The words were divided into two parts. Takashi Kodera, captain of the Japanese Military Police of the Sixth Division in Anqing, had been waiting outside the city for almost two hours, almost immediately after receiving the telegram from the Navy's Third Fleet. , Takashi Kodera personally led the gendarmerie stationed in Anqing and the puppet troops to open a guidance position outside the city.
Kodera Takashi chose an open area in the north of the city and asked the puppet troops to use soaked wormwood to ignite the smoke so that bombers flying from high altitudes could find ground targets and drop Commander Itagaki at the correct location. However, Kodera Takashi's efforts were ultimately in vain because it suddenly rained.
"Captain, put it on." The orderly brought the poncho.
But Takashi Kodera pushed the orderly away, not in the mood to put on his poncho.
Skydiving is already very dangerous, but it becomes even more dangerous in rainy weather! Especially now that there is heavy fog on the Yangtze River, Takashi Kodera is even more worried. If Commander Itagaki lands on the river, it will most likely lead to unpredictable and serious consequences. After all, the Jiangfang Fleet is not in Anqing now. .
After thinking about it, Kodera Takashi turned around and shouted: "Go and call Liu Degui over."
Liu Degui was the captain of the plainclothes team of the puppet troops stationed in Anqing, and he was quickly called over.
"Taisang?" Although Liu Degui was a plainclothes captain, he was better behaved than a dog in front of Kodera Takashi. He nodded and bowed, with a smile on his face and said, "Are you looking for me?"
Kodera Takashi nodded and said, "Go find a dozen boats right away."
"Looking for a boat?" Two black lines immediately appeared on Liu Degui's forehead, "More than a dozen?"
It's easy to find people with three legs these days, but it's really hard to find ships. Even small sampans are nowhere to be found, because during the Battle of Nanjing a year ago, the National Army searched all the ships of all sizes on both sides of the Yangtze River. All over the place, they were all scuttled in the river, even the small fishing boats of the fishermen who made a living by fishing were not spared.
However, the National Army's scorched-earth war strategy still had some effect. At least, the Japanese army could not recruit civilian ships along the Yangtze River to transport supplies, but had to rely on the gunboats and barges of the Jiang Defense Fleet. Therefore, it is really difficult to find ships now. In the Yangtze River section from Nanjing to Jiujiang It will be even more difficult to find boats on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, and it will be even more difficult.
Liu Degui, a plainclothes captain, could not find more than a dozen boats at once.
Seeing that Liu Degui did not agree, Takashi Kodera's face immediately darkened: "What?"
Liu Degui trembled and said quickly: "Tai Sang, I know that Han Jian has dozens of fishing boats. The last time he went to Chao Lake to clean up the water guerrillas, the security brigade seized them from the guerrillas."
Han Jian was the brigade commander of the Anqing Security Brigade, and he and Liu Degui had never dealt with each other, so he was sold easily.
"Yo Xi." Takashi Kodera didn't bother to care about the dirty things within the Chinese people, so he immediately agreed and authorized Liu Degui to go to Han Jian's garrison station to requisition ships. Liu Degui arrogantly took Takashi Kodera's order and went forward. Go to the garrison brigade station to trouble Han Jian. Damn it, if you dare to rob me and my wife, see how I kill you.
Let’s not talk about the dirty behavior of the two traitors, and let’s talk about Takashi Kodera. After waiting for about half an hour, the roar of a car engine suddenly came from the road ahead.
Immediately afterwards, a huge convoy came out of the rain and fog. Six three-wheeled motorcycles were seen at the beginning, followed by two large trucks, then an armored vehicle, and then two more large vehicles. Trucks, and finally about two squadrons of Japanese infantry running to follow, it was really a big battle.
As soon as he saw this battle, Kodera Takashi immediately knew that the division commander had arrived.
Seishiro Itagaki was about to land in Anqing. This news was reported to Takashi Kodera by the commander of the Sixth Division, Naosaburo Okabe. After receiving the telegram, Naosaburo Okabe informed the captain of the military police stationed in Anqing, Takashi Kodera. He took the guard troops and went straight from Chaohu to Anqing.
As soon as Naosaburo Okabe got out of the car, he asked, "Kodera-san, has your Excellency the Commander not arrived yet?"
Okabe Naosaburo is a student of the 27th batch of the 6th University, one batch earlier than Itagaki Seishiro, but now, he wants to call Itagaki Seishiro "Your Excellency" in turn. It would be a lie to say that he has no resistance at all, but At the same time, Okabe Naosaburo also had expectations for Itagaki Seishiro, so Okabe Naosaburo's mood was very complicated.
"Hai," Kodera Kishton said, "Division Commander, Your Excellency the Commander has not landed yet."
Naosaburo Okabe raised his head and looked at the dark sky above his head, a look of worry flashing across his brows.
Takashi Kodera, Chief of Staff Adachi Takeshi of the Sixth Division who came with Naosaburo Okabe, and a dozen staff officers who came with Naosaburo Okabe also had worried faces, all worried that something might happen to Seishiro Itagaki.
After waiting for almost ten minutes, a sharp-eyed Japanese sergeant suddenly shouted: "Look, your commander has landed safely!"
"Um?"
"Nani?"
"Did you land safely?"
Okabe Naosaburo, Adachi Takeshi, Kodera Takashi and others all looked up, and sure enough they saw a figure coming out of the vast rain and fog in the sky, and then a huge parachute hanging in the air. Under the pull of the parachute, The figure drifted into a depression not far ahead.
