The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Begins in Songhu

Chapter 550 Acting and Reaction (Two-in-One Chapter) (Seeking Monthly Tickets)
It was 5:05 a.m., and there was still an hour before the sky gradually brightened.

In the 74th Army headquarters in Huanghua City, after glancing at the time on his wristwatch, Wang Yaowu couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

Then, all his enthusiasm seemed to dissipate with that long sigh.

His originally straight back hunched over slightly, making him look rather dejected.

There was no other way! On the night that was about to end, the various units of the 74th Army launched multiple attacks on the Japanese troops along the Laodao River line.

During the battle, the brothers fought extremely bravely, living up to the glorious title of the 74th Army's "Tiger Warriors".

For example, in the Yong'an Temple area, facing the elite 18th Regiment of the Japanese army, the brothers of the 58th Division launched three high-intensity attacks in succession amidst the deafening bugle calls.

According to the reports that came back, the small city of Yong'an had been completely engulfed in flames.

Under the blazing firelight, corpses from both sides were scattered everywhere, along with figures engaged in a brutal hand-to-hand combat.

Unfortunately, his initial prediction was completely wrong. Tonight, the Japanese troops defending the Laodao River line, apart from the Third Division which was already somewhat exhausted from fighting for a long time during the day, were all out of the question.

Some infantry battalions of the 6th Division also appeared along the Laodao River line.

This increased the Japanese army's defensive capabilities by an unknown amount.

The brothers fought fiercely until now, when dawn was about to break, but they still hadn't driven any of the Japanese soldiers from the key points back from Laodao River.

Then, with this ebb and flow, some dire consequences will continue to emerge after dawn.

After all, although the brothers were brave, they were all made of flesh and blood; they were not made of iron. After a night of counterattack, their physical and mental strength would definitely be greatly depleted.

Just when they were exhausted, the Japanese, led by the fresh troops of the 6th Division, would likely launch an attack.

They have no reinforcements for the time being, and who knows how badly the situation will worsen.

At this moment, Wang Yaowu felt a great sense of unease about the future of the 74th Army.

Just then, a communications officer rushed over, quickly saluted, and said, "Commander, urgent telegram from Commander Xue of the Theater Command."

Oh, right! They activated the backup codebook.

Upon hearing this, Wang Yaowu quickly took the telegram and began to read it.

The telegram was only two or three hundred words long, and Wang Yaowu read it quickly at a reading speed of ten lines at a glance; however, in that short time, his emotions fluctuated violently.

We saw earlier that many of their telegrams had been intercepted and deciphered by the Japanese.

When the entire Japanese 68th Regiment, more than 3,000 men, secretly bypassed Wenxing'ao and Chunhua Mountain and headed south, preparing to infiltrate their rear and launch a pincer attack, Wang Yaowu was terrified and broke out in a cold sweat.

Because at present, large numbers of Japanese troops have appeared in the left, center and right directions of the 74th Army.

If the more than 3,000 Japanese soldiers of the 68th Regiment were to get around to their rear, wouldn't the entire 74th Army be surrounded by the Japanese?
Upon seeing some of the content, he breathed a long sigh of relief and felt immense gratitude towards Hu Biao and his companions.

Incidentally, there was also a huge shock.

This was the good news he had heard: the Japanese 68th Regiment had been completely annihilated by the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment.

Wang Yaowu was naturally happy that the biggest crisis was over, but after many years in the army, he understood even more how difficult it was to annihilate an elite Japanese regiment in a short period of time.

Upon reaching the end, Wang Yaowu was deeply shocked; he muttered to himself:

"Everyone says that I, Wang Yaowu, am clever and bold in battle, but compared to Hu Biao and Commander Hu, I am far inferior."

The "Tiger of Shanghai" truly lives up to its name; wherever it goes, it seeks meat, and it devours it in large quantities.

The reason Wang Yaowu reacted so strongly was that he saw Hu Biao's general operational plan in the later parts of the telegram, as well as some matters that required the cooperation of their 74th Army.

After reading the telegram, Wang Yaowu pondered for several minutes before making a decision.

