The heavens start from Changjin Lake

Chapter 731 Purple Mountain

Engineers built a bridge, and more than 500 Japanese infantrymen carried ladders and crossed the bridge in an attempt to attack the city. Just as the enemy was building a bridge to cross the river, Chen Jiding gave the order to attack.

The Nationalist officers and soldiers who had been prepared long ago, holding glass bottles filled with gasoline, threw them at the attacking Japanese troops.

The glass bottle shattered with a click when it touched the stone on the ground. The filled gasoline was swayed everywhere. Some Japanese soldiers smelled the pungent smell of gasoline and knew something was wrong. They shouted, but it was too late.

The national troops on the city wall were already prepared. Some soldiers threw glass bottles filled with gasoline, while other soldiers fired with light and heavy machine guns. Grenades hit the Japanese soldiers hard. The explosion of the grenades detonated the gasoline in the gasoline bottles. But at this time, another The wind blew, and the fire took advantage of the wind and rolled up several feet high.

The Japanese troops attacking the city were caught off guard and retreated one after another. There were still a large number of Japanese soldiers whose bodies were covered in burning flames and rolling all over the ground. Some Japanese soldiers stained with gasoline were even burned to charcoal.

"Fight! Don't let them escape, artilleryman, blow up their bridge for me!"

Chen Jiding issued the order again.

Several mortars aimed at the simple bridges erected by the Japanese engineers. After a few rounds of shells, the bridges erected by the Japanese engineers were completely destroyed. The attacking Japanese army had no support at all.

The Chinese troops on the city wall became more and more courageous as they fought. They did not hesitate to use bullets, pulling bolts and pulling triggers, and some did not even take aim. The Japanese troops under the city wall were like living targets, allowing them to hit them.

This battle was a beautiful one and a relief.

This severely dampened the morale of the Japanese army, especially when Ide Nobu, who personally went to the front line to supervise the battle, looked as ugly as if he had eaten shit.

The Japanese had been on the offensive for a few days, but had little success, and now they looked like gamblers with red eyes. On December 12, the Japanese army bombarded the area like crazy all day long. During the artillery fire, engineers built bridges and Japanese infantry charged with the tanks.

The city gate was beaten into a honeycomb shape, and the enemy even put the cannon barrel into the hole to attack the city. The Chinese soldiers carried wooden boards to block the hole against the Japanese attack. At the same time, the Chinese soldiers on the city wall were completely With eyes red from killing, grenades and bullets were tilted towards the Japanese army as if they were free. In just half a day, some soldiers had used up all their grenades and bullets.

While supplies were still on the way, they used rocks dropped from the blown-up walls to hit the Japanese troops.

The battle was very hard, and both China and Japan suffered heavy casualties.

But Gwanghwamun is still firmly in the hands of the national army.

On December 12, Commander Tang transferred the 10th Division to the command of Chen Jiding. After this battle, Chen Jiding's commanding talents were discovered, and his career will be smooth in the future.

The reinforcements of the National Army arrived, and the Japanese army also began to adjust its strategy and change its deployment. The first step was to increase the level of air strikes on Guanghua Gate. Every day, more than 20 Japanese aircraft hovered over the Guanghua Gate city wall and carried out attacks on the National Army positions at Guanghua Gate. Bombardment, strafing.

Japanese tanks were also set up directly opposite the city wall and fired at the city wall. The city wall was riddled with holes, and the situation became increasingly unfavorable for the Chinese defenders at Guanghuamen.

Chen Jiding saw this in his eyes and felt anxious in his heart. He began to seriously think about how to defend the Guanghua Gate.

He suddenly remembered a sentence he once wrote in "The Art of War: Military Struggle Chapter" by Sun Tzu: Therefore, if you are vigorous and vigorous, you will attack the lazy ones.

Even the most powerful enemy has its weaknesses.

As long as you find the weak points of the Japanese army and attack them severely, you will definitely not be able to hold on.

So where is the weakness of the Japanese army?

After repeated pondering, he vaguely grasped one thing: the Japanese army was fighting in China, a foreign country, and unfamiliar with the terrain. Therefore, the Japanese army only dared to attack during the day and generally did not go out at night. Most of them huddled in their garrison to rest.

Thinking of this, Chen Jiding's eyes lit up, "It is not advisable to just defend, we should also take the initiative!"

He immediately convened a regiment meeting, and after careful discussion with several regiment leaders, decided to send two battalions of troops at night, with the left wing between Guanghua Gate and Tongji Gate, and the right wing between Guanghua Gate and Zhongshan Gate, secretly crossing the moat. Attack the Japanese military garrison at night from both wings.

During the day, it was the Japanese army, with their planes flying wildly and their heavy artillery roaring.

But at night, the entire Guanghuamen city wall fell into silence.

As time goes by, the night becomes darker and darker, and the weather becomes colder. In such weather, I really don’t want to move.

