The main reason why Zhang Xuewu abandoned the outer positions of Nanjing and changed to a large area of minelaying was because he needed to concentrate his forces to hold the fortresses of Nanjing Oolong Mountain, Purple Mountain, Qinhuai River, Yuhuatai, Jiangjun Mountain, etc., as key point support, so that the armored troops of his provisional First Mechanized Division would have the opportunity to continuously carry out short counter-assaults between key points. The fire blockade and support of the Yuhuatai artillery group and the two heavy artillery brigades in Jiangbei.

As long as he Zhang Xuewu needs to use, no matter where or what cultural relics and monuments, Lao Tzu will demolish and widen the embankment along the Qinhuai River, build anti-slope firepower points, and cooperate with anti-tank trenches that are six meters wide and six meters deep.

Because the groundwater level in Nanjing is extremely high, water seepage began after digging two meters, so there is not only seeping water in the anti-tank trench, but also a large amount of silt, the key is that the army on the other side of the embankment can not see this anti-tank trench at all, only when they attack the embankment on the opposite bank will they find it, and all the bridges on the Qinhuai River have been blown up in a planned way, and there are artillery groups for dense fire marking at the location where the pontoon bridge may have been erected.

Zhang Xuewu's strategy of holding Nanjing actually comes completely from the historical Battle of Stalingrad, it is with the Volga River, so the Soviet army can continue to transport materials and soldiers into it, and the Soviet army's artillery group on the other side of the Volga River is also the top priority to turn the tide, but relative to Stalingrad, there is not much to compare with the Battle of Nanjing, it can only be said that at the critical moment, it is still necessary for the Chinese [***] people to block the Japanese with flesh and blood, and to buy time with the Great Wall of Flesh and Blood! At least he needs to hold out for two months, when the main force of [***] organized in the rear will be outflanked, and the army attacking Nanjing will naturally retreat without a fight.

Moreover, Zhang Xuewu did not think that he could hold out under the city of Nanjing for two months, and said that the troops and land forces mobilized this time exceeded 60 divisions and regiments, so the whole people of the empire were thrifty, and if there were no materials plundered from Korea, Taiwan, and Northeast China as a guarantee, I am afraid that the imperial concubines of Emperor Hirohito would have to go out to help.

Said that he is like a small horse pulling a cart, at the beginning of the rapid and extraordinary, but lack of staying power, said that the army is basically still pulling horses as the main means of transportation, the distance mechanization is not to talk about, even motorization is far away Shanxi!

Therefore, in terms of strategic mobility, the Chinese army and the central [***] team are almost on par, so it is very difficult for either the local army or the central [***] team to carry out a strategic encirclement of the opponent, and it is even more difficult to annihilate the main force of the opponent.

On top of the Yanziji Fort, Zhang Xuewu saw Peng Mengji, the commander of the 10th Artillery Regiment, a very inconspicuous figure, wearing a soaked white shirt that was almost unrecognizable, and there were blood stains oozing from his shoulders?

After inquiry, Zhang Xuewu learned that there was a huge coastal defense cannon dismantled from the Wusongkou Fort in Songhu, which was about to be installed on the turret of the new fort in Yanziji.

The Kruibi shore defense gun manufactured by Krupp in the era of the Second Prussian Empire has a body barrel of 32 times, a caliber of 280 mm, a total weight of 46 tons on the assembled track, a maximum elevation angle of 30 degrees, an effective firing range of 20,000 meters, and an armor-piercing projectile weighing 270 kilograms can penetrate a homogeneous steel plate with a thickness of 65 centimeters within 3,000 meters, and its maximum rate of fire can fire 1.5 shells per minute.

This big guy is an artifact! The maximum tonnage of the destroyers entering the main stream of the Yangtze River is no more than 3,000 tons, generally 1,200 to 1,700 tons, and the guns are all double-barreled 150-millimeter naval guns in the front turret and 150-millimeter naval guns in the rear turret.

For such a destroyer, the Crebi shore defense gun manufactured by Krupp is a huge weapon of great destruction, just like smashing a small wooden ship with a trebuchet, and if a destroyer of more than 1,000 tons is like being hit by a high-explosive bomb, it is estimated that it will lose most of its combat effectiveness at once, and if it is hit by two to five bombs, the entire ship is estimated to be flattened and sunk.

The most important thing is that the location of Yanziji is outside the maximum elevation angle of the naval gun, which means that the naval artillery of the army cannot hit the Yanziji battery, and if it withdraws from the elevation range, it will be within the direct range of the battery's artillery, and then retreat to the range of its own naval gun, so the most concerned about the air defense problem is the Cruiby shore defense gun made by Krupp.