After beckoning a operations staff officer over, he immediately issued a series of orders:
"Order all units, including the 57th, 58th, and 51st Divisions, to immediately cease their counter-offensive against the Japanese troops in front of them; to reinforce and construct fortifications on the spot, and to prepare for the Japanese troops' frenzied counter-offensive."

Attention! After the Japanese attack, only a small number of troops are allowed to hold the front line, and it is imperative to ensure that the position does not fall into the hands of the Japanese.

Any remaining troops should remain hidden in the second and third lines of defense, and absolutely must not be discovered by the Japanese.

Upon hearing the above orders, the operations staff would then raise objections.

How can you fight a war like this? You can't put too many troops on the front line, and you can't let them fall into the hands of the Japanese. Wouldn't you have to keep sending small reinforcements up to fight a tug-of-war? Wouldn't that just be a piecemeal tactic?
Unfortunately, before he could speak, Wang Yaowu, seemingly sensing his thoughts, uttered a curt remark:
"What are you dawdling for? Get to work and carry out the orders."

Faced with this, the operations staff could only suppress his vehement objections, turn around, and jog off to relay his commander's order.

What this operations staff officer didn't know was that the above-mentioned seemingly tactical order was actually one of Hu Biao's requests.

Even on the defense line of the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment, only a small number of troops were deployed to hold the front-line positions.

The reason for doing this was, of course, to give Anan the false impression that the North Jiangsu Independent Regiment and the 74th Army had suffered heavy casualties due to continuous fighting.

This convinced the old Japanese soldier that as long as they delayed their retreat by a few days, they could grit their teeth and persist in their offensive.

Perhaps they could eliminate these two elite units in the Nationalist army, which they considered thorns in their side.

This avenged the repeated heavy losses they had suffered in these two units, especially Hu Biao and the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment, and the deep hatred caused by the annihilation of one unit after another.

In short, this was one of the means in Hu Biao and others' battle plan, besides raising the regimental flag of the 10th Division on the position, to lure the Japanese away from their retreat and to launch an attack.

As for whether these methods will be effective, and whether that old Japanese devil Anami Yuichi will fall for it.

To be honest, Hu Biao wasn't entirely confident either. He could only say that based on later records of Anami Yuichi's character and the Japanese's strong desire for revenge, he was about 60-70% certain.

With a 60-70% chance of success, Hu Biao and his men were more than capable of putting on a serious show for it.

Their performance was quickly discovered by the Japanese soldiers, who then made some decisions...

******
Two hours later, the sky in northeastern Hunan province had fully brightened in early autumn.

To the southwest of Chunhua Mountain, there is a dirt road marked on the map as being several kilometers away from Donglin Temple.

Five or six men dressed as ordinary Chinese people walked along the dirt road, some carrying firewood, others hoes, and still others baskets.

At first glance, they look exactly like farmers who get up early to work.

With just a little careful observation, one can discover obvious flaws in these people.

For example, there were some bulges under their clothes at the waist, which clearly indicated that they were hiding short-handled weapons such as pistols; they were very vigilant as they walked, looking around from time to time, definitely scouting something.

The key point is that among the five or six people mentioned above, three of them have noticeably bowlegs when they walk.

Given the fierce battle that has been raging between China and Japan over C Sand City these past two days, the identities of these people are becoming increasingly clear:
Japanese soldiers, Japanese spies in disguise.

Indeed, at four o'clock in the morning, Toyoshima Fusataro, the commander of the Japanese 3rd Division, still had not received the latest report from the 68th Regiment.

They already felt uneasy when their repeated calls went unanswered.

Although he could fully understand the situation that the 68th Wing had to maintain radio silence due to the need for secrecy during infiltration, he was completely able to express his understanding.

Even if the operation failed due to encountering a large Nationalist army force during the infiltration, it would still be acceptable.

Regardless of whether the 68th Regiment's infiltration operation was successful or not, by this point Shimizu Sakae should have already started reporting via radio.

Or perhaps a messenger should be sent back to report.

But there was no news at all. Could they have been wiped out?

The moment he thought of such a possibility, Toyoshima Fusataro shook his head vigorously, abandoning such a ridiculous idea.

Just kidding! Even the 74th Army, a renowned elite force.

They have concentrated several times their strength, so it is quite possible that they can defeat the 68th Regiment.

