Kawabe Shozo just lay on the bench in the combat hall for three hours. He got up again before noon, wiped his face with cold water, and then went back to his intense work. This old Japanese was also in his fifties.
He is 18 years old, and I really don’t know where he gets his energy from, as if he will never know how tired he is.
Kawabe Shozo was most concerned about the progress of the Osaka Division.
"Nakamura-san." Kawabe Shozo asked, "How is the progress of the Osaka Division?"
"It's not going well." Toshi Nakamura paused and said, "This morning, the Osaka Division's attack on Pucheng suffered a serious setback. An infantry brigade that was responsible for the main attack was almost disabled, and a tank squadron that coordinated the operation also suffered heavy losses.
A total of six light tanks were lost, and three more tanks were slightly damaged."
The old face of Zhengzo by the river immediately darkened.
However, such a result had been expected by Kawabe Shozo. He had never expected that the Osaka Division could capture Pucheng in half a day. Even with the 8th Tank Regiment cooperating, it would not be possible. The Osaka Division
If there is such a powerful fighting force, it is not the Osaka Division, but the Sendai Division.
"This is also expected." Hebian groaned and asked, "How is the progress with the Kumamoto Division?"
"The Kumamoto Division is not progressing smoothly either." Shun Nakamura paused again and added, "Last night and this morning, the Kumamoto Division sent out more than a dozen arson troops. After hard fighting, a few arson troops completed the arson operation.
There were two mountain tops where the fires were quite big, but in the end they were put out by the Dameishan Independent Regiment."
"Have they all been extinguished?" Hebian Zhengzo said with a frown, "Normally it shouldn't be. It's the middle of winter right now, when the weather is dry. Once the fire starts, it's not easy to extinguish it."
"I also find it strange," said Shun Nakamura. "According to the report from the Kumamoto Division, the Daimeishan Independent Regiment should have built fire roads on the ridges of each mountain in advance. I have already asked the Aviation Corps to investigate."
As soon as Nakamura Jun finished speaking, the commander of the 3rd Flying Regiment, He Tadashi, hurried in.
"Riverside Mulberry." Shiga Tadashi hurriedly walked to Shozo by the river and said, "The reconnaissance plane reported that the Damei Mountain Independent Regiment has indeed built a large number of fire roads on the ridges of the western foothills of Damei Mountain. The Kumamoto Division also built a large number of fire escape routes last night.
The reason why the fire set this morning failed to spread is because of this damn fire escape."
"Fire escape?" Hebian Zhengsan's vision suddenly went dark, as if someone had hit him with a sledgehammer.
In fact, Hebian Zhengzo and the others had already considered the issue of fire roads. If the Damei Mountain Independent Group had built fire roads on various hills in the Damei Mountain area in advance, Hebean Zhengzo might have really re-examined this raid plan, because
With the fire escape blocked, it will be much more difficult to set fire to the mountain!
Even with the fire road, the plan to dispatch aviation troops to drop sulfur bombs was aborted. If the Damei Mountain Independent Regiment separated the thousands of large and small hills in the entire Damei Mountain area into small independent pieces with fire roads,
An aviation bombing can only burn a small area at most, which is too inefficient.
What's more, the people from the Dameishan Independent Regiment can still put out fires!
At present, the population of Damei Mountain District has exceeded 500,000, and the most indispensable thing is people!
At that moment, Hebian Zhengsan asked again: "On the occasion of Hesang, are there fire roads built on the hills near Shaqiaogang Fortress and Qingfeng Ridge to the east of Damei Mountain?"
Shihe Zhongji shook his head and said: "This is not available yet."
"Yo Xi." Hebian Zhengsan breathed a sigh of relief when he heard this. If fire roads were also built on the hills on the left and right sides of Shaqiao Gang and Qingfengling to the east of Damei Mountain, then this raid would probably be less dangerous.
However, even if it is not repaired now, it does not mean that the Dameishan Independent Group will never repair it, so it must step up its actions.
We can no longer get too entangled with the blocking troops of the Dameishan Independent Regiment in Pucheng, and we must move forward immediately.
At that moment, Shozo Shozo by the river shouted: "Nakamura-san, immediately telegraph the Osaka Division and leave an infantry regiment to contain the defenders of Pu County. Remember, as long as you contain the defenders of Pu County and ensure that the logistics supply line is unobstructed, it will be fine.
The main force of the Osaka Division immediately bypassed Pucheng and penetrated the Shaqiaogang Fortress as quickly as possible."
"Hai." Nakamura Shun nodded heavily.
(Dividing line)
Southern suburb of Pucheng, Osaka Division Headquarters.
Toshio Miyake, Kaoru Kataoka and the commanders of the two infantry brigades were gathering together to discuss whether the attack in the afternoon should include a battlefield, because only launching an attack from one direction would put less pressure on the opponent's defense. If
Launch attacks from two or even three directions at the same time, and the opponent's defense pressure will immediately increase.
When the opponent's defense pressure is high, it will be difficult to dispatch troops, and then flaws will be revealed. Once the defenders reveal flaws, it means that their opportunity has arrived!
While Toshio Miyake and others were discussing, a communications staff officer hurriedly walked into the headquarters.
