Chapter 616: The End of the Kwantung Army (14)
On November 7, 1942, General Yamada Otozo made a very difficult decision to order the Japanese puppet army in the North Manchurian area to immediately take cover and withdraw from North Manchuria within three days. At the same time, Hattori Kotaro's headquarters on the Erlongshan front continued to block the Chinese army, held back the armored forces of the Chinese people, bought time for the troops in the North Manchurian region to withdraw south, and ordered the puppet Manchu government and the Kwantung Army headquarters to move to Shenyang immediately.
As soon as this order was given, the entire puppet Manchurian region shook. The most shocking thing was the Manchu remnants and traitors in the puppet Manchu government. They did not expect that the attack of Han Yunhua's headquarters could force the Japanese to relocate their headquarters, and they did not expect that the Kwantung Army, which was so powerful that it only lasted 20 days, had to give up Zhongman.
However, the three major generals of Yamada B have no choice but to do it, and now Han Yunhua's three-way army is encircling Changchun, and it is clear that he wants to cut off the connection between North Manchuria, Central Manchuria, and South Manchuria, so that hundreds of thousands of Japanese puppet troops in the North Manchurian region have become the kings of the urn, and they can't escape if they want to. At that time, Han Yunhua's troops waved their troops north, and together with the Soviet army that went south, they surrounded and annihilated the Japanese puppet troops in North Manchuria, which was not a matter of being captured. The domestic reinforcements have been delayed, and even if they do, they are only three or two kittens, and there are no chariots and fighters that are in the most urgent need on the Manchurian battlefield, and it is useless to come with 100,000 infantry, and the number of reinforcements is less than 100,000.
At this time, the most painful thing was the Japanese army in North Manchuria, the total strength of the Japanese puppet army in North Manchuria, which was annihilated by the Soviet army during this period of more than 100,000, and the remaining more than 200,000 were cowered in Harbin, Qiqihar, Suihua, and Mudanjiang. Moreover, the Soviet Red Army played the game of overwhelming people with momentum, the army opened the way with artillery and tanks, and there was an air force in the sky to help the war, and the troops first bombed before attacking, so the troops made rapid progress in more than 20 days, but the casualties were not large. In addition, with the cooperation of more than 100,000 troops under Zhao Shangzhi's command, the defense problems of all the captured cities were quickly solved, and the urban industries of several cities close to the Soviet Union had been restored to production.
Originally, Okada and others planned to take advantage of the rapid advance of the Soviet armored forces to send small troops to attack the Soviet Union's logistics supply lines and the defenders in the occupied areas, so as to create chaos and slow down the offensive of the Soviet army. However, because Zhao Shangzhi's subordinates managed the rear occupation areas in an orderly manner, all the work was done in an orderly manner, and the Japanese army was not given any chance at all. And the Soviet special combat teams, which had just graduated, had not yet returned to the USSR and were all incorporated into the Far Eastern Military District. This group of special combat personnel is the elite trained by Li Dingguo himself, because Stalin demanded a quick start, so Li Dingguo had no choice but to adopt the actual combat training method with the highest mortality rate, in just over half a year, this group of Soviet Red Army has grown into real predators, and its combat effectiveness is so high that the stakes of individual soldiers are not much more than the guards around Han Yunhua. But the price paid was also extremely high, more than 3,000 Soviet soldiers were trained, and less than 1,600 were still alive, and the mortality rate was as high as 44%, almost one-half.
After this group of special combat teams was incorporated into the Far Eastern Military Region, Han Yunhua issued a request for them to fight the last battle of the Japanese puppet army, and 1,587 Soviet special combat personnel were sent by Han Yunhua to the Heilongjiang region as a unit to move freely, mainly to hunt and kill the rout of the Japanese army and important strongholds, so although there were a lot of small teams sent by Okada and others, most of them were hunted and killed by the Soviet special combat team.
