The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 230 Defense Circle 2

He Wei led his troops through Yijiang Gate quickly. In a sense, walking out of Yijiang Gate meant leaving the city.

As soon as He Wei led the team out of Yijiang Gate, he saw the main force of the secret service battalion who had already arrived first.

Under the city wall, Fu Chen, Chen Xinsheng, Sun Xisheng and others, as well as hundreds of officers and soldiers from the first infantry company, artillery company, communications platoon, and baggage platoon, were all resting under the city wall. Some slept in their clothes, and some They are cleaning their guns and bullets.

The artillery company's four carefully maintained Brand 81mm mortars and two Austrian-made 47mm tank defense guns were lined up in the blind spot under the city wall, illuminated by the sun. A bright light emerged.

The sixteen No. 1 tanks of Zhao Huzhen's tank company, all covered with camouflage nets, were lined up along the base of the city wall, with cars, motorcycles, and armored corps tank defense artillery platoons. Cars, motorcycles, tanks and defensive artillery also stopped one by one under the base of the city wall.

In addition, the car assigned to him by General Xiao also parked near the resting place for the officers and soldiers of the Secret Service Battalion. The back compartments of these large German trucks also served as temporary wards for the wounded soldiers of the Secret Service Battalion. Dozens of people who were hospitalized with He Wei A wounded soldier from the secret service battalion was resting in the carriage to recuperate.

Seeing that his troops had safely arrived near Yijiang Gate, He Wei was relieved.

He Wei turned around again, raised his telescope, and saw a red building a few kilometers away. It was the waiting room near the dock. Before the war, he had been there with a group of senior officers from the military police and the navy. The department discussed military affairs together.

Unfortunately, the exquisite building that was in perfect condition a month ago has now become a ruin. Looking further into the distance, you can see the rolling river water. You can see the waves in the river several feet high. Through the telescope, you can faintly see the dense green grass growing in the center of the river. The Bagua Island is planted in the river, and from time to time in the river, some corpses can be seen floating down the upper reaches.

Near the pier, with the pier as the center, a semicircular fortification cluster spanning nearly 20 kilometers has appeared with the naked eye. This fortification cluster is less than two kilometers from the nearest exit of Yijiangmen, and the farthest The entire fortification cluster directly reaches the river beach, and the depth of the entire fortification cluster is about five or six kilometers.

In a hurry, it was actually quite good to build such a large fortification cluster in a short period of time. The idea of ​​this defensive circle was originally created by He Wei, and then it was finalized by General Xiao. He Wei gave some drawings and suggestions. , which was completed over a period of more than a month, can be said to have a lot of imperfections.

But in just over a month, it was impossible to build a perfect fortification position.

In the fortification cluster, He Wei saw a large number of transportation trenches and newly built bunker cement fortifications that had been built. There were also a large amount of materials used to build fortification positions and mountains of concrete and cement materials piled up in various positions.

He Wei could tell at a glance that the materials used for construction were obtained by demolishing houses. Now the people in the city had already fled in search of a living, and the merchants, various commercial institutions, and builders had also fled in all directions.

Therefore, the most indispensable thing in the city now is probably the materials used for various construction works. The houses that were knocked down to clear the fire boundary are also excellent construction materials. There are mountains of concrete materials piled up in the merchants and construction factories in the city. The cement and cement are left unattended, and everything is taken upon request.

In general, a total of two ring-shaped fortifications were built inside and outside the defense circle. The main body of the fortifications were civil fortifications reinforced with logs. Among these civil fortifications, many concrete machine gun bunkers and mortar fire were reinforced. position.

In the center of the defense circle, He Wei also saw a number of semi-underground artillery firing bunkers made of steel and concrete materials, all with cement roofs that fired in all directions at 360 degrees. It can take into account both land and river surfaces.

Among these artillery fortifications, He Wei could vaguely see white, large-caliber artillery pieces with mantlets. Although He Wei couldn't see clearly and couldn't be sure, looking at the appearance of those artillery pieces, they should be 100 mm in diameter. Naval gun above.

Obviously, these are all cannons disassembled from warships by the Navy. Before the war, the Navy also participated in the business of transporting people across the river. This made profits, and they really worked hard.

