Due to the tight time, the slides were quite rough, but the effect after the screening was really good, when Tang Shengzhi's huge photo sounded along with his recording, more than 18,000 officers and soldiers exploded in an instant, at this moment, even if they were lined up in a dense line of infantry to meet the Japanese machine gun charge, they would never frown.

Yu Jishi, Wang Yaowu, Feng Shengfa and others finally put back in their stomachs, just as the so-called shame and then courage, the officers and men of the 74th Army have regained their fighting spirit after realizing the shame, and with the newly replenished ordnance of the Military Commission, they already have the confidence and confidence to fight the Japanese army.

In the crowd, Xu Shijiu sighed faintly.

On the screen, Tang Shengzhi's expression was so resolute, and the voice coming out of the microphone was so sonorous and powerful, everyone wanted to believe that Old Tang was not just talking about it, he was real this time! But the question is, even if Lao Tang has the heart to kill himself in Nanjing, will Chairman Jiang really fulfill him?

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The next day, the 5L Division and the 58th Division of the 74th Army were stationed in Chunhua Town and Niushou Mountain respectively.

According to the defense plan formulated by the Nanjing Garrison Command, the 74th Army was responsible for defending the line from Xiaoguanghuamen in Shuixi to Niushou Mountain, Fangshan, and Chunhua Town, and Yu Jishi placed the 51st Division in Chunhua Town, responsible for cutting off the Ninghu Highway, and the 58th Division was placed in Niushou Mountain, responsible for cutting off the Nanjing-Hangzhou Highway.

Niushou Mountain is in the southern suburbs of Nanjing, also known as Tianque Mountain, "Jinling Langu" day: look at the two peaks from afar, such as Niujiaoran, so named Niushou Mountain, Niushou Mountain and the Purple Mountain in the northern suburbs face each other, is the strategic point of controlling the city of Nanjing, it is the place where soldiers must fight since ancient times, the elevation of the main peak of Niushou Mountain is about 300 meters, the left and right sides are respectively Bear Mountain, Jianshan, the highway leading to Hangzhou from Nanjing passes between Bear Mountain and Niushou Mountain and Jianshan.

As long as the 58th Division held three hills, it could completely cut the northward passage of the Japanese army on the South Road.

After inspecting the terrain on the spot, two diametrically opposed opinions were formed on how to defend Niushou Mountain, and most of the officers headed by He Lingxiao, a major general of the 172nd Brigade, believed that although Niushou Mountain was steep and easy to defend and difficult to attack, it was also easy for the Japanese army to intercept the rear road, so they advocated that only one regiment should be placed on Niushou Mountain as a barrier for the main force of the division, and the main force of the division should be placed on the line from the Tiexin Bridge behind Niushou Mountain to Zhonghua Gate, forming a deep echelon arrangement.

Xu 19 put forward another opinion, Xu 19 believes that the entire defense of Nanjing is a lonely army, it can be said that there are no strong troops inside, no strong reinforcement outside, and the strategic depth is extremely limited, so the peripheral support points such as Niushou Mountain, Purple Mountain, Qinglong Mountain, Oolong Mountain, and Shogunate Mountain are extremely important.

Therefore, Xu 19 believed that the 58th Division should do its best to hold Niushou Mountain, as long as the 58th Division could hold Niushou Mountain, the main force of the Japanese army going north from Langxi would not be able to cross Niushou Mountain and pose a threat to Nanjing.

All in all, as long as there is still one person alive in the 58th Division, the Japanese army will not want to pass through here, let alone pose a threat to the city of Nanjing behind the Niushou Mountain, even if the Zuihou 58th Division is completely destroyed under the heavy siege of the Japanese army, at least the battle for the city wall and the street fighting can be delayed as much as possible.

If the 74th Army, the 66th Army, the 83rd Army, and the 2nd Army Corps, which were responsible for defending the outer defense line, were able to hold the determination to die, fight for every inch of the enemy's territory, and swear not to retreat, then the Japanese army would inevitably suffer heavy losses, and the battle for the city walls and street battles would also be greatly delayed, and if they wanted to take Nanjing again, they would not know how much time and how much price they would have to pay.

zuihou, Xu Shijiu said to Feng Shengfa categorically: "Nanjing has become a strategic death ground, the defense of Nanjing is almost a battle to the death, only by putting it to death can it be possible to survive, in the final analysis, the Japanese army has also consumed a lot of manpower, material resources and financial resources in the Battle of Songhu, they may not be able to withstand another protracted war of attrition." ”

Feng Shengfa finally adopted Xu 19's suggestion, and he put the troops directly under the division, including the 19th Independent Brigade, and the 174th Brigade, which was injured in the Battle of Qingpu, on the main peak, with the 343rd Regiment of the 172nd Brigade guarding Xiongshan and the 344th Regiment guarding Jianshan, and Niushou Mountain as horns, and then dug a large number of anti-tank trenches on the mountain road.

When convening a meeting of all the commanders above the battalion commander level of the 58th Division, Feng Shengfa made it clear that this time to defend Niushou Mountain, when you have the determination to die, the people are in the position, so there is no need for flank protection and rear protection.

At the meeting, more than a dozen battalion commanders of the 58th Division were so enthusiastic and screaming by Feng Shengfa's cold statement, and several battalion commanders even wrote blood letters on the spot, and then followed Shangfeng and his colleagues to say goodbye before dying, the scene was extremely touching, this said Brother Yao, we will be zaijian in the next life, and that said Brother Zhang, I will go first.

