Chapter 637: Thunderbolt Strike

In the grim tug‑of‑war between attack and defense, the gap between old and new combat power was laid bare.

The Japanese Army's remnants suffered ammunition shortages, outdated equipment, and low morale; each counter‑attack was a desperate, life‑draining struggle.

Obviously, neither side expected a day like this.

Meanwhile, the Huaxia coalition enjoyed ample ammunition, endless artillery, and air‑ground coordination, growing steadier and bolder with each strike.

Round after round of fire suppression, wave after wave of infantry sweeps.

It utterly crushed all Japanese resistance, the Wuhan Defensive Line collapsed completely, and the battlefield fire spread fully into Wuhan's inner city.

As the main forces outside the city advanced step by step and the Japanese inner and outer defenses fell, the long‑occupied Wuhan interior finally erupted with pent‑up patriotic fury.

Wuhan, the foremost stronghold of Central China, had endured years of Japanese occupation, exploitation, control, and slaughter.

Within the city, countless patriotic students, common‑folk patriots, returning veterans, and merchant volunteers had long endured in silence, banding together covertly, amassing strength while awaiting the day of counter‑offensive.

Earlier, the Japanese Defensive Line was solid and tightly controlled, forcing everyone to lie low and avoid any movement that might provoke bloody retaliation.

Now the main forces of the 3rd and 6th Divisions have been redeployed southward, leaving only exhausted remnants inside the city; coupled with the Nationalist Army's thunderous counter‑attack and sky‑shaking artillery outside, the city's patriots finally seized the perfect moment for a turn‑around and national restoration.

Without any official orders, a massive grassroots anti‑Japanese resistance spontaneously rose within Wuhan.

The scattered patriots across the city quickly gathered, forming civilian anti‑Japanese squads organized by neighborhoods, alleys, merchant guilds, and schools.

Their weapons were crude, mostly long‑hidden Old Rifles, homemade grenades, and knives on shoulder poles.

Yet they bore the fiercest patriotism, seizing the moment of Japanese troop vacancies and chaotic morale to launch raids on scattered Japanese remnants guarding streets, watchtowers, and supply points.

The Japanese remnants who had relied on street‑by‑street stubborn defense were instantly trapped, beset on all sides.

Outside the city, heavy artillery raked the ground and armies crushed; inside, uprisings erupted everywhere, with constant harassment.

The civilian patriots precisely mapped the remaining Japanese forces, launching sneak attacks on Japanese communication posts, supply depots, street watchposts, and patrol squads—cutting communications, burning supplies, harassing the rear, and disrupting the final urban defense layout.

Many Japanese squads that had intended to hold the streets to the last were repeatedly ambushed from the shadows, suffering mounting casualties, and the already fragile morale completely shattered.

More crucially, these native patriots, born and raised in Wuhan, knew every street, alley, tunnel, and building structure intimately, far surpassing the foreign garrison's familiarity with the terrain.

They were aware of the Japanese hidden bunkers, underground trenches, rooftop sniper positions, which alleys held ambushes, which walls could be bypassed, and which passages led straight to the Japanese core defense zone.

When Hu Lian's 11th Division and Li Yutang's 10th Army broke through the outer city and entered Wuhan's urban area, the city's patriots voluntarily emerged from the ruins, stepping forward as guides for the main forces.

A Wuhan youth patriot, his clothes dust‑covered and eyes resolute, hurried to meet the spearhead assault.

He shouted at the leading Company Commander, "Sir! We know the city's terrain! Ahead, the building at the crossroads hides a machine‑gun bunker; the side alley can be used to flank and avoid frontal fire!"

The Company Commander rejoiced instantly; having fought street battles for days, he knew the perils, and with native guides could cut shortcuts and reduce casualties.

"Thank you, fellow townsfolk! Lead us around quickly!"