"Division commander." The communications staff member snapped his feet and stood at attention, then paused and reported, "There is an urgent call from the headquarters!"
Toshio Miyake thought it was a reprimand message from the headquarters, so he waved his hand and said angrily: "Read it."
"Hai." The communications staff officer paused again, then unfolded the telegram and read, "104th Division: I hereby order one of your divisions to contain the enemy in Pucheng. The strength of the troops is preferably one infantry regiment, or another
Leaving a tank squadron to coordinate, the main force of the division and the main force of the 8th tank regiment will bypass Pucheng and go straight to Meixian."
"Nani?" Toshio Miyake was stunned when he heard this.
The two brigade commanders and Kaoru Kataoka also looked at each other.
Why is the headquarters of the Condemned Army so crazy? The Battle of Pucheng has just begun, so they are being asked to take a detour?
There are detours on the left and right. Why not let them detour from the beginning? Why do they have to wait until their Osaka Division has already set up a posture outside Gamagian City, and even the artillery regiment has built artillery positions before letting them detour?
Aren't you deliberately torturing their Osaka division? Isn't it interesting and fun to do this?
Kaoru Kataoka said: "Division Commander, we cannot execute this order."
The brigade commander of the 107th Infantry Brigade, Matsumoto Kenji, also echoed: "Yes, division commander, I think Kataoka-san's words are reasonable. We can't carry out this order. How can we not directly capture Gamagan County?"
Going forward? If something happens here in Kamagawa County, our Osaka Division's retreat will be cut off, and we will be in a dilemma."
Miyake Toshio waved his hand and said: "Matsumoto-san, Kataoka-san, have you ever thought about why the headquarters suddenly issued such a strange order?"
"This must be Kawabe-san's idea." Matsumoto Kenji said, "Who knows why he is so crazy?"
Kaoru Kataoka said: "The Chief of Staff of the Riverside must have felt that our Osaka Division's progress was too slow. In order to prevent his mopping up plan from coming to nothing, he ignored the safety of our Osaka Division and ordered us to bypass Pu.
County, risking an advance, but we cannot obey his orders and underestimate the enemy and advance rashly."
Matsumoto Kenji said: "Yes, division commander, Xu Rui is not a good person."
"No, you are wrong." Miyake Toshio said, "Haven't you ever thought that there might be an opportunity to take advantage of the lack of defense in Meixian County?"
“Meixian is empty?”
"That's possible."
Matsumoto Kanji and Kataoka Kaoru nodded suddenly.
"Order!" Toshio Miyake said sternly, "The 170th Infantry Regiment will be left to contain the enemies of Pucheng, and the 8th Tank Regiment will also leave a squadron to coordinate with the 170th Infantry Regiment in the elimination operations.
Tell Koga-san that the mission of their 170th Infantry Regiment is to contain the enemies of Pucheng and ensure smooth logistics supply lines."
"Hai." Kaoru Kataoka paused heavily and turned around.
(Dividing line)
In the city of Pu County, the Eighth Battalion and Three Companies were in position.
"It's time to eat." Lao Suntou carried a load of hot food up to the position and shouted at the top of his voice, "The hot white flour buns and pork and cabbage stewed vermicelli are delicious."
Hearing Lao Suntou's high-pitched shouting, the officers and soldiers of the Third Company who were already starving suddenly swarmed forward.
But the donkeys and pheasants have to be on guard. They can only watch from a rooftop and cannot go back to eat.
Seeing the officers and soldiers of the Third Company feasting, and smelling the scent of pork floating in the air, the pheasant's belly growled unsatisfactorily, then he rubbed his belly and said to the donkey, "Brother Donkey, I'm hungry."
"It's worthless." The donkey said angrily, "Didn't you just have breakfast this morning?"
"There is no pork and cabbage stewed vermicelli in the morning." Pheasant said, "I want to eat pork and cabbage stewed vermicelli. It's delicious."
After calling the donkey, he snorted and said disdainfully: "Pork and cabbage stewed strips are nothing. Let me tell you, after we won the battle to defend Feicheng, the regiment leader asked the cooking class to cook dozens of stews for all the brothers in the regiment.
The big fat pig, the braised pork is so fragrant, oh yes, and the Shaanxi fried noodles, oh my, they are always delicious."
Pheasant then swallowed his saliva and said, "I also want to eat fried noodles."
"No problem." Jing Lu said, "Commander Xiao He said that after we win the counter-mopping up, the whole group will have extra meals, braised pork, Shaanxi fried noodles, Northeast braised noodles, Henan braised noodles, Shanxi sliced noodles, as long as you
If you call me famous, Lao Suntou from the cooking class will find a way to fix it for you, and you will definitely be able to eat enough."
Pheasant rubbed his belly and said pitifully: "Brother Donkey, I'm even hungrier."
"Look at your potential, go and eat quickly. I'll just keep an eye on you." He said in a frustrated voice.
Pheasant seemed to have received an amnesty and ran away quickly. However, because he was too anxious, he tripped and fell down from the second floor. He fell heavily into a dark car below.
There was a loud bang on top of the Type 95 tank, and the pheasant immediately covered its tailbone and screamed.