Spy Wars: I am the Captain of the Military Police

On the Guanghua Gate tower, Xie Chengrui, the commander of the Second Regiment of the Training Corps, saw through the observation hole that the eastern sky had been dyed orange-red by artillery fire.

He turned to the artillery company commander and roared, "Open fire as soon as the Japanese infantry enter firing range!"

At this moment, on the outskirts of Nanjing, the defending soldiers gripped their rifles tightly, their fingers on the triggers, their eyes fixed on the gradually clearing figures of the Japanese soldiers ahead.

The Japanese 36th Regiment, spearheaded by tanks, saw the tracks of Type 95 light tanks grinding through the scorched earth, producing a piercing metallic scraping sound.

Behind the tanks, Japanese infantrymen wearing steel helmets advanced in skirmish lines, their bayonets gleaming coldly in the morning light.

When the vanguard reached the moat, Xie Chengrui finally ordered his troops to open fire. In an instant...

The light and heavy machine guns on the city wall spat out flames, and dense bullets rained down on the enemy.

Guanghua Gate became the most intense battlefield on the first day of fighting.

The Japanese Wakisaka Regiment employed a "wave-like charge" tactic, launching continuous assaults on the city gates in company-sized units.

Yi Anhua, the brigade commander of the 259th Brigade of the 87th Division of the defending army, personally directed the front line. When the Japanese army broke through the breach in the city gate, he led his troops in a counterattack with a submachine gun in hand.

"Brothers! Nanjing is right behind us, we have nowhere to retreat!" Yi Anhua's shouts were drowned out by the sound of gunfire.

The soldiers saw that the brigade commander's left arm had been wounded by shrapnel and was in a sling across his chest, while his right hand continued to throw grenades.

In just two hours, the Guanghua Gate position changed hands three times, and the corpses near the city gate piled up like mountains.

The battle reached its climax around noon when a horrific scene unfolded. Japanese engineering demolition teams, under the cover of tanks, approached the city gate, preparing to carry out the demolition.

A company commander from the 87th Division strapped grenades to his body, leaped from the city wall into the enemy ranks, and perished together with a Japanese engineer.

Encouraged by this, dozens of soldiers shouted "Long live China!" and followed suit.

Explosions rang out one after another, and the Japanese offensive was completely thwarted.

Meanwhile, the Yuhuatai position is undergoing an even more brutal test.

The Japanese 6th Division concentrated its firepower to launch a fierce attack on this high ground south of the city.

A tragic scene unfolded during the most intense part of the battle.

On the front lines, a war correspondent recorded a scene where soldiers, having run out of bullets, fought the enemy with entrenching tools, rifle butts, and even their teeth.

The bodies of the fallen soldiers were in various fighting poses, some tightly gripping the throats of Japanese soldiers, others biting the ears of their enemies.

This land, which carries beautiful legends, is now soaked in blood.

In the direction of Zijin Mountain, the Training Corps demonstrated the formidable combat capabilities of its German-equipped troops.

After days of fighting, Zijin Mountain remains firmly in the hands of the Chinese garrison.

However, as the outer positions were successively threatened, some Japanese troops broke into the city, and street fighting ensued.

In the streets near Zhonghua Gate, soldiers of the 88th Division, who had experienced the bloody Battle of Shanghai, once again engaged in a bloody house-to-house struggle with the Japanese army in Nanjing.

As night fell, the gunfire gradually subsided, but the fires on the city walls continued to burn. The defenders used the lulls in the fighting to repair their fortifications and transport ammunition.

Medics searched for survivors on the front lines with lanterns, but often only brought back cold bodies.

The atmosphere inside the garrison headquarters was equally somber.

The garrison commander received a telegram from his personal staff: "I hope the soldiers will continue their efforts and hold their ground while awaiting reinforcements."

But the staff officers knew full well that the hope of foreign aid was slim.

