The commander of the corps was a little named, and Shizuichi Tanaka had to say: "At the beginning, it was said that it would not be a problem to capture the position in the south of Yichang in one fell swoop, because our Sang Ming Zhuo Nan led 72 planes, and the black pressure occupied half of the sky.

But at this time, the air force of the Southern Expeditionary Army came again. Sang Ming Zhuonan was also wise enough, and immediately divided his troops into two routes, entangled with the air force of the Southern Expeditionary Army all the way, and attacked the Chinese army all the way. Who knew that the planes attacking the ground by the air were immediately attacked by Chinese infantry missiles as soon as they reached a low altitude, and the planes attacking the land immediately lost a lot.

When will the Chinese army also be equipped with missiles? I feel very strange, I'm afraid all the soldiers of the Imperial Army also feel very strange?

Then there was the artillery battle, and the artillery of the Southern Expeditionary Army was not only numerous, but also accurate. In this regard, the artillery of our 13 divisions did not have the upper hand. There is also the tank of the Southern Expeditionary Army, I checked the information, it seems to be the M2 tank produced by country X. We have not yet declared war with country X, how can their tanks equip the Southern Expeditionary Army. I don't quite understand this, it is necessary to go to the international tribunal to appeal, must ask for an explanation? ”

Shizuichi Tanaka finished speaking, and the commander of the 3rd Division, Yamawaki Masataka, and the commander of the 39th Division, Keisaku Murakami, made speeches respectively, saying nothing more than how powerful the Southern Expeditionary Army was, and that it was not their fault that the losses in the battle with the Southern Expeditionary Army were too large, and that the weapons of the Southern Expeditionary Army were good, and the fighting spirit was tenacious, and so on.

This is a change of law to say, Yichang cannot be defended, and if it is defended, it will be very difficult.

There are thousands of families and one person in charge, and since Kazuichiro Sonobe is the master of the 11th Army, he has to make the final decision on whether to stick to Yichang.

Kazuichiro Sonobe carefully considered the pros and cons, and then said to the officers: "Commanders, everyone has worked hard, all the way to Yichang, everyone has done their best, here, I would like to express my deep gratitude to everyone." ”

Sonobe and Ichiro spoke, stood up, and made a big bow to everyone.

When everyone saw that the commander of the 11th Army was so modest, they quickly stood up and bowed their heads to Kazuichiro Sonobe.

After everyone sat down again, Kazuichiro Sonobe said to everyone: "According to everyone's opinions, I have decided to rest for two days, and the day after tomorrow, that is, on June 15, we will all withdraw from Yichang and return to the rear station. As for how to explain to the highest authorities, I will find a way. As for this Yichang city, it was all burned down, and nothing could be left for the Chinese army. ”

All the commanders stood up in unison and shouted, "Hayi! Resolutely carry out the orders of the corps commander. ”

On the morning of June 15, the Japanese army began to set fire everywhere in Yichang City. Poor Yichang City, in the previous war, has been beaten to a thousand holes, there are not many houses, at this time, the remaining houses were burned down by a fire, a total of more than 7,000 houses were burned.

The city of Yichang no longer exists.

The Japanese army also came in good spirits and returned disappointed. When I came, I had the dream of annihilating the main force of China's Fifth Theater, thinking that when I arrived in beautiful Yichang, there must be food and drink, and countless beauties. I didn't expect to finally hit here, but there was nothing, not a grain of grain, not a single common man, and I had to transport it from the far rear base to here.

When it came, it was a hail of bullets, and countless soldiers threw their lives on the road. It was not easy to leave, and the guns and cannons were "cheering them off", and from time to time, some soldiers died in stray bullets.

Also in the afternoon of that day, in Tokyo, at 13:30, Prince Zaihito, chief of staff of the Japanese army, Bo Gong, chief of the naval command department, and a group of military hardliners had to meet Emperor Hirohito. Emperor Hirohito had no choice but to summon them temporarily.

After the two sides were seated as guests and hosts, the chief of staff, Prince Zaihito, said impatiently to Emperor Hirohito: "Your Excellency the Emperor, I have heard that the 11th Army Corps of China has withdrawn from Yichang. ”

Emperor Hirohito said, "Yes. Don't you know that? According to the current situation in Yichang, it was very difficult to defend and had to give up. ”

Prince Jaehito immediately said, "But in the past few days, the situation in the world has changed dramatically. On June 10, the French government withdrew from Paris and moved to Tours. On the same day, Italy declared war on France. On the 13th, Paris was declared an undefended city. On the 14th, when the French government moved to Bordeaux, the Germans occupied Paris without firing a single shot. ”

Emperor Hirohito's eyes were staring straight at Prince Zaihito, and he didn't know what Prince Zaihito was trying to say.

