I am Jiang Weiguo in World War II

On December 13, 12 days after the outbreak of the Battle of Nanjing, the Japanese army that attacked Nanjing suffered a total of more than 13 casualties, of which more than 5.5 were killed or died of serious injuries. The cumulative casualties of the Nanjing Army defending the city were about 3.4. Ten thousand people, of which about 2.1 were killed in battle and died of injuries.

Affected by the slow progress and huge losses of the Japanese army in the Nanjing War, the puppet regime "Provisional Government of the Republic of China", which was supported and controlled by the Japanese military and originally planned to be established in Beiping on December 12, had to be "suspended and postponed". .

The main reason why the Japanese high-level officials did this was that the Japanese army failed to capture Nanjing. At this time, the establishment of a puppet government would be in an embarrassing situation. In addition, there is another important reason. , thoroughly angered the Chiang Kai-shek regime, and led to the complete severing of the hope of a truce through peace talks between Japan and China.”

On December 12th, after a day’s rest, the Japanese army stormed Zijin Mountain again, and fought fiercely for a whole day. The Japanese army once again killed and injured more than 15 people, and did not achieve any valuable results at all. The Nanjing Army guarding Zijin Mountain only suffered more than [-] casualties. The battle loss ratio was as high as one to six, setting the highest record after the war between China and Japan.

The Japanese tried to set fire to the mountain during the battle, but there were almost no trees on the mountain.

On December 12, the Japanese army tried to bypass Zijin Mountain and went to the engineering school on the southwestern flank of Zijin Mountain. They tried to take the engineering school, cross the moat, and enter Nanjing through Guanghua Gate.

The Nanjing army guarding the local area abandoned the engineering school, and then retreated into the north bank of the moat river to resist tenaciously. When they saw a large number of Japanese troops being attracted to the south bank of the moat river, the defenders quickly called the Zijinshan artillery group for artillery reinforcement.

After a volley of artillery fire, [-] Japanese soldiers were covered in artillery fire.

12月17日、18日、19日、20日，日军绞尽脑汁地使用不同方式对紫金山展开十多场攻击，全部遭到挫败，累计死伤近4000人。

The Zijin Mountain artillery group showed great power in these battles, condescendingly covering the area with artillery fire. The "Chinese Heroes Daily" reported, "After the heavy artillery group on the top of the mountain fired a volley, the gold and stone were cracked, the ground was scorched earth, and people were pulverized."

From the end of the war to December 12th, after 20 days and nights of bloody battles, the Japanese army that attacked Nanjing had a total of about 6.9 casualties, of which about 3.8 were killed in battle or died of serious injuries. The cumulative casualties were about 2.5, of which about 1.2 were killed in battle and died of serious injuries.

In this regard, Japan's "Asahi Shimbun" lamented: "Zijinshan, a Chinese hill, is as well-known in Japan as Mount Fuji.

In order to capture this hill with a height of only 449 meters, tens of thousands of soldiers of the Imperial Army sacrificed their lives and spilled blood, flesh and mud, which is even worse than the battle for the 203 highland in the Battle of Lushun during the Russo-Japanese War.

'Purple Gold Mountain', what a hateful and sad place, these three nightmarish words are written on the death notices of the imperial army sent back to Japan, it blocks the world like the Himalayas Followed the advance of the imperial army Buwei on the capital of China.

Shout out!Where is General Nogi Nozomi now?Where is General Kodama Gentaro now? "

The Battle of Nanjing continued until this time, and the battle situation was still that the Nanjing Army had the upper hand and the initiative. Even, the voice of "giving up on attacking Nanjing" appeared in the top Japanese.

Chapter 266 War City (6)

On the bridge of the light cruiser Ninghai, the flagship of the Yangtze River Fleet of the Chinese Navy, the commander of the fleet held up the binoculars solemnly with the expression of Vice Admiral Ding.

