War of Resistance

Chapter 188 Coexistence and Death

"Why are you here?" This was the first sentence Zhang Tianhai asked after opening the door.

"Come and see you. After arranging our work responsibilities, you locked yourself in the room alone. I'm not at ease, so I just come and take a look." Zheng Man was not polite to Zhang Tianhai, and directly into the latter's room.

Zhang Tianhai said with a wry smile: "I have nothing to worry about. The kid's machine gun and aerial bombs failed to kill me. There is nothing to worry about."

"I'm afraid you think I applied for a transfer without saying hello to you." Zheng Man sat on Zhang Tianhai's bed, his long legs straightened, and then his tiny feet kept shaking He moved, and lowered his head, like a little girl who has done something wrong.

Seeing this scene, Zhang Tianhai's heart softened all of a sudden. He walked over and sat beside her and said, "Actually, it's good if you come to Yituan's side. At least I can take care of you. If the situation is really critical Now, I can still send a special agent company to send you away."

This sentence is indeed what Zhang Tianhai said in his heart. If Zheng Man had any problems in the defense of Nanjing, he would be ashamed for the rest of his life-from the beginning to now, he has not given her due protection, nor has he Give her the romance she deserves.

"That's good." Zheng Man raised his head and smiled softly, those beautiful eyes had already bent into two bright crescent moons, as if he wanted to illuminate someone's life.

……

In the following days, with the pressing of the Japanese army, the atmosphere in Nanjing became more and more tense.

On November 11, the second day after Zheng Man was transferred to the First Regiment directly under his command, Chief Tang Shengzhi held a press conference in the city of Nanjing. At the meeting, he repeatedly expressed his determination to "live and die with Nanjing."

"I am ordered to defend Nanjing, and I am sure of at least two things: first, that my troops vow to live and die with Nanjing, and will not hesitate to sacrifice in the defense of Nanjing; second, such a sacrifice will definitely make the enemy pay a heavy price." Tang Shengzhi made an impassioned speech at the meeting with a very dignified expression.

In this meeting, besides expressing his fighting spirit, Tang Shengzhi also expressed his views on defending to the death. He said that Nanjing was the capital of the Republic of China and the place where the former Prime Minister’s tomb was located. If the Japanese army wanted to take Nanjing, it must be paid the price in blood.

For some unknown reason, Tang Shengzhi did not mention to the outside world that the ships along the Yangtze River had been withdrawn.

This day was the second day after the Japanese army crossed the Xicheng Line and continued westward.

After taking Wuxi, the Japanese army only stayed for a while, and then rushed towards Nanjing in three ways: the main force of the Japanese army on the right marched westward along Shanghai-Nanjing Road; in the middle, they attacked Nanjing through Yixing via Liyang and Jurong; Going west, first attack Guangde and Xuancheng, and approach Wuhu, intending to cut off the retreat of the Nanjing defenders, and then encircle Nanjing.

In fact, as early as the afternoon of the 23rd, part of the vanguard of the enemy's No. 18 Division (Niudao Division) had fled from Taihu Lake to Yixing and Changxing in more than a hundred steamers and rubber boats. The main force of the westward enemy on the south bank divided up and invaded Si'an and Guangde counties.

In the afternoon of the same day, the headquarters of the [-]th Division of the Sichuan Army first fought a fierce battle with the Japanese army at a place called Jincun on the south bank of Taihu Lake.In addition, the officers and soldiers witnessed the land was bombed by enemy planes, thousands of families fled to death, houses were burned down, and the people were ravaged, which immediately aroused extreme resentment towards the Japanese invaders. Repelled many attacks of the enemy.

The same Sichuan army, compared with the [-]th and [-]th divisions, the [-]th division in Si'an Town alone was not so lucky.

The enemy who invaded Si'an had only one brigade at first, and there were about 5000 infantry and cavalry in total, but it quickly increased to 1 people, with more than [-] tanks and armored vehicles, and more than [-] aircraft And under the cover of tanks and artillery, they launched a fierce attack on Si'an County.

This day is May 1937, 11.

After three days and two nights of fierce fighting, the 433th Division of the Sichuan Army suffered heavy casualties. Division Commander Rao Guohua personally led the [-]rd Brigade to defend Si'an, but he never thought that Liu Ruzhai, the commander of the Sichuan Army, was terrified when he saw the corpses on the front line and the grass and trees were all red. He led the troops to retreat without permission, and then Si'an fell. The division commander Rao Guohua led the troops to hold on to the position until the last moment, and finally ran out of ammunition. Before the end, he felt sorry for the country, the people, and even more sorry for Liu Xiang, who carried him with one hand, and committed suicide died.

