The Fourth Outstanding Person of Huangpu Military Academy

"To capture Wuhan, delay is not an option; a quick decision is crucial!"

On the afternoon of September 2, at Yujiawan Station at the foot of Hongshan Mountain, Bai Chongxi convened a meeting with Chen Keyu, commander of the Fourth Army, Li Zongren, commander of the Seventh Army, Tang Shengzhi, commander of the Eighth Army, and Xue Yue, commander of the 1st Division of the 1st Army, and decided to attack the city immediately in the early morning of September 3.

The attack was launched simultaneously from three directions by the Fourth Army, the Seventh Army and the First Division.

Since Ye Ting's Independent Regiment suffered heavy casualties and was extremely tired in the battle of Heshengqiao, the Fourth Army sent two regiments of the 10th Division to attack the city, attacking Tongxiang Gate to Binyang Gate.

The Seventh Army attacked from Zhonghe Gate to Wangshan Gate. Which troops to send was not discussed at the meeting. Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi would discuss it themselves anyway.

The First Division attacked the city from the northeast corner, and the troops sent were... the Second and Third Regiments.

Oh my god, Chen Tianheng’s first regiment has been put on ice again.

According to Xue Yue, this was an instruction conveyed by Chiang Kai-shek.

……

"The Second Regiment isn't very good! Chen Mingren, look at that formation, wow!"

Northeast of Wuchang City, at the viewing stand on Xiaogui Mountain, Chief of Staff Xu Xiangqian commented on the attacking Second Regiment.

Operations staff officer Chen Mingren was also looking into the distance through a telescope, but did not express any opinion.

Training Staff Officer Lu Deming said: "Actually, before we set out, I felt that the Second Regiment's level had declined. The reorganization of party affairs, the expulsion of Communist Party members from the First Army, had damaged the Second Regiment's foundation."

Xu Xiangqian: "Before the Party's affairs were reorganized, the Second Regiment was not as good as ours. ... If the Second Regiment is like this, then the Third Regiment probably won't be much better."

“Boom”, “Boom”, “Boom…”

The 1st Division's mountain artillery battalion, stationed near Xiaogui Mountain, had been firing continuously. After this round of bombardment, the 2nd Regiment, already very close to the Wuchang city walls, ceased firing. Through the telescope, one battalion of the 2nd Regiment, carrying several ladders, formed a standard Soviet skirmish formation and surged toward the city walls.

The Second Regiment also had members of the War Research Society. Even after the Party's reorganization, several members of the War Research Society were still "left out" of the Second and Third Regiments. However, due to the small number of members and the regimental commander's lack of enthusiasm for new infantry tactics training, the Second and Third Regiments generally adhered to the Soviet-style drill manual, with a minimal emphasis on the use of grenades in close combat.

Chen Tianheng stared at the siege battlefield in the distance, but at this moment several clouds of smoke suddenly exploded in the crowd.

Xu Xiangqian: "The Wu army's artillery in Wuchang City has not been suppressed!"

Wuchang City was large, and the mountain artillery had a relatively curved trajectory. By placing the mountain artillery in the center of the city, the Wu army was able to fire their shells outside the city walls. Although the firepower was not dense enough to create a wall of fire, the second attacking regiment was clearly stunned by the artillery fire.

The first regiment was watching the battle from a great distance, and couldn't see much detail through the telescope. They just felt that the gray dots outside the city had become sluggish. After watching for a while, something obvious finally happened: a ladder (the size of a matchstick in the telescope) was thrown into the sky.

Then, we move to the area around Zhongxiao Gate, about 200 to 300 meters away. This is where the Third Regiment is attacking. For some reason, the Third Regiment has only just begun its attack, 10 minutes behind the Second Regiment. Like the Second Regiment, the Third Regiment also had a difficult time approaching the city wall.

To make matters worse, the Second Regiment, which was then hit by crossfire from mountain artillery and machine guns, retreated on its own, and the firepower of the mountain artillery battalion in the city was transferred to the attacking Third Regiment.