Countless civilian guides dispersed into each assault unit, continuously supplying the attacking forces with vital intel: pinpointing Japanese concealed fire points, Landmine fields, and defender‑gathering neighborhoods, directing the main troops to bypass traps, strike weak enemy zones, and coordinating with regular troops to clear streets block by block.

What had been a complex, hazardous, time‑consuming urban fight advanced at multiplied speed with the help of native patriots.

Some patriots formed transport squads, braving stray shells to deliver ammunition, evacuate wounded, and supply water and rations to front‑line soldiers.

Medical‑skilled civilians and school students set up improvised aid stations on the spot, rescuing wounded troops and supporting the main effort as best they could.

At this moment, collaborators dared not leave their homes, even changing their appearances while pondering how to escape Wuhan.

If Wuhan truly fell back to Huaxia, they would be the worst off; many collaborators have already been killed by the people of Wuhan.

Inside and outside the city, military and civilians merged, creating a siege where outside the thunderous army pressed forward and inside the populace responded bravely.

The remaining Japanese 3rd and 6th Division remnants were driven into a hopeless encirclement, with no room left for resistance.

"Nani!" A Naganuma was unusually shocked upon learning of the Wuhan uprising.

After confirming it was a civilian riot, A Naganuma could only dispatch his few remaining units to suppress the unrest.

Yet, with military and civilian forces combined, the invaders became nothing but paper tigers.

Just as the two main war zones of Central China launched a fierce assault on Wuhan and urban fighting reached a fever pitch, the outer security shield of the entire counter‑offensive was fully shouldered by the 74th Army under Wang Yaowu, commanded by Gu Zhuting of the Tertiary War Zone.

Earlier, after the Zhejiang‑Jiangxi battle ended, the distinguished 74th Army was ordered to remain in the Tertiary War Zone, not returning to its original defense.

The 74th Army, belonging to Xue Yue's Nonary War Zone, was one of Xue Yue's trump cards.

For a long time it guarded the Nanchang‑Jiujiang line, firmly blocking the Japanese northward relief route to Jianghan, becoming the core force that cut off Japanese reinforcements to Wuhan.

To fill the Tertiary War Zone's field‑operation shortfall, strengthen outer containment, and ensure Wuhan's main assault faced no rear worries, Jiang Anguo deliberately dispatched large quantities of military supplies to the northern Jiangxi front.

Considering that the Southern Theater's blocking battles relied on field‑war tug‑of‑war, mobile raids, and positional defense, heavy artillery was inconvenient to transport over long distances.

This aid centered on the lightweight, practical 75 mm Infantry Gun, supplemented by 60 mm and 80 mm mortars, mass‑equipped to front‑line units.

The fire‑power setup perfectly matched mountainous and hilly field battle settings.

It greatly bolstered the Tertiary War Zone's medium‑close range suppression capability.

It gave the previously light‑infantry‑based defensive units hard‑core power for frontal resistance and breaking enemy clusters.

Although the Japanese headquarters shifted all Central China main forces south to the South Sea, it still kept a full second‑line garrison regiment in Nanchang and Jiujiang—the closest and only Japanese unit capable of rapid reinforcement to Wuhan.

If this force moved northward to interpose and flank, it would disrupt the 200,000‑strong American equipment main force's assault deployment, stretch the front line, delay the counter‑offensive, and even give A Naganuma, trapped in Wuhan, a chance to catch his breath and turn the tide.

To seal this fatal flaw, Li Zongren and Xue Yue coordinated the overall plan early. Together with Tertiary War Zone commander Gu Zhuting they finalized an outer containment strategy: make the 74th Army the absolute main force, rely on the newly fielded 75 mm mortar fire, press the Japanese lines at Nanchang and Jiujiang across the entire front, focusing on containment rather than rapid breakthrough; the sole tactical aim was to cling to the Japanese forces and completely cut off any northward relief routes to Wuhan.

Gu Zhuting's task was simple: keep the Japanese contained at Nanchang and prevent them from moving north to aid Wuhan.