I am Jiang Weiguo in World War II

From a military point of view, the Dasheng Pass guards the Yangtze River transportation line in Nanjing City. It is our last retreat, so we must defend it. On the contrary, such a place that we must defend is lost. Can it prove to the Japanese army? We don't have enough military strength anymore? "

"Yes!" Wang Yaowu nodded, "Cutting off the way out, going all the way forward, not retreating!"

Jiang Weiguo understood Xiao Yao's meaning.

There are only two ways out of Nanjing City at this time, one is the Yangtze River waterway, leaving Nanjing City by boat, and the other is Dajiaochang Airport and Ming Palace Airport, leaving Nanjing City by plane.

There is no doubt that the gap between ships, planes, and transportation capabilities is huge.

To put it bluntly, with the waterway in hand, the last few tens of thousands of people left in the Nanjing Army can leave by boat. If the waterway is lost, only the empty road is left. Tens of thousands of people will definitely not be able to leave by plane, and only a few thousand people will die. You can leave by plane.

Giving up the way of "taking a boat" means that there will really not be many people left in Nanjing City in the end.

Xiao Yao is a "very ruthless" person, he does everything he can to deal with the Japanese, but he is also "ruthless" to his own people.

In the Japanese military circles, Ishihara Wanji and Itagaki Seishiro are known as the "Double Pride of the Empire". Yao, in fact, is also complementary in this way, Jiang Weiguo has courage, and Xiao Yao has resourcefulness.

Chen Mingren sighed lowly: "That's right, if Dashengguan is attacked by the Japanese army, it must be discarded!"

"And we will lose it very badly!" Xiao Yao added, "If we were to be defeated at the Dasheng Pass, the Japanese would definitely judge that we were deliberately showing weakness, so we must have a bloody battle with the Japanese army at the Dasheng Pass. People killed so many corpses littered the field, and then discarded.

In this way, the Japanese will believe that we are defending the Great Victory Pass with all our strength, and they won the Great Victory Pass through fierce fighting, and at the same time they will believe that we really do not have enough military strength!"

Jiang Weiguo's scalp tingled when he heard it: "Brother Haoran, what is 'corpses all over the field'?"

Xiao Yao's tone was so cold that it was almost cruel: "Our army must have killed 1 people in the battle at Dasheng Pass!"

Everyone at the scene was deeply surprised.

Huang Wei couldn't help complaining: "Are you kidding? In order to lure the enemy, so we deliberately self-mutilate? How can we deliberately let soldiers die?"

"It's not intentional to let the soldiers die!" Xiao Yao looked at Huang Wei, "Master, we will let them die worthwhile.

Master seat, fighting a war is no different from playing chess.

As an army officer, on the one hand, he must love soldiers like sons, and on the other hand, he must have a heart of stone.

In fact, on the battlefield, we can no longer treat soldiers as human beings, we can only treat them as ants and lifeless pawns.

Compassion does not control soldiers, master, compassion does not control soldiers!Even if you can't do it, you have to force yourself to do it.

Teacher, let me use a metaphor. If I play chess with you, I want to eat one of your pawns. If you save that pawn, you will not be able to defeat my army. If I eat it, I can successfully take over my army and division seat, which one would you choose?I believe that you must choose to sacrifice that pawn on purpose, because in this way, you will win, and you will not feel bad when the pawn is eaten, because it is just a lifeless pawn.

Now, we are in the same way on the battlefield. It is worthwhile to treat soldiers as lifeless pawns, sacrificing part in exchange for victory and greater results.

If our side deliberately sacrifices [-] soldiers, it can be exchanged for the result of killing and injuring [-] enemy soldiers. What's wrong? "

Huang Wei's expression trembled: "How can human life be regarded as worthless?"

"Human life is priceless!" Xiao Yao's voice was very firm, "But on the battlefield, human life is a number! Our side lost 1 people, the enemy died 5 people, and our side lost 1 priceless lives. , the enemy lost [-] priceless human lives. Although they are all priceless, [-] 'priceless' are more valuable than [-] 'priceless'! how?"