As soon as the military meeting was over, the brigades, regiments, and battalion commanders returned to their respective defense areas one after another, and led their troops to repair the fortifications and prepare for the attack of the Japanese army on the southern route.

Compared with the 58th Division's Jī Lie's resoluteness, the 51st Division's defense of Chunhua Town seems to be somewhat decent.

Wang Yaowu, the commander of the 51st Division, did not concentrate the troops of the whole division to defend a certain point, but ordered Ji Hongru's 301st Regiment to go out of Songshu, ordered Cheng Zhi's 302nd Regiment to occupy Fangshan, the commanding heights on the left side of Chunhua Town, and then ordered Qiu Weida's 306th Regiment to go out of Hushu Town to protect the flanks of Songshu and Chunhua Town, and Zuihou also placed Zhang Lingfu's 305th Regiment at Gaoqiaomen behind Chunhua Town as a reserve.

At first glance, Wang Yaowu's defensive arrangement is still very rigorous, there are outpost positions, rear positions, flank protection and reserve troops, this is basically the standard positional battle layout, can be attacked and defended, once the battle situation is unfavorable, you can immediately abandon Chunhua Town and retreat to Yuhuatai and even the city wall fortifications.

However, the Battle of Nanjing was not a positional war in the usual sense, and the positional war in the usual sense did not care about the gains and losses of one or several defense lines, and could also gradually build a defensive line and echelon defense in the rear, but the Battle of Nanjing had almost no strategic depth, so there was a big problem with Wang Yaowu's arrangement.

In fact, the most desirable defensive strategy of the 51st Division was to place the two brigades under its jurisdiction on the left and right sides of the Shanghai-Nanjing Highway in Fangshan and Qinglongshan to fight to the death, without having to protect their flanks and behind them at all, because setting up mortars and heavy aircraft from Fangshan and Qinglong Mountain was enough to lock the Shanghai-Nanjing Highway between the two mountains.

Qiu Weida, the head of the 306th Regiment, once raised objections to Wang Yaowu, but it was not accepted.

The rest of the 66th Army and the 83rd Army also have precipitous places such as Kongshan, Tangshan, Xiaojiuhua Mountain, Qixia Mountain and Wulong Mountain to use, so the national army is still quite advantageous in terms of terrain, but unfortunately, except for the 58th Division and the Teaching Corps of the Central Military Academy respectively occupy Niushou Mountain and Purple Mountain to defend to the death, the rest of the armies and divisions have not really made up their minds to defend to the death, and put the main forces on various strategic commanding heights.

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Zutang Mountain is located at the southern foot of Niushou Mountain, the same belongs to the main position of Niushou Mountain, there is Hongjue Temple at the southwest foot of Zutang Mountain, the main building is Hongjue Temple Tower, according to legend, Hongjue Temple Tower was built in the Tang Dynasty, after being destroyed in the war, it was rebuilt in the early Ming Dynasty, the whole body is made of bricks, seven layers and eight sides, 25 meters high, the position of the artillery battalion directly under the 58th Division is located in the dense forest behind Hongjue Temple

After the 74th Army was transferred to the Nanjing Garrison Headquarters, Tang Shengzhi added four L50mm caliber heavy mortars to the 5L Division and the 58th Division of the 74th Army.

The position of the artillery battalion is located in the dense forest behind the Hongjue Temple, and it is located on the northern slope of the southwest foothills, not only is it difficult for the Japanese air force to discover, but because of the ballistics, the field artillery and heavy artillery of the Japanese army on the south road cannot threaten its safety, and the only thing that can threaten the safety of the artillery of the 58th Division is the ground attack of the Japanese infantry.

In order to ensure the safety of the artillery as much as possible, Feng Shengfa handed over the garrison task of guarding Zutang Mountain to the 19th Brigade.

Feng Shengbu not only placed the 19th Brigade on Zutang Mountain, but also specially allocated more than 500 healthy supplements from all the veterans of the 58th Division who had returned from injuries to the 19th Brigade, so that the 19th Brigade once again became a reinforced brigade with more than 800 troops, and additionally equipped the 19th Brigade with two Makqin heavy machine guns and six imitation Czech light machine guns.

After doing this, Feng Shengfa still felt uneasy, and came to Zutang Mountain again, and said to Xu Shijiu in a serious voice: "Ah Jiu, the safety of the artillery position, especially the four heavy mortars, will directly determine whether our division can block the Japanese army on the southern road at the foot of Niushou Mountain, you must not take it lightly." ”

Xu Nineteen straightened his face and said solemnly: "You can rest assured that you don't dare to guarantee other lowly positions, but Chief Tang's two sentences of lowly self-confidence can still be done, there is no chaos in the face of danger, and there is no order from the division, the nineteenth brigade will never take half a step back, and swear to live and die with Zutang Mountain!" ”

Xu Nineteen expressed his attitude, and Feng Shengfa was a little relieved.

"But Master, there's a question I don't know if you've thought about it?" Xu Jiu changed his tone for a moment, and then said, "What are you going to do if Commander Tang or the military seat orders you to lead your troops to retreat?" ”

"As a soldier, you should obey the orders of the superiors." Feng Shengfa frowned, and then replied, "However, Niushou Mountain is the barrier of Zuihou in the southern suburbs of Nanjing, and I believe that Chief Tang and the military seat will never give such an order." ”