Quartermasters can also fight the devils

"Mr. Tanaka, how much combat power do you think the New 22nd Army of the Chinese government has at present? If according to the report of the 41st Regiment, the New 22nd Army of the Chinese government has suffered heavy losses, then the 42nd Regiment can still attack the South China Sea alone. But if the New 22nd Army of the Chinese government has not suffered too much loss and is retreating voluntarily, then the frontal attack must be strengthened." Commander Lieutenant General Kanro Furujo also asked the key point.

Lieutenant General Tanaka Hisaichi, the chief of staff, also knew that this was a critical issue, but how could he know the specific situation? So he weighed it in his mind and said, "Commander, the 41st Regiment's own losses are quite serious. Even if the Chinese government's new 22nd Army is much stronger than other Chinese government armies, after so many days of fighting, their losses should not be small."

What Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Tanaka Hisaichi said was basically the same as saying nothing. He was just trying to find a balance point. Because if he said that the Chinese government's new 22nd Army might not have lost too much combat power, he would be denying the authenticity of the 41st Regiment's battle report, and the commander of the 5th Division, Lieutenant General Anriyoshi, would definitely express his dissatisfaction to him.

Moreover, he really had no evidence to prove what the current status of the New 22nd Army of the Chinese Government was. So far, they had not captured a single Chinese soldier on the west bank of the Pearl River, so there was no way they could understand the current situation of the New 22nd Army of the Chinese Government.

Commander Lieutenant General Furusho Kanro did not want to question the battle report of the 41st Regiment, but if they did not clarify the matter, they would have no way to arrange the troops according to the actual situation. The Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Tanaka Hisaichi, was also a coward, and once it came to something that would offend people, he would definitely stay away.

"Mr. Tanaka, let me tell you this. We should inform Lieutenant General Andriyoshi Yasuji of the occupation of Shunde. We should also tell him that the 41st Regiment has suffered heavy losses and is no longer able to fight in the short term. In order to increase the intensity of frontal attacks, the headquarters proposes to transfer two battalions and a cavalry battalion from the 5th Division responsible for flanking operations to strengthen the frontal offensive operations. However, this matter will be based on his opinion, and the headquarters fully respects his views and opinions." Commander Lieutenant General Kanro Furusho thought of a brilliant idea, which was to let Lieutenant General Andriyoshi Yasuji decide the matter himself and see if he could get any definite information from the 41st Regiment.

After hearing the method proposed by Commander Lieutenant General Furushou Kanro, Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Hisaichi Tanaka was very impressed with Commander Lieutenant General Furushou Kanro. This was the reason why he could become the commander. His ability to transform contradictions was extraordinary. He needed to learn more and should not always avoid problems. This would not help his future improvement.

Lieutenant General Anriyoshi, the commander of the 5th Division who was preparing to land with the troops, was speechless when he saw the telegram sent by the headquarters. What the hell was this? He was just a division commander and you were the commander, so you just had to make your own judgments and decisions. He had been busy organizing the troops to land these days and had no idea about these things.

He understood that this was because the commander, Lieutenant General Kanro Furujo, was unsure about the current situation of the New 22nd Army of the Chinese Government. Lieutenant General Kanro Furujo probably wanted him to ask whether the description of the situation of the New 22nd Army of the Chinese Government in the 41st Regiment's battle report was true.

But Lieutenant General Anriyoshi felt that the commander, Lieutenant General Furusho Kan'iro, still overestimated him. He had just taken over as the division commander not long ago, and his prestige within the division had not yet been fully established. The commander of the 41st Regiment, Colonel Okabe Kan'ichi, was a veteran of the 5th Division, and he might not necessarily give face to himself, the new division commander.

Besides, since Colonel Okabe Kan'ichi sent such a telegram, it means that he had already prepared an excuse to deal with the headquarters' inquiries. In addition, as the commander of the 5th Division, asking for the battle reports of the subordinate troops showed that he did not trust the regiment commander, Colonel Okabe Kan'ichi. This was a very bad thing for him regardless of whether he could find out the actual situation or not.

This made the other regiment commanders wonder how he would view him and how he would lead the troops of the Fifth Division to fight in the future. He felt that the commander, Lieutenant General Gu Zhuangkanlang, was taking things for granted.

What worries Lieutenant General Anriyoshi the most is that the 41st Regiment is now scrapped, and the 42nd Regiment must not suffer such a heavy loss again. Should he withdraw troops to assist the 42nd Regiment in the frontal attack?

Finally, for the sake of safety, Lieutenant General Anriyoshi agreed to withdraw two battalions and a cavalry battalion that had already landed from the 21st Regiment to assist the 42nd Regiment in frontal combat. He himself took the 11th Regiment and the remaining battalion and field artillery regiment of the 21st Regiment to attack Sanshui in a roundabout way.

