The Iron-Blooded Army of Beacon Fire

Chapter 232: A reed crosses the river, Tang Chief

The battle situation in the next few days not only exceeded He Wei's expectations, but even left He Wei speechless for a time. Unexpectedly, in these days of fighting, the Chinese army performed very tenaciously, resisting the Japanese attack to the death, and has been firmly Take every position into your own hands.

He Wei was also very curious about this. With the strength and firepower of the Japanese army, it should not be difficult to capture the city wall. How could it not be defeated?

He Wei would go to General Xiao's command post every day to collect and read the battle reports transmitted by the troops. After several days of careful consideration and guessing, he roughly guessed.

The battles in the past few days have all revolved around the Ming City Wall of Jinling City. That is, the Chinese army was guarding the city wall and the Japanese army was attacking outside the city. The Japanese army did not take advantage of such a fighting situation.

Based on the reports submitted by various units, He Wei found that although the Japanese army had been aggressively attacking in the past few days, with fierce shelling and aerial bombardment, the covering artillery firepower exerted by the Japanese army directly attacking the city wall was mostly the team-affiliated artillery directly under the division. Most of their calibers are 75mm mountain artillery and 105mm caliber howitzers. The attack effect of these artillery is really average. The city walls around Jinling were built in the Ming Dynasty. Although these walls have a long history, they are sufficient. It has a history of hundreds of years, but it is still very strong. The 75-caliber mountain field gun and the 105-mm caliber howitzer can't cause any destructive effect when hitting the city wall.

Therefore, the Japanese infantry attack was very difficult. Many Japanese troops rushed towards the city wall, but were beaten to pieces by the Chinese troops guarding the city wall. They continued to attack for several days without being defeated.

Some Chinese troops with stronger combat effectiveness even rushed out of the city to fight back. For example, the 88th Division guarding the south line of the city, after repelling the Japanese attack on the city wall, took advantage of the night to rush out of the city and attack the city. They launched a counterattack on the Yuhuatai high ground occupied by the Japanese army. Although they failed in the end, it really made the Japanese army feel frightened.

In other words, because the artillery was not powerful enough, the Japanese army was blocked outside Jinling City for several days.

Indeed, if we want to achieve a real destructive effect on the grand city wall of Jinling, the artillery directly under the division is simply not enough. There are only 150mm heavy howitzers and a field heavy artillery unit directly under the Japanese army. Only the 105mm cannon has the power to directly blow down the city wall of Jinling.

But He Wei remembered that the Central China Front Army when the Japanese attacked Jinling clearly had multiple field heavy artillery regiments, but why did they not go into battle for so long?

He Wei couldn't figure out the link, but at least the war situation was favorable to the Chinese army.

On the 15th, at four o'clock in the afternoon, the brutal and bloody battle continued for another day.

The winter sky was gray and gray, the clouds were pale, the cold wind was bitter, and the setting sun was like blood. There were many more military police near the doorway near Yijiang Gate, and many more people were waiting to cross the river on the roads and various buildings near the city wall. On the anti-aircraft artillery position in the Xiaguan defense circle, after the bloody battle, the anti-aircraft artillerymen and anti-aircraft machine gunners were scattered in small groups and hurriedly carried various ammunition with their heads lowered.

He Wei dragged his slightly tired body out of the Mercedes-Benz off-road jeep and looked around at the Xiaguan defense circle that reached the riverside under the bloody sunset. The flames that had just been extinguished were still burning and releasing thick gray-black smoke. .

And the Bazi Mountain inside Yijiangmen was ignited with blazing flames.

A milky white Japanese Navy Type 96 road attack aircraft painted with the Rising Sun military emblem was scattered in pieces on the mountain, with thick smoke and fire rising. The wreckage of several Japanese fighter planes could also be seen near Xiaguan Pier and on the riverside. In the past few days, besides rectifying the troops and reading battle reports, He Wei had only done one thing - assisting the anti-aircraft artillery troops in air defense.

Under General Xiao's order, the anti-aircraft artillery units that had withdrawn from outside the city and from various parts of the city quickly entered the new battle. These anti-aircraft units were equipped with more than 20 large and small anti-aircraft guns and more than 20 Maxim anti-aircraft machine guns. After passing After rectification, the anti-aircraft fire network was re-arranged near Xiaguan Pier.

Although these anti-aircraft artillery units are mixed and come from different combat units, their firepower is still quite good, and anti-aircraft guns of different calibers can form a high-low coordinated firepower configuration. The largest caliber anti-aircraft gun is a 18mm made in Sweden. Large-caliber anti-aircraft guns, followed by the German-made Flak mm anti-aircraft guns, and finally the Sulotong mm machine guns. In addition, the anti-aircraft artillery force also has a batch of Maxim heavy machine guns equipped with anti-aircraft devices, and This is not enough.

