readx;? In order to prevent a surprise attack by the Japanese army, Wang Haitao asked the 542nd Regiment to take over the position of the gendarmerie garrison, and asked a brigade of the 92nd Division on the wharf to cross the river quickly, and then arranged for the soldiers of the teaching corps who had withdrawn here to cross the river. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 When the other troops arrived in Jiangbei, and only the armored regiment, the guard battalion and the 542nd regiment were left on the Xiaguan wharf, Wang Haitao asked the armored regiment to prepare to cross the river.

Just when the first light armored car was about to get on the bridge, a few strong lights shot from the river in the distance, Wang Haitao used a telescope to look at the place where the strong light came from, and his heart suddenly sank, there were three gunboats on the river that were quickly heading towards the pontoon bridge, maybe the gunboats also found the troops on the dock, the fire flashed, and then there was the sound of cannons.

Wang Haitao shouted: "It's not good, hide quickly!" The fighters on the shore scattered in all directions, looking for cover, and the tanks and armored vehicles of the armored regiment also scattered in all directions. In the blink of an eye, the shells exploded on the pier, and more shells landed on the pier and pontoon. Although the fighters and tanks on the dock were not damaged, the two pontoons were disconnected by the sound of explosions.

Wang Haitao and his subordinates evacuated the Xiaguan wharf one after another, and after coming to safety, everyone looked at Wang Haitao. Without the pontoon bridge, Wang Haitao and his subordinates could not cross the river, and since the Japanese gunboats blocked the river and the ferries could no longer be used, how to cross the river became the first problem to be solved in front of Wang Haitao.

After thinking for a long time, Wang Haitao called Li Yuanhong, the commander of the 542nd Regiment, several battalion commanders, Wu Jianzhou, the commander of the armored regiment, several battalion commanders, and Tangshan Leopard. Wang Haitao glanced at everyone and said: "Now that the pontoon bridge across the river is broken, and the Japanese warships have blocked the river, it seems that we will not be able to cross the Yangtze River." Tomorrow at dawn, more than 100,000 Japanese troops in Nanjing City will surround us, what should we do?"

Everyone looked at Wang Haitao, and after a while, Tangshan Leopard said: "Junzuo, what do you say, we all listen to Junzao." The rest of the people nodded their heads. Wang Haitao said: "We must not sit still, I decided to break through. So let's see which direction to break through, it is impossible to go in the direction of Zhonghua Gate and Zhongshan Gate, these two places have to pass through the entire city of Nanjing, and there are a large number of Japanese troops.

In the direction of Qixia Mountain, although it can be highlighted, all the way to the east is a city occupied by the Japanese army, and there is no place to stand. Then we have to break through in the direction of Ma'anshan in the south, first, most of the Japanese army has entered the city, we go south along the river, there will not be too many Japanese troops on the road, and second, after protruding, we can find a remote place to settle in Xuancheng and Tongling, which are mountainous areas in southern Anhui. When we have a foothold, we can think about the next step. ”

Speaking of this, Wang Haitao looked at everyone again, and after seeing that everyone nodded in agreement, he said: "Okay, everyone go separately to prepare, and we will set off in half an hour." After the crowd dispersed, Wang Haitao took out the transmitter and sent a telegram to Tang Xiaoshan first, telling him that he could not cross the river, and that he was now preparing to break through in the direction of Ma'anshan, and asked the reconnaissance group to concentrate on Ma'anshan and be ready to meet the troops at any time.

The second telegram was sent to the military headquarters of the 90th Army, in which Wang Haitao told Su Zuxin and Zhao Zhongwu that he would not be able to cross the river and join the military headquarters in a short time, and asked them to lead the troops, and the whole army retreated to Chuxian County first to wait for further orders from Shangfeng. The third telegram was sent directly to Chongqing.

In the telegram, Wang Haitao briefly reported the situation in Nanjing City in the past two days, and explained that he could not cross the river by one unit, and asked the general headquarters to issue instructions to the troops crossing the river. After the three telegrams were sent, it was time to leave, Wang Haitao turned off the radio and came to the front of the team. Wang Haitao gave the order to break through to the three regiment commanders.

The guard battalion under the guard regiment is responsible for the task of exploring the road, and when encountering the Japanese army, it is best to dodge, if you can't dodge, you can break through quickly, and you can retreat and don't fall in love. The armored regiment was not allowed to turn on the lights and advanced with the guard battalion a kilometer behind the guard battalion. One battalion of the 542nd Regiment was on the left side of the armored regiment, one battalion was on the right side of the armored regiment, the heavy fire battalion was on the truck, and the armored regiment was close to the battalion, and one battalion was cut off for the whole army at the end.

After giving the order, Wang Haitao shouted: "Let's go!" Tangshan Leopard led the guard battalion to the south along the riverside, and the armored regiment and the rest of the troops also set off. The movement of dozens of chariots and dozens of trucks spread far away in this winter night, and Wang Haitao was helpless about it, his storage ring was full of guns, bullets and various materials, and he really couldn't put so many vehicles.

Fortunately, the riverside was quite far from the city wall, and the Yangtze River was very desolate in this era, so the troops advanced more than ten kilometers relatively smoothly at the beginning. The troops who were walking in front stopped, and after a while, a soldier from the guard battalion ran to Wang Haitao and saluted and said: "Report to the military seat, the road ahead turns towards the Jiqing Gate of Nanjing City, if you want to continue to advance, you can only rush a few kilometers outside the Jiqing Gate, the chariot is too loud, it is difficult not to alarm the Japanese troops near the Jiqing Gate." What should Commander Tang do if he asks for instructions from the military seat?"

