ushernet Chapter 428 Why are the flowers so red?
Chapter 428 Why are the flowers so red?
"Mr. Yoshimoto, I'm considering whether we should withdraw the Kamimura Detachment that is attacking head-on, use our naval advantage, and use warships to transport them to Yingtian in the upper reaches of the Xiangjiang River for a surprise landing. In this way, we can launch a surprise attack from the rear of the Fifteenth Army of the Chinese Government. If successful, the Fifteenth Army of the Chinese Government will be cut off from its retreat." Commander Lieutenant General Yasuji Okamura also put forward a combat plan that he had considered for a long time.
Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Sadaichi Yoshimoto carefully considered the plan of Commander Lieutenant General Yasuji Okamura. If all went well, the troops of the 15th Army of the Chinese government could be blocked on the south bank of the Xinqiang River and then destroyed.
However, if the Kamimura Detachment is blocked halfway, it will be troublesome. In that case, even if it wants to retreat, it can only rely on warships to withdraw the troops smoothly. But this is also the only way to break the deadlock at present.
At the same time, Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Sadaichi Yoshimoto also understood that Commander Lieutenant General Yasuji Okamura had changed the goal of this battle from occupying Changsha City to destroying the 15th Army of the Chinese government. Indeed, judging from the current war situation, the goal of occupying Changsha City set before the war was unattainable. It would be better to be pragmatic and destroy a direct army unit of the Chinese government, which would also be explained to the headquarters.
Commander Xue, commander of the Ninth War Zone, was quite happy about the current battlefield situation of the Japanese army. Everything was basically within his expectations and control. The rest depended on how General Okamura Yasuji would make his move. However, Commander Xue had already made various arrangements for the subsequent battles and was just waiting for the Japanese army to arrive.
After receiving the order from Lieutenant General Okamura Yasuji, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, the Kamimura Detachment, which was fighting on the front battlefield of the Xinqiang River together with the 6th Division of the Japanese Army, quickly assembled its troops and began to advance towards Yingtian in the upper reaches of the Xiangjiang River under the cover of darkness on warships at night.
On the morning of the 23rd, the Shangcun Detachment suddenly launched an attack on Yingtian under the cover of warships' artillery fire and successfully landed in Yingtian. Upon learning that the Japanese army appeared in Yingtian, Commander Xue of the Ninth War Zone also frowned.
If the Japanese troops that suddenly appeared in Yingtian occupied Yingtian and quickly made a detour to the positions on the south bank of the Xinqiang River, the 15th Army would face the risk of being surrounded from both sides and would most likely be completely wiped out by the Japanese army. The consequences would be disastrous.
However, Commander Xue was not too panicked. Instead, he sent a telegram directly to Commander Guan of the 15th Army Group, asking him to lead his troops to abandon the Xinqiang River defense line and retreat to the Miluo River defense line in accordance with the pre-war plan.
After receiving the order from the war zone, the 15th Army retreated very quickly. When the Kamimura Detachment rushed to the position on the south bank of the Xinqiang River, the troops of the 15th Army had already disappeared. When the news was passed back to the Japanese 11th Army Headquarters, the commander, Lieutenant General Okamura Yasuji, was very depressed.
The original combat goal of outflanking and destroying the 15th Army of the Chinese government was not achieved, but fortunately the Chinese army's Xinqiang River defense line was captured. Therefore, Commander Lieutenant General Okamura Yasuji ordered the 6th Division and two detachments on the front to continue attacking Changsha City according to the combat plan. As long as the Chinese army's defense line on the Miluo River was broken through, Changsha City would be within reach.
But what Commander Okamura Neiji didn't know was that Commander Xue of the Ninth War Zone was preparing a big move for him.
Before the war, in order to deal with his old rival Okamura Yasuji, the commander of the Ninth War Zone, Commander Xue, mobilized hundreds of thousands of troops and set up numerous defense lines on the roads that the Japanese army must pass. Commander Xue's goal was very clear. He not only had to defend the city of Changsha and the Hunan province, but also had to teach a lesson to the old rival, Okamura Yasuji, the commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, on the territory of his own Ninth War Zone.
In order to achieve these goals, before the war, Commander Xue and senior generals from various units held a meeting to carefully study and analyze the combat characteristics of the Japanese army, summarize the painful lessons learned from the Battle of Three Towns, and at the same time, formulate a detailed and comprehensive combat plan based on the current situation of the Japanese army.
In the end, the battle plan determined by Commander Xue of the Ninth War Zone was summarized as attacking the Japanese army based on the principle of "retreat to advance and strive for the outer wing". Detailed combat steps and plans were formulated based on the characteristics of the Japanese army's insufficient manpower and limited material reserves.
First, they set up multiple lines of defense and fought and retreated at the same time. They no longer had to defend one position like before and fight hard against the Japanese army's superior firepower. Instead, they inflicted heavy casualties on the Japanese army on every defensive position while preserving their strength. The purpose was to slow down the Japanese army's offensive speed, consume their supplies, and slowly deplete their combat effectiveness.
Secondly, Commander Xue also learned the tactics of the 18th Army, which fought very well in the north, and took advantage of the characteristics of conducting organic operations behind enemy lines. He made full use of the terrain advantages of the crisscrossing lakes and rivers in Hunan Province, destroyed roads and railways in the rear of the Japanese army, and caused serious difficulties for the advance of the Japanese mechanized forces.
Now all the troops of the Japanese 11th Army that can participate in the battle have appeared on the battlefield, and Commander Xue also saw the combat ideas of the commander of the Japanese 11th Army, General Okamura Yasuji.
That is to use the feint attack of the Japanese 106th Division in northern Jiangxi to lure as many Chinese troops as possible into the northern Jiangxi battlefield. After the Chinese troops were attracted to the northern Jiangxi battlefield, the main force, the Sixth Division, was assigned two combat detachments to attack the northern Hunan battlefield, while the Japanese rd Division in southern Hubei launched an attack from the left wing to support the main force's attack.
The combat objective of the 11th Army Commander Okamura Yasuji was very clear, that is, to rely on the Japanese army's superior firepower and strong combat effectiveness to form a battlefield situation of coordinated flanking and frontal breakthrough of the main force, defeat or eliminate the main force of the 9th War Zone, and then capture Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province in one fell swoop, thereby forming a situation of further occupation of the entire Hunan Province.
However, Commander Xue also saw that the 11th Army of the Japanese Army was now strong on the outside but weak on the inside. Old Bidden, General Okamura Yasuji, actually wanted to wipe out his entire 9th War Zone with only 100,000 troops drawn from the 11th Army. It must be said that this move by old Bidden was indeed very bold, even very arrogant.
Commander Xue felt that General Okamura Neiji was too arrogant and did not take himself and the troops of the Ninth War Zone seriously at all. This time he must be taught a lesson to let him know why the flowers are so red.