Just one day after the Sulu Guerrilla Corps recovered Gaoyou, it was announced that it had fallen again. The Japanese soldiers of the Sano detachment stood on the ruins, waving their military flags and letting out loud cheers.
The reporters accompanying the army were also excited and kept pressing the shutter, capturing images of the officers and soldiers celebrating the victory everywhere. This was another victory for their army.
Japanese commander Taro Sano rode a tall horse, surrounded by a group of energetic officers, entered the city from the south gate, and rode slowly along the street, smiling constantly at the welcoming crowds on both sides of the street.
Wave.
These welcoming crowds were all improvised welcoming crowds played by traitors from the maintenance committee. They waved the Japanese sun flags and carried various slogans of "Greater East Asia and Co-Prosperity" to welcome the Japanese troops into the city.
And this scene was all filmed by the Japanese army reporters to show how popular the Imperial Japanese Army was, and that they were here to save China.
The Japanese soldier Sano Taro was also very high-spirited now. He occupied Gaoyou again in just one day. Finally, he had handed in his first good answer since he became the leader of the detachment.
Taro Sano knew very well in his heart that although he ostensibly reported victory to the Central China Dispatch Army Headquarters stationed in Nanjing, saying that their detachment had wiped out thousands of enemies and captured Gaoyou, the actual results were not that great.
Therefore, after holding the city entry ceremony and completing interviews with military reporters, Japanese commander Taro Sano quickly returned to the temporary detachment headquarters set up in Gaoyou County.
"Captain of the detachment, it has been found out that the main force of the China Army withdrew from Gaoyou in the early morning, and only a small blocking force remained in the city to fight us."
Although the Japanese commander Sano Taro already knew that there were not many troops left in the city to fight them, he still felt panicked after hearing the report from the intelligence staff. He had been tricked.
He always thought that the main force of the Chinese Army remained in the city, so after the attack was thwarted, he just let the frontal troops feint to attack, and sent out the roundabout troops to flank from other city gates.
He thought that they could catch all the Chinese troops in the city, but unfortunately after closing the net, they found that they were all shrimps. Although they occupied Gaoyou again, the feeling of punching the air made him very uncomfortable.
This was not because the Chinese defenders of Gaoyou were deliberately trying to trick Sano Taro with a feint, but because the deputy commander Li Changjiang had no intention of confronting the Japanese in Gaoyou and fled early.
"Cunning Chinaman!"
Taro Sano clenched his fists loudly, but this time he missed the attack and failed to surround and eliminate the Chinese defenders of Gaoyou. He felt very unwilling.
"Detachment leader, do we need to pursue the victory?" The Japanese staff officer paused, then turned to Taro Sano for instructions.
Although Taro Sano was unwilling, he still shook his head and said: "No, order the troops to rest where they are and wait for the follow-up troops to arrive and rendezvous."
The Japanese staff officer was puzzled: "Commander of the detachment, why don't you pursue the victory and kill the Chinese army in one fell swoop?"
Taro Sano walked to the map, drew a big circle with his baton and said: "Your staff should know that this area is a swampy area with many rivers. Now that the Chinese army is scattered and fleeing, they will definitely take those difficult places."
The path taken is very detrimental to our army's pursuit and is not conducive to the display of our army's combat effectiveness."
"If our army stops chasing, those scattered and fleeing Chinese troops will definitely relax their vigilance. When they gather together again, it will be our opportunity!"
Hearing Taro Sano's analysis, the Japanese staff felt ashamed and had to praise: "The detachment leader is wise!"
Taro Sano did not feel proud of the praise, but walked to the chair and sat down and said: "Before the follow-up troops arrive in Gaoyou to join together, our main goal is to clear out the remnants of the Chinese Army in the villages and towns near Gaoyou, rebuild the maintenance committee, and raise military rations.
At the same time, we sent people to collect intelligence on the China Army to prepare for the next stage of combat."
"Hiyi!"
In this attack on Gaoyou City, although they captured Gaoyou again in just one day, the lack of combat effectiveness exposed by the officers and soldiers under their command also aroused the attention of Taro Sano.
The troops under his command are almost all improvised soldiers, baggage soldiers and engineers. Compared with the brave and skilled field troops, the combat effectiveness of his troops is more than one level behind.
And now he only has two brigades that have arrived at Gaoyou, and the rest of the troops are still gathering in Yangzhou and Zhengyi area. Now that he has captured Gaoyou and won, he can give an explanation to the Central China Expedition Army Headquarters, so he is not in a hurry to continue advancing.
Already.
Therefore, the arrangements he made were relatively conservative. He did not have a love rival to rush forward, but was prepared to attack steadily and gradually reduce the scope of activities of the squadron step by step to achieve the ultimate goal of elimination.
Another important reason why he does not underestimate the enemy's aggressive advance is the constraint of food. Due to the activities of guerrillas in many occupied areas, their supplies have a large gap, so he now needs to collect military rations on the spot to supplement the supply gap of the troops.
.
They had previously arrogantly clamored to destroy China within three months, but 700,000 squadrons fought them in Shanghai for three months, making their plan bankrupt.
Although they have won several large-scale battles and driven the Chinese Nanjing government to the poor areas in the southwest, the lengthening of the front line and the stalemate of the war have suddenly increased their logistical pressure.
Now many times they have to supply supplies on the spot. In order to ensure the next battle, he must now raise enough food to supply the needs of the troops.
After the Japanese commander Taro Sano captured Gaoyou, he did not conduct a large-scale pursuit of the retreating Chinese officers and soldiers. Instead, he chose to rest on the spot and wait for the follow-up troops to converge. This relieved the Chinese officers and soldiers who had withdrawn from Gaoyou.
tone.
Of course, the Japanese were not completely without military operations. There was still a squadron of troops advancing along the highway towards Jieshou, preparing to cooperate with the Jiangfang motorboat troops advancing along Gaoyou Hubei to capture Jieshou Town and open up communications with the Baoying garrison.
"Only one Japanese infantry squadron came to the frontier. The rest of the troops stayed in Gaoyou to rest and recuperate. The Japanese pursuit troops chasing the Suluyou Corps have also withdrawn to Gaoyou."
Yang Ling has been paying attention to the situation in Gaoyou City, so he got the latest updates on the Japs' troops in Gaoyou City as soon as possible.
"It's strange, why have the Japanese turned into a coward? Did the sun rise in the west?" After hearing the information about the Japanese, Liu Sheng, the staff officer, was full of doubts.
In fact, not only Liu Sheng was full of doubts, but Yang Ling and everyone else were also confused. This was not like the Japanese style at all.
The Japanese have been extremely arrogant since they invaded China. Sometimes, only a few dozen people from a small team would dare to pursue thousands of Chinese troops.
But now that the Japanese had enough strength from two brigades, they did not pursue the guerrillas who were weaker than them. This was beyond Yang Ling's expectations.
"Isn't this little devil openly building a plank road to visit Chencang secretly?" Lei Xiong thought for a while and put forward his own idea.
With the insidious and cunning character of the little devil, it is very likely that he would send an infantry squadron to attract attention openly and send troops secretly to make a detour, so Yang Ling did not dare to be careless.
"Deploy additional scouts and closely monitor all roads heading north from Gaoyou. If any Japanese movement is discovered, report it immediately."
"What about the Japanese infantry squadron?" a staff officer asked Yang Ling.
"Put them over first. If there is no tail behind them, eat them in one bite. If you don't eat the meat that comes to your mouth, you won't eat it for free."