Bao Changyi, the commander of the 2nd Garrison Corps, who was responsible for directing the defense of the Madang Fortress position, was a commander with rich combat experience and a strong sense of responsibility. Bao Changyi, a graduate of the first class of the Huludao Naval Academy in 1926, was originally the deputy commander of the rear admiral of the Third Fleet of the Navy, and was stationed in Qingdao, Shandong Province before the Anti-Japanese War, and was a senior officer of the Central Department of the Kuomintang. In the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, Bao Changyi was ordered to dismantle the ship's guns and sink the ship in the bay to block the shipping channel to prevent the landing of the Japanese army. In 1938, Bao Changyi led his troops to Jiujiang, and the navy was also used as an army by the national government because there were not enough ships, and Bao Changyi's department was incorporated into the Madang Fortress garrison, and he himself was appointed as the chief of the 2nd garrison corps.

Bao Changyi was a naval general with a very high level of tactics, and although he was now overused by the Nationalist Axe and regarded the commander of the naval detachment as a rear admiral, he still could not conceal Bao Changyi's brilliance. He placed his three infantry brigades on Changshan, east of Madang, and relied on eight strong fortifications made of reinforced concrete here for defense.

As an outstanding military strategist, especially a commander who was very good at naval operations, Bao Changyi had made a certain analysis of the Sino-Chinese Battle of Wuhan before the war, and he had a premonition that the enemy situation was serious, and once this major battle began, it would be a life-and-death battle that would never stop fighting. Therefore, when he received the order of his immediate boss, Commander Li Dajun, he did not send his subordinate officers to attend Li Yunheng's so-called training class, and then he did not carry it out after receiving Li Yunheng's notice of the meeting, but ordered the officers of his subordinate to stick to their posts and not go to Madang Town to attend the graduation ceremony of the so-called Military and Political University. 2 At dawn, Bao Changyi, who had been sticking to the position observation post, was the first to learn of the loss of Xiangkou, and he reported to the Wuhan River Defense Headquarters on the one hand, and ordered the headquarters to be on standby.

In fact, when the army attacked the Xiangkou position, Bao Changyi was aware of it, and he vaguely saw that there was an abnormal troop movement in Xiangkou at the position observation post. After discovering this situation, Bao Changyi did not dare to slack off, and immediately called the 313th Regiment of the Xiangkou Garrison to inquire, but no one answered, and sent scouts to contact, but the report that came back surprised him.

The news that the scouts came back turned out to be that a large number of Japanese troops had come ashore from Xiangkou and occupied the Xiangkou position. Bao Changyi felt that the situation was serious, and while ordering the troops to prepare for battle, he called the Madang Fortress Headquarters to report, but the people in the headquarters went to attend the graduation ceremony, and no one answered. The call went to the Mahu District Headquarters again, but there was still no answer. Bao Changyi had no choice but to call the Wuhan Jiangfang Fortress Headquarters and report that the army had landed in Xiangkou.

After receiving Bao Changyi's report, the Wuhan Jiangfang Fortress Command was still a little unconvinced, and it was indeed surprising that more than 19,000 troops directly under the two divisions and several regiments of the 16th Army could not even defend a single Madang fortress. Not to mention, after all, everyone knows the combat effectiveness of the Chinese army, and although it is true that although the 16 th Army is a military establishment at the army level, its actual combat effectiveness is not stronger than that of a division or regiment of the Chinese army, and it is even somewhat inferior.

However, the Xiangkou position was lost silently, which is really incomprehensible, it is said that there are still many Kuomintang troops in the area around Madang Fortress, as long as Li Yunheng sends a telegram, no one dares to ignore the safety of Madang Fortress, and he will definitely send troops to rescue. However, until now, it has not received a telegram for help from the 313th Regiment of the defenders in the Xiangkou position, so the Wuhan River Defense Command did not believe very much in the military situation reported by Bao Changyi, but ordered Bao Changyi to find out the situation and report to the headquarters as soon as possible.

Bao Changyi was very dissatisfied with the indecisive decision of the Wuhan River Defense Command at this time, and he knew that if all the large forces of the Yue army went ashore, the role of Madang Fortress would be reduced by more than half. At this time, a group of troops withdrawn from the Xiangkou position fled to Madang Fortress, and Bao Changyi saw that there were not many people, and all of them were wounded, so there was no doubt that he let these people in, and met these people for the first time, and carefully inquired about the situation of Xiangkou. It was learned that because the Xiangkou position had been lost, a large number of Chinese troops had already gone ashore, and the 313th Regiment was almost completely annihilated by the Japanese army because there was no officer to command it, and only a dozen of them escaped from one regiment.

Bao Changyi immediately reported the battle report to the Wuhan River Defense Headquarters, which immediately blew up the entire Wuhan River Defense Headquarters, and the Jiang Defense Headquarters immediately telegraphed the 16th Army to rescue Xiangkou and recapture the position while the army was not firmly established. However, now that most of the officers of the 16th Army are attending the graduation ceremony of the so-called "Anti-Japanese Military and Political University" held by Army Commander Li Yunheng in Pengze, there is no one in the military headquarters of the 16th Army, and there is no response to the telegram, thus losing the best opportunity to regain the position.

