Devil's Army

Chapter 2031 Recapture of Nanjing

The artillery observers of the First Army reported the coordinates of the Japanese artillery positions that had been set up on the mountain to the air force.

In order to stop the First Army's attack, the Japanese artillery on the mountain had to risk firing while the First Army's air force was still circling in the air.

After the air force of the First Army discovered the Japanese artillery positions, they flew low and dove to drop bombs.

Although the Japanese artillery bombarded the air force while bombarding the infantry, it posed little threat to the air force.

While the Japanese artillery was preoccupied with dealing with their air force, the artillery of the First Army also launched a fierce bombardment of the Japanese positions on Mufu Mountain, Zijin Mountain, and Wulong Mountain.

Supported by heavy artillery fire, the infantry of the Independent Brigade of the First Army were the first to charge onto the Japanese positions on Zijin Mountain at noon and engaged in fierce hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese.

The Japanese army attempted to thwart the First Army soldiers who had stormed the position. However, as more and more First Army soldiers charged onto the position, a counterattack became a pipe dream.

In order to defend their headquarters, the last line of defense, the Japanese troops fought desperately against the soldiers of the First Army on the Zijin Mountain position. In the end, most of them were wiped out on the Zijin Mountain position.

Meanwhile, soldiers from the 11th and 12th Brigades of the First Army broke through the Japanese positions at Mufu Mountain and Wulong Mountain and advanced toward the Japanese headquarters at Gulou.

The breach of the Japanese army's most treacherous defenses at Zijin Mountain, Mufu Mountain, and Wulong Mountain marked the beginning of the final stage of the Japanese army's defeat in Nanjing.

The Japanese army, barely clinging to life, stubbornly resisted the advance of the First Army by relying on makeshift fortifications, streets, and houses. However, at this point, the Japanese resistance was almost futile, like a mantis trying to stop a chariot.

The air force and artillery of the First Army took turns launching fierce bombing raids on the Japanese army's makeshift fortifications.

The few remaining Japanese soldiers in the makeshift fortifications were all blown away.

Meanwhile, the Japanese troops hiding in the streets and houses were suppressed by machine gunners and bombed by rocket troops.

By evening, Commander Shimomura knew that defeat was inevitable. Under the cover of a troop of soldiers, he quietly retreated to Shanghai.

After two days of brutal and bloody street fighting, the First Army finally annihilated all the Japanese and puppet troops who were stubbornly resisting in Nanjing and recaptured the city.

To Brigade Commander Zhang's disappointment, he failed to capture Commander-in-Chief Hata Shunroku and Commander Shimomura.

After taking Nanjing, the command center of the Japanese army in southern Jiangsu, the 11th and 12th Independent Brigades launched separate attacks on Zhenjiang, Wuxi, and Changzhou.

As the Battle of Nanjing entered its final stages, Huang Baitao's 25th Army, the Nanjing government forces stationed in southern Jiangsu, seized the opportunity to launch an attack on the Japanese troops surrounding their positions. They successively recaptured the county towns of Danyang, Wujin, and Yixing.

The First Army's Independent Brigade took the lead in recapturing Zhenjiang County, which was near Huang Baitao's 25th Army.

This made the Nanjing government army quite envious, but they were helpless.

Huang Baitao ordered his troops to fight the First Anti-Japanese Army for territory and accelerate their offensive against the Japanese forces in central and northern Jiangsu. This also hastened the collapse of the Japanese forces in Jiangsu.

After more than a week of encirclement and suppression, all the Japanese troops in central Jiangsu were annihilated, leaving only Haizhou, the last important seaport in Jiangsu, still in the hands of the Japanese.

In order to capture Haizhou, an important seaport, the Nanjing government forces concentrated the Loyal and Patriotic Army and the 25th Army, and launched the first attack on the Japanese forces in Haizhou.

After several years of governance by the Japanese army, Haizhou's defenses were not easily breached. Moreover, most of the Japanese troops who fled from central Jiangsu escaped to Haizhou, which increased the strength of the Japanese forces there.