Zeng Yiding saw that on the wild land outside the city, ant-like Japanese troops were rushing towards the Nanjing Army's positions again and again in different places. Where the two armies collided, bullets and flames shone like numbness, and clouds of smoke were pulled out like black giant trees. Rising from the ground, the most eye-catching thing is the majestic Zijin Mountain. Dazzling white lights shot up one after another from the bare mountain. Waves of heavy shells roared out from different places on the mountain like a hurricane, shocking people. The sky-shaking shock wave made the sky over Nanjing city resound like a tsunami and thunderous sound waves. The unbearable corpses of the Japanese soldiers flew all over the sky in the tornado-like air waves.

After putting down the binoculars, Zeng ordered loudly: "Go forward! We must break through the Japanese firepower network!"

With the rumble of the river and the hunting of military flags, the only remaining four ships of the Yangtze River Fleet, Ninghai, Pinghai, Yixian and Datong, covered more than 20 transport ships bravely riding the wind and waves from the river section of Dashengguan in the upper reaches of Nanjing City, rushing to the The downstream Xiaguan Wharf in Nanjing City.

Nine-tenths of Nanjing City are on the south bank of the Yangtze River, and one-tenth is on the north bank of the Yangtze River (that is, Pukou District). Group of air shipping, one is the Yangtze River waterway shipping.

Dashengguan is located in the southwesternmost part of the Jiangnan area of ​​Nanjing City, standing on the bank of the Yangtze River, and its location is isolated. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Dashengguan was one of the main ports and military fortresses of Nanjing City. In the period of the Republic of China, The value has been reduced, but it was put on again in the battle of Nanjing and became one of the "two fortresses in the south and north of the city" in the Nanjing city defense fortifications (the fortress in the south of the city is the fortress of Dashengguan, and the fortress in the north of the city is the fortress of Wulongshan).

The Dashengguan Fortress served the Yangtze River waterway just like the Pukou District. The Pukou District ensured that the Japanese army would not block the Yangtze River in the north of the Yangtze River, and the Dasheng Pass ensured that the Japanese army would not block the Yangtze River in the south of the Yangtze River.

The Yangtze River Fleet, which sailed to the river section near Dasheng Pass, immediately burst into thunder, and bombarded the Japanese army besieging Dasheng Pass with overwhelming naval gunfire. Two transport ships docked and sent a large amount of weapons and ammunition to the defenders of Dasheng Pass. , food supplies, and then continue to move forward and drive down to the dock.

Because the Japanese army paid more and more attention to deploying anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft machine guns to intercept the Chinese Air Force transport planes entering and leaving Nanjing, it is no exaggeration to say that the Yangtze River is the blood vessel of Nanjing.

"Stop them! Stop the fleet of the Chinese Army!" Lieutenant General Yanagawa Heisuke, commander of the Japanese Third Army in Jiangbei, and Lieutenant General Hata Junliu, commander of the Japanese Fourth Army in Jiangnan, were very anxious after seeing this scene. They knew very well that the Yangtze River The Chinese naval fleet on board was transporting weapons and supplies to the defenders of Nanjing City.

The Japanese army in the north and south of the Yangtze River hastily mobilized artillery units to shell the Chinese naval fleet on the Yangtze River. The four ships of Ninghai quickly fired back without showing any weakness. On the land on both sides of the strait, raging fires, flying sand and rocks.

Amidst the deafening sound of cannons, the powerful shock waves from the naval guns ejected from the chambers shook the river surface around the four ships of the Ninghai to turbulent waves, turbulent waves, and even pushed away arc-shaped three-dimensional water walls. , Thunderbolt again and again, waves of naval artillery shells pierced the Yangtze River and swept towards the Japanese land artillery positions. In the midst of lightning and thunder, the Japanese artillery was blown into pieces of broken copper and iron, and surrounded by the artillery. The Japanese artillery was even more bloody and bloody, and the same lightning flashed and thundered on the Yangtze River. The Japanese artillery shells continued to fall like hailstones. In the event of a fire, or even a violent explosion, the transport ships were all civilian ships, their defenses were weak, and most of the ships were loaded with munitions, so even if they were hit by a single shell, they would suffer a near-destructive blow.