After receiving the order of General Yamada Otozo, the Japanese puppet army in the North Manchurian area immediately took action, and the Japanese troops on the front line began to slowly withdraw from the battlefield under alternate cover, while the troops in the rear were constantly packing up supplies and preparing to evacuate. Due to the limited time, many important equipment and materials could not be transported, and in order not to cheapen the Chinese, Yamada Otozo ordered the Japanese puppet troops in the defense area to destroy all important facilities in the defense area, especially the arsenal, when they left. …,
The movement of the Japanese soon attracted the attention of the Chinese and Soviet sides, and after the information reached Han Yunhua's headquarters, Han Yunhua decisively pointed out that the Japanese army was going to flee at this time. The Japanese puppet army in China and Manchuria, if they want to escape, Han Yunhua can't control it, and there is no way, but the Japanese puppet army in North Manchuria has long been targeted by Han Yunhua, for Han Yunhua, the less than 300,000 Japanese puppet army in North Manchuria, has long been a dish on his plate, and he must not slip away, in his own words, no matter how he says, he can't let the cooked duck fly, it is a naked slap in the face.
Han Yunhua ordered Wan Guoquan's armored troops to immediately abandon the entanglement with the Japanese army at Erlongshan, and the whole army immediately went north, along Dehui and Fuyu all the way to Harbin, and in any case must hold the passage to the south and block all the Japanese puppet troops in North Manchuria. At the same time, Zhao Shangzhi's headquarters, which had been rapidly expanding, and the Soviet Red Army were ordered to speed up their march south, so that small towns could be ignored for the time being, and the whole army immediately seized large and medium-sized cities and besieged the Japanese puppet army in important cities.
In addition, Han Yunhua ordered the Air Force Joint Command to immediately dispatch all the air units to look for fighters to engage in a final decisive battle with the Japanese air force, and ordered the Joint Command to draw up a plan for bombing North Korea.
Han Yunhua's idea is very simple, don't you little Japan want to escape, then the good old man will cut off your back road now. Aren't you going to retreat, the retreat is not the final retreat to North Korea, now Lao Tzu's air force will start bombing all the important ports and large and medium-sized cities in North Korea, see where you are still fleeing.
Yamada Otozo didn't expect that Han Yunhua's actions would be so quick and decisive, and if he didn't entangle, he wouldn't entangle, and the Japanese puppet army with tens of thousands of troops in the whole army immediately went north, and in front of the powerful mechanized troops, Hattori Shotaro didn't have the strength to entangle Wan Guoquan's department even if he had the intention, and could only watch the Chinese army roll north.
Yamada Otozo and Kasahara Yukio analyzed for a while, and finally determined that Han Yunhua's northward movement must be to cut off the road for the North Manchurian troops to go south, and General Yamada Otozo also knew that such an important matter as the southward withdrawal of the large army would definitely not be able to hide from the Shina people, but if the Shina troops now cut off the road for the North Manchurian troops to go south, then the troops in the entire North Manchurian region may really be finished. Just now, Okada sent a telegram saying that except for the First Tank Division, which is still blocking the Soviet armored group on the front line in the North Manchurian region, the rest of the troops have been reorganized, the whole army is ready to go south, and all large and medium-sized arsenals have already placed explosives.
General Yamada Otozo was hesitating whether to immediately order them to blow up those factories and equipment, if they bombed it now, then if the road to the south was cut off, there would be a problem with the supply of ammunition for the entire North Manchurian army. But if the troops have not blown up those arsenals after the breakthrough has been successful, they will become a capital enemy and cheapen the Zhina.
In the end, Yamada Otozo still did not dare to order the troops of North Manchuria, to immediately blow up those arsenals, you must know that once they are blown up, the entire industrial system in Harbin, Qiqihar, Mudanjiang and other places will be paralyzed, and it will not be repaired at all in a short time.
Yamada Otozo ordered the Japanese puppet army in North Manchuria to leave only a small force in the major cities, and the large army immediately took the train to the south, and the whole army broke through to the south with all its strength after the Harbin round, and after the troops successfully broke through, they immediately ordered the remaining troops to blow up all the arsenals and steel factories and other key enterprises. If the breakthrough is unsuccessful, they will immediately return to Harbin and garrison on the spot, and wait for reinforcements. …,
General Yamada Otozo is preparing for both, and it's hard for him. It is unimaginable that the dignified Japanese army general was forced into a dilemma by Han Yunhua.
