Chapter 720: Spirit plus Matter

The Japanese Naval Air Force, the ultra-low-altitude breakthrough tactics adopted by fighters, almost succeeded, the Nanjing Air Defense Battle, experienced an extreme crisis, and the infantry's spontaneous ** action, saved the entire situation, shooting ultra-low-flying fighters with infantry weapons at close range, probably only the Chinese infantry have such creativity, have such courage.

The Japanese naval air force retreated and fled, they had lost more than two-thirds of the bombers, more than half of the fighters, in the evening, the Japanese planes no longer dared to bomb Nanjing, the fierce battle for most of the day in the city of Nanjing, quieted down, the sky in the west, the bright fire clouds, the red sky was all over the sky, the afterglow of the glow sprinkled all over the Qixia Mountain, the Purple Mountain, the smoke of gunpowder filled the whole city, gradually faded with the evening breeze, the city of Nanjing, ushered in a rare quiet and peaceful.

Various anti-aircraft fire points, busy replenishing ammunition and transporting the wounded, Wang Genbao has been appointed as the chief of firepower, and the rank has also been promoted from sergeant to second lieutenant, the sudden promotion made Wang Genbao somewhat uncomfortable, from time to time to stroke the star emblem on the collar badge, Han Han smirked, other partners, not too surprised by his promotion, thinking that this is a natural thing.

To the surprise of Wang Genbao and his comrades-in-arms, General Tang Qiuli, commander-in-chief of Nanjing's air defense, suddenly appeared to him with only six guards, and in front of them, almost all the soldiers were a little unable to react.

Seeing Tang Qiu standing away from his hands, smiling, looking at him gently, the evening breeze blowing his cloak, and the three gold stars on his shoulders shining brightly under the sunset, Wang Genbao hurriedly stood up and saluted, and said somewhat stammeringly: "Report to Commander-in-Chief Tang, Wang Genbao, second lieutenant of the 3rd Battalion of the 1st Regiment of the 38th Division of the Army, report to you, please instruct the commander" All the soldiers put down their work in their hands, as if they had just reacted, they stood up and saluted.

Tang Qiuli only had the idea of going down to the army to communicate with the soldiers at the most basic level when he saw the statistical table of battle results, Wang Genbao was a person who aroused his great interest, if it was in the independent division unit, any soldier achieved the record of shooting down five Japanese soldiers, he would not be particularly surprised, the training level of the units of the independent division was absolutely the highest in the Chinese army at that time, especially the subject of air defense combat, which was one of the three basic skills of every ordinary soldier in the independent division.

And this is an ordinary soldier of the Central Army, with the Central Army's air defense combat training level, has achieved the record of shooting down five Japanese planes, except for talent, there seems to be no other explanation, before arriving at Wang Genbao's firepower point, he has already gone to more than 100 firepower points, the soldiers' mental state, let him extremely reassured, this afternoon's battle, did not leave much shadow on their psychology, many soldiers, have taken the shooting down of Japanese planes, as their goal.

Seeing this honest, but also wooden, cramped and restless second lieutenant in front of him, unable to connect with the master who shot down five Japanese planes in one day, seeing the heavy machine gun used by Wang Genbao, the adjusted firepower configuration and sandbag fortifications, Tang Qiuli believed that he had found the answer, this is an excellent soldier, and he can also become an excellent officer.

He said to Shanhu: "Huzi, take five hundred pieces of ocean and give it to this second lieutenant Wang, this is the reward he deserves, and inform the 38th Division headquarters, Wang Genbao's military rank, be promoted to captain, award the title of Nanjing Warrior, and notify all the troops to commend him," Looking at Tang Qiuli's upright back, disappearing into the vast twilight, Wang Genbao held a bag of heavy ocean in his hand, as if he didn't wake up in a dream, in this day's time, there were too many things that made him like a dream, simple heart, A flood of passion spread throughout the body.

Tang Qiuli personally went down to the grassroots level, communicated with ordinary soldiers, and understood their thoughts and feelings, which was an unprecedented thing in the national army, and then, the next day, the commendation order for Wang Genbao was issued to all units of the Central Army, and then, the Nanjing Air Defense General Headquarters issued an order, clearly stipulating that in future battles, anyone who shot down a Japanese plane would be rewarded with 100 yuan from the ocean and awarded the title of defender of the city, and those who shot down two Japanese planes would be rewarded with 200 yuan from the ocean and awarded the title of defender of the city. Those who shoot down three Japanese planes will be rewarded with 300 yuan from the ocean and awarded the title of Guardian of Nanjing, and those who shoot down more than four Japanese planes will be rewarded with 500 yuan from the ocean and awarded the title of Nanjing Warrior, and a company with more than five soldiers who have won the title of Nanjing Guardian will be awarded the title of Nanjing Garrison Warrior Company, and the soldiers of the company will be rewarded with 20 yuan from each of them.