Prince Zaihito immediately said: "We, the Great Japanese Empire, are allies of Germany, and it is very inopportune for us to withdraw from Yichang while our allies have achieved such a great victory. ”

Emperor Hirohito said, "Since we have withdrawn from Yichang, what should we do? ”

"Yichang must be occupied again immediately, and we must cooperate with our allies to show the strength of our Axis powers," Jaeren said. Yichang is too close to Chongqing, the capital of the Chinese government, just over 400 kilometers, and we want to use artillery to force Chiang Kai-shek in Chongqing to submit and force Chiang Kai-shek to surrender to our Japanese Empire. ”

"Didn't you tell me yesterday that Yichang City is already an empty city, and it is quite difficult to defend it?" Emperor Hirohito asked the military hardliners in these governments.

Bo Gong, chief of the Navy's Military Command Department, said: "Your Majesty, the military has always served politics at this time and at that time. We, the Axis powers, are a whole, and if the German allies occupy Paris, they may force the French government to surrender, and if we occupy Yichang, we will already have troops on Chongqing, so we can take advantage of this east wind to force Chiang Kai-shek in Chongqing to surrender. ”

For these military and political matters, Emperor Hirohito knew that he was just a puppet, and in military and political affairs, it was always these military hardliners who had the final say, so he had to nod and say, "I agree!" ”

Immediately, the highest military authorities of Japan ordered Kazuichiro Sonoda of the 11 Army Corps to immediately turn back and attack the city of Yichang again.

After receiving the telegram, Kazuichiro Sonobe couldn't believe his eyes, was this true? The military order is most afraid of changing the order at night, just a fire burned Yichang City, but at this time, he asked him to go back and fight back, is this a joke! He asked the staff officer to verify the telegram, and it was indeed genuine.

Kazuichiro Sonobe stopped talking and slowly handed the telegram to the chief of staff, Shigenari Aoki. After reading the telegram, Aoki Shigetari scolded: "Is this an order!" Can you pull the back again? The governors in Tokyo were completely oblivious to the actual situation at the front. If we could hold it, wouldn't we have kept it long ago? ”

Chief of Operations Staff Officer Amano looked at the telegram and said, "This telegram is unscientific, and it is better to retreat early than to be unable to hold it." After Napoleon occupied Moscow, it was precisely because he could not bear the hunger and cold of Moscow that he ordered the withdrawal of Moscow, after all, 20,000 people were saved in the end. If we were to be trapped in an empty city, I am afraid that it would be worse than Napoleon. ”

After a few people complained, Sonobe and Ichiro said to the two main officers: "So, should I send another telegram stating the difficulties at the front and asking them to take back their lives." ”

"I think that for the actual situation on the front line, and for the 70,000 soldiers on the front line, we should really state the reasons for not returning to Yichang." Shigenari Aoki said indignantly.

And Amano Shoichi thought about it, but said to Kazuichiro Sonobe: "Your Excellency Commander-in-Chief, I think, that is useless. Since the highest military authorities have already given such an order, can they retract their orders? Absolutely impossible. If there is any mistake in Yichang, it will be borne by the superiors. But if we don't carry out the order, then the responsibility is ours.

Besides, the highest military authorities are politicians who see that Paris has been occupied by Germany, and this is to cooperate with the German army and make a show! ”

Sonobe and Ichiro thought about it, and with their qualifications, it was impossible to confront the supreme military authorities. Even the well-known General Okamura Ninji, who was not dismissed from his post because he made irresponsible remarks about the orders of the highest military authorities, honestly went to the headquarters of the Japanese army as a small clerk.

Thinking of this, Sonobe Kazuichiro had no choice but to say, "Okay, we can only go back and attack Yichang again." If the generals complain, they have to ask the two of them to do a lot of work. ”

Kazuichiro Sonobe re-ordered to attack Yichang.

After a short period of preparation, the 11th Army Corps returned to attack Yichang at 7 a.m. on the 17th.

Fortunately, the national army did not resist much, aren't you willing to occupy it, you can occupy a ruined land! Let's talk about it after the occupation.

After the Japanese army occupied Yichang City on the 17th, it was even worse than the first time, and when Yichang was occupied on the 12th, there were still a few dilapidated houses, and the soldiers could still shelter themselves from the wind and rain and sleep in them. But now, not even a single dilapidated house is left, and the whole city has been burned to the ground, and even the building materials have been burned to the ground.

Not only can the problem of housing not be solved, but of course the problem of food cannot be solved.

The soldiers couldn't help but scold: "The conscience of these officials is greatly broken, what are we doing in this place where rabbits don't, we can't stand the rain alone, and we don't even have a place to shelter from the rain." "You can still find a bud to eat in the field, but this place has all burned down, and you can't even see a small grass!" "It's too bad for us to be people, we have to withdraw after we finally occupy it, and we have to occupy it after we finally withdraw it, what are they going to do, and do they have a backbone?"

Yichang in June was already quite hot, and the shallow corpses of Japanese soldiers emitted a foul smell, so that these Japanese soldiers covered their noses and could not sleep. Coupled with the fact that they could not eat, were so hungry that they could not sleep, and they felt hopeless about the future, many soldiers suffered from depression.