The leader is embarrassed by favoritism
In September 1938, at the foot of Lushan Mountain, the commander of the 101st Division of the Japanese Army, Ito Masaki, was wounded by artillery, and it was difficult to resume the offensive for a while. Near Xiaoao, Honma Masaharu's 27th Division had just gotten rid of Huang Wei's 18th Army's entanglement for several days, and was blocked by Feng Zhanhai, Fu Liping, He Ping, Chen Pei, Ji Zhangjian and other divisions, and they were still unable to break the deadlock after several days of hard fighting. The entire Jiangnan battlefield was frozen like this, and only the sound of gunfire from time to time reminded people: Jiangnan and northern Jiangxi are also battlefields, but now they are in the respite stage after a vicious fight.
Xue Yue was pondering whether Okamura Ningji, who was so happy and ambitious, would sit like this for a long time? Unexpectedly, before the conclusion came out, Chiang Kai-shek presented Xue Yue with a new problem.
After the Battle of Minshan, the Military Command Department sent a telegram to the headquarters of the 1st Corps: "The 74th Army suffered heavy casualties in the Minshan area, and it is necessary to reorganize near Changsha, Hunan; in view of the fact that the commander of the 64th Army, Li Hanxun, has been transferred to the chairman of the Guangdong Provincial Government, and the Japanese army has a tendency to attack Guangdong, the 64th Army will go to Guangdong to fight with Li Hanxun. ”
Xue Yue glanced at the telegram and said to Zhao Zili, the chief of the operations section: "Call back quickly, the 74th Army can't be transferred, the Nanxun Line is weak, and the 64th Army can't be withdrawn!"
The next day, Chiang Kai-shek personally issued a telegram that he was still supervising the transfer of the 74th Army to Hunan for rectification. Xue Yue still called back: I can't adjust it!
Chiang Kai-shek had already promised Yu Jishi, commander of the 74th Army, that he could not believe what he said? So the third telegram arrived, and he listed in detail the casualties of the 74th Army.
Xue Yue scolded angrily: "Fuck, it must be Yu Jishi's own activities!"
Yu Ji is fearless and arrogant. None of the military and political dignitaries in various places wanted to provoke this Jiang family Taibao, which made him even more crazy for a while. Everywhere he went, his relations with friendly forces were stiff. Not long ago, in the battle of Jinguanqiao, he didn't take his immediate boss Xue Yue in his eyes at first, and he didn't send the main reinforcements for a long time, which caused all friendly troops to scold him. It wasn't until Xue Yue was forced by military law that he sent troops to relieve the siege. The siege was lifted, but no one of the troops who withdrew from the front line of Jinguanqiao was grateful to him, and no one received his affection.
However, the 74th Army was a descendant of Chiang Kai-shek. In the two months of the Battle of the Nanxun Line, Okamura Ninji's Matsuura and Ito divisions suffered heavy casualties, and the casualties among the Chinese officers and men were naturally even more serious when they were inferior in artillery fire and equipment. Chiang Kai-shek felt sorry for the troops, but he could not let the Japanese army go to Wuhan in one go. In a dilemma, he naturally extended his favor to his descendants.
Regarding the relationship between the 74th Army and Chiang Kai-shek, Xue Yue was clear. Although he didn't want to offend Chiang Kai-shek, he didn't want to let go of the 74th Army at this critical moment. The battle of northern Jiangxi has just entered the main drama, and the good show is still to come. Letting go of the 74th Army will not only lose a new force, but will also lose the morale of the entire front-line troops. Besides, in the battle of Jinguanqiao, the losses of the 74th Army were the lowest. Chiang Kai-shek's face alone will release him? No!
With his mind decided, Xue Yue unceremoniously dictated the message: "All the units in front of the Nanxun Line are longer than the 74th Army in terms of combat time, and in terms of casualties, they are also larger than the 74th Army. If the 74th Army is to be transferred and reorganized, all other armies must be reorganized. Then there will be no further combat ahead!"
Then, with a long sigh, he said, "The leader is too selfish!"
Chiang Kai-shek received a call back from Xue Yue, and his anger can be imagined. But Xue Yue's reply was reasonable and responsible, and Chiang Kai-shek was helpless.
