Chapter 18 Chapter 18 Ideal and Reality (1)

When Xue Yue launched the Wanjialing Encirclement and Annihilation War, the reason why Okamura, like a stepmother, showed an almost cruel indifference to the rescue of the 106th Division, in the final analysis, was because of the Western Army of the Eleventh Army. For the sake of action. Originally, it was hoped that the 106th Division would be able to follow the trend to carry out his plan to go south, but unexpectedly, it would not matter if he fell into it. It means that the westward operation may run aground.In this way, neither side is in decline, how can this work. Okamura's real thought at the time was that the 106th Division would be over when it was over, and as long as the westward advance could be successful, I was willing to give up the small and get the big.

Through the Battle of Minshan, he found that the southern battlefield where Xue Yue's corps was located was strong, while the western battlefield where Zhang Fakui's corps was located was relatively weak. Therefore, Okamura threw all the main force of the Eleventh Army with the Kanazawa Division and the 27th Division at the core on the south bank of the Yangtze River to the western battlefield.The initial advancement also surprised him inexplicably. The Kanazawa division took the lead, running faster and faster, and was about to become the only protagonist on the field. chess match

The Eleventh Army Headquarters was lively again, but the faces of the staff officers were no longer panic-stricken, and Okamura's ears were filled with all kinds of good news, either "it's going well" or "unstoppable". Once excited, Okamura lost the patience to make every move and come and go.He issued a pursuit order, and asked the most powerful Jinze division to chase with their eyes closed, and rushed to Xianning, Hubei at the fastest speed. Xianning is an important station on the Guangdong-Han Railway. To the north is the famous Hesheng Bridge during the Northern Expedition, and further up is Wuhan.

Occupying Xianning cut off the Guangdong-Han Railway, which was equivalent to copying the back route of Wuhan.This marching route was not even the small encirclement that Okamura originally envisioned. It could only be called a small encirclement. I hope that the Kanazawa Division can run as fast as possible. Don't worry about any obstacles on the road, just treat them as clouds. The Jinze division rushed to chase and chase, and chased to the junction of the two provinces of Hubei and Jiangxi, and couldn't get through. There is a big mountain in front of you. The mountain is not a railing, and you can't jump over it with a single leap if you pull the rein of the horse.

The name of this mountain is Mufu Mountain.Compared with Lushan Mountain, Mufu Mountain is much less famous, but it is not about painting and sketching.This boundary mountain became a natural barrier to block the Jinze Division. What should not be underestimated is that there is still a general standing on the mountain. The cold weapon in his hand makes people feel frightened, and he looks like he is not an idler. Sometimes, it is a bad habit to underestimate people. Okamura underestimated Zhang Fakui, and he has to pay for it. In the period starting from Jiujiang, the commander of the "Iron Army" did not perform well. No matter whether he looked up, down, left, or right, he could not see the momentum of sweeping thousands of troops during the Northern Expedition.However, Zhang Fakui's own conclusion is not unreasonable: the troops given to me are too bad, and the commander of the army is no matter how hard he is, where can he go?

The so-called extreme prosperity, at the beginning Li Zongren's five war zones were poor enough, but after Tang Enbo came, his waist immediately became stronger, and a Taierzhuang victory shocked everyone and envied everyone. The key is that you have to last until then. Relying on Xue Yue, the little brother, to drag and pull in the southern battlefield, Zhang Fakui also survived, and really ushered in Tang Enbo. Tang Enbo was originally assigned to the south of Nanchang and belonged to the mobile unit.He belongs to the kind of warrior who either doesn't make a move, or can release some thunderous means when he makes a move.

As early as when the Jinze Division entered Minshan, Chen Cheng, the commander-in-chief of the Ninth War Zone, had already discovered that the area defended by Zhang Fakui's Corps was too weak. Can't stop. In terms of location, Zhang Fakui's corps is behind Wuhan. If the Japanese army is allowed to drive straight in, one can imagine how passive the battle will be. If Tang Enbo is not called up, it will be very dangerous. Zhuang Tang's troops have a characteristic, that is, others fight less and less, but he fights more and more. Now it has expanded from the Tang Army to the Tang Army (the 31st Army), and it is easy to command.