"Ah!" Huang Wei sighed for a long time and stopped talking. Although he couldn't accept it, he actually admitted it.

"Having said that..." Wang Yaowu questioned, "The loss of [-] soldiers is an unbearable loss for us now! We now have a total of more than [-] elite veterans who have experienced many battles, and we lost [-] at once..."

"Loss of militiamen!" Xiao Yao said succinctly, "Send [-] veterans and [-] militiamen to guard Dasheng Pass, and when they are all dead, we will succeed.

By the way, remember to let those militiamen wear regular army German uniforms and take regular army German weapons!"

Jiang Weiguo could hear goosebumps all over his body. Xiao Yao’s words meant this: Only 1 deaths can paralyze and lure the Japanese army. Anyway, the effect of [-] veterans is the same as that of [-] militiamen. Since veterans are more useful than militiamen, then Let the militiamen die.

War is by no means a "powerful thing" full of romance and heroism like in later film and television dramas, but the cruelest thing in the world where human nature is forced to be twisted and ruthless.

Just as the Nanjing Army guessed, there was indeed a fierce debate among the senior officials of the Central China Front of the Japanese Army about "whether to resume the siege of the city".

Chief of Staff of the Front Army Kanji Ishihara, Commander of the 4th Army Lieutenant General Ningji Okamura, Commander of the 7th Army Lieutenant General Guzhuang Qianlang and others opposed the resumption of the siege. Deputy Chief of Staff of the Front Army Maj. Lieutenant General Hirasuke, Lieutenant General Hatohiko Asaka, Commander of the 3th Army, Lieutenant General Ando Toshiyoshi, Commander of the 5th Army, Lieutenant General Yamada Otozo, Commander of the 6th Army, and others supported the resumption of the siege, while many division heads Among them, about half supported the resumption of siege, and in the rest, some opposed the resumption of siege, and some were noncommittal.

Overall, three-fifths of the high-level support the resumption of the siege, and two-fifths of the high-level opposition support the siege, and the support opinion has a slight upper hand.

Lieutenant General Hata Toshiro, the commander-in-chief of the front army who has the decision-making power, is hesitant and hesitant.

"Why don't you resume the siege?" Major General Tsukada Gong said excitedly, "Most of the Nanjing Chinese Army has withdrawn, but we are still so fearful of the enemy and shrink back! It's a shame! The majestic Japanese Imperial Army, is it really captured by Nanjing? Has the Chinese army lost its previous courageous and invincible fighting spirit?"

"Short-sighted!" Ishihara retorted with a smile, "It is conservatively estimated that there are still 12 defenders in Nanjing City, and tens of thousands of militia and civilian workers are helping in the battle. According to the previous casualty ratio of one to three between the enemy and us, our army now wants to take down Nanjing City. , At least 15 or even [-] casualties will be paid! It's not worth it at all!"

"The casualties were heavy, but it was worth it!" Major General Tsukada Gong argued, "Because the city in front of us is Nanjing! It is the capital of China! Its significance and value are ten times that of other cities! Even a hundred times! Nanjing is the source of confidence for the Chinese government to persist in resistance! If we capture Nanjing, it will greatly destroy the confidence of the Chinese government in the war of resistance! Mr. Shi Yuan, have you considered this point?"

"It's easy to resume the strong attack, but what if we can't take it again?" Lieutenant General Okamura said seriously, "The Battle of Nanjing has lasted for four and a half months! Our army lost troops and lost countless soldiers on the Nanjing battlefield! We have already embarked on a path. It is almost impossible to turn back. It is not too late for us to make up for it. Although we have lost face, as long as we win benefits, face can also be saved through victory. Now, if we resume the siege again, wouldn’t we go back to the old routine? Gentlemen Please note that we have failed many times in the siege, and every failure has made us embarrassed and disgraced. What should we do if we resume the siege but can no longer take it? Gentlemen, we only have three ways at that time, one is Once again, the imperial army was shamed and forced to stop attacking, and the second was to bite the bullet and fight, either victorious or defeated.