Before committing suicide, General Rao Guohua left a letter of death, which probably read: Liu Ruzhai disobeyed the command, resulting in the defeat of the army. ) Zhiyu and the love of elders in Chuanzhong.

This day was exactly the same day after Tang Shengzhi held a press conference.

The Sichuan army does not fail the country, and the Chinese people do not fail Sichuan!
After the Japanese army captured Si'an, the Japanese army immediately led the main force of its headquarters and the Jing'an Army of the Puppet Manchukuo to continue westward and attack Guangde.

So far, counting the battles in Chunhua Town, Jurong and other positions, the outskirts of Nanjing can be described as lively...

However, the Japanese army gradually gained the upper hand in this battle, and the desperate efforts of the soldiers of the national army did not resist their iron hooves and aircraft cannons.

And the ministries in Nanjing city probably know the situation of the outlying positions. They are almost all busy with rectification and training, not for anything else, but to kill a few more little devils. Even Chief Tang will live and die with Nanjing. Now, who dares to have the idea of ​​escaping like that?It is better to die on the anti-Japanese battlefield than to die at the gunpoint of the gendarmerie law enforcement team.

Zhang Tianhai is no exception. He is also busy training his Zhiyi Regiment. Due to time constraints, he can only teach these soldiers how to improve their shooting accuracy. I don't even know how to build fortifications.

Of course, in terms of fortification construction, Zhang Tianhai also specially "invited" experts in fortification to teach in each battalion and company. Of course, these so-called experts were two of the newly assigned officers of the engineering company. Coupled with several graduates from Whampoa, after Comrade Zhang Yulin gave them careful training in fortification construction, they finally "leaved".

In fact, Zhang Tianhai didn't pay attention to the role of engineers, but in his opinion, whether the battle in Nanjing could survive was another matter. Most of the time, engineers only had to do blasting and anti-mines and other aspects.What is the situation now? The Japanese army is about to approach the city. What needs to be done is to build a good position and practice marksmanship.

As for physical strength training, strength training, etc., forget it, time is tight, so I can only pick the most important one or two.

Around November 27, the main force of the 74th Army entered Chunhua Town, Tongjimen.

At this time, Yu Jishi, commander of the 74th Army, heard that Chiang Kai-shek was in Nanjing, so he immediately went to Nanjing to meet Chiang Kai-shek, and reported that the troops were broken and needed training.

Chiang Kai-shek directly denied Yu Jishi's request, and directly said to Yu Jishi that he could give it if he needed supplements, but he could not rest. He wanted to join the battle sequence of the Nanjing Defense War, and he had already dispatched a supplementary regiment from the fifth theater to supplement the 74th Army.

In this regard, Yu Jishi was helpless. Before he came to Nanjing, the chairman decided to allocate a supplementary regiment. It seemed that he already knew the situation of Yu Jishi's army-the army had two divisions, each with two brigades and four regiments.When they retreated to Nanjing, there were only about [-] soldiers left in the entire army, and they were fully equipped with light and heavy machine guns and mortars.

After Yu Jishi returned to the military headquarters, he said helplessly to Wang Yaowu, the commander of the 51st Division: "At first, the No. 70 Fourth Army was not included in the plan of the No. 74 Fourth Army in the troops defending Nanjing. The south of the First Army Hu Zong has passed the Yangtze River. In the Pukou area, instead of keeping them in Nanjing, the [-]th Army was left behind, and depending on the situation, Nanjing cannot be defended."

In fact, all senior generals were not optimistic about the defense of Nanjing, including Jiang Zhongzheng himself. If he had the confidence to defend it, it is impossible that he would not have kept the First Army in Nanjing.

Everyone knows that the First Army is the original army of the Central Army. It has been fighting since the Northern Expedition in Guangzhou. It is an old-fashioned army that can no longer be old-fashioned.As long as the First Army is still there, the "roots" of the Central Army will still be there.

The defense of Nanjing, this is a battle that must be lost, but everyone is silent at this time, they must fight this battle of martyrdom!
Even if you use your own life to write the tragedy of this page, the head can be broken, the blood can flow, and the integrity of the Chinese nation will not be lost!
……

PS: Updates are coming!

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(End of this chapter)