Could it be that he knows the legendary method of attracting stars? Tang Enbo has his own way, he promotes those who are capable and drives out those who are inferior. Those who are incorporated into his army, as long as you are really capable, you are not afraid of not having the opportunity to be promoted.Generally, generals in the army would go back and promote their subordinates after they were promoted, but Tang Enbo thought of his subordinates before he changed his black hat.Among them, Wang Zhonglian, Zhang Zhen and others were promoted particularly quickly because they fought well, almost every half a year, and soon jumped from division commander to army commander.

For those who can be promoted due to meritorious service, and the quota in his own army is already full, Tang Enbo also tried his best not to let them down, and tried every means to recommend them to serve in other troops whenever he had the opportunity.In this way, everyone will work extraordinarily hard. For those who are capable, there must be those who cannot, and those who cannot do it often hold on to the little army under them, like their own private arms.Tang Enbo's method is to first try to transfer the chief military officer. If it doesn't work, he will simply take a drastic step to remove some of the original mid- and lower-level officers and replace them with another group of people. , Never dare to fall in love again.

When Tang Enbo camped on Mufu Mountain, the first thing he thought of was to instill the awareness of mountain warfare in the group army he had just formed—— First, to occupy the commanding heights, this is called the head, which can be used to completely control the entire position. Second, to occupy the hills on both sides of the commanding heights, this is called left and right hands, which can have the effect of flanking. The Jinze Division thought they were the legendary iron-clad serial horses, but they didn't expect that what protruded from the mountain forest were hooks and sickles. In the language of Li, it is called "but when you see the horse, you will turn over when you stir the hook".

