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Vladivostok, where the headquarters of the Kwantung Army was stationed. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

After the East Siberia and the Far East were brought under its jurisdiction in 38, the headquarters of the Kwantung Army was transferred from Shenyang to Vladivostok in order to strengthen its control over tens of millions of square kilometers of newly expanded land.

At 9 o'clock in the morning, Senior General Umezu Yoshijiro, who was convening a meeting to discuss how to support the war in North America, received the news from the front that "the army, navy, and air forces of the major airports have been attacked and are in danger."

After a few minutes, under the emergency care of the doctor, Umezu Mijiro woke up, immediately jumped up from the chuáng in the conference room, strode to the war room next to the conference room, and gathered in front of the large map to take a closer look.

A group of generals gathered one after another, and Toshio Nishimura, the intelligence staff officer of the Kwantung Army, whispered: "According to intelligence, our opponent has dispatched more than 2,000 fighters in one shot, and even if it is head-on, our air force may not be its opponent, let alone suffer such a despicable and shameless sneak attack!" Therefore, according to our analysis, this is a precursor to the enemy's intention to seize air supremacy and launch a large-scale offensive! ”

"Is there any news from the border area?" Umezu Mijiro turned his head and asked loudly.

Kajiro Muraaka, a communications staff officer, immediately stepped forward and reported: "At present, the border line is being attacked by tens of thousands of artillery pieces of the South China army, and Erenhot, which stretches from Lake Baikal in the north to Chahar in the south, has been subjected to large-scale artillery bombardment, and its duration and intensity are unprecedented!" According to common sense, it is highly likely that the South China army will launch a full-scale offensive after the shelling! ”

Umezu Yoshijiro looked at the map solemnly, looked back at the map, and asked again: "Is it possible for the air force to send reconnaissance planes to the border line?" Know the movements of the South China army? ”

The generals looked at each other, and finally Major General Junhisa Ikeda, deputy chief of the General Staff of the Kwantung Army, stood up: "Due to the interruption of communication and contact, further news has not yet come from the major airports, judging from the last news sent back before the interruption of contact, the prospect is not optimistic!" The other side seems to be bound to gain air supremacy over Manchuria and the Far East, and there must be a perfect strike plan, and the chances that the fighters of our air force, especially the reconnaissance planes, will be able to escape the attack and survive are very small!

"It is estimated that because of the fear of accidentally injuring the Chinese, the airports in the northern part of China, including Tianjin, Baoding, Shijiazhuang, Beijing and other places, have not been attacked, and I have a proposal. Can we ask the reconnaissance planes of the 1st Flying Corps, which is subordinate to the China Dispatch Army, to find out about the enemy situation so that we can understand what is really happening at the front line! ”

"Yes!"

Umezu Mijiro waved his hand: "Immediately ask for help from the Shina Army!" At this time, the garrison was also attacked, and I think Shunroku-kun Hata also wanted to find out what was going on! ”

Major General Junhisa Ikeda took the order, and a staff officer hurried in with an urgent telegram, and Murakagawa Kajiro Osaku took the telegram. After reading it, his face changed greatly, and he hurriedly said to Umezu Mijiro: "Commander, Heihe, Nèn River, Longmen Town, Hailar, Manzhouli, Zhalantun, Arshan, Sauron and other towns have all been attacked by the Chinese guerrillas who are wandering in the Great Khing'an Mountains!" In terms of the scale and intensity of its offensive, it has far exceeded the garrison's understanding of the firepower of the guerrilla forces, and the garrisons have called one after another to ask for tactical guidance! ”

"Baga!"

Umezu Mijiro was furious: "Even the guerrillas can't deal with it, what are they going to eat?" Could it be that after a long time of comfort, you can't even shoot? They are sternly warned that they must persevere. It is the duty to defend the land, and whoever loses the town from will automatically apologize to His Majesty the Emperor by disembowelment!

"Since the First Front Army was transferred to North America to fight, our Kwantung Army has been seriously understaffed, and if it is transferred indiscriminately, this battle will not have to be fought! Remember: before the opponent makes a move, any overkill or inappropriate reaction on our part can lead to disastrous consequences! Do you understand? ”

"Hey!"

Kajiro Muraaka took the order and left. But then the news came that was not encouraging.

Many places were stunned by the sudden appearance of troops outside the city from the beginning, but the northern and central regions were fine, due to the restrictions of the high mountain terrain, the opponents were some infantry, and at most there were legendary aircraft hovering in the air to help the battle, although the development of the war situation was very unfavorable to the Japanese army, but in the end it lasted for a while.

But not in the steppe areas near the ancient border of Méng. Tanks and armored vehicles appeared in Hailar, Manchuria and other places, and the garrison could only use flesh and blood to confront the other side, with heavy casualties, resulting in a rapid decline in the morale of the Japanese army, which was mainly composed of new recruits, and many cities were taken by the enemy not long after. The speed of the disarming process was jaw-dropping, and Umezu Mijiro had no chance to find the person responsible.

