Chapter 7: The Bloody Battle of Nanjing!

  The devils finally suffered heavy losses and began to retreat.

  "Brothers, charge!" Zhang Biao yelled, hugging a light machine gun. The machine gun in his hand "rattled and rattled" fiercely at the devils! The officers and men of the Independent Regiment jumped out of the trenches one after another, chasing after the devils and beating them ruthlessly! Several machine gunners desperately fired at the devils, as if bullets were free! The artillery also started to take advantage of the situation and fired several shells into the retreating crowd of devils, blowing them up with blood and flesh flying everywhere, causing heavy casualties!

  Devil's Command Center

  Matsumoto glared, his face black with rage. The two squadron leaders responsible for the attack hung their heads in shame. "You're all incompetent fools!" Matsumoto bellowed. "We sacrificed so many brave Imperial soldiers and still failed to take the Guanghua Gate, and on top of that, we lost the ground we gained yesterday! You're all useless! I want you to retake those positions before nightfall today! If not, every single one of you will commit seppuku and apologize to His Majesty the Emperor!"

  "Commander, this time the Chinese army is much more cunning! Moreover, they have anti-tank guns and many infantry cannons, their firepower is even stronger than before!" a squadron leader said.

  "What's wrong with you, Lieutenant?! Slap! These are not excuses for your failed attack! The Great Imperial Japanese Army is invincible, we have never lost a battle, and we are the strongest army in the world!" Commander Matsumoto yelled, slapping the lieutenant several times.

  The corporal who was hit hastily said "Hai!"

  "Immediately organize a dare-to-die corps to recapture the lost position, quickly!"

  Hi

  ………

  Zhang Mingyu was frowning and deep in thought, commanding the troops. Zhang Haisheng said: "Commander, look quickly, the devils are attacking again!" Zhang Mingyu heard this and hastily picked up his binoculars to see that the enemy soldiers all had white cloth strips wrapped around their heads with slogans like "Long live the Emperor" written on them.

  "It seems that the devils are organizing a dare-to-die corps!" Zhang Mingyu furrowed his brow and thought deeply. "Zhang Biao"

  "Yes!" Zhang Biao thundered in response.

  "Take the guard squad and hold this position for me!" Zhang Mingyu said.

  "Right!" Zhang Biao stood up straight with a loud "pa".

  The tactical offensive of the devils has not changed for nearly ten thousand years. The infantry lined up in a scattered line under the cover of light and heavy machine gun fire, charging towards the National Army's position, but the devil's artillery did not care about the safety of the Japanese troops who were charging forward, and continued to open fire on the independent regiment's position.

  "Commander, how can these little devils continue to shell us? Don't they fear hurting their own people?" Zhang Biao hastily asked in confusion.

  "This time the vanguard is the enemy's dare-to-die corps, so the enemy doesn't care about hurting their own people. Order the troops to temporarily hide and wait for the enemy's dare-to-die corps to approach, then concentrate on attacking their dare-to-die corps. As long as their dare-to-die corps are all killed, the enemy's artillery will not fire again!" Zhang Mingyu said decisively.

  "Yes!" Zhang Biao thundered in response.

  "Everyone hide, no order to fire......" Zhang Biao crouched and shouted as he darted back and forth in the trenches to convey orders.

  The enemy's bombardment continued, and from time to time the thunderous sound of cannons echoed in Zhang Mingyu's ears. The explosion of shells was a shockwave that splashed mud everywhere, but the officers and soldiers in the trenches were fearless, all motionless and tightly crouched in the trenches waiting for orders.

  The devil's dare-to-die corps rushed up first, and Zhang Mingyu slightly raised his head to clearly see the Japanese soldiers swarming in from over 100 meters away. He immediately raised his hand, and the officers and men who had been waiting for a long time suddenly stood up, shouldered their guns, and pulled the bolts to prepare for battle.

