Quartermasters can also fight the devils

In the headquarters of the new 100th Division, after receiving Li Zhengying's telegram, Ouyang Heng happily said to Zhang Wenwu: "Division Commander, Li Zhengying succeeded, and he plans to continue looking for the Japanese artillery unit to see if he can launch a surprise attack on the Japanese artillery unit. In addition, he also found that the Japanese rear garrison troops were drawn from the Japanese artillery units, and the previous garrison troops have all been reinforced to our front. It seems that the Japanese army is preparing to launch an all-out attack on our front defense position tomorrow."

Zhang Wenwu was also happy after hearing Ouyang Heng's report. He looked at the map in front of him, took out a cigarette, lit it, and said, "Brother Ouyang, it seems that our previous tactics of depleting the Japanese army were very successful. The Japanese army's loss of manpower may be much greater than we estimated. This is a good thing. Once Li Zhengying and his men deal with the Japanese artillery unit, it will be much easier to defeat the Japanese army that is fighting in a roundabout way."

Ouyang Heng also nodded in agreement, and then continued: "Division Commander, although the Japanese losses are greater than we estimated, they are still of a certain scale. The main reason is that we have limited time. After today, we only have less than two days left. The subsequent battles will not be easy to fight. If the Japanese are determined to defend, our casualties will be great when we attack."

Zhang Wenwu was also pacing in the command post, thinking for a while. He said to Ouyang Heng, "Brother Ouyang, send a telegram to Li Zhengying. If he can knock out the Japanese artillery unit, then use the Japanese artillery to bombard the Japanese camp. It doesn't matter if you can hit it accurately or not. Throw all the Japanese artillery shells at me and try to cause some losses to the Japanese. The Japanese will definitely break out to the rear. Let the regiment of the new 210th Division be prepared and use all means to block the Japanese breakout. Li Zhengying's troops will stay there and move freely. The goal is to kill as many Japanese as possible. Tomorrow night, organize all the troops to launch a general attack on the Japanese. If we are not able to completely eliminate this Japanese force before o'clock the next morning, we will notify the commander and the theater to retreat and never fight."

Ouyang Heng understood that the time for this battle was too tight. Whether the Japanese troops could be completely eliminated according to the plan depended on luck. It would be great if the 12th Army could hold on for two more days.

In the direction of Daya Bay, the troops of the 12th Army were still holding Zengcheng. The attack of the 18th Division of the Japanese Army in Zengcheng was still advancing slowly. The Japanese Army was also waiting for the troops that were attacking Huaxian County in a roundabout way to successfully capture Huaxian County. As long as Huaxian County was occupied, the intensity of the attack on Zengcheng would increase a lot. They would occupy Zengcheng in the shortest time and then directly attack Yangcheng.

"Why haven't the flanking troops captured Huaxian yet? Send them a telegram, I will only give them one more day, and they must occupy Huaxian next year. The flanking troops of the Fifth Division on the west bank of the Pearl River are almost occupying Sanshui. We can't lag behind the speed of the Fifth Division." Lieutenant General Nagakura Seiichi, commander of the 18th Division, looked at the battle report sent by his flanking troops and ordered the communications staff with great dissatisfaction.

His flanking troops still failed to capture Huaxian County today, but in the battle report sent by the 21st Army Headquarters, the commander of the 5th Division, Lieutenant General Anriyoshi, had telegraphed to the headquarters saying that his troops had reached the last line of defense of the Chinese army outside the city of Sanshui. Tomorrow, his 5th Division will be able to occupy Sanshui according to the combat plan formulated before the war and cut off the escape route of the Chinese army near Yangcheng to the west.

This made Lieutenant General Hisana Makoto of the 18th Division a little anxious. If the entire combat plan failed because his troops failed to occupy Huaxian on time, he would be held accountable by the headquarters after the war. Moreover, his troops were facing the miscellaneous local troops of the Chinese government. In this case, he had no good reason to excuse this incident.

You know, the goal of this operation is to destroy the New 22nd Army of the Chinese government. The expeditionary army and the headquarters personally issued this combat mission, and they absolutely cannot let the mission fail because their troops failed to complete the plan formulated before the war.

Meanwhile, Commander Yu was very worried at the headquarters of the 158th Army. Although the 158th Division had managed to defend Hua County today, the attack of the Japanese flanking forces was too fierce. From the post-war report just sent by the 158th Division, Commander Yu also learned that after more than a day of fighting, the casualties of the 158th Division were already very serious. Now all the officers and soldiers of the th Division who can participate in the battle together have only more than people. As for the th Independent Brigade, it has basically been wiped out. There are only more than people left in the entire brigade, which is not enough to form a battalion.

With this small number of troops, Huaxian will definitely not be able to be defended tomorrow. If Huaxian is lost, the 12th Army will have no retreat and can only retreat quickly to the west and evacuate from Sanshui before it is occupied by the Japanese army. But in that case, his troops are not close to Sanshui now. Can the troops of the new 22nd Army hold Sanshui for him?

