Devil's Army

The reason why Leng Feng arranged the first regiment in Anqing was because behind Anqing was the famous Ma'an Fortress.

The Madang Fortress, which was originally planned to hold out for three months, fell after only a few days due to the inaction of the government forces.

Madang Fortress is located in Madang Town, Pengze County, Jiangxi Province. The Yangtze River flows here and is divided into two by a sandbar. The waterway on the left is narrow and blocked, while the waterway on the right flows through the foot of Madang Mountain, with the narrowest point being no more than 500 meters.

At that time, the government army hired German consultants to set up three mine defense lines in the Yangtze River waterway, set up 35 artificial reefs, sunk 49 ships, and laid 1765 mines to form a dam-like blockade line.

At that time, the Madang Fortress had three artillery batteries, eight 120mm naval guns, two 150mm howitzers, three 20mm machine guns, eight 75mm field guns and eight 47mm naval guns removed from naval ships.

Such an artillery density was equivalent to the number of artillery pieces of the two army groups that were short of artillery at the time. Moreover, the entire government army had only 48 150mm howitzers, and the Madang Fortress had two of them.

When the First Regiment of the First Brigade went to Anqing for reinforcement, Leng Feng, who was well versed in history, had already warned the commander of the First Regiment to pay attention to the Japanese troops in Congyang County, and also to be aware that the 146th Division of the Sichuan Army would be defeated and retreat.

The commander of the 146st Brigade of the First Anti-Japanese Army, who had talked with the commander of the 872th Division of the Sichuan Army and the commander of the 146nd Regiment at the time, heard that the 146th Division of the Sichuan Army was determined to hold Anqing, and he did not believe that they would be defeated and retreat soon. But the words of the commander were orders. He reminded the commander of the th Division of the Sichuan Army to pay attention to the Japanese landing from the direction of Congyang County.

The battle unfolded just as Lao Lengfeng had predicted.

On June 6, it was pouring rain, which was not conducive to combat. However, the Japanese Army's Hata Detachment, led by Major General Hata Shigekazu, raided Congyang County and fired the first shot of the Battle of Wuhan.

Yang Sen's 27th Division of the 146th Army of the Sichuan Army did not pay attention to the intelligence provided by a regiment commander and was successfully landed by the Japanese Hata Detachment from Congyang County.

The Sichuan Army, which had always been good at fighting, quickly lost the outskirts of Anqing City under the fierce bombing of the Hata Squadron's navy and army.

At this time, the Japanese 26th Division had broken through Xu Yuanquan's 146th Army's defense line, and the Sichuan Army's th Division was in danger of being attacked from both sides by the Japanese Army.

As soon as Anqing City fell, the outskirts of the Madang Fortress were exposed to the attack of the Japanese army.

The Nanjing leader was furious and ordered Yang Sen's Sichuan Army 27th Army to recapture Anqing. But Yang Sen disagreed and told the leader: The 26th Army cannot stop the attack of the Japanese 6th Division. Our flanks are no longer safe and it is impossible to recapture Anqing.

The commander of a brigade originally planned to build three artillery positions in the woods, cut down trees between each artillery position, and pave a path that could accommodate a truck to facilitate the transfer of trucks towing artillery.

Unexpectedly, Anqing fell on the same day. Now the war situation has changed suddenly. The Japanese army has landed in Congyang County in the rain as Commander Leng expected, occupied Anqing City, and approached the Madang Fortress. It is meaningless for them to stay here alone.

The commander of a regiment asked Leng Feng for instructions on the next combat mission.

Leng Feng instructed him to move closer to the Xiangkou defense line of Madang Fortress and support the government forces in defending the Xiangkou position.

After receiving the order, the regiment commander immediately moved towards the Xiangkou position of the Madang Fortress.

After occupying Anqing City, the Japanese Army's Hata Detachment left part of its troops to garrison Anqing City, while the other troops quickly advanced towards the Xiangkou position.

When the regiment commander was turning towards the Xiangkou position, he encountered the flank troops of the Japanese Army's Hata Detachment which was also heading towards the Xiangshan position, and a fierce battle ensued between the two sides.

What surprised Major General Shigeichi Hata was that the other side was also using Japanese weapons.

It was raining heavily now. In order to avoid accidentally injuring friendly forces, Major General Hata ordered to stop shooting and immediately asked for confirmation from the headquarters.

However, the Japanese Hata Detachment stopped shooting, but the soldiers of a regiment did not stop shooting.

The captain of the first squadron of the Hata detachment, which was responsible for defending the flank, shouted to the soldiers of the first regiment, but the first regiment did not respond. The Japanese army could only continue to fight back.

Soon, the Japanese command replied: At present, except for their Hata detachment, the command has not sent other troops to attack Anqing City. And according to Major General Hata's description, the troops fighting against them are most likely the devil troops.

Although Hata Shigekazu had never fought against the Devil Army, he had heard of this army many times and immediately ordered his troops to block them.

The Hata Detachment was a force from Taiwan. Hata Shigekazu arranged the 1st Infantry Regiment to block the attack of the Devil's Force. A part of the 2nd Infantry Regiment with more than 800 people attacked the Xiangkou position downstream of the Ma'an Fortress.

Commander Li Yunheng, the supreme commander of the Dangcunma Fortress, was keen on training his subordinates.

He ordered that all commanders of platoon level and above must attend the graduation ceremony of the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University on June 6.

After receiving a secret report from a traitor hidden in the Madang Fortress, Captain Shigeichi Hata of the Hata Detachment of the Japanese Army ordered the 2nd Regiment to launch an attack on the Xiangkou position on the 24th.

Most of the commanders of the Xiangkou position also attended the graduation ceremony, which led to the collapse of the Nanjing government troops in the Xiangkou position.

The Japanese Army's Hata Detachment immediately occupied the solid Xiangkou position.

The subsequent development of the battle was also far beyond the expectations of the regiment commander.