  Due to the enemy's bombardment, all the Japanese Kamikaze commandos could see of the National Army's position was a sea of flames and smoke, and they were unable to discern the situation on the ground.

  When the devils' dare-to-die corps entered within sixty meters, Zhang Mingyu decisively gave the order to open fire.

  The officers and men of the first, second, third companies and the guard company opened fire one after another. The light and heavy machine guns let out a muffled roar, and the dense hail of bullets suddenly poured towards the enemy like a strong wind.

  The Ghost Legion daredevil team was caught off guard and suddenly knocked down by the dense hail of bullets, these ghostly daredevils who had become extremely fanatical after suffering intense firepower, did not retreat but instead charged forward, each one howling and selling their lives even more desperately as they rushed forward, only to be met with a dense and scorching hail of bullets.

  In the midst of intense gunfire and the enemy's mournful cries, the devils were quickly slaughtered clean. A company commander who led the charge was directly shot into a sieve. The casualties on the Independent Regiment's side were less than twenty people, which could be completely ignored. After the dare-to-die squad was annihilated, the enemy's follow-up troops also rushed up, but under the brave resistance of the officers and men of the Independent Regiment, the enemy's attack was repelled again.

  After repelling the devils' attack, Zhang Mingyu led Zhang Biao and others back to their temporary command post. As soon as they entered the command post, a communications soldier rushed up with an urgent telegram in hand, stood at attention and said: "Commander! Chairman's urgent telegram!" After finishing speaking, he handed the telegram to Zhang Mingyu.

  Zhang Mingyu's expression changed slightly as he took over the telegram, hastily read it, and the content was to appoint Gui Yongqing as the acting commander-in-chief of Nanjing City Defense, while he himself was promoted to major general, deputy commander, and the independent regiment expanded into an independent division.

  Just then, Gui Yongqing arrived at Zhang Mingyu's command center with several guards, apparently he had also received Chiang Kai-shek's urgent telegram.

  After a few words, Zhang Mingyu said to Gui Yongqing: "Brother, you hurry back to the command center to direct the overall situation, and leave this place to me! Also, arrange for personnel to evacuate the civilians as soon as possible."

  "Alright, I'll hand over the command of the teaching battalion to you. Remember to leave some seeds for the teaching team!" Gui Yong said with a nod.

  "Hmm!" Zhang Mingyu nodded solemnly and said.

  Kwei Yung-ching returned to headquarters with the guards and immediately organized personnel to start evacuating civilians. The Finance Ministry's Taxation Police Corps, led by Commander Sun Li-pen, began evacuating civilians. Chiang Kai-shek, Chairman of the Military Commission in Wuhan, sent a telegram to General Ku Chu-t'ung, commander of the Third War Zone, ordering him to spare no effort in receiving the refugees from Nanking. At this time, all the defending troops in Nanking were fighting with a spirit of sacrifice and determination, holding off the Japanese army's frantic attacks.

  The Japanese army's attack was blocked, and the 10th Army of Japan, which had already invaded Wuxi, turned back to attack Nanjing. Wuxi was temporarily preserved! The Matsumoto Regiment made a desperate sacrifice, losing two companies in the process, but still managed to break through the Independent Brigade's defenses. That night, the regimental commander, Matsumoto, committed seppuku (ritual suicide). The Matsumoto Regiment merged with the Kameyama Regiment, which had an enhanced artillery company.

  The cunning Kameyama first launched a fierce artillery bombardment on the independent division's position! After the cannon fire was over, the soldiers came out of their shelters and were hit by another round of intense shelling, causing heavy casualties to the independent division! It turned out that Kameyama had figured out the pattern of the National Army: as soon as they opened fire, the National Army would hide in their shelters, and after the artillery stopped, they would run out again. The cunning Kameyama did not order the Imperial Army to charge after the artillery stopped firing, but instead ordered another round of intense shelling at the National Army's position! The unprepared National Army soldiers were heavily wounded by the sudden bombardment!

