[Anti-Japanese Iron Blood King] Chapter 816: Heavy Troops Pressing the Realm (Ask for Subscription!) , ask for a monthly pass, ask for everything! ）

The Japanese army's operational policy was to first defeat the Chinese/army between the Xinqiang River and Mishui, and then prepare to attack the Chinese 4th Army and the 99th Army on the left bank of the river from the vicinity of Changle Street into the lower reaches of the Mishui River. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Break through the positions of the Chinese defenders on the Xinshi-Liqiao road, and use the main force of the 11th Army to encircle the enemy and annihilate the area of the Xiangjiang River west of the road; In addition, the 6th and 40th Divisions defeated the enemy in the mountains on the Putang front. At the same time, the attack on the defenders on the left bank of the Mishui area is scheduled for April 5, and the operational objectives will be achieved by April 15.

In addition, the 11th Army will coordinate with the navy to make a feint attack on Changde on the west bank of Dongting Lake. In order to contain the army of China's Ninth Theater, the corps garrisoned along the Nanxun line was ordered to launch an attack at an appropriate time.

After the order to fight was issued, the Japanese army began to assemble in the intended combat area. On March 30, the Japanese 3rd Division set out from the vicinity of Yingshan in Hubei Province and marched to Xiaoqiaozhen, southeast of Yueyang; At the same time, the 40th Division, together with one battalion of mountain artillery and one mortar brigade, set out from the Yingcheng and Anlu areas of Hubei Province and assembled near Xinkaitang in the southeast of Yueyang.

On the same day, the 6th Division of the Japanese Army set out from Yueyang and Chongyang and assembled near the Straw Shoe Ridge south of Yueyang; The other part of the 40th Division was attached to a mountain artillery brigade and moved west from the Daye and Xianning areas of Hubei Province to assemble near Taolin.

In addition, the Chinese Dispatch Army Command formed the Hayabuchi Detachment with 4 infantry brigades and 2 mountain artillery brigades of the 13th Division as the backbone: the Araki Detachment was formed with 3 infantry brigades and 1 mountain artillery brigade of the 33rd Division as the backbone; The Pingye Detachment was formed with 1 infantry brigade and 1 mountain artillery squadron of the 14th Brigade as the backbone; The 14th Infantry Brigade of the Independent Mixed Brigade was formed as the backbone of the Eto Detachment. Coupled with the 13th Tank Wing, the 14th Heavy Artillery Wing, and the engineer brigade directly under the command of the dispatch army, they quickly assembled in the Yueyang and Linxiang areas.

The Japanese did not keep their actions secret in advance, and anyway, the Japanese military top brass also knew that such a large-scale military operation on China's territory would be in vain even if they wanted to keep it secret, and China's intelligence department was no worse than the Japanese army's special high-tech department, and in some respects even stronger than the special high-tech department, so the Japanese simply came with great fanfare to put pressure on the Chinese government in an explicit manner.

The Battle of Wuhan caused extremely heavy losses to the Nationalist Government, and the Ninth Theater suffered more than half of the casualties, and it has not yet recovered.

According to information obtained by the Military Command Bureau, the total strength of the ground forces of the Japanese 11th Army for offensive operations in Changsha was as high as 45 infantry brigades, and as many as 26 artillery brigades were used to cooperate in the operation, and a number of naval and aviation units were involved in coordinated operations.

The Nationalist Government attached great importance to this battle, and although the muscles displayed by the Japanese army were a little scary, in order to obtain foreign aid, the Nationalist Government believed that no matter how difficult it was, this battle must be fought well, and it was related to how much US aid the government could win. At the same time, this battle is also about the authority of the Nationalist Government, and if it loses, it is likely to affect the international reputation of the Nationalist Government, after all, there is still a Restoration Nationalist Government in Nanjing.

Immediately, Lao Jiang personally appointed Xue Yue as the commander of the Ninth Theater of Operations, with full responsibility for the Battle of Changsha.

After receiving Lao Jiang's order, Xue Yue immediately moved his headquarters to Changsha City, and at the same time convened senior officers of the Ninth War Zone to discuss how to deal with the enemy.

Although the Ninth Theater has not been established for a long time and is a rising star, it is the one that knows the 11th Army of the Japanese Army best among all the troops of the Nationalist Government. Since the Battle of Wuhan, the Ninth Theater has engaged in a head-on confrontation with the Japanese 11th Army in the area south of the Yangtze River across the three provinces of Hunan, Hubei and Jiangxi, and has also engaged in skirmishes from time to time.

Today you eat one of my platoons, tomorrow I will sneak attack your squad, today you snipe me a second lieutenant, tomorrow I will kill you a Cao Chang, so the two sides can be said to have a deep hatred like the sea, and at the same time they know each other very well.

Changsha. Ninth Theater Command.

Today, the headquarters is unusually well guarded, and a large number of soldiers armed with submachine guns have surrounded the entire headquarters, and some soldiers have even set up machine guns at the entrance of the headquarters, and the roads at the entrance of the headquarters are closed to traffic.

