Early morning on November 30th!
Zhou Weiguo drove his troops out of the east city gate neatly in four columns.
Behind the team were more than thirty trucks filled with supplies.
When the people saw it in the early morning, they all talked a lot, because this was the neatest army they had seen in these days. And the thing in each soldier's hand is the most advanced German equipment.
There are more soldiers coming and going in Nanjing, and the people are beginning to become familiar with these various weapons.
At this time, a more discerning person saw the number of the troops and said in surprise: "The troops of the Eighty-seventh Division are the troops of the Eighty-seventh Division."
"The Eighty-seventh Division is a direct line unit. What do I mean? It's so well-equipped? All German equipment?"
"Wait, look what's behind that? Is that the gendarmerie?"
"It's an independent regiment of the Third Military Police Brigade."
"Holy darling, aren't the Independent Regiment the team of the legendary figure Duanwu? How come they are together with the people of the 87th Division?"
"Tsk, tsk, this is called a strong alliance!"
"Yes, yes, you see there are quite a lot of people here, at least more than a thousand people."
"Look, there are cannons at the back, eight of them? Grandma is definitely going to have a big battle!"
"Yes, beat that little bitch to death!"
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The people were talking a lot, but no one dared to come forward and strike up a conversation at this moment.
Because obviously, this is a well-equipped and well-trained force and those stragglers are completely different concepts.
There was murderous intent in their eyes, an aura that would make enemies tremble when they saw it, let alone these common people.
But they feel at ease looking at such a unit. Because there is such a force, can the Japs really reach Nanjing?
At this time, all the people looked at them and prayed for them in their hearts, hoping that they could kill more Japanese and return in triumph as soon as possible.
Of course, this is because the people still don't know the tragedy of the battlefield ahead. Just last night, the fighting near Jiangyin Fortress was basically over. Only some areas in Shanxi had not yet been captured by the Japanese.
The Japanese Fifth Division also launched a frantic attack on the Changzhou area. Many defense lines outside Changzhou have fallen.
In this regard, the injured Commander Huo of the 112th Division and Commander He Zhizhong of the 103rd Division both had headaches.
Needless to say, He Zhizhong only knew how to execute orders, but seeing the menacing Japanese army, he was even a little timid. However, there was a previous Dragon Boat Festival order, and retreat was not allowed. What's more, Commander Huo from the 112th Division is still in charge.
Commander Huo looked at the military map and felt bad. The Japanese Fifth Division was very fierce. It only took less than a day to occupy several important defense lines such as Fangshan, Xiayang Town, and Beimo Town.
Commander Huo predicted that in the afternoon of the 30th, the Japanese forward troops would arrive at the Womachuan position thirty miles outside Changzhou. The Battle of Changzhou may start at any time.
Gu Zhen
He Zhizhong and Commander Huo said: "Now we don't have enough troops. There are only two regiments in the Womachuan position, and there is no artillery support. We simply can't last long."
Commander Huo was speechless. How could he not know that the Womachuan position was short of troops and had no artillery support?
But at this time, he simply could not mobilize more troops.
In the battle of Jiangyin Fortress, the 112th Division suffered heavy losses, and the 103rd Division also suffered casualties. Later, the strength of the two divisions was lost due to the Dongshan Fort, Eshan Fort, etc. The original garrison troops took over the Huangshan Fort, and the Xishan Fort continued to deal with the Japanese army. Commander Huo's 112th Division and He Zhizhong's 103rd Division jumped out of the encirclement in time and deployed defenses on the Changzhou front line with the original garrison.
But unexpectedly, the Japanese army mobilized the elite Fifth Division.
This fifth division is not only powerful in combat but also very ferocious.
After encountering stubborn resistance from the defenders when attacking Lingqiu, Shanxi, the Fifth Division had nowhere to vent its grievances and extended its claws to the defenseless people.
After occupying Lingqiu City in Shanxi Province, the officers and soldiers of the Fifth Division sealed the city gate tightly, conducted a city-wide manhunt, and massacred 600 residents in Dayun Temple, Nainai Temple and other places. The Japanese army also rounded up women and violently massacred them, killing those who resisted on the spot.
From then on, the Japanese army arrested people every day and massacred more than 400 residents. The Japanese army carried out massacres across Lingqiu County, killing more than 100 villagers, old and young, in Donghenan Village, more than 30 villagers in Xiaozhai Village, and more than 20 people in Guangou Village and Tangzhiwa Village.
Immediately afterwards, the Fifth Division caused the tragic Meihua Town Massacre in Hebei.
On October 11, the Fifth Division moved to attack various places in Hebei, killing, burning, raping and looting wherever they went, just like in Shanxi.
Two brigades of the division suffered another setback when they attacked Meihua Town in Gaocheng. About 5,000 Japanese troops surrounded Meihua Town at dawn on the 12th, causing the tragic Meihua Town Massacre.
While the Japanese soldiers were killing people all over the town, they arrested young and middle-aged people and shot them with machine guns, filling the puddles with corpses. At the same time, the Japanese army also dragged more than 100 young women they captured to the Fenfang compound in the town, where they were violently beaten together. Then, their organs were cut off, their abdomens were opened, and they were tortured and killed one by one.
On the 13th and 14th, the Japanese army pushed 62 people including farmer Zhang Li into the pit and buried them alive. They tied more than 200 young and middle-aged people to the open space outside the east gate and stabbed them to death with bayonets in batches, or poured gasoline on them and burned them alive. Cut off the head and throw it into the puddle.
They tied more than 200 women and children to the wall of Nanmen Village and asked about the whereabouts of the Chinese troops. Seeing that the people were silent, the Japanese army first pulled out four little girls, split them in half, and then shot all the women and children.
The Japanese atrocities continued until the evacuation at noon on the 15th. This village originally had 550 households and a population of 2,500. 1,547 people were killed and 46 households were exterminated. It was recorded as the Meihua Town Massacre comparable to the Nanjing Massacre.
Therefore, the heinous crimes committed by the Japanese Fifth Division are simply too numerous to describe. No Chinese soldier will tolerate such a unit wreaking havoc on Chinese territory.
And it is precisely because of this that Mr. Huo does not want the tragedy to happen again in Changzhou.
He is evacuating people in Changzhou, including Baijia Town, which is adjacent to Changzhou.
Baijia Town is not as big as Changzhou, with only three to four thousand permanent residents. But Mr. Huo felt that if the kid suffered a loss in Changzhou, he would definitely not let him go there. So he ordered a battalion of soldiers to send reinforcements there and evacuate the people in the city.
But little did Master Huo know that Hengzheng Shiro, the commander of the Fifth Division, had also noticed this town.
He ordered the 21st Infantry Regiment to quietly bypass Womachuan and capture Baijia Town.
Although Baijia Town has little strategic significance, it can threaten Changzhou's supply line. Once Baijia Town is lost, the Japanese 21st Regiment can not only divide its forces to attack the flanks of the Changzhou defenders, but also cut off the Changzhou defenders' retreat at any time.
Once the retreat is cut off, the Changzhou defenders will be in chaos.
Without supplies and unable to retreat, Changzhou is a dead city. Even a strong army will be demoralized because of this!
But the battle in Womacuan has not yet begun. Commander Huo did not expect that the Japanese army would build a plank road to cross Chencang secretly. Baijia Town was in danger! ...
