Chapter 16 Chapter Sixteen Long Live the Tiger (1)

After commanding the Battle of Western Hubei, Chen Cheng left again and went to Yunnan. Sun Lianzhong, who had experienced the baptism of World War I, officially took over as the commander-in-chief of the sixth theater. After intelligence analysis, the Japanese High Command believes that China’s military priorities will change again, and elite troops from various theaters will be transferred to the borders of Yunnan and Myanmar in succession to organize the second transnational expedition. This is certainly not good news. Commander of the "China Expeditionary Force" Hata Toshiroku issued an order to the 11th Army accordingly, asking the department to start attacking the Sixth Theater in the autumn to contain China's troop mobilization.

After receiving the order, Isamu Yokoyama was very happy. In the later period of the Battle of Western Hubei, except for dragging back some ships from Yichang, the whole process was extremely rough, especially when the "Tiger Army" was encountered during the retreat, which made Heng Shanyong feel angry and felt like a cat's paw It hurts like scratching. This time it's good, it's rare that the higher-ups are so active, and they can go out and wrestle with each other again. Between "mother-in-law and daughter-in-law" There is a saying that happiness should be shared with others, but it is actually a bad sentence.

How much happiness can there be in the world, from crying and falling to the ground, to leaving with a bitter face and frowning, I don't have many happy days, how can I share half with others? Shunroku Hata, the commander of the "China Dispatch Army", must have thought so, because he is very unhappy now, and this unhappiness was bestowed on him by "Happy Isamu Yokoyama". Including the 11th Army, almost every front-line commander will complain about the incompetence of Hata Toshiroku and his "China Dispatch Army" headquarters. As a result, the civil war in the pass has been in a stalemate for a long time.

But this is called not being in charge of the family and not knowing the cost of firewood.After the Battle of Wuhan, the energy of the Japanese army has actually reached a critical point, just like a pole vaulter. Don't look at him jumping so high, it is not easy to move up the best score by even a centimeter. thing. It is not that Hata Shunroku has not fought for it. The reason why he strongly opposed the "Southern Strategy" was that he wanted to concentrate the Japanese army in China in order to achieve the same "Westward Strategy" as Okamura, Yokoyama and others.

However, wasn't the proposal rejected by Tojo?After that, the days became more and more difficult. When the Pacific War broke out, the commander of the "China Dispatch Army" was almost always worried about having no rice to cook. The invasion and occupation of Changde this time was completely suppressed by the Japanese High Command and had to be done, but this would inevitably involve the issue of troop deployment. Due to the serious shortage of troops, most of the divisions of the Japanese army had already changed from the four-team system to the three-team system. It was too late for the new divisions to be formed, and a single mixed brigade was formed in a hurry.

It used to be said that the 106th and 101st divisions were the weakest divisions in Japan, but now this concept has long been outdated. There is no weakest, only weaker. You bastard, don't mention offense, even sitting and defending is very difficult. In the Battle of Western Hubei, more than 3,000 people were cut off. The number does not seem high, but they are all real offensive troops, and they are not comparable to the newly formed divisions. Now if you ask Heng Shanyong to recruit people from the 11th Army, he will not be able to get enough. He has to find a way for him with his "low energy" mother-in-law.

What can Hata Junliu do? He can only move rice from other warehouses, such as the Shanghai Thirteenth Army. Lieutenant General Shimomura, the commander of the Thirteenth Army in Shanghai, jumped up anxiously when he heard that his 116th Division was going to be transferred to Wuhan to fight. At this time, everyone is poor and short-sighted, and the horse is thin and long-haired. The Thirteenth Army does not have a few decent troops, not to mention the 116th Division is still the pillar. It must be given to the army. Pulling it out is really more uncomfortable than digging out the heart. Hata Toshiro saw that there was no movement from Shanghai, so he sent someone to do the work, but Shimomura still refused, and poured out a lot of bitterness in front of his face.

Even if you ask me to pretend to be sleepwalking, it's still physical work, so I've turned everyone off in such a way, what should I do?You know, next to me is Gu Zhutong's third war zone, as long as my troops are empty, he may attack. The visitor was fidgety at Shimomura's words, and his tone eased, "How about choosing a brigade from the 116th Division instead of the entire division?" not so good! If you really want to smoke, you can, but for a large team, it depends on the favor. Next, Shimomura seems to have completely turned into a wronged woman, "'China Dispatch Army' is too unfair, why not draw from the 'North China Front Army', they have a lot of people there, if you don't want to know how to draw from the Thirteenth Army , we horses also have to eat grass, don’t we?”

