Devil's Army

In Dehua County, Captain Wang Qiming hosted a simple banquet to entertain Captain I and Deputy Captain He.

"Captain He, your army and the 26th Brigade of the 76th Division of the Sichuan Army have blocked the Japanese attack for more than a month at the Yinjiashan Pass. I have heard from the division commander."

"Shame on us, shame on us. We still lost the Yinjiashan Pass position."

"You are already great heroes for being able to resist the enemy's attack for more than a month. I ask myself, if it were our 732nd Regiment, we would definitely not be able to do it. I have long wanted to meet you to learn some experience, but I didn't expect to meet you here."

"We are not heroes. We are just fulfilling our duty as Chinese soldiers."

"It is the duty of a Chinese soldier to defend our country. Come on, Captain He, let's go one by one?" Captain Wang raised his glass and said to Captain Yi.

As the battle was imminent, Captain Wang and his men were not greedy for wine. After two drinks, the two men stopped drinking.

"Brother He, what are your plans next?"

"We received an order from Commander Leng to come and assist in the Battle of Wuhan. However, we are short of troops, and the battle has been going against us along the way. So we should just fight wherever we can."

"Why don't you defend Dehua County with us?" Captain Wang looked at Captain Yi expectantly.

With the help of the powerful 1st Regiment of the First Anti-Japanese Army, they are like a tiger with wings.

"Thank you, brother, for not abandoning me. I thank you for this."

Captain Wang was delighted and raised his glass to Captain Yi again.

"Our artillery troops have already entered Jiujiang. I will contact them and transfer them over."

Captain Wang was even happier when he heard this, as artillery is a treasure in any unit.

A regimental commander asked the guards to ask the signalman to send a telegram, asking artillery battalion commander Wang to take his artillery to report to Dehua County.

After a long while, the signalman brought the reply from the artillery battalion commander to the regiment commander.

The captain looked at it and said nothing.

"What's wrong? Lao He?"

The regiment commander pushed the telegram in front of Deputy Regiment Commander He.

After reading it, Deputy Head He smiled and said:

"It seems that our artillery troops are a treasure, and everyone wants them."

Captain Wang took the telegram and read it, and saw that it said: Commander Li wants to retain our artillery battalion to assist in the defense of Jiujiang.

The regiment commander turned around and ordered the signalman:

"Order Captain Wang of the artillery battalion to leave behind two 150mm howitzers and three Type 105 75mm cannons. Also leave behind a team of artillery. The other four mm mountain guns and other artillery should report to Dehua County."

"Lao He, will Commander Li release them?"

"We left the 150mm howitzers and 105mm cannons that were inconvenient to move in Jiujiang. Dehua County is also Jiujiang's defense line. Commander Li will release them."

After a while, the signalman brought two telegrams to the commander of the regiment. One was from the artillery battalion commander Wang:

"I will immediately report to Dehua County with four 75mm mountain guns and an artillery unit."

The other one is a telegram sent by the tribe's commander Leng:

"Where is your regiment now? How is the battle going? Do you need help?"

A regimental commander ordered the communications soldier to reply: Madang Fortress has been lost, and our regiment is now retreating to Dehua County, Jiujiang.

Deputy Head He stepped forward and asked:

"Lao He, why don't you need help? We only have two boxes of shells for our 150mm howitzers, and not many shells for our 40mm rockets."

"So what? Should we ask the headquarters to transport it for us from thousands of miles away by plane or by warship? We have to solve these problems by ourselves."

Deputy Regiment Commander He nodded. The reason they launched a sneak attack on the Japanese artillery positions was to get rid of the artillery shells.

After the Japanese army occupied Hukou, they took a short rest and then began to prepare to attack Jiujiang.

In order to defend Wuhan, the National Government Military Commission deployed heavy troops outside Jiujiang, including Li Hanhun's 29th Corps, the 64th Army, Li Yutang's 8th Army, and Li Jue's 70th Army, totaling 10 troops, ready to fight a decisive battle with the Japanese army.

The next day, Captain Wang of the Artillery Battalion, led by the guard platoon of the 723rd Regiment, arrived at the Daiyun Mountain Range.

Daiyun Mountain is high and densely forested, with undulating terrain, many valleys and cols, and it is less than four miles away from Pengze County, making it suitable for hiding artillery positions.

The next morning, a regiment of soldiers, led by the artillery battalion commander Wang, set up three artillery positions in the Daiyun Mountains, and laid paths in the middle for people to walk through.

At the end of July, the Japanese army occupied Dagushan and set up an artillery position on it. The artillery of this artillery position could effectively cover the Chinese defenders' position in Gutang across Poyang Lake.

On this day, the 2nd Corps Command felt that the weather was suitable for a surprise attack by the Japanese army and notified the 11th Division of the Gutang garrison to step up its vigilance.

At midnight, a strong wind howled in Poyang Lake. A part of the Japanese Hata Detachment and a part of the Japanese Marine Corps took more than a dozen landing craft and went upstream from the confluence of the Yangtze River and Poyang Lake. Another part came from the other side of Poyang Lake and attacked Gutang.

The Battle of Jiujiang also began.