Unexpectedly, Chiang Kai-shek actually called Xue Yue directly the next day: "Boling, it has been reported that the 74th Army has suffered heavy casualties at Minshan, and it should be allowed to withdraw and make up for it! If all the troops are exhausted, it will be difficult to regain combat effectiveness." ”
Xue Yue argued: "Commissioned seats, troops fight, casualties are always inevitable. It is very difficult to set an accurate standard for the size of the casualties in the current situation where all units have suffered losses, and it is absolutely impossible to indicate the number of casualties in a certain campaign. However, there is a situation that can be compared, that is, the armies in northern Jiangxi now have a longer time to fight than the 74th Army, and the casualties are also greater than those of the 74th Army. If we look at the current casualty figures of the armies, or the number of existing troops, the 74th Army is far behind. Under such circumstances, the withdrawal of the 74th Army and the removal of the 74th Army to the rear to reorganize will inevitably affect morale, and the generals will also be resentful, and I am afraid that they will be even more reluctant to fight. ”
This reason was obviously difficult to refute, and Chiang Kai-shek was silent for a moment, still stubborn: "The length of the battle is not the standard, and the casualties cannot be generalized. We're going to fight a long battle, this ······ It is necessary to retain some complete descendant troops as the backbone, otherwise how can we continue to resist······? Do you see what I mean?"
"The report is that because of the extreme shortage of soldiers at the front, it is stipulated that no matter how serious the losses of any unit are, if it wants to be withdrawn and replenished, the existing soldiers must be left behind, even if it can only be formed into a regiment, a battalion, or even a company, and it must remain on the front line to be replenished by other combat units, and its generals can only take the surplus officers to the rear to receive reorganization. At present, there are many troops on the front line that have been reorganized and returned to the front line to fight. If you don't have subordinates, you can't be considerate, and if you set this precedent, it will be difficult to do things in the future. Subordinates are direct commanders, and they must be responsible to the commanders of troops at all levels, and they must not let their subordinates be difficult to explain. ”
Chiang Kai-shek was still stubborn: "Boling, I hope you will think of a way, there is always a way." ”
Xue Yue thought about it, it was better to push the problem to Chen Cheng and let Chen Cheng deal with Chiang Kai-shek, so he hurriedly said, "Okay." But the most anxious thing is to have troops to take over the defense. His subordinates immediately reported to Chief Chen to see if he could send a strong force to replace the 74th Army······"
"Oh no, no······" Chiang Kai-shek interrupted Xue Yue's words, "This······ I don't think there is any more trouble to resign about this matter, since we can't withdraw, let's stay on the front line for the time being and continue to fight. ”
Obviously, Chiang Kai-shek also knew that Xue Yue was playing tricks and deliberately kicked the "ball" to Chen Cheng, and Chen Cheng adhered to principles on similar issues. His own request was originally unreasonable, and it would be too boring to let Chen Cheng fight again, so he gave up this unreasonable demand, but put forward another request: "I want to transfer the 64th Army to fight in Guangdong, how about it?"
"No!" Xue Yue resolutely refused, "At present, northern Jiangxi is in a tense state, and his subordinates are planning a decisive battle with the Japanese invaders, and they need to concentrate their forces······"
Chiang Kai-shek hung up.
Xue Yue understood that he had angered Chiang Kai-shek, so he immediately called Chen Cheng.
Chen Cheng comforted Xue Yue: "Brother Boling, you did the right thing. At present, the great enemy must be treated equally, otherwise how can we urge other troops to fight hard? However, we do not need to embarrass the commission too much, if he wants to transfer the 64th Army, you will make some concessions -- leave one division and put it under the direct control of the corps. What do you think?"
Chen Cheng did have a way to meet the source left and right, and Xue Yue admired it very much: "Okay, it's decided like this." But are you going to report to the commission, or am I going to report to the commission?"
Chen Cheng on the left, who is on the right?
"It's better for you to say it. Even if I don't know about it, I still have room to maneuver. ”
"Yes!"
From the perspective of the overall situation, Xue Yue seems to have no reason to force the 64th Army to stay, but the big war is imminent, and he is nervous, so he naturally picks and chooses, or he is stuck in the 187th Division from the 64th Army.
Yu Jishi's hope of retreating to Hunan for rectification was thus dashed.
Hitting a big nail in Xue Yue's place, Yu Jishi was silent for a long time. After moving to Chiang Kai-shek, he even "greeted" his two division commanders, Feng Shengfa and Wang Yaowu: "Get ready to withdraw to Hunan for rectification." "But it didn't come true, and the anger was too big.
