The commander of the third battalion of the 391st Regiment had been commanding at the gap in the city wall, and he witnessed the scene of the Japanese army pouring into the city gate, and he panicked for a while: should he stay on the city wall and continue to defend it, or should he go down to the city to encircle and suppress the Japanese troops who broke into the city? Should one even consider abandoning resistance and retreating? He knew that the regimental commander was in charge of the city gate tower, but the city gate tower was immediately blown down, and at this time, his subordinates reminded him that the Japanese troops on the other side of the gap had stopped feints and most of them turned to the city gate hole. The commander of the third battalion knew that the enemy on the opposite side was also preparing to pour the city from the north gate, which meant that the Fengdian city defense had been broken through!

The young and strong people who assisted in the defense of the city had already begun to flee down the city, and the city was broken, and they were undoubtedly running for their homes. After a while, the Japanese artillery fire came at the city again, and the commander of the third battalion stomped his feet: I can't care so much, retreat!

The battalion commander gave the order, and the defenders of the entire northern city soon began to swarm down; Among the three battalions of the 391st Regiment, the third battalion was weaker, and the commander of the third battalion was far less brave and good at fighting than the commander of the first battalion, so when he gave the order to retreat in a hurry, he did not even consider leaving troops to cover the two gaps.

Kosuke Otsuka and his staff officers immediately noticed the collapse of the castle defenders through binoculars, and apparently, the Shina abandoned the defense of the gap in the wall when they retreated. Otsuka was pleasantly surprised, and immediately ordered a squadron of the Aikawa Brigade, which was originally a reserve, to attack the largest gap in the city wall with all its might!

The catastrophic moment of Fengdian city defense has arrived!

……

Qin Zhongxiao woke up when his subordinates risked his life to carry him down the stairs of the North City, he broke free from the soldier's back and fell to the ground, at this time, the deputy commander of the third battalion was leading people to fight for the bunker of the city gate hole, and the bullets were raining nearby, the two loyal soldiers ignored the weak resistance of the regiment commander, and pulled him into a nearby grocery store with his support, and put him on a chair, Qin Zhongxiao just sat down, and angrily pulled out the Browning pistol from his waist and pressed it against the chest of one of his subordinates:

"Bastard! Whoever told you to go down to the city, go back to me and resist it! Beat the team of devils from the top of the city! ”

The subordinate shouted with a crying voice: "Tuanzao, I can't stand it, the city gate tower has collapsed, the people defending the city have all fled, and the brothers of our third battalion are also retreating!" “

Qin Zhongxiao was shocked when he heard this, and he roared wildly: "You bunch of waste! If you can't withdraw, the city will be completely finished if you withdraw! “

While roaring, he stumbled out of the house, and the two subordinates had to follow the regiment commander closely.

The colonel of the Central Army, who rushed outside, immediately saw that his third battalion of men was running down the stairs of the city wall, and the counter-charge against the city gate hole had failed, and the Japanese soldiers shouted and screamed, holding bright bayonets and constantly killing from the city gate hole, and the three battalion soldiers who ran down the steps of the city wall started a melee. In the face of the high-spirited devils, most of the men of the three battalions lost the courage to fight, and they were more desperate to seize the road and flee, and many soldiers were easily intercepted and killed by the Japanese and fell to the ground.

At the critical moment, a burst of gunfire rang out intensively, and it was the people of the special service company who arrived from the direction of Dongcheng! Under the leadership of the deputy company commander, more than 30 Bergman* ran and sprayed tongues of fire, and this powerful firepower temporarily stopped the flow of Japanese troops rushing into the inner city through the doorway. Zhao Mutou, who was fighting alone at the other end, saw his subordinates rushing to help, and immediately moved closer to them; Qin Zhongxiao also joined this new force, and together with Zhao Mutou, he commanded the * men of the special agent company to attack the city gate hole with all their might, trying to press the Japanese army back.

Some of the Japanese troops who had already broken into the inner city desperately occupied a few nearby houses and shops, forming several support points in a vain attempt to cover the advance of the follow-up troops. Qin Zhongxiao ordered the deputy commander of the third battalion not far away to lead people to take down the Japanese support points, as long as the support points can be knocked out, Zhao Mutou's spy company will push the Japanese troops out of the city in the door hole again, and the city defense of the north city should turn the danger into safety.

However, a scene that shocked all the officers and men of the 391st Regiment occurred, from the head of Beicheng City, a dense rain of bullets was shot condescendingly, and the Chinese soldiers who were countercharging were immediately knocked down. People looked up, and the head of the northern city was full of devil soldiers in yellow coats, who were slamming down with rifles.

Due to the reckless retreat of the commander of the third battalion of the 391st Regiment, this Japanese squadron was not hindered in any way, and successfully climbed from the undefended gap in the city wall to the north city, and at that time, the people and defenders of the north city were almost gone, and the Japanese army quickly swung along the empty city head and opened fire fiercely at the officers and soldiers of the 391 regiment who were countercharging under the city. At first, it was only a rifle, but soon several Taisho 11 light machine guns (author's note: the Chinese army commonly known as crooked machine guns) were set up at the head of the city and began to strafe.

Qin Zhongxiao understood that the third battalion must have completely abandoned the defense of the gap when it retreated from the city, otherwise the enemy would not have appeared at the head of the city so quickly.

