Senior General Terauchi Masashi officially moved his headquarters to Jiaoxian County on October 3. It was a pleasant place for the temple, and although the county town left traces of war everywhere, the Jiaoxian Middle School, which served as the headquarters of the dispatch army, was also shelled, blowing up a corner of the best building in the county. Onishi had plans to set up his headquarters in the prefectural government, but the prefectural government was built on the site of the original prefectural government, which was a low-slung bungalow with no indoor toilets. In the end, the headquarters was set up in the most "modern" Jiaoxian Middle School.

A few days earlier, the 3rd Division had inflicted heavy losses on the 14th Division of the China Army at a relatively small cost in Jiaoxian, achieving its first real victory since the beginning of the war. In this battle, the 3rd Division showed the demeanor of the oldest standing division of the Japanese Army, and broke through the position of the Chinese Army in one fell swoop by adopting the tactics of frontal assault and flank detour, and the total number of killed, wounded and captured enemies was more than 3,000. On the basis of the interrogation of the prisoners, the chief of staff of Onishi was convinced that the division had suffered heavy losses, that the 40th brigade, which had been blocked head-on, had been crushed, and that the brigade chief of staff had been killed by a shot.

With the rout of the southern front of the Chinese Army, the road to Gaomi was opened to the 3rd Division. Perhaps tomorrow we will receive good news that the 3rd Division will occupy Gaomi. Gaomi is the second target that must be captured on the southern front (the first is Jiaoxian), and then the 3rd Division will be on guard against the danger from the south, and the main force will break through to Weifang along the main road to achieve the goal of joining forces with the northern front.

With the victorious advance of the 3rd Division, the 9th Division, which was tasked with capturing the Qingdao Fortress, had completed its strategic deployment. Qingdao has been encircled. According to the construction of the commander of the 9th Division, Lieutenant General Sogoro Kawamura, the troops of the 18th Division who participated in the attack on Qingdao on the northern front did not wait for the arrival. The attack on Qingdao should be launched as soon as possible. In view of the increasingly tight logistical supply, Senior General Terauchi approved the construction of Lieutenant General Kawamura, and the 9th Division would launch a strong attack on the fortress from the east and south of Qingdao.

Compared with the southern front, the progress on the northern front was not satisfactory to the dispatch command. The 24th Brigade, which was responsible for crossing Laoshan Mountain and attacking Qingdao from the north, was attacked and harassed by a small group of Chinese troops, and has not yet reached the Daze Mountains. According to the report of the 24th Brigade, which has been transferred from the command of the 18th Division to the direct jurisdiction of the Dispatch Army Headquarters, the Chinese army is quite elite, with a small number of people but despicable tactics, especially many snipers, and has caused dozens of officers to be killed or seriously wounded in the past few days, including a Shaozuo Group Commander.

And the march of the rest of the troops of the 6th Division and the 18th Division, which was responsible for the capture of Weifang, also did not go well. encountered stubborn resistance from the 16th Division of the Chinese Army. So far, the Jiaolai North River has not been crossed. It is still 100 miles away from Weifang. For this reason, Senior General Terauchi sent a telegram to Lieutenant General Michiharu Umezawa, the commander of the Northern Front, and ordered him to speed up the pace of his advance, "Is a B Division blocking General Wei Hehe's 6th Division?" ”

However, after confirming that the Chinese army had not deployed troops east of Jiaoxian and Laizhou, Major General Onishi, who had won a great victory in Jiaoxian, felt the danger. This is unconventional. It is too abnormal for the Chinese army to withdraw the main force to the west and let Qingdao be surrounded. If you want to stick to Qingdao. Then we should stick to Jiaoxian. Maintain a land connection to Qingdao. It was a joke to send a B division to deal with the two main divisions of the Japanese army on the battlefield on the southern front. After repeatedly calculating the military strength of the Chinese army in Jiaodong. On October 2, Chief of Staff Onishi reported his analysis to Commander-in-Chief Terauchi that the information that the Chinese troops transferred from the base camp did not reinforce Shandong was absolutely wrong. The Central Military Region under the command of Feng Guozhu had only three divisions, the most powerful of which was the 6th Division, which was trapped in Qingdao. The arrangement of only two B divisions on the periphery is simply idiotic. Anyone with a little military common sense would not deploy troops like this, "This is a beaten layout, since Long Qian is from a military background, he will not fail to see the problem of this formation." What did he do with so many troops in Zhili? The intelligence of the General Staff Headquarters must not be trusted. He said to the commander of the temple.

