Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 218: Breaking through from the front

The baggage train worked overtime to produce more than 2 shells, enough for the rocket launcher to fire more than a dozen rounds.
Breaking out was related to the life and death of the guerrilla column, so this time Yue Qianli did not hesitate and ordered to fire ten rounds in one breath, leaving a few hundred shells for emergency use.

Thousands of shells almost covered the enemy's positions, leaving the enemy's corpses scattered all over the ground, howling loudly;
The Japs didn't expect the Chinese counterattack to be so fierce, and their forces were too concentrated, so they suffered heavy losses. Many entire squadrons and teams were wiped out, and corpses littered the streets, which was a very refreshing sight.

"Hurry up, the Chinese are trying to break through, we must stop them!"

The first person to react was Tani Hisao. The commander of the Sixth Division was no pushover. Before the Chief of Staff Shimoe could recover from the bombing, he was slapped in the face by Tani Hisao and immediately came to his senses.
He stretched out his short, bowed legs and headed straight for the secret signal room. He had to notify all the regiments as soon as possible to stop the Chinese from breaking out.

As a graduate of the Lu University Sabre Group, his IQ returned to normal after being slapped. At this moment, there was only one thought in his mind: Yue Qianli must not be allowed to escape, as this man is the scourge of the empire!
Loud military bugle calls sounded one after another, and as soon as the artillery fire extended, the attacking square formed by the only two remaining temporary regiments cut through the enemy's defense line like a sharp ox-horn knife;

At this time, the Japanese had been blown to pieces. Although the casualties were not heavy, the chaos was fatal.

There was no coordination between the regiments, and the divisions were fighting each other. The regiment commander could not find the battalion commander, the battalion commander could not contact the squadron commander, and the soldiers were at a loss.

In this extremely chaotic state, thousands of Chinese who had gathered their strength rushed into the group of devils;

They attacked very quickly and resolutely. They were only responsible for tearing open the Japanese defense line, attacking from north to south, and heading straight towards Zhonghuamen.

The gap was getting bigger and bigger. The troops that had been fighting with the Japanese before also launched a counterattack. No one knew how many troops they had left.

Everyone who was still alive joined the counterattack. The loud military bugle was the battle horn. Led by the military flag and the bugle, they rushed towards the Japanese invaders with murderous intent.

The Japanese also spontaneously came forward, gun to gun, bayonet to bayonet, and launched a desperate fight. Their battle was silent but they fought with all their strength until the other side fell completely...

At the same time, on the outskirts of Jinling City, thousands of soldiers from the independent detachment also launched a fierce attack on the 18th Division's defense line to support the main force's breakout.

The temporary 5th and 6th detachments, led by Zhao Tianci, charged and fought fiercely, and broke through the Japanese defense line in just half a day. The vanguard battalion even rushed to the Zhonghua Gate.

The battalion that had been hiding in Yuhuatai also launched a harassment war against the Japanese headquarters, making the Japanese near Yuhuatai even more chaotic;
They didn't know how many troops the Chinese had hidden, nor did they know what was happening, they just fired randomly.

Seeing that the assault troops had torn through the Japanese defense line, Yue Qianli ordered an all-out attack. The brigade's direct troops and the brigade headquarters all joined the battle, and everyone became a combatant.

Under the command of the bugle call, the remnants of the guerrilla column, the 262nd Brigade, the 264th Brigade, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Provisional Detachments launched a full-scale counterattack in the direction of Zhonghuamen; the Japanese soldiers blocking their way either had to dodge wisely or be swallowed up by the rolling waves, leaving nothing behind.

In the process of breaking out, no one knows how many people fell, and no one knows how many devils were killed. The ruins of the southern city were filled with the bodies of soldiers from both sides. Many of them died in a fight, piled up in layers, with blood everywhere...

At the Sixth Division Headquarters, the commander of the 114th Division walked in like a defeated rooster. Tani Hisao also had bloodshot eyes. After the two looked at each other, Lieutenant General Suematsu Shigeharu spoke first:
"Tani Shou-kun, the Chinese have already broken out. Your Highness and Commander Yanagawa were killed in the bombing. All divisions have suffered heavy losses and are leaderless. We must come up with a charter as soon as possible."

Tani Hisao didn't know how to respond, but as the designated person in charge of the two divisions, he had to come up with a response plan, so he took over and said:
"Mister Suematsu, there was fierce gunfire outside the city. The 18th Division's defense line was also attacked. Under the attack from both inside and outside by the Chinese, they were unable to stop Yue Qianli's troops who were determined to break out.
This breakout was led by Yue Qianli's Shanghai-Nanjing Guerrilla Column, with the main force being the 88th Division and tens of thousands of defeated soldiers. They planned it carefully and it was a premeditated breakout operation.

Now the enemy's situation is unclear, the Imperial Army has lost the initiative, and several main divisions cannot work together. Fighting further will only increase casualties.
As the saying goes, don't chase after an enemy who has lost his way. I think the best strategy is to remain unchanged in the face of ever-changing circumstances and preserve the city of Jinling."

After Tani Hisao finished saying these depressing words, he slumped down in his chair as if a nerve had been pulled out of him.
Lieutenant General Suematsu was also exhausted and had lost all fighting spirit. It was not that they did not want to chase, but they really could not do it anymore.

On the eastern front, Lieutenant General Nakajima Imago ordered the remnants of the 16th Division, which had suffered heavy casualties, to charge into the northern city in order to boost morale;

They killed anyone they saw, looted anything they saw, and burned any house they saw. They were like a group of devils that had broken free from their seal, turning Jinling City into hell...

第16师团带了头之后，第9师团、第6师团、114师团、第9旅团等部纷纷效仿，开启了事先就计划好了的狂欢模式；

They used killing to cover up their own incompetence, and used burning, killing and looting to vent their inner beastly desires. They vented all the evil that could be thought of in the world in the city of Jinling.

Countless people were slaughtered, and the wealth accumulated over thousands of years was destroyed in an instant. Smoke billowed, howling sounded, and the whole city was weeping. No one knew how many people they had killed, how much evil they had done, and how much sin they had committed.
Hell is empty and the devil is on earth!
Outside Jinling City, Yue Qianli's troops had already joined forces with the independent detachment that came to support them, but no one was happy;
The thick smoke floating over Jinling City made everyone feel extremely heavy. They tried their best, but still could not change the result of Jinling's fall.

They could barely break out by themselves, but it was impossible to break out with millions of civilians. The Japanese Navy Inland Fleet and the 13th Division had already blocked the passage across the river.

On the east, south and west sides, there were 20 Japanese troops, who surrounded the city tightly. If it were not for the opportunity to blow up Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko, they would not have been able to break out and would have eventually died in the city. This result could not be changed, as if it had become a dead end.

This is also the reason why everyone is in low spirits. No matter how hard they try, what is coming will come, and what is lost will be lost. There were nearly 10 of them, but only about 4 are left, and everyone is injured.

After Chapter 223 was published, it encountered another review issue. I will revise it on the computer tomorrow and everyone can take a look at it.

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(End of this chapter)