The retreat of the various arms at the Battle of Nanking turned into a disorderly rout (3).
On the evening of the 12th, Commander Ye Zhao of the 66th Army, who had been separated from Deng Longguang's troops at the "fork in the road", and Huang Zhinan, chief of staff of the army, first fled to Tangshan Town, and then disguised themselves as refugees with the intention of fleeing to Shanghai. After dawn the next day, he joined the refugee team and traveled to the east, but unexpectedly met the Japanese army advancing from east to west, and was selected by the Japanese army to be the porter of the Japanese soldiers. Ye Zhao and Huang Zhinan are 45 and 46 years old, not long after they went on the road with their luggage, Huang Zhinan pretended to be dead, and Ye Zhao complained bitterly. Fortunately, the Japanese soldiers they met were merciful and spared them, and the two were able to escape back to Guangdong by boat in Shanghai.
The commander of the 154th Division of the 83rd Army did not receive an order to retreat, so he did not go out of Guanghuamen with Deng Longguang and Ye Zhao. Wu Jianxiong, the commander of the 154th Division, learned from the team that had frantically left the city on the night of the 12th that he had abandoned Nanjing. He and Chief of Staff Zhang Chi and others retreated to Wulong Mountain, and fortunately crossed the river by boat. Li Jiang, commander of the 156th Division, received a notice at about 5 o'clock in the afternoon of the 12th that he needed to withdraw his troops to Taipingmen for assembly. The officers and men of the 156th Division withdrew to Taipingmen with Liang Dai, the director of the adjutant department, and joined the personnel of the military headquarters and went out of the city. However, the commander of the 156th Division, Zhang Xianqi, chief of staff of the division, and other subordinates withdrew to Rujiangmen first, only to see that there was a mess there, and it was expected that it would be difficult to get out of the city. So he and Senator Zhang Xianqi and Luo Yingjian were a few hundred meters away from the city gate, hung with the leggings on their feet and walked out of the city, and then retreated to Xiaguan to cross the river by steamer, and then arrived at Hankou.
From the above description, it can be seen that at the beginning of the retreat, the biggest problem was the lack of ships, not from the blockade of the Yangtze River by the Japanese army. So why didn't the Japanese Navy blockade the surface of the water?The reason was that the Japanese Navy was kept out of the waters of the Yangtze River near Nanjing. The ability to stop the powerful Japanese Navy was due to the fact that the Jiangning Fortress was indispensable.
Jiangning Fortress includes five forts: Dragon (Oolong Mountain), Tiger (Tiger Mountain and Shogunate Mountain), Lion (Lion Mountain), Ma (Majiashan and Qingliang Mountain), and Yu (Yuhuatai), which were expanded and strengthened by the National ** on the basis of the forts left over from the former Qing Dynasty after 1935, and also built the No. 1 Fort A and No. 2 Fort A located in the west of Longtai in Wulongshan Fort. The No. 1 and No. 2 A-88 anti-aircraft batteries are Type 88 anti-aircraft batteries, which can not only attack ships on the river, but also defend at high altitudes. The five forts are arranged in a counterclockwise arrangement, with the easternmost (front) division Wulong Mountain and A No. 1, followed by Longhu Mountain and A No. 2, Lion Mountain, Qingliang Mountain, and Yuhuatai. Because the Wulong Mountain Fort is in the forefront, the Longtai has four hidden forts and four cannons are installedThere are two Ming forts and six cannons installed. In addition, it is equipped with a wild mountain artillery company, equipped with 8 Trinity guns. This place is the main battlefield of Jiangning Fortress. On August 20, when the four anti-aircraft guns of Fort A No. 1 were installed, it was when the battle of Songhu became more and more intense. Japanese planes launched air strikes in the direction of Nanjing almost every day, so Station A No. 1 was always in a combat state.
On the evening of December 10, the Japanese army occupied all the batteries of Zhenjiang Fortress on the south bank of the Yangtze River, and only the Dutianmiao Fort remained on the north bank and was besieged by the Japanese army. As a result, the Japanese ** team was able to pass through the waters defended by the Zhenjiang fortress and make contact with the Wulongshan Dragon Fort and the No. 1 Fort Jia. When the Japanese ships sailed 7,000 meters away from the Wulongshan Battery, they were blocked by the fire of the Dragon Fort and the No. 1 Fort Jia, and the Japanese ships retreated beyond the maximum range of firepower at Wulongshan.
On the 11th, Japanese planes bombed the Chinese defenders in the area of Yaohuamen and Ganjiaxiang. The anti-aircraft guns on the No. 1 immediately fired at the Japanese planes, shooting down one Japanese plane, and the rest of the Japanese planes fled. In the evening, the Japanese ground forces broke through the ** defense line and surrounded the Wulongshan Battery. On the 12th, the Japanese army occupied the Dutianmiao Fort, although the Japanese ships still did not dare to advance, but the ground ** was passive. ** Ground troops hurriedly requested battery fire support, and batteries also fired artillery support, but it was not effective. At this time, the Japanese army had attacked behind the fort and violently attacked the troops of Xu Yuanquan's Second Army.
Seven or eight field guns bombarded the Wulongshan Fort. By noon, 4 artillery pieces and 3 artillery pieces of the Wulongshan Fort were destroyed one after another. In the evening, it was learned that Huang Yongcheng, the chief of the two stations of Wulongshan and Longhushan, had crossed the river, and Zhao Xun, who attached the Taiwan Commandery, personally went to the Wulongshan Fort to convey the order of the Nanjing Garrison Headquarters: The fortress troops will shoot and cover, destroy the artillery and retreat if necessary, and the battery personnel will withdraw to Wuhan. It was day and night, and the officers and men of the battery fired heavily to cover the retreat of the ground troops. At 1 o'clock in the morning of the 13th, more than 10 Japanese combat vehicles approached the Wulongshan Fort from Beijiabian and Guachong in Qixia District, east of Wulongshan. The battery was immediately shelled with its attached wild mountain guns and destroyed 3 Japanese tanks. Subsequently, the personnel of the fort destroyed the artillery and crossed the river and went to Wuhan through the Liuhe District of Nanjing.
On the morning of the 13th, a large number of Japanese planes bombed Wulong Mountain, and then the Japanese ships broke into the waters near Nanjing.
At 8 o'clock and 9 o'clock in the evening of December 12, Laohushan, No. 2 Fort Jia, and Lion Rock Fort were ordered to shell the Japanese troops at Hongshan, Beigushan, Shuiximen, and Shangxinhe respectively to cover the retreat of the defenders, and then destroyed the artillery at 3 o'clock in the morning of the 13th and retreated separately.
Matai and Yutai are more tragic. At 8 o'clock in the evening of the 12th, "Matai" also shelled the area around Shangxinhe to cover the retreat of the defenders, but because the Japanese army came too quickly and had no time to retreat, it encountered the Japanese army, and all the Taiwanese personnel died heroically. The rain platform was naturally more dangerous because of the direct engagement with the Japanese infantry. At 10 o'clock in the morning of the 11th, the Japanese army successfully attacked from the left rear direction of the Yuhuatai Fort, and most of the officers and men of the fort were killed, and the Yutai fell.