After a tiring day, the Japanese soldiers wanted to have a good night's sleep, had dinner, and rested early.

But there were two troops, taking advantage of the darkness, quietly passing through the gap in the city gate, crossing the moat, and submerging themselves into the deep night.

Chen Jiding was not sleepy at all. He put on his coat and came to the city wall. He held a telescope and looked into the dark night in the distance.

About half an hour later, there was a sound on the right side first, like firecrackers. The sound of gunfire reverberated fiercely, followed by the roar of grenades. The sound of gunfire and grenades also began to sound on the left side. There was a huge explosion, along with fried beans. The gunshots were fired in succession.

The battle lasted until midnight. The two battalions returned and the sneak attack was quite successful. The Japanese troops were beaten into a ball and did not dare to go out to fight.

The Japanese army suffered a lot at Guanghuamen. The attacks for several days in a row resulted in huge casualties. The two sides seemed to be in a tug of war. The Japanese army attacked during the day and the Chinese army attacked at night. In this way, neither side could get much advantage.

Purple Mountain.

Among Chinese scenic spots, the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Zijin Mountain is the most popular. Especially since Jiang Bingkun, Lien Chan, and Soong Chuyu led delegations to visit the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum respectively, the number of visitors to the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum in Zijin Mountain has increased sharply, reaching at least [-] people every day. People around.

Purple Mountain has majestic mountains, vast forests and picturesque scenery.

Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum is solemn and majestic, like a bright pearl embedded in the blue waves in the east of Jinling City.Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum is the resting place of Mr. Sun. Mr. Sun had very deep feelings for Jinling. He once left a message before his death: "After my death, I can be buried in Jinling Purple Mountain. Because Jinling is the place where the provisional government was established, I cannot Forget the Revolution of [-]."

Jinling people admire Purple Mountain and Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum. In addition to remembering Mr. Sun, they also miss the 5000 warriors of the Chinese army who fought against the Japanese invaders at Zijin Mountain and Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum and sacrificed their lives for them.

Gui Yongqing, a first-class student in Huangpu, made military exploits during the Anti-Japanese War. In addition to his good official career, he was eventually promoted to navy commander, first-class army general, and was one of Chiang Kai-shek's "Thirteen Taibao".Chiang Kai-shek had both praise and criticism for him. As early as the Huangpu period, during the first Eastern Expedition, the Whampoa Military Academy issued repeated orders not to intrude on the people and to take credit for all seizures.

However, Gui Yongqing did not buy this account. During a battle, he hid the seized watches, gold ingots, high-end cameras and other trophies, but was discovered.

Chiang was furious and ordered that this daring person be imprisoned immediately and later executed.

Zhou Nianqi, director of the Political Department, was the first offender. He personally wrote to County Magistrate Yang of Xingning County, Dongguang, pleading for mercy. Jiang Cai spared Gui Yongqing.

In 1937, when the "August [-]th" Incident in Shanghai and the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War began, Gui Yongqing was still studying at the Royal Military Academy in the United Kingdom. He was shocked to hear the news that the Japanese army had invaded China. He immediately rushed to the country, found Chiang Kai-shek, and firmly demanded the Anti-Japanese War.

Chiang ordered him to serve as the Central Instruction Corps and go to Shanghai to fight.

After the Battle of Songhu, he repeatedly asked Chiang Kai-shek to fight, asking to be responsible for the most difficult battle in the defense of Jinling.

When Chiang left Jinling, he specially drove to the Gui Yongqing command post in Fugui Mountain. He found Gui Yongqing and said to him: "The current situation is not optimistic, but in the end we can win the war. Our anti-war tactics must be based on offense." To defend, we must keep close distance and use aggressive actions to achieve the purpose of annihilating the enemy. Within a few months of the war, the enemy's sharp weapons, including its sea, land and air forces, have been used with all their strength. At best, they can only use their larger number of aircraft, artillery and tanks. Its power is to threaten our army’s spirit and destroy our army’s will.”

Jiang came to sit down next to Gui Yongqing and continued: "The battlefield mainly relies on infantry. The enemy's infantry is not as brave and spirited as ours, and their numbers are not as good as ours. In terms of long-term strategy, we have exhausted their vigor after dozens of battles. and military strength, the Chinese will win in the end. You must have confidence and be calm. You will have to endure some hardships and make sacrifices. I hope you can defend the capital and leave a mark in the history of the Anti-Japanese War."

Gui Yongqing's blood boiled all over, and he said swornly: "Principal, I will remember your words. I know that the country is at a critical moment of life and death. I have no heroic words. I only have the loyalty and passion to care about the country and the people. I am not afraid of sacrifice. I will use my blood and sweat to contribute to my people.”

Jiang was quite satisfied with Gui Yongqing's words and said, "What I want is your fierce loyalty!"

The Central Teaching Corps commanded by Gui Yongqing is a well-equipped corps. It is an elite division trained by the German advisory group. It is known as "Chiang's Iron Guard". Under Gui Yongqing's command, except for 6 In addition to the infantry regiment, there are artillery regiments, cavalry regiments, engineering regiments, and baggage regiments, totaling more than 4 people.