Chen Tianheng: "It's very likely that we won't be able to attack this time."

……

The September 3rd offensive achieved nothing.

By the afternoon, the Seventh and Fourth Armies had failed to enter the city. According to reports from officers of the First Regiment who had observed the battle from these two directions, their attacks had also been met with artillery fire. The Fourth Army was also hit by mountain artillery fire, while the Seventh Army was hit by artillery fire from Beiyang warships on the river.

In addition to the artillery fire, the height of Wuchang's walls and the exceptionally wide moat surrounding them also contributed significantly to the attack's failure. The Seventh Army actually managed to scale the city walls with a small force of more than 20 men, but they were driven back down—the rest of the ladder teams had been deployed en route, and the 20-odd Gui troops who had made it were outnumbered and ultimately lost.

That evening, the leaders of the three armies held another high-level meeting. Since the reinforcements from Wu were still on the way, the Northern Expedition had one last chance on September 5th before the reinforcements arrived in Jiangbei.

"Comrades. Brothers."

In the early morning of September 3, the assault team composed of the Second Battalion of the First Regiment and the Engineer Company lined up in front of Chen Tianheng.

"Down with the imperialist powers, get rid of the warlords. This is the song we sing every day."

"Why do we need to eliminate warlords? Because warlords are an obstacle to China's progress and development. As long as warlords continue to run rampant on Chinese soil, ordinary people across the country, including the elders of many of our brothers and sisters, will suffer under warlord rule."

"Just think about it. Your parents are peacefully at home, but a few soldiers show up and beat them up without a word. When you go out to visit relatives, soldiers stop you on the road and demand money. And if you run a small business, it's even more of a hassle. The warlords impose exorbitant taxes and levies that are too numerous to count! Who could endure such a life?"

"Only through our bloody struggle can we sweep these warlords into the trash heap and liberate the people. Comrades, everything we do today is valuable, and the blood we shed is worth it!"

The 1st Division's mountain artillery battalion pushed forward. In order to hit the Wu army's artillery positions in the center of the city, the artillery of the 1st Division, the 4th Army, and the 7th Army were all deployed in close proximity.

"Chen Tianheng, you just ordered the Second Battalion to lead the attack? Aren't you going to send in the Death Squad?"

Half an hour before the attack, Chen Tianheng and Ye Ting met outside the city.

During the September 3rd offensive, the Fourth Army had not allowed Ye Ting's Independent Regiment to join. Today's battle was the last chance to expedite a passage through Wuhan, and Ye Ting's Independent Regiment was deployed. The two sharpest swords of the Northern Expedition were joining forces today.

"Delegate the suicide squads to some extent dismantle the original company and platoon structure. With officers and soldiers from various battalions gathered together, tactical coordination might not be as good. Of course, the most important thing," Chen Tianheng said, "is that any company in the First Regiment would be willing to serve in the suicide squad."

Ye Ting stared at Chen Tianheng: "I find that you usually don't show your personality, but when you do, you can be quite pretentious."

Chen Tianheng: "This just means I have complete trust in my soldiers."

……

The 1st Division's mountain artillery opened fire, shell after shell flying into the city. Five minutes before the attack, the 1st Regiment's mortar company opened fire with a "boom, boom, boom" sound.

The commandos are in place.

The assault team of the First Regiment consisted of more than 70 people, a mixture of infantry and combat engineers. The first batch of attacking troops did not carry ladders, but blasting tubes.

The second group of troops attacking the city wall also did not bring ladders.

"beep--"

The classic whistle of the First Regiment sounded, and under the cover of heavy machine guns and mortars, the first wave of commandos rushed towards the city wall.

Chen Tianheng put down the telescope in his hand and walked back to the regiment command post from the height.

"Nerd, are you reading the new issue of the magazine again?"

"No, I'm looking at last year's issue."

Huang Wei is holding the September 1925 issue of China National Geographic. The special feature of this issue is:

Wuhan Ancient City.

Huang Wei pulled out another envelope and asked, "Captain Chen, how did you get so many original photos from the authors?"

