Anti-Japanese War: From Becoming Chu Yunfei to Rising

Chapter 234: The latest order from the Japanese military headquarters! (Subscribe)

Taiyuan Shanxi.

First Army Headquarters.

Michijiro Umezu received an urgent telegram from the 20th Division commander Fumisaburo Kawagishi.

Report from the 40th Brigade under General Tomoyuki Yamashita.

The Chinese military in southern Shanxi has frequently mobilized its troops.

An infantry division was stationed in Linfen, Guxian and Puxian respectively.

The 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army in northwestern Shanxi and two divisions and brigades under Fu Zuoyi's army were also stepping up reconnaissance in counties in northwestern Shanxi.

Umezu Mijiro looked worried.

It is obvious that the Chinese troops in the Second War Zone are likely to launch a larger operation.

"Commander, according to the intelligence we received earlier, the Chinese Army has obtained a lot of new weapons in recent months, which has greatly enhanced their light weapons firepower."

Mijiro Umezu didn't care. He waved his hand and didn't take it to heart.

"report!"

"Come in!"

"Commander, the latest telegram from the North China Front Command..."

Mijiro Umezu turned around and glanced at Chief of Staff Shojiro Iida behind him.

After receiving the telegram, Iida Shojiro's face changed: "General Terauchi ordered to dispatch part of the 108th Division to reinforce the combat operations in Kaifeng?"

Meijin Mijiro immediately refused: "Shanxi can no longer withdraw troops to support the North China Front's westward operation plan."

In the view of Umezu Mijiro,

Even if these poorly trained Shanxi-Suiyuan soldiers were given new weapons, they would not be able to exert much offensive capability.

But conversely,

With the weak forces he currently has, he is unable to completely defeat the main force of the 14th Army of the Central Army in southern Shanxi and entrenched in the Taiyue Mountain area.

Originally, in terms of the military strength of both sides, the current strategic situation of confrontation was maintained.

Operate the Beitongpu railway line and develop key areas such as Datong, Yangquan and Taiyuan.

After waiting for the battle of Kaifeng to end,
The 14th Division can then be transferred back to Hebei for garrison.

In this case.

Michijiro Umezu will have an additional 108th Division at his disposal, a fresh force with a combat strength of men.

With this army,

He could then launch an attack on the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region of the Eighth Route Army, or the main force of the Seventh Army in northwestern Shanxi.

just,

nowadays.

Yan Xishan's Shanxi-Suiyuan Army had three newly formed infantry divisions under its command.

Even if there are only 15,000 troops, it is very important for both sides in southern Shanxi.

They are all a significant force.

The balance of military power between the two sides began to tilt, and the advantaged side gradually began to become the main force of the national army.

Now, maybe it's just bluffing, but what about in the future?

As long as he dares to agree to dispatch the 108th Division to the south to participate in the war.
The main force in the Second War Zone will immediately launch a full-scale counterattack.

by that time.

The combat force in the entire Shanxi region consisted of only one 20th Division and one 109th Division.

In addition, there are two mixed brigades stationed in the northern Shanxi region, and the independent mixed 3rd and 4th brigades.

However, these two mixed brigades are still in the combat sequence of the Mongolian Army, and are mainly responsible for the defense of northern Shanxi.

In order to ensure the safety of Datong area.

Although nominally under the command of the First Army.

But in fact, Umezu Yoshijiro was unable to transfer it at this point in time.

If this is the case, Michijiro Umezu only has two divisions at his disposal.
Less than 50,000 people.

The troops are extremely dispersed, and yet they have to ensure the safety of the railway transportation lines.

How to contend with the main force of the National Army of more than 200,000 in Shanxi?
North China Front Army Headquarters.
Two hours later.

Terauchi Juichi received a reply call from the commander of the First Army, Umezu Michiro.

The reasons are very sufficient and they also prove the unusual movements of the main forces of the National Army in Shanxi.

This dire change in the situation made Chief of Staff Naosaburo Tsuyoshi sense a hint of danger.

Sure enough, just as he was about to walk to Terauchi Hisaichi's office to report the situation.

A combat staff officer came over quickly and said, "Report, Your Excellency the Chief of Staff, the East China Sea Garrison Battalion reported that the Chinese Army's Korean Division attacked the eastern section of the Longhai Railway Line and blew up several bridges... and launched an attack on our local military station."

"I understand. I will go see the commander right away."

As soon as he walked out of the operations room, he ran into Terauchi Hisaichi who was walking towards him.

"General..."

Terauchi Hisaichi nodded slightly, and Goube Naosaburo followed behind him and quickly reported the current situation of each department.

