Quartermasters can also fight the devils

During the period when the 22nd Division of the 13th Army of the Japanese Army and its attached troops took over the guard and deployed troops, the Third War Zone Command of the Chinese government judged that the 13th Army of the Japanese Army had completed the combat mission of this battle, and the troops of the 13th Army of the Japanese Army would definitely withdraw from Jinhua and Lanxi areas and return to their original garrisons.

Therefore, the Third War Zone Command of the Chinese government ordered the 21st Army to cooperate with the 49th Army to attack Jinhua and Lanxi areas, and strive to recapture this place as soon as possible after the retreat of the Japanese 13th Army.

However, when the 21st and 49th Armies of the Third War Zone of the Chinese government entered the Jinhua and Lanxi areas, they discovered that the 13th Army of the Japanese Army had a considerable force stationed in these two areas. Judging from the size of the remaining forces, the Japanese army did not intend to withdraw from Jinhua and Lanxi, but rather to occupy these two places for a long time.

The troops of the 21st Army and the 49th Army also launched several attacks, but the 22nd Division of the Japanese Army and its attached troops did not retreat at all under the attack of the Chinese army. This made the Third War Zone Command of the Chinese government react and realize that the Japanese army was not planning to withdraw from these two areas.

For the Third War Zone of the Chinese government, with their existing military strength and combat capabilities, it is impossible to forcibly drive out the Japanese troops remaining in Jinhua and Lanxi. Faced with the Japanese occupation of Jinhua and Lanxi, the Third War Zone of the Chinese government could only watch and could do nothing.

After learning about the battlefield situation, the Military Commission of the Chinese Government immediately ordered all troops in the Third War Zone of the Chinese Government to stop their offensive operations. All troops were to stay in place, rest and wait for orders. This marked the end of the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign.

This Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign was a poorly fought battle for both the Japanese Army and the Chinese government's army.

First of all, as for the Japanese army, this Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign was a war launched hastily by the Japanese army. There was no very comprehensive combat plan and strategic goals in advance, so that the Japanese headquarters continued to add combat mission objectives to the Japanese 13th Army during the battle, which caused the battle time to be repeatedly prolonged, which was a huge consumption of the Japanese army's supplies and ammunition reserves.

In fact, before the outbreak of the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign, what the Japanese military headquarters and the expeditionary force were actually planning was the so-called "Sichuan-Shaanxi Strategy" operational plan.

In this "Sichuan-Shaanxi Strategy" operation plan, the Japanese military headquarters planned to defeat the Chinese government's Sixth War Zone troops stationed in Yichang, and then enter China's Shaanxi and Sichuan provinces, attacking the anti-Japanese war headquarters from the east and north, the seat of the Chinese government: Shancheng. The Japanese army hoped to completely resolve China's war problems with such an attack.

The Japanese Imperial Headquarters and the Expeditionary Force originally planned to submit the "Sichuan-Shaanxi Strategy" operational plan in June 1942. The start time of action in this operational plan was set in September. In order to successfully complete the "Sichuan-Shaanxi Strategy" operational plan, the Japanese Imperial Headquarters and the Expeditionary Force also drew more than 300,000 troops from the Kwantung Army, the Southern Army and the mainland to strengthen the size of the China Expeditionary Force.

But just when the Japanese military headquarters and the Chinese Expeditionary Force were preparing to implement the "Sichuan-Shaanxi Strategy" operational plan, the Japanese mainland was bombed by bombers from the United States. Such a shameful thing made the Japanese emperor very angry. He summoned all the high-ranking Japanese military officers to the palace, severely reprimanded them, and ordered the Japanese military headquarters to come up with effective measures to ensure the safety of the Japanese mainland from being threatened by Allied aircraft.

After being severely scolded by the Japanese Emperor, the top leaders of the Japanese military headquarters had to put everything aside and use the combat forces originally intended for the "Sichuan-Shaanxi Strategy" in the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign, giving priority to destroying the Allied field airfields in Zhejiang Province, China, to ensure that His Majesty the Emperor was not threatened by Allied aircraft and to ensure the safety of the Japanese mainland. Otherwise, where would the commander of the Japanese 13th Army, Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, get the 82 battalions of troops to launch the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign?

However, in this way, the Japanese headquarters and the Chinese Expeditionary Force lost the ability and opportunity to organize and implement the "Sichuan-Shaanxi Strategy" again. On the other hand, all the troops of the Japanese 13th Army were rushed into battle, fighting retaliatory battles and fighting in the rainy season. These were the three major mistakes of the Japanese army in the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign.

Although the Japanese army basically achieved the combat objectives of launching the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign, destroyed the Chinese government's field airport group in Zhejiang Province, and plundered a large amount of scarce supplies, the Japanese army lost the opportunity to attack the mountain city forever.

Therefore, in this Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign, the Japanese army had no merits either strategically or tactically.

The Chinese government's Third War Zone and Ninth War Zone also had many problems. At the beginning of the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign, the troops of the Chinese government's Third War Zone fought well.

The participating troops of the Third War Zone of the Chinese Government used their preset positions and geographical and climatic advantages to cause heavy casualties and trouble to the attacking Japanese troops. Although Jinhua, Lanxi and Quzhou were lost one after another under the large-scale offensive of the Japanese army and a large number of field airports were destroyed by the Japanese attacking forces, the main force of the Third War Zone of the Chinese Government is still there, so it cannot be concluded that the Third War Zone of the Chinese Government has failed.

However, when the attacking forces of the Japanese 13th Army occupied Quzhou and advanced towards Jiangxi Province, Commander Gu of the Third War Zone of the Chinese government misjudged the current situation. Commander Gu believed that the Japanese 13th Army was going to retreat and that the attack on Yushan and Shangrao areas of Jiangxi Province was a bluff and that they were preparing for retreat. Therefore, he sent troops to counterattack the Japanese 13th Army, but they were met with a powerful counterattack from the Japanese 13th Army, causing huge losses to the counterattack forces of the Third War Zone.

In fact, there are two main reasons why General Gu of the Third War Zone of the Chinese Government misjudged the situation:

1. Commander Gu was too obsessed with the experience of Commander Xue, commander of the Ninth War Zone, in his "retreat and decisive battle" tactics. He did not make a correct response based on the actual situation on the battlefield at that time and made the mistake of "empiricism".

Second, Commander Gu did not know the information about the Japanese army's deployment of 82 battalions in the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign. With the strength of several armies supported by the Third and Ninth War Zones of the Chinese government, it should not be a problem to deal with 40 to 50 Japanese battalions, but the Japanese army deployed 82 battalions of troops at once in the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Campaign. The combat power of the Japanese army has far exceeded the reinforcements of the Third and Ninth War Zones of the Chinese government.