The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Begins in Songhu

Chapter 578 After Hardship Comes Happiness (A Long Chapter of 6,000 Words)

Time: 11:23 AM, October 1, 10.

Location: Guantang Village, in the temporary headquarters of the Hunan Provincial Supplementary Regiment of the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment.

When Hu Biao was first woken up by being pushed around, he felt extremely dizzy; it was as if his head was filled with a lump of paste instead of brain matter, and he felt extremely uncomfortable all over.

There was no other way! They rushed back here with their 'tooth extraction' team around 7:30 in the morning.

After arranging for the wounded and the cremation of the fallen, and after washing up and eating something, it was almost 9 a.m.

I was so tired that I decided to take a nap.

Therefore, after a major battle with the Japanese tank units, he has only slept for a maximum of two and a half hours; under such intense command and combat, rest time is so scarce.

Even a large animal couldn't withstand the strain.

Fortunately, one of Hu Biao's confidential staff officers, who was also a member of our Party, was awakened. He leaned close to Hu Biao's ear and whispered a single sentence that instantly brought Hu Biao back to his senses:

"Commander, we now have news about the Hunan Provincial Working Committee's road sabotage last night."

The extent to which the road could be damaged was crucial in determining whether the Japanese could launch an offensive during their withdrawal and take a serious bite out of them.

Upon hearing this, Hu Biao shuddered and immediately became incredibly alert.

He reached out and took a telegram from the confidential staff officer, quickly reading it. After finishing it, he was radiant, with no trace of fatigue on his face.

Because he saw some unexpected good news in the telegram:
In just one night yesterday, our Party mobilized and organized no less than 30 people.

Along the line from Shacheng to Yueyang, all roads, bridges, wells, and houses outside the towns were devastated.

The extent of the damage was more than what Hu Biao expected, and even exceeded it.

If the retreating Japanese army were unwilling to abandon all their heavy equipment and instead only allowed their soldiers to advance lightly equipped with rifles...

Then their retreat speed will become extremely slow; they'll be lucky to advance more than twenty miles a day.

It would take them a week just to travel the entire route from C Shacheng to Yueyang City.

It wouldn't take a week at all. Hu Biao figured that in just three or four days, the fat Japanese soldiers would be worn down, the thin ones would collapse, and the collapsed ones would die.

They become so weak that they can take action.

For a moment, looking at the telegram secretly sent by the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China in his hand, Hu Biao's face was filled with ecstatic joy, and two thoughts arose in his mind:

First, our Party comrades have worked hard. If we can achieve a great victory in this battle, they will definitely play a key role and make a significant contribution.

Their ability to mobilize and organize the masses should never be in doubt.

Secondly, if there is an opportunity afterward, we should try to compensate the villagers along the route.

To support the operation, they smashed all the jars and pots in their homes to pieces; they would have to be compensated with money and food when they rebuilt their houses, wells, roads and bridges in the future.

In the following time, Hu Biao also had the other transmigrators, except for Xin Huo, who was still in the hospital but had already woken up, be awakened.

Come to the temporary headquarters right away so we can share this good news together.

Just like Hu Biao's previous situation, when Annie, Huang Yizhi, and others first arrived at the regimental headquarters...

They were all severely sleep-deprived, looking like wilted eggplants, and their spirits were extremely low.

But after hearing the good news secretly sent by the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China, he was immediately excited.

However, just as they were pondering where they could obtain such a large sum of money and grain to compensate their fellow villagers, a communications officer rushed over.

He rushed up to Hu Biao and the others and stopped, quickly giving a military salute.

He began to report: "Reporting to Regiment Commander Hu, Chief of Staff An, and all officers; the 9th War Zone has just sent us some intelligence on the Japanese retreat."

After receiving the telegram, Hu Biao quickly read it and his face lit up with even more ecstatic joy.

The others craned their necks out, and after seeing what was written on it, a fleeting look of surprise crossed their faces, followed by overwhelming elation.
Good heavens! After enduring numerous hardships in the early stages of this journey, good news is coming one after another, giving them a huge sense of joy and relief after all their suffering.

The telegram from the 9th War Zone contained something like this:

After losing the 13th Tank Regiment, a powerful armored force, the retreating Japanese army could only use the 40th Division, which had suffered relatively few casualties, as the vanguard, allowing them to advance while repairing roads.

Then the Japanese retreat sequence was, in order, the 40th Division, the 4th Division, the 3rd Division, and the last unit to cover the rear was the 6th Division.

To be honest, everyone was quite bewildered when they saw the Japanese retreat sequence.

