Quartermasters can also fight the devils

In the headquarters of the Japanese China Expeditionary Force in the Chinese city of Jinling, Commander of the China Expeditionary Force, Lieutenant General Hata Shunroku, looked at the position of Quzhou on the sand table of the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign, where a small flag had been successfully planted, representing that the area had been occupied by Japanese troops.

However, in order to destroy the main force of the Third War Zone of the Chinese Government, the offensive force of the 13th Japanese Army had already failed in Jinhua and Lanxi, and this time it failed again in Quzhou. This series of setbacks began to make the commander of the Chinese Expeditionary Army, Lieutenant General Hata Shunroku, panic.

The more Lieutenant General Hata Shunroku, commander of the China Expeditionary Army, looked at the battlefield situation, the more familiar it seemed to him. It was exactly the same situation as the Third Changsha Battle faced by the Japanese 11th Army. The situation faced by the Japanese 11th Army some time ago was now being repeated on the side of the Japanese 13th Army.

Therefore, Lieutenant General Hata Shunroku, commander of the Chinese Expeditionary Army, sent a telegram to remind Lieutenant General Sawada Shigeru, commander of the Japanese 13th Army, that the troops of the Chinese government's Third War Zone were not defeated by the Japanese offensive forces. The Chinese army consciously and voluntarily gave up the front positions and moved to the outer lines.

Moreover, the attacking force of the Japanese 13th Army had been fighting for nearly a month. The officers and soldiers in the attacking force were exhausted, and the supplies they carried were insufficient.

Intelligence has now gradually shown that the Chinese troops withdrawing to the outer lines have caused great harassment to the logistical supply lines of the Japanese 13th Army's offensive forces. Once the supply lines of the Japanese 13th Army's offensive forces are cut off by the Chinese army, the Japanese 13th Army's offensive forces on the front line will be surrounded by the Chinese government's Third War Zone troops, repeating the disastrous defeat of the Japanese 11th Army in the Third Battle of Changsha.

Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, commander of the 13th Army of the Japanese Army, was very proud when he heard the communications staff reading the reminder telegram sent by Lieutenant General Shunroku Hata, commander of the China Expeditionary Army, because what Lieutenant General Shunroku Hata, commander of the China Expeditionary Army, was worried about was exactly the situation that Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, commander of the 13th Army of the Japanese Army, wanted to see.

Before the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign began, Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, commander of the 13th Japanese Army, carefully studied the reasons for the disastrous defeat of the 11th Japanese Army in the Third Battle of Changsha. Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada believed that the tactics of "blocking the front, attacking from both sides, and cutting off the food supply in the rear" formulated by Commander Xue of the Ninth War Zone of the Chinese Government were indeed powerful.

But after careful research, Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, commander of the 13th Army of the Japanese Army, discovered that Commander Xue's tactics were not unsolvable. All he had to do was divide the troops into two batches when the Japanese Army attacked. If the Chinese troops attacked the Japanese Army, the next batch of Japanese troops would just arrive and counter-attack the Chinese troops, thus completely eliminating the troops of the Third War Zone of the Chinese government.

However, before continuing to search for the Chinese government's third war zone's outer-line troops for a decisive battle, the commander of the Japanese 13th Army, Lieutenant General Sawada Shigeru, still had to let his troops rest well. As the commander of the Chinese Expeditionary Army, Lieutenant General Hata Shunroku, reminded him in the telegram, the officers and soldiers of the Japanese 13th Army's offensive forces were already very tired.

After the Japanese 13th Army captured Quzhou City, continuous heavy rains in Quzhou, Zhejiang Province caused the rivers near Quzhou to overflow, and the plains near Quzhou were basically submerged by the floods. Even three combat aircraft of the Japanese Air Force parked at Longyou Forward Airport were washed away by the floods, and all the remaining aircraft had water in their cabins and were completely unusable. It can be said that the continuous heavy rains in Zhejiang Province helped the Chinese army destroy many Japanese aircraft.

In addition, the heavy weapons and vehicles of the attacking divisions of the Japanese 13th Army are still blocked on the north bank of the Wuxi River due to heavy rains and floods, and the temporary railway bridge that had just been repaired was destroyed by the flood. Therefore, the commander of the Japanese 13th Army, Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, decided to postpone the pursuit.

Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, commander of the 116th Japanese Army, issued an order at noon on the day when the 116th Japanese Army's offensive force captured Quzhou. He ordered the th Division and the Kono Brigade to assemble near Quzhou, rest and wait for orders, and ordered the th Division to prepare to cross the Qujiang River to take up the security mission near Quzhou. The Harada Brigade originally assigned to the th Division was transferred to the direct command of the th Japanese Army Headquarters, and ordered the nd Division and the nd Division to suspend the pursuit and assemble, rest and wait for orders.

The heavy rain in Zhejiang Province did not stop until June 9. As the rain stopped, the water levels of the rivers began to drop. The commander of the 13th Japanese Army, Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, decided to let the offensive force of the 13th Japanese Army continue to pursue the Chinese army.

Faced with the offensive forces of the Japanese 13th Army, Commander General Gu of the Third War Zone of the Chinese government ordered the 10th Army to organize defense in the Jiangshan area and the 32nd Army to organize defense in the Yushan area. He also ordered the 88th Army of the 25th Army and the temporary 9th Army to be responsible for harassing the rear of the offensive forces of the Japanese 13th Army and destroying the transportation lines.

When the various troops of the Third War Zone of the Chinese government began to adjust their deployments, the troops of the 22nd Division of the 13th Army of the Japanese Army launched a pursuit first. The troops of the 22nd Division of the Japanese Army attacked westward along the south bank of Jiangshan Port and both sides of the railway line.

The troops of the 32nd and 15th Divisions of the Japanese Army then began to attack westward. The attacking forces of the 13th Army of the Japanese Army only encountered slight resistance from a small part of the troops of the Third War Zone of the Chinese Government along the way. The troops of the 13th Army of the Japanese Army quickly occupied Jiangshan.

After the troops of the 13th Japanese Army occupied Jiangshan, Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, commander of the 13th Japanese Army, sent out the Xiaojunjiang Brigade, which had been hidden before the battle. This temporary brigade, composed of three infantry battalions drawn from the 26th Division and the 37th Division of the Japanese North China Front Army by Lieutenant General Hata Shunroku, commander of the China Expeditionary Army, was the pride of Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, commander of the 13th Japanese Army.

However, it was this temporarily formed Kojunjiang Brigade, which made Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, commander of the 13th Army of the Japanese Army, very proud, that made Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, commander of the 13th Army of the Japanese Army, taste another frustration in this battle.

Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, commander of the 13th Army of the Japanese Army, ordered Major General Kunio Kojune, commander of the Kojune Brigade, to lead the troops from Zhuji, the second starting point, to capture Lishui and then participate in the attack on Wenzhou.

At that time, the three divisions of the Provisional 9th ​​Army of the 25th Group Army of the Third War Zone of the Chinese government and the two divisions of the 88th Army temporarily transferred and temporarily under the command of the Provisional 9th ​​Army were responsible for defending Wenzhou, Lishui and other southeastern Zhejiang areas.