Forty-six: The scarlet sun

The company commander had a lot of opinions about the retreat, and he was in a bad mood, but he shouldn't have sent the fire to Wang Mingming's body. He realized that his attitude had gone too far, and he calmed his mind.

He said with concern: "Third aunt, we can't protect you anymore." The Japanese army will kill people after entering the city. Take care of yourself. The coming day is long, and you will fight the battle.

"Matsui Ishone ordered his troops to 'carry forward Japan's military might and deter China.'" The Japanese devils burned and looted all the way from Shanghai to Nanjing according to this order.

"After the fall of Nanjing, it is best if you can hide, and you must avoid the limelight. You can't be wrong to listen to my persuasion, let's go, go home early and get ready to deal with the devil. ”

The company commander ran a few steps to the company headquarters and shouted to the people in the house: "I just received an order to retreat, brothers quickly pack up their things and follow me out." ”

The soldiers of the company stood up in surprise, and they looked at their commander. They did not believe that the order to retreat was true. They even less understand why they retreated!

The company commander looked at him in surprise when he saw the soldiers in the company headquarters, they were suspicious of the retreat order, suspicious of their commander.

The company commander suddenly realized something. He shouted: "I don't want to retreat either. That's an order. It was an order of the Supreme High Command, an order of the base camp.

"It is the duty of the soldiers to obey orders, and now obey my orders, we must retreat if we do not want to. The artillery platoon is about to be withdrawn. Battalion Chief of Staff His Royal Highness.

"The correspondent went to inform the logistics to retreat westward. Retreat to Daxing Palace, and the battalion headquarters asked to assemble there. The others followed me to the front station first. ”

The company commander glanced at Wang Mingming, he sighed heavily and said, "Third aunt, let's go." We are also reluctant to retreat, and the military order is difficult to do. We'll see you later. ”

He waved his hand to the men of the company and retreated along the main road with them.

Wang Mingming watched them go away blankly, she didn't understand that such an army that could fight and fight, so many officers and soldiers who regarded death as home, retreated in the face of the enemy.

She had no choice but to look for the wooden bridge. She saw the bridge and heard a cry from a foreign land.

Wang Mingming looked at the battlefield. The Japanese officer with a mustache rushed over with a commanding knife in his hand and a determined stride. Hordes of Japanese soldiers shouted and followed him closely.

The arrogance of the enemy is no longer rampant and arrogant, and their faces show not evil and ruthlessness, but impatience and a faint cowardice under the cover of the bushido spirit.

They attacked in orderly steps, the sound between the shoes and the stone slabs mixed with caution and unease, and the Japanese could not wait to make the final sprint.

The Japanese army was in a hurry to take full control of the area before dark. Rumbling armored vehicles ran over the corpses. Shells fell on the barricades, which collapsed in smoke and fire.

This battle-hardened land has been put to the test once again.

A fighter planted a flag on a barricade. The soldiers of the national army were assembled under the leadership of the officers, who knew what would happen without the support of artillery.

More than a dozen volunteers with red cross armbands came out of the bunkers, they did not carry stretchers. A volunteer with a wounded leg walked into the barricade with the help of his companions.

They were followed by bandaged wounded. More than a dozen civilians ran from the troops' logistics, and they went into the barricades to pick up the guns and grenades of the dead.

The men silently rallied under the banner. They had to make the last fight with the Japanese army. Determined to drive the Japanese out of the city.

The battered battle flag fluttered in the northwest wind. It is the embodiment of the warrior's iron will, the confidence of the warrior's victory.

The Japanese armored vehicles fired several shots at the flag and missed it, leaving clouds of gunpowder smoke swirling in the wind.

A two-story building on the side of the road was hit by Japanese armored vehicles, and fire went straight from the downstairs to the upper floor. Smoke billowed from upstairs.

A woman upstairs opened the window, she did not dare to jump down, she waved her hands hysterically and shouted for help on the street.

A soldier of the national army ran over with a door panel, he leaned the door against the wall, he took a few steps back and ran up from the door panel.

He grabbed the window with one hand and the woman with the other, dragging her out.

