Quartermasters can also fight the devils

In fact, according to the combat plan formulated before the war by Lieutenant General Sawada Shigeru, commander of the Japanese 13th Army, the original combat time for this Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign was to end in mid-July. After completing the combat mission, the various units of the Japanese 13th Army would begin to withdraw.

The strategic goal of the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign set by Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, commander of the 13th Japanese Army, was to annihilate the Chinese government's troops in Zhejiang Province, destroy the Chinese government's confidence in continuing to confront the Empire of Japan, and at the same time capture the numerous field airfields built by the Chinese government in Zhejiang Province, and smash the bombers from England, the United States, and the Chinese Air Force that were bombing the homeland of the Empire of Japan.

Therefore, after careful consideration, Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, commander of the 13th Army of the Japanese Army, set the end time of the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign to mid-July.

However, during the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign, Lieutenant General Moritake Tanabe, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Japanese Imperial Headquarters, personally flew to the front-line headquarters of the Japanese 13th Army and held a meeting with Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, commander of the Japanese 13th Army.

This time, the Deputy Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Moritake Tanabe, came here on behalf of the Japanese Imperial Headquarters to convey the latest orders to the Commander of the 13th Japanese Army, Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada. Deputy Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General Moritake Tanabe, informed the Commander of the 13th Japanese Army, Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, that the Imperial Headquarters hoped that the troops of the 13th Japanese Army would add a combat goal in this operation, which is to plunder all of the fluorite and railway equipment of the Chinese government in Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces. This is the strategic material that the Japanese government is most looking forward to.

After the Japanese 13th Army occupied Shangrao, the Japanese headquarters sent a telegram to the commander of the Japanese 13th Army, Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, adding another combat objective to the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign, which was to destroy and confiscate the Chinese army's military facilities and military supplies in Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces, thereby weakening the Chinese government's lasting ability in strategic materials.

Therefore, in order to complete the two combat objectives temporarily added by the headquarters and buy time for plundering and transporting railway equipment and various supplies, Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, commander of the 13th Army of the Japanese Army, had to repeatedly decide to postpone the duration of the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign. Finally, Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada decided that the main combat forces of the 13th Army of the Japanese Army would withdraw in mid-August.

At the end of July, the Japanese Imperial Headquarters issued an order to Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, commander of the 13th Army of the Japanese Army, to end the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign and order the 13th Army troops to hold the Jinhua line. Then, Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, commander of the 13th Army of the Japanese Army, obeyed the order of the Japanese Imperial Headquarters and began to order the combat units of the 13th Army of the Japanese Army to begin preparations for retreat in accordance with the order of the 13th Army Headquarters.

In order to cover the retreat, Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, commander of the 13th Army of the Japanese Army, ordered the participating divisions of the 13th Army of the Japanese Army to first launch counterattacks against the Chinese government's troops around their respective garrison areas to ensure security during the retreat.

As the main combat divisions of the Japanese 13th Army began to counterattack the Chinese troops around them in accordance with the orders of the commander of the Japanese 13th Army, Lieutenant General Sawada Shigeru, the top level of the Chinese government also instructed the commander of the Third War Zone, General Gu, to move the focus of the Third War Zone westward to avoid the Japanese army's offensive.

Commander General Gu of the Third War Zone of the Chinese government also followed the instructions of the highest level of the government and readjusted and deployed the troops in the Third War Zone to avoid the large-scale sweeps by the Japanese army and preserve the combat effectiveness of the Chinese army from excessive losses.

After seeing that the combat divisions were performing well and there were basically no large-scale Chinese troops around all the troops, Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, commander of the 3th Army of the Japanese Army, ordered the nd Division, the th Division, and the nd Division of the th Army of the Japanese Army to retreat to Quzhou from Yushan, Guangfeng, and Shangrao respectively on the evening of August , and the th Division to retreat from Guixi to Hongcheng.

After the headquarters of the Third War Zone of the Chinese government discovered that the main combat division of the Japanese 13th Army began to retreat, on the second day after the Japanese army began to retreat, it ordered the troops within the Third War Zone of the Chinese government to track and pursue the retreating Japanese army.

However, after the order from Commander Gu, commander of the Third War Zone of the Chinese government, was passed down to various troops, the troops did not take active offensive actions as ordered, but only sent a small part of their forces to maintain contact with the retreating Japanese troops.

This was mainly because after two months of fierce fighting, the troops of the Third War Zone of the Chinese government were already very tired, and many of the troops had suffered heavy losses. They wanted to pursue the retreating Japanese troops, but they did not have enough physical strength to support them in accomplishing this idea.

Besides, the Japanese army's retreat was very orderly and did not give the Chinese army any loopholes to exploit. Even the New 22nd Army, which was the most active in the pursuit, did not find any good combat opportunities and could only carry out some small-scale harassment operations against the rear guard of the retreating Japanese army.

By the end of August, all the main combat divisions of the Japanese 13th Army had withdrawn to Jinhua, Lanxi and Wuyi in accordance with the order of Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, commander of the Japanese 13th Army, and the various units of the Japanese 11th Army that cooperated in the battle on the western front also returned to Hongcheng smoothly.

According to the combat order of the Japanese military headquarters, Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, commander of the Japanese 13th Army, decided to keep the 22nd Division and assign seven additional infantry battalions to guard Zhuji, Pujiang, Lanxi, Jinhua, Wuyi, Yiwu and Shengxian areas.

The intention of Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, commander of the 13th Japanese Army, was very clear. On the one hand, he could use this as a forward base to maintain the 13th Japanese Army's offensive against the Third War Zone of the Chinese Government and exert long-term pressure on the Third War Zone of the Chinese Government. Once he discovered that the Chinese Government was repairing the damaged field airport, the troops of the 13th Japanese Army could launch an attack on the control area of ​​the Third War Zone of the Chinese Government.

Another more important aspect is that it is possible to plunder this area with the most important strategic material currently available to the Japanese government: fluorite.

You know, according to the information previously obtained by the Japanese intelligence department, the fluorite reserves in these areas of the Chinese government are about 90 million tons, and Wuyi alone accounts for % of the reserves. Moreover, the fluorite in these places is rare high-quality fluorite in the Far East.

Therefore, Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, commander of the 13th Japanese Army, ordered the 22nd Division and its attached troops to take over the security mission in this area and strengthen the defense facilities, while the other participating troops of the 13th Japanese Army all returned to their original bases for rest and recuperation.

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