On the contrary to the Chinese army, the chief of staff of Onishi believed that the four divisions of the base camp attached to the Shandong Dispatch Army were all first-class elites. Needless to say, the 3rd and 6th Divisions were established in 1888 as old permanent divisions, and the 6th Division (Kumamoto Division) had the reputation of being the first in combat power in the Japanese army. Although the history of the 9th Division and the 18th Division is not as good as that of the 3rd and 6th Divisions, they have the reputation of the double wall of the army. It can be said that in order to ensure the success of the Shandong Raid, the base camp mobilized the strongest troops of the army. Onishi did not believe that the Chinese army did not understand the shape in front of them, and relying on the three divisions of the Central Military Region was doomed to failure, so why didn't they increase their troops? So Major General Onishi decided that the Chinese had a conspiracy, and they absolutely hid their strength.

On the afternoon of 3 October, Major General Onishi, who had inspected the resettlement of various departments of the headquarters, returned to the headquarters and talked to Senior General Terauchi about his thoughts. On the desk in the office of the temple is a light machine gun captured in the battle of Jiaoxian County, this machine gun Onishi has already seen in the country, and it is already the standard equipment of the Chinese army, but it is the first time that it has been captured on the battlefield. The correlation was already known to Onishi, as the troops strongly demanded a copy of this light machine gun with excellent performance.

The gun is 1160mm long, weighs 9.8 kg, has four right-handed rifling, 30-round magazine feed, caliber 7.62mm, and a rate of fire of 500 rounds per minute.

Because of its lightness and durability, the Chinese Army has been equipped with a large number of equipment, and some key units have been equipped with infantry squads, which have become the support of squad firepower.

"It's a good gun." Terauchi raised his head, "But a good gun also has a good soldier." ”

"Lieutenant General Senba Taro sent it?"

"Yes. He wanted me to convince the country to copy or develop a light machine gun. The snow-white gloved hand of the general in the temple gently stroked the very clean barrel of the gun, "Onishi-kun, what do you think of the situation on the southern front?" ”

"Your Excellency, Commander, my subordinates think that the Chinese army must be hiding its strength. They may want to use various smashing tactics and aim at me all the way. ”

"Clamp one way, and then concentrate the main force to defeat me the other way?"

"Yes!"

"That is to say, Feng Guozhu is ready to make a move on my southern front. Is it just this Sun Wu? "The northern front was met with stubborn resistance from the Shina army, and it was inferred that if the enemy was preparing to counterattack, it must be aimed at the southern front, which was relatively smooth.

"Of course not. The 14th Division suffered defeat and suffered huge losses. Onishi's gaze swept over the machine gun. He believed that the Chinese army must have hidden its strength. Maybe it's in the mountains to the south of us......"

The 3rd Division had already moved west, and as the front moved westward, the flanks would be further exposed......

"The battle in Jiaoxian exposed the weakness of the Chinese army. When our army breaks through the point of its battle line, they can easily collapse, like a stick being broken......" Terauchi left the table, paced to the window, and looked out at the playground, "bite the enemy and do not let go, they will be defeated all the way." Until Jinan. "The temple turned around." Commander Ben doesn't believe that intelligence at all, bastard! However, even if the 1st Division of the China Army had been deployed on the Southern Front, it would only add military merit to the 3rd Division. The more forces the enemy has, the more advantageous it is. ”

Onishi understood what the commander meant. The main force of the Chinese army must be defeated in order to establish victory. On the other hand, it was necessary to capture the enemy's materiel. Especially food. A large amount of supplies were seized in the battle in Jiaoxian. The shortage of supplies for the 3rd Division was alleviated.