On the morning of the 9th, the puppet Manchurian government's ruling Aisin Jue Luo Puyi brought Prime Minister Zhang Jinghui, Minister of Health and Welfare Kim Myeong-se, Minister of National Diligence and Labor Yu Jingtao, Vice Minister of National Labor Toshiharu Handa, Minister of Culture and Education Lu Yuanshan, Vice Minister of Culture and Education Maenno Shigeru, Minister of Foreign Affairs Nguyen Zhenduo, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Nobuzhen Shimomura (Japanese), Minister of Military Affairs Xing Shilian (Han nationality), Vice Minister of Military Affairs Makai Tsukichi (Japanese), Minister of Justice Yan Chuanrong, Vice Minister of Justice Tsuji Shuoro (Japanese), Minister of Economy Yu Jingyuan (Han nationality) Minoru Aoki (Japanese), Vice Minister of Economic Affairs, Huang Fujun, Minister of Agriculture, Yoichi Shimazaki (Japanese), Minister of Communications, and others rushed to Shenyang under the protection of the Japanese army, and at the same time a large number of Manchu widows and princes and nobles moved south.
On the morning of the 10th, under the transportation of hundreds of cars and dozens of trains, the headquarters of Yamada Otozo's Kwantung Army also moved south to Shenyang. The relocation of the headquarters to Shenyang does not mean that Changchun does not have to defend it, and it is precisely because the headquarters is moved to Shenyang that Changchun needs to send troops to garrison it, because they must receive the troops withdrawn from North Manchuria. Therefore, General Yamada Otozo ordered the Japanese troops on the Erlongshan front line to leave only a part of the small troops on the front line, and the remaining large troops immediately returned to Changchun to garrison.
Compared with Harbin, Changchun's industrial system is more perfect, the economy is more developed, in the view of General Yamada Otosan, such a complete industrial system can not fall into the hands of the people of China in any case. Therefore, before leaving, Yamada Otozo ordered the troops to dismantle all the industrial equipment in Changchun and pack it and transport it to Shenyang.
Changchun is different from Harbin, once the large army is withdrawn to Changchun, then Changchun still has hope to hold on, but Harbin is not good at this place, once the large army is withdrawn, it will definitely not be able to go back in a short time, rather than keeping those equipment to serve the people of China It is better to blow it up.
The Kwantung Army was actively preparing to flee south, while Han Yunhua's troops were actively blocking it. On the morning of the 10th, the Wanguo Quan Department occupied Dehui, Buyeo on the 11th, and Yushu on the 12th.
At 10 o'clock in the morning of the 12th, the 7th Division of the Headquarters of the Wan Guoquan Division and the Headquarters of Lu Zhengcao's Department successfully joined forces. Every time he occupied a place, Wan Guoquan handed over the task of regional defense to Lu Zhengcao's headquarters after collecting the necessary supplies, and continued to attack north with a large army.
At the same time, the vanguard of the Japanese army stationed in North Manchuria, under the leadership of Okadashi, rushed straight to Fuyu, this time the Japanese army was desperately mentality, after the annihilation of the second tank division, Lieutenant General Okada led part of the artillery unit to escape back to Yichun, after the Soviet Red Army occupied Yichun, the only artillery wing in his hands was also finished.
However, the supreme military commander of the Japanese army in the North Manchurian region still trusted Okada Shimizu very much, and he knew that the defeat in the battle was not a matter of Shimizu Rule's command, but the gap in the national strength of Japan and the Soviet Union, so he appointed Okada as the commander-in-chief of the southward cluster, under the jurisdiction of more than 70,000 people in four infantry divisions, responsible for opening the passage to the south for the large army.
To tell the truth, Qingshui didn't have any hope for going south, and now that the Soviet army has advanced to the Suihua area, if it weren't for the desperate resistance of the 1st Tank Division, I'm afraid that the Soviet Red Army would have been in the city now. Moreover, the vast majority of the Soviet Union's troops were mechanized, and even the infantry was mainly marching by car, while the Kwantung Army was still mainly on foot. Can two legs be faster than four wheels, obviously no.
Besides, now there are still a large number of Chinese troops between Central Manchurian and Northern Manchuria, there is no complete logistical support, no reinforcements, coupled with low morale and sloppy military discipline, Qing Shui knows that his army has no hope, it is good to be able to break through, and it is expected that he will not break through. Therefore, Shimizu did not intend to obey the orders of General Yamada Otozo to blow up Harbin's industrial plants and various factories and equipment, but ordered the troops to force all the Chinese and Japanese people in Harbin to go out of the city to build bunkers and fortifications for them, overhaul the city defense facilities, and work overtime to produce ammunition, and he must defend Harbin when necessary. …,
Shimizu rules This person is not simple, but he is the backbone of the Japanese Overnight Association. It was formed in October 1921 by the members of the Japanese Army who were in Germany during the investigation of Nagata Tetsuyama, Toshiro Koyan, Okamura Ninji, and others, and the "Nihakai", an organization of young officers from the 15th to 18th sessions of the Army University, and the "National Policy Research Society" formed by the graduates of the 21st to 25th classes of the Army University.