At that time, Feng Shengfa and Wang Yaowu were really worried that Yu Jishi would make trouble.
He Yingqin
Fortunately, after being silent for many days, Yu Jishi had no intention of making trouble, but he called the two division commanders and said earnestly: "Our troops are the descendants of the commission, and we are all his students and believers. Everybody knows that
The equipment and treatment of the troops of the Dao lineage are more generous than those of miscellaneous brands, and if they are not as good as other people's miscellaneous cards in a war, how can they be worthy of the grace of the commissioner's acquaintance? How can they have the face to stay on the battlefield? The commanders who are now commanding us are the Cantonese generals such as Xue Yue, Zhang Fakui, Wu Qiwei, and Li Hansoul, and they all have their eyes on our lineage troops and want to see our jokes! Okay, let's fight a few tough battles to show them, and let them know that our lineage troops are stronger than theirs! This tone must be fought! We must fight! We must fight! If you want to fight for this breath, it is mainly up to you, so I greet you today, and in future battles, I will be very strict with you -- you must defend your position like a nail on the ground, and when you attack, you can only move forward, and never retreat! I hope you will do it yourself. ”
The incomparable Yu Jishi was able to say such a thing, which made Feng Shengfa and Wang Yaowu very moved. Yu Jishi's idea of not trying to retaliate, but taking practical actions to "save face" is really above board. So the two immediately said: "Please rest assured, we Huangpu soldiers still have this ambition." ”
"Okay, so I'm more confident. Now that most of our friendly troops are Guangdong troops, we must set a good example for them!"
I have to admit that in the face of Chiang Kai-shek's favoritism, Xue Yue was too rational. When the bloody battle of Ruiwu Road and the great victory of Wanjialing half a month later, these two key forces were able to win one after another and hold up the crisis, the officers and men of the 1st Corps were all glad for the decision of these two vital forces forcibly left behind by Commander-in-Chief Xue Yue earlier.
But for Xue Yue, he was also eager to know the attitude of the leader he had offended.
Chiang Kai-shek's performance was equally unexpected. When he learned that an entire division of the Japanese army had fallen into Xue Yue's snare and knew the key role played by the 74th Army and the 187th Division, a smile of joy appeared on the corner of his mouth. He also had to admit that Xue Yue was right, and his sense of counterattack was stronger than his own. Such a victory was enough to excite Chiang Kai-shek, and the unpleasantness caused by the dispute was insignificant compared to the excitement of the victory, and the resentment against Xue Yue was even more fleeting.
For years afterward, he never spoke of it again, as if nothing had happened. You must know that in his bones, Chiang Kai-shek is a person who likes to hold grudges, especially those who hold the power of the military aircraft but are unruly. The exception to Xue Yue is really intriguing.
For the upcoming Wanjialing War, the leader's personal embarrassment is really a good omen!
The Japanese army flew to Wanjialing
Speaking of the Japanese side, the entire Nanxun Line was at a stalemate, which frustrated Okamura Ninji. Thinking about how easy it was to conquer Jiujiang at the beginning, at that time, he thought that the 11th Army would be invincible and invincible from now on, but he didn't expect that he would encounter such a tenacious opponent as Xue Yue, and his team did not give him any courage. The 106th Division advanced to Mahuiling and did nothing; the 101st Division was blocked at the pass and had no life; the 9th Division was stuck in the Makufu Mountains and could not be in a good position for a while; the 27th Division was stubbornly blocked in the Huanggang and Baishiya areas as soon as it went into battle; although the Botian Detachment had always performed eye-catching, its westward march along the Yangtze River was full of enemy fortresses along the way, and the Yangtze River waterway was by no means a shortcut to Hankou first.
Tokyo sent a telegram and was not satisfied with his performance.
The Sixth General of the Nanjing Hata Jun sent several telegrams, expressing deep concern about the delay in the progress of the offensive on the Nanxun Line, and stressing that if the main force of the 11th Army in Jiangnan could not advance as planned and cut off the retreat of the Chinese defenders on the Guangdong-Han Line, it would inevitably affect the entire battlefield operation. The dissatisfaction is palpable.
In the Japanese army, Okamura Ninji is a general who can recruit accustomed to war, how can he ever be so ugly and have such eyes?
