December 12, 1937, Shuiximen, Nanjing, the position of the 51st Division of the 74th Army

Zhou Zhidao, commander of the 151st Brigade, stood on the city wall, looking at the defensive position outside the city gate, his face anxious. The officers and soldiers of the 151st Brigade were engaged in a fierce tug-of-war with the Japanese army, and Cheng Zhi, the commander of the 302nd Regiment, personally went into battle and held his position with the remnants of the first battalion and the second battalion.

On the city wall, the troops of Li Tianxia, the commander of the 153rd Brigade, also returned fire on the edge of the gap from the Shuixi Gate to the Zhonghua Gate, and the bullets on both sides came and went, firing at each other, and in the morning, the 153rd Brigade had just cleared the Japanese troops climbing along the city wall, and then, another assault began.

Cheng Zhi held a Czech-style and strafed the attacking Japanese troops, and his soldiers also opened their guns, and the Japanese troops at the front of the line fell like rice being cut, followed by several tanks. Cheng Zhi saw that the situation was not good, on the one hand, he ordered the signal corps to report to the brigade commander Zhou Zhidao and ask for support, on the other hand, he organized a death squad to attack the tank, and one by one the grenades and steel-core machine gun shells were shot out, and the steel-core bullets clanged on the tank, the weak armor was knocked out of small holes, and the speed of the tracks began to decrease. Seeing this, Cheng Zhi ordered: Hit the Japanese infantry first, kill his infantry, and the tank will be easy to do.

The officers and men on the positions concentrated their fire against the infantry, and the troops on the walls did their best to support. As the tank's covering infantry was depleted, the tank began to turn around, and the 57mm guns in the turret were fired one after another, trying to use this as cover.

The shells hit the fortifications of the 151st Brigade, and soldiers continued to die, but most of the people saw that the tanks were deflated, and they strengthened their firepower and fought indiscriminately, steel core bullets, ordinary bullets, and Type 24 heavy machine guns spit out tongues of fire, strafing the tanks and the infantry around them. This kind of imported bullet is usually reluctant to use it.

The bulky tank kept rotating the turret and body, and finally even ran around like a headless fly, the steel core bullet had already made him realize the threat, suddenly, the whole tank began to roll over, half of the body fell into the mud ditch on the side of the road, the turret was still turning, but the body of the tank could not get up again, and it was in the ditch, blocking the passage of the follow-up tank.

The officers and soldiers of the 51st Division applauded, and Cheng Zhi laughed: Blow up this big guy for me.

As soon as the words fell, Cao Shuchu, the seriously injured battalion commander, rushed out: "I'll go." ”

Rushing out with a bundle of grenades, Cheng Zhi ordered to cover when he saw this, and the fire net of the rifle machine gun tried his best to kill and injure the Japanese infantry, and won an opportunity for Battalion Commander Cao. Cao Shuchu rushed to the steel monster that had killed countless brothers, and hit him with a round of 65 rifle bullets, Cao Shuchu still insisted on moving forward, fell under the tank, and used all his strength to stuff the cluster grenades made of ten grenades into the gap between the turret and the body, and pulled the fire rope. Die, there was a loud bang, and the huge explosion completely scrapped the tank, leaving only a pile of burning scrap iron, which also took away Battalion Commander Cao.

Cheng Zhi saw Cao Shuchu martyred, and immediately jumped out of the trench: "Brothers, go up, kill them all." The officers and soldiers on the position took the opportunity of Battalion Commander Cao's life to launch a tragic counterattack against the Japanese army. Bayonets, grenades, blood stained the moat outside the West Gate of Shui. Zhou Zhidao on the city wall immediately lined up a special agent platoon to support, and the two sides launched a fierce fight along the Shuixi Gate and Zhonghua Gate.

Cheng Zhi, who was strong and strong, smashed open a Japanese soldier with the Czech style, and a corporal rushed behind him, copying the 95 command knife and slashing over, Cheng Zhi didn't have time to turn around, let the command knife slash on his shoulder, and endured the pain of drilling, Cheng Zhi held the command knife and pierced it deep into his shoulder. The Japanese corporal wanted to pull out the command knife but was helpless, Cheng Zhi kicked it, the corporal was kicked over the position, and the command knife also fell into Cheng Zhi's hands.