"Shanxi?"

Terauchi Hisaichi paused.

Tsuyoshi Naosaburo nodded and said, "According to the latest intelligence obtained by intelligence personnel, three infantry divisions have been formed in Shanxi in the past three months, and all of them use imported equipment, including British, American, and some French equipment."

Terauchi Hisaichi also sensed something was wrong, and the troops in Shanxi area could no longer be mobilized.

If we are unable to continue increasing our military strength, we can only continue to draw combat forces from the Kwantung Army.

This is impossible.

The next option would be to ask for help from the Central China Expeditionary Force.

This is an unlikely thing.

The 10th Division and the 13th Mixed Division launched an attack in the direction of Woyang.

Their targets were also the elite troops of the National Army such as the 25th Corps and the 20th Corps.

What's more, the main combat target of the Central China Expeditionary Army was the main force of the National Army of more than 350,000 in the 50th War Zone.

How could there be any energy left?
Then the main force of the Japanese army in North China is facing the most serious problem at the moment.

Their inability to further widen the gap in strength between the two sides meant the end of this Battle of East Henan.

Unlike the Battle of Xuzhou, there was no certainty of victory.

Besides.

The North China Expeditionary Army still faced many problems.

First of all.

As the occupied area continued to expand, the Eighth Route Army troops advanced into the plains.

The Japanese military is currently also facing the problem of frequent interruptions in its logistics supply lines.

At this point in time, the Japanese army had never seen the Eighth Route Army's tactics of harassing logistics supply lines.

Just like a swarm of locusts, he can tear even the wheels of a transport truck into pieces.

Everything that can be taken away will be taken away. Not even clothes will be left behind.

Anyone who hears this will say, how horrible!
Second.

It could not be a coincidence that the 14th Division was completely wiped out.

After learning the lessons of the Battle of Taierzhuang.

The 14th Division had a total of five infantry regiments when it moved south, and was also equipped with four artillery regiments.

The army had a size of about 40,000 people, but Kenji Doizo's telegram pointed out that its light weapons firepower was far inferior to that of the Chinese Army.

The heavy artillery units were also suppressed.

This is almost impossible, but with the 14th Division being completely wiped out.

Kenji Doihara's report is by no means groundless.

The firepower of light weapons was suppressed, which was determined during the Battle of Shanghai.

Almost all the Japanese commanders who participated in the war still remembered the machine gun firepower of the National Army.

And the heavy artillery unit was actually suppressed by the National Army.

This is almost impossible.

From Terauchi Hisaichi's perspective.

This must mean that a third or even fourth country has made great efforts in assistance.

Those anti-tank guns and automatic guns that appeared on the battlefield.

Through the efforts of the intelligence department, they traced the source of the supplies.

It mainly enters the country through Hong Kong and then is transported via the Guangdong-Hankou Railway.

Part of the supplies here come from transit countries and are arms sold by Germany.

This is easy to deal with, as they have already protested before and the German authorities have already started the relevant embargo work.

The other part comes from the United States.

When Americans provided aid to the Nationalist government, it arrived directly without any disguise.

This is for the Japanese army and even Japan's brother country.

They didn't want to provoke this behemoth at this time.

Terauchi Juichi knew clearly that the younger country was not ready yet.

According to their thinking,

It should be conquering China first and then conquering Asia.

Fight against the Americans again.

The large amount of American aid flowing into China is not good news for Japan.

They cannot figure out the Americans' thinking, even though Americans still export large quantities of steel and oil to them today.

But the problem is that there is not a single piece of news or intelligence about the so-called heavy artillery unit.

Terauchi Hisaichi did not think that such a force did not exist, but that they were just stupid special high technology intelligence personnel, and the military intelligence department had not been able to obtain relevant information for the time being.

At last.

The Nationalist troops in southern Shandong, northern Jiangsu, and even in central China, Shanxi, and northern Zhejiang were all launching offensive operations. It was obvious that they intended to contain the Central China Expeditionary Force and even the First Army of the North China Expeditionary Force to send more troops.

Compared with the National Army, which can still recruit troops from the rear and continuously replenish its forces.

In fact, the North China Front Army was already struggling.

In terms of weapons and equipment, things are better, after all, there is a behemoth like the Northeast Arsenal.

But their troops, whether new recruits or reserve reinforcements, need to be recruited from within the country.

Then they are transported across the ocean, onto land, and replenished into the troops.

If the battle cannot be ended quickly, the prospects of the Battle of East Henan will be worrying.

The transfer of the Second Army Commander, Toshizo Nishio, to the country to serve as Director of Education was only the first step for the Imperial Headquarters to express its dissatisfaction.