"Send a report to Michiji Umezawa. I hope to receive good news from the northern line as much as possible. ”

"Hay!"

Lieutenant General Michiharu Umezawa, commander of the 6th Division, has been appointed to command the troops on the northern front. Lieutenant General Umezawa had served as the commander of the 18th Division, and it was more appropriate for him to command the main forces of the 6th Division and the 18th Division.

"The key is the 9th Division. As long as Lieutenant General Kawamura achieves the same effect as the Chinese army's attack on Qingdao, we will take the initiative. ”

"Yo Si! Onishi-kun. Do you think that the Kanazawa Division is inferior to the Shina Army? The temple laughed wildly, sweeping away the gloom of the day. The battle in Jiaoxian boosted the confidence in the temple and regained the feeling it should have.

Gaomi, 14th Division Headquarters.

Sun Wu sent away Brigadier General Qu Zhiyong, commander of the 16th Brigade. According to the order of the Central Military Region, the 16th Brigade of the 6th Division, which had rested and replenished in Jinan, was once again sent to the battlefield to take on the heavy task of Gaomi frontal defense.

Although the 16th Brigade was clearly assigned to the 14th Division, the task set by the Military Region slapped Sun Wu in the face. This is all because of the failure of Jiaoxian.

Originally, the 14th Division fought well. The 41st Brigade's blockade at Yanghe was praised by the Military Region and the General Staff Headquarters, but the 40th Brigade, the main force of the division, went wrong in Jiaoxian. Jiaoxian was destined to give up, and the military district command explicitly demanded that the 14th Division "top" Jiaoxian and block it for at least three days. The 14th Division shrank the main force to the outskirts of Jiaoxian County, with the 41st Brigade to resist head-on, and the 40th Brigade was placed on the southern flank. Unexpectedly, there was no problem with the frontal position of the 41st Brigade, but the 40th Brigade, which was preparing for a counter-assault, was attacked by others, and the position of the 119th Regiment was broken through, which caused panic and the whole line collapsed.

The rapid loss of Jiaoxian brought about a series of ripple effects. The field airfield east of Jiaoxian had to be evacuated ahead of schedule, which delayed the air force's operational plan and caused the air force command to send a special telegram to the Central Military Region to express strong dissatisfaction.

The two warehouses that were supposed to be transferred did not have time to be transferred, and the hastily given order to the engineer battalion to burn down the warehouses was not strictly enforced, and a large number of supplies fell into the hands of the Japanese army. To Sun Wu's annoyance and regret was the death of the chief of staff of the 40th Brigade, who was killed in the artillery of the 118th Regiment in a desperate counterattack. He was a very good officer who graduated from the Jinan Military Academy, and he asked the unit several times to serve as a military commander, even if it was a battalion commander. In order to redeem the honor of the 40 Brigade, he died heroically.

If he dies in the Yanghe blockade, he will definitely be praised. But the army is like this, because of the defeat of the unit, the honor that should be enjoyed is all gone. At the beginning, the expeditionary force of the Northern Army won a great victory in Tangnu Wuliang, but it lost Marshal Lushan, how many meritorious people did the ministry have? What face does it have to ask for credit from the superiors?

The 14th Division was the first of its kind to defeat the Wehrmacht. This inglorious record was set by the 14 Division.

The 14th Division, which barely got rid of the Japanese army, received an order to retreat from the military district headquarters and withdrew all the way to Gaomi under the cover of the cavalry regiment of the military region. The 16th Brigade, which had made great contributions in Qingdao, had already come up and was temporarily incorporated into the 14th Division to assume the defense east of Gaomi. A guidance group led by Brigadier General Wang Zhibin, deputy chief of staff of the Military Region, came to Gaomi to learn in detail about the Jiaoxian Campaign and inspected the troops of the 14th Division.

