readx;? During the day on this day, the 5th Division of the Japanese Army was not idle, and under the combined shelling of the 75th Mountain Artillery of the Heavy Artillery and Field Artillery Wing, it launched one attack after another on the North Peak position, and the 544th Regiment defending the position, relying on the terrain and various bunker fortifications, as well as the mines laid in front of the position, repelled the Japanese attack, leaving hundreds of corpses in front of the position. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Although there are more than 20 mortars of the defenders, their positions are hidden and difficult to destroy with artillery fire, and the shelling of these mortars on the attacking soldiers often causes a lot of casualties to the infantry, which is also a headache for the commander of the 21st Brigade, Nakamura Masao.

By five o'clock in the afternoon, today's attack had no effect, and Nakamura decided to launch another attack before dark. Just as the heavy artillery wing and the divisional mountain artillery wing were shelling the defenders' positions, the sound of artillery was heard from the top of the hill, followed by the whistling of shells in the air. The voice startled Nakamura's heart.

It turned out that Wang Haitao saw that the time was almost up on the main position, so he ordered the heavy artillery on the position to counterattack. After the artillerymen who had been prepared for a long time heard Wang Haitao's order, 20 130 cannons fired a salvo at the Japanese heavy artillery position below the mountain at the same time. When the Japanese heavy artillery positions reacted and prepared to transfer their positions, the shells had already landed accurately on the positions.

The Japanese heavy artillery position was more than eight kilometers away from the Purple Mountain, and it was also to prevent the defenders from counterattacking the heavy artillery position with artillery fire, but the Japanese army did not expect that there were still 20 heavy artillery guns on the main peak position that could hit more than 20 kilometers.

The heavy artillery of the 90th Division completely destroyed the Japanese heavy artillery positions in only ten minutes, and then moved the muzzles to shell the Japanese mountain artillery wing. When the heavy artillery position was shelled, Itagaki Seishiro knew that it was not good, and he did not think that the Shina army would dare to counterattack one of his divisions, but he only thought that the Shina defenders wanted to destroy their artillery positions with hidden heavy artillery, so that they would have no artillery to use in the attack. So he immediately ordered the artillery positions to be transferred.

It's just that the artillery positions have just begun to shift, and the shells fired from the hill have already fallen on the positions. In another 10 minutes, only a dozen of the dozens of mountain guns of the mountain artillery wing were preserved, and the rest were also destroyed in the artillery fire. Wang Haitao, who was on the hilltop position, saw that the heavy artillery on the position began to shift its muzzle, so he asked Su Zuxin to send a telegram to the armored regiment and ordered the armored regiment to attack.

Wu Jianzhou, who had been waiting for an order for a long time, received the order and ordered with the on-board radio: "I order: The No. 1 and No. 2 heavy tanks are in front, and the vehicles are separated from each other, and the whole regiment will attack. "There were still five kilometers left for the armored regiment to go from its hiding place to the position under the Purple Mountain, and the soldiers of the guard regiment jumped into the armored car one after another, sat outside the armored car, and followed the armored regiment forward, while the two regiments of the teaching corps ran forward behind.

At this time, on the Purple Mountain position, Tang Yikuan, commander of the 271st Brigade, was organizing the mortars of the whole brigade to strike at the Japanese troops in front of the position.

The 271st Brigade has nearly 100 mortars of large and small calibers combined, and it is also divided into three artillery groups according to their firing range: the 60 mortar group with the closest range has a strike range of 200 to 1,000 meters in front of the position, followed by the 82 mortar and the 100 mortar group with a strike range of 1,000 to 3,000 meters, and the 120 heavy mortar group with the longest range of 3,000 to 4,500 meters.

Some of the roads were winding through the mountains, and there were only blind shots when they couldn't see them, and even then the Japanese troops on the thousands of meters of the road were in a mess under the rain of shells. On this stretch of road were basically soldiers of the 21st Brigade of the Fifth Division, and the brigade commander Nakamura Masao had already felt that something was wrong when his troops were under intensive artillery fire, but in this chaotic situation, it was impossible to organize an effective counterattack, and he could only order the whole army to retreat.

When the armored regiment advanced to the front of the position at the foot of the Purple Mountain, there were no living Japanese soldiers on the road one thousand meters away from the position, except for the corpses of the Japanese soldiers. Under the command of Commander Wu Jianzhou, the armored regiment took the lead with heavy tanks No. 1 and No. 2 and drove all the way to the retreating Japanese army. The 543rd Regiment, which had been prepared on the position, also rushed down, followed by the armored regiment and the guard regiment.

Nakamura Masao went to the division headquarters under the protection of the escort squadron, and the division commander Itagaki Seishiro was on fire in the command headquarters, and the heavy artillery of the 90th Division not only destroyed the heavy artillery wing and the field artillery wing of the division, but also carried out ten minutes of artillery bombardment on the infantry, and even the vicinity of the division headquarters was shelled, how could this not make Itagaki Seishiro, the division commander, extremely annoyed.

