Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 225 Strategies of Both Sides
At the Central China Front Headquarters, Chief of Staff Mamoru Iinuma welcomed his third commander, General Hata Shunroku.

General Hata Shunroku served as the Director of Education, one of the three chiefs of the Imperial Army, before being transferred to the commander of the Central China Front Army, becoming one of the heads of the Japanese Army;

The post of commander of the Central China Front Army was originally prepared for Yuren by his uncle, but he failed to get the position and instead lost his life. There was no choice but to let Hata Shunroku come in as a firefighter.

"I would like to hear your staff's plan for the Xuzhou campaign."

This guy was the one eating with Iinuma Mamoru. It is said that a new official will start with three things. He had been prepared for this. When the commander asked him about it, he bowed and said:

"Commander, there is an old Chinese saying that if you want to defend the Jiang River, you must defend the Huai River, and if you want to defend the Huai River, you must defend the Xu River.

In the "Great Ming Unified Records", Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty mentioned the defensive strategy of defending the Huai River as a dangerous place and guarding the Xu River as an important place, and clearly pointed out:
The mountains and rivers of Xuzhou are solid and it is a natural danger. If it is lost, the upper and lower reaches of the Huai River will become the route, and the northern part of the Huai River will serve as a barrier. Only by defending Xuzhou can the safety of the Huaihe River basin be guaranteed.

Xuzhou is the hub of China's north-south thoroughfare. If Xuzhou is lost, China's central plains will not be preserved, and the best places will fall into the hands of the empire.

Even if they don't surrender, they will become a local government. The empire only needs to support a puppet government in Nanjing and North China, and the ignorant Chinese people will regard the Nanjing government as orthodox, and the Chinese incident will be resolved! "

Hata Shunroku nodded in agreement. This was a strategic issue. Since Xuzhou was vital to China, they would definitely defend it with all their strength. This gave the Japanese army a chance to decide the outcome of the battle.
"Yoshi, it seems that Iinuma-kun has put a lot of effort into this. I agree with this strategy in principle.

Since this battle involves the cooperation of two fronts, it must be well coordinated and no mistakes can be made;

A thousand-mile long dam can be breached by a single ant hole. Details determine success or failure, and we must never lose the big picture for the sake of small details.

In addition, before launching the Xuzhou campaign, it is necessary to eliminate two unstable factors that may affect the situation.

The 3rd Shandong Army on the northern front was to be eliminated by the North China Front Army;

If the Shanghai-Nanjing guerrilla column entrenched in Wuhu on the southern front cannot be eliminated, the southern group's retreat may be cut off at any time. This is absolutely a fatal threat and must be resolved, otherwise the strategy of advancing from north to south will fail. "

Iinuma Mamoru bowed deeply and said:
"Hey! Commander, your concerns are exactly what I am going to talk about next. This is the battle plan for attacking Wuhu. Please take a look."

Hata Shunroku saw that Iinuma Mamoru was very well prepared, so he looked up to him. He was indeed a professional who had served Matsui Iwane and Asaka-kun.

Iinuma Mamoru's battle plan was equally professional, and he nodded repeatedly after reading it:
"Yoshi, Iinuma-kun has put in a lot of effort. Let's implement your plan! As for Yue Qianli's troops, His Majesty has issued an imperial decree that it would be best if we can annihilate them. If not, we must force them to go north to participate in the battle in Xuzhou and strive to capture them all in the Xuzhou area. We must never let them escape south."

After understanding the commander's intention, Mamoru Iinuma turned and left. He still had a lot of work to do, and the coordination with the North China Front Army was enough to give him a headache.

While the Japanese army was sharpening their knives, the Chinese government was also not idle. Long before the Battle of Nanjing broke out, the government had already been preparing for the Battle of Xuzhou and established the Fifth War Zone in mid-October, with Li Delin, a big shot of the Guangxi clique, as commander-in-chief.

After the establishment of the Fifth War Zone, combat deployment was carried out in response to the Japanese army's strategy:
The Third Army Corps guarded the East China Sea coast, and the Marine Corps and the Third Fleet guarded Qingdao;

The Third Army guarded the southern bank of the Yellow River in Shandong, while the 24th Army served as a guerrilla force in the Jiangsu area on the north bank of the Yangtze River;

The 51th Army, the th Corps, and the st Army served as guerrilla forces in Anhui Province on the north bank of the Yangtze River;

The 22nd Army served as a reserve force, providing support at the border areas of Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui and other places.

It can be said that the National Government was actually in the forefront in terms of major strategies, and had already made strategic arrangements after the fall of Nanjing, that is, to ensure Xuzhou and defend Wuhan;
Concentrate troops in the north and south of Xuzhou, launch a major battle to delay the Japanese army, "trade space for time", and prepare for the transfer of Chinese military and civilians to the southwest and northwest regions.

This strategy has been completely flawless so far. The Japanese have always been led by the Kuomintang's strategy. The Chinese are the ancestors of the Japanese in playing strategy.
Unfortunately, even the best strategy needs to be supported by tactical success, and the variables appeared on the Shandong battlefield.

On December 12, the main force of the 23th Division of the North China Front Army approached Shandong, broke through the defenders' defenses, and approached Jinan;

On December 12, General Han Xiangfang, chairman of SD Province and commander of the Third Army, arbitrarily abandoned Jinan in order to preserve his strength, resulting in the front gate of the Jinpu Railway being wide open.

The Japanese troops on the northern front easily crossed the natural barrier of the Yellow River, occupied a large area of ​​Shandong and drove southward, exposing the Fifth War Zone's headquarters in Xuzhou directly to the military threat of the Japanese army. This forced Commander Li to make major adjustments and the country fell into a passive position before the Battle of Xuzhou even started.

The Japanese army's actions on the northern front achieved the goal of the campaign with almost no effort. The next step was the southern front. As long as Wuhu was occupied, the Japanese could implement the north-south strategy.

In another time and space, there were no defenders at the key point of Wuhu, and the Japanese army occupied Wuhu without a single blow, then crossed the river to the north and launched operations on the southern front.
Now with the addition of a powerful guerrilla column, according to Mamoru Iinuma's combat plan, the main force of the 13th Division was mobilized to attack Wuhu, and the Battle of Wuhu was about to begin.

(End of this chapter)