Kodera Takashi quickly led someone to pull the man up, but who else would come if not Itagaki Seishiro
"Your Excellency, Commander!" Naosaburo Okabe, Takeshi Adachi and other entourages also came over. They stepped forward to stand at attention and salute Seishiro Itagaki. Naosaburo Okabe was just fine. Takeshi Adachi, the chief of staff of the Sixth Division, also paid tribute. Several combat officers from the staff looked at Itagaki Seishiro with extremely hot eyes.
Obviously, this risky parachuting made Itagaki Seishiro's reputation as "the courage of the Army" even greater.
Itagaki Seishiro also saw the unabashed admiration in the eyes of young officers such as Adachi Takeshi, and he couldn't help but feel a little elated in his heart. In the Imperial Army, he, Itagaki Seishiro, was the first general to complete a high-altitude parachute jump. This is enough to make his name go down in history forever.
However, in front of the senior Naosaburo Okabe, Itagaki Seishiro did not put on airs.
"Okabe-san, thank you for waiting." Itagaki Seishiro paused slightly, then nodded slightly to greet young officers such as Adachi Takeshi and Kodera Takashi.
Immediately, the group of people got in the car and went straight to the Anqing Military Police Headquarters.
When he arrived at the Anqing Military Police Headquarters, Itagaki Seishiro didn't bother to take a rest, so he directly asked Okabe Naosaburo to report to him the latest battle situation of the Eleventh Army and the Wuhan battlefield. Originally, this errand should have been carried out by the Chief of Staff of the Eleventh Army, Yoshimoto Sadao. I did it once, but now that Yoshimoto Seiichi is chasing Xu Rui in Jiujiang, Okabe Naosaburo can only make a temporary guest appearance.
It took Naosaburo Okabe about half an hour to finally finish briefly describing the situation of the Battle of Wuhan, including the progress of the Second Army at the northern foot of the Dabie Mountains, the preparations of the divisions of the Eleventh Army, including the situation in Jiujiang, After all, Naosaburo Okabe's grasp of the situation was more detailed than that of Seishiro Itagaki, who had just arrived.
After explaining the general situation of the Wuhan battlefield, Naosaburo Okabe said: "Your Excellency, Commander, the situation on the northern and southern fronts of the Wuhan battlefield is probably like this. The northern battlefield is relatively good at the moment, but the situation on the southern battlefield is already very serious. Now, the 27th Division, which is responsible for public security in Hunan and Jiangxi provinces and ensuring the smooth flow of the Hunan-Jiangxi highway, is under an all-out attack by the National Army's Xue Yue command. Although the situation has not worsened yet,..."
Takeshi Adachi, chief of staff of the Sixth Division, immediately continued: "However, due to the fall of Jiujiang, the military supplies stored at Jiujiang Station are under serious threat. Once this batch of military supplies is destroyed or even intercepted by the China Army, then the twenty-seventh The division will immediately be in trouble because of this, and the situation on the Hunan-Jiangxi Highway is also very likely to take a turn for the worse."
Naosaburo Okabe added: "If the Hunan-Jiangxi Highway is eventually cut off by Xue Yue's troops, then the 3rd and 101st Divisions on the Hunan battlefield will be surrounded by the China Army, and the 9th and 13th Divisions will be surrounded by the Chinese Army. The situation that Huainan suffered is very likely to be repeated on the battlefield in Hunan, and this time the distance is farther and the situation is more dangerous!"
Itagaki Seishiro said: "In other words, Jiujiang is the key to this battle?"
"Hai! You can say that." Naosaburo Okabe paused heavily, then raised his head and stared at Seishiro Itagaki for a moment. Faced with such a severe situation, Naosaburo Okabe really wanted to take a look at Seishiro Itagaki, who was being How will His Majesty the Emperor and the new commander who has high hopes for the headquarters break the situation
Takeshi Adachi and several young staff officers of the Sixth Division also cheered up.
Before Itagaki Seishiro parachuted to Anqing, more than a dozen combat staff members of the Sixth Division Staff Headquarters had actually conducted more than a dozen war games in an attempt to resolve the crisis after the fall of Jiujiang. Unfortunately, these dozen All the war games ended in failure.
In other words, Naosaburo Okabe and the chief of staff of the Sixth Division were helpless.
Because of this, Naosaburo Okabe, Takeshi Adachi and the combat staff of the Sixth Division were so eager to know how Itagaki Seishiro would break the situation? Or to put it another way, they are very eager to know whether Itagaki Seishiro, the brave general known as the "Courage of the Army", has any strategy to break the situation
"Yo Xi." Itagaki Seishiro stared at the map, frowning, but his tone was nonchalant, "It seems that Xu Rui really gave me a problem. If Jiujiang is not recaptured, the entire battlefield on the south bank of the Yangtze River will be It is a dead end, but if we invest heavy troops to besiege Jiujiang, it will inevitably affect the progress of the Wuhan battle. What a dilemma."
Hearing what Itagaki Seishiro said, Takeshi Adachi and several combat staff were inevitably a little disappointed.
Could it be said that the "Courage of the Army", which His Majesty the Emperor and the headquarters have placed high hopes on, is also helpless
Okabe Naosaburo was a little disappointed, but also a little gloating. He said in a deep voice: "Your Excellency, Commander, please forgive me. Given the current situation, it would be too optimistic to consider the Wuhan battle. For the current plan, we should try our best to protect Hunan and Jiangxi." The road is open and it is important to ensure the safety of the Third Division and the 101st Division." (To be continued.)