If this battle cannot achieve a great victory, the next person to be ordered back to the country will be him, the commander of the North China Expeditionary Army.

Sixteenth Division Headquarters.

After breaking through the Guide line of defense.

The commander of the 16th Division, Nakajima Imao, carefully formulated the subsequent combat plan.

Compared with Terauchi Hisaichi's strategy of annihilating the main force of the Henan East Corps.

Nakajima Imago's playing style is more conservative.

He didn't think he could defeat the 200,000-strong main force of the National Army in one fell swoop.

It would be better to swallow up the main force of the Guide front, as well as the Third Army active in the southwest of Shandong, and part of the 20th Army bit by bit.

Even if only 80,000 Nationalist troops were annihilated, it would be considered a great victory for the current Japanese army.

After all, the Battle of Xuzhou was a massive one.

In the end, we were unable to completely annihilate any of the main forces of the Nationalist Army...a good encirclement and annihilation battle turned into a battle of crushing defeat.

Even with such a favorable situation in Xuzhou, it was not possible to launch an annihilation battle.

How could we achieve a victory even more glorious than before in such a terrain in eastern Henan?

"Your Excellency the division commander, according to the report from the aviation unit and the enemy's telegrams intercepted by the intelligence department, the 14th Division was indeed wiped out in the Lanfeng area." Chief of Staff Colonel Mitsuo Nakazawa walked over quickly and reported the latest situation.

Nakajima Imao nodded, his eyes full of murderous intent: "Doi-maru's wrong actions have brought shame to our country, Japan. Gentlemen... we must win this battle."

"Hai!"

In fact, the 3rd Mixed Brigade and the 13th Mixed Brigade are both attacking forces that reinforce the 16th Division.

essentially.

Nakajima Imao's attacking force had the strength of two divisions.

This does not include the 10th Division and the 13th Division that are currently supporting the battle.

The 114th Division participated in the battle in southwestern Shandong.

In this battle in eastern Henan, even with the assistance of various war zones, the combat strength of both sides was close to one to one.

It is for this reason.

Lin Wei, Chief of Staff Yan Shuxun and others have already begun planning the corresponding retreat operations.

General Liu Fei, who has always advocated preserving the strength of the troops and retaining manpower and has an extremely conservative combat style, acted out of character.

Instead, he advocated continuing the fight.

His reason was very simple: the Japanese army had been fighting hard for days.

Both sides struggled for the last five minutes.

Whoever can continue to persevere will achieve final victory.

Chiang Kai-shek, who had just won a great victory at Lanfeng, agreed with this view.

However, most of the senior officers believed that they should slowly retreat westwards.
Both sides have good reasons to support their views.

The noise made Chang Kai-shen a little irritated.

"Alright, alright, stop talking, Bo Ling. You are the commander-in-chief of the Henan East Corps. I want to hear your opinion."

Xue Yue looked at the people present, and after a moment of silence, he said, "Chairman, the battle is still up to the generals at the front. Why not ask the generals on the front line for their opinions?"

"Okay, Jiansheng, you come and call and ask."

"Yes!"

One call after another was made.

The opinions obtained are also different.

The commander of the 74th Army, Yu Jishi, advocated retreat. Not only Lanfeng should be withdrawn, but he also believed that there was no need to defend Kaifeng. He also demanded a scorched earth war, burning down Kaifeng City, or at least destroying the military facilities in the city.

Song Xilian of the 71st Army said: The casualties were heavy, and the troop strength was less than two brigades, or 6,000 men. We could retreat or continue fighting.

Hu Zongnan of the 17th Army believed that the Japanese army's strategic posture of encirclement and annihilation was quite obvious. If they continued to fight, the Japanese army would most likely reverse the situation. It was also unwise for their elite main force to engage in a decisive battle with the Japanese army in such terrain.

Also advocating retreat were the commander of the 20th Army, Shang Zhen, and the commander of the 3rd Army, Sun Tongxuan.

The only two who advocated continuing the fight.

One is Li Hanhun, commander of the 64th Army, and the other is Chu Yunfei.

Li Hanhun considered the strength of his own 64th Army and other friendly troops such as the 27th Army to be able to withstand the Japanese attack. As long as they persisted, the Japanese would stop attacking because they could not defeat them.

If the battle lasts for a long time, they will inevitably retreat.

As for Chu Yunfei's proposition, it was even simpler and more brutal.

He judged that the Japanese army would not only continue but also continue to attack.

And they will definitely attack westward to the Pinghan Line.

