Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 211 Six Provisional Detachments and Dozens of Supplementary Battalions
Yue Qianli knew that it would take more than a day or two to reorganize tens of thousands of defeated soldiers. If they were hastily sent to fight the Japanese in street battles without reorganization, it would be no different from sending their heads to fight.
So he selected some battalions and companies with better-preserved structures, and first formed three temporary detachments and handed them over to his old brother Wang Jianfei to block the Japanese on the eastern front, so that he would have enough time to continue reorganizing the troops.

If Wang Jianfei couldn't hold on any longer, he would constantly replenish them, in battalion and company units, replenishing as many as they had lost;
At the same time, it can also supplement the main forces of the 88th Division on the western and central lines, so the troops behind only need to organize three temporary detachments as reserve forces, and the rest will be organized into battalions, with 3 people in one battalion. In this way, dozens of battalions can be obtained. It is completely enough for him to have one main detachment and three temporary detachments as reserve forces.

These temporary battalions were cannon fodder, and everyone knew it, but no one backed down. From the moment they stayed to defend Nanjing, no one considered themselves alive;
But they were discouraged when their superior ordered them to retreat. Now Yue Qianli has given them fighting spirit again. In addition, the Japanese invaders slaughtered civilians wantonly after entering the city, which aroused their determination to fight the Japanese invaders to the death. The street fighting in Jinling City began without the Japanese invaders noticing...

The Japanese army of 6 divisions and 2 brigades with 20 soldiers did not rush into the city all at once. At first, they were just some vanguard units, a regiment or a battalion.
After entering the city, they searched everywhere for the defeated Chinese soldiers. During this process, any Chinese they saw, regardless of whether they were military or civilians, would be killed.

Since the defeated soldiers had not been dealt with yet and their minds were still on fighting, there was no large-scale massacre of civilians. This was not because they had changed their nature, but because they needed to "pull out the thorns" first and disarm the city of Jinling before they could go crazy again.

As the three newly reorganized temporary detachments entered Dongcheng, fierce fighting broke out between the two sides. At the beginning, the battlefield was mainly concentrated in Nancheng. Most of the people had fled to Beicheng. Hundreds of thousands of people were stranded at the riverside docks alone. Twenty or thirty ferries were simply unable to handle the workload.

Hundreds of thousands of refugees soon attracted widespread international attention, and the Nationalist government had been lobbying Germany to mediate the war between the two sides. Unfortunately, the Japanese did not give the Westerners face on this critical issue and put forward harsh conditions that were close to the destruction of the country.
The Nationalist government naturally could not accept this and had to continue fighting, and the Westerners had no choice but to settle for the second best and set up a safe zone in the north city to accommodate the refugees.

At this time, the East China Expeditionary Force had changed its commander, and Prince Asaka Naruhiko, the representative of the royal family, took over the command of the Battle of Nanjing. In fact, Nanjing City had been breached, and now even a tethered dog could command these 20 people to occupy Nanjing.
Faced with the shameless behavior of the royal family to take advantage of the situation, Matsui Iwane had no choice but to accept it. In order to appease him and the army, Yu Ren still gave him the highest honor.

Prince Asaka Naruhiko was even more cruel than Matsui Iwane. As soon as he took office, he secretly ordered all divisions to massacre prisoners, which then evolved into a massacre of the people.

As a result, they encountered resistance from the defeated Chinese soldiers in the south city. The two sides soon fought each other in the streets and alleys. There were gunshots everywhere and both sides suffered heavy casualties.

At first, the Japanese high-ranking officials did not take it too seriously. Prince Asaka Naruhiko wanted to hold a grand entry ceremony and was eager to show off their military power to the world. They also wanted to make the matter a fait accompli to prevent Westerners from interfering. This time, the Japanese wanted to eat alone and not involve the Western powers.

As the fighting in the city intensified, the veterans of the various divisions realized something was wrong and reported the situation to Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko, which also attracted his attention. He said to the Chief of Staff Mamoru Iinuma:
“Iinuma-kun, the rumor is that the Battle of Nanjing is over, but now it seems that they were too optimistic;
According to intelligence, the Chinese deployed about 15 troops to the Nanjing battlefield. In the early stage, tens of thousands of them were wiped out by the Imperial Army, and another 8 to escaped, so there were at least defeated soldiers in the city.

This is not a small number, we must wipe them out as soon as possible, do you have any good suggestions?"

Prince Asaka Naruhiko is Yuhito's uncle. He has known military affairs since he was a child. He was admitted to the Army Officer School with excellent grades. He started as a trainee second lieutenant and has now been promoted to lieutenant general.

If you capture Jinling City perfectly and gain enough military merit, you will be promoted to general or even marshal, and you will be the representative of the royal family in the army.

Iinuma-no-Kami's seniority was even older than Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko's, but this did not affect his humbleness in front of the prince, like a servant. When the prince asked about the war, he immediately bowed deeply to him and said:
"Your Highness, the defeated soldiers are still a mob. Their spontaneous resistance will not last long.
Their superiors have abandoned them, there are not enough ferries on the river, and the empire's elite divisions are all in the east, south and west. Now they are just fighting a desperate battle.

As long as the main forces of each division enter the city, it will only take a few days to wipe them out, and they won't cause any trouble. "Prince Asaka Naruhiko has just taken office and urgently needs to establish his authority. These defeated soldiers are the best sacrifices. For the Japanese, killing is the best way to establish their authority.

He nodded solemnly and said:
“Iinuma-kun, they are just a group of defeated soldiers without a unified command. They won’t be defeated in a few days.

Westerners have been jumping around recently, trying to interfere in the empire's war. Although the empire does not need to consider their feelings, it must also be careful about the methods and not let them interfere in the battle between the empire and China.

Therefore, we must quickly annihilate these defeated soldiers. These are the elite veterans of the Chinese people. If we kill them all, someone will definitely cry."

Iinuma Mamoru naturally knew who Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko was talking about. This kind of teasing was very appropriate among the top leaders, so the two of them couldn't help but laugh triumphantly.

"Mr. Iinuma, telegraph to all divisions to first concentrate their forces to wipe out the remaining Chinese soldiers in the southern city and drive them to the riverside in the northern city;

Order the air warriors to strengthen the blockade of the river and absolutely not allow any boats to cross the river.

Remember, the Imperial Army takes no prisoners!"

Iinuma Mamoru excitedly took the order and left. They thought the battle to wipe out the defeated soldiers was too simple, so that Lieutenant General Tani Hisao could not help but curse after receiving the telegram:

"Bakayaloo! The Chinese in Xicheng District are not fleeing soldiers at all, but are resisting in an organized manner. They are using street fighting to continuously deplete the strength of the imperial army.

If we don’t pay attention, the imperial army will suffer a major setback in Jinling City!”

Colonel Shimono said worriedly:
"Your Excellency, the division commander, His Royal Highness is a new official and is in urgent need of a good start. If he knew about the Ushijima Brigade at this time, he would definitely be furious. Do you want to suppress it first?
The lost troops should be replaced by replacement troops, engineers, and baggage soldiers. This way, the prince may be more receptive and will not anger you."

Tani Hisao thought this was the only way. Although they were both lieutenant generals, Prince Asaka Naruhiko was not someone he could afford to offend. Now he could only hope that the 114th Division could hold on.

(End of this chapter)