In terms of equipment and organization, it exceeds the strength of an army. In the Jinling garrison service, there is no other corps in terms of arms type and number that can compare with it.

The Central Teaching Corps was Chiang's "watchdog". Chiang was able to keep this "watchdog" to defend Jinling during the critical period. It can be seen that Chiang was sincere in the war of resistance.

Gui Yongqing deployed the corps in Xishan, Engineer School, Zijin Mountain, Chalukou, Weigang, Zhongshanmen, Gangzicun, Taipingmen and other places.

After the problem was corrected, he asked to seize the time to repair the bunkers and fortifications and prepare sufficient ammunition.

Gui Yongqing, who studied at the Royal Military Academy in the United Kingdom, has extremely strict requirements for fortifications. It must be at least half people deep, it must be safe to bend down and walk, and the fortifications must be connected to each other, and there must be places to eat and rest. It must be a long-term operation. mental preparation and material preparation.

Even in modern times, places like Zijin Mountain, Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, Zixia Lake, Qianhu and other places still retain the bunker fortifications from those years in the dense forests.

Gui Yongqing also gathered the officers above the battalion in the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum Square. He first directed everyone to sing two songs, one was "My Home is on the Songhua River in Northeast China" and the other was "Song of Salvation". Then, he He said to everyone: "We are singing these two songs in front of Mr. Sun's mausoleum today. It is of extraordinary significance. Mr. Sun has a famous saying that the revolution has not yet succeeded, and comrades still need to work hard. Our war of resistance is just the beginning. We must start with Mr. Sun The revolutionary spirit will carry the war of resistance to the end. Tomorrow, we will fight, don't be afraid, the Japanese are nothing special, the only thing slightly stronger than us is the airplane."

The cold wind blew through the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum, causing the vegetation to sway.

Gui Yongqing, wearing a military coat and holding his clothes tightly, continued: "Airplanes are only external forces. The final victory or defeat is determined by bayonets. There are many factors for winning a war, and spirit is the first. We must cheer up. , We will never give up until we defeat the Japanese devils!"

The opponent of the Central Supervision Team is the Japanese Army Lieutenant General Nakajima Jingo's 16th Division, a Class A division equipped with a large number of armored troops, heavy artillery and aircraft.

Nakajima's current combat goal is to wipe out the Chinese troops in the Purple Mountain area and open a bloody road to Jinling Zhongshan Gate or Taiping Gate.At Zhongshan Gate, the Japanese attack hit a wall. They wanted to open a road from another direction. This road was Zijin Mountain.

Nakajima Jingo found out that the first obstacle that affected his division's attack on Jinling was a low hilltop south of Purple Mountain called Hongmao Mountain. This was the first battle in the direction of Purple Mountain.

The defense of Hongmao Mountain was about a battalion of the Central Teaching Corps. The battalion commander Zhou Shiquan was from Huanggang, Hubei. He was not tall and looked quite smart.He was not very talkative, and was the worst at telling others lies. Based on the general equipment of the Japanese army and the rules of defensive warfare, he disrupted the organization of the entire battalion and divided the entire battalion into three teams: sniper, demolition and counterattack. Each team's The tasks are different.

The mission of sniper is to block, block the enemy, and contain the enemy's attack.

Demolition, as the name suggests, involves blasting important targets of the Japanese army, such as firepower points, tanks, armored vehicles, etc.

The counterattack force is also very simple, equivalent to the reserve force. Once the position is lost, the counterattack force is needed to counterattack the Japanese army occupying the position.

In the early morning of December 12, the frost suddenly fell and the fog was hazy.The beautiful morning glow appeared in the east, smoke was rising from the rooftops of the village, and the land was in peace and tranquility.

About seven o'clock.

Suddenly, there was a rapid, sharp sound of friction in the air, followed closely by a huge explosion of artillery shells that pierced the peaceful and quiet atmosphere, and the rubble of Hongmao Mountain was blown up by the sudden artillery shells.

Based on experience, the garrison battalion commander Zhou Shiquan judged that the enemy's infantry would definitely appear after the bombardment, and ordered all officers and soldiers to hide in the fortifications and not be exposed without permission.

The Japanese shelling lasted for 10 minutes. As soon as the shelling stopped, a tank team drove over from the southeast road. Behind the tank was a group of Japanese soldiers with bayonets. This Japanese army came very quickly. aggressive.

Zhou Shiquan was thinking about how to deal with this attacking enemy. He thought that if the demolition team were to attack the tank from the front, it would be easily discovered and hit by the tank crew, and the Japanese infantry behind the tank was not a vegetarian.

If the sniper team is allowed to attack the infantry first, and there are tanks in front of the infantry to provide cover, perhaps not even a single infantry unit can be eliminated.

(End of this chapter)