These three results are not good results! "

"Mr. Okamura! What you said is too 'increasing the ambitions of others and destroying your own prestige'!" Lieutenant General Yanagawa said dissatisfiedly, "I admit that the Nanjing China Army is the most powerful branch of the China Army, but the Emperor of Japan Could it be that the army is a mob? After more than four months of fierce fighting, the Nanjing China Army has also been seriously injured and its strength is insufficient. Now they are forced by the general situation in North China and have to deploy half or more troops to break out of the city and fill the loopholes in North China. The army has already been strong from the outside, and it is a great opportunity for our army to take Nanjing in one go! The opportunity is rare! Once you miss it, you will regret it!"

"Yanagawa-kun, it is certain to seize the opportunity on the battlefield, but..." Lieutenant General Okamura earnestly said, "We need to be cautious and think about the problem from the overall situation..."

"Excessive caution is timidity! It is cowardice! How can you win a battle if you are afraid of wolves before and tigers behind?" Lieutenant General Iteng retorted bluntly, "Take Nanjing, yes, the difficulty is not small, but We cannot give in to difficulties! We must overcome difficulties! Facing difficulties! Not retreating from difficulties! Winning Nanjing is of great significance!"

"Isn't it just an isolated city?" Ishihara smiled and said coldly, "Where's the significance?"

"Ishihara-kun, this statement is wrong!" Lieutenant General Yamada shook his head again and again, "First, taking Nanjing, the capital of China, can greatly shock, attack, and intimidate the Chinese government, and destroy its belief in the war of resistance to the end; Nanjing, you can avenge the shame of the imperial army! Avenge the countless imperial soldiers who died on the battlefield in Nanjing! Save the face of the Japanese imperial army! Save the face of the Japanese empire! Third, take Nanjing, you can also save The face of our Central China Front Army! Gentlemen, look at the North China Front Army! Siege the city and seize territory, invincible! We took down Shandong Province in 20 days! But what about us? The occupied area is so small, compared with the North China Front Army, we have to feel ashamed! ! And the price we paid is so high, compared to the North China Front Army, it has to be ashamed!"

"That's right! Just as General Yamada said!" Major General Tsukada Gong became more and more emotional, "It is of great significance to win Nanjing! We are bound to win! And we are determined to win! The actual combat power of the Nanjing Army at this time is less than half or even the beginning of the war. Even less, we are still frightened by them and stop at the city and dare not move forward, such a situation is too shameful!"

"Of course it is right to be brave after knowing the shame!" Ishihara Waner couldn't bear it anymore, "But we shouldn't spoil the overall situation because of the shame in front of us! I think that since the Nanjing Army in the city has been reduced by more than half, we can save more money Troops, go to northern Jiangsu, go to northern China, pursue and suppress the Nanjing Army that broke out of the city, and reinforce the North China Front Army. On the one hand, it can continue to trap the Nanjing Army in Nanjing City, and on the other hand, it can consolidate the overall situation in North China..."

"Ishihara-kun!" Lieutenant General Liu Chuan sullenly said, "May I ask you whether you are the chief of staff of the Central China Front Army or the North China Front Army? It is true to be brave after knowing your shame, and you must learn from others! The North China Front Army has achieved brilliant results. We Wouldn’t it be shameful for the Central China Front to stand still? We have to cooperate with the North China Front, but we don’t serve them completely. We also have to show our results! We have deployed a large number of troops and materials to reinforce the North China Front. From this we can see that, The Imperial Headquarters is despising us more and more! We must take Nanjing! Ishi Yuan-kun, you always think about the North China Front Army, I suggest that you should be transferred to the North China Front Army!"

Ishihara smiled and turned pale with anger.

"If we don't take Nanjing, what's the face of the Imperial Army? What's the face of the Empire? What's the face of our Central China Front Army?" Major General Tsukada Gong clenched his hands into fists, his eyes were as hot as a patient with a high fever, "We must resume the strong attack! Take Nanjing!"

