Just when Wang Haitao received a call from Tang Longzai and learned that the city of Hanoi had been breached, and now the 461st Brigade had rushed into the city of Hanoi, the 871st Regiment, which had just rushed into the city and was interspersed with the city, happened to collide head-on with the infantry brigade directly under the Japanese army that had returned to the reinforcements on the street. After the 871st Regiment and the 872nd Regiment rushed into the city, the 871st Regiment and the 872nd Regiment divided labor.

The goal of the 872nd Regiment was directly aimed at the headquarters of the 16th Army of the Japanese Army, and everyone understood the reason for fighting snakes and hitting seven inches, as long as the headquarters of the 16th Army was eliminated, the battle would be 80 percent over. The goal of the 871st Regiment is the defenders of the North Gate, and only by attacking the defenders of the North Gate inside and outside and defeating them can the North Gate be opened to allow more troops to enter the city, so as to ensure the final victory of this battle.

After the division of work, Wei Shaofeng, the commander of the 871st Regiment, led the troops to the direction of the north gate, and there were only a few small Japanese troops along the way, and the main force of the 871st Regiment did not move, but the battalion that walked in front wiped out these small Japanese troops. The troops had just walked a few streets when suddenly a dense burst of gunfire came from ahead. At first, Wei Shaofeng didn't care, thinking that it was another small group of Japanese troops, but before his men could report that the battalion in front of him had encountered a large force of Japanese troops.

After ordering the troops to stop advancing and defend in place, Wei Shaofeng rushed to the front line with the guard company. When he arrived at the front line, Wei Shaofeng saw Luo Jiang, the commander of a battalion, directing the battle in a bunker. Seeing that Wei Shaofeng had arrived, Luo Jiangli saluted and shouted: "Tuanza!" Wei Shaofeng returned a military salute and asked, "What's the situation ahead?" After asking, he took a few steps forward and raised his binoculars to observe.

Luo Jiang replied: "Report to the regiment, when our unit was advancing, we suddenly encountered a large number of Japanese troops, and the two sides were fighting on this street. An infantry brigade of about 1,000 Japanese troops, estimated to have rushed to the West Gate for reinforcements. At this time, Wei Shaofeng also saw the battle between the two armies through observation. The Japanese occupied half of the street and were holding back the attack of a battalion with houses and some obstacles.

Because the Japanese army was large in number and occupied most of the street, the soldiers of the first battalion could only fight with the Japanese army house by house, and the progress was not fast. And Wei Shaofeng also saw that the Japanese army on the opposite side had good weapons and equipment, and the tactical quality of the soldiers was also good, so it should be an elite unit. Wei Shaofeng saw with his own eyes a platoon attacking a Japanese makeshift bunker on the street under the cover of a heavy machine gun and two mortars.

This platoon opened the skirmish line and rushed up from thirty meters away, and just after rushing ten meters, machine guns suddenly rang out on both sides of the bunker, and two light machine guns blocked the path of the fighters' attack with crossfire. After the fighters who rushed to the front suffered several casualties, the fighters behind were all pinned down in place. After the mortars began to fire at the Japanese machine-gun points, the Japanese machine guns were silent, but the Japanese soldiers were still shooting at the attacking fighters with rifles and grenadiers behind the bunkers. It took 15 minutes for the soldiers of this platoon to take this Japanese bunker, and they themselves suffered more than 10 casualties.

Seeing this, Wei Shaofeng frowned and said: "Luo Jiang, this kind of attack speed is not good, our regiment needs to rush to the north gate as soon as possible, and cooperate with the troops outside the north gate to take the position of the north gate." In this way, I mobilized the tank vehicles and self-propelled guns in the rear to help in the battle, and your battalion took care to cover the safety of the tanks. After speaking, Wei Shaofeng turned around and asked the signal corps to convey the order.

The effort was not great, and there was a roar of engines from behind, and Wei Shaofeng looked back to see that the second battalion, four light tanks, and four self-propelled guns had come up to reinforce him. With the reinforcement of tanks and self-propelled guns, it was easier to deal with the Japanese army, which did not have any heavy weapons. The light tank was much more protective than the armored car, and the Japanese mortars and Type 92 infantry guns did not do much damage to it, and the two tanks rushed towards the Japanese in the street side by side.

Behind the tank is two companies of infantry coordinated protection, this time it will be difficult for the Japanese army to block the attack of the Chinese army, plus the two sides are bad together, the Japanese army has no fortifications, and the houses occupied cannot withstand the bombardment of the tank's vehicle-mounted artillery. The Japanese army, which could not stop the attack of the Chinese army, retreated one after another, but the Japanese army did not retreat in the direction of the north gate, but retreated into the city.

When Wei Shaofeng saw that the Japanese army was retreating into the city, he ordered a company to be left to monitor the movements of the Japanese army, while the rest of the troops continued to move rapidly in the direction of the north gate. At this time, fierce gunfire also sounded in the city, and Wei Shaofeng knew that it was the 872nd Regiment that was also blocked by the Japanese army. Wei Shaofeng believed that the combat effectiveness of the 872nd Regiment, coupled with the help of tanks and self-propelled guns, should have no problem breaking the Japanese resistance.