After hearing what Shimomura Sada said, Hata Shunroku from Nanjing, let alone the trouble. He told Shimomura, "The palms and backs of the hands are full of meat. I hold this bowl of water very flat. The so-called helpers do not help relatives. There is no reason to say who is good or bad to whom." The "North China Front Army" has transferred When a division goes to Nanyang, it is impossible to draw its soldiers in the short term.” Take out a brigade, this matter is not discussed! A few days later, Shimomura decided to officially reply: "Okay, it's up to you."

"Depending on you" means that on the surface it is up to you, but in essence he has the final say—the brigade was stolen, the brigade was changed to a squadron, and the number of troops dispatched was reduced by half, becoming half a brigade. Of course, all this can't be hidden from Hata Shunroku's eyes. He is also an old fox. He once sat with Terauchi Shouyi to eat and drink. Play tricks with me, boy, you are still young.Since it is easy to talk and not listen, then there is no choice but to force it. On September 25, Hata Shunroku issued an order in the name of the "China Expeditionary Force" headquarters.According to the order, the 116th Division not only transferred a lot of troops to Wuhan, but also mowed grass and beat rabbits, and joined the other three infantry brigades of the Thirteenth Army.

Shimomura decided to put on airs and act coquettishly, tossing and tossing for a long time, but he lifted a rock and shot himself in the foot. Hata Shunroku puts so much effort into it, all for the sake of Yokoyama Isamu, but "Brother Yong" doesn't appreciate it. Isamu Yokoyama thought that Hata Shun-roku had no courage in doing things: You and Shimomura Sadamo are arguing, but there is only one division, so if you give an order early, you can do it. As a result, a lot of time wasted, which affected my formation of troops. Hata Junliu understood Shimomura Sada's difficulties in his heart, otherwise he would not have sent people to chat privately again and again, and it was a last resort to make a rigid order. What he didn't expect was that Yokoyama would be so unreasonable, he couldn't help being extremely angry, and yelled at Yokohama as a bastard in front of others, and his character was too bad. You just served as the commander of the front army in the Kwantung Army. What's the big deal? Is it a good command in the battle of Western Hubei? Hata Shunroku thought that the battle in western Hubei was a mess and had no technical content, so before the 116th Division left for Wuhan, he specifically hinted to the division head to ask the other party to help Yokoyama Yukun in planning, so as not to wrestle on the spot again. Soldiers trick People are such things that reason often dominates emotions.For example, Hata Shunroku said that Isamu Yokoyama didn't talk about skills in war, so that's completely out of his mind. After the head of the 116th Division arrived in Wuhan, he got the battle plan formulated by Yokoyama Isamu. After reading it, he immediately felt a kind of shame and anxiety of "I can't do it"-such a beautiful strategy, at least I think not come out. Isamu Yokoyama is an expert in tactics, and his understanding of "soldiers' tricks" has reached a certain level. On November 2, the Wuhan Eleventh Army dispatched troops to the Sixth War Zone. Yokoyama's first move seemed to be a continuation of the Battle of Western Hubei: the five divisions moved northward, pressing Sun Lianzhong towards the stone tablet. Sun Lianzhong's reaction was also that of Xiao Gui and Cao Sui, who shrank his troops as far as possible to the north, intending to replicate the "lure the enemy deep" strategy used by Chen Cheng in the battle in western Hubei. But when Yokoyama shows his second move, you will know that the truly exquisite tactics in the world can never be copied, but can only be constantly innovated and changed. The Eleventh Army suddenly returned to the south and pointed its finger at the real target-Changde, and the battle of Changde began. Sun Lianzhong's hands and feet were suddenly cold. There is a saying that "the lake is wide and full, and the world is cooked". Hunan has been known as "the granary of the world" since ancient times, and a Dongting Lake separates this large granary into two places. Changsha in the east is the granary in northern Hunan, and Changde in the west is the granary in western Hunan. . Geographically, Changde belongs to Hunan, but the war zone is divided into the Sixth War Zone. In fact, it is the granary of the Sixth War Zone.In the early stage of the Battle of Western Hubei, Sun Lianzhong hurried to Changde to supervise the battle, which was one of the important reasons. Changde could not be lost, but under the deception of Heng Shanyong's "cunning way", the main force outside Changde had been removed by Sun Lianzhong before, and the few defensive troops were quickly defeated one by one by the Japanese army. On November 22, Yokoyama completed the semi-siege of Changde and arranged for the 116th Division transferred from Shanghai to attack Changde from the front. The 116th Division, like the 106th Division, is the second batch of newly formed divisions in Japan.At that time, the conditions for formation were not bad. They were not as sloppy as they were later, and they dared to come out to mess around with the "individual mixed style". Therefore, although the 