Yongqing felt regretful. Commander Tang Shengzhi wanted to live and die in Nanjing, so he would be buried with the teaching corps.
Gui Yongqing squatted in the underground bunker of Zijin Mountain, listening to the rumble of artillery outside, smoking a cigarette alone with his head lowered. He knew that he had miscalculated this time, but now that he was on the battlefield, no matter what, he had to hold on.
Hit the scalp.
"Sir Gui, let's withdraw. If we continue to fight, all our brothers will be wiped out."
Artillery shells continued to fall outside the bunker, causing smoke and dust to fly. The headquarters of the teaching corps was also shaking. The staff persuaded the commander of the teaching corps, Gui Yongqing, to order the evacuation.
After hearing the persuasion of his staff, Gui Yongqing threw away the cigarette in his hand and stood up: "Evacuate! Evacuate there now! Nanjing City is behind us, and we have no way out!"
A staff officer reminded: "Sir Gui, our gendarmerie still controls some ferries. We can cross the river..."
When Gui Yongqing heard this, he immediately cursed at his staff: "If you cross the river, what will happen to our tens of thousands of brothers? What will the hundreds of thousands of residents in the city do like this?! Have you ever thought about it, the little Japs are just like that?"
They are worse than animals, you have the heart to leave them to the devils?!"
The staff officers were so scolded by Gui Yongqing that they dared not express their anger. They knew that Gui Yongqing was in a bad mood and was as quiet as a wretched man, so they no longer dared to speak out to persuade him.
After Gui Yongqing got angry for no reason, he lit his cigarette again. He ordered the combat staff: "Call each regiment and tell them to resist resolutely and not to retreat. If anything goes wrong, raise your head."
Come and see me!”
Faced with Gui Yongqing's death order, the regiments in the precarious Zijinshan position had to rely on favorable terrain and fortifications to repeatedly compete with the Japanese for positions, and the two sides fought in darkness.
When the Purple Mountain position was under pressure to collapse, there was also bloodshed at Zhonghuamen and Yuhuatai.
The 114th Division of the Sixth Division led by Hisao Tani will attack Yuhuatai and Zhonghuamen. Luo Zhuoying, deputy commander of the Nanjing Garrison, went to the front line to command the troops and fight to the death.
The Yuhuatai position, with a defense line less than 2,000 meters wide, was the most fiercely contested battlefield. Japanese aircraft and artillery bombardments took turns, turning Yuhuatai into almost a scorched earth.
The 88th Division of Sun Yuanliang's division guarding here was originally a German weapon division. It was exhausted and replenished in the Battle of Songhu. After five rounds of replenishment, its combat effectiveness was no longer as good as before.
In the three-day bloody battle with the Japanese at Yuhuatai, Zhu Chi, commander of the 262nd Brigade under the 88th Division, and Gao Zhisong, commander of the 164th Brigade, all 6,000 officers and soldiers under the 88th Division died heroically for their country.
Although the Chinese defenders defended Yuhuatai, there were too many Japanese troops and tons of artillery shells were poured into Yuhuatai. In the end, Yuhuatai was still lost.
The Japanese soldiers who occupied the commanding heights of Yuhuatai immediately fired fiercely at the garrison position near Zhonghua Gate from a high position, forcing the garrison to abandon their position and switch to street fighting.
The fierce fighting entered a fierce battle, and many of the army's commanders were killed. The troops still resisted bravely without anyone under their command, until all of them died for their country.
The ancient city of Nanjing is trembling with the sound of gunfire, and the thick smoke is swallowing up its former glory.
The roaring Japanese planes continued to fly over Nanjing, and the aerial bombs they dropped caused countless exquisite houses to explode into large balls of flames, eventually razing them to the ground.
The guerrilla battalion led by Yang Ling rushed forward on the dilapidated streets. As you can see from the smoke, there are ruins of bombed walls everywhere, and there is billowing smoke everywhere.
The battlefield started in every part of Nanjing, with gunshots and explosions everywhere. The troops guarding Nanjing were constantly fighting with the advancing Japanese soldiers, and the battlefield was expanding and spreading to the city.
The command system on the battlefield has completely failed. The commanders of the frontline units have either been injured and evacuated, or have died heroically for their country. Most of the troops are standing alone without any command.
Yang Ling was very anxious now. He didn't know how bad the war situation had deteriorated, and he didn't know whether the other city gates had been lost.
He originally hoped to lead the guerrilla battalion that had been withdrawn from the outer positions to move closer to the 51st Division. After all, he had an acquaintance with Zhang Lingfu, the commander of the 305th Regiment. By staying with them, the brothers in the guerrilla battalion could be protected to the greatest extent.
He wanted to take these brothers out alive.
But the battlefield had been reduced to a mess, and the 51st Division could not be found anywhere on the chaotic battlefield. Later, he heard from the retreating troops that deputy commander Liu Xing had arrived at Guanghua Gate to take command, so he immediately led his troops to move over.
.
Yangling's guerrilla battalion can also be regarded as the deputy commander Liu Xing's army. If you find Liu Xing, you can find out the current battlefield situation. More importantly, Liu Xing is the deputy commander.
Yang Ling did not want the tragedy in Nanjing to happen. If he succeeded in persuading the deputy commander Liu Xing, he could issue orders in Liu Xing's name to avoid the tragedy.
The guerrilla battalion withdrew all the way and continued to gather the scattered soldiers. Its strength did not decrease but increased, and it rapidly expanded to more than a thousand people.
Yang Ling did not refuse these stragglers, and gathered everyone he encountered into his team. Now he urgently needed to strengthen his strength. Only with strong strength could he fight against the little devils and cover the evacuation of more residents.