Wang Haitao said: "Go and give the order and let the Tangshan Leopard send a reconnaissance team to reconnoitre, to find out how many Japanese troops are outside the Jiqing Gate, and how long will it take to break through?" The soldier replied: "Yes, military seat." Then trotted away, and Wang Haitao immediately ordered the troops to rest and stand by. After the 542nd Regiment sent out the vigilant fighters, the surroundings fell silent.

More than an hour later, Tangshan Leopard came over in person. After seeing Wang Haitao, Tangshan Leopard said: "Military seat, after reconnaissance, there is a Japanese brigade stationed outside Jiqing Gate, if the Japanese army needs at least twenty minutes from the discovery to the attack, twenty minutes can allow most of the troops to rush over." ”

Wang Haitao thought for a while and asked, "If there are no vehicles, can all the infantry rush over without alarming the Japanese army?" Tangshan Leopard thought for a while and said: "It is three to four kilometers away from the Japanese camp, and it should be possible at night." Wang Haitao opened the map and looked at it and said: "In this way, let the 542nd Regiment pass through the Jiqing Gate first, if it does not meet the Japanese defense line, it will advance all the way to Xishan Bridge, and then defend on the spot and wait for the follow-up troops, and the whole guard battalion will get on the armored truck, take the armored regiment as the lead, and quickly rush through the Jiqing Gate." ”

After Tangshan Leopard felt that it was feasible, Wang Haitao called Li Yuanhong and asked Li Yuanhong to lead the 542nd Regiment, under the guidance of the guide sent by the guard battalion, to set off immediately, quietly pass through Jiqing Gate, and then continue to the south, stationed at Xishan Bridge to wait and meet the troops behind. After receiving the task, Li Yuanhong returned to the 542nd Regiment and led the whole regiment to set off.

Wang Haitao said to Tang Xiaoshan and Wu Jianzhou: "There will be an accident in the 542nd Regiment at any time, inform the troops to be ready to attack at any time, if everything goes well with the 542nd Regiment, we will set off again in two hours, and then the heavy tanks of the armored regiment will be the lead, and the troops will break through the Jiqing Gate at full speed." Tangshan Leopard and Wu Jianzhou both said they understood.

After Tangshan Leopard went back and brought back the guard battalion, all of them got on armored trucks, and the armored regiment was all in place and ready to attack at any time. Time passed minute by minute, and the night was still so quiet, and the sound of the wind in the air and the sound of the river made this winter night even more silent. Finally, two hours passed, and Wang Haitao said to Wu Jianzhou: "Jianzhou, let's go, we must rush through the Jiqing Gate as quickly as possible." ”

The roar of the engines of tanks and other vehicles broke the silence of the night, and the heavy tanks at the head moved forward at top speeds, and two lights pierced the night for hundreds of meters. After advancing a few kilometers, several gunshots were heard from the left front, and it was supposed that the Japanese army had spotted the tanks and was firing warning shots.

The armored regiment rushed forward without hesitation, and the armored trucks followed closely behind the armored regiment. At this time, a few fires flashed in front of the left, and Wang Haitao understood that this was the Japanese army's artillery. Moments later, shells exploded near the ranks, shrapnel and flying stones clanging on the steel plates, but they did not damage the vehicles in the slightest, and even the modified armored trucks ignored the shells that exploded on the side of the road.

After firing a few rounds of artillery, the Japanese may have aroused Wu Jianzhou's anger, only to see the heavy tanks in front of them slow down, and then the turret turned to the direction of Jiqingmen, and more than a dozen vehicle-mounted guns fired a salvo, and then turned back to the turret and continued to move forward at full speed. As soon as the heavy tank turned back to the turret, more than a dozen shells exploded from the direction of Jiqingmen, perhaps because the Japanese army was suppressed at this time, and no shells flew from Jiqingmen.

It only took about ten minutes for the convoy to leave Jiqingmen behind, and then drove all the way south, and when the convoy rushed to a place less than five kilometers away from Xishan Bridge, a temporary Japanese defense line appeared under the illumination of the headlights. There was a shallow trench on the ground, and it was hard to see how many Japanese troops there were in the dark, and there were more than a dozen 75 mountain guns behind the trench that were adjusting their gun positions.

Seeing the lights of the chariot, the Japanese 75 mountain artillery opened fire first, and at the same time as the shells exploded in the convoy, the coaxial machine gun on the tank fired a string of tracer shells at the Japanese artillery position, and then the vehicle-mounted artillery fired at the Japanese artillery position. There were more than 30 light and heavy tanks, and more than 30 shells were enough to destroy the Japanese artillery positions without bunkers.

Without artillery, how could the infantry alone stop the torrent of steel of the armored regiment? The tanks opened a line formation and attacked forward while firing their guns, while the armored vehicles also used their vehicle-mounted heavy machine guns to strafe the Japanese troops on the positions. Without waiting for the armored trucks to rush up and shoot, the Japanese army had already broken out, and it was currently mainly a breakthrough, and Wu Jianzhou did not let the tanks pursue the fleeing Japanese army, and the troops continued to advance rapidly to the south.

When all the vehicles approached the Xishan Bridge, they encountered a company sent by the 542nd Regiment to meet the chariot troops. After Wang Haitao's inquiry, he learned that the 542nd Regiment had a smooth journey, and after evading several patrols of the Japanese army, it arrived at Xishan Bridge 20 minutes ago, and the regiment commander Li Yuanhong arranged the whole regiment to deploy defense on the spot, and on the other hand, he sent a company to meet the troops behind, and this company accelerated to this side after hearing the sound of gunfire, but he did not expect that before they arrived, the troops had already broken through the Japanese defense line and approached Xishan Bridge.