Japan decided to attack Nanking and fight the periphery of Nanking (3).
In addition, the 6th Division of the Japanese Army, which arrived from the rear on a rapid march, finally caught up with the 114th Division on December 7. According to the deployment, the 6th Division was located on the left flank (west) of the 114th Division, and the two divisions cooperated and advanced side by side towards Nanjing. On the 8th, when the 114th Division attacked Niushou Mountain, Yinlong Mountain and other places, the 6th Division marched north along the east bank of the Yangtze River to defeat the headquarters of Sun Yuanliang's 88th Division, and successfully won the Dashengguan in Yuhuatai District, which is located on the bank of the Yangtze River.
Another unit of the Japanese 10th Army, the Kunisaki Detachment, set out from Guangde, and on December 3, Japanese planes bombed Langxi to help the Kunisaki Detachment. On the 5th, the Kunisaki detachment of Inoki Kiyotaibu occupied Langxi. On the 8th, it passed through Langxi and then attacked Shuiyang Town, Xuancheng City, and on the 9th, it captured Taiping (Dangtu County, Ma'anshan City).On the 11th, the first part of the Kunisaki detachment from Cihu Township, Ma'anshan CityHung the American flag, disguised as an American merchant ship, crossed the river, and landed at the mouth of the Shiba River in Wujiang TownImmediately occupied Wujiang Town, Ma'anshan City and County. And then along withThe Wupu Highway invaded the territory of Jiangpu (Pukou), burned all the way, and approached Jiangpu County (part of Pukou District) in the early morning of the 12th.
When the 10th Army planned to capture Hangzhou, it more or less retained troops to serve as garrison in the occupied areas. Among them, there is a squadron of infantry in Ha Si An, and a squadron of infantry in Quang De Liu;Leave a brigade of infantry in Huzhou (Wuxing);Leave half a brigade in Ningguo County, Xuancheng City, Anhui Province. However, as the Japanese reserve infantry regiment arrived near Huzhou on the 6th, the above-mentioned remaining troops handed over all the garrison tasks to the reserve infantry regiment, and then returned to their original units, further enhancing the offensive strength of the Japanese army.
The 18th Division set out from Xia Si'an and attacked Xuancheng and Wuhu in Anhui. Beginning on December 5, Japanese planes bombed the urban areas of the two cities for three consecutive days. But at this time, Xuancheng and Wuhu were already empty cities. On the 7th, the 18th Division occupied Ningguo County, Xuancheng, Anhui. On the evening of the 10th, the 18th Division of the Japanese Army occupied Wuhu City, Anhui Province without resistance, and the main force of the Japanese army was assembled between Taiping and Wuhu. The other was turned to Hangzhou and participated in the attack on Hangzhou on the 11th.
Shanghai sent troops. On December 3, the Japanese 16th Division attacked Jurong along Danyang. On the 5th, after breaking through the defense line of Jurong, it besieged Nanjing City through Tangshan Town, Jiangning District. On the same day, the 9th Division approached Chunhua Town along Tianwang Town, Jurong County. The 13th Division, with the 103rd Brigade as the backbone, formed the Yamada Detachment, which first assisted the Tiangu Detachment in attacking Zhenjiang, and then attacked Longtan Town, Qixia Mountain, Wulong Mountain, Yanziji and Shogunate Mountain in Nanjing's Qixia District along the south bank of the Yangtze River on December 9, besieging the northeast of Nanjing.
At dawn on December 5, the two regiments of the 66th Army stationed in Jurong and Tangshan to occupy the forward positions came into contact with the Japanese 16th Division, and the Japanese vanguard retreated due to the lack of personnel. Subsequently, the main force of the Japanese 16th Division attacked the two regiments of the 66th Army and besieged the defenders. Ye Zhao, commander of the 66th Army, sent reinforcements from the 478th Regiment of the 956th Brigade. Deng Longguang, commander of the 83rd Army, also sent the 154th Division, which had just arrived in Baitu Town from Dongchang Town, Jurong County, to advance to Dahu Mountain to assist in the battle. However, the follow-up troops of the Japanese army also came from Jurong through Xintang Village, and the reinforcements of the 66th Army were outflanked by the Japanese army, and they broke through after a hard battle, but the losses were quite large.
On the afternoon of the same day, a small force of the Japanese 16th Division invaded Mengtang Village, Tangshan Town, from the northern foot of Jiuhua Mountain (Jiulian Mountain) northeast of Jurong. Tang Shengzhi sent the 36th Division, which was still defending northeast of Nanjing, to reinforce it. Division Commander Song Xilian ordered the Second Regiment to be equipped with anti-tank guns from Beigushan to Qilinmen in Nanjing City to assemble and stand by for support. In addition, Tang Shengzhi also ordered the 41st Division of Xu Yuanquan's Second Army, which had just arrived in Nanjing, to dispatch from the north, and the 66th Army to attack from the south, and the three armies jointly intercepted it. However, this small group of Japanese troops did not love the war, but resisted while using the depression to continue westward towards the Dahu Mountain area. Dahu Mountain is located between the 2nd Army and the 66th Army defense, and is at the key node of the Nanjing-Tangshan Avenue, ** is worried that the rear contact line will be cut off, so the three troops are ready to surround and annihilate the incoming Japanese army at dawn the next day.
