RPAGF Chapter 43: Ammunition and Food Support for the German-Equipped Divisions
Chapter 43: Ammunition and Food Support for the German-Equipped Divisions
But he quickly ruled out that possibility. The 87th Division should be guarding Guanghua Gate, why would they be running to Zhonghua Gate?
Li Jianghe had an impression of the battle at Yuhuatai.
Brigade Commander Zhu Chi fought the Japanese army to the bitter end. Even with his intestines blown out, he continued to fire at the Japanese with his pistol and ultimately died a heroic death.
Almost the entire 262nd Brigade perished here.
The subsequent attacks on Yuhuatai were carried out by the Japanese 6th Division and the 114th Division.
The two divisions together have a total strength of more than 40,000 men.
In contrast, the troops remaining at Yuhuatai and Zhonghuamen were at a significant disadvantage in terms of both manpower and firepower.
Even with the more than 5,000 people that Li Jianghe brought, the total is only a little over 7,000.
In terms of firepower and manpower, they are basically at an absolute disadvantage.
At this moment, the convoy stopped at the north slope of Yuhuatai, and the soldiers got out of the vehicles and lined up.
The training exercises in Nanjing these past few days have been quite effective.
The main problem is with these soldiers, most of whom are veterans and their original military skills were not a problem.
At this moment, Zhu Chi walked over with Han Xianyuan and Hua Pinzhang.
"Brigade Commander Zhu, I am Li Jianghe, the commander of the Provisional Third Regiment. I have been ordered to come to Yuhuatai to reinforce the defense of Yuhuatai and replace the original 264th Brigade."
Li Jianghe stepped forward and said.
Xu Dingguo saluted in return and announced his unit number.
Zhu Chi had previously received a handwritten order personally signed by Chief of Staff Xiao Shen, stating that the Provisional Third Regiment and the Fifth Regiment of the Guangxi Army were to come here to support the battle, but he did not know the name of the regimental commander.
After all, there are too many provisional regiments and brigades in Nanjing now, which are temporary formations formed after the defeated soldiers have been gathered together.
"Li Jianghe? That name sounds familiar."
Zhu Chi thought to himself, but for a moment he couldn't recall where he had heard the name before.
At this moment, Han Xianyuan's eyes lit up, and he lowered his voice, leaning close to Hua Pinzhang, and said:
"Li Jianghe, the Guangxi Army commander who supported the Sihang Warehouse."
"It's him?"
Hua Pinzhang was also quite surprised, after all, judging from his age, Li Jianghe was too young, at most twenty-three or twenty-four years old.
In the Guangxi Army, officers of this age were basically either bought their positions or had connections that got them in.
"I am Zhu Chi, the brigade commander of the 262nd Brigade. Commander Li, your name sounds familiar... Have we met before?"
Zhu Chi looked at Li Jianghe with some surprise.
However, he was quite certain that he had never seen this young man before.
"I haven't met you before, but I do have some connection with your brigade. During the defense of Sihang Warehouse, I was ordered to support Xie Jinyuan's unit. Battalion Commander Yang Ruifu was also in our Provisional Third Regiment at that time."
Li Jianghe didn't need to deliberately hide his connection with Zhu Chi's 262nd Brigade. If he made good use of it, it would be helpful for the upcoming Yuhuatai defense operation.
Upon hearing Li Jianghe's words, Zhu Chi suddenly realized what was going on. Looking back, he indeed saw Yang Ruifu, who had just finished assembling his troops, jogging towards them.
"I didn't expect it to be you. You guys did a great job at Sihang Warehouse. We were on the south bank of the Suzhou River at the time, and every day, besides fighting, we were keeping an eye on your every move at Sihang Warehouse."
Zhu Chi couldn't help but sigh.
Looking at Li Jianghe again, his eyes showed more appreciation.
As for the stereotype that the so-called ragtag army was ineffective, Zhu Chi put it out of his mind at this time.
After all, they knew how Li Jianghe's troops had fought the enemy at Sihang Warehouse.
