Wulong Mountain is located in the south bank of the Yangtze River 30 miles northeast of Nanjing, originally there was only one fort of Laolongtai, before the Battle of Songhu began, the national political axe added and repaired two modern forts of Jiayi and Jia2 here in Oh, each equipped with four large-caliber shore guns, and later, in order to deal with the military aircraft, anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-aircraft guns were added. Among them, the Laolongtai Fort is an old fort, and some soldiers are even soldiers in the former Qing Dynasty. The soldiers of the first and second batteries of the first and second batteries are all student soldiers trained by the national axe, and each battery has about 150 people.

At this time, the forward of the 13th Division of the Yue Army, which participated in the siege of Nanjing, had already crossed Wulong Mountain, and the battery was already behind enemy lines, and the situation was very dangerous.

In the early morning of 15 December, the formation of warships marched west along the Yangtze River, preparing to cooperate with the army to attack Nanjing.

The officers and men of the Wulongshan Fort had already been ordered to retreat, but when they saw the arrival of the warship formation, they immediately took up their positions and quickly launched an artillery bombardment on the warship formation to blockade the river.

The first round of shelling did not cause much damage to the warships, only one ship was shot, and the warships retreated while returning fire, retreated out of range of the shore guns, and then called in the air force.

At this time, the artillery of the 13th Division of the Chinese Army, which was advancing towards Nanjing, found that the ship formation had been intercepted by the battery, and bombarded the battery with mountain artillery to the north of Wulong Mountain. The officers and men of the fort defenders immediately pushed off the earthen fence and barbed wire, and turned to fire at the mountain artillery of the Japanese army.

It was said that the army's mountain artillery and the battery did not fire for a long time, and the large-caliber shore artillery soon gained the upper hand, forcing the artillery of the 13th Division to move their positions.

It was said that the formation of warships took the opportunity to pass through this section of the river. Seeing this, Deputy Taiwan Director Li Tingfang immediately ordered three batteries to start a salvo fire at the warships that were eager to pass, and this time the gains were relatively large, three enemy ships were shot, two of them caught fire, and seeing that they were about to sink, the warship formation hurriedly retreated again.

At this moment, two military planes finally arrived, and the anti-aircraft fire of the battery immediately organized anti-aircraft fire, but the enemy planes still dropped five heavy bombs on the first battery, and Li Tingfang and four soldiers died.

After Li Tingfang died, the commander of the battery crossed the river alone to report to the headquarters, leaving the deputy commander Peng Yushan to continue to command the battle.

On this day, relying on the terrain, the Wulongshan Fort waged a desperate struggle with the naval guns, mountain artillery, and airplanes, and always firmly controlled the river, making it impossible for the warship formation to advance westward.

After dark, the officers and men of the fort, who were in danger behind enemy lines, were ordered to retreat. The officers and men withdrew their bolts, buried them on the spot, and took advantage of the night to cross the river and retreat north, reporting to the fortress section of the Wuhan headquarters.

Seeing that the fort was no longer shelling, the warship formation soon discovered the problem and immediately marched west to intercept the retreating officers and men.

Seeing this, Deputy Taiwan Director Peng Yushan was furious and immediately ordered to stop the retreat, braved the threat of enemy naval fire to return to the battery, dug up the buried running bolt, and quickly launched an artillery attack on the enemy ships, causing the fleet on the river to stagger and flee in confusion.

Only then did Peng Yushan scold, "The dog said, dare to fight with your grandfather, and it is a little tender", and led the officers and soldiers to calmly cross the Yangtze River and retreat to [***].

At 10 o'clock in the morning, Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Ryosuke led the main force of the Ninth Division to the front of Tongji Gate in Nanjing City.

Looking at the majestic city wall of Nanjing, Yoshizumi Ryosuke was ecstatic, the world's most famous ancient capital, is about to fall into his own hands, after entering the city, he must engrave on the city gate His Excellency Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Ryosuke led the army to capture the city in 1937 A.D., and raised the military prestige of our emperor.

