Lieutenant General Yoshihiko Haruta made a correct judgment and was also very confident that the main forces of the Allied forces around Manila had been attracted to the front line of the Calais Mountains by the weak tactics shown by the Imperial Army, and the Allied forces on the Manila defense line would not exceed 50,000 men, and they would inevitably be second-rate or even third-rate troops with weak combat effectiveness.

As long as the Allied troops are quickly defeated in the middle of the Calais Mountains, they will be able to come to Manila that night, and the more than 50,000 second- and third-rate Allied soldiers will be their opponents, not to mention the fighting spirit of the more than 100,000 Imperial soldiers, once the 100,000 British and Australian troops on Luzon Island are reinforced, and they will inevitably rush back to help when they learn that Australia is attacked by the main force of the Imperial Army, and the remaining American and Philippine soldiers will not be able to stop the advance of the Imperial Army no matter what.

Looking at the terrain conditions again, the second line of defense of the Allied forces in the Calais Mountains that was hastily constructed could not compare with the Manila Defense Line with deep ditches and high walls, and the two lines of defense of the Allied forces in the Calais Mountains and Manila, Lieutenant General Haruta had commanded troops to attack, so he naturally knew the severity of the attack.

With the 14 th Army's 03rd, 104th, 108th, and 109th Divisions as the main assault force, he quickly broke through the Allied positions with the most ferocious attacks, and then, ignoring hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers, rushed straight to Manila, and the follow-up troops surrounded and annihilated the Allied troops on the central line of the Calais Mountains.

Lieutenant General Chu Tian only uses the four divisions and regiments directly under his own command, which is somewhat selfish; first, so much credit should not fall on other units assigned to his command, and second, he still believes in the combat effectiveness and attack power of his own troops.

After giving the order, Lieutenant General Haruta, whose face was full of red light, could not help but admire Commander-in-Chief Ito, if not His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief. At the military meeting on the eve of the expedition to Australia, he left himself alone, and with his own brain, he would definitely not be able to think of such an insidious and vicious trick, and also, his style of commanding operations was to like to fight and rush, and it seemed that there was a gap between himself and Commander-in-Chief Ito. It's still huge!

Lieutenant General Yoshihiko Haruta was even proud of his humility, when a communications officer hurriedly ran over and said, "Report to Your Excellency the Commander." Received an emergency call from the headquarters! ”

"Oh!" Lieutenant General Haruta received the telegram with a little surprise, and thought to himself, "Commander-in-Chief Ito is really worried about his life. Far away in the Australian battlefield. He also paid attention to the battlefield on Luzon, and the meaning of the call was nothing more than to ask how the battle was progressing, and he was also careless and did not report the situation in time," he secretly blamed himself.

But. When Lieutenant General Haruta read the contents of the telegram, his expression changed dramatically, and the staff officers around him saw the face of His Excellency the Commander. At first, it turned red to the color of pork liver, and then it turned iron blue, his throat and eyes were like bellows, panting, the muscles on his face twitched, his eyes were straight, and the few senior staff officers closest to him could even smell the smell of gunpowder emanating from His Excellency the commander!

Although I didn't know what the content of the telegram was, I could see the danger signal from the look of the commander, and just when a large group of staff officers were worried about whether Lieutenant General Haruta would run away on the spot, Lieutenant General Haruta suddenly yelled, "Why is this happening? ”

Then, in a fierce tone, he dictated a telegram and said viciously: "Immediately send it to the headquarters of the dispatch army as quickly as possible, and it will reach the hands of Commander-in-Chief Ito directly, if within twenty minutes, I will not get an answer from His Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, you will all die and die!" ”

Turning his head, he saw a large group of staff officers looking at each other, and roared angrily, "Baga! Stupid pig! Convey my order, all troops suspend operations and stand by in place! Only then did the staff officers vaguely understand the general meaning of this telegram from the headquarters of the dispatch army.

General Ito Yanzaburo, who was standing on Australian soil, shook his head helplessly after receiving the telegram from Lieutenant General Yoshihiko Haruta, full of gunpowder, and handed the telegram to Major General Kawashima, the chief of staff next to him, and said: "Kawashima-kun, look at it, that guy's bullish temper in Haruta has come up again!" ”

Major General Kawashima opened it and took a look, and sure enough, Lieutenant General Yoshihiko Haruta's telegram was quite unkind, "Your Excellency Senior General Ito of the Southwest Pacific Dispatch Army of the Empire of Japan, on this occasion, the headquarters of our 14th Army is attacking the United States, Britain, Austria and other allied forces on the battlefield of Luzon, and when capturing Manila tonight, I suddenly received an order from the headquarters to stop the attack, which really surprised the headquarters and was unbelievable!" ”