"That's right!" "That's exactly the reason!" "The imperial army suffered huge casualties and losses on the Nanjing battlefield, which can be described as unprecedented since the Meiji Emperor built his army! The imperial army has lost all face!" "Yes. Those guys in the navy are now more and more contemptuous of our army! In the battle yesterday, the Yangtze River Fleet was beaten and fled by the Chinese Air Force. They were asked to continue fighting, but Koga said, "How can the army who has been defeated repeatedly have the confidence to ask the navy?" It is really unbearable!"

The generals who supported the resumption of the siege were enthusiastic and unanimous.

At the beginning of modern times, Japan was equivalent to a smaller version of China. It closed the country and faced internal and external troubles. It gradually became stronger after the Meiji Restoration by the Emperor Meiji. 1868 years, 70 years is not a long time. Therefore, Japan, a "big power", is essentially an upstart with two characteristics of an upstart. One is that the foundation is not stable. It may fall apart, and the second is "death to save face".

"Death to save face" is a common saying, but it is very appropriate to describe the Japanese at this time.

Don't you see, many upstarts in later generations often spend a lot of money in many places where there is no need to spend money, just for the so-called "face".

The Japanese also have this nouveau riche mentality.

At the end of last year (1937), the Japanese Navy decided to build the battleship Yamato. Major General Jiro Onishi, the most radical supporter of the winning concept of aviation, rushed into the military headquarters and said excitedly to Lieutenant General Koga Mineichi, who was then the deputy head of the military command: "Building the Yamato is an anachronistic mistake! You can build 1 planes for the price of one Yamato! If you give me 3000 planes, I can sink all the warships in the United Fleet!" Lieutenant General Koga said at the time The good words appeased Major General Onishi.

How did Lieutenant General Koga comfort him?Here's what he said:

"Onishi, I have no objection to aviation, but you must know that the emperor must travel in a luxury carriage with eight horses. The emperor doesn't like luxury, but he has to do it because it is a manifestation of the emperor's dignity. Since he is the emperor , it is impossible to ride in a dilapidated carriage with bad horses.

The same is true for a country. It must have battleships. If others have them, we must also have them. This is called the face of the country and the face of the navy. Do you know that? "

Such a reason, in the eyes of later generations or foreigners, is simply incredible, but the Japanese believe that this is an inevitable truth, and there must be "face".

Therefore, for the sake of "face", the Japanese built two super luxurious living targets, the Yamato and the Musashi, for the U.S. Naval Air Force.

For the same reason, the Japanese Army is the same.

Losing face is unacceptable to the arrogant Japanese army, and they are extremely unwilling to accept failure.

Since they still have the ability to save, they naturally want to do their best to save it.

Although Lieutenant General Hata Toshiro could hardly accept "losing face", he was a cautious and steady person after all, so he did not support the resumption of the siege, but hesitated, and then kicked the ball to the Tokyo headquarters.

After receiving the telegram from Lieutenant General Hata Toshi-liu "request for combat guidance," the Chief of the Staff Headquarters, General Prince Kanin Miyazaihito, the Minister of Army, Lieutenant General Yoshijiro Umezu, the Deputy Chief of the Staff Headquarters, Lieutenant General Tada Jun, and the Minister of the Army, Vice Minister Higashikuni Miya Toshihiko Lieutenant General Wang and other top army officials held a meeting.

Among the four high-level army decision-makers, Lieutenant General Renyan Wang supported the resumption of the offensive, Lieutenant General Tada Shun opposed the resumption of the offensive, Lieutenant General Meijin did not express his position for a long time, and Prince Zain was also a little difficult to make a decision.

In the telegram, Lieutenant General Hata Toshi-[-] claimed that "if the attack on Nanjing is resumed now, the difficulty and casualties will definitely be much lower than before, but it may still be serious. However, the casualties and losses are within the range of the Central China Front Army.

Whether to resume the attack, it is difficult for the front army to obtain a conclusion, and request the headquarters to give operational guidance."