The army attacking Xiangkou was the Hatada detachment from Taiwan, and the commander, Major General Hatada Shigeichi. After the Hatian detachment occupied Xiangkou, it immediately occupied Xiangshan. After dawn, the Potian detachment completely occupied the Xiangshan position, and after clearing the resistance of the remaining Kuomintang troops, the Potian detachment set up an artillery position on the anticline of Xiangshan and bombarded the Changshan position.

After receiving the news of the attack of the Yue army, Bao Changyi ordered his artillery to return fire, and the two sides launched a fierce artillery battle. In the morning, Hatada Shigeichi organized an infantry assault group to attack the Changshan position from the mouth of Taibo Lake. About a brigade of devils, under the cover of artillery, began to launch a fierce attack on the Changshan position. At the same time, the 11th Army sent a large number of warships and planes to bombard and bomb the Changshan position to support the attack of the Potian detachment.

Although the strength of the Chinese Air Force is weak, it also took off from Nanchang and Wuhan airports and bravely met the battle. For a time, the Changshan position was caught in a three-dimensional fire network and a rain of bullets from the sea, land, and air. Although we have always paid attention to the gains and losses of the ground forces of the army, and have paid little attention to the battles between the naval and air forces, in fact, the battle to "defend Greater Wuhan" was first fought in the skies of Wuhan. At noon on June 6, 1938, a sharp air raid siren sounded in the urban area of Wuhan, and 26 military destroyers and 12 bombers were flying towards Wuhan.

The reason why the squadron was able to receive the news of the arrival of the military plane so quickly is thanks to a person, this person is still just an unknown air force officer, but he will be a big man who shocked the world in the near future, this person is none other than Chennault, the founder of the US Air Force to aid China, and the air force he created is the "Flying Tigers" that we are familiar with. At this time, Chennault was not as glamorous as people imagined. Due to Chennault's personal temper and other reasons, the relationship between Chennault, his superiors and colleagues was not very harmonious, so Chennault was not very happy anymore. Although his flying skills were very high, he was the best among all the Navy, Air Force, Army Air Force, and even full-time combat air forces in the entire United States of America, but he was never promoted, and when he reached his old age, he was only a second lieutenant in the Air Force, which is extremely rare in the entire American army.

However, when Chennault was in a difficult situation, Chennault was favored by the Chinese National Political Axe Observation Group during an air show and was poached to China with a high salary. In view of the weakness of the Chinese Air Force, Chennault suggested that the Nationalist Government should establish an effective air defense early warning system. Although Chiang Kai-shek's strategic vision was not very good, there were still some capable people in the national government, and Jiang Qianli and Chen Cheng, who had extremely keen strategic vision, agreed with Chennault's suggestion, and finally Chiang Kai-shek decided to establish an air defense early warning system that would cover the entire Jiangnan region starting from the front line in Shanghai. When fighting [***], this air defense early warning system almost did not play any role, after all, China did not even have a single aircraft at that time, but after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, this early warning system played a great role.

It can be said that this set of air defense early warning systems of the National People's Political Axe was built against imperialism from the very beginning, and it was not until after the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression that this air defense early warning system really played a role. As soon as the planes of the Japanese army flew together, the observation posts built on the high mountain cliffs would know about it, and the news would be transmitted back to the headquarters at the first time, and the national political axes of the observation stations throughout South China could quickly determine the bombing targets of the Japanese army. When it was learned that a group of military planes was flying toward Wuhan, Li Guidan, acting captain of the Fourth Brigade, led 29 Soviet-made E-15 and E-16 fighters to take off to meet them. In this battle, the soldiers of the heroic Fourth Brigade fought bravely and fiercely with enemy planes in the sky over Wuhan, shooting down 14 enemy planes. The rest fled in confusion and failed to enter the city of Wuhan to drop bombs. But the Chinese Air Force also lost 4 aircraft and 5 pilots. Squadron Leader Li Guidan, Detachment Leader Lu Jichun, pilots Li Pengxiang, Ba Qingzheng, and Wang Yi spilled their blood in the sky and died heroically in this battle. This was the first air victory during the Wuhan Anti-Japanese War, and it was also the first duel between China and Wuhan in the defense of Wuhan. After the war, 20,000 people in Wuhan held an unprecedented parade to celebrate the victory in the air battle and mourn the five loyal and brave "flying generals" who sacrificed their lives for the country.

On October 2, when the Yue army went up the Yangtze River and occupied the positions of Xiangkou and Xiangshan, a large number of Syrian planes and ships swarmed in, in a vain attempt to defeat the defenders of Madang Fortress in one fell swoop and seize Wuhan, an important gateway. After the start of the campaign in Anqing and other places, the Chinese Air Force continued to attack the main forces to bomb the warships on the Yangtze River and the airfields in Wuhu and other places, and continued to resist the air raids on Wuhan by the Chinese army. Therefore, after receiving the order of the national political axe, the Chinese air force at the airports in Nanchang and Wuhan quickly attacked to support Bao Changyi's 2nd Corps, and at the same time, the Wuhan Garrison Command also urgently mobilized ground troops to support Madang Fortress.

(To be continued)