"What is it? Reinforcements? Can't hold on anymore? Han Xianyuan, let me tell you this clearly. We don't have any reinforcements, but you have to defend the Andermen camp. Even if you die, you have to defend it!”
"Yes, we must defend it even if we die!"
After hanging up the phone, Zhu Chi, the brigade commander of the 262nd Brigade of the 88th Division of the National Revolutionary Army, suddenly punched the table. His fist was bleeding, but he gritted his teeth and did not make a sound. It was obvious that he was not calm.
"Traveler…"
"There's no need to say anymore!" Zhu Chi waved his hand and stopped the staff officer from dissuading him." I'm fine…By the way, have you contacted the General?”
"No, I haven't." The staff officer shook his head." We were able to contact him before. We kept asking for reinforcements, but they kept telling us to endure. But now, to be exact, at three o'clock in the afternoon, we couldn't contact him anymore.”
"Yes." Zhu Chi nodded." Where's Brigadier Gao? How is he doing?"”
"The situation is not good." The staff officer shook his head again." Ever since the commander ordered us to withdraw our forces, our connection with the 51st Division has been in trouble. The Japanese army has already infiltrated the area, so Brigadier Gao's side is being attacked from three sides. He doesn't have as many people as we do. Now, I'm afraid…"
"Don't worry, he won't die that short. I'm not dead, so why would he die?”Zhu Chi laughed at himself and looked at the map again, not saying anything else.
At this moment, the advisor suddenly gritted his teeth and walked over." Brigade Commander, not only did the General not send his troops over, he even pulled back his troops. Now, we can't contact him. Our brothers are already complaining. I'm afraid that the General's old habits are acting up again. Perhaps…"
"What are you trying to say?" Zhu Chi's expression did not change." You want to say that the General is running away? Leave our brothers behind and run?"
"I wouldn't dare." The advisor immediately lowered his head and stopped talking.
"No matter what the General thinks, since we're here, my mission is to defend the position!”Zhu Chi continued to look at the map." If you're afraid of death, then go by yourself. I don't blame you.”
"Traveler!" The staff officer suddenly knelt down with tears streaming down his face." My cheap life is nothing, but you are different, traveler. You…"
"Don't say anymore. I won't leave anyway.”Zhu Chi narrowed his eyes." If you want me to leave, I can, but only if the devils retreat and leave Nanjing!”
"Since the traveler isn't leaving, I won't leave either!”The staff officer stood up again and roared," Brigade Leader, don't worry. There are no cowards in the 262nd Brigade! If anyone dares to escape, I'll be the first to kill him!”
Zhu Chi waved his hand." Alright, I got it. Go and take a look at the situation at Andermen. See if Han Xianyuan is really dying. If the situation really changes, come and tell me immediately!"”
After the advisor left, Zhu Chi sighed softly.
Yes, how could he not know that the situation was so bad?
However, even though he knew, he couldn't run away. If he ran, Yuhuatai would be finished. If Yuhuatai was finished, Zhonghua Gate would be finished. If Zhonghua Gate was finished, Nanjing would be finished.
Therefore, the burden on his shoulders was not ordinary.
As for the military officer that the staff officer mentioned, he was actually the former commander of the 88th Division, Sun Yuanliang. However, during the Battle of Songhu, he was lucky and performed well. After the battle ended, he was promoted to lieutenant general of the 72nd Division. However, that was only a virtual position. Because time was too tight, he did not have time to rest and reorganize. Therefore, the entire 72nd Division actually only had one crippled 88th Division. The other soldiers were all recruited along the way to make up for the number of strong men. Their main purpose was to ask for military pay from the higher-ups. It was useless to fight a war.
As for Sun Yuanliang's bad habits of being greedy, lecherous, and afraid of death, everyone actually knew about it. However, Sun Yuanliang treated his subordinates well. For example, he would distribute the things he stole to his brothers. He also took the able-bodied men for military pay, and most of it was distributed to his old brothers. Therefore, even if he had a lot of bad habits, the brothers of the old 88th Division still recognized him.
In addition, the country was facing a crisis, and they couldn't afford internal strife. Therefore, even though he knew that Yuhuatai was a land of death, when Sun Yuanliang sent him to support the 264th Brigade, he still came.
Not for anything else, but for a national crisis, for a responsibility!
However, even with the addition of his half-crippled 262nd Brigade, the Yuhuatai still had less than 6,000 soldiers. What about the enemy?
Now, they knew that there was the 6th Division, which was known to be the second strongest in the Japanese army, and the 114th Division, which was also a permanent division. In total, there were more than 40,000 people.
Not only was there a huge difference in numbers, but their weapons and equipment were also far inferior. Up until now, they only had a dozen mortars and were seriously lacking in artillery shells. They did not dare to fight freely, but what about the Japanese? There were planes, heavy artillery, and even tanks. All kinds of light and heavy machine guns were dozens of times more powerful than his. The quality of the soldiers was also far better than his. At this point in the war, his side had relied on human lives.
This was truly an inch of blood for an inch of mountains and rivers.
In fact, the Japanese's offensive had begun to weaken, but Zhu Chi was not happy at all. He knew that in today's battle, in order to repel the Japanese's attack, his casualties were more than twice that of the Japanese. The Japanese did not actually use their full strength. At most, they were only a large group of probing attacks. Their actual main direction of attack was actually the connection between Brigade Commander Gao's 264th Brigade and the 51st Division.
