Devil's Army

Air forces from Henan and Shandong also participated in bombing Japanese reinforcements at this time, disrupting their deployment.

Moreover, several units of the First Army, which had already recovered Shandong, were stationed on the Anhui border, ready to retake Anhui at any time.

With the consent of Commander-in-Chief Hata Shunroku, the Anhui reinforcements withdrew and returned to Anhui to prevent the Devil Force from attacking Anhui.

The Japanese troops in Hubei and Zhejiang continued to advance, but were constantly hindered by the New Fourth Army and bombed by the First Army Air Force, which slowed their progress.

After several days of fierce attacks, the 1st and 2nd brigades of the Southern Independent Division, although still unable to break through the defenses of the Japanese 68th and 34th Divisions, had caused the collapse of many sections of the city walls in Jiujiang County and Wuchang City.

If it weren't for the continuous stream of Japanese reinforcements arriving at the city walls, the defenses of Jiujiang County and Wuchang City would have already been breached by the Southern Independent Division.

At this time, the First Air Force launched a fierce air raid on what was suspected to be the Japanese command post in Jiujiang County and Wuchang City, throwing the Japanese command system into chaos.

Under the combined air and ground offensive of the Southern Independent Division and the First Army Air Force, Jiujiang County and Nanchang City were in grave danger.

However, the Japanese reinforcements from Zhejiang and Hubei were held back by the New Fourth Army and the air force from Shandong and Henan, and their advance was extremely slow.

The New Fourth Army's East Zhejiang Guerrilla Column in Zhejiang and the Fifth Division of the New Fourth Army in Hubei primarily engaged in guerrilla warfare against the Japanese.

This time, in order to cooperate with the Southern Independent Division in recapturing Jiujiang County and Nanchang City, they fought a brutal positional war with the Japanese army, suffering considerable casualties.

Fortunately, the air forces from Henan and Shandong provinces of the First Army came to support them from time to time, which greatly weakened the Japanese firepower, suppressed the Japanese artillery fire, and slowed down the Japanese offensive.

The 1st Regiment of the 1st Brigade of the Independent Division was responsible for attacking the north gate of Jiujiang County.

He had lost count of how many attacks he had launched against the north gate of Jiujiang County in recent days. But he knew that his first battalion had been decimated and the second battalion had also suffered significant losses.

However, the other units at the city gates also failed to break through the Japanese defenses in Jiujiang County.

Seeing the regimental commander's furrowed brow and the continuous chain of cigarettes, the deputy regimental commander volunteered:

He formed a commando team, with the regiment's artillery providing cover, and broke into the city from the left side of the collapsed city wall.

The regimental commander knew how fierce the deputy regimental commander was in battle. They had been working together since they were assigned to the same unit, sharing the same cooking duties and serving as platoon leader and deputy platoon leader.

After so many years of fighting, the two of them have come through mountains of corpses and rivers of blood together, and have risen to their current positions as regimental commander and deputy regimental commander.

But at this moment, he had a bad feeling.

At this moment, another telegram came from the brigade commander, inquiring about the progress of the battle.

Their regiment was the first unit to launch an attack on Jiujiang County.

"Commander, don't hesitate any longer."

After handing the telegram to the first regimental commander, the deputy regimental commander said...

"Be careful. After the assault team is organized, I will have artillery fire cover the Japanese city wall fortifications for 15 minutes. You can approach the city wall five minutes after the shelling begins."

The deputy regimental commander stared at the regimental commander for a moment, saluted, and turned to organize the assault team.

Once the 200-man assault team was organized, a regiment of artillery fire fiercely bombarded the Japanese fortifications on the city wall.

The Japanese troops were bombed and fled in panic, searching for cover everywhere.

Five minutes after the shelling began, a deputy regimental commander led his assault team slowly toward the city wall.

Fifteen minutes later, the shelling stopped, and a deputy regimental commander led his assault team, shouting as they charged toward the breach in the city wall.