However, it is absolutely impossible to annihilate a regiment of more than three thousand soldiers in such a short period of time, leaving them no time to send a telegram to report.

Therefore, it should be that the radio carried by the 68th Regiment malfunctioned, and the messenger sent back to report also encountered an accident on the way.

However, based on the principle of caution, Fusataro Toyoshima still dispatched several reconnaissance units.

After being disguised, they began a reconnaissance mission along the route the 68th Regiment had taken the previous night; the five or six men mentioned above were part of one of these reconnaissance units. As they walked, the leading Japanese sergeant seemed to have noticed something.

At his signal, the group first hid behind the roadside bushes.

Then, the sergeant took out a Type 13 six-fold telescope from a bamboo basket he was carrying and looked ahead.

Soon after, the Japanese sergeant, filled with immense terror, turned ashen-faced as a corpse.

Through the lens of his binoculars, he could clearly see a place two or three miles away, with rolling hills on both sides and a flat area two miles wide in the middle.

A fairly well-maintained trench has appeared, and there are currently two or three hundred strangely dressed Nationalist soldiers wielding tools to continuously reinforce various defensive fortifications.

More importantly, they saw two flags fluttering in the morning breeze on the position.

One side was a white linen flag with a large "death" written on it, and the other side was surprisingly a regimental flag of the Imperial Army.

Why was the Imperial Japanese Army's regimental flag flying over the Nationalist army's positions? In a flash of inspiration, the Japanese sergeant realized the reason:

The strange Nationalist army unit in front of us is the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment under the legendary Hu Biao, the Tiger of Shanghai.

Not only after Hu Biao served in the Sichuan Army Corps, this special death flag almost became standard equipment for the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment.

Furthermore, it was only Hu Biao and his men who captured the regimental flag of the 10th Infantry Regiment during the Battle of Taierzhuang, which led to the immediate cancellation of this unit's designation.

Furthermore, the above situation also represents a cruel truth: the 68th Infantry Regiment that infiltrated last night was wiped out.

What the elite 74th Army couldn't do, when performed by the man known as the Tiger of Shanghai, seemed strangely natural.

After that, the small Japanese reconnaissance unit dared not linger any longer.

He immediately turned around and, with all his might, sprinted towards the direction where his main force was stationed, just to tell everyone as quickly as possible:

Hu Biao, that terrifying man, has arrived with his comrades and the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment...

Time: More than five hours later, it was a little past one o'clock in the afternoon.

Location: In the former Jianghan Customs Building in Wuhan, now the headquarters of the Japanese 11th Army.

The Japanese commander, Anami Korechika, paced back and forth in his office with his hands behind his back and an unusually solemn expression.

There seemed to be a crucial question that was making it very difficult for him to make up his mind.

On one side, several senior Japanese staff officers stood with their hands clasped, holding their breath and not daring to disturb Anami Yuichi's train of thought.

That's right! Anami Korechika, that old Japanese soldier, is currently struggling with a question: at this point in the battle, should their 11th Army retreat?
He received the telegram from the Third Division at around 9 a.m.

The telegram informed them that Hu Biao and his comrades, along with the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment, had appeared on the battlefield near Laodao River and annihilated the 68th Infantry Regiment.

At that time, the Air Force was ordered to dispatch multiple reconnaissance aircraft to conduct reconnaissance of the relevant area.

Now, not only is the intelligence gathered by the Air Force being urgently reported, but other ground forces in various regions are also reporting a lot of intelligence.

After they came together, Anami Yuichi found himself in a difficult situation.

Should we not retreat and continue fighting in C Sand City and the surrounding area? This is a very difficult question.

Although the 4th Division is making good progress and will be able to enter C-Shah this afternoon and complete its complete occupation in a short time.

However, this battle has been going on for 20 days now.

The 11th Army's various units have already severely depleted their essential combat supplies, such as ammunition, rations, and fuel.

To replenish their supplies, they would need to be transported by truck from Wuhan to Shacheng, a distance of over 400 kilometers.

It also required crossing many rivers of varying sizes, which was quite strenuous.

On the contrary, after Hu Biao and the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment appeared and wiped out the 68th Infantry Regiment, they managed to hold the flank of the 74th Army.

