After receiving Seishiro Itagaki's telegram, Nishio Shouzo felt that the matter was serious, and immediately convened a cabinet meeting. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

Like any country and any army, when Shozo Kawabe, chief of staff of the Central China Army, gave a briefing on the state of the war, the cabinet officials present at the meeting immediately split into two factions and fell into a fierce quarrel.

One faction strongly supported Itagaki Seishiro's plan, believing that it was necessary to continue to intensify the offensive and form an oppressive posture against Wuhan, and this faction, with young officers as the main body, insisted that although the Japanese army was very difficult at the moment, the Nationalist army was even more difficult, so as long as they persevered, the final victory would definitely belong to the Japanese army.

However, the other faction believed that it should be abandoned, and that it should decisively order the 3rd and 101st Divisions to break through to the east, and then order the 16th and 106th Divisions, which were attacking along the south bank of the Yangtze River in the direction of Fuchikou, to turn around and turn westward, and go to the direction of Xianning to meet the 3rd Division and the 101st Division.

When the two factions were at loggerheads, the commander of the Second Army, Higashikuru Tsukihiko, unexpectedly asked for battle, asking Nishio Shouzo to allow him to parachute into the battlefield at the northern foot of Dabie Mountain, and lead the 9th and 13th divisions of the Second Army to Xinyang and cut off the land passage in Wuhan from the right flank, giving the Nationalist Army a fatal blow!

Higashikure is even willing to make a military order, if he doesn't win, he will be willing to ambush the military law!

Higashikure's unexpected statement made the opinions of the Young Zhuang faction finally gain the upper hand, and also prompted Nishio Shouzo to make up his mind to fight the national army!

As a result, Nishio Shouzo withstood the pressure to restore the authority of the commander of the Second Army of Higashikurehiko, and ordered him to immediately take a long-range bomber to the battlefield at the northern foot of Dabie Mountain.

The long-range bomber that Higashikurehiko was flying on took off from Nanjing Ziyuan Airport before dawn and flew over Gushi County after a two-and-a-half-hour flight; at this time, the Ninth and Thirteenth Divisions of the Second Army had already advanced to the area of Guangshan and Xixian, and the division headquarters of the Ninth Division was located in Gushi County.

Higashikuri successfully parachuted into the city of Gushi County, and quickly formed the headquarters of the Second Army.

The airborne landing of Tokuri Tsujihiko greatly boosted the morale of the 9th and 13th Divisions, but at the same time, Hu Zongnan's 17th Army Corps, which was confronting the 13th and 9th Divisions in the Guangshan and Xixian areas, began to become passive and avoid battle, all because of a secret order from Chairman Chiang.

After the Battle of Nanjing, Chairman Chiang's Central Army suffered heavy losses, and the only remaining achievements are Hu Zongnan's 17th Army Corps and Tang Enbo's 20th Army Corps, and the others are almost all miscellaneous armies, so Chairman Chiang is a little reluctant to fight these two corps to fight a war of attrition with Little Japan.

It was precisely because of this consideration that Chairman Chiang issued secret orders to Hu Zongnan and Tang Enbo respectively, ordering them to act according to the changes in the situation, so as to preserve their strength.

It was precisely because of this secret order that in the Battle of Xuzhou, it was not until Sun Lianzhong's Second Army was disabled and the situation became clear that Tang Enbo's Twentieth Army decisively entered the battle.

However, at present, the situation of the Battle of Wuhan is far from clear, Hu Zongnan's 17th Army Corps is facing the onslaught of the Japanese Ninth and Thirteenth Divisions, and the battle situation has fallen into a war of attrition mode, Hu Zongnan began to waver.

And in the end, it really led to irreparable consequences!

The 13th Division of the Japanese Army stormed Guangshan for several days, but was unable to overcome, so an infantry brigade was sent to detour to Xinyang, and as a result, a regiment belonging to the 17th Army Corps stationed in Xinyang, the regiment commander Ma Zaiwen took the lead in escaping, resulting in the loss of Xinyang, and after the loss of Xinyang, Sun Lianzhong's Third Corps, which was defending the front line of Guangshan, fell into a desperate situation of being attacked by the enemy on his back!

Although Sun Lianzhong's Third Corps is a corps shelf, it is definitely not the same thing as Xue Yue's First Corps, Xue Yue's First Corps is a large corps, but Sun Lianzhong's Third Corps is just an empty shelf, in fact, Sun Lianzhong can command only one Second Group Army, and the Second Group Army actually has only two divisions, and these two divisions are still disabled.

The result can be imagined, as soon as Xinyang is lost, the Third Corps will also be defeated.

The world is so paradoxical, the 3rd Division and the 101st Division, which were pinned on by Seishiro Itagaki before the war, failed to capture Jingzhou, but the 9th Division and the 10th Division unexpectedly captured Xinyang, but the result was the same, Xinyang was lost, Sun Lianzhong's Third Corps collapsed, and Wuhan was immediately exposed.

Because from Xinyang and Guangshan to the south to Wuhan, there is no longer a formed army!

As mentioned above, before the start of the Battle of Wuhan, Chairman Chiang learned the lesson of the failure of the Battle of Xuzhou and deployed heavy troops on the peripheral front, but there were not many troops near Wuhan, which means that with the loss of Xinyang, the final loss of Wuhan City has actually entered the countdown, and there will never be another miracle.