In general, He Wei is quite satisfied with this defense circle. There are two semi-circular fortification positions, which are also equipped with large-caliber naval gun positions and a considerable number of reserve positions and simple bunkers. Basically, within a limited time The best fortification that can be constructed.

If the garrison units retreat to the riverside, stick to this defensive circle, and fight desperately against the Japanese, it is impossible to say that they can hold on for several months, but if they can hold on for ten days and a half, as long as they dare to risk their lives to fight against the Japanese, they will still be able to do so. Not big.

He Wei put down his telescope, ordered the officers of the anti-aircraft artillery unit and artillery unit to arrange their respective units, and then walked towards the spy camp at the foot of the city wall.

The first people to greet him were Li Youcai, the quartermaster of the battalion headquarters, and Ge Guicai, the leader of the baggage platoon. Seeing the eagerness of the two men, He Wei knew that they must talk to him about the huge sum of money.

"Batalion Commander, Battalion Commander."

The two of them eagerly pulled He Wei under the city wall. Immediately, Li Youcai whispered in He Wei's ear and said: "Batalion Commander, I have brought all the things. Every penny is not a penny. I have brought them all. Now." On the backs of those trucks, I asked the baggage organizers to wrap the boxes with tarpaulins and tarpaulins, and tell the public that they were ammunition for our battalion without revealing it."

"Battal Commander, we'd better transport this hot stuff across the river as soon as possible. It's really not peaceful here. When we were moving the money, we encountered a group of gangsters who wanted to rob them. I took a few shots to scare them away."

Ge Guicai, leader of the baggage platoon, said.

He Wei nodded: "I will arrange this immediately. You are optimistic about the money."

After arranging Li Youcai and Ge Guicai, He Wei immediately gathered together the company commanders of the anti-aircraft artillery units he had brought back, and then led them to find the military police officers. He planned to go back to General Xiao first, and then take over his hands. Dispose of this money. The military police officer who led He Wei and a group of officers to meet General Xiao did not take them to the fortifications in the defensive circle or the command post set up in a strong building in the inner city. Instead, he took them along the corner of the city wall. Entered a tunnel.

The entrance to this tunnel was set up on the outside of the city wall where Yijiang Gate is located. After He Wei entered, he found that the interior was very spacious and brightly lit. The tunnel was surrounded by large solid blue bricks. He Wei was immediately curious and asked the military police The official origin of this officer.

The military police officer led He Wei through the tunnels and said: "There are about six or seven tunnels like this, which can connect the inside and outside of the Yijiangmen city wall. The exit of the outer city tunnel is where we just came in, and the inner city tunnel The entrance is at the foot of Bazi Mountain. I don’t know when this tunnel was built, but I heard from the old man that it was built by Zhu Yuanzhang when he was building the city wall in the first year of Hongwu."

"I see."

He Wei was amazed. He didn't expect that the tunnel built hundreds of years ago was as strong as the city wall. He Wei estimated that it would not be a big problem to deploy an infantry company in this tunnel, and this tunnel could be connected with the inner city and the outer city. It has considerable military value. At the same time, he was also wondering whether he could use these tunnels to make some fuss when the Japanese came over to show off to the Japanese.

Soon, He Wei was taken to a medium-sized command post, which was also brightly lit and equipped with generators, telephones and other facilities. In the command post, He Wei met General Xiao again.

At the same time, there were more than a dozen general officers in the command post, including several naval officers in white uniforms. There was a very young lieutenant general officer who stood out.

"Sir, the task you assigned me has been completed. All the anti-aircraft artillery units under the Air Defense Command, a company of mountain artillery directly under the garrison, and a company of howitzers have been taken over!"

After He Wei finished his report, General Xiao also returned the greeting. At the same time, he looked at the dozen or so gray-faced officers behind He Wei and said in a deep voice: "You have all worked hard. I know you fought hard, but the military situation is urgent now, so there is no need to worry about it." Give you more time to rest and recuperate. Now all the troops are fighting hard. The people have to retreat, and the troops have to retreat too. The only way to retreat is the dock. Japanese planes are bombing every day, so you still have to shoulder the air defense mission. You guys can take some rest in a while, and I will send someone to bring you some supplies."

