Chapter 1937 December 2nd

On December 2, 1937, Lieutenant General Ogisu Rippei, commander of the 13th Division, was shocked to learn that:

The Wan Zhonglun Taro tank squadron was completely annihilated, the Chiyoda Umazo battalion, which cooperated with the tank squadron, was completely annihilated, and the 6th Field Heavy Artillery Brigade was severely damaged.

This news startled Ogisu Rippei, commander of the 13th Division.

Over this period, the 13th Division had suffered bitter lessons more than once or twice while attacking the Jiangyin Fortress.

However, today’s situation was still unacceptable to Ogisu Rippei. Now that the Jiangyin Fortress had been captured, what kind of army could maintain such formidable combat power?

Since this Chinese army is so powerful, I'll let you go!

Ogisu Rippei really didn't want to deplete the 13th Division’s already dwindling forces in Jiangyin any further.

If he lost a few more battalions like this, his division would be finished.

Forget about enjoying the glory of occupying the capital of the suzerain state in Nanjing; whether the 13th Division could even continue to exist was a question.

After careful consideration, Division Commander Ogisu Rippei made a decision.

His 13th Division would not send another soldier to attack this army.

Now, all he wanted was the credit for capturing the Jiangyin Fortress. In any case, he had commanded the battle, and the 13th Division had been the main attacking force. That was enough.

Let the brother divisions compete for the rest of the credit!

For the first time ever, Division Commander Ogisu Rippei was willing to share the credit.

Tong Junya’s ancestors were from Jinling, and they had been prosperous in the past. When his ancestors were at their wealthiest, the entire alley next to the Zhonghua Gate in Jinling belonged to the Tong family.

According to legend, his branch of the family arrived in Jinling during the Song Dynasty and had settled in the city ever since.

Now Jinling City was called Nanjing City, but this did not affect the Tong family's life there.

Although the Tong family had declined, Tong Junya was still able to rely on the street-front property passed down from his ancestors to run a small shop.

It was enough to support a family of seven.

Today was December 2nd. Tong Junya looked at the newspaper in his hand and said worriedly to his wife, Dai Jingjie, "The Japanese devils captured Jiangyin again yesterday."

Dai Jingjie was a little nervous. "Should we run away too?"

Tong Junya thought for a moment. "We have a shop. We can run away, but we can't take the shop with us.

It’s chaotic now. Where can we run to?"

"Chongqing! Junya, let's go to Chongqing. Our in-laws, Dafu and Dagui, will go with us."

Tong Junya said firmly, "Jing! Don't panic. The Japanese devils are only human. Even if they enter the city, they will only be here to fight the soldiers. Our family are all honest, ordinary people.

Fugui and the others haven’t been out on the streets protesting the war. Those Japanese devils won’t do anything to us.

Don't worry!"

Dai Jingjie was still afraid. "But the newspaper said that the Japanese devils massacred a village in Suzhou and wiped out an entire village in Jiangyin in one go."

Tong Junya pointed to the church not far away. "Is there a church like this in the countryside?

The pastor here is an American. Today, our whole family will go to church.

Then we will be servants of God. The Japanese devils won't dare to touch us."

This time, Dai Jingjie was finally relieved. She knew that the Chinese were afraid of the Japanese, and the Japanese were afraid of the Westerners.

The worry on her face disappeared, and a hint of a smile appeared. "Junya! You're so smart.

You were the calmest and wisest in school, and you still are."

Tong Junya smiled smugly. "Jing! Don't worry. These days, many of the big officials in the city have run away.

Along with them, their businesses and shops have all moved away. Our business will be better next.

In times of war and chaos, prices always increase several times over."

Dai Jingjie smiled. "I don't want to make a lot of money, I just want to live a peaceful life.

Why are these two brothers fighting?"

Tong Junya said sternly, "They used to be our vassal state. They were never brothers.

Now that they have become powerful, they are like the wicked servants of our family in the past. When the master's house suffers a disaster, the wicked servants want to take the opportunity to seize the master's house.

The Japanese devils are the same. Their own country is small, so they want to occupy our country. They are enemies, never brothers!

They will never be brothers in the future. Once an enemy, always an enemy!"

"Junya! If you say so, the Japanese devils are very scary. Why don't we hide in Chongqing?

Hasn't the government already moved to Chongqing?"

"We have recognized the nature of the Japanese devils, but life must go on. These things have nothing to do with us ordinary people.

We just need to live our own lives. Let others do the fighting and killing!"

On this day, the Tong family of seven really ran to the foreign church, donated a sum of money, and wholeheartedly wanted to join the church.

The foreign pastor was very happy, although he knew what these people were thinking.

But God is merciful. No matter what thoughts his servants harbor, it is good as long as they come to church.

Each member of the Tong family received a cross to hang around their necks, and Dai Jingjie immediately felt much more at ease.

After repelling the pursuing Japanese tank unit, the Special Company was not harassed by the Japanese for the rest of the afternoon.

