Episode 56 Meet the Eight Banners Division Again

"Is that the People's Guard on the other side?"

On the ruined city wall of Dinghuai Gate, the commander of the Fourth Division of the Eight Banners of the Qing Army, Gu Niyinbu, stepped on a city brick with big leather boots.

"yes!"

As soon as the adjutant next to him finished speaking, a scream swept through the air, and he immediately fell to the ground according to the division commander. There was an explosion nearby, and the two were covered in dirt on their backs.

There were explosions nearby, and there was a tremor under my feet. Those 75 anti-aircraft guns in the city have learned to shoot in a curved manner. There were also the People's Guard's own howitzers, smashing shells into the gaps in the line from the streets of the city. They hide among the buildings of the vast city, and it is impossible to figure out where they are. And they are very simple, they just need to miss the ** attack on the fixed line of defense.

Visibility in the mist, a few hundred meters, is quite difficult for field battles, but for urban warfare, it is enough. Guni Inbu lay on the rammed earth of the city wall, patted the dirt on his head, and continued to observe with his binoculars.

In the field of vision, a brick wall in the distance fell to the ground from the second floor, and a cloud of smoke and dust filled the air. In the dense dust, more than a dozen Qing soldiers fled in embarrassment with their guns, all gray and white, and two limped, dragged by their companions, desperately running in their own direction.

"Well, the People's Guard, the People's Guard," Guni Inbu smiled slightly, and read softly, "I didn't know that the Ming Army had this team before." Sure enough, it's a new dark horse. …… Annihilated the Sixth Division of our Eight Banners, these Han troops were certainly not opponents. But my fourth division is not the sixth division, and my guni inbu is not a hafona. ”

The street in the distance was littered with rubble, and on either side were dilapidated two- and three-story buildings, all of which had no doors and windows, and some half-pulled balconies were still suspended in the air by steel bars. The floor slabs were exposed, and broken furniture, bed sheets, and bedding could still be seen on them, and occasionally blue-gray human hands and feet.

At the corner at the end of the street, the smoke and dust faded, and a tank came out, and the machine gun chased the remnants of the Qing army in front of them. Behind them were some People's Guard soldiers with submachine guns and cats following up.

The Qing soldiers in front ran less and less, and the tanks behind chased closer and closer to the city wall.

"Waitabu," Guninbu said unimpressed, still lying on the wall, holding a telescope and adjusting the focus to his adjutant, "the textbook says that tanks are very bad in urban warfare. …… Hehe, do you think what the book says is right? ”

Adjutant Waitab looked at the tank that was getting closer and closer, and said nervously:

"Visible...... It can be seen that there are some things in the textbook that are not ...... Not very reliable ......"

"Hehe," Gunnie Inbu laughed, "Waittab, Waittab, you dare to suspect that our Qing Dynasty textbook is wrong, you are so bold!" ”

Waitab was startled, the approaching Ming tanks made his face pale, and now the commander said such a sentence again, he was so frightened that he couldn't speak.

Guni Inbu laughed:

"Tell you, the textbooks say that tanks are not good in urban warfare, and there is nothing wrong at all. It's the cowards who are wrong. ”

He stretched out his hand forward, pointed at the fleeing Qing soldiers, and said contemptuously:

"If those Han troops are as calm, calm, and resolute as our Eight Banner Division, how many Ming army tanks can't be destroyed in this environment? …… But they will only run, making it as easy for the Ming army tanks as they are on the plains. You look at the People's Guards, following the tanks, like shopping on the street. ”

Waittab breathed a sigh of relief and said with a smile:

"Yes, this kind of coward is only worthy of us Eight Banners soldiers as bait."

"Yes," said Gunyinbu with a laugh, "we will show them in a moment that tanks are not invincible. ”

The tanks in the distance drove closer and closer, and they were only a little more than a hundred meters from the city wall. The roof of the tank opened, the commander leaned out, looked through the telescope at the city wall, turned back to the infantry, waved his hand, and shouted something. Suddenly, the soldiers of the People's Guards cheered, and the tanks spewed out a puff of green smoke and rushed towards the city wall with the infantry.

Suddenly, two Qing soldiers poked out from the broken two-story buildings on both sides of the street, and two bundles of grenades were thrown down. Two loud bangs passed, and the tank was drowned in fire and smoke.

Immediately afterward, four light machine guns stretched out of the surrounding windows and fired fiercely below, and soon, all the people who did not die fell, and none of them ran out.

In the window hole of the dilapidated building, a battle flag of the Eighth Banner and the Fourth Division with a yellow flag was picked out.