The Min'an ship belonging to the Minsheng Company has a displacement of 1500 tons and is loaded with 800 tons of ammunition, half of which are gun bullets and half of which are artillery shells. After the ship was hit by a shell from the Japanese army, it exploded like a thunderbolt from the blue sky. , the whole ship turned into a massive ball of fire on the Yangtze River, the whole ship was smashed into pieces and turned into countless burning fragments flying all over the sky, and the shock wave of the big explosion even pushed away a circle of more than one meter on the Yangtze River. The high three-dimensional water wall almost overturned several nearby ships with hundreds of tons, and none of the more than 300 crew members and escort soldiers on the whole ship survived.

Another ship, Minsu, which also belongs to Minsheng Company, has a displacement of 1200 tons and is loaded with more than 20 artillery pieces, most of which are imported heavy mortars, including four howitzers. There are also hundreds of shells on board. During the fierce battle, The Folklore was hit by a shell from the Japanese army, and the captain was killed on the spot. The shell exploded and caused a fire, which quickly spread to the cabin. Jiang escaped, and the boatswain Long Haiyun shouted: "Brothers! Don't run! Put out the fire! There are cannons used by the Nanjing Army to fight devils on board! We can't give up!" The artillery was desperate, and no one jumped into the river to escape. In the end, the fire detonated the shells on the ship, and the Folklore, like the Min'an, turned into a big fireball that rose from the river and went straight to the sky. It was wiped out in the explosion, and none of the more than 230 crew members and escort soldiers on board survived.

"Send a telegram to the Zijin Mountain Artillery Group!" Zeng Yiding calmly ordered amidst the fire and smoke, "Send them the precise location coordinates of the Japanese land artillery positions! Let them help us! Quick!"

At this time, the fleet had entered the range of the Zijin Mountain artillery group. After receiving the telegram from the Yangtze River Fleet, more than a dozen heavy artillery located in the southern part of Zijin Mountain changed their firing directions, including two naval guns. Roaring and roaring, the place where the bullet fell was cracked. After a violent bombardment, the Japanese army lost three artillery brigades and more than 50 cannons. The commander of the 9th Artillery Regiment of the 9th Division He was killed on the spot during the artillery battle. A large-caliber heavy artillery shell from Zijin Mountain happened to fall less than five meters away from him, causing him to die instantly without a trace. After searching for a long time in the large bomb crater with a diameter of more than 20 meters, I did not find a single hair of Chief Changqin.

After this Yangtze River artillery battle, the number of Japanese casualties on the Nanjing battlefield officially exceeded 7.

Forced by the invincible power of the Zijinshan artillery group of the Nanjing Army, the Japanese army had to give up artillery interception, and all the artillery went silent, watching the Chinese Navy's Yangtze River Fleet enter the Nanjing urban area and arrive at the Xiaguan Wharf under their noses.

Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Yoshisuke, head of the 9th Division, wrote in his combat diary that night with deep hatred and anger: "...the artillery positions set up on the mountain, such as the Zijin Mountain Artillery Group of the Nanjing Army, caused serious damage to the Imperial Army. Inflicting unprecedented and unimaginable suffering, these hilltop artillery groups relied on the absolute advantage of being commanding, and bombarded the imperial army almost unscrupulously and without hesitation, and the imperial army was completely helpless against it.

Whether it is the enemy's ground personnel or enemy ships, as long as they enter within a radius of ten kilometers from Zijin Mountain, it is enough to be safe, because the imperial army is completely passively beaten within this great circle with Zijin Mountain as the center and a radius of ten kilometers. , the troops could not even assemble a brigade-level force to launch an attack. As long as the number of the imperial army was more than [-] and it was relatively dense, [-]% of them would be hit by the artillery shells dropped from the sky by the Nanjing army. The army is either dead or wounded.

In general, if the difficulty of attacking Nanjing is one hundred, then at least seventy are caused by the enemy's mountaintop artillery group.

