pappabearbooks Chapter 91 Escaping to safety, a gift left for the Japanese army
Chapter 91 Escaping to safety, a gift left for the Japanese army
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Seeing the fierce fighting there, Tani Hisao hurriedly dispatched another regiment to support Shimono Ichigo.
The reason we dared not send artillery support was because the battle at the front was fierce, and who knew whether a shell would kill more enemies or more of our own men.
When a Japanese regiment had finished assembling and was about to provide support to Shimono Ichigo, the tracks of the No. 1 tank ran right over Shimono Ichigo's body.
The convoy moved forward in the darkness, tearing a gap in the Japanese lines and rushing through.
Meanwhile, on the front lines, the Japanese counter-offensive forces had already advanced.
However, as soon as they arrived, they found the position completely deserted; the enemy who had previously occupied the forward positions had vanished without a trace.
They even left them some small gifts—Bouncing Betty mines, which the Japanese infantry hated.
The convoy sped to the riverbank and then headed south along the riverbank.
Because the convoy consisted mainly of trucks, motorcycles, and horse-drawn carriages, the entire convoy moved very quickly.
Zhu Chi and Xu Dingguo led more than two thousand men to the flank of the breakout team, providing support and preventing the Japanese army from attacking.
When the Japanese infantry regiment arrived at the battlefield, they found no trace of the Nationalist army. All they could see were large numbers of Japanese corpses crushed into meat patties and the still-burning battle line.
In the 6th Division headquarters, Tani Hisao heard one piece of bad news, or rather, two pieces of bad news.
"Chief of Staff Shimotsubo Kazukatsu has been killed in action. The enemy has broken through the defensive line and is fleeing south. Should we pursue them?"
The communications staff officer ran over to report to the leader.
Tani Hisao shuddered, his eyes flashing with sorrow and anger.
"Pursue! Dispatch troops to pursue!"
After saying this, he immediately dialed the phone and called the 114th Division.
After Shigeharu Suematsu answered the phone, he heard Hisao Tani recount the general situation.
In fact, he was also about to send troops to support the Zhonghua Gate area, but before he arrived, he heard that the 6th Division's forward positions had been captured.
This left Suematsu Shigeharu completely bewildered. After inquiring, he learned that the enemy was attempting to break out and had already breached the defensive line.
Now I hear that Shimono Ichikō has even been killed in action, and the main enemy force is also retreating south.
"Understood, I will send troops to pursue them."
Shigeharu Suematsu agreed.
Tani Hisao added:
"Mobilize all trucks to pursue the enemy. The enemy mainly travels by truck, motorcycle, and horse-drawn carriage, and they move very fast, making it difficult for ordinary infantry to catch up."
This surprised Shigeharu Suematsu somewhat; there were probably tens of thousands of these enemies.
Trucks and horse-drawn carriages capable of carrying tens of thousands of people are by no means a small number.
Where did the enemy get so many trucks?
Could it be that these enemies collected all the trucks in Nanjing in advance?
Where does the fuel come from?
In Tani Hisao's account, the enemy even had tanks, so extra caution was needed.
Shimono Kazuo was killed because he did not expect the enemy to have tank units, which led to the rapid breaching of his lines.
"In short, these enemies are not easy to deal with. Our unit has concentrated all vehicles and is pursuing them at full speed. We must not let this enemy force escape."
Hisao Tani's attitude was extremely firm.
Because he vaguely sensed that if Li Jianghe wasn't eliminated now, this person might cause a lot of trouble for the Great Japanese Empire in the future.
"Alright, please accept my condolences. I will immediately dispatch troops to pursue them."
After saying that, Suematsu Shigeharu called over Chief of Staff Isoda Saburo.
"You lead your troops in a swift pursuit. You don't need to carry too much baggage. As long as you can hold off the enemy, reinforcements will arrive continuously."
"Hai."
After saying this, Saburo Isoda quickly assembled his troops.
Two hours later, they gathered more than 300 trucks, pulled an infantry regiment, and went to pursue them.
Hisao Tani's 6th Division also managed to assemble over 400 trucks, along with an infantry regiment, a tank company, and a cavalry regiment.
The combined strength of the various units exceeded six thousand men.
However, the objective of this unit was not to eliminate Li Jianghe's troops, but to entangle them, making it easier for the Japanese army to pursue them.
Even the naval forces were notified by Tani Hisao and were encouraged to pursue the enemy along the river.
The Japanese Third Fleet originally did not intend to pay attention, but upon hearing that it was the enemy force that sank their battleship Sendai, they immediately became alert, weighed anchor, and set off to pursue along the river.
In the darkness, the procession sped along without daring to stop for even a moment.
Their trucks and carriages were full of people.
There were soldiers, as well as civilians from Nanjing who were evacuating with them.
To ensure the troops' rapid withdrawal, Li Jianghe spent almost all his merit points to purchase a large number of trucks and horse-drawn carriages as vehicles.
However, no soldiers were left behind in the city, regardless of the circumstances.
In addition to more than 10,000 Nationalist soldiers, nearly 10,000 civilians from the city also rushed out with them.
Li Jianghe called Long Wenzhang over and said:
"Take the engineers and deploy anti-tank mines on the highway behind."
I reckon the Japanese will definitely pursue us, and they'll be using trucks and armored vehicles. These anti-tank mines should buy us at least a few more hours.
Upon receiving the order, Long Wenzhang immediately gathered more than ten engineering squads to quickly deploy anti-tank mines on the rear road.
These mines cannot be triggered by infantry, but they can be easily triggered by heavier vehicles such as tanks, armored vehicles, and trucks.
After making these arrangements, Long Wenzhang and his men rode motorcycles to catch up with the main force.
Around 7 a.m., the Japanese pursuing troops also attacked from behind.
Compared to Li Jianghe's troops, which carried a large number of civilians and supplies, the Japanese army's purely mechanized units were obviously able to advance much faster.
In just a few hours of chasing, they had successfully closed the gap.
Holding binoculars, Saburo Isoda sat in the passenger seat, gazing at the distant horizon.
"They're not far now. They're not running fast enough, humph."
He sneered and ordered the troops to speed up their march.
But at that moment, an explosion was heard in front of the convoy.
"Boom!!!!!"
A truck traveling ahead exploded instantly.
The entire truck was blown into the air, along with the dozen or so Japanese soldiers inside, who also perished on the spot.
The convoy, which had been speeding along, suddenly stopped, and soldiers quickly ran over to report to their superiors:
"Report: Landmines ahead!"
"Send the engineers to clear the mines, and at the same time have the cavalry scout out other roads to see if they are passable."
Saburo Isoda frowned slightly. They didn't have much time left. If the enemy continued to advance deeper into the Nationalist-controlled area, they would lose their logistical support and, with their own supplies running low, they might find themselves in new danger.