In fact, it is no wonder that the soldiers in the Ninth War Zone are nervous, because today is the time for the Ninth War Zone to hold an operational meeting, and now the entire conference room is full of senior officers. The lowest rank is also a major general, a division commander, the most are officers with the rank of lieutenant general, and there are even a few army generals, if the Japanese drop two bombs here now, it will be enough to inflict an irreparable and serious blow to the Nationalist Government.

At this time, the conference room of the Ninth War Zone was filled with smoke. A faint blue smoke drifted out of the door of the conference room, and if it weren't for the fact that there was a meeting going on inside, I am afraid that the soldiers outside would have thought that there was a fire inside.

Xue Yue, the commander of the Ninth Theater, sat on the main seat, his brows furrowed, and after Luo Zhuoying, the deputy commander of the Ninth Theater, finished the report on the enemy situation, Xue Yue got up and said: "Everyone heard what Deputy Commander Luo said just now, this is the situation. The Japanese army has now gathered a total of more than 60,000 men and, with the cooperation of aircraft, artillery, and tanks, pounced on our Ninth Theater in a vain attempt to eat the shame of the main force of our Ninth Theater in one fell swoop. The commission ordered us to keep Changsha at all costs, preferably to fight a decent victory, what are your good plans? ”

There are many high-ranking officers in the conference room, all of whom are well-known people in the Chinese Army at present, such as Yang Sen, deputy commander of the Ninth Theater, Wang Lingji, commander of the new 3rd Army, Yang Hongguang, commander of the new 3rd Army, Wang Yaowu, commander of the 74th Army, Ou Zhen, lieutenant general of the 4th Army, Yang Hanyu, commander of the 20th Army, Sun Du, commander of the 58th Army, Han Quanpu, commander of the 72nd Army, Xia Shouxun, commander of the 78th Army, and Li Yutang, commander of the 10th Army.

These people are either Xue Yue's old subordinates, or have fought with Xue Yue, and they know very well the temper of this "tiger boy" in the mouth of the commissioner, and they know that this person does not like to listen to empty words. People who like to do things in an orderly manner like people who have a solid voice, so for a while the whole conference room was silent, and no one dared to speak.

Xue Yue was also used to this kind of thing, and at the military meeting he presided over. Cold spots are something that happens a lot, and at first he lost his temper a few times about it, but now he is used to it.

After a while, Luo Zhuoying, deputy commander of the Ninth Theater and commander-in-chief of the 19th Group Army, stood up and said: "Commander, according to the terrain of our Ninth Theater and the deployment of the Japanese army, combined with the summary of the combat experience of the Battle of Wuhan and the Battle of Shanggao, I humbly judge that there will be three offensive directions of the Japanese army, namely northern Jiangxi, southern Hunan, and northern Hunan!" ”

"Let's be specific, from where the Japanese army will attack!" Xue Yue opened his mouth and said.

Luo Zhuoying continued: "In northern Jiangxi, the Japanese army is likely to be directed from De'an and Anyi to the line of Wuning, Xiushui, and Tonggu, and the Japanese army will not let our army's troops in the high direction threaten its strategic base Nanchang, so it is humbly judged that the Japanese army will send an army from Nanchang to attack in the direction of Gao'an, Shanggao, and Wanzai, or from Nanchang to Xingan and Ji'an. On the southern Hunan, the Japanese army may attack south from Chongyang, Tongshan, and Tongcheng, and the front of the troops will be directed towards Pingjiang and Liuyang. In northern Hunan province, the Japanese army would move south to Changsha along both sides of the Guangdong-Hanzhou Railway. ”

After Luo Zhuoying finished speaking, Yang Sen, deputy commander-in-chief of the Ninth Theater and commander-in-chief of the Twentieth Group Army, a general of the Sichuan Army, also got up and said: "Commander, I also think that what Deputy Commander Luo said is very reasonable, the direction of the Japanese army's attack will not exceed these three places, and the humble position also believes that among these three directions, Xiangbei should be the main direction of the Japanese army's attack, and the others are the direction of strategy or containment. After all, the main object of the Japanese army's operation this time is our Ninth Theater, and the main purpose of the operation is also to attack our Ninth Theater and occupy Changsha! ”

Xue Yue thought for a while and said, "Is there a way to retreat from the enemy?" ”

Yang Sen looked at Luo Zhuoying and said: "The strategy of retreating from the enemy has not yet been thought of, but I think that before retreating from the enemy, we still have to defend our positions in order to plan for the future!" Based on this, he suggested that the theater could deploy the main force in northern Hunan and use the Xinqiang River, Miluo River (Mishui), Laodao River, and Liuyang River in the depth of this direction to build multi-layered positions, strengthen the resilience of defense, and control the mobile troops in the mountains of Mufu Mountain and Lianyun Mountain on the east side, so as to flank and attack the Japanese army. (To be continued.) )