  Zhang Mingyu saw the situation and hastily ordered the messenger soldier beside him: "Immediately order the artillery to aim at the Japanese artillery position and fire, blast those sons of bitches!"

  "Yes!" The orderly stiffened with a crack and turned away immediately.

  The artillery regiment under the command of the Central Instruction Corps received the order and quickly adjusted its firing direction, fixed the firing elements, and carried out indiscriminate shelling on the enemy's artillery position. "Boom" ... Several loud explosions hit the enemy's artillery position, causing a sympathetic detonation of the enemy's shells! The enemy's 92 infantry guns and artillery were blown into the sky. Note: At that time, only the most elite Central Instruction Corps had an artillery regiment-level organization in the national army system.

  Kameda's anger boiled over as he saw his artillery being blown to pieces. He drew his command sword and shouted, "Kill them all! Advance!"

  The Japanese soldiers shouted slogans such as "Long live the Emperor" and launched an attack on the Independent Regiment's position! This time, the Japanese attack was extremely fierce, and Zhang Mingyu personally led his men to engage in a brutal hand-to-hand combat with the enemy! Both sides fought to the death, and the position outside Guanghua Gate changed hands repeatedly. Both the attacking and defending sides suffered heavy casualties, and under the intense artillery fire of the Instructional Corps, the Kameyama Brigade was severely damaged and forced to withdraw from the battle!

  The independent regiment also suffered nearly six hundred casualties! Among them were four hundred people from the original instructional corps, but the combat effectiveness of the instructional team was not to be underestimated! The soldiers who had been trained by German officers had extremely strong individual combat capabilities! During the time when the devils launched their attack, they played a key role in withstanding the enemy's fierce attacks. Zhang Mingyu and the original independent regiment warriors also won the respect of the instructional corps, every time they counterattacked, Zhang Mingyu always charged forward at the forefront, braving the hail of bullets!

  While all troops were engaged in fierce battles with the Japanese army outside Nanjing, a large-scale evacuation began within the city. Many young people and students refused to leave and asked to join the army.

  The head of the tax police team, Sun Liren, who was responsible for escorting the common people, said to the students: "You are all the future of our country. You should preserve your lives and contribute to the war effort in the future, rather than throwing them away in vain!"

  "We won't leave, we'll fight the devils with our brothers in the national army! We are men, and we will not retreat!" The students shouted loudly.

  "Classmates, be quiet! Our National Army brothers are fighting bloody battles with the devils at the front line just to buy you time to evacuate. Don't disappoint their kindness! Listen to me and hurry up to evacuate! Leave your useful body behind, and in the future, you can repay your country!" Sun Liren exhorted with a bitter mouth. Gradually, these students followed the ordinary people to evacuate in a daze.

  At this time, the reinforcement troops of the Japanese 10th Army had arrived, and its vanguard unit, the 9th Brigade, also known as the Kuki Detachment, had rushed to Xiapu Port and was fiercely fighting with the defending 36th Division.

  The 9th Route Army Temporary Headquarters.

  The commander of the expeditionary force, Guo Qizhen, saw through binoculars that Nanjing citizens were massively retreating from the city to the outside, and there were ferry boats back and forth on the Yangtze River! Guo Qizhen, this old devil, immediately ordered his troops to attack the crossing point! The 36th Division defending the crossing point immediately counterattacked, and the battle was extremely fierce.

  The enemy's planes also flew in to participate in the bombing, and the 36th division stationed at the crossing suffered heavy casualties! The enemy plane again strafed the civilians who were crossing the river at low altitude, and instantly countless civilians fell into the water with gunshot wounds, staining the river red with blood. The soldiers responsible for covering the evacuation of the civilians angrily picked up their machine guns and fired fiercely at the sky!

  "Little devils, I'll show you the power of my grandma! Come down if you dare!" A soldier cursed while sweeping his machine gun at the enemy plane.