Chu Yunfei advocated fighting Kaifeng instead of defending it.

It was also suggested that the Third Army and the Twentieth Army should quickly break out to the west and join forces with the Seventy-first Army.

The remaining troops should also take the initiative to attack, mobilize the Japanese offensive forces, and create favorable opportunities for friendly forces to break through.

Otherwise, the two troops of more than 40,000 people would most likely be surrounded and annihilated by the Japanese troops.

As for the specific playing method.

Chu Yunfei also gave corresponding suggestions.

Relying on existing national defense fortifications, we resist step by step.

Use mortars and other supporting artillery to inflict casualties on the enemy's light infantry.

The armored forces of the First Column of the Assault Army confronted the armored forces of the Japanese invaders.

Draw up relevant combat plans, deploy corresponding blocking forces, and retreat slowly in order to minimize losses.

Each unit should have clear combat objectives.

① Delay the attack speed of the Japanese invaders.

② Eliminate the Japanese invaders’ effective forces.

③ Consume Japan’s war reserves and strategic resources.

As for Lanfeng, Kaifeng and other places, even if they fall, they still need to complete the corresponding evacuation.

If there are follow-up support troops, they should gather on the Pinghan Line and build defensive fortifications in advance. "

Listening to the phone, Chu Yunfei answered Bai Jiansheng's question and talked freely.

This made a group of senior generals feel strange.

It seemed as if Chu Yunfei could already predict how the battle would develop next.

This proposition is similar to that of General Liu Fei.

Both advocated continuing the fight.

It was simply that General Liu Fei believed that morale could be boosted rather than deflated, and that we should defend the Minquan Lanfeng line to the death and force the Japanese invaders to retreat.

However, Chu Yunfei firmly believed that if they continued to hold on, the losses might be huge, and the conditions of each unit were poor.

Including the Flying Tiger Honor Division under his command.

It’s better to retreat slowly.

Carry out the original scorched earth plan and evacuate the people.

The greater war costs and losses would inevitably deter the Japanese army.

After hanging up the phone, Bai Jiansheng turned around and looked at Chang Kaishen.
Chiang Kai-shek has not yet made a decision.

Wang Shihe walked quickly into the operations meeting room, holding a telegram containing a letter in his hand.

The content of the telegram came from a spy lurking in the Japanese Navy.

Based on reliable intelligence.

The Central China Expeditionary Army is planning with the Navy's "China Fleet" to attack Anqing, Madang, Hukou and Jiujiang below Wuhu on the Yangtze River.

As a forward base for attacking Wuhan!
Corresponding.

This is the latest intelligence obtained by the High Command.

The Sixth Division and the Third Flying Corps cooperated with each other and set out from Luzhou (Hefei) north of the Yangtze River to attack Shucheng, Tongcheng, Qianshan, Taihu, Susong, Huangmei and other places in the southwest direction.

The westward-moving force was composed of the Hata Detachment, the 11th Marine Fleet, the 4th and 5th Special Marine Corps, and the 2nd Combined Air Force. It set out from Wuhu and launched an attack along the south bank of the Yangtze River.

"I have never heard of this Hata detachment before. Where is it from?"

Lin Wei reminded: "The commander's name is Hata Shigekazu, and most of the officers and soldiers are from the southern Kyushu region of Japan, and were previously stationed in Taiwan, China.

The Japanese army believed that they were a force adapted to fighting in the hot and rainy subtropical regions.

There was a record of this unit participating in the Battle of Shanghai, but it did not perform well.

Chiang Kai-shek frowned slightly.

At present, the Battle of East Henan has not yet ended.

The Japanese invaders still had the spare capacity to open up a battlefield of such a scale. The gap in national strength between the two sides was vividly demonstrated at this moment.

Ensuring the Battle of East Henan is the limit of the current Nationalist government.

Wuhan is the economic and political center of the current national government.

There are also large amounts of materials and equipment piled up that have not yet been evacuated.

Even Chiang Kai-shek did not dispatch any troops to reinforce the Battle of East Henan when the Battle of East Henan had not yet ended.

PS: The main forces of the National Army that were originally participating in the Battle of Wuhan to defend Wuhan were still fighting in eastern Henan at this time.

"Chairman." The operations staff officer walked over quickly with a new telegram in his hand.

Chiang Kai-shek nodded slightly: "Go ahead."

"Just received the latest news. The Japanese army notified the consuls of various countries stationed in Hankou that Japanese warships will move westward along the Yangtze River in China. The lanes from Wuhu to Hukou are the combat zone. Warships and merchant ships of various countries must withdraw immediately!"

(End of this chapter)