Sun Wu wanted to know the attitude of the hot-tempered Commander Feng to the Jiaoxian Campaign, but Wang Zhibin was very tight-mouthed and didn't spit out a word. comforted him, "Victory and defeat are commonplace." The success of the 41 Brigade in blocking the Yanghe River shows that there is no problem with the combat effectiveness of the troops, and the problem of the defeat in Jiaoxian lies with the commanders, and the lower-level officers and men cannot be blamed. Since ancient times, there have only been generals of the wrong caste, and there are no soldiers of the bad race. The losses of the 14th Division were not very severe, and it was completely possible to fight a good battle in Gaomi. ”

Deputy Chief of Staff Wang's comfort was tantamount to slapping Sun Wu in the face. The incompetence of the generals, first of all, is the incompetence of his division commander who lost the battle!

"Regarding the responsibility for the failure to transfer and destroy all the materials, Division Commander Sun should submit a detailed report to the headquarters. Those responsible must be held accountable. This was explicitly requested by Chief of Staff Xue. ”

"Yes. I have dealt with a group of officers, including the commander of the engineer battalion who was reluctant to burn supplies. ”

"Don't say the reason, you can't bear it. But the consequences are severe. You have sent the 3rd Division with much-needed provisions. Dealing with them is not wrong at all. I'm going to take this guy with me. "Although Wang Zhibin's military rank is lower than that of Sun Wu, his identity is different and represents the authority of the headquarters. Therefore, it has always been a condescending tone.

In the Battle of Jiaoxian, the 14th Division suffered casualties and missing a total of 2,735 people. Most of them came from the 40th Brigade, and the 119th Regiment suffered the greatest losses, with the whole regiment losing more than 1,400 people and having lost its combat effectiveness. The regiment commander has been dismissed, the deputy chief of staff of the division has gone down to act as the regiment commander, and the regiment has not been assigned a combat mission, but has been placed north of Gaomi to take on the task of guarding.

"Please Deputy Chief of Staff Wang report to Commander Feng, our department is determined to defend Gaomi to the death, even if it is fought to the death...... "Sun Wu said loudly, "but I hope to adjust the deployment, and our department will be responsible for the frontal defense of Gaomi." ”

"Division Commander Sun, the use of the 16th Division is Commander Feng's order. Don't talk about that. High density does not necessarily adhere to it, it depends on the situation. You should know that just today, they have launched an attack on Qingdao. The Japanese army on the northern front has broken through the defensive position of the 16th Division of the Beihe Division in Jiaolai, and it is taboo to underestimate the enemy. ”

"Where exactly is HQ going to do it? If you keep retreating, the losses in the Jiaodong area will be great...... Moreover, the officers and soldiers have a lot of opinions. ”

Wang Zhibin's sharp gaze shot over, "The fighter plane wants to create a zào." If you don't grasp the situation of the war, you can't find a fighter. ”

This is already a very strict criticism.

After Wang Zhibin's guidance group returned, Sun Wuzhao held a meeting with officers above the head of the group, including officers of the 14th Brigade attached to the 16th Division. Sun Wu made severe self-criticism in front of several officers of the 16th Brigade and assumed the responsibility for the defeat of Jiaoxian, "I will bear the responsibility for the failure of Jiaoxian." After the war, I will submit the relevant report to Commander Feng and even to the President. But now I will leave the words here, the battle of Gaomi is a turnaround battle of the 14th Division, if the units violate the order and leave their posts without permission, there will be no mercy! ”

After the meeting, Sun Wu again went to the position of the 16th Brigade. He felt the contempt of the 16 Brigade commanders for the 14 Division. There's no way, who made the family the main force of the Mengshan Army? Who makes people have the capital to be proud of? Sun Wu, with the help of Brigade Commander Qu Zhiyong, spent one day inspecting the two regiments that were placed on the front line in echelons, and admitted that the fortifications of the people were really good, and they deserved to be the heroic troops of the Battle of Texas.

"Brigade Commander Qu, the 16th Brigade is the ace of the National Defense Force, but since the Military Region has assigned your unit to our division, I hope that Brigade Commander Qu will strictly implement the orders of the division headquarters and do what is ordered."

"Please rest assured that our department will carry out any instructions of the division to the letter." Qu Zhiyong replied immediately. (To be continued......)