Half an hour later, nearly 100,000 troops, including the 11th, 13th, and 18th divisions of the Japanese army, and the 5th Independent Heavy Artillery Brigade, were dispatched one after another.

The 5th Independent Heavy Artillery Brigade took the lead in firing, and 150 heavy howitzers launched fierce artillery bombardment on the Purple Mountain and Qixia Mountain positions of the Nationalist Army.

In addition to the heavy artillery brigades, the mountain artillery and field artillery wings directly under the four Japanese divisions also joined the shelling.

All the artillery plus one, the number of artillery pieces with more than 300 guns, under the fierce bombardment of the devil's artillery, the positions of the various units of the national army were blown to pieces, and the soldiers suffered heavy casualties.

In particular, the firepower of the 5th Independent Heavy Artillery Brigade was very strong, and the casualties of the national army could reach half a battalion or even more if one hundred and fifty guns were fired in one salvo.

In just one hour of shelling, the defenders of the national army on the positions of Qixia Mountain and Purple Mountain suffered more than tens of thousands of casualties.

The two tank and armored battalions and three air defense battalions left by Xu Wen to Zhou Weiguo were also affected, and the losses were not small.

After the shelling ended, thousands of devils, under the cover of tanks, artillery and nightfall, launched an attack on the Purple Mountain and Qixia Mountain defense lines.

Tens of thousands of soldiers of the National Army came out of the smoke-filled fortifications one after another and engaged in a fierce exchange of fire with the Japanese attacking troops.

The devil has the advantage of troops and artillery fire, plus there is a death order from Ryosuke Yoshika, so the offensive is very fast.

However, the officers and men of the national army, in order to defend the city of Nanjing, also burst out with a very high will to fight, relying on the position fortifications to fight to the death, and the offensive and defensive battles between the two sides soon entered a white-hot stage.

The Purple Mountain side was the main direction of the Japanese army's key attack, and it also invested the most troops and firepower.

However, when Zhou Weiguo put into battle the three anti-aircraft battalions that Xu Wen had left for himself, a tank battalion, and an armored battalion.

The Devil's attacking force was immediately stopped by devastating fire, suffering heavy casualties.

Xu Wen left Zhou Weiguo with a tank battalion, an armored battalion, and three air defense battalions, with a total of 100 tanks, 100 armored vehicles, 300 88 anti-aircraft guns, and 300 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine guns!

Although there were losses when the devils bombarded before, the strength still exists.

Hundreds of tank guns, 88mm anti-aircraft guns, hundreds of vehicle-mounted general-purpose machine guns, and anti-aircraft machine guns formed enough firepower to block the entire Purple Mountain defense line.

In order to boost morale, Ryosuke Yoshika led all units of the 9th Division and also advanced to the front-line offensive positions to personally supervise the battle.

Therefore, at this time, Yoshika Ryosuke and the commander of the 18th Division, who was responsible for attacking the Purple Mountain, Sadao Nakajima and others were all there, watching the battle from the Japanese position not far from the Purple Mountain battlefield.

Because the 13th Division was defeated by Xu Wen and the Independent Brigade before, and lost all the positions it had occupied, the main battlefield of the two sides is now unfolding at the bottom of the Purple Mountain.

Originally, Yoshika Ryosuke and the others watched their attacking troops, and they were about to break through.

Unexpectedly, a large number of artillery shells and bullets suddenly burst out from the position of the Nationalist army, causing heavy casualties to the Japanese attacking troops, and the entire offensive was suddenly frustrated.

Seeing this situation, Ji Jia Ryosuke's face suddenly became very ugly, and he turned back to Nakajima Sadao and the others in some incredulity: "Zhu Ziming's department, hasn't he been transferred to Jiangbei?" How could the defenders of Nanjing still have such a powerful firepower? ”

"You see those shells, they are definitely fired by guns with a caliber of more than 70 millimeters, and there is also machine gun fire, at least hundreds of them.

When did Nanjing's army become so strong? ”

Sadao Nakajima, Toshio Takushi and others were speechless, because they couldn't understand why the independent brigade had been transferred to Pukou, and the defending troops of the national army on the frontal battlefield of Nanjing could still have such powerful defensive firepower.

They want to break their heads, and they can't think of where the powerful weapons that suddenly appeared in the national army came from.

It's just that, regardless of whether Sadao Nakajima can figure it out or not, the situation on the battlefield has undergone a huge reversal.

The two infantry wings of the 18th Division were attacked by more than half of the casualties and failed to attack under the powerful assault fire of the remaining units of the Independent Brigade.

Seeing this, Zhou Weiguo commanded two battalions of tank armored units, and under the cover of the powerful fire of the air defense battalion, directly launched a counter-assault on the Japanese army.

The two infantry wings of the 18th Division, which had already been killed or wounded by the powerful artillery and machine-gun fire of the Independent Brigade, were attacked by nearly 200 tanks and armored vehicles of the Independent Brigade, and were completely unable to resist.

So he was quickly beaten by Zhou Weiguo and the others who lost their armor and collapsed, and they retreated directly from the battlefield.

Zhou Weiguo commanded the tanks and armored troops to chase and fight all the way, killing rivers of blood and corpses all over the field.

In a hurry, Yoshika Ryosuke couldn't help but roar angrily: "Order the heavy artillery brigade and all artillery wings to open fire immediately!" In any case, the tanks and armored units of the Chinese army must be stopped, and they must not be allowed to rush over! ”

"General, the attacking troops of our department have not been withdrawn yet!" Nakajima Sadao was taken aback when he heard this, because the two wings of his 18th Division were still being chased by the Chinese tank forces.

At this time, let the artillery group fire, wouldn't it be that even they would be blown up.

But Yoshika Ryosuke roared with a gloomy face: "Nakajima-kun, when you continue to suffer from the chaos, now that your two wings have been killed or wounded by more than two-thirds, and they have been defeated by the Shina army, and then let them break and escape."

The tanks and armored units of the Chinese army will follow them and rush into our offensive positions and launch a surprise attack directly on the main forces of the imperial army!

I don't think I need to elaborate too much on how powerful their tank and armored forces are, right? Once they get close, not only will your 18th Division suffer, but my 9th Division will also be in chaos, so they must be abandoned! ”

After speaking, Yoshika Ryosuke scolded the chief of staff, Takushi Toshio: "What are you doing in a daze? Hurry up and give the order! ”

"Hay!" Takushi hurriedly answered, turned around and left.

Soon, the Japanese heavy artillery brigades, which received orders, as well as the artillery wings of the 9th and 18th divisions, opened fire one after another.

One after another, artillery shells fell from the sky, and they smashed down fiercely towards the attacking troops of the 18th Division, which was fleeing in a hurry, and the tank armored troops led by Zhou Weiguo.