At this time, no matter how slow the reaction is, everyone knows that the situation is not right, can the guerrillas have such powerful firepower? This must be the regular army of the Anjia Army, otherwise it would be impossible to explain the scene of losing armor in front of you.

At 10 o'clock in the morning, news came from Beijing.

The reconnaissance planes of the First Air Force that took off from the Nanyuan, Tianjin, Baoding, and Datong airfields were encircled and suppressed by superior enemy planes when they flew into the airspace of Chahar and northeast China, and the enemy's fighter planes were extremely fast, generally above 600 km/h.

Due to the fact that the more fighters encountered earlier, the four surviving reconnaissance planes had lost the courage to forge ahead and hurriedly returned home, returning the message that "the sky full of méng has been occupied by the opponent", which made everyone's hearts heavy.

At a quarter past ten o'clock in the morning, the final mystery was finally revealed.

From the border areas of Lake Baikal in the north to Chahar and Suiyuan in the south, large-scale mechanized clusters of the Anjia Army were found! On a frontline of thousands of kilometers, there was an endless sea of tanks, and all the front-line generals sent distress messages "asking for tactical guidance".

Umezu Mijiro's face was pale, his body swayed, and he barely struggled to the conference room, urgently changed the topic of the meeting, and asked all the generals attending the meeting to come up with countermeasures to deal with this sudden change.

It was half past one o'noon. The meeting has not yet come to an end, and the bad news has come like snowflakes.

The news that the border line in most sections has been breached, the divisions and regiments, the first mixed brigade, and the border garrison wing have been surrounded and annihilated, and the rear cities have fallen into the hands of the enemy, so that the conference room has always been shrouded in an atmosphere of tension and despair.

Later, the latest news from various airports pulled everyone's emotions into the bottomless abyss -- the army and navy air forces were indeed "shattered" as imagined, and the air forces that survived the airport fire were after witnessing their own beloved planes and the tragic situation at the airport. They tried to cut themselves, but they were stopped in time by the search and rescue team sent by the base camp, and they will be sent to Port Arthur to take over the new fighter plane by transport ship, in a short time. Manchuria and the Far East will have no fighters to help in the war.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, there was also heart-rending news from Eastern Siberia - the Kwantung Army took over the fortress group that the Russians had painstakingly built for decades in the mountains east of Lake Baikal in Eastern Siberia, and the front reinforced by huge manpower and material resources was strangely broken through by the Anjia Army, and now the border cities such as Kyakhta and Borgia have fallen, Ulan-Uda is being attacked by the superior forces of the Anjia Army, and important cities such as Petrovsk and Chita are also directly threatened, and there are already rumors along the Trans-Siberian Railway. The garrisons in most of the regions called the Kwantung Army command to inquire about the state of the battle.

"How many troops did the enemy use? With such a large-scale, non-prioritized offensive on such a vast front, does the enemy want to wipe out our Kwantung Army? ”

Umezu Mijiro's face was full of pain, and the index fingers of his left and right hands were holding the sun to death, and he muttered to himself with a huge tear on his head.

"Commander, now we should decisively send troops to the front line to ensure the safety of Qiqihar, Harbin, Tao'an and other important towns! If these cities are lost, we will lose control of the North Manchurian Railway, and the enemy will be able to take advantage of the situation. Going south along the railway, it threatens the safety of Changchun, Jilin, Siping, Kaiyuan and other towns, and then Shenyang and other core industrial zones will also become the target of the other party's coveting and attack! ”

Takuichi Omura, president of Mantetsu Corporation, said anxiously to Umezu Mijiro.

"Send troops? Now that the other party is completely ignorant of the reality and reality, in just half a day, five divisions have lost contact, even if five more divisions are thrown in, what can they do? Now the crux of the matter. It's that we have to figure out how big the bet is in order to make arrangements for Xingdi, otherwise it's a joke with the precious lives of the Imperial Warriors! ”

The deputy chief of staff, Major General Junhisa Ikeda, clearly did not agree with Takuichi Omura's idea.

After several years of conscription, Japan's domestic human resources have been exhausted, and young and middle-aged people between the ages of 16 and 40 have almost been exhausted. Nowadays, in Japan's domestic factories and enterprises, in addition to the technical backbone, most of the rest of the positions are filled by fu women and old and young, and in Australia and Southeast Asia, the factories are full of indigenous figures, at this time, if the Kwantung Army is all consumed in Manchuria and the Far East, the loss of nearly one million young and strong will lead to Japan's "holy war" inevitably going downhill.

