readx;? The Japanese Yangtze River Fleet finally opened up the section of the Yangtze River channel from Zhenjiang to Nanjing after a lot of effort, and then the Japanese army took the light cruiser Nake as the flagship, and the light cruiser Yura, the destroyers Tankaze, Yayoi, Isopo, and Pupo, as well as more than 10 small gunboats, formed the Yangtze River Fleet from Zhenjiang upstream, and shelled Longtan Town with shipborne heavy guns on the river next to Longtan Town. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

The 262nd Brigade of the 88th Division, which was guarding Longtan Town, was caught off guard and suffered heavy casualties under the guns of the Japanese ships, while the 18th Division of the Japanese Army launched a fierce attack on Longtan Town after the shelling with the 23rd Brigade and Regiment rebuilt after the bombardment. The 264th Brigade guarding Baohua Mountain was intent on rescuing Longtan Town; first, Japanese planes were bombing the position on Konghuashan Mountain, and second, the 35th Brigade of the 18th Division was desperately blocking the passage down the mountain.

After Sun Yuanliang, commander of the 88th Division, saw that he could not stop the Japanese attack, he only sent an urgent telegram to the Nanjing City Defense Headquarters that Longtan Town had been lost, and then withdrew to Qixia Town with the remaining few hundred officers and men of the 262nd Brigade, and the 264th Brigade guarding Baohua Mountain became a lone army. The brigade commander Gao Zhisong saw that his 264th Brigade had no way to retreat, so he fought to the death with the Japanese army on Baohua Mountain.

The officers and men of the 264th Brigade fought with the Japanese army to the last moment, and the brigade commander Gao Zhihao, who had run out of bullets on the main peak position, led more than 100 officers and soldiers to start a hand-to-hand battle with the Japanese army, and finally the 264th Brigade except for more than 20 seriously wounded who were captured by the Japanese army and killed, the rest of the officers and soldiers from the brigade commander Gao Zhihao and below all died heroically.

After resting for two days in Longtan Town, the Japanese 18th Division continued to attack Qixia Town. There were no garrisons in Qixia Town, and the position of the 48th Division was set up on Qixia Mountain behind Qixia Town. Qixia Mountain is a continuation of the Purple Mountain, originally the 90th Division was divided into troops to garrison, after the 48th Division arrived in Nanjing, Wang Haitao arranged for the 48th Division to take over the Qixia Mountain position.

There is also a fort of Jiangning Fortress and a system of defense fortifications built along the mountain range on Qixia Mountain, after several months of reinforcement and construction, the fortifications here have become a system of fortifications, and by virtue of the dangerous terrain, it has also become the last barrier outside the city of Nanjing. Xu Yuanquan, the army commander and acting division commander, handed over the Qixia Mountain position to Ma Dengying, deputy division commander, and Yi Ding Yechi, a staff officer, a month ago, and he returned to the military headquarters in Nanjing City.

Ma Dengying and Ding Zhiqi knew the importance of the Qixia Mountain position, and Commander Wang also strictly ordered that the Qixia Mountain position must not be lost, otherwise after the Japanese army broke through the Qixia Mountain position and entered Nanjing City, they could go straight down the river to Xiaguan Wharf and cut off the back road of more than 100,000 Nanjing defenders. Because of this, the two spared no effort in the construction of the Qixia Mountain position. The people of Qixia Town have all moved out, and almost all the buildings in the town have been demolished to build positions, and only one company of troops has been placed in Qixia Town, which has played an early warning role.

After the rest of the 88th Division arrived at Qixia Town, they took a breath and went directly into the city, but the news of the loss of Longtan Town was also reported by the soldiers to Ma Dengying, the division commander of the 48th Division. Ma Dengying immediately ordered the entire 48th Division to be ready for battle. After Sun Yuanliang came to the Nanjing City Defense Headquarters with gunpowder smoke, the first thing he said when he saw Wang Haitao was: "Commander Wang, you failed to hold Longtan Town in your humble position, and you have the trust of Commander Wang, please punish Commander Wang." ”

For a general like Sun Yuanliang, a Jiang close trust, how can Wang Haitao punish him, Wang Haitao said: "Division Commander Sun is serious, and the loss of Longtan Town is not Division Commander Sun's fault, Japanese aircraft, heavy artillery and large-caliber naval guns are all used, it is really too advantageous in strength, and it is reasonable that you can't stop the Japanese army with one division." ”

Hearing Wang Haitao say this, Sun Yuanliang's heart was also a lot better, and Wang Haitao continued: "Commander Sun, your 88th Division has also suffered heavy losses after this battle, you should take the officers and soldiers in the division to rest first, and then decide the later affairs of the 88th Division after I report to Chongqing." Sun Yuanliang could only leave helplessly, and Wang Haitao would face the problem of guarding the Qixia Mountain position here.

To tell the truth, Wang Haitao is a little uneasy about the 48th Division, behind the Qixia Mountain position is the Yaohuamen City Wall, which is also the last barrier in the urban area of Nanjing, the Yaohuamen City Wall is not very strong, although there is a part of the 87th Division in the garrison, but this is an easy to attack and difficult to defend the terrain, whether it can hold Nanjing City depends on the 48th Division.

However, in order to prevent accidents, Wang Haitao still transferred the second militia brigade to be stationed at the foot of Jubao Mountain, not far from the city wall of Yaohuamen, so that at the critical moment, the second militia brigade could be used to support the 87th Division. A regiment of the teaching corps was also transferred to the foot of Jubao Mountain. However, in this way, Wang Haitao has no soldiers in his hands.

