Spy Wars: I am the Captain of the Military Police

The area in the direction of Yaohuamen is guarded by a part of the 16th Division of the Central China Expeditionary Army.

These soldiers were "cleaning up the remaining enemy forces" in the city yesterday, but today they have to face an iron torrent from "friendly forces".

After the initial shock, their survival instinct and professional military training enabled them to quickly organize a resistance.

The Type 37 37mm anti-tank gun, hidden behind the dilapidated fortifications, opened fire! The shells struck the frontal armor of the Type 97 tank, producing a piercing impact sound. Although they failed to penetrate, they successfully halted its advance.

"Aim at the tracks and observation windows! Use Molotov cocktails!" a company commander from the 16th Division roared at the top of his lungs.

The Japanese soldiers used the exact same weapons as the attackers: Type 38 rifles, Type 11 light machine guns, and grenade launchers, putting up a desperate resistance.

The tactical commands and infantry manuals used by both sides were identical, making the battle more like a brutal military exercise, except that the bullets and shells were real and the goal was to take the lives of the other side.

"Bang!" With a precise shot, a 2nd Division tank commander who had just poked half his body out from under the hatch of his tank was shot in the head by a sniper hidden behind a broken wall, his blood and brains splattering onto the cold armor.

The shooter was likely a soldier from the Central China Expeditionary Army in Sendai, who was also a skilled marksman.

Near the Qilin Gate, the fighting became even more intense.

The infantry of the 2nd Division, under the cover of tanks, attempted to blow up the city gate.

The defending troops, on the other hand, used the city's fortifications and familiar streets to engage in fierce close combat.

Grenades exploded at close range, and soldiers from both sides even engaged in hand-to-hand combat.

Type 30 bayonets clashed, shouts, curses, and the screams of the dying filled the air.

Those who fell were all wearing the same khaki military uniforms and the same Rising Sun emblem.

"Why?! We're on the same side!" A soldier from the Central China Expeditionary Army, his abdomen slashed open by a bayonet, lay amidst the rubble, staring at the equally young and ferocious face of the "enemy" before him, letting out a desperate and bewildered roar.

His response was a merciless follow-up shot.

Meanwhile, in the direction of Zhonghua Gate at Yuhuatai in southern Nanjing, two fully-fledged infantry regiments of the 7th and 8th Divisions, under the cover of heavy artillery fire, launched a tidal wave of attacks on the positions of the 6th and 9th Divisions of the Central China Expeditionary Army, which were responsible for defending the area.

Both sides were divisions in the Japanese army known for their fierceness and bravery, and the battle became fierce from the very beginning.

Machine gun fire swept down swathes of soldiers like scythes, grenade launchers drew dense arcs in the air, and flashes of fire from explosions flickered continuously in the ruins.

The struggle for every inch of land was accompanied by staggering casualties.

Because they knew each other inside and out, and their tactics were highly targeted, the casualty rate even exceeded that of previous battles against the Chinese army.

Meanwhile, in the Mufu Mountain and Wulong Mountain fort area north of Nanjing, near the Yangtze River, the battle unfolded in a different form.

Under the somber gaze of Division Commander Otozo Yamada, the troops of the 12th Division began to purge the Central China Expeditionary Army's guard forces from the area.

The battles were relatively small in scale, but equally ruthless.

Yamada Otozo carried out the mission with the harshest methods, as if he wanted to vent all his resentment towards Takasaki Takuto on these unfortunate garrison soldiers.

At 5:30 a.m., the sky was just beginning to lighten.

But Nanjing was shrouded in even thicker smoke and fire.

The orange-red flashes of exploding shells, the streaks of fire from machine guns, and the towering flames from burning buildings dyed the dawn of this ancient capital an eerie blood red.

Gunfire, artillery fire, explosions, shouts of battle, cries of agony... all these sounds intertwined to create a brutal symphony of death, playing out in this unprecedented "bloody dawn" of infighting within the Japanese army.

In the observation post on the mountaintop, Colonel Taro Shigeno put down his artillery scope, his face grave.

The shelling achieved its intended effect, but the fierce counterattack by the Central China Expeditionary Army exceeded expectations.

He saw that the attacking forces in multiple directions, from the east and south of the city, were blocked and suffered heavy casualties.

This "civil war" is destined to be a brutal and costly struggle with no winners.

He picked up the phone and reported to the division headquarters in a deep voice: "Report, the 'cleaning' operation has encountered strong resistance. Request instructions on the next course of action."

From the microphone came Matsui's cold and resolute voice: "Continue the artillery suppression, spare no ammunition!!"

. . . . . . . . . . .

At 7:00 AM, in the Guanghuamen area of ​​Nanjing.

After two hours of intense shelling, the focus gradually shifted to targeted cleanup fire. The deafening explosions subsided slightly, but the smoke and the smell of death in the air grew even stronger.

Guanghua Gate, this ancient city gate, was already severely damaged during the last Japanese attack on the city. Now it was even more unrecognizable. The heavy wooden door panels were blown to pieces, and the iron-clad rivets were scattered all over the ground. Many sections of the city walls on both sides had collapsed, forming several gaps that allowed tanks to pass through.

Amidst the rubble, one could vaguely discern a yellowish-brown corpse and broken weapons.

"Attention, all! Assault according to plan!" Major Hidemi Yamada, commander of the 7th Division's tank company, gave the order, his voice slightly hoarse with excitement.

The engine of the Type 97 medium tank he was in roared, spewing thick black diesel fumes from its exhaust pipe, and its tracks began to roll over the ground full of broken bricks and shell craters.

Yamada's tank squadron belonged to the 7th Division's reconnaissance regiment and was the spearhead of the "rebel" eastern assault group.

An armored formation, consisting of five Type 5 medium tanks and eight Type 8 light tanks, advanced toward the Guanghua Gate gap in a wedge formation.

Behind the tanks followed the infantry of the 25th Regiment of the 7th Division. They crouched low, carefully using the tanks as cover, their rifles with gleaming bayonets flashing in the dim morning light.

Yamada stared intently ahead through the observation window.

As an officer from Asahikawa, Hokkaido, he had experienced the Northeast's defense against the Soviet Union and the Great Wall Campaign, but this was the first time in his life that he had commanded tanks to charge into the positions of "friendly forces" that also flew the Rising Sun Flag.

A sense of absurdity and tension lingered in his mind, but he forced himself to concentrate.

The division commander's order was clear: at all costs, quickly break into the city and divide and disintegrate the resistance of the Central China Expeditionary Army.

The initial progress went exceptionally smoothly.

The tanks rolled over the outer trenches and barbed wire, and the machine gunners strafe any suspicious moving targets.

The defenders seemed stunned by the intense artillery fire, offering little resistance.

Yamada could even see some soldiers of the Central China Expeditionary Army fleeing in panic from their dilapidated fortifications.

"Speed ​​through the breach! Seize the streets inside the city gate!" Yamada ordered, estimating that the main force of the defending 10th Army, Tani Hisao's unit, should have retreated into the city for street fighting.

However, just as the first two Type 95 light tanks passed through the largest gap in Guanghua Gate and entered the barbican area, a sudden change occurred!