novelden Chapter 938 The Japs' Defeat Is Doomed
Chapter 938 The Japs' Defeat Is Doomed
The 99th and 10th Armies defended Star City for three days.
In the end, the commander of the 10th Army even went to the battlefield himself and fired at the Japanese with his gun!
For a moment, morale was greatly boosted!
The slogan of fighting to the death resounded through the sky!
At this moment, the two divisions that were attacking frantically received shocking news. The reckless Third Division was actually divided and surrounded!
...........
Jiangcheng.
11th Army Headquarters.
Anami Korechika looked at the emergency telegram and could hardly believe it.
how can that be!
The Third Division was intercepted by two armies of the Ninth War Zone in Beishengcang. It was then unable to advance or retreat, and its subordinate units were divided and surrounded!
Even if the 3rd Division rushed in too fast and committed a big taboo, the 9th War Zone should have set up a defense line to block it. Why did they seem to have calculated it well and advanced from both the north and the south, just in time to block the 3rd Division in Beishengcang?
Could it be that Xue Lao Hu can tell fortunes?
What should we do now? Send troops to rescue the Third Division?
There is no hope for Star City. Two divisions cannot capture Star City, let alone transfer another one away.
Moreover, neither the 4th Division nor the 6th Division, nor the Zaoyuan Detachment, were strong enough to force a march around the Laodao River to rescue the 3rd Division.
Their supplies are insufficient, and some of the devils are now starving!
Anami Korechika's face was a little pale and his body swayed a few times.
This is like two people playing chess. One person starts the game smoothly, goes smoothly in the middle game, and is about to end the game, but the opponent kills the dragon and turns the game around.
His mind was racing, trying to think of ways to salvage the situation.
Now there are two options.
The first one, which Okamura had already verified back then, is withdrawal.
If luck is on their side, the main force can be withdrawn. In this case, even though the army has failed from a strategic perspective, their strength can still be preserved and they will not suffer too great a loss.
But Anami Korechika was unwilling to do so.
Because his situation is different from Okamura's back then.
Okamura had deeper connections and a stronger background, so even though he failed to achieve his goal in the first Battle of Star City, he was still able to be promoted all the way and later served as the commander-in-chief of the North China Front Army.
But Anami Korechika does not have such a strong background. If he fails this time, although there are bigwigs who will protect him, the enemies will also attack him frantically.
Maybe even the North China and East China Fronts would take advantage of the situation?
After all, he controls the strongest 11th Army, and can be said to be a powerful local lord with strong men and horses, but he is also outside the front army system. In name, he is under the jurisdiction of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, but in fact, no one can control him except the headquarters.
This situation has long made some people dissatisfied.
It can be foreseen that if he ordered a withdrawal and declared the battle a failure, even if he could keep his rank of lieutenant general, he would be transferred and away from the core of power.
What if we don’t withdraw our troops?
Anami Korechika began to consider the second option.
If we take another gamble, put all our eggs in one basket, and let the front-line troops switch from offense to defense, wait for the supplies to arrive from the rear, and at the same time transfer the two divisions stationed in Jiangbei to provide support, will this bring a turning point in the battle?
If that's the case, the 3rd Division will be abandoned...
If a division were to be eaten by the Southern Army, it would cause a world-wide shock!
But if some people can escape...
Thinking of this, he made a decision and began to draft military orders.
Order the 46th Division and two detachments to retreat to the Miluo River, build a defense line on the south bank, gain a foothold, and wait for reinforcements.
Order the Third Division to break out to the north at all costs, and abandon part of the troops if necessary!
Order the 39th and 40th Divisions in Jiangbei to immediately cross the river and head south, rushing overnight to support the front-line troops!
He hadn't even finished drafting his orders when a staff officer came running in, panicking, "News from Yicheng! The Sixth War Zone is assembling thirty-six divisions to launch an attack on Yicheng!"
Anami Korechika almost vomited blood.
In fact, from here we can see the gap between Anami Korechika and Okamura, and even the former commander of the 11th Army, Sonobe Kazuichiro.
Before this, no matter what the situation was, the 11th Army had never transferred a single soldier from the Japanese troops stationed in the area from Yicheng to Jiangcheng.
When the Japanese took Yicheng, the mountain city was greatly shocked. The general commander personally ordered the establishment of a sixth war zone west of Yicheng. At all costs, the Japanese must not be allowed to move any further west.
The commander-in-chief of the Sixth War Zone was Chen Dexin.
This is truly "guarding the national border", so what Chen Dexin studied all day in the Sixth War Zone was nothing but how to recapture Yicheng. As long as Yicheng was recaptured, the pressure on Shancheng would be greatly reduced, while the pressure on the Japanese in Jiangcheng would increase sharply.
There was no chance before, but this time the opportunity finally came.
Didn't Anami Korechika previously dispatch two detachments to sail south and land on the east bank of Dongting Lake to contain the 99th Army? These two detachments were drawn from the Yicheng garrison.
As a result, the Japanese troops in Yicheng were greatly reduced.
The general commander saw the opportunity and took personal command, requiring Chen Dexin to send troops within three days, and with a wave of his hand, mobilized a large number of troops to the Sixth War Zone.
At one time, as many as 36 divisions of troops headed towards Yicheng.
Anami Korechika sighed. In this case, not only could the two divisions on the north bank not move south, but they also had to reinforce Yicheng immediately. If Yicheng was lost, it would not just be a matter of dismissal for him!
"Order the 39th Division to quickly reinforce the 13th Division in Yicheng. Order the 4th and 6th Divisions, as well as the two detachments, to cease their offensive and retreat in an orderly manner. They must cross the Miluo River as quickly as possible and retreat to the Xinqiang River. Order the 3rd Division to break out at all costs! Tell the 3rd Division commander to commit seppuku if the breakout fails!"
"Hayi!"
After giving the order, Anami Korechika almost fell on his chair.
However, it is easy to attack, but it is not so easy to retreat!
For a long time, there were only two armies that fought and retreated head-on against the Japanese.
So what are the rest of the troops doing?
While they were destroying the transportation lines and attacking the Japanese's mechanized marching capabilities, they had already built blocking channels on both wings.
Among them, the 37th Army set up an ambush at Mafengzui to block the Japanese troops retreating northward.
The Sixth Division had never expected that a team would suddenly emerge from here. They had been fighting in Star City for several days and were already exhausted. When they were suddenly blocked, they couldn't even control their troops for a while. They panicked for a long time before re-establishing the command system, and then tried desperately to break through to the north in order to retreat.
Just as they were about to cross the Miluo River, the 26th Army, which had been waiting for a long time, rushed out again and caught the Japanese who were trying to cross the river by surprise.
By this time, the morale of the Japanese was already very low, and many of them had not eaten for two days. The commander assured them that they would get supplies as long as they crossed the Miluo River. As a result, all the pontoon bridges were blown up, and the 26th Army was well-rested and had sufficient ammunition, so the Japanese had no intention of fighting at all.
For a moment, these beasts howled like ghosts and wolves, crying for their parents.
A crushing defeat is inevitable.