Yoshizumi Ryosuke, who was full of self-satisfaction, saw from the telescope that there were only a few sentries patrolling and standing guard on the city wall of Nanjing, and he felt incredible, when did it be, the people of China were still playing Zhuge Liang's empty city plan, don't you know that everyone in the world knows this trick?

Lieutenant General Ryosuke Yoshizumi, who felt insulted intellectually, ordered Goro Ikebe, who was proficient in Chinese, to come forward and persuade him to surrender.

Ikebe Goro Shaosa, who received the order, slapped his horse out, stood still 500 meters away from the Tongji Gate, and shouted: "Listen to the defenders of China, it is said that General Yoshizumi Ryosuke of the Imperial Army has ordered you to surrender. As long as you lay down your arms and open the gates, the Imperial Army will treat you as prisoners of war. ”

Guarding Tongji Gate is the 618th Regiment of the 103rd Division, which is the famous Wanba Regiment under the former Wang Jialie, and is the elite of the Guizhou Army. When the Red Army crossed the Wujiang River during the Long March, it was once attacked by the Red Army. In February, when the troops were reorganized in Sichuan, they had just been reequipped, with Hanyang-made rifles and Czech-made heavy machine guns.

Seeing that the army was so arrogant and dared to persuade him to surrender under the city, Wan Shijiong, the regiment commander who was hiding in the arrow tower on the city wall, whispered to the sharpshooters in the regiment, asking him to kill this rampant devil.

After visually measuring the distance, the sharpshooter shook his head, saying that the distance was too far to work.

When Wan Shijiong heard this, he immediately went up to the city wall with an iron horn and shouted loudly: "Listen to the army under the city, I can't hear what you are saying, please come forward, our commander wants to know if we can maintain the structure of our army after surrendering." ”

As soon as Ikebe Goro Shaozo heard that there was a door, in the case of a large army pressing the city, he should surrender with a little brain, and it is estimated that this defender may want to be loyal to the imperial army. After riding back and asking Yoshizumi Ryosuke for instructions, Ikebe Goro patted his horse and ran up, shouting loudly: "Listen to the defenders in the city, Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Ryosuke of the Imperial Army said that as long as you surrender and open the city gate, you will all be promoted, and the regiment commander can be the division commander, the division commander can be the army commander, and the army commander can be the commander of the group army." The Golden Ticket of the Imperial Army and the Flower Girl are greatly rewarded. ”

Ikebe Goro Shaozo was about to shout, but he heard a bang, and a bullet flew in, just through his open mouth, and Ikebe Goro fell off the saddle on his back.

Yoshizumi Ryosuke was furious when he saw this, and was about to give the order to bombard, when he heard a burst of gunfire from the city wall. It was still the same man just now, who stood up again, holding an iron horn and shouted: "Listen to the imperial army on the other side, it was an accident just now, our commander has already arrested those who are unwilling to surrender, and asked the imperial army to send someone to negotiate." ”

What kind of person is Yoshizumi Ryosuke, how could he be fooled casually, but he sent an interpreter and asked the defenders to open the city gate first and then talk about other things.

Wan Shijiong saw that the army was no longer fooled, and waved his hand downward, only to hear a bang, and the translator who dared to be Han Jian burst out of his brain.

Only then did Yoshizumi Ryosuke know that he had been grinding his mouth for a long time, and asked Ikebe Goro Shaozo to go back to see Amaterasu. Angry, he immediately ordered to prepare for the siege and called for aviation to cooperate with the attack.

The city wall of Nanjing was very strong, and after the first round of artillery fire, although the bricks and stones on the city wall were splashed and filled with smoke, the city wall was not destroyed. Yoshizumi Ryosuke ordered the artillery to continue the shelling, and at the same time ordered the tanks to go out and shell directly at the city gate. For a time, the cannon of Tongji Gate rumbled and the artillery fire was pervasive. Under the cover of artillery fire, the army formed a battle formation with tanks as the lead and attacked the city gate.