Okamura Ninji is a veteran soldier who is well versed in the way of war, so he will not know that "victory and defeat are common things in soldiers". It's just that unexpected failures and unexpected setbacks made his blood surge, and his mind began to heat up. And the biggest disaster for him is the contempt for the Chinese army that is ingrained in his bones.
In September, due to the frequent attacks of the Japanese army, Xue Yue had to frequently adjust his deployment in order to plug the loopholes in all directions in time. On the battlefield south of the Yangtze River, cracks appeared in the complete defense system.
Xue Yue was not unaware, but he still had a strong reserve in his hands, and the Japanese army did not dare to risk his life to break in.
The stalemate on all fronts caused the rather conceited Okamura Ninji to gradually lose his patience. When the reconnaissance plane reported that the other side had such a gap, his eyes lit up, and he walked quickly to the map, pondering the arrows that were intertwined with attack and defense. The more he looked, the brighter his eyes became, and the clearer his thoughts became. The reason is extremely simple: inserting it from the open can avoid frontal obstruction and detour stagnation, and it can also penetrate into the deep depth of the defenders, so that the Chinese army will be exposed to the enemy on the back and completely shake the opponent's defense system. If it is better, it is very likely to swallow the Chinese defenders of more than 20 divisions in front of them in one bite, creating conditions for the smooth capture of Wuhan.
Thinking of this, Okamura's brain couldn't help but get excited, and his heart couldn't help beating like a drum in his chest.
Okamura asked himself after a while: "Xue Yue is so shrewd, can he give me such an opportunity?"
When plugging this loophole, even if it is a trap set by Xue Yue, the imperial army dares to get into it - the soldiers of China can't help the imperial army!
Immediately, Okamura Ninji ordered Miyazaki, chief of staff of operations, to "send two more reconnaissance planes, select the best pilots, fly at low altitude, and find out the location of this gap and the deployment of the Chinese army." ”
Soon after, the Air Force again reported the results of the reconnaissance.
Who will be sent to complete this interspersed combat mission? Okamura hesitated.
On September 18, after hearing about the commander's new plan, Junrokuro Matsuura walked into the Okamura headquarters and took the initiative to ask for battle.
"Are you sure?" asked Okamura, a little uneasy.
"Of the tens of thousands of soldiers urgently requested by General Toshiro Hata, more than 5,000 have been given priority to our division, and there are many veterans in this group, and the combat effectiveness of our division has been restored. Lieutenant General Matsuura was anxious to wash away the shame of the previous battle, and intentionally or unintentionally hinted at his special relationship with Okamura's immediate boss, General Shunroku Hatata.
Shunroku Hata
The 106th Division has basically been fully re-equipped through the reorganization and replenishment of the previous few days, and recently it has been transferred to the Mahuiling position to defend itself, and there has been no major mistake; besides, Matsuura is an old subordinate of General Shun Hata for many years, so he should be given another opportunity to make up for his mistakes and restore his reputation, both in public and private. With these factors in mind, Okamura agreed to Junrokuro Matsuura's request to fight.
Two days later, Okamura Ninji issued an order: In order to change the current situation of the war, the 106th Division left a part of the 106th Division to guard Mahuiling, and the main force broke through Wutailing and quickly entered the southwest area of De'an in order to counter the 27th Division; the 27th Division strengthened its offensive in the direction of Jixi and Nanyi, maintained contact with the 106th Division, and took the momentum of fighting each other, targeting Baicha and Qiujin.
It is not difficult to foresee that if this move is successful, the more than 200,000 Chinese troops of the 1st Corps of the 9th Theater will be annihilated by Okamura in the De'an area with three divisions, and its merit will be far greater than the capture of Wuhan.
In order to ensure the smooth implementation of this plan, Okamura ordered the 101st Brigade of the 102nd Division to be assigned to the 27th Division via Jiujiang
In view of the resignation of Major General Yoshitaka Akiyama, chief of staff of the 106th Division, due to illness, Okamura sent his most admired military commander to the division, Sakurai Shackles 3rd Nakasa, who could speak Shanghai, Hubei, and Cantonese dialects, and was known as "Koshinadori."
