readx; March 17, 1938, Teng County. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

The 12 heavy artillery pieces of the army bombarded the southern city wall for more than an hour, and the city wall was destroyed, blowing up a large gap of about 20 meters, and the enemy soldiers could directly climb it. The Cai Zheng battalion of the 740th Regiment defending the southern city wall had not had time to completely retreat to the city, and was blown up to the ground, and the flesh and blood of the defenders were intertwined with bricks and mud everywhere. In a moment, a small gap opened near the big gap, and a fierce battle ensued over the gap in the southern wall.

After the loss of Nanguan, more than a dozen devils carried a ladder and quietly climbed in the small gap. Pan Yuyin, a senior soldier guarding the city, heard a movement in the artillery fire, and when he looked around, the devil at the top had almost climbed to the top of the city. Pan Yuyin didn't have time to shout, so he picked up the turntable submachine gun in his hand and aimed it at the devil on the ladder and fired two rounds of bullets, so that the devil fell like a stone during a collapse, and then threw seven or eight grenades in the next breath. When the guards in the anti-artillery hole under the city heard the gunshots, they immediately went to the city and opened fire, causing the gang of devils to flee backwards with their dead bodies and wounded soldiers.

When the enemy saw that the sneak attack had missed, he immediately launched a strong attack on the large gap. More than a dozen tanks, dozens of machine guns covered more than 100 devils rushed towards the gap with bayonets, and the battalion commander Cai Zheng ordered the soldiers to wait on both sides of the gap. When the devil climbed the slope of the gap, at the sound of an order, groups of grenades rained down and exploded in the group of devils, knocking down the devils on the gap. Battalion Commander Cai commanded the soldiers to use this method to repel several enemy charges.

At this time, Liu Zhuming, the chief of the special service who was staying at the company headquarters, saw that there were no wounded to be sent down for a while, and he couldn't resist his desire to go to the line of fire, so he rushed to the company command post at the south gate with two grenades in his hand. The southern city wall was filled with gunsmoke, the flames soared into the sky, and the earth-shattering shouts of killing, grenade explosions, and screams of bullets were mixed together, which was thrilling! Seeing a squad leader with a bloody face retreating, Liu Zhuming stopped him from lying in the bunker to inquire about the situation, and the squad leader shouted:

"Secret Service Chief, you can't go up. Even Company Commander Xu and several platoon commanders were killed at the edge of the gap. The division headquarters pistol even the company commander Li Yuanxun was also killed at the edge of the gap, and the corpses of the soldiers on the side of the gap had been piled up. ”

At this time, Cai Zheng led his troops to repel three or four enemy charges at the gap in the city wall, the defenders were killed and wounded, the ammunition was completely exhausted, and he retreated to the southwest corner of the city wall with the last 20 people.

At about half past three, the army continued to climb the southern city wall.

At this time, He Xuanrong accepted the task and led dozens of soldiers to rush to Dongguan, when he passed through the south city gate, he saw some soldiers carrying sandbags to block the city gate, and heard Zhang Xuanwu shouting: "We are going to block the city gate!" ”

He Xuanrong didn't have time to answer, so he rushed out of the city gate through the crack in the door.

At this time, Dongguan was completely shrouded in rising smoke, and the explosion of gunfire and grenades could be heard, and in the smoke you could see the sun flag swaying back and forth and the tanks driving over the ruins. Some soldiers still held out at the west end of Dongguan.

He Xuanrong saw that the defenders of the three battalions had suffered casualties, and the Dongguan position was gone. Busy commanding more than 20 people under his command to join the battle, covering the remnants of the Dongguan defenders to withdraw from their positions with firepower. With these last dozens of people, they fought and walked, detoured to the north city, which was still under enemy attack, and retreated to the city from the west gate to participate in street fighting.

Soon after the army occupied the southern city wall, the enemy completely wiped out our Dongguan defenders.

The Yue army that occupied Dongguan launched a fierce attack on the East City Gate after a little rectification. At the same time, the enemy occupying the southern wall also captured the southeast corner of the wall with heavy fire and charge, and continued to approach north on the wall. Most of the defenders on the southern half of our eastern wall were killed or wounded and could not support them, and the rest retreated to the position of the city tower and used the broken fortifications to hold on.