...When the imperial army captures Nanjing, the enemy artillery personnel must be completely killed, and the massacre must be exhausted. We must not leave a single prisoner alive, so as to vent our hatred and comfort the countless heroic souls of the imperial army who died at their hands !"

Although the naval fleet that arrived at Xiaguan Wharf for the first time for supply and reinforcement suffered a lot of losses, a total of 5 ships were sunk and many ships were injured, they still brought extremely valuable ordnance to the Nanjing Army. The most important thing is to bring more than 200 artillery pieces, most of which are medium-caliber infantry artillery and heavy mortars, and a small part are howitzers. war).

These weapons were bought by Jiang Weiguo from Germany, Italy, France and other countries, and then smuggled into southwestern China through Southeast Asian smuggling channels, then shipped to Wuhan, and finally shipped to Nanjing via the Yangtze River.

In addition to the artillery, there were thousands of shells, which cost Jiang Weiguo tens of millions of dollars in banknotes.

In addition to artillery and shells, the fleet also brought a large number of important materials such as medical medicines, surgical equipment, gasoline fuel, etc., which were the most urgently needed things for the Nanjing Army to persist in fighting.

Cai Zhonghu, Peng Mengji, Huang Guoshu, Wang Yecheng and other artillery officers were all elated. With so many cannons and shells added at once, they could naturally bombard the Japanese army more happily.

"Thank you for your hard work!" Tang Shengzhi and Zeng Yiding shook hands tightly.

"Soldier duty, what a hard job!" Zeng Yiding said with a smile, "Our navy, like your army, shoulders the responsibility of fighting to the death for the country!"

"Take care!" When the fleet was preparing to return to Wuhan, Tang Shengzhi, Xiao Shanling, Jiang Weiguo and others bid farewell to Zeng Yiding and other naval officers and soldiers.

"It's the same with you, we will see you again!" Zeng Yiding looked bright, "You can fight at ease! We will continue to send you supplies!"

When the two sides were talking, the sailors in the fleet were throwing a large number of mines into the Yangtze River.

Each ship in the fleet carried thousands of mines in addition to the ordnance supplies for the Nanjing Army.

After the fleet arrived at the Xiaguan Wharf, they threw mines into the Yangtze River while unloading supplies. After falling into the water, the mines would float down the river to Zhenjiang, Changzhou, Wuxi, Jiangyin and other sections of the river.

For the Chinese army, the Yangtze River waterway above the Nanjing Xiaguan Wharf is useful, and no mines can be thrown, but below the Xiaguan Wharf, it is useless. From Shanghai to Jiangyin to Nanjing, this section of the Yangtze River waterway cannot be used by the Japanese army. Use, so throw as many mines as possible.

"If the battleships and cruisers of the Imperial Navy can sail to Nanjing, how can these broken ships of the Chinese Army be so rampant!" Seeing the Chinese Navy's Yangtze River Fleet leaving Nanjing and returning to Wuhan after completing its mission, Lieutenant General Yanagawa and other Japanese troops The generals were all so angry that their stomach hurts and their teeth hurt from hatred.

"The only best solution for the Imperial Army to destroy the Zijin Mountain Artillery Group is that the heavy warships of the Imperial Navy can sail to the Yangtze River waters near Nanjing to carry out devastating artillery strikes!" Admiral Matsui and others researched and studied, and finally came to the conclusion After reaching this conclusion, General Matsui repeatedly called Lieutenant General Shigeji Suematsu, the commander of the 114th Division in charge of the matter, to urge him: "Division Commander Suematsu, how long will it take you to clear the Jiangyin Waterway?"

Lieutenant General Suematsu complained on the phone: "Your Excellency, I have tried my best, but... the difficulty is too great! The Jiangyin Waterway has almost been filled by the Chinese people! The task of our division now is simply to dig a new one on the flat ground. Come to Jiangyin Waterway!"

