Quartermasters can also fight the devils

Lieutenant General Junrokuro Matsuura was looking at the officers and soldiers of the 106th Division who were resting around him, and he felt extremely depressed. He had set out last night with a solemn vow to lead more than brave warriors of the Empire of Japan, but after wandering around for a whole night, his troops were still circling in circles in this broken mountain area.

"Your Excellency the Division Commander, our scouts have discovered the 113th Regiment." Colonel Yoshio Sonoda walked up to Lieutenant General Junrokuro Matsuura and whispered to him some very bad news.

"Huh? What? The 113th Regiment? How did we meet them? They should be some distance away from us." Lieutenant General Junrokuro Matsuura asked in surprise. He knew that he was in trouble now. It seemed that other infiltrated troops had encountered the same problem. Now his 106th Division was probably trapped in this mountainous area.

Lieutenant General Junrokuro Matsuura had a gloomy face. Under the leadership of Colonel Yoshio Sonoda, commander of the 147th Regiment, they walked for more than 113 minutes and saw another group of Japanese officers and soldiers sitting in the woods to rest. The person standing in front of this group was Colonel Seimichi Tanaka, commander of the th Regiment.

"Your Excellency the Division Commander." Colonel Seidō Tanaka saw the division commander coming over and quickly bowed and greeted him.

"Captain Tanaka, is your compass also out of order? How did you get here? Did you see the other teams?" Lieutenant General Junrokuro Matsuura asked a series of questions to Colonel Seimichi Tanaka, commander of the 113th Regiment.

Colonel Tanaka Seidō was also feeling depressed, so he quickly replied, "Your Excellency the division commander, we don't know when our compass stopped working. Since we discovered that the compass stopped working, we have been resting here and sent out scouts to explore the surrounding areas. So far, we haven't seen any other troops."

Lieutenant General Junrokuro Matsuura was startled. It seemed that his troops had lost their way and were heading towards the 113th Regiment. He thought for a moment and pointed to Colonel Tanaka Seimichi in the right front and ordered, "Captain Tanaka, you will lead your soldiers in this direction. Once you find that the radio can be used, send a telegram to the th Army Headquarters to tell them the problem we have encountered. Do you understand?"

Lieutenant General Junrokuro Matsuura was prepared to go all the way. He asked Colonel Seimichi Tanaka to lead the troops forward. If they were lucky, they might be able to get out of this mountainous area, so that they could tell the 11th Army Headquarters about the fate of their division.

Near noon, the Japanese reconnaissance plane finally discovered a Japanese army unit running around aimlessly in the mountainous area of ​​Wanjialing. This "astonishing" discovery was quickly passed on to the headquarters of the 11th Army.

"Okay, we finally found a troop of the 106th Division, but I don't understand why they didn't contact the headquarters. Moreover, they have been marching in the mountains for too long." Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Sadaichi Yoshimoto handed the telegram about the 106th Division detected by the aircraft to Lieutenant General Yasuji Okamura, and at the same time, he also raised his own doubts.

Lieutenant General Ningji Okamura didn't know how to answer this question, but he needed to think of a solution quickly. From the findings of aerial reconnaissance, a large number of Chinese troops were moving rapidly towards the two wings of the mountainous area where the 106th Division was located. The Chinese army obviously wanted to surround the 106th Division.

Their 101th Army had already become famous because of the death of Lieutenant General Masayoshi Ito, commander of the st Division. Under no circumstances could they allow another division to be surrounded and lost.

"Mr. Yoshimoto, do we have any troops that can be mobilized near the Nanxun Line on the south bank of the Yangtze River?" Lieutenant General Yasuji Okamura did not answer the previous doubts of Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Sadaichi Yoshimoto, but instead focused on the fact that the 106th Division was about to be surrounded by the Chinese army.

Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadaichi, the chief of staff, looked at the sand table and pointed to an area near Jiujiang and said, "The 27th Division withdrew from the front line to Jiujiang yesterday for rest and replenishment, but they suffered heavy losses in the previous attack along the Yangtze River to the west, and they cannot be replenished in a short time."

Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadaichi knew that Commander Okamura Ningji wanted to find reinforcements to support the withdrawal of the 106th Division, but now each unit has its own combat direction and mission, and is basically fighting with the Chinese army. The only th Division that could be used before has now been split up and deployed to fight in the Hongcheng and Wuning directions, and the remaining troops also need to defend Ruichang.

However, if the 106th Division, which is waiting for reinforcement, is sent to rescue the th Division, he personally thinks it is still a bit difficult for the current th Division. First of all, the th Division was just reorganized this year by the Chinese Garrison Brigade. It is a Type D division with only three regiments, and the entire division has a total size of only people.

Moreover, the 27th Division had suffered heavy losses in the previous attack operations, and now the entire division has only more than 6,500 combat troops. If they are sent over, facing the defense of more than 100,000 Chinese troops, they will not be able to play any role in the battle situation.

"Commander, I think we should slow down the attack on Hongcheng first, and withdraw the troops of the 101th Division and the 106st Division in Hongcheng to reinforce the 106th Division." Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadaichi proposed what he thought was the safest way. Now they only have a few divisions of troops on the Nanxun Line. For now, the only way is to give up the attack on Hongcheng and then concentrate their forces to ensure that the th Division can be rescued.