The defeat of the 21st Brigade added fuel to the fire, and just as Seishiro Itagaki was scolding Nakamura Masao, soldiers came to report that the chariot unit of the Shina people and a large number of infantry were being found in front of him, and they were advancing towards this side. Seishiro Itagaki couldn't care less about scolding Nakamura Masao when he heard this, and said, "You immediately go and organize soldiers to block the chariot troops of the Shina people, and you must destroy them." Nakamura Masao breathed a sigh of relief, and immediately bent down and replied: "Hey! Your Excellency the division commander, rest assured, I will definitely destroy these Chinese troops." With that, he turned and left.

When Nakamura Masao came to the front, the soldiers of the 21st Wing had already built a defensive line under the command of Wing Commander Yoshio Sasaki, and not only light and heavy machine guns were erected, but also the few 92nd infantry guns and mortars that were there. About a thousand meters in the distance, the chariots of China were rumbling towards them.

Nakamura Masao raised his binoculars and looked at the opposite side, he couldn't see it very clearly when it was getting dark, but he felt that there were a lot of chariots in Shina, and the two chariots in front were not only huge, but also intimidating with thick barrels. When the tank was only five or six hundred meters away from the position, Yoshio Sasaki gave the order to open fire, and for a time all kinds of artillery and light and heavy machine guns on the position opened fire on the approaching tank at the same time.

The bullets hit the chariot, bursting with sparks, and the sound of clanging bells could be heard on the battlefield. The shells of the Type 92 infantry guns and mortars also fell on the chariot team of the China, and even the shells of the two 92 infantry guns exploded after shooting directly into the chariots, and when the smoke of gunpowder dispersed, these chariots continued to move forward as if nothing happened.

Just when the Japanese army was stunned, the 100-caliber vehicle-mounted guns on the tank began to fire at the Japanese position, and the tank guns on more than a dozen tank vehicles opened fire at the same time, and the shells directly restored several 92 infantry guns and mortars on the Japanese position to the state of parts, and at the same time, these artillery pieces also flew into the air.

The second round of artillery fire was aimed at various firing points on the Japanese position, and after three rounds of artillery fire, there were few soldiers alive on the Japanese position, and even the wing commander of the 21st Wing, Yoshio Sasaki, was killed under artillery fire. The tank did not have the slightest intention of stopping, and rushed directly into the Japanese position.

Behind the tank was a dozen heavy armored vehicles, and the German-made MG13 heavy machine guns on the armored vehicles began to shoot at the retreating Japanese soldiers. The commander of Nakamura Masao's brigade was also stunned by these indestructible chariots, and when the soldiers in front of him retreated one after another, Nakamura Masao was also caught in the chaotic carts and retreated backwards.

After Nakamura Masao hurried to the division headquarters, he reported the situation to the division commander Itagaki Seishiro, and Itagaki Seishiro asked incredulously: "What about it? The chariot of Shina is not afraid of direct fire from the 92 infantry guns? Isn't this kind of chariot even the soldiers of the empire able to resist it? When did the Shina army have such advanced chariots?"

Nakamura Masao said: "Your Excellency Division Commander, let's retreat back first, the terrain here is very unsuitable for the deployment of our army, and our Fifth Division will suffer heavy losses if it continues." Itagaki Seishiro thought for a moment and said helplessly: "Okay, let's withdraw to Tangshan Town first, and then settle accounts with the Shina army." ”

The 5th Division began to retreat in the direction of Tangshan Town in the confusion, leaving a large group of soldiers to break the rear. In this case, the Japanese soldiers reflected the characteristics of obedience and resoluteness, this brigade of Japanese soldiers, knowing that staying after the break is the task of nine deaths, at this time there is no one to retreat, from the captain of the brigade on the road to pull up a simple line of defense, began to block the first team.

Most of the soldiers of the Fifth Division retreated several kilometers before they stabilized, and the commanders of the various armies began to gather and reorganize their units, and the Fifth Division suffered no serious losses in personnel in the more than two hours of rout, only more than 3,000 men, but the heavy weapons and baggage were completely lost. After the division commander Seishiro Itagaki stopped, he saw the captain of the 1st Tank Brigade behind him, Yoshiji Iwanaka.

And Iwanaka Yoshiji Osa, after hearing that the people of China also sent a chariot unit, said: "The people of China will also have a chariot troops? Since the landing in Shanghai, I have never encountered a chariot of the Shina, since the people of China have dispatched a chariot troops, it must be the ace of the Chariot of the Shina, and today I will meet the chariots of the China people and compete with the chariots of the China people." ”

Itagaki Seishiro said: "Iwanaka-kun should be careful, the chariot of the Shina people is not afraid of the frontal attack of the 92 infantry artillery, and its performance should be very powerful, Iwanaka-kun should not underestimate the enemy." Iwanaka Yoshiharu replied, "Thank you for Itagaki-kun's reminder, I'll pay attention." With that, he turned and left. Iwanaka Yoshiji Osa came to the chariot brigade and ordered everyone to get on the chariot and go forward to meet the Shina chariot.

Iwanaka Yoshiharu's chariot brigade had a squadron of medium tanks equipped with 10 medium tanks of the new Type 97 and two squadrons of light tanks each equipped with 10 light tanks of the Type 94. After Iwanaka Yoshiji finished giving the order, he boarded his command vehicle, a new Type 97 medium tank vehicle, with the medium tank squadron in front, and the entire brigade of more than 30 large and small tanks drove in the direction of Nanjing.