[Anti-Japanese Iron Blood King] Chapter 192: The Turning Point of the Japanese Army (Ask for Subscription)

AN Qing. Headquarters of the 11th Army.

Okamura Ninji had already received a telegram from Yoon Dong Masaki and knew that Koguchi Castle had been conquered by the Shina army, but this time Okamura Ninji was not angry, but gradually calmed down. He had realized that his previous anger had made him make a wrong judgment, so that the 101st Brigade was now under siege, and the first thing to solve the current predicament was to calm his angry heart.

Everyone in the entire headquarters was cautious, even the chief of staff, Major General Yoshimoto Sadachi, did not dare to speak, so as not to annoy His Excellency the commander.

After a long time, Okamura Ninji asked in a deep voice, "Yoshimoto-kun, what do you think of the current situation?" ”

Major General Yoshimoto Sadachi immediately said: "Your Excellency, I humbly believe that our current attack on the south bank of the Yangtze River has actually failed, but the most important thing in the current plan is to rescue the 101st Brigade from the encirclement of the Chinese people, and make plans after the arrival of the 27th Division and the 9th Division!" ”

"Did you really fail?" Okamura asked through gritted teeth.

Yoshimoto Zhen nodded and said: "The destruction of the Hatada detachment has become a fact, and the 11th Naval Squadron is now more than lucky. And the 6th Division, which had the strongest combat effectiveness under the command of our 11th Army, also lost an infantry wing, and its strength was greatly damaged. Now the 101st Division has fallen into a crisis where it is unable to take care of each other, and in fact has lost the ability to attack! ”

"What about the 106th Division, if you gather the remnants of the 106th Division and the 101st Division, can you capture Hukou?" Okamura Ninji said again.

"Your Excellency Commander, the situation of the 106th Division is also very bad, the 106th Division was stubbornly blocked by the 4th Army of the famous General Ou Zhen during the attack in the Liangtailing, Shahe Town and Shamaoshan areas, and during the attack, a large number of living forces were killed and injured by the outpost positions of the Fourth Army. Although the 106th Division has occupied part of Ma'anshan and Jinjiashan after bloody battles. However, the day before yesterday, it was attacked by a large-scale counterattack by the 4th Army and the 155th Division of China, and after 2 days and 2 nights of fierce fighting, the people of China only recaptured the main position. And the 106th Division was again hit hard. ”

Then Yoshimoto Sadaichi said again: "In the nearly six days of fighting, the 106th Division suffered heavy casualties, two wing commanders and 5 group commanders were seriously injured, and the division's attack ability was sharply reduced!" ”

"Nani, when did this happen, how did I not know?" Okamura asked angrily.

"Back to Your Excellency, Commander. This is according to a telegram sent back from the 106th Division, the commander of the 113th Infantry Wing, Nakaseido Daisa, was killed on July 23, and the commander of the 2nd Infantry Division, Shigeo Tajiri, was killed on July 24. Wing Commander of the 145th Infantry Wing, Ichikawa Yozo Nakasa, was wounded on the 24th, Wing Adjutant Takeo Motoyama Shosa was wounded at this time, Hagio Sazo Shosa, the captain of the 1st Brigade of the Wing, was wounded on the 26th, and on the same day, the 2nd Squadron Captain Fukushima Tachima and the 3rd Squadron Captain Utsumi Shosa were killed in battle, and at the same time, the Captain of the 3rd Brigade of the 147th Infantry Wing Tani Minakasa was seriously wounded. Yoshimoto replied.

"How big are the casualties of the 106th Division?" Okamura asked in a deep voice.

"The casualties were more than 8,000, of which 3,000 were killed in battle!" Sadachi Yoshimoto replied.

"Smack"

The cup in his hand was slammed to the ground by Okamura Ninji, and he was instantly shattered. Okamura Ninji still has a good understanding of the situation of the 106th Division. The division consisted of four infantry wings, namely the 113th, 123rd, 145th, and 147th wings, each of which had three brigades. In this operation, the headquarters of the 147th Wing to which it belonged remained in Wuhu, the 1st Brigade of the Wing was in Ningguo, southeast of Wuhu, and the 2nd Brigade was to serve as a guard on the edge of Poyang Lake east of Lushan; The 3rd Brigade of the 113th Wing remained in Digang on the bank of the river in Fanchang County, southern Anhui, to guard this section of the Yangtze River waterway.

Therefore, the division fought in the area south of the Jiujiang River this time, but in fact there were only nine infantry brigades, and as a result, five brigade commanders and two wing commanders were killed and wounded, and 8,000 soldiers were lost. As a result, the 106th Division can be said to have suffered more than half of the casualties. I'm afraid that the combat strength is not even half of what it used to be, so it's no wonder that Yoshimoto Sadakai thinks that the attack on the south bank has failed.