At present, due to the tenacious resistance of the defenders in the city, the Japanese troops besieging the walls of Jinling all encountered a setback. Therefore, the threat from the ground near Xiaguan can be said to not need to be considered for the time being.

Now the real threat to the retreat of the Jinling garrison near Xiaguan is the Japanese air attack. The Japanese army sends a large number of aircraft to bomb Jinling City almost every day. Naturally, Xiaguan cannot escape. Bombers drop bombs and fighter jets strafe at low altitudes. It is a drama that must be performed every day.

Therefore, it is very difficult to cope with the firepower of the air defense forces alone.

In view of this.

General Xiao put the heavy machine gun battalion directly under the Military Police Headquarters into the battle, and the 36th Division and He Wei's special agent battalion were not idle either. The 36th Division's Jinling-made Maxim heavy machine guns equipped with anti-aircraft devices also fired Come up.

He Wei even pulled out the Sulotong machine gun equipped with the anti-aircraft device in the secret service camp.

In short, various units pieced together an anti-aircraft fire network equipped with more than 20 anti-aircraft guns and more than 50 machine guns. They had to fight to the death with Japanese aircraft every day.

When the anti-aircraft battle was at its most intense, the sky was filled with dense white round clouds of bullets fired by more than 20 anti-aircraft guns, and the ground was filled with colorful tracer bullets fired by more than 50 machine guns. It was both tragic and spectacular at the same time.

He Wei, who was standing under the city wall of Yijiangmen and looking around Xiaguan, had just finished an air defense battle. In today's anti-aircraft battle, He Wei alone destroyed a small three-thousand-round seven-nine-caliber missile. Machine gun bullets.

The high-intensity anti-air combat in the past few days made He Wei's body, which had not fully recovered, feel extremely exhausted. The continuous anti-air shooting made He Wei's arms very sore. Of course, the hard work was not in vain. He had personally He shot down a Japanese Type 96 fighter jet that was strafing at low altitude, marking his first aerial kill since time travel.

Looking at the Xiaguan Pier under the setting sun, at the Jinling City soaked in blood, and at the hundreds of thousands of people waiting to cross the river, He Wei didn't feel that this tiredness was nothing. All his hard work The efforts are all worth it. In the past few days, at least 70,000 to 80,000 people have been able to cross the river. As long as we persist, even one more person can be rescued, even if it takes one day or one night.

When he thought of this, the fatigue and aches in He Wei's body were wiped away.

After returning home, He Wei slowly walked towards the hidden area under the city wall.

In the hidden department, the messenger Tao Heiwa saw He Wei coming back and immediately smiled. He opened a few lunch boxes placed on the empty ammunition boxes and said to He Wei: "Battalion Commander, the food is ready. Come and eat quickly. There are some lunch boxes today." Scrambled eggs and braised pork.”

"Have all the brothers eaten?"

He Wei asked.

Tao Heiwa laid out the food, took out a few bottles of Zhengguanghe soda, and said happily: "Battal Commander, don't worry, the food has been delivered."

Several lunch boxes contained yellow and orange scrambled eggs, stewed pork and white rice. Smelling the aroma of the food, He Wei suddenly felt hungry and was about to feast. Suddenly, a car from the gendarmerie arrived. He drove over quickly and stopped next to He Wei's military off-road vehicle. Immediately, an officer from the military police got out of the car and ran towards He Wei with a solemn expression. Seeing such a scene, He Wei's first reaction was that he was here to send battle reports to various units?

In the past few days, the Japanese army's attacks are usually concentrated during the day, and after dark, the Japanese army automatically stopped large-scale attacks. The reason is naturally that the night is not conducive to the heavy firepower of the Japanese army, and at the same time, the Chinese army does not dare to fire automatic firepower during the day. and a small amount of artillery fire would also be fired at night.

Therefore, the Japanese army will basically not launch an attack at night. The battle mode of both sides is basically that the Japanese army will attack crazily during the day. When it gets dark, the Japanese army will stop large-scale attacks, while the Chinese army will use various methods that they dare not dare during the day. Easily fire firearms shots and initiate certain counterattacks.

Basically, if the Chinese army can defend the positions on the city wall until dark, then the day will be considered successful. As long as it persists until dark, it means that Jinling City can be defended for one more day.

Therefore, basically as soon as it gets dark, the troops defending the city will summarize the day's battle conditions and losses into battle reports and submit them to the garrison headquarters in the city, and the garrison headquarters will also forward a copy of these battle reports to General Xiao's gendarmerie commander department.