This meant that their plan to completely surround and quickly defeat the 74th Army would not be possible.

Therefore, rather than continuing to drag this out, it would be better to withdraw the main force in time after capturing C Sand City and inflicting heavy casualties on the 10th Army and other forces of the 9th War Zone.

They decided to stop while they were ahead and declared to the outside world that they had achieved a great victory in this operation.

Retreat, based on the above ideas and situation, should we begin an orderly retreat tomorrow? Unwilling, just thinking about this fills Anami Yuichi with intense resentment.

Since the Battle of Shanggao, the 74th Army has been a Nationalist army unit that they wanted to eliminate as soon as possible.

In contrast to the 74th Army, Hu Biao and his Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment, because they had brought too much harm and humiliation to the empire, were a target that needed to be pursued at all costs.

The more crucial reason is that, based on the probing attacks by ground troops against the 74th Army, and air reconnaissance, it was determined that:

Hu Biao's Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment annihilated the 68th Regiment, and Wang Yaowu's 74th Army suffered heavy casualties after continuous bombing and combat in recent days.

As a result, the number of troops defending the position is currently very limited.

Therefore, it seems that as long as the retreat is delayed by a few days, a resolute attack on the 74th Army and the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment can break through their defenses.

Defeat them, kill them.

We can also recapture the regimental flag of the 10th Regiment.

Good heavens! The thought that he had actually managed to defeat the combined forces of Hu Biao and Wang Yaowu, and even had the potential to kill them, filled Anami Yuichi with intense excitement. How could he possibly be willing to retreat with the 11th Army?

Like an old donkey pulling a millstone, I don't know how many times I've walked back and forth in the office.

Anami finally stopped, seemingly having made a decision in his heart.

As for what decision he made? It can only be said that the personal resume and personality analysis of this old Japanese devil that Hu Biao and the others saw in the modern world were surprisingly accurate.

Anami Yuichi, who was originally a military officer serving under the Japanese Prime Minister, was absolutely loyal to him.

He was completely brainwashed by the Japanese ideology and his thinking was quite extreme. Even if the Japanese were doomed to defeat, he would still resolutely support launching a decisive battle on the Japanese mainland and demand the death of 100 million Japanese soldiers.

His fighting style was described as brave, fierce, and extremely aggressive.

In other words, it means being greedy for quick success and acting rashly.

Therefore, after stopping, Anami Korechika issued a series of orders to his subordinates who had been waiting for a while:

"We requisitioned all trucks from private Chinese businesses and factories, along with trucks from our 11th Army, to provide emergency supplies to C-Shacheng and surrounding troops."

He ordered the 3rd and 6th Divisions to launch a full-scale attack on the defenses of the 74th Army and the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment immediately.

Tell them that they must break through the enemy's defenses as soon as possible at all costs and defeat these two Nationalist troops, which are like the empire's greatest threat.

The Fourth Division is ordered to completely capture C Sand City today.

The order was given to the 13th and 40th Divisions, along with other participating units, to block the Nationalist troops in front of them. Any unit that was allowed to come to their aid would be court-martialed.

Inform headquarters of the latest battle situation, and then tell them that our 11th Corps needs more aircraft, more fuel, and aerial bombs.

After issuing the above orders, Anami Yuichi probably thought about all the wonderful things he could gain after achieving the above battle plan.

He was so excited, as if he'd been injected with adrenaline, that his neck and ears turned red, and he started shouting:

"Gentlemen! This is the best opportunity to show the bravery of our 11th Army. As long as we defeat the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment and the 74th Army, and kill Hu Biao and Wang Yaowu, we can achieve our goal."

Then, in the Empire's army, our 11th Army will receive the highest honor.

So let's work together! Long live His Majesty the Heavenly Locust! Long live the Empire! Long live the 11th Army!

It's best not to say it! The Japanese are the kind of creatures that are easily swayed by emotions. Influenced by Anami Korechika's words, the staff officers present started shouting first.

Soon after, all the Japanese soldiers in the command post started shouting.

Little did they know that this moment would be the one they felt best for a long time to come; during those periods, they were filled with constant anxiety and unease…

(End of this chapter)