Chief of Staff Zhou Lan suggested: "A withdrawal plan should be considered to preserve our manpower."

At the Japanese positions, Matsui Iwane, who had arrived at the front lines to personally command, was also adjusting deployments.

He was shocked by the setback on the first day of the siege; he had not expected the Chinese army to resist so fiercely.

. . . . . . . . . . .

On the 3rd, the fiercest battle began...

The Japanese army launched "Operation Thunder," simultaneously launching a fierce attack on Zijin Mountain, Yangfang Mountain, Guanghua Gate, Yuhuatai, Shuixi Gate, Shangxin River, and Saigong Bridge.

Guanghua Gate.

Before the earth trembled, it first groaned.

The engineers of the 35th Regiment of the Japanese Army dug around the base of the Nanjing city wall for two whole nights, like moles.

The soil was gradually gnawed away by steel rods and explosives, and finally two tons of high explosives were stuffed into the deep tunnel.

Colonel Katano, the regimental commander, stood at the observation point. Through his telescope, the Guanghua Gate city wall, which had stood majestically for hundreds of years, resembled the spine of a giant beast in the morning light.

"Detonate."

Instead of the expected deafening roar, a muffled roar came from beneath our feet, as if a hole had been torn open in the earth's core.

Immediately afterwards, the foundation of the city wall arched upwards like a bulging sack, and the huge blue bricks were crushed by an invisible force and thrown into the sky.

Bricks and stones rained down like a storm, carrying smoke and mud that covered an area of ​​hundreds of meters.

As the smoke and dust cleared, a gap ten meters wide suddenly appeared before the defenders. Broken bricks and tiles formed a ramp leading directly into the city.

"Onboard!"

The wave of Japanese infantry surged toward the breach.

However, behind the breach, there was no expected collapse or chaos.

First came an eerie silence.

Only the crackling sound of the flames, growing louder and louder as they approached, could be heard.

"fall!"

A hoarse command came from the city wall.

In the next instant, dozens of dark oil drums were pushed off the crenellations, rolled down the slope inside the city wall, and crashed onto the pile of bricks and stones at the breach, splattering viscous liquid everywhere.

Immediately afterwards, several torches were thrown down.

boom!

A crimson wall of fire rose out of nowhere, several meters high, and instantly engulfed the dozen or so Japanese soldiers who were charging at the forefront.

Gasoline clung to everything and burned, emitting a pungent odor, and screams were drowned out by the roar of the flames.

The high temperature distorted the air, and even the Japanese soldiers in the distance felt their faces burning.

The assault was thwarted, and the Japanese troops' formation became momentarily chaotic.

At that moment, something even more astonishing happened to the Japanese army.

Several thick ropes were lowered from the section of the city wall untouched by the firelight, and dozens of agile figures were lowered down the wall.

They wore faded gray-blue military uniforms, with white bandages wrapped around their arms for identification, and each carried a strangely shaped metal can on their back, with a long tube attached to the can.

Those were several Type 93 flamethrowers that the Japanese 9th Division lost in the Battle of Suzhou Creek during the Battle of Shanghai, and now they were being used by the defending troops!

"Spitfire!"

The officer in charge roared, his voice young yet resolute.

He was the first to pull the trigger, and a fiery white dragon roared out, licking the skirmisher line outside the breach.

The cotton-padded clothes worn by the Japanese soldiers were instantly ignited, turning into raging fireballs, and they eventually collapsed and curled up on the ground.

The other assault team members also opened fire, and multiple tongues of fire intertwined, turning the area in front of the breach into a living hell.

The Japanese offensive was halted.

On the city wall, the command post of the First Regiment of the Training Corps.

Regiment Commander Xie Chengrui lowered his binoculars, his thin face expressionless, only his eyes gleaming with the same color as the flames below.

This officer, a graduate of the Saint-Cyr Military Academy in France, is known for his composure and tactical innovation.

It was his doing to launch a counterattack using captured flamethrowers.