Devil's Army

At around eight o'clock that evening, when Deputy Commander He and his men arrived at the gate of Hukou City, the gate had already been closed.

A scout had already reported to the commander of the 26th Division, Liu: There was a car coming from the direction of Anqing. There were three people in the car, and their purpose was unknown.

Deputy Regiment Commander He introduced himself and said that they were from the First Anti-Japanese Army in the Northeast and requested to see Division Commander Liu Yuqing to discuss important matters.

Liu ordered the sentry to open the city gate and bring them in, because the Japanese spies would definitely not come in so brazenly.

Deputy Commander He bowed to Commander Liu and said:

"Hello, Commander Liu. I'm He Junkai, deputy commander of the 27st Regiment, 872st Brigade, st Army of the Northeast Anti-Japanese War. I'm here to ask you for a favor on the orders of our commander." After saying that, he handed Commander Liu the telegram forwarded from the th Army of the Sichuan Army to the nd Regiment.

Liu Yuqing opened the telegram and saw that it said: The leader does want the National Revolutionary Army's Northeast First Army to send troops to reinforce the Ma'an Fortress, and your troops should cooperate.

"What do you need?" Commander Liu asked after closing the telegram and returning it to Deputy Commander He.

"My regiment has been fighting the Japanese in Anqing for several days and is running out of food, fodder and ammunition. I hope Commander Liu can help us."

"I heard that your army uses Japanese weapons, which are not compatible with our weapons?"

"We will try our best to seize weapons and ammunition from the devils. Can you help us solve the problem of food?"

"We are all Chinese soldiers fighting against the Japanese. I, Liu, should do my best to help."

“Thank you, Mr. Liu.”

"Madang Fortress is about to fall. Our regiment commander will attack the enemy's artillery positions tonight, and then he will lead the troops to Hukou. Can Commander Liu arrange accommodation for us?"

"The original plan was to hold off the Japanese for three months, but now it's lost after only a week? Deputy Commander He, please stop talking nonsense and disrupting the morale of the troops."

"I came here from the front line, and I know the military situation there best. The Japanese army's next target of attack is Hukou. Our regiment commander retreated to Hukou to stop the Japanese army's attack here."

Of course, Liu was very happy to have a strong infantry regiment to help defend Hukou. He immediately asked his adjutant to arrange for the soldiers to clean up the barracks and let the regiment of the First Anti-Japanese Army rest.

At around eight o'clock the next morning, Division Commander Liu and Deputy Regimental Commander He were discussing the battle situation at Madang Fortress in the operations room.

A sentry came running over to report: A Japanese vanguard unit towing three artillery pieces was spotted ahead.

"The Japanese army is marching so fast?" Commander Liu wondered puzzledly as he walked out of the command room with a telescope and looked outside the Hukou city wall.

Three Japanese trucks were seen dragging three Type 105 mm cannons towards Hukou, followed by hundreds of Japanese soldiers.

"Order the troops to prepare for battle." Commander Liu immediately ordered the sentry.

"Wait a moment." Deputy Regiment Commander He stopped the sentry and said to Division Commander Liu:

"When we left, the Madang Fortress had not yet been completely lost. The Japanese army could not have advanced so fast."

"What about the Japanese troops outside the city?"

"Master Liu, can I borrow your telescope?"

Commander Liu handed the telescope in his hand to Deputy Commander He.

Deputy Head He looked through the telescope for a while and said with a smile:

"Captain Liu, the devils outside the city are not devils, but our troops. When our troops were first established, supplies were extremely scarce, and the uniforms were made from confiscated Japanese uniforms. Later, we established our own uniform factory, and we continued to use this style."

Commander Liu nodded in sudden realization.

"Captain Liu, I'm going to go out and pick up our regiment leader."

"Okay, Deputy Captain He, I'll go with you."

After a while, the regiment commander saw Deputy Regiment Commander He and several people waiting for him at the gate of Hukou City, and he got out of the car quickly.

"Hello, Commander. This is Liu Yuqing, the commander of the 26th Division."

"Hello, Commander Liu!" The regiment commander saluted and said to Commander Liu.

After Commander Liu returned the salute to the regiment commander, he shook hands with the regiment commander and returned to the command room together.

"What's the situation at the Madang Fortress today?" When arriving at the command post, Division Commander Liu asked the regiment commander.

"We bombed his aircraft carrier some time ago, bombed his airfield, and destroyed his artillery positions yesterday. I guess they are looking for us all over the world now. They can't take care of the Madang Fortress. But the Changshan position has been lost, and it's only a matter of time before the Madang Fortress falls."

"I didn't expect that the Madang Fortress designed by German consultants could only withstand the Japanese attack for less than two weeks." Commander Liu sighed.

The regiment commander was not wrong; the Japanese army had been searching for them for most of the day.

In the afternoon, the artillery squadron of the Hata Detachment, which had restocked its ammunition, took over the artillery of the Japanese 6th Division and prepared to bomb the core positions of the Madang Fortress.

The next day, Japanese planes took off continuously from the Anqing Airport, which had been basically repaired, and bombed the core positions of the government army's Madang Fortress.

The heavy artillery of the Hata Detachment also continued to bombard the core positions of the Madang Fortress.

The Nanjing government troops stationed at the Madang Fortress finally could not withstand the Japanese air-to-ground bombing and retreated.

The Hata Detachment completely occupied the Madang Fortress.

At this point, the Madang Fortress fell after resisting the Japanese attack for half a month.

(Historically, the Madang Fortress, which was originally planned to resist the Japanese attack for three months, only resisted the Japanese attack for nine days. The First Anti-Japanese Army was weak and could not change history, but only delayed the fall of the Madang Fortress.)