Quartermasters can also fight the devils

When it got light, the explosions and gunshots that had been heard in Hongcheng all night stopped. After a night of fighting, the new 100th Division successfully recaptured one-third of the urban area previously occupied by the Japanese army. However, after the Japanese army took the initiative to shrink its defense line and relatively concentrate its forces, the counterattack troops of the new 100th Division could no longer attack.

But such a result was completely acceptable to the officers and soldiers of the new 100th Division. Their counterattack was originally launched to cooperate with the night attack outside the city. As long as the night attack outside the city was successful, they would be victorious even if they did not recapture any Japanese positions.

On the other hand, the 101st Division was in a gloomy mood. In the night attack of the new 100th Division early this morning, their division commander, Lieutenant General Masayoshi Ito, died in battle, and the commander of the 101st Regiment, Colonel Kunigoro Iizuka, died in battle, and a large number of staff officers in the division headquarters also suffered heavy losses. Compared with the loss of positions in the city, the loss of these personnel was the most devastating.

At six o'clock in the morning, in the headquarters of the 11th Army of the Japanese Central China Expeditionary Army, Commander Okamura Yasuji, who had been living and eating in the headquarters since the Battle of Three Towns began, was just awakened by the Chief of Staff of the 11th Army, Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadaichi.

"Your Excellency the Commander, the 101st Division sent an urgent telegram. At one o'clock this morning, a Chinese army suddenly attacked the camp where the 101st Division headquarters was located outside Hongcheng. The commander of the 101st Division, Lieutenant General Masayoshi Ito, unfortunately died in battle. In addition, the commander of the 101st Regiment, Colonel Kunigoro Iizuka, the "God of War", was ambushed and killed by Chinese troops disguised as our army while leading his troops to reinforce the division headquarters. In addition, more than 101 officers and non-commissioned officers at all levels of the division headquarters were lost. Now the troops are fighting under the leadership of Major General Fukutaro Nishiyama, Chief of Staff of the st Division, but Major General Fukutaro Nishiyama requested tactical guidance from the headquarters." Lieutenant General Sadaichi Yoshimoto, Chief of Staff of the th Army, quickly told his commander-in-chief the urgent news he had just received.

Lieutenant General Ningji Okamura was sitting on a camp bed in his office. After listening to the report from Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Sadaichi Yoshimoto, he snatched the telegram from his hand, walked barefoot to his desk, turned on the desk lamp, and carefully read the contents of the telegram that made him shudder.

After watching for a long time, Lieutenant General Okamura Yasuji convinced himself that this was true. The first division commander to die in battle since the war between the Empire of Japan and China appeared, and it was in his own 11th Army. This made him so angry that he was shaking all over.

"Baga, damn Chinese army, where did this Chinese army come from? What are the guard troops of the 101st Division for? So many people can't even protect their own division commander. Such a force should not appear in the organization of the Imperial Japanese Army. Ito Masayoshi is also a fool. Why did he put the division headquarters so close to Hongcheng? Is he trying to show his bravery or idiocy?" Lieutenant General Okamura Yasuji felt more and more aggrieved the more he thought about it. He still couldn't hold back his anger and roared in the office.

After listening to Commander Okamura Yasuji's outburst, Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadaichi quickly reminded him, "Commander, we should send troops to reinforce the 101st Division as soon as possible. The 101st Division is too weak now. We have already lost a division commander."

Lieutenant General Okamura Yasuji also took a few deep breaths and ordered, "Send a telegram to Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Yoshisuke, the commander of the 101th Division, and ask him to lead the 101th Brigade to reinforce the 101st Division in Hongcheng as soon as possible. Before the th Division arrives, the st Division will hold the current defense line. After the th Division arrives, the remaining troops of the st Division will temporarily be under the command of Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Yoshisuke of the th Division. The strategic goal of capturing Hongcheng remains unchanged."

Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Yoshisuke of the 9th Division also received a telegram from the Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadaichi at 7 o'clock in the morning. When he saw the content of the telegram, he was stunned. Did Ito Masaki die in battle? He sent me a telegram the day before yesterday, and he died in battle in the early morning today?

However, this telegram was sent by Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadaichi, Chief of Staff of the 11th Army. He also knew why it was not sent by Commander Okamura Yasuji. After all, Commander Okamura Yasuji had just sent a telegram the day before yesterday asking him to take his troops back to Ruichang. Today he wanted to go to Hongcheng alone. Isn't this slapping himself in the face?

Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Ryosuke knew that the situation was very urgent. The 101st Division was probably very weak now, and the morale of the officers and soldiers on the front line was probably almost gone. So he quickly called over Major General Iishima Nobutoshi, the commander of the th Brigade, and asked him to order the troops to turn around again and rush to Hongcheng.

After hearing the order from Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Yoshisuke, the commander of the 101th Brigade, Major General Ishu Nobutoki, was a little speechless. He thought that this was another decision made by Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Yoshisuke on his own, so he had to remind him quietly: "Your Excellency, if we go to Hongcheng, it will be difficult to explain to Commander Okamura Ningji. Besides, Lieutenant General Ito Masaki, the commander of the st Division, does not welcome our th Division to help."

Major General Jing Shuxuan felt that there was no need for the 101th Division to put its warm face in the cold butt of the st Division.

How could Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Yoshisuke not know what Major General Ii Nobutoki meant? He did not give any explanation, but handed the telegram sent by Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadaichi to Major General Ii Nobutoki to read.