Because the Japanese army would be facing pursuit by a large number of troops from the 9th War Zone during this retreat, the arrangement of the rearguard was absolutely crucial.

Therefore, in their previous assessment, the Japanese rearguard should be the 4th Division, which suffered the fewest losses in the battle.

It should be noted that, despite the fact that later online accounts describe the 4th Division's combat capabilities as utterly terrible,

It's said that whenever there's a war, countless people take sick leave; and as long as the money is right, rifles, machine guns, bullets, and even cannons are readily sold.

During the Battle of Xuzhou, Commander Li led his troops in a breakout.

On the way, they encountered the well-equipped 4th Division. They thought they were doomed, but the enemy seemed not to see them and did not fire a single shot, allowing them to break through easily.

In short, the 4th Division was described as a pile of shit, as if any unit of the National Revolutionary Army could easily subdue them.

However, after Hu Biao and his group actually traveled through time, they realized that the above statement was somewhat nonsense.

Before a major battle, especially when facing a powerful opponent, many members of the 4th Division took sick leave; it was true that they could buy some weapons and ammunition from them.

But if you really treat the 4th Division as a weakling, you'll really suffer a big loss.

Just kidding! The 10th Army may not be a big name in the National Revolutionary Army, but it was still an elite unit that was not much different from the 74th Army.

However, in a recent battle, they were directly defeated by the Japanese 4th Division; in addition, they also defeated several Nationalist troops in succession, and were the first Japanese troops to enter C Shacheng.

This shows that the 4th Division's combat strength, even if it was not as good as the 3rd and 6th Divisions, was not much worse.

As for the story of Commander Li breaking out of Xuzhou, that's even more impossible; the 4th Division didn't even participate in this operation, so how could they possibly be on the Xuzhou battlefield?
At present, they are carrying more ammunition than other units.

So if the 4th Division really covers the rear, and if these Japanese soldiers unleash their full power in extreme conditions, the subsequent battle will be quite difficult.

However, no one knows what Anami Yuiji, that old Japanese devil, was thinking.

They deliberately placed the 6th Division, which had been fighting the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment for several days and was severely depleted in terms of manpower, ammunition, and morale, at the very back to cover the rear.

Of course, what that old Japanese devil Anami Yuichi was thinking is actually not important.

Importantly, under his arrangement, the Japanese 6th Division was doomed; this Class A division, which was the first to enter Nanjing and committed atrocities, would definitely be left in Hunan Province this time.

How many of the remaining Japanese soldiers will survive depends on how things develop.

Having thought of all this, Hu Biao and the others exchanged glances, and a sense of indescribable pleasure was evident in their eyes.

Then, before they could say anything, even more good news appeared; the confidential staff officer who had just left a short while ago rushed back.

Just by looking at the joy on his face, you know something good is about to happen.

This time, the telegrams in his hand were not just one, but a whole stack. After Hu Biao took them and read them quickly, he found that they were all from friendly forces, sent by some army commanders and division commanders.

The contents are not guaranteed to arrive at the designated area within one or two days.

It was essentially a way of assuring Commander Hu that they would obey orders, resolutely complete tasks, and even be able to assign more challenging tasks to Commander Hu, thus demonstrating their loyalty.

Hu Biao was not surprised at all by this scene.

Many units of the National Revolutionary Army prefer to fight when the tide is going their way, and they run away as fast as they can when facing a strong enemy.

But when facing weak opponents, they are like fierce tigers when there are benefits and opportunities to make contributions; he has long been used to it.

It seems that these friendly forces also learned that the Japanese 13th Tank Regiment had been almost completely annihilated and that their retreat route had been almost completely destroyed.

At this point, with their astonishing sense of opportunity, how could they not know that it was time to make a contribution?

This led to situations where people tried to curry favor and show loyalty to Hu Biao and Hu Tuanzuo, the actual commanders of the operation, in order to gain more credit.

As for the military commanders and division commanders, it's all about currying favor with a regimental commander; they've been completely ignored. Face? What's it worth, in terms of people and guns?

To put it in modern terms: they were too eager for progress.

However, this point is not important to Hu Biao either; in fact, he finds it quite amusing.

At least this way he can mobilize more troops, and these friendly forces also have a stronger fighting spirit, which is a great thing.

Stimulated by these consecutive pieces of good news, Hu Biao was completely energized and could no longer stay at the regimental headquarters.

He picked up his binoculars and glanced at the Japanese 6th Division's camp several miles away. He wasn't surprised to find that some Japanese soldiers were still stationed there.

