Devil's Army

When the Japanese company commander saw the guerrillas on the water, he knew his time to make a name for himself had come, and he immediately ordered his soldiers to surround and flank them.

Upon seeing this, Captain Zhang immediately ordered his team to retreat.

When the squadron leader saw the fish trying to escape, he quickly gave chase.

The waterborne guerrillas fought and retreated, gradually leading the Japanese army to the pass of Puwang Village (southwest of Yuwang Mountain in Pizhou).

Puwang Village Pass is a complex pass consisting of a village, a river, and a narrow road, forming a natural "pocket formation".

The Japanese troops pursued the waterborne guerrillas along narrow paths.

Suddenly, intense gunfire erupted from the broken walls on both sides of the path, courtyards, and the reeds and bushes along the riverbank.

Hand grenades also exploded one after another among the Japanese soldiers.

Judging from the intense gunfire, the Japanese company commander realized that the ambush was not by the New Fourth Army, nor by guerrillas, but by the devilish force that gave them a headache.

He immediately ordered his troops to break through to the west, but the canal on the west side served as a natural barrier, and the crossings and bridges were heavily guarded by the devil's army.

The Japanese army launched several waves of attacks, but all of them resulted in heavy casualties, forcing them to retreat in frustration.

Left with no other option, the company commander turned and attempted to break through to the east.

The 1st Battalion of the 11th Brigade ambushed the Japanese troops who were rushing forward from behind a gentle slope and a broken wall on the east side of the village.

The machine guns behind the firing bunkers also fired fiercely from the side, blocking the pass.

The Japanese company commander ordered the puppet regiment commander to assign a company as the vanguard to clear the way. He then arranged for a small squad of Japanese soldiers to attack from behind.

The puppet troops charging ahead were mowed down by a barrage of machine gun fire from the First Battalion.

The puppet troops behind them buried their heads in the sand like ostriches, and no matter how much the Japanese squads behind them urged them on, they just lay on the ground and didn't move.

As a result, the exposed Japanese soldiers quickly became targets of the First Battalion's fire, and many of them perished in the intense fire.

The Japanese company commander was furious, his beard bristling and eyes bulging, but to no avail. Now was a time when manpower was crucial; could he really possibly kill all the puppet troops?

The Japanese troops' two assaults were thwarted, and the intensity of their attack had clearly weakened.

The regimental commander sounded the charge.

Soldiers from the First Army and the New Fourth Army shouted as they charged toward the Japanese and puppet troops encircling them from all sides.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the puppet army commander led the way in surrendering and was shot down by the Japanese company commander with two shots.

This caused a mutiny, and the puppet troops raised their guns and returned fire, taking down the company commander and Japanese soldiers.

After a fierce battle, the two Japanese companies that came out of Haizhou to reinforce the city were all annihilated, with none escaping.

The puppet troops suffered nearly half their casualties, and the rest all surrendered.

Having dealt with the Japanese reinforcements in Haizhou, the 11th Brigade turned its attention back to attacking Xuzhou.

Relying on the high walls of Xuzhou, the Japanese army held off an attack by nearly 5 troops from the First Army and the New Fourth Army for more than half a month.

With the 364th Brigade of the Sichuan Army attacking into Xuzhou from the west, the Japanese defense line was finally breached.

Immediately afterwards, the 11th and 12th Brigades of the First Army and the 16th Brigade of the New Fourth Army successively stormed into the city through the other three gates of Xuzhou.

After nearly a week of fierce street fighting, Xuzhou, another important city in Jiangsu, was finally recaptured.

With the recapture of Xuzhou, only Haizhou remained as a Japanese-occupied city in northern Jiangsu.

The various units of the First Army and the 16th Brigade of the New Fourth Army began to clear out the Japanese and puppet army strongholds on the outskirts of Haizhou.

At this point, Nanjing was already surrounded by enemies. If Haizhou fell as well, Commander Hata Shunroku, having lost air superiority, would be captured without resistance.

As the Battle of Haizhou was about to begin, Commander-in-Chief Hata Shunroku handed over the battle duties to Lieutenant General Shimomura, commander of the Japanese 13th Army. Under the cover of a group of trusted men, they quietly withdrew from Nanjing at midnight.