Cheng Zhi reluctantly pulled out the command knife on his shoulder, stabbed it straight at the corporal, and nailed it to the ground with a knife.

Cheng Zhi picked up the command knife, slashed left and right, and several days that wanted to attack were all cut down by him, and the soldiers were also demoralized, fighting with the Japanese army to the death, and the Japanese infantry gradually ran out. The battalion commander Hu Hao was covered in blood and held the Chinese form, and fought with the Japanese army.

The line from Shuixi Gate to the city wall of Zhonghua Gate has become a battlefield, and the troops of the 153rd Brigade guarding the city wall line have also started hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese army. The city wall was blown down yesterday, and only a short section remained, which greatly increased the difficulty of defending the city. In addition to fighting with the 302nd Regiment, the Japanese army was rushing towards this gap at the same time. The officers and men of the 153rd Brigade desperately guarded, and mortars and heavy machine guns fired at the breach and the periphery.

Li Tianxia, the commander of the 153rd Brigade on the city wall, saw that the situation was critical, and under the order of the division commander Wang Yaowu to defend his position, he also rushed up with a special platoon.

Li Tianxia took the bayonet with a formal rifle, and fought with each other, and the box guns of the special service platoon and the guards followed the fierce attack, and some soldiers brandished machetes and cooperated with the brigade commander to rush and kill, and the officers and soldiers on the city wall who were originally not supported saw this and increased their strength, and worked hard to kill the opponent in front of them, and even more directly rolled down the city wall with the devil in front of them, and expanded the opening for the reinforcements of the troops, and continued to fight after falling to the ground and getting up.

The houses outside the city were beaten to the ground, and the soldiers of the two armies gathered outside the city walls to fight to the death. Division Commander Wang Yaowu anxiously listened to the report from the front not far from the battlefield in the city, "The battle is urgent, the troops are insufficient, and the casualties are heavy." This is the word he has heard the most in the past few days. These are all bothering him. The division headquarters reluctantly drew a special platoon and handymen to fill it in, but this was only a drop in the bucket.

"The front-line positions were lost, and they fought back desperately", he didn't know how many times he listened to it and how many times he gave orders. Just now, Commander Yu called again, saying that the troops of the 88th Division in the area of Zhonghua Gate were unsustainable, and asked him to prepare early.

"Alas, what should I do, the friendly troops retreated, all the forces that could be used were sent out, so many people were killed and wounded on the periphery, and the regimental commander and the regimental attachment were killed and killed. Yesterday, the big men of the 305th Regiment were seriously wounded, and the brothers below suffered even more casualties. Wang Yaowu said to the staff officer beside him in a Shandong accent. In fact, it was also said to himself.

He glanced at the staff officers: "Everyone, the miscellaneous personnel of the division headquarters, the attached staff and the men, except for the necessary escorts, all go to get weapons, and if they don't have guns, they will go to the front and pick them up." The staff officers who received the order immediately went down to the operation, and the group went to the logistics office to receive a large number of weapons, including half-used and brand-new Zhongzheng guns, as well as Hanyang-made rifles that had been eliminated from the original, and a bunch of bayonets were also divided. Wang Yaowu nodded, and the improvised team rushed towards Shuiximen under the leadership of several staff officers.

The phone rang again, and Wang Yaowu still received heavy casualties, and the front-line position was not guaranteed. The next news made him even more sad. Brigade commander Li Tianxia, regiment commander Cheng Zhi and others personally met the enemy, although they barely repelled the Japanese army, but the first line of positions was no longer able to defend, so they had to retreat back to the second line of defense outside the city gate and moat, and the Japanese troops along the city wall had also reluctantly repulsed. Regiment commander Cheng Zhi was wounded, battalion commander Cao Shuchu and several company commanders were killed, and nearly 500 officers and soldiers were killed or wounded.

Wang Yaowu threw away the phone in his hand, that was the old foundation and old brother of the Second Brigade, that was the soldier he personally brought out, and that was comparable to those new recruits. These veterans and brothers from the north, this is going to be all spelled out. He slammed the table helplessly, tears welling up in his eyes.

Outside the West Gate of Shui, there is a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood.