Spy Wars: I have space, but I choose to work alone

Deputy Commander Du and Staff Officer Shi had a big argument and neither could convince the other.

At the critical moment, an outrageous operation occurred.

Commander Luo, the nominal supreme commander of the expeditionary force and also a famous general, seemed to be completely unaware of the danger. Instead, he spoke to Staff Officer Shi and, disregarding the interests of the expeditionary force, ordered Deputy Commander Du to obey Staff Officer Shi's orders.

However, Deputy Commander Du of the Expeditionary Force was also helpless, which led to the tragedy of the First Expeditionary Force, which could have been avoided many times.

However, the expeditionary force headquarters still sent out reconnaissance aircraft to conduct reconnaissance in the area south of Lawu.

Originally, it was impossible for reconnaissance aircraft, which could only observe with the naked eye at that time, to observe the Japanese troops marching in the dense forest from high altitudes.

However, with the precise guidance of elite scouts such as Guo Junchao, the reconnaissance planes of the British and American Air Force discovered the huge marching column of the Japanese 56th Division in the jungle.

The situation changed drastically!

At one time, a large number of telegrams were sent to Lawu intensively, with only one order, ordering the New 28th Division and the New 29th Division to defend Lawu for 4 days at all costs. 4 days were enough for the elite mechanized 200th Division to arrive for support.

As for domestic reinforcements?

Sorry, the domestic battlefield is already severe. There are no available main field troops on the border to support Lawu. After all, 100,000 of the most elite troops have gone abroad to stop the Japanese army. The border here is considered the second line, and there is no need to stockpile a large number of troops.

If we want to mobilize other domestic troops for support and travel on foot, it will probably take months.

In other words, now Lawu can only rely on himself.

But the only problem now is, can two third-rate infantry divisions that have never fought against the Japanese army withstand a four-day attack by one division of the Japanese 56th Division?

Originally, according to the Japanese army's troop number organization, the larger the troop number, the weaker the combat effectiveness.

But there are exceptions to everything, and the 56th Division is a huge exception.

Although the Japanese Army's 56th Division was just formed in 41, it was formed as the "Second Permanent Division".

日军第五十六师团为三联队制师团，下辖步兵第113联队、步兵第146联队、步兵第148联队，以及搜索第56联队、野炮兵第56联队、工兵第56联队、辎重兵第56联队等，总兵力约1.9万人左右，作战能力不可小觑。

The members are all veterans and miners from the Kurume area, and the soldiers here have always been strong troops in the Japanese army.

Many of them had previously served in the 18th and 12th divisions of the Japanese Army's regular divisions. In 41, it was listed as one of the first key divisions of the Kwantung Army and was given the title of "Dragon" Division by the Heavenly Locust.

Although each Japanese division has its own code name, having a cool code name is actually nothing, such as "Yong", "Ji", "Tiger", "Ming" and so on.

However, in the minds of the common people in the East Asian cultural circle, "dragon" is definitely not a code name that can be easily given to any random unit. This proves that the combat effectiveness of the 56th Division is also considered a strong unit in the Japanese army sequence.

In the TV series “My Regiment Fights My Regiment”, the 5-6 Japanese soldiers mentioned by Silasila dared to chase hundreds of us, and they were referring to them.

可按照国军与日军的战斗经验来看，兵力比要达到3：1才能抗住日军的进攻，5：1的兵力才能有可能实现局部反攻，至于全歼的话恐怕就得达到10：1的兵力比了。

This is still measured by the combat effectiveness of the central army. If it is the armed forces of local warlords, the data will be uncertain.

After all, on the domestic battlefield, it was not uncommon for a Japanese battalion of a thousand men to directly defeat the entrenched defense line of a National Army division.

There are not many absolutely elite troops like the German-equipped divisions and the 200th Division that can fight the Japanese army head-on without losing the upper hand. They cannot be included in the calculation.

As for the new 28th Division and the new 29th Division belonging to the Central Army?

Inside the Expeditionary Force Headquarters, Deputy Commander Du was sighing.

The chief of staff at the side consoled him:

"Deputy Commander, don't worry too much. We have all read the newspapers. It's a blessing in disguise. The Military Control Commission is eager to show off its power in front of the foreign press corps. Not only have they gathered the scattered defensive troops, but they have also used a lot of reinforced concrete to make the positions extremely solid. We have also allowed them to use the weapons and equipment that they didn't have time to transport back to the country in Lawu. Their two divisions, plus our remaining troops, have a total of about 2 troops. The ratio of troops is one to one. Relying on solid reinforced concrete fortifications, they can block the Japanese 56th Division for four days. It shouldn't be a big problem, right?"

As he was talking, the chief of staff could not continue because he had no idea.

"Ugh!"

Deputy Director Du sighed and said:

"Let's do our best and leave the rest to fate! On the one hand, we should actively send troops to reinforce Lawu, and on the other hand, we should send a telegram to the Lawu defenders to prepare. If the war is unfavorable, we must ensure that all the supplies stockpiled in Lawu are destroyed. We must not leave the supplies to the Japanese!"

He was already preparing for the worst. As for the outcome that the Lawu defenders would resolutely hold their positions until the main force of the expeditionary force turned around, returned to defend Lawu, attacked from both sides, and completely annihilated the Japanese 56th Division, none of the officers in the command dared to even think about it.

At this time, a communications staff officer reported urgently:

"Report to the deputy commander, the front line reports that the Japanese troops have begun to launch a large-scale offensive against our troops!"

After hearing the report from their subordinates, everyone in the command center changed their expressions. The Japanese army took the initiative to attack, which meant that the expeditionary force could not spare many troops to support Lawu.

Only after ensuring that the main force stabilizes the front line can we retreat in an orderly manner to support Lawu.

Organizing a troop retreat is more troublesome than organizing an attack, and one must be fully prepared, especially in a foreign country where one is unfamiliar with the area and surrounded by enemies.

Otherwise, if the troops fell into chaos during the retreat and were followed and pursued by the Japanese army, the consequences would be disastrous.

In other words, the time that Lawu needs to defend may be more than 4 days, or even longer.

Japanese Lieutenant General Iida was also not idle. After discovering the expeditionary force's mobilization and finding out that the expeditionary force had realized his strategic intentions, he immediately commanded all the troops and launched a campaign-level attack.

To tie down the main force of the expeditionary force so that it cannot retreat in time to support Lawu and create an opportunity for the 56th Division to launch a surprise attack on Lawu.

Some people may say, is Ma Liang a fool?

Since they knew in advance that the Japanese 56th Division would launch a surprise attack on Lawu, why not warn the expeditionary force in advance and send two divisions of elite forces to Lawu? This would prevent the expeditionary force from being in danger of being cut off.

But the problem is, if two elite divisions were really sent to Lawu, the Japanese army would have to be crazy to continue to launch sneak attacks on Lawu.