Lieutenant General Okamura Yasuji was also very angry now. He looked at the direction of Hongcheng on the sand table. He understood that the suggestion of Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadaichi was a correct proposal, but he also had his own difficulties. The questioning and accusations of him by the expeditionary army and the headquarters had already brought him great pressure. If he could not occupy Hongcheng as soon as possible and destroy the New 22nd Army of the Chinese government, he could imagine the tremendous anger of the headquarters.

"Mr. Yoshimoto, send a telegram to the commander of the 106th Division, Lieutenant General Masaharu Homma, and ask him to lead his troops to move quickly south to support the 106th Division. Their mission is to prevent the Chinese army from forming an encirclement. Preserving a passage for the 106th Division to retreat smoothly means victory. In addition, let Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Ryosuke of the 106th Division speed up the attack on Hongcheng. As long as he can quickly occupy Hongcheng, we can withdraw troops from Hongcheng to help the th Division." In the end, Okamura Neiji decided not to use the troops in Hongcheng, but to send the th Division to rescue the th Division.

Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadaichi was about to persuade Commander Okamura Yasuji again when he saw Lieutenant General Okamura Yasuji wave his hand and continue, "Mr. Yoshimoto, the troops in Hongcheng cannot be withdrawn. First of all, the mission assigned by the headquarters to occupy Hongcheng and destroy the New 106nd Army of the Chinese government must be completed. In addition, the Chinese army's encirclement of the th Division is also an attempt to make us withdraw from Hongcheng, so that they can rescue the New nd Army surrounded by us in Hongcheng. The headquarters and the dispatched army have included the New nd Army in Hongcheng in their combat targets. We cannot give up the attack on Hongcheng."

When Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Sadaichi Yoshimoto heard Commander General Okamura Yasuji talk about the importance the Imperial Headquarters and the Expeditionary Army attached to Hongcheng, he understood in his heart that this matter could only be handled in this way. It seemed that the 106th Division could only rely on themselves. As long as the 106th Division could hold out longer than the Chinese army in Hongcheng, the Empire of Japan would still be able to win the final victory in this battle on the Nanxun Line.

As soon as the 27th Division of the Japanese Army set out, intelligence personnel near Jiujiang passed the news to the Ninth War Zone Command. Now Commander Chen was also paying close attention to the battle on the Nanxun Line. When he learned that the 27th Division was moving towards Wanjialing, he sent a telegram to Commander Xue of the First Corps, asking him to be prepared.

Now the troops of the First Corps have basically completed the encirclement of the Japanese 106th Division in the Wanjialing Mountain area. When Commander Xue learned that the Japanese 32th Division was reinforcing in the direction of Wanjialing, he also ordered the nd Army to block this Japanese army and make sure that the th Division of the Japanese Army is not allowed to approach the Wanjialing area.

After receiving the telegram from Commander Xue of the First Corps, General Huang and Chief of Staff Zhao Dong were both speechless. They could only hope that Commander Xue would lead the troops of the First Corps to annihilate the 106th Division of the Japanese Army as soon as possible. Only in this way would the New nd Army have a chance of survival.

Now the military forces of both sides have reached their limit, and it depends on who can achieve their goal first.

In the headquarters of the new 100th Division, Zhang Wenwu and Ouyang Heng were also studying the defense of Hongcheng.

"Brother Ouyang, the 106th Division will definitely intensify its attacks next. Yoshizumi Ryosuke must have also received instructions from the Japanese th Army Command to occupy Hongcheng as soon as possible so that the Japanese army will have extra troops to deal with the surrounded th Division. We must delay the Japanese troops in Hongcheng." Zhang Wenwu said to Ouyang Heng while looking at the map in front of him.

Ouyang Heng also understood what Zhang Wenwu meant, but he also said calmly: "Division Commander, now we have only more than 100 people left in the new 106th Division, and the Japanese 106th Division still has 101 people. We have to think carefully about how to last longer than the th Division. Moreover, I think Yoshizumi Ryosuke is likely to transfer some troops from the st Division that has already withdrawn to the west bank in order to speed up the attack. The pressure we are facing is too great."

Zhang Wenwu also frowned and began to think. What Ouyang Heng said was very likely.

"Brother Ouyang, disperse Li Zhengying's special forces battalion and have them constantly harass the Japanese army's rear. This will prevent the Japanese army from resting at night. This will also help with the frontal defense. In addition, ask the army commander to send us some reinforcements. Use the iron chain bridge sunk in the Ganjiang River to reinforce the troops at night. I estimate that starting from tomorrow, the offensive intensity of the 9th Division will increase a lot. If we can withstand the crazy offensive of the Japanese army for three days, the officers and soldiers of the Japanese army will also be exhausted, and their morale will certainly be lower than it is now." Zhang Wenwu told his plan to Ouyang Heng. Now he could only fight.

(Thanks to 6 yuan RMB, user, ~~De Lu Meng Yu~~, Tian Le, Zha Tian Bang. Ma Dai, and Yan Yixun who likes rough celery for their gift support! Thank you all for your support and encouragement!)