Seeing that the artillery fire of the army was so fierce, Wan Shijiong strictly ordered the officers and soldiers to hide under the city wall and not to show their heads. It was not until the tanks and infantry of the army attacked the city and the artillery fire extended into the city that Wan Shijiong ordered the officers and soldiers to immediately go up to the city wall, concentrate their firepower, and shoot at the enemy.

At this time, it was lively, all the light and heavy machine guns and rifles on the city wall were fired, and grenades flew and fell into the group of soldiers, so that the soldiers who followed behind the tanks fell to the ground one by one, and only a dozen tanks were still stubbornly attacking and advancing towards the door hole.

Major General Yoshiyoshi Akiyama, who was in charge of the front-line command, saw that the infantry attack was frustrated, and immediately ordered all heavy machine guns, infantry guns, and grenadiers to fire at the city wall to suppress the defenders' fire and cover the tank attack. The infantry of the second attack wave was ordered to go out at once, protecting the tanks.

At this time, the 618th Regiment, which only had light weapons, could not bear it, and the casualties skyrocketed, and Wan Shijiong ignored the danger, shouting loudly on the city wall to blow up the devil tank and beat the enemy back, running back and forth, directing the soldiers to fill the vacancy.

Seeing that the enemy tank blasted the city gate open with a few shots, and was about to rush into the doorway, several veterans tied explosives bags to long bamboo poles, lit the fuse, stretched down from the city tower, and exploded directly on the top of the tank. After the turret was blown away, the armored soldiers inside were in a hurry to flee for their lives, and as soon as they showed their bodies, they were blown up by grenades.

As soon as they saw the success of the explosive packs, the soldiers on the tower of the city gate hurried to take action, tying bundles of cluster grenades or explosives bags with long bamboo poles and throwing them down. It actually blew up seven tanks one after another in one go.

Seeing that the losses of the attacking troops were too great, Yoshizumi Ryosuke ordered Major General Yoshiyoshi Akiyama to stop the attack, transfer all the tanks, concentrate all the heavy artillery of the field artillery wing, cooperate with the tank guns, and be sure to blow up the castle tower and open the passage into the city.

At the moment when the army retreated, Wan Shijiong hurriedly ordered the troops to withdraw from the city wall and quickly prepare for street fighting.

This retreat to the city wall, Wan Shijiong burst into tears, just this wave of offensive and defensive battles, the 618 regiment actually lost one-third. Hundreds of brothers lay on the walls of Nanjing, never to return to Guizhou.

Wan Shijiong has already seen that this city gate can't be defended at all, fortunately, he fought strictly according to the tactics explained by General Zhang Zhizhong, otherwise, according to the past way of fighting, the whole regiment lined up on the city wall, and the wave of fierce artillery fire just now, my 618 regiment may be directly withdrawn.

I heard that Chief Zhang's tactics were all learned from General Liu Yimin, and it seems that this Red Army general, which is close to a legend, does have a set.

Thinking about it in his heart, Wan Shijiong did not dare to hesitate for a moment, and immediately ordered the troops to enter the street fighting fortifications, put the devils into the city, and prepare to detonate the explosives buried under the city gate and on the road.

Fortunately, Wan Shijiong saw the opportunity quickly, and the troops withdrew quickly, otherwise, the whole regiment might really be sacrificed on the city wall. Because the army had only been preparing for an hour, they brought up all the tanks, lined up outside the Tongji Gate, and cooperated with the field artillery wing to blast open the city gate building.

The planes that had just arrived also began to recklessly, circling and diving, dropping bombs and shelling over and over again.