After all, the Japanese still had as many as 80,000 to 90,000 troops in and around C City.

With so many people evacuating, the marching column could easily stretch for dozens of miles. It's estimated that these Japanese soldiers covering the rear won't even have a chance to set off yet. Putting down his binoculars, after a moment's thought, Hu Biao issued a series of orders:

"Boss lady, sister-in-law, 803, the three of you stay here and keep watch; we'll take a few radios with us, so contact us immediately if anything happens."

Oh, right! Let Xinhuo focus on recovering from his injuries. If he's doing well in a couple of days, let him join the battle to wipe out the 6th Division.

The rest of you, let's set off immediately and add some fun to the Japanese retreat.

Faced with Hu Biao's proposal, everyone naturally cheered; even the battalion commanders of the two cavalry battalions, Lao Ma and Xiao Henan, led their men, who had dismounted, to join the operation.

What could be more delightful than waving a few words at a fleeing Japanese soldier from afar and then running away?
Soon after, he led about two thousand brothers who had not participated in last night's battle and were now in high spirits, and set off along the path.

As they moved quickly along the way, they covered themselves with branches and wild grass, creating a very simple form of camouflage.

This was to prevent Japanese planes from circling and conducting reconnaissance and escort missions over the Japanese withdrawal route.

Don't be fooled by this time; the Japanese soldiers, who set off immediately after dawn, have already been marching for five or six hours. But Hu Biao and his men quickly caught up with them.

Looking at the Japanese soldiers, who were repairing the road and advancing at a snail's pace, a kilometer or two away, I could see them.

The time travelers, in groups of two or three, each led several hundred men and began harassing the retreating Japanese troops.

Besides them, the 74th Army and other friendly units also joined in.

This made the already difficult withdrawal of the Japanese troops even more difficult.

Even long afterward, the surviving Japanese soldiers, when recalling the hardships and horrors they had endured along the way, still had fear in their eyes…

****
Seriously! How could that old devil Anami Korechika have made such a foolish move, leaving the 6th Division to cover the rear?
It can only be said that he was quite helpless and did not want this situation to occur.

At the same time, Hu Biao and his men were looking at the telegram in their hands, quite surprised as to why the Japanese had arranged the 6th Division as the rearguard.

In the main hall of the Japanese 11th Army's front-line command post in Yueyang City.

With bloodshot eyes, Anami Yuichi paced back and forth in the office like a man-eating beast, exuding a strong murderous intent, as if he were about to draw his knife and kill someone at any moment.

In fact, that's exactly how the old Japanese soldier felt.

If the commander of the 4th Division and the regimental commander were to appear before Anami Yuichi at this moment, he would certainly draw his sword without hesitation and kill them all, one by one.

No other reason than that! In the retreat plan hastily devised by Anami Yuichi when he saw that the situation was not good, the rearguard was actually the 4th Division.

This unit, which suffered the fewest losses in this operation, had the most ammunition reserves, and could unleash astonishing combat power even in dire circumstances, served as the rearguard of the main army.

When the order was given last night, Division Commander Kanda Masatane readily agreed.

He assured them that he would do a good job covering the rear of the army, and that if the Nationalist army dared to pursue them, they would be dealt with severely.

But before dawn, when the 13th Tank Regiment was almost wiped out right under their noses, the 4th Division's small merchants from the Kansai region, who had no sense of Bushido, reverted to their old, cunning ways.

The latest evacuation plan has been urgently adjusted.

After the 40th Division set off as the vanguard, the Hayabuchi Detachment followed closely behind.

Then, the 3rd and 6th Divisions, which were currently confronting the 74th Army and the Northern Jiangsu Independent Regiment, joined the retreating force after disengaging, with the 4th Division being the last to depart.

What happened? Seeing that things were going badly, the 4th Division evacuated Hayabuchi, who was also in C Sand City.

Initially, one or two companies retreated without even saying goodbye, following closely behind the Hayabuchi Detachment; then the rest of the 4th Division followed suit.

The scale gradually expanded to include brigades and regiments.

Ultimately, the entire 4th Division was forced to cut in line and withdraw.

During this process, although Division Commander Kanda Masatane and several regimental commanders attempted to forcibly stop it, they were completely powerless in the face of the almost mutinous situation.

Upon receiving this message, Anan Yuichi was nearly driven mad with anger.

This is also the main reason why he was like a man-eating beast, full of murderous intent, and wished he could kill Kanda Masatane, the commander of the 4th Division, as well as several regimental commanders.

He himself knew that things had come to this point, and no matter how angry he got, it wouldn't make any difference.

