Anti-Japanese War: Li Yunlong dared to attack Taiyuan

Chapter 724 I don’t want you to achieve merit

"Now, let me read out the list of recipients of the Special Class Medal of Merit of the Heilongjiang-Jilin-Liaoning-Chahar Military Region."

Li Yunlong looked at the list with a heavy expression.

"Comrades, before I read the list, I have something to say to you!"

Li Yunlong glanced at all the officers and soldiers below and said, "If possible, I hope this will be the last time I read out the list of recipients of the Special Merit Medal. I even hope that our military region will not have any recipients of the First Class Merit Medal in the future."

As soon as these words came out, many people looked at Li Yunlong in surprise, but Wu Yi Er and others understood what Li Yunlong meant.

"I don't need to tell you all to know how difficult it is to receive a military commendation. This is an honor you've earned with your lives. Third-, second-, and first-class merits all cost lives, let alone special merits? Only a few people who received the first-class merit just now were able to stand on stage alive. And special merits...!"

"I, Li Yunlong, would rather see you standing in front of me and saying to me with a smile, 'Commander, I didn't do anything great this time.' I don't want to see your names appear on these honor lists and also on the list of those killed in action!"

"Comrades, I hope that all of you can see the day of victory, the day when the Japanese surrender, and the day when our country and our nation stand up!"

"Comrades..."

After Li Yunlong finished speaking, he looked at the list he had read countless times and slowly read out the first name. Someone responded, but what came to the stage was a photo.

The same goes for the second, third, and fourth.

"Zhang Yingcai! Xiao Wanshi"

When the last two names were called, Xiao Wanshi and Zhang Yingcai responded and walked to the front of the stage.

Although one of them was already a brigade commander and the other a deputy brigade commander, this time the medals were awarded starting from the time they entered the four northeastern provinces. During this period, these two people captured more than a dozen Japanese generals, not to mention the capture of the Ishii Japanese.

The two of them each received a special merit award.

"Xu Rui, Wang Xin, Liu Hong!"

Li Yunlong called out the names of three more people, and the three were helped up to the stage.

Li Yunlong looked at the three of them and slowly spoke, "The Third Company of the Second Regiment of the First Division of the Chahar Column of the Fourth Corps held off an entire Japanese division for six hours during the Battle of Tashan. Under heavy enemy artillery bombardment and intensive infantry charges, they held their ground, ensuring the stability of the Tashan defense line. This bought time for follow-up troops and changed the entire battle situation. The Third Company of the Second Regiment of the First Division of the Fourth Corps is hereby awarded a special collective merit and the title of Tashan Hero Company!"

After Li Yunlong finished speaking, May 12th came out holding a military flag.

Li Yunlong took the military flag, shook it vigorously twice, and walked towards the three people.

When Xu Rui, Wang Xin and Liu Hong saw Li Yunlong holding the flag of the Tashan Hero Company, they broke free from the hands of the people who were supporting them, stood straight in front of Li Yunlong and saluted the flag.

"Take the flag!"

Among the three, Xu Rui had both legs intact, but only one arm. After saluting Li Yunlong, he took the military flag, grabbed the flagpole with his hand and stood on the stage with force.

"Three consecutive times!"

"To!"

"Everyone, salute the flag!"

The two soldiers stared at the military flag in front of them with tears in their eyes. They saw smiling faces on the red flag. They were the faces of their company commander, deputy company commander and all the soldiers, who were looking at them with smiles.

Li Yunlong's awarding ceremony this time was not carried out in a low-key manner, but was instead publicized on a large scale.

The news of the awarding of honors was reported in various newspapers the next day.

The mountain city continued to block the news and continued to report its own good news.

After seeing this news, the Japanese chose to ignore it. Now it is winter, and even if the Japanese want to fight back, they cannot carry out large-scale mobilization.

The Japanese were accumulating strength, and large-scale conscription was still being carried out in the mainland. At this time, the Japanese military strength had increased from three million to more than five million, and this number was still increasing.

Because of the weather, Li Yunlong did not continue to attack the Japanese.

But in the Pacific Ocean, the Americans launched a landing operation against the Japanese.

First up is Odalia.

Although the Japanese had prepared for the American landing operation, they did not expect the Americans to come so soon, so their preparations were not very sufficient, allowing the Americans to easily land in the Jervis Bay area of ​​​​the Canberra area.

However, the Japanese soon realized that with the Americans having a fleet in the coastal area, it would be difficult for their defense forces to compete with the American fleet in firepower, so they simply abandoned their coastal positions and began to defend away from the coastline.

The Americans' landing operation on Odalia was an attempted landing operation, because they had never fought against the Japanese army before. Only an observation team led by General Ridgway and others went to observe and concluded that the Japanese army's combat effectiveness was not strong.

With this half-believing and half-doubting attitude, the Marines, the fourth-class personnel in the old American army, began their first landing operation.

As a result, this group of fourth-rate soldiers easily established a beachhead and successfully landed without suffering too many casualties. This instantly gave the Americans great confidence, and they believed that the combat effectiveness of the Japanese army was indeed as the observation group had reported before, with no combat effectiveness.

But the Americans were soon taught a lesson. The commander of the force responsible for the defense of Odalia was Yamashita Tomotake. Although Yamashita Tomotake was severely troubled by the 4th Division in Shanxi Province, he still had some ability. Later, he was transferred to fight against the Russians, so he had combat experience with European and American armies.

After creating the bicycle blitzkrieg in the Malay region, he was transferred to Odalia as the garrison commander, responsible for defending Odalia. Although the troops under his command were not the Japanese Type A division, they were also Type B divisions.

In addition, Yamashita Tomotake did not choose to confront the American army head-on within the range of the American naval guns. Instead, he chose to show weakness to the enemy, retreat actively, and lure the enemy deeper.

As a result, the American Marines, who had no combat experience, were fooled and believed that the Japanese army was vulnerable. In addition to the more than 20,000 Marines who landed first, the five subsequent support divisions also landed the next day and began to advance into the inland area of ​​Odalia.

The result was that after several small victories and breaking through several positions, the American Marine Corps and Army suffered a head-on blow from Yamashita Tomotake.

Four divisions launched an attack on the American troops from three directions.

Although these drug-addled devils were indeed inferior to the American troops in terms of weapons and equipment, the quality of their individual soldiers was much better than that of the American army, which had not yet experienced war.

After two days of fierce fighting, the Japanese successfully drove the landing American troops to the seaside.

Immediately afterwards, a squadron of the Japanese navy suddenly attacked the American warships in the Canberra port of Odalia in the middle of the night. The Japanese army seized this opportunity and completely drove the American landing forces into the sea.

Chapter 725: The Japanese Shift Their Strategic Focus

The devil's imperial meeting.

Compared with the previous imperial conference, the ranks of the generals of the Japanese army participating in the imperial conference are indeed a bit lower.

However, the situation has not yet reached the point where assistant officers are required to attend the imperial meetings.

However, compared with their previous arrogant attitude, the Japanese army has now become much more obedient, and almost all of the army's elite have been killed or wounded.

But today the army can finally hold its head high again, because they have won another major victory. They wiped out at least 50,000 Americans in Odalia. This is still a conservative estimate, maybe more.

This was a rare major victory for the army in recent times. When fighting with Li Yunlong before, the Japanese army had been losing battles again and again, and had never received any news of victory. Even if there was a victory, it was followed by a major defeat. This was one of Li Yunlong's strategies to lure the enemy deep into their territory.

This time, the army waited for more than a day, and after confirming that there were no subsequent unexpected situations, they finally breathed a sigh of relief. They really won a victory.

As for the navy, it no longer had the arrogance of the past. The Combined Fleet, which had originally believed that its navy was invincible, suffered a little setback at the hands of the Americans. About half of the main fleet was lost, and most of the remaining main ships chose to break out in a dispersed manner in order to survive. Otherwise, the Combined Fleet might have been wiped out.

But today the Navy was finally able to hold its head high, because it won a victory in the waters near Canberra. This was the first victory since the Combined Fleet was besieged in Hawaii.

The devil Tian Huang sat in his seat, holding a battle report in his hand, thinking about some issues.

In fact, at this time, the Japanese army had already realized a problem. They needed to end the war in a decent way. Otherwise, if they continued to fight, the Japanese army might not be able to hold on.

But he couldn't say such words himself, otherwise it might shake the foundation of the country.