"When you have rested, the anti-aircraft artillery unit will immediately select the anti-aircraft gun position and assume the air defense mission. The mountain artillery and howitzer units will move near the navy's naval gun position. There are shooting fortifications that have been repaired in advance. Your mission is the same as that of the navy's naval gun. You are not only responsible for covering the ground troops, but also responsible for shooting warning shots against possible enemy ships on the river, do you understand?"

"Yes!"

A group of officers replied in unison, and then, under the leadership of a military police officer, these dozen anti-aircraft artillery and ground artillery officers left the tunnel, while He Wei was left at the command post in the tunnel by General Xiao , on the large-scale map on the table of the command post, He Wei finally saw the detailed regulatory structure of the entire defense circle and the specific equipment quantities of heavy firearms and bunker fortifications.

The equipment of the main position was similar to what He Wei saw. It was two large circular positions, but the firepower of the navy's fixed gun position in the center of the depth was much higher than he had imagined.

Near there, a total of two British-made Armstrong 203 mm eight-inch large-caliber naval rapid-fire guns, four British-made Armstrong 152-mm rapid-fire guns and four German Krupp-made 105mm rapid-fire gun.

If He Wei remembers correctly, these guns should be dismantled artillery pieces from naval warships. They are all artillery pieces from the former Qing Dynasty, and they are all at the technical level of the 1890s.

Of course, the combat performance seems to be relatively backward now, and it is incomparable with the advanced large-caliber fortress cannons nowadays. However, it can be called a sharp weapon when used on land to fight infantry. After all, those cannons have the smallest caliber. It is also of the 105mm caliber level, with the largest reaching a 203mm caliber. The effect of using it to bombard infantry is quite acceptable.

In addition to setting up a land artillery team, the Navy also deployed a number of electronically controlled mines on the river, forming several dense mine nets, which were enough to pose a sufficient threat to Japanese warships going up the river, thereby protecting the land defenders. It can be seen that the navy has also spent a lot of money.

On the operational map, the planned troop configuration of the defense circle drawn up by the staff of the garrison headquarters is also clearly visible. The numbers and garrison positions of each unit are all marked out with red and blue pencils. The main position in the center of the defense circle at the front is marked by Known as the most elite garrison of the teaching corps, the teaching corps is indeed the elite in name only among the current Jinling garrison.

Before the war, the teaching corps was expanded from three regiments to three brigades and nine regiments. Because it has been stationed in Jinling for a long time and has relatively good equipment, it is indeed the most powerful unit on paper among the Jinling garrison. However, currently its subordinates Each of the three infantry brigades deployed an infantry regiment and sent it to Hunan Province for training. The main force remaining in Jinling was only six infantry regiments.

Of course, since a large number of new soldiers were added before the war, in He Wei's view, they were just the taller among the short ones. There is a big question mark about their actual combat effectiveness.

In the defensive zone from the left wing of the Teaching Corps to the riverside, there are the 72nd Army, the 71st Army and the 78th Army. The numbers of these three armies sound very big. In fact, each army has There is only one division under it. There are three armies in name, but in fact there are only three divisions. The 72nd Army is under the 88th Division, the 71st Army is under the 87th Division, and the 72nd Army is under the 87th Division. The 36th Division is affiliated to the Army. These three divisions are all three veteran German weapon divisions from the Guoguo Guard Army system.

The distance from the 36th Division's defense area to the river beach is defended by the Second Army Corps, which has the worst combat effectiveness among the Jinling garrison. This does not mean that this Second Army has two divisions under it, and its combat effectiveness is that of a crane. The tail is basically composed of new recruits, and defending the defensive circle at the back is also the proper meaning of the question.

On the right side of the teaching corps are the 74th Army, the 66th Army and the 83rd Army. These three armies each have two divisions, totaling six divisions, and serve as reserves. The team consists of three gendarmerie regiments and the heavy machine gun battalion and special agent battalion directly under the gendarmerie headquarters.

In this way, it is equivalent to deploying almost twelve divisions on this semicircular defense circle of nearly 20 kilometers. On average, the defensive front of a division is less than two kilometers. Calculated only from paper figures, The military strength is very sufficient.

He Wei also knew that considering the current situation of the Jinling garrison, such an arrangement was the best option at the moment.

(End of this chapter)