After this order was issued, among all the troops participating in the battle, it aroused great repercussions, coupled with Tang Qiuli's personal move to the front line, which was an unprecedented thing in the troops of the Central Army, and the courage and sense of honor of the soldiers of the national army were greatly stimulated.

Tang Qiuli is well versed in this, has always been, the army is a collective that attaches great importance to the sense of honor of the team, this time he has a three-pronged approach, in the material, there are ocean awards, in the spirit, there are various titles, in the team honor, there are spiritual and material double rewards, but also worried that the soldiers do not work hard to fight the Japanese planes, at present, Nanjing's air defense pillar, or the Central Army's troops, in their own hands, only the strength of a brigade of the Huangyadong Air Defense Brigade, no matter how well equipped, how well-trained, the huge Nanjing, You can't defend it all under any circumstances.

Moreover, Tang Qiuli had a deeper plan, to turn Nanjing into a magnet that consumed Japan's air power, to attract more Japanese planes, and to plunge into this ground-air battle with no worries about his own worries, until the last drop of Japanese blood was wringed out, anyway, Nanjing has been evacuated from the whole city, even if the entire city is blown up, it can be rebuilt, if the Japanese commit an evil wind and wring their strength to fight themselves in Nanjing, they can't ask for it, besides, they can also let Chairman Chiang, who is hiding in Wuhan, know that Nanjing is by no means a place to stay for a long time, and it is the front line itself, it's better to move the capital.

The Japanese naval air force, unwilling to accept defeat and afraid that Emperor Hirohito would be held responsible, adjusted its tactics, and the commanders of the First and Third Fleets formed a joint command to command all combat aircraft.

On the basis of the experience gained in the air defense operations on the first day, Tang Qiuli also made new adjustments to the deployment of firepower, and all loopholes were filled, and according to the effectiveness of infantry light weapons in fighting low-altitude fighters, several thousand infantry anti-aircraft firing groups were organized, which were distributed in all corners of the city of Nanjing.

In the next two days, the sky over Nanjing was unusually calm, and there was no shadow of a Japanese plane, and the soldiers of the Central Army, who were holding back their strength and wanted to receive meritorious service awards, saw that their eyes were dry, and they did not seize the opportunity, thinking that the Japanese planes did not dare to come, and they could not help but be a little discouraged, but Tang Qiuli was very sober, and the Japanese would never stop there, he seized the rare opportunity and ordered all air defense fire groups to build at least two spare battle positions, an air defense shelter, and each air defense fire group in addition to the normal battle positions. It is necessary to have the ability to shoot maneuvering.

Many units of the Central Army do not think so, since ancient times, anti-aircraft firepower is to shoot at a fixed point in the air, how can there be a reason to run around, Commander-in-Chief Tang is ingenious, what tricks are playing? Only the Huangyadong Air Defense Brigade of the Independent Division faithfully carried out the orders of the division commander, and this has become a habit and nature of the troops of the Independent Division; Tang Qiuli personally inspected the various fire groups and dealt with a few perfunctory officers, which attracted the attention of the officers and soldiers of the Central Army.

On 14 June, when the sky had just dawned, the terrible sound of the sirens woke up the soldiers of the Central Army who were still asleep, and they rushed to the battle station to see that the Japanese planes under black pressure were swooping down from all directions, and the Japanese naval air force dispatched more than 100 bombers and fighters to launch a frenzied bombing of Nanjing by means of bombers attacking in all directions and fighters entering at ultra-low altitudes.

The battle lasted from the morning until the sun set, and all day long, the city of Nanjing trembled in the fierce sound of gunfire, and the Japanese air force went crazy, launching wave after wave of attacks almost without interruption, this wave of Japanese planes had just returned, and the next wave came next, all familiar with the tactics of the other side, and no one took much advantage, because with effective air defense concealment and mobile firing positions, the casualties of the defenders of Nanjing were greatly reduced, but the number of Japanese planes shot down was less than one-fifth of the first day.

As the last Japanese plane disappeared into the sunset, the city of Nanjing calmed down, Tang Qiuli wrote a battle report to Chairman Chiang in Wuhan in the dim light, this was a move he had calculated a long time ago, and he must let Chairman Chiang know that Nanjing could not stay any longer, so in the report, he deliberately exaggerated the fierce Cheng dù of the battle, the superiority of the Japanese planes in numbers, the destruction of Cheng dù in the city of Nanjing, the casualties of the defenders, and the determination of the Japanese not to stop until they achieved their goal.

Although it was a deliberate exaggeration, however, the fact was also true, and within five days after that, Tang Qiuli never left the underground headquarters of the Nanjing Air Defense General Headquarters half a step, and the Japanese naval air force, desperately betting, regardless of the losses, carried out a frenzied indiscriminate bombing of the city of Nanjing.

(To be continued)