The Chinese army used the "hook and sickle gun" to deal with the Japanese "serial horses" The hard work on one hill after another exhausted the Kanazawa Division.The so-called pursuit order has gradually become a dead letter. The straight-line distance from the starting point to Xianning is more than one hundred miles. The average daily "pursuit" of the Jinze Division does not exceed two miles. This is really killing people. At the same time, after getting rid of the "entanglement" of the 18th Army, the 27th Division encountered "Soup-style mobile warfare" on the highway. The low offensive efficiency plummeted. The two main forces of the Eleventh Army responsible for the westward march became sluggish because of this, and they could basically occupy a mountain in a day.Okamura sits in the war room of the 11th Army Headquarters, marking the hills with colored pencils every day.On the map, Mufu Mountain is like a piece of clothing, and these captured hills are like the dotted patterns on the clothing, but they are too small to be ignored. Okamura's biggest wish is to connect the dots into a line as soon as possible, but the characteristic of Tang Enbo's battle is that if you attack him, he will definitely lead the army to fight back, thus minimizing the chance of connecting the dots into a line . The entire Mufushan battlefield was in a chaotic battle. The Japanese army had just repelled a Chinese army, and another Chinese army would emerge soon, or although the Japanese army embedded in Tang Enbo's frontal defense line, its left and right sides remained motionless. Tang Enbo graduated from the eighteenth class of Lu Shi, and Okamura Ningji graduated from the sixteenth class of Lu Shi. They were taught by the same school, and there was only a difference of two classes.Okamura is proficient in frontal attack, Tang Enbo is familiar with mountain defense, Okamura knows how to counterattack, and Tang Enbo is also good at annihilating the enemy.In this way, the two sides can only fight inextricably. Through the previous Battle of Nankou and the Great Victory at Taierzhuang, Okamura is no stranger to the name Tang Enbo, but only when he actually fought against each other did he know that the opponent deserved his reputation. Of course, if Tang Enbo did not have Mufu Mountain as his backing, it would not be possible for Okamura to have such a headache. Old Okamura no longer has leisure time to paint. He wrote a banner saying: The enemy is not the enemy, the terrain is the enemy, and I don't like mountains and rivers in battle. You don't love Shanshui, and Shanshui doesn't love you, who told you to come to our place to kill and set fire? one is stronger than the other In addition to the obstruction of the attack, Okamura is also facing another problem: the heat is coming. Okamura spent time in Wuhan when he was young.According to his own experience, this area is not very hot every year, and there are also years that are not hot, but what gave him a headache is that this revisit to the old place happened to coincide with a good year, and the central China area was particularly hot. The officers and soldiers of the Japanese army had to go into battle shirtless, especially those veterans with full beards, who had prickly heat on their faces, and the prickly heat between their beards festered, and their faces looked like blooming flowers. The front line became miserable, and the Japanese field hospital was filled with all kinds of wounded and sick, almost overcrowded.When Okamura saw so many wounded soldiers being carried off on stretchers, he couldn't help crying, and tried to look away several times during the inspection, so as not to be seen by his subordinates. God, why is it so difficult to fight in Central China? The troops ordered to launch a general offensive to Wuhan this time include not only Okamura's Eleventh Army, but also the former "North China Front Army" Second Army.Compared with the Eleventh Army, the Second Army regrouped and set off later, and did not start from Hefei until mid-August. Its offensive route crossed the three provinces of Anhui, Henan, and Hubei, and circled from the northern foot of the Dabie Mountains to Wuhan. Going around in such a big circle is of course because the Huayuankou broke the embankment and the convenient way was cut off.If it was possible to cross the Great Plains of Eastern Henan and go south from Zhengzhou, then there would be no need for a large force, and the "rapid advance team" composed of tanks, chariots and cavalry would be able to achieve the goal. Due to the destruction of road bridges along the way, the nearly 2,000 vehicles originally prepared by the Second Army were all useless and became a pile of waste, and the divisions had to march on foot. As they walked, everyone began to curse. Like the 11th Army, they also cursed "ghost weather". Regarding the weather factor, the Japanese High Command did not take it into consideration at all. The fact that more than 2,000 people in the Kumamoto division that set out early suffered from malaria shocked the General Staff Headquarters.If this is the case, wouldn't it be necessary to reduce the number of staff before the war? August and September are the hottest seasons in the south, and officers and soldiers may suffer from heat stroke even if they don't "play tricks". Therefore, the Army strongly advocates delaying the attack on Wuhan until October. But the Navy doesn't do it. The Yangtze River is not full of water all the year round, and these two months are the wet season. The river is wide and there are few shoals, so our warships can go upstream. If it enters the dry season in October, can the boats It's hard to say when you drive to Wuhan. The navy sits on the boat all day long, pampered and pampered. They don't care what the army lives in the mountains, forests and rice fields, and this time