[The Iron Blood King of the Anti-Japanese Army] Chapter 240: Half of the military flag is captured

After the battle, Ma Zheng received a telegram from Huang Sicheng before he could catch his breath, saying that he was directing the supplementary 123rd Regiment on the way to Furong Dun Town, and his colleagues also said that it was an order from Vice Chairman Zhou.

Although he didn't ask the reason in detail, Ma Zheng still guessed that it must be Xue Yue's meaning, otherwise it would be impossible for Vice Chairman Zhou to meddle in the affairs of the front-line troops. Ma Zheng had no objection to this, but now that the battle was over, it was useless to go to as many people as he could, so Ma Zheng immediately replied to Huang Sicheng, and the department immediately returned to Hukou.

At the same time, Ma Zheng asked the newspaper soldiers to send a report to the headquarters of the First Corps, telling them that the Seventh Division had completely annihilated the 106th Division, and that more than 10,000 people had been killed and wounded under the commander of the division, Lieutenant General Yin Dong Zhengxi, and that the troops were cleaning up the battlefield.

After receiving the telegram from Ma Zheng's headquarters, Xue Yue was extremely shocked, he thought that Ma Zheng's headquarters could hold off the 106th Division was already very good, but he didn't expect to completely annihilate the enemy, it was really incredible. You must know that it was a division of the Japanese army, although this 106th division suffered heavy casualties some time ago, it was not so quickly annihilated.

However, Xue Yue did not doubt the authenticity of the telegram, this situation is easy to verify, and there is really no need to lie.

Immediately, Xue Yue's mind became active, if the 106th Division was completely annihilated, then the Japanese army on the south bank of the Yangtze River would only be the 27th Division outside Pengze City, and the Japanese army in Madang Fortress still had more than a thousand defenders, adding up to 14,500 people. On the Pengze front, his troops gathered four divisions, plus Ma Zheng's headquarters were five divisions, with a total strength of more than 35,000 people, twice as many as the enemy.

In addition, the 32nd Army and the 18th Army are on their way to Pengze, and they are expected to arrive tomorrow morning, when there will be more than 60,000 troops on the front line of Pengze. If the tactics are used properly, the 27th Division can be eaten and completely wiped out the Japanese troops on the south bank of the Yangtze River.

If this tactical goal is achieved, the main force of the 11th Army will basically be almost defeated, and it will be impossible to reach Wuhan without troops and rely on Okamura Ninji alone, so that the crisis in Wuhan will be completely solved.

Thinking of doing it, Xue Yue immediately ordered someone to call Ma Zheng back. Just one sentence: "Is your army interested in Masaharu Honma's 27th Division?" ”

After receiving Xue Yue's reply, Ma Zheng laughed and ordered his headquarters to leave a battalion to clean up the battlefield, and the rest of the troops immediately drove to the east gate of Pengze.

Madang. Headquarters of the 11th Army.

Although it was already late at night, the entire 11th Army Headquarters was still brightly lit, holding the desperate letter sent by Lieutenant General Junroku Matsuura, Okamura Ninji's hands were trembling all the time, I don't know if it was because of anger or because of sadness over the death of Junrokuro Matsuura.

Okamura Ninji was always hard to believe. More than 11,000 people in his entire infantry division were annihilated by the people of China in a few hours, and even tens of thousands of pigs and people could not be killed in a few hours, not to mention the Great Imperial Japanese Army armed to the teeth.

However, Junrokuro Matsuura specifically mentioned one point in his desperate telegram that the Shina people used a new weapon that had never been seen before, and it was extremely powerful, not only destroying chariots, but also killing infantry. The fact that the 106th Division was annihilated so quickly may have something to do with this mysterious new weapon.

Major General Yoshimoto, chief of staff of the Eleventh Army, was similarly furrowed. Originally, they were still celebrating the success of the 106th Division in taking Huanghua Town just now, and the dawn of victory was just around the corner. The reason why these people are so late and they haven't rested. It was just to wait for the report of the victory of the Matsuura Division. Unexpectedly, the news of the victory did not wait, but received a desperate telegram from Junrokuro Matsuura, which was really unbelievable.

"Your Excellency Commander, the headquarters of the 106th Division has lost contact, I'm afraid I'm afraid" Speaking of this, Yoshimoto Sadachi couldn't say any more.

"Needless to say, Matsuura-kun and more than 10,000 warriors of the 106th Division have sacrificed their lives for the country." Okamura Ninji said calmly. There is not a trace of emotion.

"Your Excellency, what shall we do now?" Yoshimoto Sada.

"Order the 27th Division to retreat immediately, build a position on the outskirts of Madang Town, rely on Madang Fortress to hold on and wait for reinforcements, and wait for the arrival of follow-up troops!" Okamura Ninji Road.

"Retreat? Your Excellency the Commander. The people in the city are already at the end of the crossbow, and Honma-kun has taken the most important defense line outside Pengze City, as long as the attack is strengthened, the people may collapse completely, isn't it a pity to withdraw now? Major General Yoshimoto said in a deep voice.

"Yoshimoto-kun, do you really think that the people of Shina are already at the end of the crossbow?" Okamura asked coldly.

"According to the news from our high-ranking spies lurking within the Shina government, although there are three Shina divisions in Pengze City, Li Han's 155 is almost completely wiped out. Both divisions of the Fourth Army also suffered heavy casualties, and the strength of the defenders in the city was expected to have dropped to about 13,000 men, of whom at least 3,000 were wounded. Major General Yoshimoto said.

