You were tasked with guarding the Sihang Warehouse, and you ended up with a German-equipped division

Chapter 75 The 16th Division Commander's Defenses Are Breached

The crowd's expressions were complex, yet they secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Nobody wants to die!

The suicide squad leader shouted:

"Brothers, check your weapons and ammunition, prepare for a counter-charge!!!"

As he said this, he felt as if all the strength in his body had been drained away.

Looking ahead again, amidst the smoke and fire, the Japanese soldiers, howling in agony from the anti-tank guns and Panzerfaust 60mm rounds, felt that energy surge forth once more.

At this moment, the engineering squad also maneuvered to the flank of the Japanese army.

Holding flamethrowers, they suddenly pressed the button while the Japanese troops' attention was drawn to the frontal fire.

"Whoosh!!!!"

The moment the fuel was ejected, it was ignited by the flames, forming a fire dragon that swept towards the Japanese troops on the street.

The Japanese soldiers, who were advancing under artillery and machine gun fire, were suddenly engulfed by scorching flames sprayed from their flanks.

"ah!!!!"

Screams echoed as the Japanese soldiers, engulfed in the intense heat, transformed into raging infernos, running about or rolling wildly on the ground in an attempt to extinguish the flames.

But the fuel sprayed from the flamethrower had already soaked them, and there was no way to extinguish it.

The fuel adhered to their bodies, and when ignited by the high temperature, it burned their skin and consumed their lives.

Ultimately, these beasts will die in the most painful way, turning into a lump of black carbon.

Nakajima Kesago was also watching this scene from Zijin Mountain.

His face grew increasingly grim as he looked at the Japanese armored units, which could no longer withstand the casualties and began to retreat hastily.

Just when he thought it was over, Nationalist soldiers in the neighborhood suddenly rushed out and began to chase after the Japanese armored forces.

The Japanese soldiers, who were already fleeing in panic, were routed by the counterattack, leaving behind many corpses along the way.

Nakajima Kesago couldn't stand it any longer, so he waved his hand and said:

"Let the commander in charge of this operation commit seppuku."

After saying that, he added fiercely.

"Artillery barrage! Call in the air force! Have them drop incendiary bombs and burn all these enemies to ashes!!!"

"yes!!!"

"That's what Nakazawa Mitsuo replied."

Inside the street, watching his troops defeat the Japanese army and even launch a counterattack to capture a block, Long Wenzhang finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Ergou, well done. I didn't expect the commander to be so generous this time, transferring so many people to us directly. Our battalion cannot let the commander down."

In my opinion, there's a chance.

As he said this, his gaze was fixed on Zhongshan Gate.

And in his mind, he was conceiving the possibility of retaking the city gate.

As he was fantasizing about how to take a risky tactic like the regimental commander and launch a surprise attack on the enemy camp, the roar of Japanese artillery shells shattered his fantasy.

"Enemy artillery fire! Take cover!!!!"

Long Wenzhang roared at the top of his lungs.

The next moment, shells covered a large area of ​​the city.

Just after the shelling ended, Japanese bomber groups arrived again and began dropping incendiary bombs on the area.

The neighborhood began to burn, and the roof beams crackled and popped in the flames.

From the direction of Zhonghua Gate, the Japanese army was once again pushed back. Li Jianghe felt as if all the strength in his body had been drained away.

The Japanese army once again launched indiscriminate fire.

Although engineers had dug anti-artillery fortifications in advance, the Japanese heavy artillery was fierce, and many soldiers hiding in air-raid shelters were still at risk of being blown up.

As darkness fell, the Japanese army showed no intention of continuing their attack.

He calculated that the Japanese army had suffered considerable casualties due to continuous heavy artillery bombardment.

In just half a day, more than 700 people have been killed.

Not to mention the area around Zhongshan Gate, and some soldiers from the Central Training Corps who were not counted.

Most of them were killed by Japanese artillery fire, incendiary bombs, or burned to death.

Moreover, the ammunition was consumed at an extremely rapid rate.

After all, in order to maintain firepower suppression against the Japanese army, they never hesitated to use bullets and shells, and they also used grenades as if they were free.

The advantage of doing this was that when engaging the Japanese army at close range, their firepower advantage was extremely obvious, which could suppress the attacking Japanese troops so much that they could not raise their heads, and greatly reduce casualties.

The downside is that merit points are consumed extremely quickly, and after replenishing troops, it even feels like there's a deficit.

This made Li Jianghe realize that as the size of the troops and the battlefield expanded, the demand for artillery fire was also increasing.

Originally, when they were fighting at Yuhuatai, all they needed to do was concentrate their artillery fire in one place.

Now it's different; artillery support is needed in multiple directions.

For example, if a house occupied by the Japanese was difficult to attack, they would call in artillery support to bombard it, sending the entire house and the Japanese soldiers inside to their doom.

For example, when infantry launches a counterattack, they will inevitably call for artillery cover first, regardless of whether there are enemies on the opposite street, and wait until they have fired several rounds of shells before making any further moves.

Even if they couldn't kill the Japanese soldiers, they could still cover the infantry's advance.

Li Jianghe realized that he should be careful with the merits he had earned, since the Japanese army was launching fierce attacks from multiple directions.

Moreover, the Japanese soldiers are becoming increasingly clever, and their formations are becoming more and more dispersed. It is no longer possible to kill a large number of Japanese soldiers in one go and obtain a huge amount of merit points, just like before.

In addition, Li Jianghe was also worried about how to break through the encirclement.

He once helped Long Wenzhang procure a batch of boats, enough to transport several thousand of them across the river.

But the situation has changed. In order to evacuate the people more quickly, those ships have been sent to the Xiaguan Wharf.

Li Jianghe's initial plan was to break through the encirclement head-on.

In fact, the retreat plan that Tang Shengzhi formulated before his escape was quite reasonable.

Some troops covered the rear, some retreated towards Xiaguan and crossed the river by boat, while others broke through from the front to draw the Japanese army away.

Ironically, the troops who were in a hurry to escape ended up crowding at the Xiaguan Wharf, where most of them were killed by the Japanese army.

The Guangdong Army and other troops that actually carried out the breakout order broke through the Japanese defenses head-on, thus preserving their main force.

Because the Japanese troops at the time were rushing into Nanjing, there were almost no defensive positions deployed in the rear.

Therefore, as long as a gap is torn in the defensive line, these troops can break out directly.

One of the Guangdong Army's chiefs of staff even stayed in the mountains not far from Nanjing for half a month, gathering more than a thousand defeated soldiers before swaggering away from the Nanjing area.

During this process, he didn't even encounter a single Japanese soldier.

While Li Jianghe was deep in thought, Battalion Commander Wang Dayong ran over to report:

"Battalion Commander, Division Commander Song has brought someone over."

This surprised Li Jianghe. He didn't expect Song Xilian to actually do it, and so quickly.

"Okay, I'll go see him now."

After saying this, Li Jianghe walked out of the command post.