Quartermasters can also fight the devils

However, the depth of Changde is only about half of Changsha, only more than 100 kilometers, and there is no natural barrier to serve as a defense line. The offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army would probably not suffer too much loss if they attacked here, so the decisive battle in Changde was relatively dangerous.

Moreover, the most important thing is that the offensive force assembled by the 11th Army of the Japanese Army is currently located in the middle of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese Government. As long as the offensive force of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army launches an attack, the defense zone of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese Government can be cut in half.

This resulted in the Chinese government's Sixth War Zone's forces inevitably being dispersed in order to cope with the impending attack by the Japanese 11th Army. It could not concentrate its forces near Changsha like the Ninth War Zone did and only needed to hold Changsha.

Commander Sun, the acting commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government, could use the forces of four army groups and one river defense army in western Hubei and northwestern Hunan, but he had to defend the Yichang Shipai and Changde lines separately. This made it impossible to concentrate troops for a decisive battle with the Japanese army, reducing the overall strength of the Chinese army on every battlefield by 50%.

However, the troubles of General Sun, the acting commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government, were the source of confidence for Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, that he could win the Battle of Changde.

Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, believed that the terrain of Changde was low hills. Although there were some water networks on the marching road along the Dongting Lake, it was not complicated overall. Compared with the dangerous terrain of the western Hubei mountains, the terrain of Changde was completely different. The offensive forces of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army could effectively exert the power of heavy weapons under the terrain of Changde, which greatly enhanced the combat effectiveness of the offensive forces.

Second, the distance from Changde to the forward position of Huarong Shishou controlled by the Japanese army is only about 130 kilometers. The terrain along this line is flat and backed by the side of Dongting Lake, which makes it convenient for the attacking troops to transport military supplies by land and water. In this way, there will not be any major problems with the supply of supplies for the attacking troops, nor will they encounter the terrible scene of ammunition shortage like the Battle of Western Hubei.

Third, from a military perspective, Changde is only 130 kilometers away from the control area of ​​the Japanese 11th Army, which is very, very close. A large force can arrive there in three days' march. In this way, the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army will be very safe if they fight on the front line in Changde, and they can advance or retreat, attack or defend.

If the battle situation is favorable to his offensive forces, he can immediately concentrate his main forces and encircle the Chinese army on the Changde front in a very short time, and the Chinese army will have no time to escape.

If the battle situation is not favorable for his offensive forces, he can also order the offensive forces to quickly leave the battlefield and retreat. Anyway, it is only three days' journey at most to the control area of ​​the Japanese 11th Army. He can escape anyway, and even withdraw by water. The Chinese army, which no longer has a navy, has no way to retreat by water.

In short, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, felt that the Changde Campaign was almost invincible for the 11th Army of the Japanese Army. Compared with the previous Battle of Western Hubei, where the offensive forces of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army were trapped on a narrow road in western Hubei and attacked from all sides by the Chinese army, and had to fight for more than a week before they could withdraw, the terrain conditions of the battlefield in the Changde Campaign were simply like heaven.

Moreover, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, was well aware that Changde was of great significance to the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government. Although the loss of Changde would not lead to a particularly terrible outcome, it would still create great difficulties for the Chinese government and their army.

Therefore, according to general military common sense, the Chinese army will definitely hold on to Changde and will not give up until it is absolutely necessary. This will provide an excellent opportunity for the offensive forces of the 11th Army to encircle and annihilate the main force of the Chinese army, and there is no need to worry about the Chinese army avoiding fighting.

In fact, the most important thing for the commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, was that the China Expeditionary Army Command did not have a hard indicator on whether to occupy Changde. The commander of the China Expeditionary Army, Lieutenant General Hata Shunroku, also privately told him that the offensive force of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army did not have to occupy Changde this time.

Because, even if Changde was occupied, the Chinese Expeditionary Force would have no way to send reinforcements to the Japanese 11th Army. Without new troops and forces to supplement their 11th Army, they would not have the troops to garrison Changde. These offensive forces that they had assembled would have to return to their original bases after completing the battle mission.

In this case, the combat mission of the Changde Campaign for the commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, would be very easy, because the attacking forces of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army did not need to carry out offensive operations, but only needed to annihilate the combat forces of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese Government near Changde.

Then the commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, would have completed his mission by annihilating 100,000 troops of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese Government. Even if he failed to annihilate so many Chinese troops, at least he could have wiped out 20,000 or 30,000 of them and barely reported to the Chinese Expeditionary Force. Therefore, the commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, had a lot of freedom.

In the Battle of Changde, the combat methods of this old fox, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, were also very clever.

Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Japanese Army, understood that if he ordered all the troops to concentrate southward to attack Changde from the beginning, the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government would immediately concentrate all of its four army groups and one river defense army, totaling 150,000 troops, to the Changde line.

The Ninth War Zone of the Chinese government, which is not far away, will also dispatch at least one or two army groups to reinforce. In this way, the Chinese army will concentrate at least 200,000 troops near Changde.

In general defensive operations, as long as the Chinese army can maintain an advantage of about one to two times the number of troops, it can generally fight on equal terms with the offensive forces of the 11th Army.

Once this happens, it will become very difficult to rely on the more than 90,000 offensive forces that they have finally assembled to break through the more than 200,000 Chinese troops on this line, let alone destroy the main force of the Chinese government's Sixth War Zone near Changde.

Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, knew that if his 11th Army wanted to win the Battle of Changde, it had to use the cunning tactics that it was best at.

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