"Don't worry about that. You may not believe it, but this author is actually a high-ranking official in the Beiyang government."

Chen Tianheng took the envelope from Huang Wei's hand and pulled out the large-size printed photos inside.

The photos selected for the special feature of National Geographic China are only a small part of those taken by the author. The dozens of photos in this envelope are all close-ups of the Wuchang City Wall, and some were even taken close to the wall.

These photos have now been "graffitied", and Chen Tianheng can even recognize the handwriting on them, mainly the handwriting of Xu Xiangqian and Huang Wei.

The top photo shows a close-up of a deep crack in the wall. The crack is circled in red, and a line is drawn to the text box below the photo:

"This crack can be used to insert a blasting tube."

Chapter 99

“Beep—” “Get down!!”

"Puff puff……"

Wang Erzhuo blew his whistle and shouted. The soldiers of the 4th Company of the 2nd Battalion fell to the ground one after another. The assault team of the engineering company was a little slower, after all, each of them was carrying a blasting tube taller than a man.

As they approached the Wuchang city wall, the defenders' heavy machine guns opened fire crazily. Wang Erzhuo could see the flames spewing from Maxim's guns from at least four battlements. Bullets flew over the heads of the fourth company or stabbed into the ground in front of the soldiers.

"Company commander! Company commander!"

Dai Anlan crawled a few meters towards Wang Erzhuo: "The walls of Wuchang are too high! They are now attacking us at a 10-degree angle! Even if we lie down, we are still a big target!"

Wang Erzhuo: "Each of you should find some rough terrain! We'll have to wait here for 60 seconds!"

Dai Anlan rolled and crawled away from Wang Erzhuo.

"Hiss!" The whistling sound of a cannonball pierced the air. Three clouds of gunpowder smoke rose from the top of the city wall, two clouds of gunpowder smoke and mud and water rose from below the wall, and a shell exploded behind the wall, sending up a column of smoke.

Wang Erzhuo: "The distance measurement is accurate! Raise the yellow flag!"

“Bang bang bang bang bang bang——” “Bang bang bang bang bang bang——” “Bang bang bang bang bang bang——”

As long as there were enough loaders, the mortars' burst rate of fire was terrifyingly fast. According to the plan formulated before the attack, the 4th Company of the 2nd Battalion paused here for one minute, and in this short period of time, each mortar fired 10 shells.

In fact, starting from the third round of artillery shells, three of the four guns on the city wall had misfired. The shells continued to fly over in waves. Wang Erzhuo watched the time. When sixty seconds were up, he blew hard on the whistle: "Beep!"

"The assault team has arrived at the foot of the city wall!"

Chen Tianheng climbed up to the heights near the regimental command post. Through the telescope, he saw that the four springboards across the moat had been set up. The assault team quickly crossed the springboards and spread out along the base of the city wall.

Chen Tianheng: "Where is the crack that can be used for blasting?"

Huang Wei: "It's right below the collapsed battlement."

Xu Xiangqian: "I saw long sticks moving towards that direction. They have found the correct position."

Because the distance was so far, the 2.03-meter-long orange-yellow blasting tube was more conspicuous than the Northern Expedition Army uniforms.

Orange...As mentioned before, this batch of blasting tubes is sold as mining consumables.

Chen Tianheng: "Yuan Yelie, increase the mortar range by 200 meters, fire slowly, and block the enemy's reinforcements towards the city wall."

"Yes!"

Mortar company commander Yuan Yelie trotted all the way to the mortar position.

……

At the foot of the city wall, Wang Erzhuo was next to a large crack in the wall. The combat engineers gathered around him and inserted the first blasting tube into the crack.

"Sir! Too shallow!" the engineer yelled. His blasting tube had been inserted to the bottom, with half a meter still sticking out.

You Buying, the captain of the engineering company, said, "Get the iron pick!"

Wang Erzhuo: "Is there enough time?! Grenades are being thrown from the wall!"