"Yoshimoto-kun, you are underestimating the Zhina people, since the Zhinamen can completely annihilate the 106th Division, then they have the ability to eat one more of our divisions. Moreover, the 27th Division is still a newly formed unit, and its combat effectiveness cannot be compared with that of the old divisions. Moreover, there were many casualties in these days of fighting, and once surrounded by the Chinese people, the probability of defeat was very high. We have already lost a division, and we must not let the people eat another division, so the only way to do this is to withdraw! Okamura Ninji said.

"Your Excellency the division commander's analysis is reasonable, it's a pity!" Yoshimoto said in a deep voice.

"Yoshimoto-kun, there is nothing to be ashamed of, His Excellency the Prince's Second Army has launched an attack in Jiangbei, as long as our follow-up troops arrive, we can still compete with the Shina people again, so retreating does not mean that the war is over, and the war will continue!" Okamura Ninji Road.

"Hay!"

Xue Yue made a good calculation, but unfortunately Okamura Ningji was not stupid, when the defenders in Pengze City suddenly launched a counterattack against the Japanese army outside the city, they suddenly found that the Japanese troops on the opposite position had already fled, and before leaving, they even arranged a lot of trickery mines on the position, and the 90th Division responsible for the main attack suffered more than 200 casualties.

Although it failed to bite the Japanese army, the crisis in Pengzecheng was completely resolved, and the defenders let out a heartless cheer after occupying the position.

Ma Zheng in Peng Zecheng saw Xue Yue, although the two had a very unpleasant confrontation before, but at this time, everyone seemed to have tacitly forgotten the previous things.

As soon as they met, Xue Yue couldn't help but ask: "Division Commander Ma, was the 106th Division really annihilated by your troops?" ”

"It can't be said that it was completely annihilated, I just learned that the Japanese army also reserved an infantry brigade in Huanghua Town, and when our army rushed here, the Japanese infantry brigade had already evacuated from Huanghua Town. Therefore, the 106th Division cannot be said to have been completely annihilated in the strict sense, at least they still have an infantry brigade left! Ma Zheng said.

"Is there only one infantry brigade left? What about their division headquarters, what about the old devil Junrokuro Matsuura? Xue Yue asked in a deep voice.

"The division headquarters was annihilated, and Lieutenant General Junrokuro Matsuura and Major General Qin Shangya, commander of the 5th Independent Mixed Brigade, were killed, along with five Dazuo. By the way, their division flag was also captured by our army, but unfortunately at that time, the old devil Matsuura already knew that the destruction was imminent, so he ordered someone to burn the division and regiment flag, so only half of it was captured! Ma Zheng said.

"Really captured the flag of the 106th Division of the Japanese Army?" Xue Yue asked again in surprise.

It is no wonder that Xue Yue was so surprised, you must know that the military flag has a very high status in the Japanese army, and when each wing is established, the wing flag must be personally awarded to the wing commander by the emperor in the imperial palace, and there is also a ceremony for the emperor to question and the wing leader to answer.

The Q&A ceremony has been in place since Emperor Meiji bestowed the first flag of the 1st Guards Infantry Wing, but it became a mandatory ceremony that began with the "Flag Awarding Ceremony" in the Imperial Ceremony Decree issued on October 21, 1926, which stipulated that the captain of the wing must wear a ceremonial dress and meet the emperor in the imperial palace.

This set of ceremonies is to show that this unit is "led by the emperor himself", so the wing flag with the army is equivalent to the "emperor doppelganger", so the Japanese army wing regards the military flag as very important, there is a special flag protection class, to protect the wing flag from any damage, and it is stipulated that soldiers should salute when they see the military flag as they do when they meet the emperor.

In battle, the military flag must be sent with the headquarters, but in times of crisis, it can be placed at the division and regiment headquarters. When the troops were completely annihilated or had to surrender as a last resort, the wing flag must be burned and the Imperial emblem on the top of the flagpole must be buried deeply. Therefore, although the war broke out for more than a year, and the Nationalist Government had repeatedly annihilated large units above the Japanese army level, it had not been able to capture a single Japanese flag.

More importantly, once the military flag was captured, this unit, whether it was a division or a wing, would be completely worn out from the battle sequence of the Japanese army, and it would be impossible to rebuild.

After receiving an affirmative answer, Xue Yue laughed loudly: "Okay, okay, this time I see that the little devil has something to be crazy about!" ”

"It's a pity that the 27th Division escaped, otherwise, the strength of our two armies can completely annihilate another division of the Japanese army, in that case, Okamura Ningji may have to retreat to Anqing!" Ma Zheng said regretfully.

"It's okay, Shang Zhen's 20th Army is now on its way to Pengze, as long as they arrive, we can take the initiative to attack the Japanese army. Do not seek to completely annihilate the Japanese army, but only to recapture Madang Fortress, and then the crisis in Wuhan will be completely solved. Xue Yue said.

"I see that the old devil of Okamura Ninji did not immediately withdraw to Anqing, which means that he still has follow-up troops, and they will arrive soon." Ma Zheng said.

"Well, no matter what, let's send a report to the Theater Commander's Department and the Military Commission first!" Xue Yue said. (To be continued.) )

PS: ps: Today's physical examination, there is only such a change in the morning, and it will be updated in the afternoon! In addition, let's take a look at the ticket warehouse to see if there is a monthly pass, and now it is bursting chrysanthemums one after another, which is too miserable!