Ninji Okamura is a China expert. He knows a lot about Chinese culture, so he is okay with failure. But what he couldn't accept was that the occupation had reversed so quickly, so strangely.

Originally, the headquarters had already captured Jiujiang and taken this springboard for attacking Wuhan, and only waited for several other divisions to arrive to capture Wuhan, but they never thought that they would be beaten back to their original form in just one day.

That's it. Overnight, his 11th Army lost not only two strategically important county towns, but also more than 10,000 men and a naval fleet. Even now there is a whole infantry brigade surrounded by the Chinese and could be annihilated at any time.

After thinking about it, Okamura Ninji said in a deep voice: "Yoshimoto-kun is right, this attack has actually failed. We can't afford to continue to let our soldiers continue to pay with their lives because of our stubbornness. ”

"Your Excellency, what should we do now? Did you watch the 101st Brigade being annihilated by the China? Major General Yoshimoto said in a deep voice.

"The people of the 101st Brigade who want to eat me still lack a good pair of teeth, and now the 101st Brigade and the 101st Wing are certainly in the encirclement of the Chinese people, but the Chinese army in Xingang Town is not between the 101st Brigade Headquarters and the 101st Wing, and even the Chinese army in Hukou City is also in the encirclement of my 101st Division and 106th Division, who eats who is not certain!" Okamura Ninji Road.

Major General Yoshimoto followed what Okamura Ninji said and looked at the map and found that this was indeed the case, although the enemy in Shinko Town said that the rear route of Sakamoto's department had been cut off, but now the 101st Wing had gone to Shinko Town, so this enemy army was right between Shiro Sakamoto's headquarters and the 101st Wing. As long as Sakamoto's troops withdraw from the city, and accompany the 101st Wing to flank the enemy forces in Xingang Town, they will definitely be able to defeat them, or even annihilate them completely.

As long as the nail of Xingang Town is taken, then the enemy army in Hukou City will be completely finished, and then that army will become a lone pawn in depth, surrounded by the 101st Brigade, 101st Division and 106th Division, even if there are two divisions or three divisions in the city, it is impossible to resist the attack of the Imperial Japanese Army.

Therefore, although the war is in danger, there is no hope for reversal, and now it depends on whether the 101st Brigade can successfully withdraw from Jiujiang City.

"Your Excellency, Commander, please give the order!" Major General Yoshimoto Saichi said in a deep voice.

Okamura Ninji got up and said loudly: "Order: The 106th Division immediately withdraws from the battle, abandons all the positions it has captured, and retreats to the line of Cailing Town, east of Hukou, to join the 101st Division. ”

"Order: The headquarters of the 101st Brigade will stop attacking Jiujiang, and then immediately withdraw to Xingang Town, and annihilate it at all costs with the 101st Wing and the Zhina army that is flanking Xingang Town. After succeeding, one part was left to block the enemy in Jiujiang, and the rest of the troops returned to Hukou to reinforce Hukou, and besieged Hukou City with the main force of the 101st and 106th Divisions! ”

"Yoshimoto, immediately send a report to the front army headquarters, requesting the aviation regiment to give air support to Sakamoto's department and assist Sakamoto's department in withdrawing to Xingang Town."

"Hay!"

Then Okamura Ninji said again: "This defeat is all caused by the Seventh Division of the Chinese Independence, and it is also due to the carelessness of our imperial army!" Send a report to the base camp, requesting access to the archives of the 7th Division of China and its commander Ma Zheng, and requesting the headquarters of the Mongolian army to cooperate with the investigation! ”

"Hay!"

Okamura Ningji had a good calculation, but how could these Ma Zheng and Wang Zhonglian not consider it, and showing weakness to the enemy was just to let the fish take the bait. Now that the fish has taken the bait and is about to reel in the net, how can it escape?

It's easy to bite the hook, but it's not so easy to escape. When Wang Zhonglian noticed that the headquarters of the 101st Brigade was showing signs of retreat, he immediately ordered the headquarters of the 23rd Division in the city to immediately attack and hold the 101st Brigade at all costs.

However, Wang Zhonglian and Ma Zheng both underestimated Okamura Ningji and the strength of the Japanese army. At the same time as the Sakamoto headquarters broke through the siege, as many as 100 Japanese planes appeared over Jiujiang to bomb the defenders in the city indiscriminately and assist the Sakamoto headquarters to break through. The 23rd Division tried its best but could not prevent Sakamoto's division from breaking through, and after leaving more than 2,000 corpses and some wounded to desperately drag the 23rd Division in pursuit, Sakamoto's division finally withdrew from Jiujiang City. (To be continued.) )