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When the news came, Xue Yue's army's siege of Gao'an had also come to an end.

The outlying strongholds of the 27th Division scattered outside Gao'an City have all been uprooted, and Xue Yue is already deploying a general attack.

Xue Yue said to Wu Yizhi: "Chief of Staff, first withdraw Li Jue's 70th Army from the Dongmen Battlefield, and then let Yu Jishi's 74th Army prepare, this general attack on Gao'an City will be handed over to their 74th Army to carry out the main attack. ”

"Understood." Wu Yizhi nodded, turned around and walked towards the communications office.

At this time, a major staff officer hurriedly walked out of the communications office with a folder, and the two almost collided.

Wu Yizhi immediately frowned, and asked in a deep voice: "Counselor Wang, what's the matter with you, what are you doing frizzy?" ”

Staff Officer Wang wiped the sweat from his forehead and said in a panic: "Staff officer, there is also the general seat, Xinxin Xinyang, Xinyang is lost." ”

"What?!" Wu Yizhi's face suddenly changed when he heard this, and he grabbed the placket of Staff Officer Wang's clothes and asked, "Xinyang is lost?" ”

"Yes." Staff Officer Wang replied miserably, "I just received an urgent call from the headquarters, and just half an hour ago, Xinyang was lost. ”

"It's over." Wu Yizhi immediately fell down like a deflated ball, and then looked back at Xue Yue with a bitter face, and said miserably, "Boss, it's all over now." ”

"It's not over yet!" Xue Yue was also shocked in his heart, but his face was impassive, and he said in a deep voice, "It's just that Xinyang has been lost, isn't Wuhan still lost?" As long as we can take Gao'an before the fall of Wuhan and completely annihilate the 27th Division of the Japanese Army, we still have a chance to turn the tables! ”

"Boss, there's no more of a chance." Staff Officer Wang handed over the telegram folder in his hand and said gloomily, "The General Headquarters has issued a general retreat order to all corps and group armies participating in the war, restricting all corps and group armies participating in the war to immediately disengage from the Japanese army, retreat to the preset positions, and step up the construction of a new defensive line. ”

"What?" Xue Yue was stunned when he heard this, and then snatched the folder with his hand, opened it, and after reading the telegram, Xue Yue's usual cold expression finally changed color, and the headquarters had already issued a general retreat order, which meant that the battle of Gao'an had fallen short, and it also meant that the battle of Wuhan really had no chance of turning around.

After a long time, Xue Yue gritted his teeth and said: "I'm really unwilling, in two or three days at most, the 27th Division of the little devil should be finished, but Xinyang was lost at this time, but even if Xinyang is lost, as long as the headquarters gives me two more days, at least I can win a battle on the battlefield of Gao'an, alas, it will be a failure." ”

Wu Yizhi had already adjusted his mood at this time, and said: "General, the headquarters is also for the safety of our First Corps, now that Xinyang is lost, Wuhan is already in danger, the Third Corps and the Fourth Corps in Jiangbei must immediately retreat, and the Second Corps in Jiangnan must also retreat, if our First Corps does not retreat in time, it is likely to fall into the heavy encirclement of the Japanese army, and at that time, more than a dozen divisions of the Japanese army will pounce on our corps, and the consequences will be unimaginable." ”

Xue Yue shook his head, he didn't want to debate too much with Wu Yizhi on this matter, since the wood was already in the boat, what was the use of talking about it? Now let's think about how to take the 799th Regiment of the Sichuan Army out, the First Corps can come and go freely, but the 799th Regiment of the Sichuan Army, which is trapped in Jiujiang alone, is definitely not able to withdraw if you want to.

At that moment, Xue Yue said: "Chief of Staff, order all the armies participating in the battle, don't retreat in a hurry, first besiege Gao'an City for another two days, even if we want to withdraw, we must not let the little devil be too happy, in addition, immediately order the 74th Army to go out of De'an, and then order the 799th Regiment to break through in the direction of De'an." ”

Wu Yizhi said: "General, the order of the command is to immediately disengage with the Japanese army. ”

"Nonsense, all the group armies and armies of our corps have been entangled with the Japanese army, how can we say that we can withdraw if we withdraw? Chief of Staff, you call back the High Command like this. Xue Yue snorted lightly, and then said, "When you telegraph Yu Ji again, ask him to rescue the 799th Regiment no matter what." ”

Wu Yizhi whispered: "Boss, are you thinking about it again?" ”

"Don't think about it." Xue Yue said impatiently, "Just do as I say." ”

"Yes." Wu Yizhi had no choice but to turn around and walk into the communications office, and according to Xue Yue's instructions, he first sent a telegram to the Nationalist Army Headquarters, and then issued new instructions to all group armies and armies under the First Corps, and clearly pointed out in the instructions that if there was a conflict between the instructions of the General Headquarters and the Corps Headquarters, the instructions of the Corps Headquarters should prevail.

Xue Yue did have the idea of rescuing the 799th Regiment of the Sichuan Army, but Yu Jishi did not have this mind, after receiving the telegram order from the Corps Headquarters, Yu Jishi just ordered the 57th Division to send a regiment to attack and advance in the direction of De'an, make a show, and then withdraw with the main force of the 74th Army. (To be continued.) )