the army has to listen to the navy: you don't have a boat, and the 11th army along the Yangtze River has to be picked up by others what. In fact, the concerns of the General Staff Headquarters are not superfluous. The August weather, which may have been good for the Navy, was a disaster for the Army. At the northern foot of the Dabie Mountains, except for a little rain on the first day, the next few days were full of scorching sun.The temperature once soared above forty-three degrees Celsius, and officers and soldiers fell to the ground as they walked. After that, the bad luck of the Kumamoto Division also hit the Second Army not surprisingly.In addition to malaria, cholera was also added. The number of missing personnel in the Second Army due to cholera, malaria, and heat stroke reached 25,000, which exceeded the size of a division. Nearly 900 people died in the middle, which is quite in a brigade. What's even more peculiar is that the Second Army's encounters along the way were similar to those of the Kumamoto Division. The opponents became stronger and stronger, while they themselves suffered more and more losses. The first strong enemy I encountered was Song Xilian.Song Xilian gathered all the surviving troops of the German Armor Division, and fought against the 13th Division for ten days in a blocking battle in Fujin Mountain, causing more than half of it to be lost, forcing the Second Army to replenish the division five times. . Ren Yan, the commander of the Second Army, saw that the road was difficult and dangerous, and planned to take another shortcut and cross the Dabie Mountain along Xiaojieling, but Sun Lianzhong launched a defense battle of Xiaojieling again. The Battle of Xiaojieling is called "The Second Battle of Taierzhuang", or "Battle of Little Taierzhuang", which is extremely fierce.When there was a critical situation on the front line, Sun Lianzhong, who was already the commander-in-chief of the corps, even picked up a portable machine gun and rushed up with the guards himself. Wu Dehou, the captain of the Death Squad during the Battle of Taierzhuang, once said that the Battle of Xiaojieling was the most intense and brutal battle he had ever experienced in his military career.A regiment of nearly 3,000 people hit the back, and even the cooks and stretcher bearers added together, there were only less than 300 people left.In Wu Dehou's memory, Xiaojieling is even more unforgettable than Taierzhuang. After this battle, the 16th Division of Kyoto, which was as brutal and ferocious as the Kumamoto Division in the Nanjing Massacre, was beaten to the ground. Evacuate Wuhan, here is impenetrable, not even a fly can fly through. In desperation, Ren Yan could only go back to the road. The third opponent is also very good: Zhang Zizhong. Zhang Zizhong is now almost the panacea in the fifth war zone. Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi felt that somewhere might be weak, so they deployed him there. At that time, Zhang Zizhong's army was also suffering from malaria. Later, even Zhang Zizhong himself played a "battle"-he has always set an example in running the army. The soldiers ate yams and drank raw water, and he also ate yams. Potatoes drink raw water, as long as they are not immortals, they also have the probability of developing malaria. However, when he was ill, he still led his troops to the front line at the speed of a forced march, according to Huangchuan to block the 10th Himeji Division (that is, the Jigu Division during the Taierzhuang War). In Huangchuan, Zhang Zizhong was in danger.First, it was raided by the Japanese cavalry regiment outside the city. In just a few minutes, Dongyang horses were about to rush into the big tent.Then, when the Himeji Division surrounded Huangchuan City, he risked his life and entered the city to supervise the battle. The most dangerous thing was that the Japanese army bombarded the city wall with artillery fire. When they swarmed in, Zhang Zizhong yelled, and personally organized a death squad to launch a counterattack, and re-sealed the gap that had been torn open on the city wall. For such a small county town, the two sides fought continuously for twelve days and nights. The so-called "Japanese corpses accumulate and the Hao River is completely red", even the Huaihe River next to it is almost stained red with blood. The entire Himeji Division was knocked out in Huangchuan by at least 2,000 troops. When the main unit set off from Hefei, there were still 2,800 people. When the battle of Huangchuan was over, there were only 800 left. It was no less than the Taierzhuang victory, and even the Second Army itself had to admit on the radio that the Imperial Army encountered an unprecedentedly powerful enemy in Huangchuan and suffered huge losses. The actual situation of the Battle of Wuhan was different from the previous Battle of Songhu, Nanjing, and even the Battle of Xuzhou.In the past, it was very difficult for the Chinese army to capture ghost soldiers. Even if two were captured due to injuries, most of them were "dead ducks with stiff mouths" at first, with stiff necks, and they didn't say a word no matter how tricked they were.You'd have to wait a long time for him, and you'd have to eat and drink, before he'd spit out two or three words of worthless bullshit. However, due to the loss of too many veterans in the war, in addition to constantly forming new divisions, Japan had to use a large number of recruits even to supplement the main divisions.These recruits come from all walks of life in Japan, and they have not been brainwashed like veterans. From the heart, they don't want to go to such a distant country to fight at all, so their combat ability and will are very weak.For example, the captive soldiers of the Himeji Division who were captured had questions and answers, and they were very cooperative.Among them was a