Wang Haitao ordered Xiao Lingshan to organize the workers who had lost their jobs after the closure of the factory and the young people in the city to form the third militia brigade, and the training was still handed over to the teaching corps. The weapons used by this third militia brigade are all captured Japanese-style weapons, and the general unit should be instructed to get a good grasp of training this third militia brigade as well.

After helping the 18th Division to capture Longtan Town, the Japanese Yangtze River Fleet once again went upstream, but when the fleet came to the Yanziji River, it was again shelled by the heavy artillery batteries on Yanziji, and the two sides engaged in an artillery battle for several hours. The German-made 150 mm caliber heavy howitzer not only had a long range, good accuracy, but also good power, and the Japanese ships suffered from several hours of artillery fighting, not only two destroyers were injured, but also one gunboat was sunk, and the Yangtze River fleet could not pass through the river here, so it had to retreat.

At this time, the entire circle of positions in Nanjing City was bombed by Japanese planes many times, and most of the defenders on these positions had no anti-aircraft weapons, although some troops organized anti-aircraft fire with light and heavy machine guns, but with little success. The bombing of Japanese planes caused many casualties to the defenders on the front-line positions, but fortunately, the fortifications on these positions were complete and relatively strong, so although the casualties were not small, they were still able to hold on.

The Fangshan position here was also one of the key directions of the Japanese army's attack, and the Japanese army's third division was replenished and restored to more than 20,000 people, and with the assistance of aircraft and artillery, it stormed the Fangshan position and Jiangning County. After half a month of fierce fighting, the Fangshan position was first lost, and then the city wall of Jiangning County was blown up, and the Japanese army set up artillery on Fangshan Mountain and bombarded directly into Jiangning County. The 159th Division, which was guarding Jiangning, appealed to Wang Haitao for help several times, but Wang Haitao had no troops to send. In the end, after losing nearly half of the officers and soldiers, the rest of the 159th Division retreated to the city wall of Kazimen in Nanjing.

After the Japanese Third Division occupied Jiangning County, perhaps because there was no feasible road from Jiangning to Kazimen, it did not attack the Kazimen city wall, but rushed straight to Yuhuatai along the main road. There are two city gates behind Yuhuatai, Zhonghua Gate and Yuhua Gate, and Zhonghua Gate is the south gate of Nanjing City, the traffic artery, so the Yuhuatai position and the Zhonghua Gate position are always the top priority of Nanjing's city defense. Wang Haitao also put the 92nd Division of his 90th Army on the Yuhuatai position.

The 92nd Division not only had a field artillery battalion with 36 German-style 75 field guns as defensive artillery on the main position of Yuhuatai, but also a heavy artillery regiment with 48 German-style 105 howitzers behind Yuhuamen as supporting firepower. The effective firing range of the German-style 105 howitzer reached more than 12,000 meters, which was enough to support the Yuhuatai position, and even the defenders on the Kazimen city wall could also get their artillery support.

The 36 75 field guns on the artillery position of Yuhuatai were shelled at the 3rd Division, and the 3rd Division, which suffered a small loss, retreated several kilometers at once.

Lieutenant General Shin Fujita, commander of the 3rd Division, immediately summoned officers above the rank of division and regimental commander to a military meeting at the temporary headquarters. In the opinion of Lieutenant General Fujita Shin, the Shina Army Headquarters took the lead in launching an artillery bombardment, and there were a large number of artillery pieces, and this situation was encountered for the first time in the attack of the 3rd Division. Therefore, Lieutenant General Fujita inferred that the troops guarding Yuhuatai should be the ace of the Shina army, otherwise they would not be equipped with such a large number of artillery.

At the meeting, Lieutenant General Fujita asked his men not to underestimate the enemy, and the field artillery of the field artillery wing should pay attention to the blows of the Chinese artillery and be careful when attacking. Don't forget the new 90th Division of China, which performed prominently in the Battle of Shanghai, and finally Lieutenant General Fujita Konsen said: "Ladies and gentlemen, the capital of China, Nanjing City is close at hand, please work together to establish immortal feats for the Japanese Empire and His Majesty the Emperor, and capture the city of Nanjing, please everyone." ”

All the officers under his command stood up and shouted: "We are willing to serve His Majesty the Emperor and strive to capture the city of Nanjing." Lieutenant General Fujita nodded with satisfaction and said: "This attack will be launched by the 5th Infantry Brigade first, and the 3rd Field Artillery Wing will use all artillery to provide fire support, and I will let the planes come to bombard the positions of the defenders of China." Let's go and prepare, the attack starts tomorrow. ”

The next morning, there was a buzzing sound in the sky, and as the sound grew louder, a large black group of planes appeared in the air. This group of planes flew straight towards Yuhuatai. At the same time, an antiaircraft artillery battalion of the Teaching Corps, which was on air defense duty at the Yuhuatai position, was ready to shoot at the air.

This antiaircraft artillery battalion uses the latest 20-millimeter antiaircraft guns that Wang Haitao has just brought back from Germany, and one battalion is equipped with 20 such antiaircraft guns. The 100 anti-aircraft guns brought back by Wang Haitao were equipped with five anti-aircraft artillery battalions, two of which were placed in the Yanziji position, one in the Yuhuatai position, one on the Zhonghuamen city wall, and one was placed on the air imitation mission with the heavy artillery regiment.

In so many days of bombing missions, the Japanese planes had never encountered a threatening anti-aircraft attack from the ground, so they did not expect to be attacked by ground anti-aircraft guns on this Yuhuatai position. This time the bombing mission was carried out by a bomber squadron with a total of 27 light bombers and an escort fighter squadron of 12 fighters.