Therefore, He Wei could basically see the battle report as soon as it got dark every day. Sometimes he would go to the command post in the tunnel to see it in person, and sometimes General Xiao would send someone to deliver it.

It was now around four o'clock in the afternoon, and it was getting dark soon. When He Wei saw a familiar military police officer approaching, his first reaction was that he was here to deliver a battle report, but soon He Wei realized that something was not quite right. Not only did the military police officer not take the battle report, but his face was even more panicked. But as soon as He Wei came up to meet him, the military police officer said eagerly: "Batalion Commander He, General Xiao is looking for you. Something happened!"

So, He Wei, who was confused, quickly rushed to the military police command post in the tunnel and saw the extremely dejected General Xiao. At the same time, he learned an extremely shocking news from General Xiao, that is, a few days ago He Wei's reminder to General Xiao actually came true.

Just over half an hour ago, the garrison headquarters located in the city suddenly sent someone to Xiaguan to issue an order, saying that the garrison headquarters was preparing to retreat and that Xiaguan was required to immediately prepare a ferry across the river and arrange for the people from the garrison headquarters to cross the river. River.

At the same time, troops need to be dispatched from here to the city to pick up the people from the garrison headquarters.

After He Wei learned the sudden news, he was shocked and speechless. What the hell happened?

The garrison headquarters is about to retreat inexplicably?

When He Wei was about to ask General Xiao about the cause and effect of the matter, General Xiao, who was extremely depressed, just asked He Wei to take people to escort the garrison headquarters to retreat as soon as possible, and then tell him in detail after the mission was completed.

At this time, He Wei was even more confused, but he could only go on the mission first. Jinling City was in chaos now. There were not only common people, but also rebels, and even Japanese spies and traitors who had infiltrated from the city to Xiaguan Wharf. The road is probably not smooth.

The garrison headquarters did not have any units that could act as security forces, so they had to go to the military police and ask for protection from the military police. However, the military police could not spare any manpower to protect the people in the garrison headquarters.

Therefore, General Xiao can only hand over the matter to He Wei's special agent camp, and General Xiao also said that He Wei only needs to serve as a guard and escort, and does not need to directly contact the people and officers of the garrison headquarters. All were handed over to the accompanying military police officers.

He Wei still couldn't figure out what was going on with the sudden retreat of the garrison headquarters, so he could only carry out the escort mission that fell from the sky in a daze.

He Wei quickly led the first and second infantry companies of the special agent battalion, as well as four military police officers responsible for liaison, and drove in in dozens of cars.

Not long after, He Wei and the others saw more than a hundred officers and soldiers wearing white armbands with the word "Garrison" written on them at a nearby street intersection. The accompanying military police officer immediately got out of the car to contact him, and soon confirmed that this was the commander of the garrison. Ministry of people.

After confirming the real owner, a dozen empty trucks following the special agent battalion troops immediately drove over and began loading people from the garrison headquarters.

He Wei didn't need to come into contact with the people at the garrison headquarters, so he didn't get out of the car, and he didn't even say half a sentence to the personnel of the highest command organization of the Jinling Defense War. He Wei just watched, sitting in his Mercedes-Benz military vehicle. these people.

The group of people in the garrison headquarters belong to a typical command organization. Only half of the more than 100 people are soldiers, and the rest are officers. There are also officers at the level of colonel and major general, and low-level officers like second lieutenant and lieutenant. There are even more staff officers.

While watching these people boarding the train, He Wei saw, as expected, General Tang, the Commander-in-Chief of the Jinling Garrison, surrounded by many school-level officers like stars holding the moon.

I saw Commander Tang wearing a yellow woolen military coat with a woolen military uniform underneath. Several buttons below the collar were not buttoned. He wore a red and green duck down nightcap on his head, with a colorful The knotted hat, a cigarette in his mouth, his clothes, and his appearance made the already confused He Wei feel a little more stunned and speechless.

After all the personnel of the garrison headquarters had boarded, He Wei immediately ordered the return trip.

The convoy then returned to the original route. There was no danger or accident along the way. It was a safe journey.

The convoy drove out of the city along the Yijiang Gate, and under the guidance of the military police, drove directly to Xiaguan Pier. At this time, three large ferries were parked near the pier of Xiaguan Pier.

As a result, He Wei, who was originally confused and confused, witnessed all the personnel of the Jinling Defense War command organization, headed by Chief Tang, the commander of the garrison headquarters, boarding three ferries.

After everyone had boarded, the three ferries also set sail one after another, heading towards Pukou opposite Xiaguan at an extremely fast speed.

In this way, He Wei watched in confusion as the command organization of the Jinling Defense Battle left Jinling, leaving behind a whole city of defenders and civilians.

General Tang also demonstrated to He Wei what it means to "cross the river with a reed."

(End of this chapter)