There were gunshots everywhere in and outside the city of Hanoi, and there were shouts of killing everywhere, only the direction of the South Gate was calmer. In the headquarters of the 16th Army, everyone was preparing to retreat, and Commander Imamura Jun also had a gloomy face, and next to him was Chief of Staff Kiyozaburo Okazaki, who also looked anxious. The news of the defeat was sent everywhere, which also made Commander Imamura Jun and Chief of Staff Kiyozaburo Okazaki understand that Hanoi Castle would be difficult to hold anymore.

Chief of Staff Kiyozaburo Okazaki had ordered the personnel of the headquarters to prepare to retreat, but Commander Jun Imamura was still unwilling to lose Kawachi Castle like this. Chief of Staff Kiyozaburo Okazaki secretly sighed after receiving a report from the infantry brigade directly under him that he could not stop the attack of the Chinese army, and said to Commander Jun Imamura: "Your Excellency Commander, the Shina army has already attacked the city, and a unit is coming straight to the headquarters. ”

Commander Imamura Jun also understood that only by withdrawing from Hanoi first and then gathering forces could he fight the Chinese army again, and that once the headquarters was captured, the 16th Army would be completely destroyed, and the rest of the troops remaining in Vietnam would be left uncommanded. Therefore, Lieutenant General Imamura could only agree with Chief of Staff Okazaki's opinion that he should withdraw from Hanoi City first.

After withdrawing from Hanoi City, there are two places to go, one is Haiphong City in the east, where a fleet is stationed and can be supported by naval artillery, it is difficult for the Chinese army to take Haiphong City, but there are Chinese troops attacking the city outside the east gate, and it is difficult to rush through. The only way to do that is to retreat to the south and retreat to Nanding City first. Commander Jun Imamura asked Chief of Staff Kiyozaburo Okazaki to give the order to all the troops to move towards Nanding City.

The order was conveyed by the people of the Divisional Division, but Commander Jun Imamura and Chief of Staff Kiyozaburo Okazaki, under the protection of the headquarters escort brigade, took the lead in retreating in the direction of the south gate. The first to receive the order to retreat were the troops close to the headquarters, including the directly subordinate tank brigade, the directly subordinate field artillery brigade, and the baggage wing. Because the Chinese army had just entered the city, it had not yet threatened the safety of these troops who were close to the headquarters, so the retreat was relatively orderly and not panicked.

In the command post of the 38th Division in the direction of the North Gate, the commander of the division, Lieutenant General Tadayoshi Sano, also received an order to retreat, but it was not so easy for them to withdraw immediately. The last remaining line of positions outside the north gate was still fighting against the besieging Chinese troops, and the artillery brigade under his command was also lost in the artillery battle with the Chinese troops outside the city.

Lieutenant General Tadayoshi Sano thought about it for a while and decided to abandon the positions outside the city, and all the troops withdrew into the city first, leaving an infantry brigade to break the rear on the city walls, while the main force withdrew in the direction of the south gate. He should have said that there was no problem, but he did not know that a Chinese army was coming from the city to the north gate. Lieutenant General Tadayoshi Sano considered the plan and ordered the Japanese troops outside the city to retreat to the city in batches.

The 568th and 569th Regiments, which were attacking outside the city, also reached their limit at this time, and after Mu Suzhong ordered to intensify the attack in order to cooperate with the Ximen operation, the 568th Regiment and the 569th Regiment took turns to attack the Japanese position. After the strength of the Japanese positions was strengthened, it also reached as many as 4 or 5,000 men, and with the support of dozens of large and small caliber artillery, it was not easy to fight.

In particular, several rapid-fire guns of the rapid-fire artillery squadron often burst out and fired a few rounds at the armored vehicle and then retracted after firing armor shells, and it was difficult for mortars and 75-caliber field guns to catch the fighters that destroyed it, which also caused a situation in which the armored vehicles did not dare to rush up to cover the infantry attack. Attacking entirely by infantry becomes very difficult.

The 568th Regiment and the 569th Regiment made great efforts to capture the second line of Japanese positions, but they were also a little unable to do anything in front of the third line of Japanese positions. At this time, the casualties of the two attacking regiments reached more than a third. The Japanese still had more than 4,000 troops on the ground. Mu Suzhong also knew that it was very difficult to attack, but in order to achieve the final victory, he could only fight.

Mu Suzhong also transferred his own guard battalion and ordered his troops to continue the attack. At the same time, all artillery fire was also concentrated on bombarding the third line of Japanese positions and the wall of the North Gate. In this case, the Japanese troops on the position began to retreat into the city in batches, and after the situation was reported to Mu Suzhong, Mu Suzhong was also puzzled. Soon Mu Suzhong reacted, this situation should be related to the battle situation of Ximen, it should be that Ximen has already attacked Hanoi City.

At this time, Mu Suzhong immediately thought that the Japanese army at the north gate was preparing to escape, and when the battle came to this point, Mu Suzhong would not watch the Japanese army in front of him run away, so Mu Suzhong once again ordered the troops to attack at all costs, and they must not let go of the Japanese army in front of them. The order was conveyed to the front line, and as soon as the officers and men of the two regiments heard that the West Gate direction had attacked Hanoi City, and the Japanese troops in front of them wanted to escape, their morale immediately rose, and everyone shouted and fought hard to kill the Japanese position.

The Japanese troops on the position were originally retreating into the city in batches, but as the number of people on the position decreased, it was difficult to stop in the face of the fierce attack of the Chinese army. Soon the 568th Regiment broke through the third line of positions, the 569th Regiment and armored vehicles also rushed in, and the last remaining more than 1,000 Japanese troops outside the city were pressed to the edge of the city river.