Suddenly, cheers came from far and near. The remnants of the nearby Han army also cheered,

"See if there's Waitabu?" Gunnieinbu stood up, patted the dirt off his body, and smiled, "That's what the textbooks teach. ”

……

"Chief Li," a staff officer in the command car held a phone and turned to Li Gensheng and shouted, "We have lost another tank near Stone Town!" …… The observer reported that more than 40 brothers were killed along with the tank, and they had almost seen the Dinghuai Gate at that time! ”

Li Gensheng personally used a red pencil to draw a cross on the map, where Stone Town was close to Dinghuai Gate. Then he threw down his pencil and held his sweaty head to the other four forks nearby.

"My lord, in an hour, we lost five tanks."

He raised his head and muttered to Xiao Qiang.

Xiang Xiaoqiang repeatedly warned himself in his heart: don't be in a hurry, don't be in a hurry, calm down......

He smiled slightly:

"yes, five tanks, a platoon. …… But instead of pushing the enemy further into the city, we were about to push them out of the walls. ”

Li Gensheng smiled bitterly and said:

"My lord, it seems that the enemy has suddenly become stronger."

Xiang Xiaoqiang bit his pencil and muttered:

"Well, all of a sudden, it's amazing...... It should be said that the enemy is not as weak as before. …… Yes, we have to be clear-headed, we advanced to the city walls so easily, not because we were too strong, but because the enemy was too weak. …… Now the enemy is stronger. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang drew a circle on the map and said:

"It is this area that is now facing fierce resistance, a narrow strip of land along the city walls, about two square kilometres. Now we know that this area is mainly small dilapidated buildings with two to three floors, the streets are relatively narrow, and the roads are crossed with cobwebs, which is very suitable for infantry anti-tank. Now it seems that they have ambushed a lot of anti-tank fighters here, and it seems that they are deliberately trying to lure our tanks into this area and destroy them. ”

As he spoke, he threw his pencil on the map and spread his hands:

"That's the situation, you see what to do, talk about it."

Rommel was the first to speak, and he advocated that the tanks should be withdrawn first, and the heavy artillery should be mobilized to dismantle this piece, and then it would be much easier for the tanks to advance. Gao Dayi, the commander of the Jibu regiment, and several staff officers of the headquarters also expressed their opinions, and they were all about the same.

Xiang Xiaoqiang turned his head and said:

"Roots, what do you think?"

Li Gensheng groaned:

"Although the area is not large, it is relatively narrow and long, only a few hundred meters wide, and the landing point may not be very concentrated. The effect is ......"

Rommel laughed and said:

"Chief Lee's concern is very reasonable. But, apparently, we did not expect the artillery to do all the work. The main task is still to rely on the infantry. ”

Xiang Xiaoqiang knows it. He knew that no matter how effective the shelling was, it could not be seen as "elimination", but only as "preparation for fire". He nodded and said:

"Then give the order."

……

The heavy artillery positions of the People's Guard, which had been placed on the eastern outskirts of Nanjing, opened fire.

Shells from 36 105-mm howitzers and 12 150-mm howitzers whizzed across the sky over Nanjing and landed in the area around Stone Town.

The 105mm and 150mm howitzers were quite neat in demolishing the house, and when a shell fell, the entire building collapsed. For a time, in the dilapidated ruins of several square kilometers, the ground shook, and the smoke and dust covered the sun.

But there were too few shells that really landed in the ambush area of the Qing army. In addition, where the boundaries of this area are, the People's Guard is only an approximate estimate. As a result, a large number of shells either landed on the river beach or landed under the noses of the People's Guards a few streets and alleys, and they were almost injured by mistake. Tanks and armored vehicles, which had already withdrawn far away, hurriedly reversed their tracks and continued to retreat.

Twenty minutes after the bombardment, according to the reports of front-line observers, the main landing areas were marked on the map.

It doesn't look ideal.

Xiang Xiaoqiang bit his tongue, stared at the map for a long time, and ordered:

"It's almost time for a ceasefire."

"Your Excellency?"

"Bring the heavy mortar closer and continue to bombard, so that you can hit it accurately."

……

Howitzer firing stopped.

The 60-mm, 80-mm, 100-mm, and 120-mm mortars of the People's Guard were loaded onto armored cars, pulled to a place only two or three streets apart, and adjusted the firing on the open carriages.

"Tom! Tong! Tong! ……”

The cannon burst out of a large circle of fire, and the mortar shells hit the sky almost vertically, falling sharply and whistling.

This time, they all hit more accurately, and they basically hit the set area. …… Only 60 mm and 80 mm mortars account for the majority, and the number of 100 mm and 120 mm is limited, and the explosion power in the target area is obviously not as strong as just now.

Because the mortars were relatively close this time, a few streets on the opposite side, there were Manchu troops, and they did not dare to stay longer, and after quickly releasing the shells they carried, the armored vehicles reversed their tracks and quickly withdrew.

……

"Okay," Shi Shengli, the commander of the tank battalion, hung up the field phone and waved his hand forward, "Forward." ”

More than two dozen tanks and armored vehicles were mobilized, followed by infantry, and re-advanced towards the ruins in front of them.