The soldiers were about to drag the woman out of the window. The Japanese officer shouted loudly and pointed his command knife at them, and more than a dozen guns of the Japanese soldiers were aimed at them.

There was a dense burst of gunfire, and the soldier struggled and fell from above. He never got up again.

The woman had been killed, half of her body sticking out of the window hanging out of the wall, her hair coiled around her head scattered and her long hair falling down.

Her hands hung down to the ground. The flames began to consume her mercilessly.

The soldiers, volunteers, and people in the barricades all saw this tragic scene. They were furious, and a great force coalesced.

They shouted and shot desperately at the Japanese troops. The Japanese offensive stopped, and then retreated. One of the volunteers raised the battle flag, and he rushed towards the Japanese with a shout.

Wang Ming looked at the sky that was about to darken, and the sun had already set. She remembered that Qiangzi was there, and he would definitely write this scene into the poem

The blood-colored remnant sun fell with the last rays of the sunset

The endless darkness is about to envelop Jinling.

Nanjing in the last moments of the fall

The battle flag is still flying proudly in the flames of war.

The chief of staff of the artillery battalion retreated from the front, and the guards and a dozen soldiers followed him, and they saw Wang Mingming looking at the battlefield in a daze from a distance.

The battalion chief of staff knew that she was reluctant to leave the battlefield. He guessed that she must have been unable to figure out the retreat. He raised his hand to signal the troops to stop.

He strode up to Wang Mingming and said, "The third aunt hasn't left yet?" All of our people have retreated. We are the last ones. ”

Wang Mingming sighed. She shook her head at the battalion chief of staff and did not speak. What else is there to say at such a time? Just don't hurt each other's feelings.

The battalion chief of staff said: "I was the first to know about the retreat of the army, and the first thing that came to my mind was to protect you from the battlefield.

"We can't leave you on the battlefield, we can't let the devils kill you, I want the company commander to tell you the news of the retreat, and I want you to hurry home or go to a safe area. That's all I can do.

"Please understand us. The army abandoned Nanjing, and the 100,000-strong army withdrew from the battle, and Commander Tang did not have the courage to do so. He is a general who lives and dies with Nanjing, and he will not do it.

"It was a decision from the base camp. It is the duty of a soldier to obey orders. No matter how much you don't understand, you have to execute. When I received the order to retreat, I suspected I had misheard.

The chief repeated it on the phone before I believed it. I put down the phone and still suspected that something had gone wrong. I called my classmates at the command. I just got the details. ”

The battalion chief of staff did not say any more, there were great reasons, and retreating in such a situation was not a glorious thing after all.

Co-existence with Nanjing was the oath that Commander Tang and all the officers and men announced to the world, and the bold words inspired the 100,000-strong army to fight to the death against the Japanese army.

The military man said the same. From Commander Tang to the soldiers, they were determined to dedicate themselves to the defense of Nanjing. Resolutely fight to the last man, a gun. Shoot the last bullet and shed the last drop of blood.

Their position is in Nanjing, and their position is in Nanjing. If the position is dead, Nanjing will die. They died at the foot of Zhongshan Mountain, and it was their glory to dedicate themselves to the Qinhuai River for the Anti-Japanese War.

However, the battle has only been fought for a few days, and the situation of the battle has changed dramatically. The Japanese Kunisaki detachment attacking Anhui crossed the river from Wuhu and was marching to Pukou after occupying Jiangpu.

The Tiangu detachment of Zhenjiang crossed the Yangtze River and attacked Yangzhou. The encirclement of Nanjing by the Japanese army has basically taken shape. The Japanese army in front of him was already approaching the city. Nanjing is at stake.

From a strategic point of view, in order to avoid the defenders of Nanjing being surrounded and annihilated by the enemy, the base camp decided to retreat in order to facilitate future battles.

At noon on the 11th, the base camp ordered Gu Zhutong of the Jiangbei Third Theater to inform the commander of the Nanjing garrison by telephone. Commander Tang was asked to cross the river and go north that night, so that the defenders could break through.

Gu Zhutong conveyed the retreat order of the base camp to Commander Tang.