The tide is over!

The soldiers of the third battalion retreated, basically couldn't organize any decent offensive, and Qin Zhongxiao couldn't find the commander of the third battalion (even if he was found at this time, what was the use?!) But I just saw the deputy battalion commander being hit by a shuttle machine gun bullet, and his body convulsed violently and fell to the ground, seeing that he was no longer alive. Zhao Mutou, who was on the side, operated the gun with one hand, and pulled Qin Zhongxiao back with the other:

"Tuanzao, I can't hold it here, let's go to the regimental headquarters first!"

Qin Zhongxiao looked ahead in despair: the firepower of the Japanese army at the head of the city had completely controlled the situation, echoing several support points in the inner city occupied by the Japanese army before, and under their cover, the Japanese army brigade outside the city was swarming out of the city gate hole. Their own soldiers were either knocked down by a rain of bullets or scattered in all directions.

"Withdraw! Gather up your men and horses and withdraw to the regimental headquarters! ”

At this moment, Qin Zhongxiao still had a glimmer of hope, that is, to gather the remnants of the troops here and quickly occupy the houses around the regiment headquarters, and then call the defenders of the other three sides of the city defense by phone to immediately press over and block the further spread of the Japanese army into the city.

Street fighting! The only thing left is street fighting!

……

In the regimental headquarters of the 391st regiment, the adjutant of Qin Zhongxiao, who was left on duty, was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot: the gunfire in the direction of Beicheng continued, but the phone call from the regiment headquarters to the command post in Beicheng was not connected. How did the adjutant know that the Japanese artillery fire had destroyed the command post in Beicheng. At the same time, calls from the east, west, and south sides of the city defense came from time to time to inquire about the battle situation in the northern city. The adjutant had no choice but to send someone to Beicheng to investigate.

The adjutant did not wait for the people he sent to come back, but the regiment commander and the special agent company commander retreated back in embarrassment with a team of less than 100 people, and Qin Zhongxiao shouted when he entered the courtyard gate:

"The devil has broken the city! Quickly call the other commanders of the city defense on three sides, and ask them to leave a platoon at each gate to defend; The troops in the east and west cities immediately moved horizontally to the regimental headquarters and advanced along the street to set up defenses; The troops of the southern city are directly reinforcing here! ”

When the adjutant heard that the devil had broken the city, his face turned pale with shock, and he stood there for a moment before he hurried into the hall to make a phone call.

The regimental headquarters, that is, the house of Xia Baihe's family, is located in the center of Fengdian County, and a road from the north gate to the north gate and out of the south gate passes in front of the house. Qin Zhongxiao judged that the Japanese army that broke the city would definitely send heavy troops to assault along the only main road running through the county, so he ordered Zhao Mutou to lead people to horizontally arrange two bunkers, one high and one low, on the main road outside the gate of Xia Baihe's house, and move out and pile up the things that can be piled up on the street in the nearby houses and shops.

The heavy machine guns of the whole regiment have been lost, and the only two Czech light machine guns at the moment are set up on two bunkers by Zhao Mutou; After the fierce battle near the entrance of the Beichengmen cave just now, there were still more than 20 people left, and Zhao Mutou ordered them to all climb to the roofs of the houses on the left and right of the bunker, forming a horn with the bunker on the main road. At the same time, the more than 70 people of the 3rd Battalion retreated here, except for those who guarded the bunkers, all the rest entered the houses and courtyards on both sides of the street to conceal the enemy.

Qin Zhongxiao quickly estimated his strength, and at this moment, the remnants of the three battalions and the special service company defending near the regimental headquarters added up to less than a hundred; The first battalion guarding the west city has more than 500 people, the two companies of the second battalion guarding the east city have more than 400 people, and the south city is guarding the south city with more than 200 people from a company of the second battalion, and the total number is still above 1,000 people (this includes nearly 300 people from the Jin army in each battalion yesterday, otherwise the 391 regiment that was damaged in two consecutive battles is actually less than 1,000 people).

As long as the 2nd and 1st Battalions on the east and west sides can move quickly laterally, deploy along the line, and connect with the defense line here at the regimental headquarters, they should be able to block the further penetration of the Japanese army in the city.

And then what?

Evacuate the people of the city!

Qin Zhongxiao knew that the people in the city were in chaos at this moment, and he led his subordinates to resist in street fighting, and if there were no reinforcements coming, I am afraid that they would not be able to support it for a few days; Then, only by covering the escape of the common people, otherwise, the 391st Regiment would not be much meaningful in fighting alone in the city.

Qin Zhongxiao personally made a phone call to the three sides of the city defense, he wanted the east and west gates to remain closed, those two sides were relatively close to the Japanese army's camp in Beicheng, and the Japanese army must be strictly prevented from stealing the city; The south gate was opened under the watchful eye of the guards and let the people out of the city.

Putting down the phone, Qin Zhongxiao sent someone to the backyard to inform the family members of the shopkeeper Wang: Xia Baihe's mother and son, as well as the old and young servants, immediately ran to the south gate and fled for their lives. Shopkeeper Wang's family has made a lot of contributions to the 391st regiment, and great disaster is coming, and they can't watch them fall into a dangerous city!