Lieutenant General Tada Hayao said: "After the imperial army launched a grand strategy in North China, although it has plundered thousands of miles and obtained a vast and rich area, it will take some time for the empire to obtain returns from the above newly occupied areas, and the North China strategy has been completed. Let the financial resources of the imperial headquarters become more and more tight, and if the attack on Nanjing is resumed now, it will definitely be another big war, I'm afraid... the imperial power will be overwhelmed!" He looked worried.

Lieutenant General Renyan Wang disagreed: "When the Chinese army in Nanjing had 10,000+ before, it was a shame that the imperial army could not defeat it. Now there are only tens of thousands. It is unreasonable for the imperial army to fail to defeat it, let alone dare not fight directly. The place name Nanjing has become a stain on the Imperial Army!"

Lieutenant General Meijin suggested: "In my opinion, it may be possible to carry out a high-intensity tentative attack, dispatching two divisions, and conduct a tentative attack on valuable and prominent positions outside Nanjing, so as to ask for directions.

If the difficulty is still very high, then enough is enough, if the difficulty is not as great as before, it is worth discussing further to resume the full-scale siege!"

After thinking about it, Prince Zai Ren felt that this proposal was the most reasonable and appropriate, so he nodded: "Let's reply like this!"

In the end, the response of the high-level Japanese army did not exceed the expectations of the high-level Nanjing army. In fact, this was not a magic trick, but the result of objective laws.

Facing the city of Nanjing, whose defense was greatly reduced, the Japanese army could not be indifferent, but there were fears in various aspects. Therefore, "testing it out" was the most reasonable and appropriate measure.

The instructions issued by the Tokyo headquarters to the Central China Front of the Japanese Army were to "dispatch no more than two divisions to carry out tentative attacks on valuable and prominent positions outside Nanjing City. If the results are satisfactory and the losses are not heavy, you may consider restoring full blown city".

After receiving this instruction, Major General Tsukada Ko, Lieutenant General Yanagawa, Lieutenant General Ando, ​​Lieutenant General Yamada and other Japanese generals who supported the "resume siege" were all overjoyed, and immediately formulated this "exploratory attack" operation intensively. plan.

Since the Tokyo headquarters said that "no more than two divisions will be dispatched", the number has been limited, so Major General Tsukada and others dispatched the 2nd and 6th divisions with the strongest combat effectiveness, and recruited troops from other divisions. From here, a large number of elite soldiers were transferred to these two divisions, making the actual strength of each of the two divisions reach about 3. Not only that, the 2nd and 6th Field Heavy Artillery Brigades of the Japanese Central China Front Army at this time They were all transferred to the 2nd and 6th Divisions (the original 5th Heavy Artillery Brigade has been transferred to the North China battlefield), so as to concentrate the strongest troops and strongest firepower to launch this "exploratory attack".

After repeated research, Major General Tsukada Gong and others finally set the target of the attack on Dasheng Pass.

Chapter 332 Crazy City (2)

When Nanjing City was about to usher in a large-scale fierce battle after about a month of peace, good news came from the battlefield in Central and Northern Jiangsu.

The Nanjing Army that broke out of the city of Nanjing successfully crossed the Yangtze River and stepped on the plain of central Jiangsu.

这批部队的番号包括：第77师的第918装甲团、第128机械化步兵团、第813摩托化团，第88师、第99师、第145师、第170师、第182师、第100师4个团、南京工兵旅的1个工兵团（该团番号暂时被定为“南京工兵团”）、南京炮兵旅一半火炮和炮兵（该部番号暂时被定为“南京炮兵团”）等。

After deducting the losses in the breakout operations and the disabled soldiers, women, children and the elderly transported away by the Yangtze River Fleet of the National Army, this group of troops currently has about 3 regular troops, more than 7000 militiamen, more than 5000 migrant workers, more than 8 women, and 2 elderly people. More than 2 people, more than 1 children, and more than [-] mildly and moderately wounded soldiers, the total number of [-] to [-], gathered on the land on the north bank of the Yangtze River to form a mighty huge team.

Fortunately, the Chinese Air Force has the air supremacy here, otherwise the Japanese planes launched indiscriminate bombing, and so many people would be living targets on the ground.