Not even Japanese scouts appeared.

When Lin Fan returned to the heavy artillery position, he learned that these heavy artillery pieces had fired a total of 274 shells.

He immediately ordered, "Cease firing, and the artillery will withdraw from the position. Advance in the direction of Nanjing."

Fire one shot and change location—this was Lin Fan’s current requirement.

At this time, the Japanese devils had just occupied many places in Jiangnan and had not yet established actual control.

The Japanese army was only attacking and plundering cities along the way, and there were not many troops stationed in each place.

Lin Fan wanted to take advantage of the fact that part of the Japanese force was gathered in Jiangyin, and the vast majority of the force was around Nanjing.

Therefore, Lin Fan felt that it should be safe for him to go straight up the river.

The heavy artillery position needed to be moved. After all, they had just attacked the Japanese artillery position. While attacking the enemy, they had also exposed themselves.

Exposure means death! This was the sniper's motto.

Expose and move! This was Lin Fan's requirement for the artillery.

He didn't want his people to suffer losses due to momentary carelessness.

Firing the guns was the strength of Hui Jianming and his regular army artillerymen, but retreating and transferring was not.

In this regard, Feng Junya and his heavy artillery squad were much faster.

Although his squad had only seized these cannons a few days ago, they had been training to switch these cannons from firing mode to traveling mode, and from traveling mode back to firing mode, several times a day.

This was Lin Fan's special requirement: quick attack and quick retreat is the mark of a hero!

Holding your ground is for idiots!

Commander Xu Kang, Division Commander Chang Enduo, and the others, who had been on the north bank of the Yangtze River for a day, saw that the opposite bank had finally calmed down.

The dense artillery fire in the afternoon, and the booming sound of artillery that could be heard across the Yangtze River, had also stopped.

They could see a mighty convoy heading towards Nanjing.

"They're gone! The Japanese devils seem to have stopped!" said Chang Enduo.

"I wonder what they did? The Japanese devils didn't continue to harass them!" Xu Kang was also a little puzzled.

Chang Enduo laughed. "The wolf is coming! Under what circumstances would they not continue to harass you?

Of course, when the hunter is too fierce and scares the wolf!"

That makes sense!

Commander Xu Kang was speechless.

The 618th Regiment of the 103rd Division of the National Revolutionary Army broke through the Japanese blockade in Xiagang in the early morning of the second day.

They continued to retreat along the Yangtze River towards Zhenjiang.

Regiment Commander Wan ShiJiong knew that the Japanese devils were attacking Changzhou.

Their team could not retreat towards Changzhou, and could only go along the river to Zhenjiang.

The 618th Regiment was unlucky. When they passed by Xiagang, they did not attract the attention of the other side, so there was no ferry to pick them up.

This team could only carry the wounded forward.

In the subsequent journey, the remnants led by Deputy Division Commander Dai Ziqi also caught up. The 103rd Division had now gathered many officers and soldiers again. The entire division had three regiments, and now it had the strength of two regiments, with a total of more than 3,000 people.

The team of more than 3,000 people, carrying the wounded, rushed forward all night, and arrived at a place called Wutang in the afternoon.

Deputy Division Commander Dai Ziqi ordered the team to rest on the spot.

It was not that he did not want the team to continue to advance, but this team had been retreating since last night, and had not rested for nearly 30 hours.

All the officers and soldiers of the division were exhausted. Division Commander Dai ordered: Rest here tonight.

Not far from where they were stationed, there was a village, but there was no one in the village.

The officers and soldiers of the 103rd Division found that there were many people pointing and pointing on the hills opposite.

But as soon as the reconnaissance squad approached, those people immediately ran backwards.

Obviously, ordinary people had recognized that they were the National Revolutionary Army, but those people were unwilling to have any contact with them.

Fortunately, the entire division prepared three days of rations when they retreated. This was what the Jiangyin Command had asked all teams to prepare before the retreat order was issued.

At that time, Commander Liu Xing also issued the order after listening to Lin Fan's analysis.

At that time, Commander Liu Xing thought: Anyway, it is just preparing rations, which is called being prepared for a rainy day, and it will not be wrong to do it.

Of course, it would not be wrong not to do it. Learning from the lessons of the retreat from Shanghai, he decided to do it anyway.

He even issued the retreat plan to each regiment.

Now Commander Liu Xing had arrived in Nanjing. He was in the Nanjing Garrison Command and was reporting the experience of the Jiangyin Fortress defense war to Commander Tang Shengzhi.

This time, the Jiangyin defense zone was able to continue to hold out for seven days and seven nights despite the total collapse of the entire Xicheng Line, which was a miracle in itself.

What was even more encouraging was that during these seven days, the Jiangyin defense zone shot down hundreds of Japanese fighters, sank 20 warships, and killed more than 10,000 Japanese soldiers.

Such a record gave Commander Liu Xing and everyone in the entire Nanjing Garrison Command great encouragement.

Now Liu Xing was already the deputy commander of the Nanjing Command!