Okamura also personally reviewed the deployment plan planned by the military headquarters for Junrokuro Matsuura. The plan divided the 106th Division into five lines: the 136th Brigade of Major General Aoki was the main one, with the 52nd Mountain Artillery Wing, the 3rd Mortar Squadron, the 1st Engineer Brigade, the Radio Brigade, the Health Team, and the Herald Cavalry Corps each as the first line; the division's mountain troops (horses) were the second line; the 149th Wing of the 101st Division Tsuda Tatsuhiko Osa, drawn from Xingzi, was the third line; the reserve led by the new chief of staff of the division, Cheng Fusei, led by the first line; the 123rd Infantry Wing, machine gun troops, A total of 2,000 cavalry members stayed behind to guard Mahuiling, which was the fifth line.
After rushing to carry out the interspersed mission, Matsuura was extremely excited, and immediately ordered his troops to disengage from the Chinese army at the Mahuiling position, and withdraw to the rear of the position to assemble and replenish troops and food and ammunition. In order to adapt to the mountainous terrain, he ordered the troops to abandon chariots and heavy artillery and to pack horses; in order to travel lightly, he stipulated that the troops only carry five days' provisions, 180 rounds of ammunition per person, and two grenades. For a while, the horses returned to the mountains and the horses neighed and the donkeys barked, so it was not lively.
On the 25th, with the order of Songpu, in addition to the more than 2,000 troops of the fifth line to guard the Mahuiling position, more than 10,000 officers and soldiers of the main force of the division advanced westward. Its avant-garde troops easily broke through the weak defensive line of the defenders of Wutailing and plunged into the depth without stopping.
After returning to the ridge from the west, the trouble of the 106th Division came. The rugged mountain roads and the tall Japanese Yanmar were difficult to travel, and they often had to be pulled and pushed by the soldiers to move. The clothes of the officers and men were soaked with sweat during the day, and at night the mountain breeze blew and the bones were cold, so many people were infected with the disease; the bite of poisonous mosquitoes caused many people to develop malaria. The murderous Matsuura ordered: those who can walk keep up, and those who can't walk are to be disposed of by each unit itself. As a result, many seriously ill Japanese soldiers were shot dead in a dense forest valley by the officer.
What was even more troublesome was that the heavenly prince did not help, the mountains were full of fog, the troops often increased the distance between them and lost contact when they marched, and many officers were not familiar with the newly recruited soldiers, and the management of the troops began to be chaotic.
Of course, Matsuura knew very well that only by quickly breaking through to the rear and getting rid of the flanking attack of the Chinese army could he gain safety and deal a fatal blow to the enemy. This is also the only way out at the moment. So Matsuura ignored the stubborn resistance of the small defenders along the way, and regardless of all losses, desperately ordered his troops to rush forward and rush forward.
I don't know what year the map was printed, but it has long been unrecognizable at the present time. The compass is also strange, inexplicably never as shown by the sun. Whether it's the wrong map or the compass, at least one of them is wrong anyway.
However, the position was reported to the military headquarters once a day, and the call back was always the same: everything was normal!
However, when the troops advanced to about eight kilometers north of Baicha Street, trouble came - the command called back that the actual position was more than ten kilometers away from the reported position.
Matsuura gasped and coldly ordered, "Camp on the spot!"
Then, staring at the intelligence senior staff with a pair of old eyes, he said bluntly: "Sakurai-kun, the opportunity to give full play to your strengths has arrived, please you must find the local people of China and figure out what kind of place this is!"
"Koshinadori" Sakurai dressed as a Chinese peasant, came back from wandering around the mountain for two hours, and sure enough, he put the map he had drawn in front of Matsuura.
The sketch map shows that the location of the Japanese army is Liu Qigu Liu Village, between Baishuiqiao Street and De'an, each 30 kilometers apart, which is the northern edge of Wanjialing. To the north is Nanshan, to the south is Nantian, to the east is Moxi, and to the west is Shiyan. On the military map, Wanjialing is close to Minshan, and Baicha Street is on the south side of Wanjialing. The vanguard was supposed to bypass Wanjialing, but it fell into the hinterland of Wanjialing.
This map was stolen by Okamura Ninji from Sun Chuanfang back then, and now he has sent one of his divisions to a dead end. It's really unpleasant!
On October 1, the main force of the 106th Division advanced to the areas of Wanjialing, Beep Street, Laohujian, and Shibaoshan, and was close to the goal of detouring depth, but Matsuura did not expect that this close distance would almost become the end of the world.
To be continued