Li Yutang, Song Xilian and other generals reorganized the troops. Since most of the militiamen and migrant workers have been tempered by the flames of war, although their combat quality and combat skills are still far from those of real soldiers, they have practical experience after all. Therefore, They were all added to the army, making the number of officers and soldiers in the army more than 4 (Li Yutang and Song Xilian basically added militia workers to the three regiments of the 77th Division and their own 99th and 88th Divisions , did not make much for the three divisions from the local army); as for the weapons and equipment, they are still very satisfactory. There are more than 300 tanks, and dozens of them can continue to be used after repairs, and the artillery is only Lost [-]-[-]%, overall, the combat effectiveness of this force is very impressive.

On the whole, at this time, except for most of northern Jiangsu and the isolated city of Nanjing in southern Jiangsu, two-thirds of Jiangsu Province had fallen. The lone army goes deep, but they are not alone, because the Yangtze River behind them is their supply line.

After defeating the Japanese Yangtze River Fleet, under the strong cover of Air Force aircraft, the National Army’s Yangtze River Fleet raced against time to deliver supplies to the troops of Li Yutang and Song Xilian, and it could transport 3 to 2500 tons at a time (the Japanese Navy had just transferred it to China. The Navy has three [-]-ton transport ships, and these three ships alone can transport more than [-] tons of supplies at a time), so at least for now, the troops of Li Yutang and Song Xilian can get relatively sufficient logistical supplies.

On the Yangtze River, there is such a scene: light cruisers, destroyers, gunboats, gunboats, and torpedo boats of the Chinese Navy mightily protect the transport boats from west to east and down the river. If the Japanese planes come, the fighter jets will go to meet them, if the Japanese fleet comes, the dive bombers will go to attack, if the Japanese troops on both sides of the Strait use land artillery to intercept, the ju-88 bombers will go to bomb.

Therefore, although the Japanese army tried their best to intercept it, the effect was not great. They had to watch helplessly as the Chinese navy's fleet swaggered past under their noses.

After a night's rest, Li Yutang and Song Xilian swung their troops northward and launched a massive attack on Yangzhou City, which was only [-] kilometers away from the Yangtze River, which had been occupied by the Japanese army.

In fact, after Li Song's troops crossed the river, the nearest city to them was Yizheng (Yizheng) by the river, but the Japanese army had already prepared for it. The aircraft group suffered heavy bombing losses and then retreated into Yizheng County. First, they used the city to launch a defensive battle. The Japanese army knew that Li Song’s troops had a large number of tanks and armored vehicles, and the air supremacy was also in the hands of the national army, so it was not conducive to the Japanese army to start a field battle. With the help of more than 3 Chinese people in the county as a cover, avoid being bombed by the Chinese Air Force fleet (the Chinese army's bomber fleet must not conduct indiscriminate bombing of Chinese cities that hide enemy troops but have a large number of Chinese people).

Li and Song knew that Yizheng was in a hurry and it would be difficult to fight, so they deliberately threw off Yizheng, traveled [-] kilometers north, and launched an attack on Yangzhou City.

In the matter of troop mobilization, Li and Song left behind the 918th, 128th, 77th Cavalry, and the 145th, 170th, and 182nd Divisions (the total strength of these three divisions at this time has Less than 5000 people) on the Yangtze River near Yizheng County, one is to wait for the Japanese army to leave the city in the wild, and then mechanized to kill them; the other is to protect the riverside ferry and continue to receive supplies from the navy fleet. Therefore, it was the 99th Division, the 88th Division, the 77th Regiment of the 813th Division, and the artillery, engineering, and biochemical troops of Li Song's headquarters that were thrown into the battle of Yangzhou City.

Although the battle of Yangzhou City was small in scale, it was of great significance, because it was the Chinese army's active attack on a Chinese city occupied by the Japanese army.

盘踞扬州城的日军是第25师团第70联队两个步兵大队以及该师团第25辎重兵联队的一个大队，总兵力3000余人，指挥官是第70联队联队长加藤怜三大佐。