The Nationalist 74th Army preset a defensive line outside Nanjing, but failed to stop the strong offensive of the Japanese army, and in the case of the loss of the 66th Army on the left wing of Chunhua Town, the 74th Army's defensive line suddenly lost its significance, so it was ordered to withdraw to the vicinity of Shuixi Gate, and by early December, Nanjing had become an isolated city.
The new task of the 151st Brigade of the 74th Army was to be responsible for blocking the Japanese outside the Shuixi Gate, and the 153rd Brigade was responsible for the defense of the city wall.
On December 11, the Japanese reconnaissance unit was the first to attack, and was met by the 151st Brigade, and in the early morning of the next day, the follow-up Japanese army attacked the 151st Brigade from the area to the right of Yuhuatai.
The enemy of the 151st Brigade was the 6th Division of the Japanese Army, the Japanese army sent small troops to take turns to attack, the officers and men of the 151st Brigade did not retreat, and the Japanese finally sent 3 tanks to cover the advance of its infantry.
Major General Zhou Zhidao of the 151st Brigade did not dare to take it lightly, nor did he care about the taboo of concentrating on the use of artillery, so he gathered all 6 American cannons of the Mountain Artillery Battalion and violently bombarded the Japanese tanks.
"Tom!" "Boom!" Shell after shell landed on the road with lakes on both sides, and one of the shells was deflected, collapsing a large piece of the lake shore, and a tank was planted in the lake, and even people with cars fed Wang Ba.
The other two tanks turned around and ran, so that the infantry who followed the tanks were miserable, and they were all sent to the western sky by the bullets of the Nationalist soldiers.
Wang Yaowu was so excited when he heard the news, and for the first time since Shanghai entered the war, he was so happy.
However, a phone call from Li Tianxia, commander of the 153rd Brigade, made Wang Yaowu's brow furrow, and Li Tianxia, who had always reported good news but no worries, reported to him that more than 100 ghost soldiers had broken through the 88th Division's defenses and climbed the city wall and were attacking the defenses of the 153rd Brigade.
"I don't care what method you use to destroy this group of Oriental soldiers!" Wang Yaowu dropped the microphone after speaking loudly, he knew that for Li Tianxia, the simpler the order, the more effective it was.
At Li Tianxia's place, a group of ghost soldiers, with the cooperation of a small group of devils at the head of the city, hid in the shuiximen gate hole, trying to open the city gate inside and outside.
With the cooperation of the 88th Division, Li Tianxia's troops quickly annihilated all the ghosts who had already climbed the city wall, but they were helpless against the ghosts hiding in the ShuiximenMen Cave, because it was a dead end, and the 153rd Brigade did not annihilate the ghosts until 4 p.m.
At the crucial moment, one of Li Tianxia's combat staff officers offered him a plan: "Why don't we attack with fire?" ”
Li Tianxia's eyes lit up when she heard this: "Yes, set him on fire!" Good idea! ”
He immediately managed to bring in two large barrels of gasoline, and a group of soldiers carried the gasoline barrels up the city wall with seven hands and eight feet, poured them down from the top of the door, and then quickly ran away, a captain ignited the gasoline, and with a "bang", the water west gate hole instantly became a furnace.
The soldiers of the Nationalist army on the city wall watched one after another of the Oriental "burning people" rushing out of the city gate hole, wailing, some rolling on the spot, some fluttering randomly, and before long, they all turned into black garbage.
The Nationalist soldiers who witnessed the scene were overjoyed, and one by one they shouted "Burn well!" "It's so addictive! ", completely ignoring the stench of the devil's corpse burning.
Li Tianxia immediately ran to Wang Yaowu to announce the good news, but at this time Wang Yaowu could not be happy, and the sympathetic Wang Yaowu still verbally praised him a few words in order to take care of Li Tianxia's emotions, which made Li Tianxia wonder.
"Commander, what's wrong with you?" Li Tianxia felt that there must be a situation and asked with concern.
Wang Yaowu said with a bitter smile: "When you burned the Oriental Devils, the Zhonghua Gate and the Tongji Gate were lost, Nanjing was finished, and Commander Yu had just come to give the order, so let's immediately find a way to cross the river and break out." ”
When Yu Jishi gave Wang Yaowu the order to retreat, the 74th Army and 58 officers and soldiers had already withdrawn to Pukou in Jiangbei.
Wang Yaowu let the 151st Brigade outside the city cross the river from Baguazhou, while he himself led the 153rd Brigade and the troops directly under the division inside the city to rush to Xiaguan and prepare to find a boat to cross the river there.
The streets were littered with hordes of refugees and wounded soldiers, and a wounded soldier with his ankles wrapped in bandages wrapped around his hands wrapped around Wang Yaowu's left leg pleaded, "Sir, do well, take me away!" ”
Wang Yaowu did not react for a moment, and the wounded soldier continued, "Or give me a hard time!" I really don't want to die at the hands of the Orientals!" ”
Wang Yaowu was sad for a while, but he didn't know what he could say, at this time, Wang Yaowu's guards dragged the wounded soldier to the side of the road, escorted Wang Yaowu to continue the road, and let the wounded soldier scream and curse behind them.
When Wang Yaowu's thousands of men and horses passed through the Rujiang Gate, the duty personnel of Song Xilian's 36th Division, who was in charge of guarding, stopped them and insisted on seeing the retreat "handbook" before letting them go.
When he arrived at the Xiaguan River, Wang Yaowu found that it was already a mess, and the shore was crowded with people, but there were few boats in the river, and in order to cross the river first, some officers and soldiers even tried desperately to grab a door board and a log.
Just when Wang Yaowu was overwhelmed, he was found by an adjutant of the military department surnamed Zhang, who told Wang Yaowu that Commander Yu had prepared a small steamer for the 51st Division not far upstream of Xiaguan, which Yu Jishi had obtained through his uncle, Yu Feipeng, the minister of transportation.
Wang Yaowu was relieved and led the team to board the ship in batches. Looking at the soldiers who were still fighting for boarding the boat and crossing the river not far away, Wang Yaowu's heart was extremely desolate, the river wind was blowing, the cold was biting, and Wang Yaowu couldn't help but burst into tears...
On the morning of December 13, Wang Yaowu withdrew all of his 51st Division to Jiangbei, and on the same day, the Japanese army carried out a terrible massacre in Nanjing.
For many years after that, December 13 was Wang Yaowu's untouchable pain, and whenever he thought of that day, Wang Yaowu would be sad. As a soldier, he felt guilty for his inability to keep one side safe, and the day of December 13 had been engraved in Wang Yaowu's heart, and that sense of shame had accompanied him throughout his life.
On the other hand, nanjing's past has also always stimulated him to "know shame and then be brave", inspiring him to kill the enemy and avenge his hatred. Since then, on the anti-Japanese battlefield, Wang Yaowu's figure has been active.