Commander Yu felt that the remnants of his 12th Army would not be taken seriously by the government's main forces, so he sent a telegram to Commander He of the war zone, requesting that his troops be allowed to withdraw from Zengcheng to Huaxian. By then, even if the Japanese attacked Huaxian and he could not defend it, he would have a retreat, so that the entire army would not be surrounded by the Japanese in Yangcheng.

Commander He of the war zone is now in the command center in Nanhai City, listening to reports on the situation in various directions today. Senior Counselor Wang is still carrying out this task as the chief of staff.

"Commander He, the performance of the 158th Army in Daya Bay today was quite good. The Japanese flanking troops failed to occupy Huaxian County, and the Japanese troops in Zengcheng did not advance much. Overall, the battle in Daya Bay was in line with our expectations. However, the 158th Division and the th Independent Brigade guarding Huaxian County suffered heavy casualties. Now these two troops combined have less than people. Commander Yu of the th Army just sent a telegram. He hopes that the theater command will agree to let him retreat to Huaxian County with the troops in Zengcheng. He believes that with the small number of people in the th Division, they will not be able to defend Huaxian County tomorrow." Senior Counsellor Wang also made a report on the situation in Daya Bay.

Commander He was also looking at the map and listening to Senior Counselor Wang's report. After weighing it for a moment, he said, "Send a telegram to Commander Yu of the 12th Army Group. The theater headquarters agrees that his troops should withdraw from Zengcheng to Huaxian for defense, but they must hold on to Huaxian and contain the flanking combat troops of the Japanese 18th Division."

Commander He agreed to the 12th Army's request to withdraw. After all, the previous plan was for the 12th Army to defend Huaxian County and tie down the Japanese army's flanking forces. As for Zengcheng, the Japanese army was just pretending to do so here. If Huaxian County was lost later, the Japanese army in Zengcheng would definitely launch a strong attack, and Zengcheng would not be able to be defended. It would be better to let the 12th Army concentrate its forces to defend Huaxian County. After all, Commander Yu was also worried that his retreat would be cut off by the Japanese army.

Senior Canon Wang nodded to show that he understood. He also felt that the remaining men of the 158th Division would definitely not be able to defend Hua County. It would be more reliable to let the th Army concentrate its forces to defend Hua County.

"The situation on the west bank of the Pearl River is much better. The Japanese army's direct attack on Nanhai City was blocked outside the city by the new 211th Division and could not advance a single step. According to the battle report of the new 211th Division, the Japanese army should have lost more than two squadrons of officers and soldiers in the frontal attack today. The Japanese troops that made a roundabout attack on Sanshui arrived in front of our last line of defense outside Sanshui City in the evening under the lure of the new 100th Division. According to the plan, the troops of the new 100th Division will cut off the retreat and supply lines of this Japanese army tonight, and start attacking this Japanese army tomorrow. Except for one regiment of the new 210th Division that was seconded to the new 100th Division for combat, the rest of the troops have arrived at the east side of Nanhai City and began to build fortifications in preparation for resisting the Japanese troops coming from the direction of Yangcheng." Senior Counsellor Wang introduced the battle situation on the west bank of the Pearl River with great interest.

Wang Gaocan was obviously very satisfied with the battlefield on the New 22nd Army's side. The Japanese army was basically acting according to the plan formulated by the New 22nd Army before the war. Moreover, the losses of various units of the New 22nd Army were very small, and the combat effectiveness was basically preserved intact. It can be said that everything was under the control of the New 22nd Army at this point in the battle.

Commander He also nodded, and then said to Senior Counselor Wang: "Tonight is critical. If there is a new battle report sent in time, I will wait for Huang Jinxian's victory report in the headquarters. Tell the new 22nd Army that the Japanese army may come from Zengcheng tomorrow, and let them be prepared."

Commander Yu of the 158th Army was overjoyed when he received the order from the war zone agreeing to his retreat. He quickly ordered the troops in Zengcheng to withdraw to Huaxian overnight and asked the th Division in Huaxian to prepare for defense. At the same time, he also ordered the headquarters of the th Army to evacuate from Yangcheng to Huaxian overnight, and all troops must arrive in Huaxian before dawn.

This time, the troops of the 12th Army in Huaxian also paid attention to concealment when retreating, to avoid being discovered by the Japanese troops on the opposite side. They were afraid that the Japanese would know of their retreat and launch an attack, which would make it easy for them to be entangled by the Japanese. In that case, their troops would basically be finished.

Hao Jian led his men to search forward quietly. He felt that the Japanese artillery unit should be in this area, which was already on the same line as the second line of defense. Li Zhengying led his men to attack the second line of defense of the Japanese. Anyway, the task given to them by the division was to kill as many Japanese troops as possible, which was very much to the liking of the suicide squad and the special forces battalion officers and soldiers.