Lieutenant General Suematsu is indeed not looking for excuses. The 1200-meter-wide waterway of the Yangtze River in the Jiangyin area has been blocked by Chinese soldiers and civilians. Lieutenant General Suematsu specially invited a group of water conservancy experts, shipping experts, and survey experts from Japan. After a period of After a week of repeated surveys, it was finally determined that "China's military and civilians dumped more than 1.7 tons of rocks, sank more than 130 hulks, and dropped more than 1500 mines in the Jiangyin waterway."

Lieutenant General Suematsu asked the experts: "Can the Jiangyin Waterway be dredged within two weeks?" The experts shook their heads and said, "Two months are not enough!"

A survey expert said to Lieutenant General Suematsu: "The water level of the Yangtze River in Jiangyin is relatively shallow, with a water depth of about 11 meters to 14 meters. The draft of the battleships of the Imperial Navy is about 8 meters to 10 meters (the draft of Nagato 9.5 meters), if according to your requirements, all battleships can pass through Jiangyin, then all the boulders and shipwrecks at the bottom of Jiangyin must be removed.

This is a huge project that will take a very long time.

According to divers' reports, the Jiangyin waterway is almost full of boulders and shipwrecks, look..." He pointed to the water surface of the Yangtze River not far away, and there were even a dozen "small islands" on the water surface, all of which had sunk into the Yangtze River Because there are too many stones piled up, it forms a "small island", and even birds build their nests on it, "Your Excellency, this matter is really urgent!"

Lieutenant General Suematsu smiled wryly: "Can't you be in a hurry? The imperial army's attack on Nanjing is already extremely urgent!" What did he think of, "Don't worry! You don't have a problem with how much labor you need! My troops can 'recruit' enough The Chinese people come to work!" The meaning behind his words was very clear.

A shipping expert said to Lieutenant General Suematsu: "It is absolutely impossible for manpower to salvage the huge rocks and sunken ships at the bottom of the water. It is necessary to transfer special salvage ships, cranes and other heavy equipment from the mainland of the empire, and manipulating the salvage ships, cranes and other heavy equipment is a must. Professional technicians are needed!"

Lieutenant General Mo Song had to scratch his head in anxiety.

It was Ishihara Wanji who solved this problem.

Because he strongly opposed the attack on Nanjing and was criticized for it, and was deeply pessimistic about the attack on Nanjing and was deeply anxious about the various negative strategic effects of the attack on Nanjing. He was not very willing to make suggestions, so he was sent by General Matsui to Jiangyin to "supervise the work".

After listening to Lieutenant General Suematsu's complaints, Ishihara Wanji looked at Lieutenant General Suematsu up and down with the eyes of a fool, and then said with disdain: "Would you not send divers to dive into the bottom of the water and use explosives to blow up the boulder sunken ship into pieces?"

Lieutenant General Mo Song suddenly opened his mind and suddenly realized.

Immediately, the surface of the Yangtze River near Jiangyin was submerged in the towering water column and waves breaking through the clouds.

A large number of Japanese divers carried explosives to the bottom of the water and carried out underwater blasting. It took a full week to blow up the larger sunken ships and boulders under the water surface. Then, tens of thousands and the number increased day by day with the passage of time. The laborers were ordered to go into the water "to scoop up sundries and clear the waterway."

These workers are naturally Chinese civilians in Jiangyin and nearby areas.

Under the orders of Lieutenant General Suematsu, the 114th Division raided Jiangyin and nearby areas in Jingjiang, Changzhou, Wuxi, Changshu, and Zhangjiagang. The synonym of "recruitment" is kidnapping, and in the process of "recruiting" labor, the officers and soldiers of the 114th Division committed a large number of crimes such as burning, killing, rape, and robbery.

