Quartermasters can also fight the devils

Zhao Xitian, the commander of the 63rd Division of the Third War Zone of the Chinese government, is the nephew of Commander Gu, the commander of the Third War Zone. His strongest combat characteristic is that he is good at laying mines. Whenever the 63rd Division participates in a battle, the mines laid by the division will definitely be beyond the expectations of the Japanese army, and "surprises" will appear at any time.

In this Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign, the 63rd Division, led by its division commander Zhao Xitian, once again used its best skills. The mines they buried were so precise that the attacking forces of the 15th Division of the Japanese Army were well protected by the mines of the 63rd Division during the days of attacking Lanxi City.

Since the 63rd Division's reputation for being good at laying mines had been experienced by the officers and soldiers of the Japanese 15th Division in the past few days, the commander of the Japanese 15th Division, Lieutenant General Naoto Sakai, was very careful on his way to the front line.

Ever since he knew that the 63rd Division of the Third War Zone of the Chinese government was good at laying mines, whenever the commander of the 15th Division of the Japanese Army, Lieutenant General Naoto Sakai, went to the front-line troops, the engineers were always in the front, surrounded by cavalry and infantry, and the commander of the 15th Division of the Japanese Army, Lieutenant General Naoto Sakai, was in the middle of the entire team. In this way, if the 63rd Division of the Chinese government laid mines on the road, the explosion would kill the people walking in front first.

Upon learning that his 15th Division's offensive force had already entered Lanxi City, the commander of the 15th Division of the Japanese Army, Lieutenant General Naoto Sakai, felt that Lanxi City was now in his control and it was time to go to the front line of Lanxi City to supervise the battle and show his face. So, the commander of the 15th Division of the Japanese Army, Lieutenant General Naoto Sakai, also led a large group of travelers to Lanxi City.

When Lieutenant General Naotsugu Sakai, commander of the 15th Division of the Japanese Army, and his entourage walked about one kilometer north of Lanxi City, they came across a three-way intersection.

At this three-way intersection, one road leads to Lanxi, one road is the route for the 15th Division to transport supplies, and the other road leads to the old residence of the top leaders of the Chinese government. In addition, there is a small hill next to the three-way intersection.

At that time, Commander Gu of the Third War Zone of the Chinese government had ordered the Chinese defenders in Jinhua and Lanxi to abandon their original defensive positions after slowing down the Japanese attack and move to the rear of the Japanese army to attack their logistics supply lines. Laying mines was a good way to attack the Japanese army.

But where should the mines be buried? Although the three roads at this fork in the road are all good places to bury mines, the Japanese army also checked the roads very strictly, and burying mines on the three roads might not achieve the desired effect.

The commander of the 63rd Division, Zhao Xitian, thought for a long time at the fork in the road and ordered the officers and soldiers responsible for laying mines to bury them on the route from the three-way intersection to the high ground. According to the Japanese army's combat habits, Japanese commanders would often stand on the high ground to observe the battlefield. This would allow them to see the situation on the front line more clearly, and would also allow the officers and soldiers to see their heroic figures. At the same time, it would also allow the division's photographic staff to leave a majestic impression of themselves.

Sure enough, when the commander of the 15th Division of the Japanese Army, Lieutenant General Naoto Sakai, and his entourage arrived at the three-way intersection, they did not know which way to go, so they had to climb up the small hill next to it to observe the terrain and situation. This was a good opportunity for the photographic staff to take a picture of his majestic "heroic figure" from this height. However, what the commander of the 15th Division of the Japanese Army, Lieutenant General Naoto Sakai, did not expect was that he had just stepped onto the small hill beside the road when he stepped on a mine laid by the officers and soldiers of the 63rd Division.

You know, in order to achieve the effect he wanted, Zhao Xitian, the commander of the 63rd Division of the Third War Zone of the Chinese government, ordered the officers and soldiers of the 63rd Division to lay mines on the road leading to the small hill and in the surrounding areas. A total of 60 mines were laid, which can be said to be a huge investment.

The death of Lieutenant General Naoto Sakai, commander of the 15th Division of the Japanese Army, was not unjust. In order to catch this big fish, Lieutenant General Naoto Sakai, commander of the 15th Division of the Japanese Army, the 63rd Division also spent a lot of effort. When Lieutenant General Naoto Sakai, commander of the 15th Division of the Japanese Army, was blown into the air by a landmine, he was already dead.

The entourage of Lieutenant General Naoji Sakai, commander of the 15th Division of the Japanese Army, saw that their division commander was actually trapped by a landmine of the Chinese army, so they all rushed over in panic to rescue Lieutenant General Naoji Sakai who was still flying in the air.

After several accompanying officers and soldiers stepped on all the landmines around the body of Lieutenant General Sakai Naotsugu, commander of the 15th Division of the Japanese Army, the remaining Japanese officers and soldiers were finally able to carry the body of Lieutenant General Sakai Naotsugu and rushed to the division field hospital. However, as soon as they arrived at the field hospital, the military doctor of the 15th Division of the Japanese Army announced the news that the division commander, Lieutenant General Sakai Naotsugu, had died.

On that day, Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, commander of the 13th Japanese Army, and Lieutenant General Shunroku Hata, commander of the China Expeditionary Army, received the news that Lieutenant General Naotsugu Sakai, commander of the 15th Japanese Division, had stepped on a landmine and died on the Lanxi front line. This shocked the two big men. Only a few days after the war began, they had lost a senior officer at the level of division commander. It seemed that this battle was destined to be fierce.

After five days and five nights of fierce fighting, the attacking forces of the Japanese 13th Army finally captured Jinhua and Lanxi. However, what the attacking forces of the Japanese 13th Army did not expect was that the Chinese troops who had been fighting fiercely with them on the battlefield a few days ago had suddenly disappeared.

It turned out that after receiving the order from Commander Gu of the Third War Zone of the Chinese government, the temporary 9th Army and the 88th Army, after inflicting a certain amount of damage to the offensive forces of the Japanese 13th Army at their respective defensive positions, took the initiative to withdraw from the defensive blocking positions and moved to both sides of the Dongyong Highway and the area north of Jinhua, respectively, to carry out flank attacks and ambushes on the offensive forces of the Japanese 13th Army, achieving the purpose of containing the offensive forces of the Japanese Army.

At the same time, after the Fifth Reserve Division had stubbornly blocked and delayed the attacking forces of the Japanese 13th Army on the north-south line of Lanxi and Zhixia, it had also moved to the southeast of Jiande. This caused the attacking forces of the Japanese 13th Army to suddenly lose the trace of the Chinese army, leaving them without a direction and target for attack.

After losing track of the Chinese government's Third War Zone troops, Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, commander of the 13th Army of the Japanese Army, ordered all troops to send out search teams to find out the specific deployment of the Chinese government's Third War Zone troops as soon as possible.