college student who weepingly took out a bunch of family letters and photos from his arms to show the interrogator, and for all the military secrets he knew, what you need, what he answered, the only request was to spare his life. In the Second Army, it is said that they are all veteran main divisions, but they have all been beaten up and down along the way, which has a lot to do with the subtle changes in the composition of their troops. Commander Ren Yan was so anxious that he had no choice but to pull out the last finale division—the Third Nagoya Division, and at the same time frequently used the most mysterious and most despised gas bombs among special weapons.Gas tanks used by the Japanese army in poison gas warfare You have the finale, and others have the finale, and they are almost the strongest. Hu Zongnan took the lead in forming the Southern Henan Corps in Xinyang, which included not only elite infantry from all walks of life, but also special forces such as Du Yuming's 200th Division and the Independent Artillery Regiment.Even if the two sides fight alone, they still have to fight. Gas bombs are things that are born once and cooked twice.It was scary the first time I saw it, but after seeing it a lot, I learned how to defend against it, but that's all.Over time, Chinese soldiers even learned to joke about gas bombs. When they saw the smoke surrounding the front of the position, they joked with each other, saying, why don't you go up and smell it?Try to see if it is poison gas.The other replied, it’s okay to go, just give me a gas mask first. Feeling that the gas bombs scattered in front of his eyes are always eye-catching, Hu Zongnan simply launched a short counterattack and took away the gas bomb warehouse of the Nagoya Division. Han Mou Mou Mou Mid-September has passed, and late-September has passed, and in a blink of an eye, mid-October is almost here... But one north and one south, the commander of the Second Army and the Commander of the Eleventh Army still can only stare at each other. The guys look at the boss, and they don't know how to break the deadlock. Ren Yan is a member of the royal family, born with a golden spoon in his mouth, he can put gold on his face when he fights well, and no one says him when he fights badly. There is no credit but hard work.Okamura is different. The lack of progress on the front line is tantamount to killing him. It seems that the only one who can save his life is "Japan's Most Powerful Master Group". The reason for the high expectations for the Kumamoto Division is that after so many days of combat and comparison, Okamura discovered a "law of 300 meters". If the terrain is lower than 300 meters, the special forces still have room to display, and the advantage of the Japanese army is almost the same as that of flat land, but if the terrain is higher than 300 meters, not only is it difficult for the special forces to use their skills, but the infantry has to look up. Chong, the difficulty of attacking is much greater. Mountains are also connected to mountains. If the hinterland of the Dabie Mountains is not included, most of the hilly areas and rice fields north of the Yangtze River are below 300 meters. On the contrary, the mountains to the south of the Yangtze River are generally higher than 300 meters. According to the "three-hundred-meter law", Okamura decided that the Kumamoto Division was more likely to be the first to go to Wuhan, so he asked someone to bring a letter to the Chief of Staff of the Kumamoto Division, Shigeta Tokumatsu. The regiment organized a new offensive as soon as possible, on October 17th. This "harsh arrangement" by Okamura was hard to accept from the head of the division, Inaba, to Shigeta himself. Although Tianjia Town was occupied ahead, Inaba and the others were not at all relaxed.After the Battle of Tianjia Town, the Kumamoto Division lost not only its offensive ability, but also its defensive ability. It is absolutely difficult to fight again without recruits. Holding Okamura's letter, Shigeta went to ask again, and said that 3,200 supplementary soldiers had arrived, but they were still on the ship on the Yangtze River, and they needed to arrive on October 20—even if they came , You still can't let these recruits go into battle immediately, you have to organize them, so that even if it is the earliest, they will not be able to go to the new battlefield until October 23. Attack on October 17, what do those pig heads at the headquarters of the 11th Army think? Chief of Staff Shigeta, who was ordered to formulate the battle plan, "shed tears of grief and indignation", his heart was full of only one word, block, three words, and he panicked. But he didn't dare to disobey Okamura's order. He usually played some attitude in front of the old guy.Now that you say you don't want to go to war, that old face will come off.If you are not happy, you may even give the plaque of "Japan's Most Powerful Division" to the Kanazawa Division. I am used to being "first", and the latter matter is the most unacceptable to Shigeta and his division chief. From now on, Zhongtian climbed up to the nearby hills every night, looking at the position set up by Li Yannian, thinking hard, like Meng Jiangnv crying over the Great Wall, with a mournful face, hoping that the enemy's position would fall down automatically. One day, two days, nothing can be thought of, and the position has not been lost.Damn, how can this be good? It was the reconnaissance plane that brought new hope to Inaba and Shigeta. Intelligence shows that the Chinese army is preparing to abandon Wuhan, and various troops are alternately covering and evacuating from the front line one after another. It is good to have a plane on it, and the courage immediately strengthened, and the Kumamoto Division immediately launched a "quick pursuit". The reason why the Chinese High