On December 6, the Japanese army launched a fierce attack on the outlying positions east of Nanjing. The 41st Division of the Second Army Corps was ordered by Commander Xu Yuanquan to go out of Yaohuamen in the northeast of Nanjing, and advanced to Mengtang through Longtan, Baijingtai, and Shewushan, while the 16th Division and the 41st Division were maneuvering around the Dahu Mountain area, which seemed to be containing **. In the early morning of December 7, the **36th Division supplemented the 2nd Regiment with tank defensive artillery, etc., and also besieged the small group of Japanese troops as originally planned. In the battle, ** once had the advantage, but due to the bombing support of Japanese aircraft, ** was never able to destroy the small Japanese army. In addition, due to communication problems, the ** troops attacking the Japanese army from the south were unable to coordinate with the headquarters of the 41st and 36th Divisions, which gave the Japanese troops a chance to breathe. Subsequently, the Japanese 16th Division rushed to Dahu Mountain for reinforcements. The rapid penetration of the Japanese army threatened the Longtan position of the 41st Division and the Tangshan position of the 66th Army, and Tang Shengzhi had to order the 41st Division and the 66th Army to return to defense. In this way, only the 36th Division was left to supplement the second regiment of the 36th Division, and the garrison commander's department simply gave up the encirclement and annihilation plan.
The combined infantry and artillery column and mechanized troops of the 9th Division of the Japanese Army, which were advancing westward along the current S38 Provincial Road, entered and occupied Bawang Town on December 4, and a part of the 16th Division of the Japanese Army, which was advancing westward through Tianwang Town and Wujin and Danyang, joined east of Jurong. The other part attacked Hushu Town through Gecun Town, northwest of Tennoji, and made contact with the advancing troops of the 51st Division of the **74th Army on the 5th.
Wang Yaowu's 51st Division was introduced earlier, and this division was the main division of the 74th Army. Its predecessor was the ** Supplementary 1st Brigade, which made great contributions in the encirclement and suppression of the Red 10th Army led by Fang Zhimin. In the spring of 1936, the brigade was expanded into a division and directly supplied by the Ministry of Military Affairs of the State Government and became a subordinate unit of the first army, and then became one of the 30 integrated divisions. Tang Shengzhi placed the 74th Army, a trustworthy force, southeast of Nanjing, the node where the Japanese army might attack mainly. Yu Jishi, the commander of the 74th Army, placed the military headquarters in the village outside the Tongji Gate in the ancient city of Nanjing, and the 51st Division, the best of all, was deployed in the area of Chunhua Town (under the Jiangning District of Nanjing). Wang Yaowu, commander of the 51st Division, retained the 305th Regiment of Zhang Lingfu of the 153rd Brigade at Gaoqiaomen and Heding Bridge on the left and right flanks of Shangzhen, where the division headquarters was located, and left the 306th Regiment of Qiu Weida of the 153rd Brigade in Songshu as a reserve force to keep in touch with the 66th Army on the left flank and the 58th Division on the right flank. Then the 151st Brigade and the 301st Regiment of Ji Hongru defended the left flank of Chunhua Town, Nanjing, Jiangning, Songshu and ShangzhuangWith the 151st Journey Zhi 302nd Regiment to defend the right flank of Chunhua Town, the line from Songshu to Fangshan. The 301st Regiment sent Hu Hao's 3rd Battalion as a vigilance force to deploy in Hushu Town.
At about 2 o'clock in the afternoon of December 6, more than 100 cavalry and more than 500 infantry of the 9th Division of the Japanese Army launched an attack on the position of the 301st Regiment of the alert troops in Hushu Town. At the same time, in Tuqiao Town and Suoshu Town, Jiangning District, between Nanjing and Jurong, the 306th Regiment of the **51st Division and the 16th Division fought fiercely with more than 500 Japanese troops. The Japanese army, with the support of Japanese aircraft and heavy artillery, launched a fierce attack on the first line positions on the outskirts of Nanjing. By night, the Japanese army had grown to more than 2,000 troops. At dawn on the 7th, the Japanese 16th Division began to counterattack, not only regaining the advantage of the battlefield around Dahu Mountain, but also occupying Jurong and Huangmei Town and Tuqiao Town to the west, and dividing troops to attack the ** position of Qixia Mountain to the north.
On December 6, the Japanese Tiangu detachment was ordered to advance from Danyang to Zhenjiang. The Yamada Detachment of the 13th Division also came from the east to Zhenjiang. The Japanese navy and air force that cooperated with the two Japanese forces also went to help at the same time. At the critical moment of defending Zhenjiang, the 261st Brigade of the 87th Division was ordered by Liu Xing, deputy commander of the Nanjing Garrison Command, to return to Nanjing to aid Nanjing. The remnants of the 103rd and 112th Divisions, due to their weak strength, withdrew to Longtan Town, Jurong City, Zhenjiang, close to the outlying positions, with only symbolic resistance. On the 8th, the fortress troops defending northeast of Zhenjiang had not yet made contact with the Japanese army, and with the remnants of the **103rd Division and the 112th Division withdrawing to Longtan by British steamer, Zhenjiang, the capital of Jiangsu Province, was so easily occupied by the Japanese army.