Defending the area around the East City Gate was the Wu Zhongmin Battalion of the 727th Regiment. At this time, Regiment Commander Zhang Xuanwu and Brigade Commander Wang Zhiyuan came to Dongcheng to supervise the battle.

The attacking enemy bombarded the collapsed towers with artillery fire, and the remaining logs on the towers were ignited by the explosion of incendiary bombs. The city gate was completely open under the continuous blows of flat-fire artillery fire, and under the cover of bursts of dense machine-gun fire, the first wave of thirty or forty devils broke through to the east city gate. Wu Zhongmin's battalion already had four heavy machine guns arranged behind the city gate, at this time, the four heavy machine guns opened fire at the same time, and the defenders lying around bombarded with dense grenades, and these dozens of devils had nowhere to hide, and they were all wiped out. However, the army did not give up, regardless of the dead and wounded, with a steady stream of troops in waves to the east gate repeatedly charged, and some devils climbed the city wall, jumped into the city, and the east gate area launched a brutal street battle.

At the height of the battle on the southern city wall, the commander-in-chief Wang Mingzhang personally came to the line of fire to supervise the battle. The unusually fierce attack had made Wang Mingzhang realize that the last moment was coming. At around three o'clock, he sent the last telegram to the headquarters of the Lincheng Group Army since the defense of the city:

"Standing to, Lincheng, the commander of the army, ○ dense. Reading Lishan said that there was no friendly gunfire, and he wanted to be stopped by the enemy. At present, the enemy is bombarding the city from morning to noon with field artillery planes, and the enemy infantry has repeatedly landed in the city and has been repulsed in several places. Recall the training of the commission, open the cover of the words of consolation, and fight to the death, in order to report the country, in order to report the encounter. Sincerely. Wang Mingzhang. Knock. ”

After the telegram was sent, Wang Mingzhang ordered the communications staff officers to be ready to destroy the radio station and the password at any time.

The telegram was instructed by Wang Mingzhang and drafted by Chief of Staff Zhao Weibin. Zhao Weibin and Wang Mingzhang have been getting along day and night for many years, treating each other with sincerity and affection, and they are well aware of Wang Mingzhang's courage and integrity. Zhao Weibin works in the pen, take the pen and wave it, this electricity not only represents the will of Wang Mingzhang, but also the mastery of everyone.

After the telegram was sent, Wang Mingzhang personally went to the firing line to supervise the battle, and met Lu Kang, the brigade commander who was commanding the operation, in the south of the city. Lu Kang told him that he still had 200 men.

Two hundred! At this time, it was already a great team in the dangerous city, and Wang Mingzhang encouraged: "Linan, rely on you!" Wang Mingzhang said again, to think of transferring some troops from outside the West Gate. Outside the west gate, there was a regiment of the 124th Division, and since the army's key attack direction was at the east gate and the south gate, the pressure on this regiment was relatively light, and there were also formed units.

Lu Kang immediately rushed to the West City Gate to check. At this time, the guards on the west tower were exchanging fire with the devils pressed by the south city wall, defending the city tower to the death, and the two sides beat bricks and tiles. The streets by the city gate were full of dead and wounded soldiers and empty guns without bullets, and groups of stragglers who had lost their command crowded in front of the city gate, and the city gate had long been blocked, and bags of sandbags were piled up from the ground to the top of the gate. The gates, which had been blocked in order to strengthen the determination to defend the city, became an obstacle to the defense of the city at this critical juncture.

As soon as Lu Kang saw that the situation was not good, he immediately shouted: "Brothers, you can't retreat, the division commander is still in the city!" ”

At this time, Liu Zhuming, who came here, also picked up a gun and shouted with the brigade commander. Some soldiers raised their guns and climbed the city wall, shouting while going up the city: "If you are not afraid of death, you will come to the city, and it will be the turtle king bastard who does not go to the city!" ”

Deputy Brigade Commander Wang Chaolian also came here. The two men directed the stragglers to evacuate the sandbags, opened a passageway, and opened a slit at the gate that allowed one person to enter and exit sideways. At this time, some stragglers were in chaos and were vying to get out of the city.