"But—"

Takuichi Omura glared at Junhisa Ikeda angrily: "Could it be that Manchuria, which the empire spent a lot of effort to take and build, could not be cheapened in vain?" At this time, it is not the time to analyze the pros and cons at all, the only thing we need is to use our flesh and blood to block the muzzles of the people of China, and use our corpses to block the advance of their mechanized army! ”

Junhisa Ikeda scoffed: "Sun Tzu's Art of War Yun 'Knowing oneself and knowing one's opponent will win all battles', we don't know the details of the other side at all, and if we rush to send troops, once all the mobile forces in our hands are consumed, who will be responsible?" The interests of the Manchurian Iron must be safeguarded, but can the lives of our valiant warriors who are loyal to His Majesty the Emperor be easily squandered? ”

"Enough!"

Umezu Mijiro said loudly: "What is the noise? Now that the passes of the Great Khing'an Mountains and the Lesser Khing'an Mountains have lost contact, it is no longer possible to defend them according to the dangers, and these passes, no matter how dangerous they are, can they be stronger than those fortress groups in Eastern Siberia that have been built by the Russians for decades and then reinforced again?

"The enemy must have terrible weapons, and can ignore our natural danger and geographical advantages, I have ordered the garrisons to concentrate in the big cities, no matter how strong the enemy is, it is impossible to ignore the safety of those people in China, this may be the only way for us to survive in death."

Takuichi Omura stood up in displeasure, waved his fists and roared loudly: "This is negativity, this is fear of war!" I will certainly convey the commander's words to the Cabinet and the headquarters in their original form. And His Majesty the Emperor"

"There are results"

A loud voice interrupted Takuichi Omura's words, and the chief of staff of the Kwantung Army, Lieutenant General Yukio Kasahara, the head of the first section, Yoshitomi Tamura, and the head of the intelligence section, Kajiro Muranaka, walked into the conference room together.

Lieutenant General Yukio Kasahara, who spoke earlier, came directly to the map, picked up his baton, and said: "Our intelligence officers who have been lurking in the border area for many years have received more accurate news, and in Manchuria alone, there are more than 30 numbers at the enemy's division level, and more than 20 of them are the serial numbers of tank divisions and armored divisions under the mysterious tank group army of the Anjia Army

"And from the analysis of the feedback from various places after the start of the war, there are mechanized troops in all regions. That is to say, there should be a powerful tank army of the Anjia Army participating in the battle on all fronts, so it is conservatively estimated that the South China Army dispatched at least 40 to 50 army groups and used more than 20,000 fighters

"All things considered. Our War Department and Intelligence Department have concluded that the main direction of attack of the Anjia Army is from north to south, divided into six routes, one along Lake Baikal directly to Ulan-Uda, the second route is aimed at Chita, the third route should be aimed at the Eastern Railway, the fourth route is directly approaching Shenyang through the Sitao Railway, and the goal of the fifth route is Rehe. The aggressive direction of the Sixth Route is Chahar and Suiyuan, and the latter two armies do not rule out the possibility of waving their troops into the customs.

"We have analyzed the intentions of the An Jiajun, and it is very likely that they will take advantage of this surprise attack to take the Far East, Manchuria, and North China in one fell swoop, and establish their advantage in competing for the Central Plains and winning the title of China. Now that China's surrounding areas have been outflanked by the An Jiajun, its leader An Yi has replaced Jiang Zhongzheng as the warlord with the most hope of unifying the country!

"To achieve such a big strategy. It is conservatively estimated that the army used is more than six million, and all of them are modern armies armed to the teeth, and their degree of mechanization is not much better than that of our allies, the German ** team. On the other hand, our Kwantung Army has only more than 800,000 troops, most of whom are new recruits, and now they are in contact with the first BO. There are already nearly 100,000 jade shatters, and it will be very difficult to sustain this battle! ”

When the generals heard this, their faces changed greatly.

Takuichi Omura asked incredulously, "How many troops are there in total?" How is it possible to dispatch six million at once? Even the Imperial Army is now only about nine million people."

Kajiro Muranaka, head of the Intelligence Division, answered Takuichi Omura's question: "So far, South China has included the three southwestern provinces and the southern Shaanxi and western Hunan regions. There are already more than 300 million people, and there is no problem in arming 10 million troops, leaving 1 million to defend Annam and Malay, 1 million to defend Burma and India, 1 million to defend West Asia, 1 million to defend the Urals, and 6 million troops to free up!

"At this moment, we can't leave anything to chance, the quick defeat at the front has taught us that we are facing an almost invincible enemy and that the best option is"

At this, Kajiro Muraaka sat down with some frustration, but everyone knew that he was not finished with what he said.

"The total strength is nearly ten to one, and the combat power comparison is estimated to be twenty to one, how to fight this battle?" Umezu Mijiro's question made every participating general bow their heads.