At first, many Chinese civilians refused to serve the Japanese army. Lieutenant General Suematsu ordered that "the war in Nanjing is urgent and cannot be delayed. Those who resist and do not cooperate will be executed in public, so as to make an example and deter the Chinese people." Therefore, a large number of Chinese civilians were killed by the Japanese army. As soon as the opening of the crime is opened, other crimes such as rape, plunder, sabotage, etc. will naturally appear and increase sharply. The 114th Division is also one of the perpetrators of the Nanjing Massacre. Although it is not as "outstanding" as the 6th and 16th Divisions, it is also full of crimes. This division was ordered to attack Yuhuatai. After they fled alone, they believed the division's lure to surrender and surrendered to it. As a result, the division immediately went back on its word after taking Yuhuatai and launched a massacre of surrendering national army officers and soldiers. On the first day alone, 1354 surrendered soldiers were killed. National Army officers and soldiers.

).

Relying on such brutal methods, in just two days, the 114th Division "recruited" more than 3 migrant workers.

In order to trick Chinese migrant workers into working, the Japanese army falsely claimed that "wages will be paid after the waterway is unblocked", and at the same time announced that "migrant workers participating in the project will provide their own food and clothing." In other words, the Japanese army did not even care about the food for the migrant workers.

Under the threat of Japanese bayonets, the migrant workers went directly into the water or drove fishing boats to salvage underwater stones and sundries. They worked day and night for more than [-] hours a day. The labor intensity was extremely high and the danger was high. Medical care and safety guarantees, not even nutrition guarantees, migrant workers soaked in water almost day and night. Once they slowed down their work, they were immediately beaten or even shot by the Japanese army on the grounds of "stealing, rape and trickery". Shooting and killing, because of exhaustion, hunger, disease, poor working conditions, and brutal beatings by the Japanese army, a large number of workers died every day from exhaustion, starvation, disease, drowning, and torture. It is better to die. The sick and injured laborers did not receive any medical treatment. They were regarded as "scrap products" by the Japanese army and were driven away to fend for themselves. Those who begged for wages were shot and killed.

The Yangtze River was full, and the banks of the Yangtze River were filled with the corpses of the murdered workers. Under the unbearable, some workers rose up to resist, and some escaped quietly.

After receiving the report, Lieutenant General Suematsu ordered to "recruit" laborers with family members and control their families. Once any laborers were found to resist or escape, they would directly kill their family members.

Since the Chinese Navy deployed a large number of mines in the Jiangyin area, and continued to drop mines from the upper reaches of Nanjing, the Japanese army forced the migrant workers to form a "mine-sweeping team". superior.

The Jiangyin River section is 1200 meters wide. The Japanese army set up several "mine-sweeping teams" on the river. Each team consisted of nearly a hundred small boats filled with migrant workers. When the mines came down, the migrant workers were ordered to drive the boats to pull the mines to the shore, and a large number of migrant workers were killed by the mines.

Relying on this inhumane method, the Japanese army achieved great "success", dredging the Jiangyin waterway bit by bit.

Chapter 267 War City (7)

Nanjing Edition "Chinese Heroes Daily" General Issue No. 021:

December 26, 21, Republic of China, December 21, [-] AD

Headline headlines:

Generalissimo Chiang visited the wounded soldiers' hospitals of the Nanjing Army today, cordially visiting and expressing condolences to the soldiers who were wounded for the country;

The Yangtze River Fleet of our Navy braved the Japanese army's artillery firepower, bravely entered the Xiaguan Wharf, and sent a large number of ordnance;

Colonel Joseph Stilwell, the U.S. military attache in China, visited the bunker fortress of our army’s Zijin Mountain position. He was full of praise for the fortress, claiming that this fortress alone is enough to resist a division of the Japanese army.

At this time, Joseph Stilwell was not only the military attache of the United States stationed in China, but also the head of the newly established Sino-Japanese War Observation and Intelligence Group in the United States. He was responsible for reporting the progress of the Sino-Japanese War to the U.S. government in a timely manner. Stilwell, who was not in Nanjing, had a very high enthusiasm, and he himself had a strong interest in the Sino-Japanese War. He was not in Nanjing, and he specially took a transport plane into Nanjing.

"If I miss such a classic and significant battle, I will definitely regret it for the rest of my life!" Stilwell said enthusiastically after getting off the plane.