Command decided to abandon Wuhan at this time is very directly related to the fall of Guangzhou. The fourth war zone was in charge of defending Guangzhou, and the commander in chief was He Yingqin, Minister of Military and Political Affairs, but the frontline military was actually presided over by Yu Hanmou, the deputy commander in chief. When the Guangdong-Guangdong Incident happened, Yu Hanmou was the first to rise up against Chen Jitang.After that, although he took the top spot of Chen Jitang in name, he could no longer enjoy the glory of Boss Chen, and the party, government and military power in Guangdong was basically controlled by Chiang Kai-shek. "Old Mouzi" (Yu Hanmou) does not have Chen Jitang's ambition to occupy the mountains and become king. He would rather squat in Guangzhou like a little wife, and his ability as a little wife is directly proportional to his ambition. The most glorious period of the Cantonese Army was the Eastern Expedition to the Northern Expedition. At that time, the Guangzai all had the drive to create a foundation and conquer the country. Therefore, first-class fighters such as Zhang Fakui, Xue Yue, Wu Qiwei, and Ye Ting continued to emerge, and they were able to create the first. The name of the "Iron Army" of the Fourth Army. But since then, the Cantonese army has gradually started to go downhill. Basically, one crop is not as good as one crop. It is manifested in the family members, that is, Chen Jitang is not as good as Zhang Fakui, and Yu Hanmou is not as good as Chen Jitang. Investigating the reason, the problem is that the officials are getting richer and richer. Yu Hanmou's basic army was the First Army, which was also diverted from the Fourth Army according to its flow, but this army had made money by operating tungsten mines as early as when it was in Jiangxi.When he arrived in Guangzhou, Yu Hanmou distributed the money he earned, and all officers above regiment commander became rich, and almost everyone owned a bungalow car, living a very luxurious life. Insiders commented that the officers of the "Lao Mouzi" generally have three sets of clothes, a military uniform for occasions in the army, a western suit for shopping during the day, and a silk gown for drinking flowers and wine.As soon as this trend broke out, even the officers who used to have a decent image turned black and mingled with businessmen all day long to do business and smuggle, so the First Army almost became a "Guangdong business group". Fu Zuoyi once had a famous saying: Soldiers cannot have money, and if they have money, they are afraid of death.The Cantonese Army is no better than others in terms of strategy and tactics. The reason why they were able to defeat the Beiyang Army at the beginning was entirely due to a fierce force that was not afraid of death. . In contrast, Gui Jun is different.Li, Bai and others have lived in poverty for decades, so their "steel army" still has a cold look, but the Guangdong "iron army" has long been rusted. Although it is no longer able to fight, the First Army still looks down on other Cantonese armies.They claim to be the direct descendants of Yu Hanmou, thinking that "the country was brought down by Lao Tzu", and they become more and more arrogant day by day. As the saying goes, proud soldiers and brave generals. "Soldier arrogance" is not necessarily a bad thing. Only with ambition can we do great things and become "Titans".It is a pity that the first army is arrogant, but it is not "tough" in war. Since the Battle of Songhu, Chiang Kai-shek has successively mobilized some Cantonese troops out of the province to participate in the war.Yu Hanmou was reluctant to send out the main force of his first army, he only sent one Ye Zhao, and the others were Li Hanhun and Deng Longguang who were "non-directed".These latter people belonged to Zhang Fakui's old subordinates, which was one of the reasons why Li Hanhun and others couldn't get along with Ye Zhaosu. In terms of weapons and equipment, the Cantonese Army ranks first in the country. There are many weapons made by Germany and the Czech Republic, some of which even surpass the German Armors of the Central Army. Compared with them, they are much better than those who stayed behind. Therefore, after they left Guangdong, they all did something famous. All that was left in the house was a sick cat, but "Old Mouzi" didn't know how to tie up the fence in front of the house. On October 4, the Kuomintang High Command sent information informing Yu Hanmou that the Japanese invading forces had assembled two divisions in Taiwan and a large number of naval ships, apparently heading for Guangzhou. This is quite important information, but "Old Mouzi" still acted as if nothing had happened and did not take any precautions. Tiger Cub is fighting devils to death in Wanjialing. At this time, how can Japan draw troops to Guangzhou? Besides, no matter how rampant Little Japan is, how dare it offend the "British Empire"? Historically, Guangzhou has been closely linked to Hong Kong, which was a British colony.Japan's occupation of Guangzhou will inevitably affect the whole body and affect its relationship with the United Kingdom. The Japanese army was pressing down on the border, and officials at all levels of the "Guangdong Business Group" were still visiting Guangzhou and even Hong Kong, without any sense of urgency to fight. Until October 10, Yu Hanmou received a report that Japanese naval ships had gathered in Daya Bay, Guangdong.Only now did he panic, knowing that the other party was going for real. Call now.Instead of calling the army station, I called the owners of movie theaters everywhere, asking them to quickly type subtitles, and asking the brothers who watched the movie with their legs crossed to return to the defense as soon as possible. The real "movie" starts right away, the war movie, the one-sided kind.