"In front of us, the situation on the battlefield on Luzon Island is quite favorable to the Imperial Army's troops, the Allied forces of more than 300,000 troops are retreating in panic, and the Imperial Army troops have launched an attack on all fronts. If His Excellency the General cannot give Chuntian a reasonable reason, Chuntian will not hesitate to risk violating Your Excellency's military orders and take Manila directly. ”

After reading Yoshihiko Haruta's telegram, Chief of Staff Kawashima said something meaningful, "Your Excellency the Commander-in-Chief, Chunda-kun is really a fierce general!" You have to be so fierce, why can't you sweep across the Pacific! ”

Admiral Ito laughed, looked very proud, paused, and said: "Kawashima-kun, let's report the truth to Haruta, otherwise, I'm worried that this guy and the cow will really disobey my military order, attack Manila, and annihilate hundreds of thousands of Allied soldiers on Luzon, telegram, or you can write it yourself!" ”

Chief of Staff Kawashima nodded, deeply convinced, and busily telegraphed back to Lieutenant General Yoshihiko Haruta.

In fact, the order of Yoshihiko Haruta's subordinates, who were fighting well, to stop attacking the Allied forces on Luzon was by no means Commander-in-Chief Ito's intention, but the result of a compromise with the navy.

The attack on Australia this time, and it was able to succeed very smoothly, of course, it was inseparable from the support of the navy, and the navy dispatched two fleets, and it was not willing to play a supporting role and be a green leaf to set off the army's achievements.

Therefore, the commanders of the two fleets of the Japanese Navy jointly sent a telegram to Admiral Ito and put forward a request, which was to hand over the 100,000 British and Australian soldiers who had urgently returned to Australia from the battlefield on Luzon Island to the navy for a solution.

After receiving the telegram from the navy with fierce rhetoric and a tough attitude, Admiral Ito was very annoyed and embarrassed, if he did not agree, the navy would definitely not be able to give up, and the matter would have to go to the base camp and even to His Majesty the Emperor, and when the time came, maybe some kind of trouble would come to the door!

In addition, when Admiral Ito formulated a plan to attack Australia, he intentionally or unintentionally neglected the navy, and he fell into a knot in his heart, and he was afraid that the navy would take advantage of the topic, and when the time came, it would definitely be difficult for him to be sandwiched between the bigwigs of the army and navy.

Agree, I feel a grievance in my heart, it is only a matter of time before I solve the Allied forces on Luzon, that is the last military strength of the United States in the Southwest Pacific Theater, such a great credit, it is really unwilling to give it away, at the same time, Admiral Ito is very angry, and the navy takes food from his mouth.

General Ito, who was in a dilemma, discussed with the chief of staff, Major General Kawashima, weighed the pros and cons, and in the end, it was Chief of Staff Kawashima who made him decide.

Chief of Staff Kawashima's words were objective and calm, he said: "General, it is an indisputable fact that the situation of the war has developed to the present and the Imperial Army has achieved a complete victory, and the Navy, as a participant in the Southwest Pacific Campaign, will never put up with it, and all the achievements are created by the Army, so even if we ignore their demands, the Navy will make trouble with His Majesty the Emperor." ”

"And His Majesty the Emperor, in order to balance the psychology of the navy's eagerness to make contributions, will inevitably take into account the feelings of the navy, at that time, the base camp will give an order, we have to obey, rather than passive, it is better to take the initiative, if you look at the results of the entire Pacific theater, even if the navy wins one or two battles, it cannot be compared with the achievements of our army, so, general, my personal opinion, is to order Haruta-kun to stop the offensive and give the opportunity to the navy!"

Senior General Ito, after listening to the incisive analysis of his chief of staff, clapped his hands and praised the goodness, and only then did he have the order that almost made Lieutenant General Yoshihiko Haruta vomit blood on the spot.

In replying to Yoshihiko Haruta, Chief of Staff Kawashima took great pains to not only explain the background of the order, but also pointed out to him the tactics to be used next.

After scolding the Navy guys countless times in his heart, Vice Admiral Haruta changed his tactics, retracted the four outstretched fists, and changed from a quick breakthrough to a front-line flat push attack, with only one purpose, not only to let the 100,000 British and Australian troops who were eager to return to Australia to board the ship, but also to force MacArthur's American and Philippine troops to abandon Luzon and flee south to Australia.

The Japanese army suddenly changed the way of attack, slowed down the speed of the attack, and reduced the intensity of the attack, so that MacArthur, who was in a hurry, was suddenly under pressure, and he was able to free up his hands and carry out a planned retreat, although I don't know what caused it, but this is also a rare opportunity, if you don't use it, it's an idiot!

By the afternoon of 25 August, most of the British and Australian troops returning to Australia had already boarded the ship, and MacArthur had successfully retreated from the Calais Mountains to the Manila Line with about half of his troops.

That same afternoon, Major General Le Yiqin, commander of the Southern Flying Group of the Independent Division's Air Force, flew his fighter plane from the Myitkyina base to the Singapore airport alone.

(To be continued) (To be continued.) )