Half an hour later, nearly 100,000 Japanese troops including the 11th, 13th, and 18th Divisions, and the 5th Independent Heavy Artillery Brigade were dispatched.

The 5th Independent Heavy Artillery Brigade took the lead in opening fire. One hundred and fifty heavy howitzers launched a fierce bombardment at the Zijin Mountain and Qixia Mountain positions of the national army.

In addition to the heavy artillery brigade, four mountain artillery and field artillery regiments directly under the Japanese divisions also joined in the bombardment.

All artillery units combined together had more than 300 artillery pieces. Under the fierce bombardment of Japanese artillery fire, the positions of the national army were blown to pieces, and the soldiers suffered heavy casualties.

In particular, the firepower of the 5th Independent Heavy Artillery Brigade is very powerful. With a salvo of 150 guns, the casualties of the national army can reach half a battalion or even more.

In just one hour of shelling, the Chinese defenders on the Qixia Mountain and Zijin Mountain positions suffered more than 10,000 casualties.

The two tank armor battalions and three air defense battalions that Xu Wen left for Zhou Weiguo were also affected, with considerable losses.

After the bombardment, thousands of Japanese soldiers, under the cover of tanks, artillery and darkness, launched an attack in separate lines towards the Zijin Mountain and Qixia Mountain defense lines.

Tens of thousands of national army officers and soldiers emerged from the fortifications filled with fireworks and engaged in fierce exchanges of fire with the Japanese attacking troops.

The Japanese had the advantage of troops and artillery fire, plus Yoshika Ryosuke's death order, so the offensive was very rapid.

However, in order to defend the city of Nanjing, the officers and soldiers of the national army also exerted a very high fighting will and relied on the fortifications to fight to the death. The offensive and defensive battle between the two sides soon entered a fierce stage.

Purple Mountain was the main direction where the Japanese army focused their attacks, and the most troops and firepower were invested.

However, when Zhou Weiguo left Xu Wen with his own three air defense battalions, one tank battalion, and one armored battalion, they went into battle.

The Japanese offensive force was immediately met with devastating firepower, resulting in heavy casualties.

Xu Wen left Zhou Weiguo a tank battalion, an armored battalion, and three air defense battalions, with a total of one hundred tanks, one hundred armored vehicles, three hundred 88 anti-aircraft guns, and three hundred 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine guns!

Although there were some losses during the previous Japanese bombardment, the strength still exists.

Hundreds of tank guns, 88mm anti-aircraft guns, hundreds of vehicle-mounted general-purpose machine guns and anti-aircraft machine guns formed enough firepower to block the entire Purple Mountain defense line.

In order to boost morale, Yosuke Yoshikari led various units of the 9th Division to advance to the frontline offensive positions to personally supervise the battle.

Therefore, at this time, Yoshika Ryosuke, the commander of the 18th Division responsible for attacking Purple Mountain, Sadao Nakajima, and others were all watching the battle from the Japanese position not far from the Purple Mountain battlefield.

Because the 13th Division was previously defeated by Xu Wen and his independent brigade and lost all the occupied positions, the main battlefield between the two sides is now taking place at the positions under the Purple Mountain.

Originally, Yosuke Yoshikari and the others looked at their own attacking troops, and they were about to make a breakthrough.

Unexpectedly, a large amount of intensive firepower composed of artillery shells and bullets suddenly burst out from the Chinese army's position, causing heavy casualties to the Japanese attacking troops, and the entire offensive was suddenly frustrated.

Seeing this situation, Yoshika Ryosuke's face suddenly became very ugly. He turned back to Nakajima Sadao and others in disbelief: "Hasn't Zhu Ziming's troops been transferred to Jiangbei? How can the Nanjing garrison still be there?

With such powerful firepower?”

"Look at those artillery shells, they are definitely fired by artillery with a caliber of more than 70 millimeters, and the machine gun firepower must be at least hundreds of pieces.

When did the Chinese army in Nanjing become so powerful?"

Nakajima Sadao, Takurio Toshio and others were speechless because they couldn't understand why the National Defense Forces on the front battlefield of Nanjing could still have such a powerful force even though the Independent Brigade had been transferred to Pukou.

Defensive firepower.

They wanted to break their heads, but they couldn't figure out where the powerful weapons that the Chinese army suddenly appeared came from.

However, regardless of whether Nakajima Sadao and the others could understand it, the situation on the battlefield had undergone a huge reversal.

The two infantry regiments of the 18th Division that went into the attack suffered more than half of their casualties under the powerful assault firepower of the remaining troops of the Independent Brigade, and the attack failed.

Seeing this situation, Zhou Weiguo commanded two battalions of tank and armored troops, and under the cover of the powerful firepower of the air defense battalion, directly launched a counterattack against the Japanese army.

The two infantry regiments of the 18th Division, which had already suffered heavy casualties from the powerful artillery and machine gun fire of the Independent Brigade, were attacked by nearly two hundred tanks and armored vehicles from the Independent Brigade, and were unable to resist at all.

Therefore, they were quickly beaten by Zhou Weiguo and others, leaving their armor and armor behind. They were completely defeated and retreated directly from the battlefield.

Zhou Weiguo commanded tanks and armored troops to pursue and fight fiercely, killing the Japanese with blood flowing into rivers and corpses strewn across the fields.

In desperation, Yoshika Ryosuke couldn't help roaring angrily: "Order the heavy artillery brigade and all artillery regiments to fire immediately! We must stop the tanks and armored troops of the China Army no matter what, and we must not let them rush over!"

"General, our offensive troops have not been withdrawn yet!" Nakajima Sadao was shocked when he heard this, because the defeated troops of the two regiments of his 18th Division were still being pursued by the Chinese tank troops.

.

If the artillery group were to fire at this time, wouldn't even they be killed?

But Yoshika Ryosuke sullenly roared: "Nakajima-kun, you have been constantly resisting the chaos. Now your two regiments have suffered more than two-thirds of the casualties, and they were defeated by the Chinese army. Let them flee."

Come down.

The tanks and armored units of the Chinese Army will follow them into our offensive positions and directly launch a surprise attack on the main force of the Imperial Army!

I don’t think I need to elaborate too much on how powerful their tanks and armored forces are. Once they get close, not only will your 18th Division suffer, but my 9th Division will also be in chaos, so we must

Abandon them!"

After speaking, Yoshika Ryosuke yelled at Chief of Staff Tajiurio: "Why are you still standing there? Hurry up and send the order!"

"Hai!" Tajiu Lixiong responded quickly, turned around and left.

Soon, the Japanese heavy artillery brigade and the artillery regiments of the 9th and 18th Divisions, who received the order, opened fire one after another.

Artillery shells fell from the sky one after another, hitting the attacking troops of the 18th Division and the tanks and armored troops led by Zhou Weiguo as they fled in a hurry.

Boom boom boom! A violent explosion that shook the heaven and earth suddenly sounded.

Balls of dazzling red light immediately rose from the ground, and countless Japanese soldiers screamed and were blown away.

Some independent brigade tanks and armored vehicles were unfortunately hit by artillery shells from the Japanese heavy artillery brigade and were blown up and destroyed on the spot.

Seeing this situation, Zhou Weiguo immediately ordered: "Stop the pursuit and retreat! Hurry!"
Chapter completed!