When Major General Jing Shuxuan read the contents of the telegram with his mouth open, he knew why the troops had to go to Hongcheng again. This time they were not going to assist in the battle, but the 9th Division was needed to take on the task of attacking Hongcheng.

Inside the headquarters of the new 100th Division, Zhang Wenwu and Ouyang Heng were watching Li Zhengying, with a look of joy on his face, pouring out a large pile of Japanese military rank badges from bags.

This time Li Zhengying had made a great contribution. After he returned to the city from the tunnel, Staff Officer Hao found him and told him about the killing of Colonel Kunigoro Iizuka, the commander of the 101st Regiment, and showed him Colonel Kunigoro Iizuka's military rank badge.

Before Li Zhengying could be happy enough, Liang Fei came out of the tunnel again, and with a happy face he showed him the rank badge of Lieutenant General Ito Masayoshi that he had seized. However, he didn't know what rank of officer this was, so he asked Li Zhengying to help ask at the division headquarters so that he could go and claim the reward later.

Zhang Wenwu and Ouyang Heng smiled as they took the military rank badge of Colonel Kunigoro Iizuka handed over by Li Zhengying. This sneak attack was so successful that they actually managed to take out a Japanese regiment commander. This made Zhang Wenwu and Ouyang Heng feel it was totally worth it.

"Division Commander, Chief of Staff, this was captured by a squad leader in the suicide squad. He couldn't tell what level of military rank this was. When the division staff introduced it to us before, he didn't show us such a badge." Li Zhengying handed the rank badge Liang Fei gave him to Zhang Wenwu and Ouyang Heng with a silly smile on his face.

Zhang Wenwu was looking at the military rank badge of Colonel Kunigoro Iizuka with a smile. After hearing what Li Zhengying said, he casually glanced at the rank badge in Li Zhengying's hand. After this look, Zhang Wenwu's eyes could not leave the rank badge in Li Zhengying's hand. Before he could do anything, Ouyang Heng beside him took the rank badge from Li Zhengying's hand and looked at it excitedly.

"Captain Li, did you get this military rank plate from the corpse of the Japanese soldier? Are you sure you didn't pick it up?" Ouyang Heng excitedly said to Li Zhengying.

When Li Zhengying saw the chief of staff so excited, he nodded quickly and said, "Yes, it was seized by a team leader under my command." He knew that Liang Fei must have killed an officer of a higher rank than the commander of a Japanese regiment.

"Where is this team leader? Go and call him over to me, and call all the members of his team over to me, quickly." Zhang Wenwu was so excited that his face flushed, and he quickly ordered Li Zhengying to call people.

When Li Zhengying saw that his commander was also so excited, he immediately ran to call Liang Fei and his brothers. He was now certain that Liang Fei was going to become rich.

"Commander, this..." After seeing Li Zhengying quickly running out to call for help, Ouyang Heng excitedly wanted to ask Zhang Wenwu for his opinion, but he held back the words when they came to his lips, because Zhang Wenwu waved his hands excitedly, and the meaning was very clear, he wanted to wait for Li Zhengying to call people over and ask clearly before making a judgment.

"Reporting to the division commander and chief of staff, Liang Fei, the captain of the fifth squad of the second battalion of the suicide squad, has been ordered to lead all team members to report for duty." Liang Fei and his team members are now standing at attention in the operations hall of the division headquarters.

Zhang Wenwu nodded to Ouyang Heng, and saw Ouyang Heng handed the military rank badge in his hand to Liang Fei to look at, and then asked: "How did this military rank badge come from? Tell us, tell us in detail, and don't miss any details, understand?"

After hearing the questions from the two officers, Liang Fei also told them the details of the incident in detail. Finally, he added: "Division Commander, Chief of Staff, we have also brought back some of the other items of this Japanese officer. His knife is a good knife. We have just handed it over to the staff officer in the division headquarters who is counting the military merits."

When Zhang Wenwu heard that there was a command knife, he quickly asked Li Zhengying to find the staff officer who was in charge of counting military merits to get the knife. From Liang Fei's narration, they determined that the Japanese officer who owned the rank badge was dead, and that the rank badge was taken off his military uniform. They were basically certain that the dead person was the commander of the 101st Division, Ito Masayoshi.

After Li Zhengying ran all the way and got Lieutenant General Ito Masayoshi's command sword, Zhang Wenwu and Ouyang Heng were sure at the first sight of the command sword that the dead man must be Ito Masayoshi, because this was a Japanese general-level command sword that could only be worn by Japanese lieutenant general and general-level officers.

Zhang Wenwu held Ito Masayoshi's command knife in his hand, with a smile on his face that became more and more intense. He didn't expect that he originally wanted to send people to destroy the headquarters of the 101st Division and kill some mid-level officers, but he didn't expect that this sneak attack actually killed the commander of the 101st Division and also killed a regiment commander. This was a huge profit.

"Good, well done, you all have made great contributions. Captain Liang, you take the team members down and have a good rest first. After the results of the battle are counted, I will reward you greatly." Zhang Wenwu said happily to these death squad officers and soldiers.

After Li Zhengying and Liang Fei left happily, Ouyang Heng also said to Zhang Wenwu with a smile: "Commander, it will be difficult for our division not to be famous now, haha."

He had to be happy, because this was the highest-ranking Japanese commander killed since the war between China and Japan. This achievement alone would be enough for the government to publicize for a long time, not to mention that there was also a regiment commander.