The leader of the Yiyi Society was none other than Han Yunhua's old rival Okamura Ninji. Although Nagata Tetsuyama was the initiator of the Ichikai, Okamura Ninji was the real leader, and Miji Kenkawa was the advisor. The meeting advocated that the Army's personnel arrangements should be mainly for those who have graduated from the Army University, and strive to seek important posts in the Ministry of the Army and the General Staff Headquarters. Externally, the issue of Northeast China and Inner Mongolia was resolved by force, and Japan's rights and interests in Northeast China were obtained.
And most of the members of the Ichijukai are famous generals in the army, let's take a look at these members: Daisaku Kawamoto, Shigetsu Yamaoka, Tetsuyama Nagata, Toshishiro Ohata, Ninji Okamura, Suzuo Ogasawara, Ryosuke Isoya, Seishiro Itagaki, Kenji Dohihara, Hideki Tojo, Hisao Watanabe, Yoshio Kudo, Sadagu Iida, Fufumi Yamashita, Naosaburo Okabe, Naoharu Nakano, Group Hashimoto, Tatsumi Kusaba, Ichiro Nanata, Wanji Ishihara, Isamu Yokoyama, Masato Honda, Kenzo Kitano, Keisaku Murakami, Sadachi Suzuki, Shikichi Okada, Takeshi Nemoto, Numata Takazo, Tsuchihashi Yuichi, Shimoyama Takuma, Muto Akira, Tanaka Shinichi. Each of these people is famous, Okamura Ninji, Tojo Hideki, Dohihara Kenji, Yamashita Fumi, Itagaki Seishiro are almost household names in China, and it is not easy to be able to be in the company of these people.
In terms of tactical level, Shimizu Gui is much stronger than Yamada Oto. This Qingshui rule has not been fought against the CCP and the Nationalist government from all walks of life in China. During the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain, this person served as the commander of the 41st Division of the Japanese Army, later the Chief of the General Staff of the Southern Army, the commander of the 5th Army of the Kwantung Army, and the supreme commander of the Japanese puppet army in the North Manchurian region. In the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain, this person participated in the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain as the commander of the 41st Division in the formation of the First Army. Using the tactics of breaking through the center, he took advantage of the strong wind and rain to break through the Zhao Shiling division of the 43rd Army in one day, and divided the Zeng Wanzhong division of the 5th Group Army of the Chinese Army and Liu Maoen's division of the 14th Group Army, completing the double encirclement. As a result, more than 100,000 Chinese troops in Zhongtiao Mountain were completely defeated in just a few days, with heavy casualties, which shows how superb this person's tactical level is.
For General Yamada Otosan, Shimizu rules are still relatively respectful, and Yamada Otozo is one of the few senior officers in the Japanese Army who can listen to the opinions of his subordinates, which Shimizu rules admit are difficult to do. However, when dealing with this battle, Shimizu Ryoshi thinks that Yamada Otozo is too indecisive. Shimizu believed that the Kwantung Army should take the initiative to attack at the beginning of the battle, using all the special bombs in its inventory and all the weapons that could be used. Because there are only three offensive postures between the two warring sides, one is that if you fight me, I will not fight back, the second is that if you fight me, I will fight back, and the third is that if I know that you want to fight me, then I will strike first to seize the opportunity of the war.
Moreover, after the battle broke out, General Yamada Otozo actually ordered the troops not to use poison gas bombs without the approval of the headquarters, which greatly limited the combat effectiveness of the Kwantung Army, and these treatments made Shimizu very dissatisfied. However, in the face of the strict hierarchy of the Japanese army, Shimizu Rules, although dissatisfied, still resolutely carried out the orders of General Yamada Otosan.
After analyzing the situation of the enemy and us, Qing Shui Gui believed that the plan of breaking through to the south was not feasible, and he took more than a dozen operational staff officers of the command headquarters to deduce six times on the sand table, but each time the result was that he was encircled and eaten by the Chinese and Soviet troops on the way south, and the best result was that more than half of the casualties of the whole army were killed, and then surrounded by the Chinese army on the periphery of Changchun