Zhang Xuewu was the first to take off his shirt and directly joined the team pulling the rope, and the generals on the side were suddenly slightly stunned, this two hundred and five garrison commanders! Don't think about it before you do anything, you are the commander of the garrison of the first lieutenant general, and they are all nominally under your command here, who is still standing?

What the hell is this here to inspect? Or is it a coolie? With the addition of a large group of generals, the officers and soldiers went from shock to excitement, and burst out with greater strength than before, more than 40 tons of Krupp-made Crebi shore defense guns, even after dismantling, the final barrel weighed more than 11 tons, but under the concerted efforts, it was quickly transported to the top of the mountain and waited for the steel arm to be in place.

Zhang Xuewu walked among the soldiers cordially, asking how he was eating, whether he had received the settling-in allowance for the ten oceans issued, and asked even more about some grassroots officers Zhang Xuewu, such as what he thought about the position he was holding? Do you have any suggestions for tactical arrangements?

It was the first time for many grassroots officers to see so many stars appear together, and the generals with one or two gold stars on the bright yellow collar badge put a lot of pressure on these young officers, but many people still suggested themselves, and Zhang Xuewu immediately ordered people to record them all, because Zhang Xuewu has always believed that only those who are at the forefront know what is the most true.

The commander of a small company below the 41st Division saw that Zhang Xuewu was very talkative, so he said boldly: "Sir, my company defends a front of 500 meters, and the wind leaks on all sides!" There should be at least one battalion of troops, in a trapezoidal pattern, and I think that the company and battalion levels should have the right to demand fire support from divisional artillery regiments. ”

Zhang Xuewu asked the name of this bold little company commander, and then instructed the adjutant to write it down and distribute it to all units as a guiding principle, the company and battalion at the front are the key to the control of artillery fire, and the brigade and division level are responsible for deploying the composition and confirmation of firepower to avoid duplication or waste of firepower.

In the afternoon, when inspecting the Purple Mountain Fortress and the Yuhuatai Fortress, Zhang Xuewu also participated in the excavation of fortifications and anti-tank ditches, and at both ends of the streets in Nanjing, some buildings blocking the firing boundary were cleared, and street forts were built.

In Qinhuai, Confucius Temple, Shuangtang and other places with dense buildings, the buildings were cleaned up, and the strong ones were selected to be strengthened and fortified, the light and dark high and low fire points were well equipped, and the ammunition supply reserves were sufficient, and Zhang Xuewu set up his headquarters in the central bank of the Drum Tower, so it can be said that there are many solid buildings in Nanjing, and these buildings can be used as fixed firepower points, and if heavy artillery is not used for long-term bombardment, these fortified points are difficult to be completely destroyed and attacked.

For some fortified points, Zhang Xuewu adopted the most traditional earth-mound type defense, that is, to pile up the soil layer behind the wall or building to reach its same height, and then use the solid soil layer to resist the artillery fire and direct fire of the Yue army, and build a three-layer high and low firing fire fortification with wood, and use three-dimensional crossfire to deal a heavy blow to the attacking troops of the Yue army.

Zhang Xuewu estimated that he would only have a week at most, because he had given up the battle for positions on the periphery of Nanjing, not because Zhang Xuewu wanted to give up the battle for positions on the periphery of Nanjing, but because his own strength was really limited, and once the formed troops were put into the repeated contention and attrition of the outer line, it would inevitably affect the overall garrison of Nanjing, and the troops in the battle for the outer line lacked the necessary artillery cover, and their casualties would be very staggering.

After the two main lines of defense set up by Zhang Xuewu in Nanjing City, Zhang Xuewu took the strategic points such as Wulong Mountain, Qixia Mountain, Purple Mountain, and Yuhuatai as the points of enlistment, and was equipped with firepower and multiple positions for defense, and also prepared sufficient reserves and counterattack troops, Zhang Xuewu's intention was very simple, that is, to use the so-called gaps between the various fortresses to lure the Yue army to take the risk of assault, and then use heavy artillery fire to divide the enemy's front and rear echelons, and use the method of short sorties in front of the armored forces to consume a large number of the living forces of the Yue army. The first thing to be defeated is the arrogance of the person himself.

In Zhang Xuewu's view, Nanjing's topography is actually difficult to have more successful tactics to use, such as the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum area, Chiang Kai-shek repeatedly warned Zhang Xuewu not to hit the idea of the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, Zhang Xuewu still picked up the wall of the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, and dug a large number of tunnels on the mountain, due to the urgency of time, Zhang Xuewu mobilized more than 5,000 coal miners in Gao'an and other places, with the method of squeezing and blasting to quickly dig the tunnel, with the surface position, in fact, this is a small copy of Shangganling, with the Purple Mountain first, The main position of the second peak is matched with the tunnel position supported by logs, and it is equipped with the heavy artillery of the Shangyanziji side and the heavy artillery group of Jiangbei.

(To be continued)