Tang Qiuli looked at it very carefully, and the first information he saw was about the Calais Mountains, in contrast, the focus of the two pieces of information was different, because the battlefield in the Calais Mountains basically had no suspense, and the remnants of the US Third Army were just struggling to survive, and it was only a matter of time before they were completely annihilated by the Japanese army.

But here also revealed a piece of information, Ito Yanzaburo with more than 90,000 troops, encircled and annihilated more than 40,000 remnants of the American army, the battle lasted for a day and a night, and it has not completely ended, which may greatly affect the Japanese army's plan to attack Manila next, the emergence of this variable, for MacArthur, is not necessarily a bad thing, if MacArthur seizes the opportunity to attack the Japanese 14th Army Haruta Yoshihiko Division, which is advancing alone, it will have an immeasurable positive impact on the next battle of Manila.

However, after Tang Qiuli finished reading the information about the battle that took place on the periphery of Manila this morning, he couldn't help but sigh and said to Chief of Staff Zhao Yuhe: "Yuhe, judging from the battle in Manila that just ended, MacArthur really didn't dare to compliment him when he used troops, he missed the opportunity!" ”

Zhao Yuhe felt the same way, and replied: "Yes, division commander, I also have the same opinion, the 14th Army of the Japanese Army attacked more than 100,000 American and Philippine troops on the front line of Manila with 70,000 people, which was originally outnumbered, and moreover, after a long march of more than 200 kilometers, when it arrived at the periphery of Manila, the Japanese army was already at the end of its strong crossbow, and that Haruta Yoshihiko was even more crazy, and he immediately launched an attack without artillery preparations and without any rest of the troops!" ”

"No commander in a normal state would do this, originally, this is an excellent opportunity for the US military to counterattack, if it is planned properly. The Japanese 14th Army had to bear at least tens of thousands of casualties, but the fact was the opposite, the American defense line was riddled and crumbling by the inferior Japanese troops who had been attacked for a long time, and according to the intelligence department, MacArthur was forced to use all the strategic reserves to barely repel the attack of the Japanese army under Yoshihiko Harata, the division commander. I can't understand, how MacArthur fought this battle? ”

Tang Qiuli shook his head lightly and said, "It's not surprising that as far as MacArthur himself is concerned, the composition of politicians. More than the essence of a soldier, he is better at intrigue and trickery. It's not that he didn't expect this to be an opportunity. But he is more worried that stealing chickens will not make a loss of rice, and under the trade-off, it is still the safest to hold the line of defense, but he does not know that war itself is a risky game. The Americans lost the only chance they had on the battlefield on Luzon to ease the situation. ”

Zhao Yuhe was about to express his opinions, and Colonel Ge Zhenzhuang, chief of the General Staff Department, and Colonel Chen Feng, director of the Communications Department, came to the division commander's office together. Chen Feng said: "Division commander, I have just received a piece of information from the intelligence department that 100,000 British and Australian troops reinforcing the Luzon battlefield have set sail from Australia and are expected to arrive on Luzon Island on August 18 or 19. ”

Tang Qiuli took the telegram, read it carefully, and said to the three subordinates with some emotion: "100,000 British and Australian troops, leaving Australia, the Japanese plan has achieved the expected goal, followed by the Japanese army's all-out attack on Australia, the contest between the Americans and the Japanese in the Southwest Pacific Theater, can come to an end, there is no doubt that the Japanese army will win!" ”

Colonel Ge Zhenzhuang, chief of the General Staff Office, was a little skeptical of the division commander's judgment and said: "Division commander, the Australian continent is vast, the terrain conditions are complex, and there is a lot of room for strategic maneuver, according to intelligence, the British and Australian troops still have 60,000 pairs of troops, staying in the local area, plus the British have been operating here for many years, even if the Japanese army has invested a lot of troops, and wants to end the Australian campaign in a short time, I am afraid it will not be so easy, according to my judgment, there is not a year or two of time, the Australian battlefield, and the final result cannot be seen!" ”

After speaking, Ge Zhenzhuang added: "Of course, this is just my personal opinion, and I ask the teacher to correct it!" ”

Colonel Chen Feng, director of the Communications Division, who is in charge of the communications of the Independent Division, has always expressed his opinions on things at the campaign and strategic level, not because of his personality, but because of his personality, but his thoughts on Chief of Staff Zhao Yu and Major General are basically the same as those of Ge Zhenzhuang, and he does not think that the Australian mainland will soon fall into the hands of the Japanese, and it is normal for a year or two to fight.