The head of the first section, Yoshitomi Tamura, suggested: "If it is the mainland, we can naturally use every inch of land and soldiers, and let every inch of land become a grave for the enemy, but this is Manchuria, although we have been immigrating for several years, but now it is only a population of more than 3 million, which is not enough to implement the strategy of burning the enemy!"

"I think that the current situation is beyond our Kwantung Army to solve by itself, and I propose to give feedback on the actual situation to the base camp, and I think Chief of Staff Ishihara will come up with a practical strategy! Now that the empire has Australia, the role of the Manchurian lifeline is weakening, and at the worst we can retreat to the sea and preserve our strength, there is no need to fight such an uncertain battle! ”

Everyone was silent for a while, this is not the time to be a hero, knowing that it cannot be done, it is definitely not done by smart people. However, as militarists who have long ended their bushido training, it is so difficult for these people to voluntarily admit defeat, so they can only express their position by silence.

"Okay!"

Umezu Mijiro nodded: "Sort out the minutes of today's meeting and send them to the base camp, we just need to do our job"

Speaking of this, Umezu Mijiro stood up, glanced at all the generals, and commanded loudly: "Now I order: the 122nd Division stationed in Mudanjiang, the 124th Division stationed in Muling, the 126th Division stationed in Bamiantong, and the 128th Division stationed in Luozigou, urgently rush to Harbin, defend the river, and prevent the Chinese army from crossing the Songhua River, I will add one here, but I must tell the front-line commander not to penetrate the Lu first, so as not to dampen the combat enthusiasm of the soldiers - if the battle situation is unfavorable, They can be allowed to retreat to the east, hold the Mudanjiang, Laoyeling and other places, and even retreat to the Suifenhe River As long as the battle line remains in the theater, even if they can buy an extra day, it is good;

"Since the area west of the Nèn River is no longer in danger, the 149th Division stationed in Qiqihar is ordered to urgently retreat to the southwest, and the division will cooperate with the local garrison to guard the Hurda River and Tao'an City to ensure the safety of the first barrier in the South Manchurian Industrial Zone; The 148th Division stationed in Changchun went north to Gaojiadian, south of the Songhua River ferry port of the Changbin Railway, to build fortifications along the river to prevent the Chinese army from taking advantage of the situation to go south after breaking through Harbin;

"The 125th Division stationed in Tonghua, the 127th Division stationed in Yanji, and the 139th Division stationed in Dunhua quickly transferred westward to Siping, Kaiyuan and Tieling, relying on Daheishan and Moli Red Mountain, to build the second and third lines of defense in the long industrial zone! The 136th Division stationed in Shenyang marched west to Dahushan in western Liaoning, blocking the road from the opening railway (Dahushan to Tongliao) and the Bac Ninh railway westward to Shenyang. Finally, the 96th Division defended Shenyang, and the 121st Division, with the help of the navy, defended the Gaizhou River and Monk Maoshan, and defended the Dalian and Lushun areas in southern Liaoning.

"All the operational arrangements are like this, the troops in the Far East are dispatched separately, and our first task now is to hold back the pace of the Anjia Army to move south to the industrial center of the Liaohe Plain, and to gain as much time as possible. Regardless of whether the final order of the base camp is to fight to the end or choose to retreat, we must resolutely carry it out! Chief of Staff, is there anything else to add? ”

Umezu Mijiro looked at the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Yukio Kasawara.

Lieutenant General Yukio Nagasawara also stood up: "We must prepare for the worst, therefore, when the troops retreat, they should blow up the railways, roads, and bridges along the way, and destroy all the boats used to cross the river." At the same time, the rear industrial zones should immediately stop production, and all machinery and equipment, especially those in short supply in China and Australia, should be dismantled as a priority, and sent to southern Liaoning for loading as soon as possible and transported to the mainland or Australia!

"In addition, we should inform the North Korean army that we should make all preparations for defense and retreat, and I suspect that the Anjia Army's attack this time is not aimed at recovering Manchuria and the Far East as its final goal, and North Korea is also within the scope of attack! Those young Korean people who have received imperial ideological education since childhood should be sent to the mainland and Australia immediately, and they will be used as imperial soldiers to replenish the losses on the front line in time!

"In the end, we will arm all the three million expatriates in Manchuria, and whether they are evacuated or not, they will assist us in the fight and contribute everything to the great cause of the empire!"

"Yo Xi!"

Umezu Mijiro nodded appreciatively to Yukio Kasawara, and then ordered: "The order of the chief of staff will be issued together, and at this critical juncture of the life and death of the Kwantung Army, I hope that all the monarchs will put aside all their prejudices, work together, and do their best for the hegemony of the empire!" ”

"Hey!"

All the generals stood up together, bowed to Umezu Mijiro, and then scattered.

~~~~~~~~~~

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