How could someone who is repeatedly mentioned and praised by the theater commander not have some real skills?
Looking at the well-organized, well-equipped, and highly motivated soldiers of the Provisional Third Regiment, Zhu Chi was even more certain that Li Jianghe's ability to lead troops was absolutely no problem.
Hua Pinzhang felt secretly guilty, thinking that he had really underestimated them. The battle record achieved by this so-called ragtag army was far superior to that of his own German-equipped division of the Central Army.
Looking at the weapons they brought, Hua Pinzhang was drooling with envy.
Han Xianyuan also felt a sense of closeness and took the initiative to step forward and greet him:
"Commander Li, I am Han Xianyuan, the commander of the 524th Regiment. We have been thinking about you all the time when you were fighting at Sihang Warehouse."
Li Jianghe knew that this regimental commander had also died a heroic death in the end.
It should be said that there were no cowards in the entire 262nd Brigade; almost all of them died in battle at Yuhuatai.
Li Jianghe felt fortunate to be able to fight alongside such a brave and tenacious force.
At this moment, Zhu Chi said:
"By the way, since you've come to Yuhuatai to fight, do you have enough ammunition and food? If not, we have some more in our warehouse..."
He knew the situation in Nanjing at that time; it was quite difficult for their German-equipped division to obtain reinforcements, let alone Li Jianghe's hastily assembled ragtag army.
They didn't have much ammunition, but it wouldn't be a problem to share some with Li Jianghe, since they would be defending Yuhuatai together in the future.
"We have a relatively sufficient supply of ammunition. How are your brigade's ammunition and supplies? We can share some with you."
Li Jianghe didn't expect that Zhu Chi would say what he had just said.
Putting aside everything else, he had a considerable amount of ammunition and military supplies. The 262nd Brigade had just suffered a defeat in Shanghai, so they probably didn't have much ammunition left.
Zhu Chi looked somewhat troubled, as if he wanted to say something but hesitated.
Frankly speaking, the 262nd Brigade's ammunition situation was terrible, with each soldier averaging less than thirty bullets.
The key problem is that they cannot be replenished. The ammunition reserves of the entire 88th Division, and even those in Nanjing, are already exhausted.
If he runs out of bullets, he'll have to pick up enemy guns and bullets. If he runs out of those, Zhu Chi plans to engage the Japanese in hand-to-hand combat.
Even food supplies are severely insufficient. Currently, the soldiers on the entire Yuhuatai position can only eat one meal a day, and then they have to tighten their belts.
"Well... if Commander Li does have a surplus of ammunition, I can write an IOU."
Zhu Chi said this with great principle.
"And this grain, I wonder if Commander Li has any left? I can buy it with silver dollars, our entire brigade's food supplies are not very sufficient."
Li Jianghe thought to himself, "What kind of talk is this? Are they treating me like an outsider? We're all brothers who fought side by side, what's with all this talk about IOUs?"
"No need, Commander Zhu. We'll fight side by side then, we'll be closer than brothers. Why would we talk like that before?"
After saying that, Li Jianghe turned to Long Wenzhang and said:
"Messenger, go to the supply depot and fetch a truckload of bullets, a truckload of grenades, and a truckload of grain."
"yes!"
After Long Wenzhang finished speaking, three trucks from the supply battalion quickly arrived.
One truck was loaded with ammunition, another with canned beef and compressed biscuits, and the third with grenades.
After opening the carriage door, Li Jianghe walked over, opened one of the boxes, and took out the bullet trajectory inside:
"Each ammunition box contains 1500 rounds, and there are a total of 100 boxes on this truck, for a total of 150,000 rounds of ammunition. You can take them and use them for now."
After saying that, he pointed to the truck loaded with grenades next to him.
"That truck was full of M24 hand grenades, 30 grenades per box, 100 boxes in total."
Finally, there was the truck full of canned goods and compressed biscuits. After opening it, I took out a box, and the aroma of meat filled the air.