Tang Qiuli smiled, and said half-jokingly: "Zhenzhuang, since you have served as the chief of staff, it is the first time that you have put forward your own opinions and opinions in front of me, which is very good, and you have to learn from your predecessors Yu Guanghan and Yang Ketian, especially Chief of Staff Zhao, and dare to go against me!" ”

Ge Zhenzhuang smiled innocently and said: "Division commander, I didn't think about it so much, I just think that it is not easy for the Japanese to occupy such a large area of Australia in a short period of time, not to mention, there are more than 200,000 troops commanded by MacArthur on Luzon Island, which can return to Australia at any time, if I command more than 60,000 troops, I can deal with the Japanese army for more than three years!" ”

Several people laughed, the honest and honest Ge Zhenzhuang has such a pride and ambition, if he is replaced by any corps commander of the independent division, I am afraid that it will not be difficult for the Japanese army to land on Australian soil.

Tang Qiuli said while laughing: "I came to this conclusion based on the current situation of the battlefield on Luzon, it is very simple, even if MacArthur gets 100,000 reinforcements, he will definitely lose, because holding on to Manila itself is a wrong decision, the control of the sea in the Pacific Ocean, in the hands of the Japanese Navy, the Allied forces on Luzon Island, there is no possibility of returning to Australia." ”

"Therefore, Australia is an isolated island, that is, it cannot get the military and material support of the United States, nor can it be supplemented by foreign forces, the only thing that can be relied on is the supply of the British colonies in the western part of the Indian continent, but we have just sent tens of millions of aborigines to the British, and the British at this time should be troubled to solve these problems of opening their mouths!"

Speaking of this, Tang Qiuli suddenly stopped, showing a thoughtful expression, and several officers who listened attentively looked at the distracted division commander inexplicably, not knowing why the division commander was talking about the key point, and suddenly stopped the topic.

Tang Qiuli's gaze jumped, a meaningful smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and he said to Chen Feng, director of the Communications Department: "Director Chen, immediately send a telegram to Commander Tang of the fleet and Minister Zhang of the Logistics Department, so that the two of them can rush to Singapore and have important tasks to arrange!" ”

Chen Feng recorded the division commander's order and left in a hurry, leaving Zhao Yuhe and Ge Zhenzhuang behind, looking at each other, unable to guess why the division commander had such an order.

Tang Qiuli smiled, smiling very cunningly, Zhao Yuhe and Ge Zhenzhuang, their hearts suddenly moved, whenever the division commander had such a smile, it was that he didn't know that the unlucky guy had fallen into his calculations again!

The resistance of the remnants of the US Third Army in the Calais Mountains far exceeded the expectations of General Ito Yanzaburo, and it took a day and a night to fight, according to expectations, at this moment, the Imperial Army troops in the Calais Mountains should have left a small number of troops to clean up the battlefield, and most of them would go to the Manila battlefield to support the 14th Army's attack on the US defense line, but the battle was far from being as smooth as he judged.

Although the Imperial Army, in the battlefield in the Calais Mountains, occupied an overwhelming superiority in strength, dividing more than 40,000 American soldiers into several disconnected pieces and encircling and annihilating them, however, after the initial confusion and demoralization of the American troops, for unknown reasons, the American soldiers, who were beaten to less than 20,000 people, suddenly became stronger, and the Imperial Army's troops, which had made smooth progress at the beginning, fell into a bitter battle for every inch of position.

Why the American soldiers became not afraid of death and could fight, General Ito did not know, but the number of casualties of the imperial army troops, rising sharply, is an indisputable fact, to say that the terrain conditions in the Calais Mountains also gave the Imperial soldiers a headache, dense primeval forests, caves all over the place, mountain streams and cliffs everywhere, and mountains across the mountains, distributed throughout the battlefield in the Calais Mountains, turning the battlefield into a game of dodge and pursuit.

The rest of the American soldiers, broken into pieces, like rats into the mountains, and the imperial soldiers played hide and seek, if the American soldiers stayed honestly, it would not be a headache, but the American soldiers, from time to time, drilled out, sneak attack small groups of imperial troops, and when the large troops of the imperial army heard the gunshots and rushed over, the American soldiers had disappeared without a trace, only the corpses of the imperial soldiers and the wounded who screamed and wailed.

Ignoring this and waving his army southward, he was afraid that the more than 20,000 American soldiers left behind suddenly came out and stabbed the imperial army in the back when the imperial army was attacking the Manila defense line with all its might, and the plan to quickly solve the remnants of the American army in the Calais Mountains was completely defeated.

The battle at the end of the battlefield in the mountains of Calais was not what worried General Ito the most, although it would take time, and it was a matter of time before the remnants of the American soldiers were eliminated, and his biggest concern was on the 14th Army of Lieutenant General Yoshihiko Harata.

If Yoshihiko Harata's troops, after arriving at the perimeter of the U.S. Manila Line, rested for several hours, and the soldiers recovered their bodies, and after careful artillery preparations, they would launch an attack, and Senior General Ito would have no worries, believing in Yoshihiko Haruta's bravery and MacArthur's lack of courage to fight back.

But this guy Yoshihiko Haruta ran a distance of more than 200 kilometers in one day and one night, and he didn't even catch his breath, so he started fighting, which General Ito never expected, so from the early morning to the morning of 14 August, in addition to MacArthur's hurry, Ito Yanzaburo was also worried.

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