Quartermasters can also fight the devils

In the headquarters of the 9th Division, Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Ryosuke was looking at the telegram in his hand and constantly weighing the results. His troops had been attacking Hongcheng for several days, but the results were not satisfactory. Although they had occupied half of the city, the casualties of the troops were also very heavy.

He now has some admiration for the Chinese government's new 22nd Army. The other side is like a dog-skin plaster, defending the urban area of ​​Hongcheng tightly. Last night, the Chinese army also sent some small troops to harass the occupied area of ​​the city.

The harassment operations of these small Chinese troops not only caused casualties among some officers and soldiers, but the most important thing was that these small Chinese troops were very disgusting. They were familiar with every street here. The guard troops of their two squadrons could not catch up with these small troops in the dark. They often wandered around a few houses and then disappeared.

Now the officers and soldiers in the city have already shown some panic. Even going to the toilet requires several people to act together, otherwise they are likely to be ambushed by the Chinese harassment troops. Not to mention getting a good rest at night. Now the commanders on the front line have reported to them, and many officers and soldiers dare not sleep at night, for fear that they will be killed by the Chinese army in their sleep.

"Sir, our current troop strength has reached its limit. Should we consider transferring some troops from the 101st Division on the west coast to join the battle in the city? This way, we can speed up the attack." Major General Jing Shuxuanshi kindly reminded.

Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Ryosuke is now in a dilemma. If he wants to complete the goal and task given to him by the 101th Army Headquarters to quickly occupy Hongcheng and destroy the New 101nd Army, it is necessary to transfer officers and soldiers of the st Division. However, he has no confidence in the fighting spirit and morale of the officers and soldiers of the st Division. He might not be able to help and lead his own th Division astray, which would be very disgusting.

Seeing that the division commander, Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Yoshisuke, did not object to his proposal, Major General Ishu Nobutoki continued to persuade him, "Your Excellency, we can have the 101st Division dispatch a battalion of officers and soldiers to help us guard the rear of the occupied area, and let them play hide-and-seek with those small Chinese troops. In this way, we can concentrate our troops and quickly break through the defenses of the Chinese defenders. I think that no matter what, the officers and soldiers of the 101st Division can still complete the task of playing hide-and-seek with the small Chinese troops."

Well, after listening to the suggestion of Major General Ii Nobutoki, Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Ryosuke was also tempted. It was indeed as Major General Ii Nobutoki said, there was no need to give any difficult tasks to the officers and soldiers of the 101st Division who were transferred over. They just needed to hang around in the occupied area and put some pressure on those small Chinese troops. The officers and soldiers of the 101st Division should be able to accomplish this task.

So, Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Yoshisuke sent a telegram to Major General Fukutaro Nishiyama, the chief of staff of the 101st Division on the west bank, asking him to immediately dispatch a combat-capable infantry battalion to cooperate with the attack of other troops of the th Division in the city.

Major General Fukutaro Nishiyama, who had just enjoyed two days of comfort on the west bank of the Gan River, became worried after receiving the telegram from Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Yoshisuke. He had to obey Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Yoshisuke's orders. Now the 101st Division was nominally under the command of Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Yoshisuke. In addition, he also knew that the 106th Division was surrounded. He knew that it must be the th Army Command that put pressure on Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Yoshisuke to occupy Hongcheng as soon as possible.

However, the 101st Division does not have any combat-capable infantry battalions now. Moreover, the officers below have a visceral aversion to the urban area of ​​Hongcheng. It would be inappropriate for any battalion of his to go there. There are not many middle and low-level officers left in the 101st Division.

After thinking for a while, Major General Fukutaro Nishiyama still couldn't figure out which infantry battalion would be suitable to fight in the urban area, so he called all the surviving regiment commanders and battalion commanders to his command center to see if there was any commander who could take the initiative to take on this task.

When the commanders of all the troops of the 101st Division came to the headquarters and learned the news, the entire headquarters fell into endless silence. This made Major General Nishiyama Fukutaro sigh in his heart. He felt that if the division commander, Lieutenant General Ito Masayoshi, could see this scene, he would probably be so angry that he would come back to life.

"Your Excellency Chief of Staff, our 101st Division is too weak at the moment. All of our infantry battalions have experienced many days of fighting, and the losses are not optimistic. Now none of our infantry battalions can meet the requirements of His Excellency Commander Yoshizumi Yoshisuke. I personally think that we should temporarily put together a fully staffed infantry battalion to accept the leadership of His Excellency Commander Yoshizumi Yoshisuke?" After thinking for a long time, Colonel Yukizo Hasegawa, commander of the 103rd Regiment, made a suggestion to Major General Fukutaro Nishiyama.

Major General Nishiyama Fukutaro was about to explode with anger, but after hearing Colonel Hasegawa Yukizo's suggestion, his eyes lit up. Yes, Hasegawa Yukizo's idea was a good one. It would not damage the structure of his own troops, and it also met the requirements of Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Ryosuke. It was a good idea.