After making this decision in his mind, the commander of the Fifth Division, Lieutenant General Anriyoshi, was suddenly surprised to find a problem. That is, the Imperial Japanese Army had already had three regiments destroyed by the New 22nd Army of the Chinese government on the west bank of the Pearl River, and one of the regiments was completely destroyed. He was even now wondering how much combat power the New 22nd Army of the Chinese government had, and whether his own flanking troops could successfully complete the mission.

As soon as the new 210th Division retreated from Shunde, it guarded between Nanhai and Sanshui. In the subsequent battles, they basically fought in coordination. The new 211th Division had been building fortifications in Nanhai in the past few days. They were fully prepared to block the subsequent attacks of the Japanese army. When the news of the retreat of the new 210th Division came, the new 211th Division was already ready for battle.

But the officers and soldiers of the new 211th Division waited for a whole day and did not see any Japanese troops appear. Even the reconnaissance officers and soldiers sent out did not find any traces of Japanese troops between Shunde and Nanhai. It was not until these reconnaissance officers and soldiers of the new 21st Division came to the outside of Shunde that they finally found some garrison positions of the Japanese troops outside Shunde. This confused all the reconnaissance officers and soldiers. Did the Japanese troops not attack Nanhai? Why did they defend Shunde?

If the thoughts of these reconnaissance officers and soldiers were known to the commander of the 41st Regiment of the Japanese Army, Colonel Kan'ichi Okabe, he would probably have a good fight with them, saying, "What do you mean we won't attack? Does our 41st Regiment still have the strength to attack? If it weren't for your dirty tricks, would I have let you go if my 3rd Battalion and 1st Battalion were still here? I wish I could chase you to the ends of the earth."

When the news that the Japanese army stopped advancing in Shunde City and began to take defensive measures was reported to the headquarters of the New 22nd Army, Commander Huang and Chief of Staff Zhao Dong analyzed the situation and agreed that the Japanese army wanted to send out a flanking force before launching an attack on the South China Sea, which was a manifestation of the Japanese army's caution.

Commander Huang and Chief of Staff Zhao Dong also welcomed the Japanese army's performance. They were just stalling for time. If the Japanese army did not attack, they would have more free time.

According to their statistics on previous battle reports, the Japanese troops that attacked Shunde should still have at least half of their strength after two days of fighting with the new 210th Division. This can be roughly estimated from the casualties reported by the new 210th Division. In this case, the Japanese army now has at least one and a half regiments of troops in Shunde. If it were not for waiting for the flanking troops to act, it would have launched an attack on the South China Sea long ago.

Commander Huang and Chief of Staff Zhao Dong had not expected how much damage the explosion at the departure of the new 210th Division had brought to the st Regiment of the Japanese Army. If they had known that there was only one battalion of troops in Shunde for the st Regiment, they would probably have thought of completely destroying the st Regiment.

In the direction of Daya Bay, the flanking troops sent by the 18th Division have begun to attack Zhengguo. Fortunately, the 20th Independent Brigade guarding Zhengguo had received orders and warnings from the theater command before, which allowed them to build a number of defensive positions in Zhengguo. Now these positions are playing a good role.

The flanking troops of the 18th Division of the Japanese Army did not expect that the Chinese government's army had built so many defensive positions in Zhengguo, which shattered their idea of ​​using a surprise attack to quickly break through. Although there was only a brigade of troops guarding Zhengguo, they were well prepared. In addition, they had built their positions in advance in places suitable for them and planned the width of the battlefield very well. This meant that the Japanese army could only deploy a squadron at most in each attack and could only advance forward bit by bit.

When this news reached the 18th Division Headquarters, Lieutenant General Kuna Seiichi was also a little surprised. He felt that there must be a master in the Chinese army who had predicted in advance that he would send a flanking force to attack Zhengguo. However, Lieutenant General Kuna Seiichi did not care too much about this. In the face of absolute strength, even if the Chinese army predicted his combat direction in advance, they could not stop the advance of his troops. Anyway, he only had to occupy Huaxian within the time specified in the combat plan.

In the Fourth War Zone Headquarters, Senior Counsellor Wang was also discussing the current situation with Commander He while looking at the map.

"Commander He, today the New 158nd Army has voluntarily given up Shunde. However, after occupying Shunde, the Japanese army did not immediately continue to attack the South China Sea. The New nd Army believes that the Japanese army should be waiting for their flanking troops to arrive before launching an attack on the South China Sea. In the direction of Daya Bay, the Independent th Brigade in Zhengguo is delaying the flanking troops sent by the th Division of the Japanese Army, buying more time for the th Division guarding Huaxian County. I estimate that with the delay of the Independent th Brigade, the flanking troops of the th Division of the Japanese Army should not arrive in Huaxian County until tomorrow night or the morning of the day after tomorrow." Senior Counselor Wang gave a concise report on the battle situation in all directions today.