The patter of winter rain has added a bit of chill to the air, and the devastated Jiangnan region has desolate mountains and rivers, shrouded in a gloomy mist.
The continuous rain made the roads muddy. Under the gloomy sky, the Japanese troops were struggling to move forward. From time to time, cars full of Japanese soldiers and supplies got stuck in the mud and couldn't get out.
The commander of the 104th Brigade, Major General Tomi Midi, was in as bad a mood as the gloomy weather. Facing the desperate resistance of the Chinese army on the Jiangyin line of defense, their progress was slow, and the friendly 16th Division had already captured Changzhou.
If they continue to be unable to capture Jiangyin and continue to advance, then their Thirteenth Division will not be able to catch up with the battle to capture Nanjing, the capital of China. How can a soldier miss the supreme glory of capturing the capital of an enemy country?
Although the bad weather caused the offensive troops to lose tactical air support, Major General Tomidi had no intention of stopping the offensive because they had no time to waste here and must capture Jiangyin as soon as possible and head to Nanjing.
"The brigade commander, the division commander asked when the Chinese Army's position facing them can be captured?" A Japanese staff officer rushed to the brigade commander, Major General Tommidi, slapped a military salute and reported.
Major General Tomidi calmed down for a moment and replied: "Please tell the commander of the division that our brigade will take over the Chinese Army's position and advance towards Jiangyin County before noon."
"Hai!" the Japanese staff officer responded and immediately turned around and walked out the door.
The brigade commander, Major General Tomi Midi, turned around and ordered: "Let the 58th Regiment and the 65th Regiment speed up the attack, and be sure to capture the Chinese Army positions facing them before noon!"
The staff officer immediately picked up the phone and conveyed the order to the field regiment fighting on the front line. Major General Tomidhi picked up the telescope and strode to the observation position to observe the battle situation.
The Japs' frontline troops quickly launched an attack on the Chinese defenders' positions in the mud. All kinds of light and heavy weapons opened fire at once, and the positions were shrouded in gunpowder smoke.
Although the Japanese frontline troops attacked fiercely, the Chinese defenders who guarded the position were ordered to hold on and braved the Japanese artillery fire to fight to the death.
The battle lasted for about half an hour, and the Japanese troops whose offensive was frustrated once again retreated like a tide. This made the brigade commander, Major General Tomidi, very angry and prepared to go to the front line to supervise the battle in person.
When Major General Tomamichi arrived at the frontline headquarters of the 58th Regiment wearing a raincoat and walking in the mud, without waiting for the officers of the Regiment to explain, he was immediately scolded: "Trash! The faces of the Imperial Army of Japan were all scolded.
You have lost everything. If you can't take back the Chinese army's position, you will have to commit hara-kiri to apologize to His Majesty the Emperor!"
Facing Major General Tomidi's roar, the officers and officers of the 58th Regiment remained as quiet as they could and kept bowing their heads.
"Attack! Reorganize the attack!" Major General Tomimidi, who had vented his anger, coldly ordered the commander of the unit.
The captain of the 58th Regiment was complaining in his heart. They had been fighting for several months without any rest. The bad weather was making them even more miserable. The most important thing was that they were running out of ammunition.
"Brigade Commander, our soldiers no longer have enough ammunition to launch a new round of attack. Many soldiers have less than ten bullets in their hands..."
The brigade commander, Major General Tommidi, was shocked when he heard the complaint. He did not expect that the troops' ammunition shortage was to such an extent. This was unimaginable. He asked: "Why was it not replenished in time?"
The commander of the regiment said with a grimace: "The ammunition depot at the forward base has been exhausted, and the various units have not been replenished. The transportation team has poor roads due to rain..."
After hearing the explanation from the commander, Major General Tommidi's anger finally subsided.
The divisions advanced so fast that the replenishment of ammunition could not keep up with the consumption. The ammunition needed to be transported from Shanghai. Now it was hit by the pattering winter rain and the roads in China were muddy. This caused the frontline troops to run out of ammunition.
things happen.
No matter how sophisticated a weapon is, it will turn into a fire stick if it loses its ammunition. Now, not only is the ammunition running out, but the bad weather has prevented the plane from taking off, which has greatly affected the troops' operations.
"Damn weather!" Major General Tommidi cursed the bad weather in his heart.
The so-called clever woman cannot make a meal without rice. The frontline troops who lack ammunition support are no longer capable of launching a new attack. They cannot be allowed to rush forward and fight for bayonets.
Although when expanding the front line, the chief of staff of the dispatched army assured the base camp that no supplies would be collected on the spot, and if there was no ammunition, bayonets would be used. However, this was just an expression of determination to the base camp, and the symbolic meaning was greater than the actual meaning. The actual situation is that,
Without ammunition, it is impossible to launch a powerful attack.
"Order the troops to rest in place and wait for ammunition to be replenished." Brigade commander Major General Tomomichi finally reluctantly ordered the troops to suspend the attack, and at the same time prepared to report this new situation to division commander Ogisu Tatehei.
Before the ammunition issue was resolved, Major Mishima of the brigade directly reported another bad news to Major General Tomomichi, that is, they still failed to search for the Chinese Army in the area where the radio signal was detected. They guessed that the Chinese Army had already
Ran away.
The brigade directly under the leadership of Major Mishima followed the order and went to the area where the China Army radio station was detected to search for China's broken troops, hoping to capture the opponent's senior commander.
Because the brigade commander, Major General Tomidi, judged that the China Army was only equipped with radio stations at the division and brigade level, and there must be high-ranking generals from the other side where the radio stations were found.
If they can capture the other party's senior generals, they will be able to deal a heavy blow to the China Army in public opinion. This was the idea of the brigade commander, Major General Tomidhi. But in fact, in addition to killing more than 30 Chinese soldiers, they spent the whole night
Another day passed and still nothing.
"Ah! Trash! A loser!"
Major General Tomomichi's anger that had just calmed down was once again ignited. A team of more than a thousand people searched for the opponent, but the place slipped away. He now had the urge to kill Major Mishima with a knife.
In fact, Major Mishima, who was directly under the command of the brigade, was even more unjust than Dou E, because it was even harder for them to hunt down a non-existent team.
"Continue to expand the search scope! If you cannot catch the commander of the China Army, you must commit hara-kiri!"
Major General Tommidi's tone was cold. He was in a bad mood and had no patience at all.
After receiving the order, Major Mishima complained in his heart. He was sleepy and tired from all the hard work. Now he was drenched by the cold winter rain. It would cost him his life to continue searching.
The pattering winter rain covered up the traces of Yang Ling's retreat, so even though Major Mishima and the others continued to expand the search area, they found no trace of Yang Ling or the others.