If the goal is to punish the personnel of the 4th Division, it can only be done after the evacuation is completed and the army reaches a safe area.

Otherwise, it will cause even bigger trouble.

After pacing back and forth for a while, he finally walked to the window.

After opening the window and taking a few deep breaths of the fresh air outside, Anami Yuichi forcibly suppressed the intense feeling of depression in his heart, as if he had swallowed a dead rat.

He looked at the group of staff officers standing solemnly beside him, not daring to utter a sound.

He asked a crucial question: "Where have the vanguard of the 40th Army retreated to?"

Upon hearing this, a staff officer with the rank of lieutenant colonel walked directly to a large map on the wall, picked up a stick, and pointed to a small village called 'Mulongping'.

He then said, "Your Excellency Anan, according to our information, they arrived at this location just twenty minutes ago."

Once he saw the place names and locations on the map, Anami Yuichi, who had just managed to calm himself down, couldn't help but explode, cursing angrily:

"What's going on? Are the 40th Division all turtles?"

No! Even a tortoise can crawl faster than them.

The reason why Anan Weiji reacted so strongly is that 'Mulongping' is only eleven or twelve kilometers away from C Shacheng; that is to say, it took the retreating troops most of the day to travel such a short distance.

On average, it might be less than 2 kilometers per hour.

At this rate, when will the retreating army be able to withdraw to Yueyang City, which is relatively safer,?

Faced with Anami's roar, the staff officer explained in a low voice:
"Your Excellency Anan, you may not know that the roads, starting 8 kilometers outside of C Sha City, were devastated by the local people last night."

The road conditions were so bad that even lightly armed infantrymen had a very difficult time advancing.

To allow heavy equipment such as trucks and artillery to pass, a huge amount of engineering work is needed to repair the roads.

The advance troops could only advance while repairing the road. The fact that they have reached Mulongping is the result of the hard work of the engineering and infantry units.

Commander Naoshiro Amaya of the 40th Division stated that the road construction was extremely physically demanding for his soldiers, and they would be exhausted within two days at most.

Upon hearing this explanation, Anami Yuichi couldn't help but let out a long sigh.

In fact, he had received reports of the devastating damage to the army's retreat route the previous night as early as dawn.

It's just that he's had too many upsetting things lately, so he's forgotten about it for a while.

"Since the retreat is so slow, why not blow up and abandon all the heavy equipment, and let the army retreat lightly?" Such a thought suddenly emerged in Anami's mind.

However, he quickly dismissed such a thought.

The fundamental reason was that, although Anami Korechika vaguely knew in his heart, abandoning all heavy equipment and retreating with light gear was the wisest choice.

But after a little analysis, I still couldn't bear to give it up and couldn't make that decision at all.

It's important to know that for this operation to attack C Sand City, he mobilized and deployed almost all of the 11th Army's heavy equipment.

Putting aside everything else, more than 300 artillery pieces were mobilized, including many large-caliber heavy cannons.

The deployment of so many artillery pieces played a crucial role in enabling them to quickly breach the Nationalist army's defenses after the start of the war, and to rapidly advance and capture C Sand City.

Unfortunately, the more enjoyable it was to bomb the Nationalist army back then, the more difficult it is to evacuate now.

If they were to destroy or abandon it, even if their 11th Army retreated, it would be severely weakened and its combat effectiveness would be greatly reduced.

Given Anami's position, it wouldn't be hard for him to know that the Empire is now allocating a large amount of resources to the navy in preparation for operations in the Pacific and Southeast Asia.

The production capacity of army equipment has been significantly affected.

The sheer number of troops stationed in China is staggering, and they are all requesting equipment replenishment.

Their 11th Corps is only a part of it, and who knows how long it will take to replenish all this heavy equipment.

In addition, they are now withdrawing together as a group of four divisions and a detachment, still with a massive force of 80,000 to 90,000 troops, and they are being escorted by the air force all the way.

Even if the 9th War Zone of the National Revolutionary Army wanted to swallow them up, it didn't have the appetite or the ability.

So it must be because I haven't been resting well lately, which is why I'm having this inexplicable worry.

Thinking of this, Anami Yuichi issued an order: "Tell the 40th Division to disregard the physical condition of the personnel and speed up the road construction. Tomorrow I will have the Hayabuchi Detachment replace them in road clearing, and they can rest for a day."

Upon hearing this, an advisor immediately went to relay the order.

What Anan didn't know was that it was precisely because of this order that the army he was supposed to withdraw from continued to fall into the abyss.

By the time the decision to make the drastic decision was made, it was already too late...

(End of this chapter)