Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 263 Hata Shunroku's Southern Front Strategy
The 3rd Division had never experienced such a devastating defeat. This damaged Fujita Susumu's reputation. Someone had to take the responsibility. He couldn't be the one to take the blame.

Colonel Tajiri's reaction was acceptable, Takamori Takamori took the lead, and Fujita Shin snorted coldly:
"Where's Ying Xiaosen? Why don't you come over and give me an explanation?"

Colonel Tajiri quickly replied:
"After Takahiro brought out the 68th Regiment, he felt guilty towards the Emperor and committed seppuku."

Fujita Susumu's expression looked better. Since someone took the initiative to take responsibility, he would not pursue it any further. He couldn't send Colonel Kawanami to the military court as well.

He has already lost a colonel. If Colonel Kawanami is also guilty, it means that he, as the division commander, is incompetent. The matter can only end here. If he pursues it further, the boomerang will hit him.

"Tajiri-kun, victory and defeat are common in the military. The Empire can afford to lose a few thousand warriors. We can transfer another 3 warriors from the Engineer Regiment and the Logistics Regiment to supplement the two regiments.

Deputy Commander Lieutenant Colonel Kato Keyei will temporarily take over as Commander of the 68th Regiment. All units should take two days to rest and fight again tomorrow!"

Colonel Tajiri said with a chuckle and left. Fujita Susumu had a lot of connections in the army, so he didn't plan to report the matter to the headquarters, but to handle it internally.

But now his engineering regiment and logistics regiment have been almost completely withdrawn, and the reinforcements assigned to them have also been used up. If they continue fighting, they will suffer serious consequences.

He had no choice but to use his connections in the army to apply to the headquarters for war damage replacement;

After reporting 2 casualties, Fujita Susumu received 4 reinforcements through his network of connections. These reinforcements would arrive within a week, which made him breathe a sigh of relief.

The 51rd Division in the center was licking its wounds, while the th and th Divisions on the right took turns attacking the Huaihe River defense line defended by the st Army;

Ji Jialiang's auxiliary was also very depressed. After receiving the mission, he was glad that he had picked an easy target. However, he found that the 51st Army, a local ragtag force, was also very stubborn. Several forced crossings were repelled and the losses were heavy. The southern front was deadlocked.

At the Central China Front Army Headquarters, General Hata Shunroku was playing Go with Mamoru Iinuma. He didn't seem to care too much about the difficulties in the southern front. His mind was on the struggle between the black and white pieces on the chessboard, showing the demeanor of a famous general.
On the contrary, Chief of Staff Mamoru Iinuma lost his temper and responded casually before saying:
"Commander, if the situation on the southern front continues to fail, the strategy of advancing from north to south will not be realized. Should we make some adjustments?"

Hata Shunroku seized the opportunity of Iinuma Mamoru's casual response and destroyed the "eye" of the black dragon. Iinuma Mamoru was left with no chance of survival and had to resign and admit defeat.

Hata Shunroku said calmly:

“Iinuma-kun, you are a little impatient. If you can fight calmly, you can at least make it to the end;

"It is a big taboo in military strategy to panic in battle!"

Iinuma Mamoru bowed deeply to Hata Shunroku, which was considered as a lesson. After achieving his goal of beating Iinuma Mamoru, Hata Shunroku put on a smiling face and said:
"Mr. Iinuma, the battle of Xuzhou is not a one-day effort. As long as the three divisions on the southern front are still there, the pressure on the Chinese will not decrease.
It is impossible to transfer the hundreds of thousands of elite troops deployed by General Li on the southern front to the northern front. The effect will be the same whether the Huaihe River defense line is captured or not.

At present, the factions of expansion and non-expansion are still arguing endlessly in China. The battle has already started in the front, but the strategy in the rear has not been decided. This is a taboo in military strategy and will backfire on the front line.
Therefore, we must be more cautious at this time, as the headquarters will not pay for the failure of the front line."

Iinuma Mamoru suddenly realized what was going on, and thought to himself that the commander had indeed been one of the three most important officers in the army, so his position was high. He bowed deeply to Hata Shunroku again and said:

"Commander, I'm mistaken for listening to your words. But there is one thing I don't understand. The war between the Empire and China is already on the verge of being launched. At this stage, only the complete conquest of China is in the best interests of the Empire.

Why do the anti-expansionists still dream of forcing the Huaxia Nationalist Army to surrender through peace talks? Don’t they know that what they can’t get on the battlefield, they can’t get at the negotiation table either?”

It can be seen that Mamoru Iinuma is a staunch "expansionist", and so is Shunroku Hata, but he is more patient than Mamoru Iinuma and shook his head and said:
“Iinuma-kun, whether you are the expansionist or non-expansionist, the goal of both sides is the same, which is to conquer China. There is no right or wrong.

We are all crossing the river by feeling the stones. They fight their battles and we fight ours, and we find the answers through actions on the battlefield.

Since the South Line is in trouble, let's wait for the results of the North Line, the effect will be the same!

Send a telegram to Fujita and his men, asking them to continue to exert sufficient pressure on the southern front. Don't be afraid of death. The Empire has many loyal and brave men. If you need reinforcements, just apply directly.

Tens of thousands of reinforcements have been sent from the mainland. Let them fight with all their might. We must not give General Li the opportunity to withdraw troops from the southern front."

Hata Shunroku was indeed a man who had seen big scenes. In his eyes, tens of thousands of reinforcements were not even cannon fodder, but just a string of numbers on the wall of Yasukuni's ghost toilet.

The little tricks between Iinuma Mamoru and Fujita Susumu were in vain. Hata Shunroku didn't care at all. There is always death in war, let alone some consumables.

Mamoru Iinuma's mind was completely opened up, and he bowed to Hata Shunroku again, this time from the bottom of his heart.

On the northern front, in southern Shandong, a large-scale counterattack is going on fiercely.

The main force of the 10th Division of the North China Front Army has advanced to the southern Shandong area. In order to prevent the Japanese troops on the northern front from taking the opportunity to move south, the Fifth War Zone Headquarters followed the intention of the Military Commission;

Adopting the tactic of offense as defense, on February 2, he ordered the 6rd Army to launch an offensive towards Jining, the 3nd Army to launch an offensive towards Zouxian, and the 22rd Corps to launch an offensive towards Mengyin.

After abandoning Jinan, the Third Army still held on to the southwestern Shandong region. The fact that the former commander Han Xiangfang was sent to a military court had a great deterrent effect on them, and they fought much better afterwards.

The counterattack mission accepted by Acting Commander-in-Chief Sun Tongxuan was to capture Jining with the main force and Wenshang with a part of the army, and then launch a flank attack between Jining and Yanzhou to support the main force.
The purpose was to ensure the safety of the Longhai Railway and threaten the right wing of the Japanese army moving south along the Jinpu Railway, and to cut off the traffic on the Jinpu Railway as soon as possible.

The counterattack by the Fifth War Zone in southern Shandong lasted for more than ten days and inflicted heavy casualties on the main force of the Tenth Division, making it unable to continue moving south along the Jinpu Railway, so it turned to attack Taierzhuang.

In early March, the Japanese 3th Division and the th Division attacked Taierzhuang in two directions. The Nationalist Army on the northern front rose up to resist, and the Battle of Taierzhuang broke out.

On the southern front, in Bengbu City, the 3rd Division, which had been quiet for a while, became active again after receiving reinforcements from the headquarters;

Its main forces, the 6th, 34th and 18th Regiments, launched a fierce attack on the Huaihe River line, with the 68th Regiment, which had suffered heavy casualties, serving as a reserve.

(End of this chapter)