Lu Kang braved the rain of bullets to climb the city tower again, and as soon as he probed, a shuttle of bullets hit, and a bullet swept through his arm, and immediately blood covered his clothes. Lu Kang didn't care about bandaging, and as soon as he turned around, the guards suddenly shouted: "Attention to the brigade seat!" ”

Lu Kang looked up and saw that two devils had rushed to the city gate with bayonets. Lu Kang waved his hand and shot two shots, and the two devils fell to the ground in response. Personally stabbing two enemies, Lu Kang felt a burst of happiness in his heart!

After Wang Mingzhang broke up with Lu Kang, he rushed to the crossroads in the center of the city to supervise the battle in the east city. At this time, the street battle in Dongcheng was in full swing, the enemy poured in wave by wave, the soldiers on both sides were going forward one after another, the sword light flashed in the smoke, and the shouting of killing overshadowed the sound of gunfire, Zhang Kuizhi, the commander of the first company of Zhang Xuanwu's regiment, led the remnants to jump into the enemy formation, and killed several devils with a big knife and died heroically.

He Xuanrong, the commander of the 740 Regiment, who was ordered to take office in danger, was commanding more than 20 people under his command to fight in the sandbag street on the street of Dongcheng, and when he saw the commander-in-chief Wang Mingzhang and others, he immediately reported that the 740 Regiment still had troops at the West City Gate.

Wang Mingzhang nodded, and then ordered He Xuanrong to quickly grasp and maintain the passage of the West City Gate. Later, he changed his words and said: "The tax master is sick, you go and escort him out of the city immediately!" ”

Seeing He Xuanrong leaving, he turned around and saw Qiu Zixin, the medical officer beside him, waved his hand to him, and ordered: "The situation is urgent, it is urgent to rescue the wounded, go quickly!" ”

Qiu Zixin is Wang Mingzhang's cousin, and he has followed his cousin Wang Mingzhang since he joined the army when he was young, from being a hygienist to a military medical officer, and he has a very affectionate feeling. Now facing the time of life and death, although he is extremely reluctant to leave, this is a battlefield order and has to be executed, so he left Wang Mingzhang and has not seen each other since.

After Qiu Zixin left, Wang Mingzhang saw the county magistrate Zhou Tong who was supervising the battle next to him, and hurriedly stepped forward, held Zhou Tong's hand and said: "County magistrate Zhou, if the reinforcements do not arrive, the city will be broken." You hurry up and lead the county government dignitaries out of the city, so that the nest will not break, and more people will be reserved for the county government. I cherish myself, maybe there will be a period in the future, and I won't send troops to escort it. ”

After three months of getting along, the military and landlord officers established a deep friendship, and at this moment they stared at each other and clasped their hands in part.

He Xuanrong and Chief of Staff Shui Bin escorted the tax agent division commander to the west city gate, and at this time, the enemy who had occupied the corner of the southwest city wall and the enemy on the south city wall continued to strafe the west city gate with machine guns, and the bullets continued to hit the city gate!

Wang Chaolian, deputy brigade commander who commanded operations at the West City Gate, was shot in the chest and seriously wounded. The cave in the city gate was crowded with bare-handed stragglers, and some stragglers with guns were engaged in an exchange of fire with the enemy under the command of Lu Kang. When Lu Kang learned of He Xuanrong's mission, he immediately shouted to these stragglers: "Hurry up, quickly escort the division commander out of the city!" ”

The stragglers in the cave of the city gate squeezed out a passage and squeezed Shui Tiqing and others and a few guards to the city gate. There were also some sandbags piled up at the gate of the city to form a high barrier, and the stragglers almost lifted the tax ladder and others over this barrier, and plugged the crack in the door that only allowed one person to pass sideways.

Lu Kang sent off the tax division chief, and then turned over with a gun and came back to continue supervising the battle!

(To be continued)