You Buying: "Give me two minutes! Two minutes! Digging a little deeper will increase the explosive power!"

You Buying and an engineer bent over and used long iron picks to poke the bricks and dig out the rammed earth in the cracks.

A heavy machine gun position in the distance opened fire at full force, with bullets sweeping back and forth between the battlements of the city wall. The defenders had dug out firing holes in the middle of the city wall, and each firing hole was blocked by a dedicated heavy machine gun.

Wang Erzhuo ran a few steps away when a grenade was thrown from the city wall. He quickly lay down and the grenade exploded with a bang, and the mud from the moat was all over him. Then, two screams of "Ah-ah-ah" were heard from the top of the city wall, and the body of a defender tumbled down from the top of the wall.

You Buying: "Alright! Alright!"

Wang Erzhuo: "Put all the blasting tubes in there!"

You Buying: "Exploded! Get out of the way! Everyone, get thirty meters away!"

Eight hundred meters away, Chen Tianheng and everyone in the regiment command post heard a loud bang, and the city wall in the distance seemed to shake.

Xu Xiangqian: "The explosion was successful! Assault Team 2, move in!"

The cluster of explosive tubes had opened a 1.5x0.7 meter long and wide hole at the base of the wall, more than two meters deep. Clearly, for a wall like Wuchang, a T1-T2 level city in China during the Cold Weapon Era, a single bundle of explosive tubes was insufficient.

The first regiment's plan was a second explosion: first, they would carve a cavity in the wall, then fill it with explosive packs and detonate them again.

The first blast was very effective, not only successfully digging a hole in the wall, but also causing panic among the defenders. They could not see the condition of the wall at the base, but only heard a deafening explosion, which made everyone's ears buzz and the entire wall tremble. Many people thought the wall had collapsed.

When these soldiers fled to the bottom of the city wall, the Wu army's supervising team was below with light machine guns and broadswords, and drove these soldiers who were on the verge of collapse back to the city wall.

In those chaotic seconds, the second assault team pushed eight wheelbarrows filled with explosives to the foot of the city wall.

You Buying: "Load them in immediately! Captain Wang! We're not done yet! We still have eight more cars!"

Wang Erzhuo put his left ear close to You Buying: "You! Say! What!?"

You Buying: "We still have a batch of wheelbarrows carrying explosives! You guys have to help me cover them!"

The defenders who had fled were driven back up the wall, trembling as they raised their guns, only to be met with another wave of intense bullets. Machine gun fire proved difficult to intercept, so the defenders could only retreat to the ground, fumbling for grenade boxes, unscrewing the lids and throwing them randomly.

But this did not completely protect them. After a few explosions below the city wall, the defenders at the base of the wall began to throw grenades upwards.

"Seventy-seven, seventy-eight, seventy-nine, eighty, eighty, eighty..."

Engineers stacked the explosive packs while You Buying counted them nearby. The first batch of 80 explosive packs was placed in the alcove. In the distance, a group of soldiers came rushing over, pushing a second batch of wheelbarrows. As one of the wheelbarrows was crossing a single-plank bridge, a squad leader slipped, sending the wheelbarrow and its crew careening into the moat.

You Buying was heartbroken: "Ah! My explosives!"

The soldier who fell into the moat was unexpectedly unharmed. He climbed out of the mud, figured out the situation he was facing, turned around and took out two packs of explosives from his wheelbarrow, tucked one under his armpit, and climbed up the slope of the moat amidst gunfire and bullets.

"One hundred and seventy, one hundred and seventy-one, one hundred and seventy-two..."

"Captain, do you want me to go down to the river again and get the remaining explosives?"

You Buying: "No need! We have enough explosives! You! What's your name?!"

"My name is Xie Jinyuan! From the Second Battalion!"

According to the engineering company's calculations, 150 explosive packs were enough to bring down the wall. They were now loading it with 172 explosive packs, totaling 2.6 tons of dynamite.

"It exploded! Get out of the way! Everyone, get a hundred meters away! Listen up! A hundred meters!!!"

……