116th Division was new, it belonged to the A-type organization. It replaced Kumamoto's 1st Division during the Wuhan Battle. The Sixth Division has been stationed in Tianjia Town and has certain combat experience. Now it is not as good as before, like the 116th Division, it can be said to be very strong, but in Heng Shanyong's view, Changde is not a question of whether it can be attacked or not, but who should give the credit. When you go down to the village, you decide that the left and the right will not let people go. After all, it is because you are afraid that I will use up your people.Well, now I will not only return to Zhao intact, but also let the 116th Division be proud, go back and publicize it, and tell everyone how I Yongshan Yong defeated the enemy and defeated the enemy and achieved great success. Here Heng Shanyong crossed his legs, thinking that he was sure of winning, while Sun Lianzhong woke up like a dream, but fell into Abi Hell. Although he urgently called for reinforcements, it was too far away to save him from the fire. Codename Huben If this is a mediocre script, there is no suspense at this point. But life is always the best playwright, it will always provide fresh ingredients again when we think there is no suspense, and create completely unexpected effects. Yong Shanyong met the person he wanted to touch in Changde, but not the person he met at this time-"Tiger Army". Just a few months ago, I suffered a loss in the battle of western Hubei, and a few months later, I met again in the mountains and rivers. It is a good thing to lose. This is really a narrow road for enemies. The only thing that makes Yokohama feel lucky is that the city of Changde is not the whole of the 74th Army, but only one of its three divisions - the 57th Division, code-named "Hu Ben". The 74th Army has code names from the army to the divisions. The army code is "Brilliant". The place name, the most exciting is "Hu Ben". Tigers, warriors of ancient times, can behead the flag of the general and make great achievements in the world. It is said that Chiang Kai-shek also likes this code name the most. Yu Chengwan, the division commander of the Huben Division, was born in Taishan, Guangdong. He graduated from the first phase of Whampoa and the Political Department of Sun Yat-sen University. Two Whampoa students who were promoted to generals. But sometimes too many diplomas is not a good thing.College students in the Department of Politics, if they don’t do anything related to politics, they will always make people feel a little inferior. As a result, Yu Chengwan didn’t keep galloping on the battlefield like Yu Jishi and others, but became the director of the Political Department of the Navy Bureau. For more than ten years, everything has been delayed. When Yu Chengwan became the division commander of the 74th Army, Yu Jishi, the first commander, had been promoted to the deputy commander-in-chief of the group army, and Wang Yaowu, the second commander, was a third-year student in Whampoa. If you saw him in private, you would call him respectfully. Say "Old Senior". The third period ran ahead of the first period, which was a poor mix. But Yu Chengwan is by no means a bad person. He even used his more than ten years of experience in political work to run the army. During the autumn harvest season, Yu Chengwan would send troops to the outskirts of Changde to help farmers harvest rice. All workers brought their own dry food cooking utensils and were not allowed to receive any compensation.When it rained while marching in the field, the officers and soldiers of the Huben Division would rather hide from the rain at the door of the common people's house, and they would not dare to enter if you asked him to go in, because if there was a female family member in the common people's house, they would be punished after being found out. In their spare time, senior military officers at the military division level have their own pastimes, some are chatting, some are playing cards, and the better ones are reading and studying military books and war strategies.Yu Chengwan attaches great importance to understanding people's sentiments The general garrison can do not disturb the people, so thank God. Yu Chengwan garrisoned in Changde, not only can not commit any crimes, but also often actively ask local officials and people, such as whether they have difficulties in building fortifications and destroying roads. The troops helped to carry wood and rocks. A local official suffered from malaria and could not buy quinine. Yu Chengwan went to visit him personally. He could not get quinine, but he got a secret Chinese medicine recipe. After the patient recovered, he was very grateful to the major general. Realizing that the war was approaching, Yu Chengwan's first thought was to mobilize and force the evacuation of the people inside and outside the city, especially not to leave a single civilian in the city, and at the same time send troops to help the old and weak carry their luggage and maintain order. Before the Japanese army encircled Changde, the whole city was terribly silent, because all the residents had been evacuated, and the Huben division went to the front line, and no soldier dared to take the opportunity to steal property. An elderly man in Changde said that Yu Chengwan personally suffered a great loss in Changde, but he did not treat Changde people badly.