"Well, Colonel Hasegawa Yukizo's suggestion is very good. Indeed, after so many days of hard fighting, no battalion of our 101st Division is intact. But we also have to meet the support needs of the th Division. I think we should do as Colonel Hasegawa Yukizo suggested. We should select capable personnel from various units to form a temporary full-strength battalion to reinforce the th Division's battle in the urban area." Major General Fukutaro Nishiyama announced the solution to the matter with satisfaction.

Soon, with the crowdfunding of all the commanders of the 101st Division, a complete and fully staffed infantry battalion was successfully formed. This temporary battalion was given the number of the 101nd Battalion of the st Regiment by Major General Fukutaro Nishiyama. The original nd Battalion had disappeared along with the Hue Gate in Hongcheng on the first day, so now it was just right to use this unit's number to get the job done.

As for the captain of this brigade, with the humility of various chief officers, Saburo Hanekawa was honored to take the position.

Saburo Hanekawa was previously a second lieutenant staff officer in the regiment headquarters and also participated in the offensive operations in the urban area. Due to the heavy losses of officers in the army, after the 101st Division arrived at the west bank of the Gan River, he was appointed as a captain squadron leader. Saburo Hanekawa had only been the squadron leader for two days when he was immediately promoted to major battalion commander.

But the newly appointed Major Saburo Hanekawa is not happy now. When he received the order, he felt terrible. He knew very well why he was "honored" to be chosen as the captain of this suicide squad. The reason is very simple. He is just a poor guy from the countryside of Nara.

Why did Major Saburo Hanekawa think that this unit was a suicide squad? First of all, he had experienced the battle in Hongcheng city before, and the endless tricks of the Chinese army had caused him mental breakdown.

Once again, this newly formed brigade seemed to be fully staffed, but he knew very well that no one would be willing to send their good children out. What good could there be in the soldiers who could be assigned to this brigade? Taking such a demoralized and weak troop to the urban area to fight against the Chinese army would be nothing more than suicide.

When seeing the officers and soldiers of the 101nd Battalion of the st Regiment, Major Saburo Hanekawa suddenly wanted to draw his gun and shoot himself. He was the only qualified officer in the entire battalion, and the other squadron leaders and team leaders were all soldiers who were promoted temporarily. In fact, he was just a former second lieutenant, leading soldiers to die.

Major Saburo Hanekawa had no choice but to bite the bullet and lead the demoralized officers and soldiers of the 101nd Battalion away from the st Division's base on the west bank of the Ganjiang River under the watchful eyes of the division chief of staff, Major General Fukutaro Nishiyama.

Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Yoshisuke, commander of the 101th Division, also received the reinforcement force sent by the st Division with great importance. When Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Yoshisuke and Major General Ishu Nobutoshi saw the officers and soldiers of this brigade, they kept sighing in their hearts, but they had no choice now.

Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Ryosuke felt that it was okay for this battalion of officers and soldiers to play hide-and-seek with the small Chinese forces in the urban area. To put it bluntly, even if the small Chinese forces continued to launch sneak attacks, this infantry battalion would be enough to keep the Chinese army at bay for a while, so it would still be of some use.

After a brief inspection of the troops, Lieutenant General Yoshizumi Ryosuke quickly asked Major Saburo Hanekawa to bring the troops into the city to replace his two rear defense squadrons. He was afraid that if he looked at this unit a few more times, it would shake his belief in victory.

Major Saburo Hanekawa led the officers and soldiers of the second battalion and walked slowly on the road to the urban area. It seemed that in the eyes of these officers and soldiers, the urban area of ​​Hongcheng was a monster with a bloody mouth, and the direction they were heading was the big mouth of this monster.

The officers and soldiers of the Second Battalion had already slowed down their pace, but they finally reached the edge of Hue Gate. Looking at the Hue Gate, which was still a pile of broken bricks and rubble, all the officers and soldiers felt very bad in their hearts. The previous Second Battalion had all been killed here, and now it was finally their turn.

Indeed, the designation of the 101nd Battalion of the 101st Regiment of the 100st Division seemed a bit unlucky. After the newly formed nd Battalion arrived in the urban area and took over the defense mission, the new th Division also gathered the remaining officers and soldiers of the special forces battalion. They needed to enter the rear of the Japanese army through various gaps in the two armies' defense lines after dark to fight.

"Brothers, this time we are going to fight behind enemy lines. I don't have any specific arrangements. How to fight and what to fight are all up to you to decide. I only have one request, and that is to turn the Japanese rear upside down and not let the Japanese have any comfortable rest time. Do you understand?" Zhang Wenwu loudly instructed the more than 100 officers and soldiers of the New th Division Special Service Battalion in front of him.