It didn't take long for the gate building of Tongji Gate to collapse. Major General Yoshiyoshi Akiyama sneered, pulled out his sword, and shouted wildly: "Emperor's warriors, Nanjing is ours, rush in, the flower girl is big, and the golden ticket is big." Come on! The 35th Wing under his command followed the tanks and rushed to the city gate and swarmed in.

Wan Shijiong hid behind a barricade not far from the city gate, surrounded by an engineer platoon commander of the headquarters engineering regiment. Seeing that the army rushed into the city gate and poured onto the road, and it was time to detonate, Wan Shijiong waved his hand fiercely, and the engineer platoon commander immediately pressed the detonation device, and in an instant, from the city gate to the road 200 meters away from the city, an earth-shattering explosion sounded, and the explosives surnamed Lie not only overturned the tanks on the road and sent the soldiers directly to the sky, but also blew up all the bricks and tiles, turning them into murderous weapons, and smashed them fiercely at the stunned soldiers.

The explosion was so unexpected and ferocious that both sides ceased to fight and stared blankly at the horrific scene.

Wan Shijiong and the engineer platoon commander were both shocked and bleeding from their mouths and noses, their ears were ringing, and they were speechless. But he knew in his heart that this was not the time to appreciate masterpieces, so he quickly pulled the engineer platoon commander and led the soldiers to move their positions.

Major General Yoshiyoshi Akiyama was shocked by the sound of the explosion, and through the binoculars, he could clearly see the broken arms and legs of the Imperial soldiers flying in the sky, as well as the burning tank caused by the explosion of ammunition after being overturned.

Akiyama Yoshiyo sat on the ground with his ass and muttered to himself: "Such a ruthless Chinese, just this boom, a large group of warriors went to see Amaterasu, it's terrible!" ”

Yoshiyoshi Akiyama, whose face was pale, tore off his military uniform tremblingly, held the sword upside down, and was about to apologize for his crimes. It was the captain of the 35th Wing who was quick to see and snatch the sword, which saved Akiyama Yoshiyoshi from committing suicide.

Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Ryosuke heard that Major General Akiyama Yoshiyoshi almost had a disembowelment, so he hurried to Akiyama Yoshiyoshi's command post, stretched out his hand and slapped him a few times, slapping Akiyama Yoshiyoko's face into the shape of a pig's head, and then smiled and said softly: "Akiyama-kun disembowelment is not wanted, the lost soldiers will be replenished quickly, and the most important thing is to lead his troops to rush into Nanjing and punish the Chinese army." ”

Akiyama Yoshiyo was completely sober at this time, and after Lizheng bowed, he hurriedly adjusted his deployment and commanded the troops to enter the city.

Seeing that Major General Yoshiyoshi Akiyama had finally recovered his spirits, Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Ryosuke nodded, said a few times "Yo Xi", and then squinted at Nanjing City again, and said in his heart: "The people of China seem to have learned to be cunning, and that's good, I want to see how many tricks you still have!" ”

At the same time as the fierce battle at Tongjimen, the 2nd Brigade and 3rd Regiment of the Teaching Corps also exchanged fire with the vanguard of the 16th Division at Purple Mountain.

The 16th Division of the Army came from Kyoto, and this beast unit had committed heinous crimes in Nanjing. It was this unit that took the lead in breaking through the city wall of Nanjing and planting the national flag on the building of the Nanjing municipal axe. Later, because he was not convinced that the 6th Division had killed more people than the 16th Division, the commander of the division, Lieutenant General Nakajima Imasa, ordered the whole army to carry out a massacre.

Now history has changed, Zhang Zhizhong commanded the 74th Army and the Teaching Corps to eat the 7th Wing of the 9th Division, causing the 9th Division, which was eager to retaliate, to march rapidly overnight, rushed in front of the 16th Division and the 6th Division, and took the lead in attacking Nanjing.

After learning the news that the 9th Division had launched an attack, Nakajima was so jealous that he strictly ordered the 33rd Brigade, the vanguard of the division, to speed up the attack and not lag behind the 9th Division.

(To be continued)