That's right, there were originally two regiments defending there, but because of Sun Yuanliang's order to retreat, those two regiments were withdrawn in the morning, causing the position to be empty.
The Japanese were full of ghosts. They found a loophole and started to take advantage of it. It was all thanks to Brigade Commander Gao of the 264th Brigade that he sent two battalions to take over. However, they were probably unable to hold on by themselves and would have to retreat sooner or later.
In other words, that place was defenseless unless Brigade Commander Gao wanted to kill all his men there, but that was obviously impossible.
However, once that place was breached, the Japanese army would be able to calmly surround him from three sides and deploy artillery there. If he did not have reinforcements at that time, he would really be unable to turn the situation around. Sooner or later, he would be trapped to death.
In fact, it was not just him. His side was also in danger. The Japanese attack in Andermen was quite sharp, and his own people had already suffered heavy losses. If he was not afraid of any mishaps, he would have personally gone to Andermen to hold the fort.
If Yuhuatai was the gateway to Zhonghua Gate, then Ande Gate was the gateway to Yuhuatai. Its importance was self-evident. Therefore, he sent Han Xianyuan's 524th Regiment, which was the best and most capable, to guard Ande Gate. However, that regiment only had two battalions of soldiers. It was not full at all. At the most serious time of the battle, even the coolies had to take guns to fight.
The Yuhuatai defense line was not only short of people, but also ammunition, food, and water. They were short of everything. The situation was quite serious.
Before this, they had been relying on China Gate to provide support, but recently, the Japanese had sent out many squadrons to harass them, causing them to be unable to provide support. As a result, they had been living frugally.
Everyone was able to fight until now because they were holding on. For the time being, because of the accumulation of logistics in the past, it seemed that they could still hold on for a while, but how long could they hold on?
Many a time, Zhu Chi hated the Japanese army for being the home team, but their supplies were not as good as the invaders. Even if they did not have enough ammunition, why could they not guarantee food? In order to save food, the soldiers were fighting half-starved, purely relying on the belief of protecting the country.
"Even if you can't hold on, you have to!" Zhu Chi laughed self-deprecatingly." At most, I'll just sacrifice my life for the country here. If the general dies on the battlefield, it won't be a waste of my life.”
Just as Zhu Chi decided to call the Zhonghua Faction military headquarters for backup, he suddenly saw the staff officer running back in a hurry.
"What are you doing?" Zhu Chi glared at him unhappily." Didn't I ask you to check on Han Xianyuan's situation? Why are you in such a hurry? Could it be that the Japanese have sent more troops?"
"No, traveler, it's reinforcements, reinforcements are here!”The staff officer was overjoyed and pointed outside." Traveler, it's in the direction of Andermen. Reinforcements, we have reinforcements!”
"Reinforcements?" Zhu Chi was stunned for a moment, then he quickly walked out of the command center. Under the guidance of the staff officer, he stood on the high platform, picked up the binoculars, and began to look in the direction of Andermen in the west.
Sure enough, on the left wing of the 23rd Japanese regiment, which was attacking the Andermen position on the Yuhuatai defense line, a car team suddenly appeared behind their left buttocks.
The convoy did not seem to have many people, but they were in a triangular formation. They charged at the Japanese's weak spots while firing. There seemed to be quite a number of people in the vehicles, and they kept spraying fire. From the looks of it, there seemed to be a large number of machine guns.
In short, this convoy did not seem big, but it was fierce and aggressive. While it stirred up the dust in the sky, its attack was also very sharp. As soon as it came up, the Japanese army was defeated. Like a steel knife, it stabbed diagonally into the core of the 23rd Infantry Regiment.
"What a powerful attack. It's agile, fierce, and the timing is just right. But at this time, who will come?”
The more Zhu Chi looked, the more confused he became. After all, although he could not see the troops clearly from afar, he could tell from the general appearance of the helmets that they were obviously German Machinists. However, he recognized almost all the German Machinists, so he could not tell which division they belonged to.
Although he couldn't recognize which division they were from, he could tell that they were all riding in luxurious cars. Moreover, judging from the way they charged and fought fiercely, his allies were certain. Looking at the direction of their attack, he could tell that they were actually in Yuhuatai.
Seeing the other party's route, the other party's goal was self-evident. They were here to meet up with him.
"Could it really be reinforcements sent by the higher-ups? Could this truck have been plundered by the military officials? Forget it, whatever. It was good that someone could come at this time.”
Seeing this, Zhu Chi put down his binoculars and immediately said to the military advisor,""Immediately order Han Xianyuan…No, we don't need his men. The 524th Regiment doesn't have many people right now. Quick, let Zhang Huaqiang bring my direct spy company and immediately set off to Andermen to launch a counterattack in that direction and receive the reinforcements!”
"Special agent company?" The staff officer was shocked." That's the last of our assets. Are we going to give it up now? Just for this little bit of people? Is it worth it?"
"Of course it's worth it." Zhu Chi shook his head." Even if there aren't many of them and it's just a drop in the bucket, in this situation, one more person is one more force! "Moreover, their arrival can bring us encouragement and hope. Therefore, we need them!”
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]