"Your Majesty! A great victory for the army!"

Private First Class Tojo spoke first.

Hearing the words "great victory", the devil Tian Huang couldn't help but feel a little panicked. In the past, after hearing the words "great victory", it was followed by defeat.

"A victory over Li Yunlong's troops?"

As soon as this sentence was spoken, the scene fell into silence: "It was in Odalia that Yamashita Tomotake defeated the American landing force."

Hearing this, Tian Huang breathed a sigh of relief, but he was also a little dissatisfied, because his biggest worry now was Li Yunlong.

"Tell me more about it."

"Hayi!"

Private First Class Tojo cleared his throat, picked up the battle report and began to read it.

But just as he finished reading it, the Navy Minister stood up and said, "Mr. Tojo, why didn't your army's war report mention our navy?"

"If our navy hadn't assisted you, would you have been able to drive the American troops into the sea?"

Hearing this, the Japanese Tianhuang became interested. As everyone knows, the conflict between the Japanese army and navy, or to be more precise, the hatred, has reached an irreconcilable point. This time the navy actually helped the army, which was a bit unbelievable.

"Your Majesty, our Fourth Fleet has sunk two American aircraft carriers, a heavy cruiser, and several destroyers in the Canberra waters, achieving a significant victory!"

The Navy Minister deliberately did not say that these two aircraft carriers are escort aircraft carriers. Anyway, the Americans say they are aircraft carriers, so they are aircraft carriers.

When Guizi Tianhuang heard this, his eyes lit up.

The victory achieved by the navy and the army was indeed a great victory.

"How's Odalia doing?"

"Solid as a rock!"

Private First Class Tojo said this very firmly.

Odalia is very important to the Japanese now. After Li Yunlong recovered a large amount of land in the four northeastern provinces, the only places where the Japanese can obtain resources are Southeast Asia, Odalia and East and West Siberia.

The East and West Siberia regions have now entered winter, and almost all mines have stopped working. Moreover, the winter in East and West Siberia is very long, so East and West Siberia cannot provide resources to the Japanese during this period.

The various factories in the Japanese country can only rely on resources from Southeast Asia and Odalia, among which the minerals in Odalia are the ones the Japanese rely on the most.

After taking over Odalia, the Japanese sent a large number of soldiers to station there, one to seize resources and the other to ensure the safety of Odalia.

"Your Majesty, I believe we should continue to send troops to Southeast Asia. Instead of continuing to waste time fighting Li Yunlong in the four eastern provinces, we should strengthen the defenses of Southeast Asia and Odalia, inflicting heavy casualties on the US military and forcing them to withdraw from the battle!"

Private First Class Tojo spoke again, and his words surprised many people.

Private First Class Tojo had said more than once before that he wanted to have a decisive battle with Li Yunlong in the four eastern provinces to retake them. Now he actually proposed to abandon the four eastern provinces and move to Southeast Asia?

What about those devils who died in the four eastern provinces before?

However, some of Private First Class Tojo's confidants were not surprised. Private First Class Tojo had already informed them about this matter, and they knew the purpose of Private First Class Tojo's actions.

Previously, Private First Class Tojo wanted the Japanese to have a decisive battle with Li Yunlong in the four northeastern provinces in order to weaken the strength of the Kwantung Army. No matter whether the Kwantung Army won or lost, as long as a fight broke out in the four northeastern provinces, the Kwantung Army would still be affected.

As a result, the Kwantung Army suffered a crushing defeat and is now unable to take care of itself. It can only rely on supplies from the mainland to survive. Even the areas it occupies are gradually becoming untenable and it needs to give up some land.

At this time, the Kwantung Army had no way to compete with the Army Headquarters.

The Army Headquarters weighed the strength of Li Yunlong's troops and finally came to the conclusion that if they continued to fight Li Yunlong in the four eastern provinces, they would need to consume at least two million troops.

Even with so many troops, they could only drive Li Yunlong out of the four northeastern provinces, and this was also based on the premise that the Americans would not come to cause trouble.

But if the strategic focus is shifted to Southeast Asia and Odalia, the results may be different.

As long as these two million troops are deployed in various regions in Southeast Asia, given the combat effectiveness of the US military, it may take millions of troops, or even more, to capture these areas.