"Iida detachment?" Kawabe Shozo shook his head and said, "No, I'm not worried about Iida."
After a pause, Kawabe Shozo continued: "Although the Iida detachment is based on the Taiwanese garrison brigade, the combat effectiveness of the Taiwanese soldiers is actually not bad, and the obedience awareness of the Taiwanese soldiers is even better. This This can be seen from the rainy night attack on Anqing by the Botian detachment more than half a year ago."
"Hai." Nakamura Jun paused and said, "The Taiwanese soldiers have a really good sense of obedience."
"So." Kawabe Shozo said, "The Iida detachment has nothing to worry about."
"So." Shun Nakamura asked again, "Chief of Staff, are you worried about the 104th Division? But yes, the fighting will of these Osaka merchants is indeed not very good. During the Russo-Japanese War, the Eighth Infantry Regiment It has become a laughing stock, and it is completely reasonable for the Chief of Staff to worry that they will hold us back."
Kawabe Shozo waved his hand again and said, "No, I'm not worried about the 104th Division either. Although these Osaka merchants' fighting will is not very good, so they cannot fight tough battles, but their ability to fight smooth battles is not the same." I specially assigned the Eighth Tank Regiment to the 104th Division just to embolden these Osaka merchants. With tanks as a barrier, these Osaka merchants only have six points of ability, but they can still exert twelve Share it!"
Nakamura Jun said: "So, the Chief of Staff is worried about the Sixth Division?"
"Yes, it is the Sixth Division that I am worried about." Hebian Zhengzo nodded and said, "In the Battle of Xuzhou, the Sixth Division was severely damaged by the Dameishan Independent Regiment in the Battle of Feicheng, and several senior generals were basically He was shot dead, and the division commander Inaba Shiro was even captured alive. This battle was the greatest shame since the Imperial Army was established."
"Hai." Nakamura Jun paused and said, "This battle is indeed a great shame for the imperial army."
Kawabe Shozo added: "The cruelty and fierceness of this battle are unprecedented, and it will definitely leave a lingering shadow in the hearts of the surviving soldiers. Facing the Dameishan Independent Regiment again, they will most likely be timid before fighting, especially The Sixth Division has just added a large number of reserve troops and reservists, and the quality of the troops varies greatly, which is even more worrying."
Speaking of this, Kawabe Shozo suddenly said: "Nakamura-san, I have an idea."
"Hai." Nakamura Shun quickly paused and said, "Your Majesty, Chief of Staff, just give me your orders."
"That's it." Kawabe Shozo said in a deep voice, "You immediately fly to Feicheng, replace the General and me, and go to the Sixth Division to supervise the battle. You don't need to interfere with Okabe-san's command, and you don't need to participate in the battle. You only need to The Sixth Division will report any situation as soon as possible to avoid being caught off guard."
"Hai." Nakamura Shun nodded heavily, then turned around and walked away.
Not long after, Jun Nakamura flew directly to Feicheng on a long-range bomber.
However, what Kawabe Shozo didn't expect was that the Kumamoto Division he was most worried about did not encounter any problems. Instead, the 104th Division, which he was optimistic about, suddenly encountered problems.
Because the expedition was about to begin, Nishio Shigeichi made a special trip back to Nanjing to meet his father Nishio Hiszo.
In the Sino-Japanese War, the casualty rate for officers below the brigade level was very high, and the casualties for deputies were particularly high because deputies often needed to lead the charge.
Nishio Juichi is the deputy captain of the 1st Infantry Battalion of the 108th Infantry Regiment. It happens to be the most dangerous position with the highest mortality rate, so he specially ran back to Nanjing to see Nishio Juichi because Nishio Juichi was very worried. , if he did not take this opportunity to return to Nanjing to see his father, his father would probably not be able to see him.
Facing his son, Nishio Shouzou showed a rare look of kindness on his face.
Nishio Juzo asked: "Jiuichi, do you blame your father in your heart?"
"No." Nishio Juichi said, "My father did this not only to silence others, but also to consider the child's future in the military, because only officers who have been trained in front-line combat units can If you are qualified to reach a high position, if you don’t join the combat force, you won’t achieve much in your life.”
Hearing what his son said, Nishio Hisao nodded happily.
"Father," Nishio Shigeichi said, "I should go back."
"Go ahead, be careful in everything you do on the battlefield!" Nishio Shouzou originally wanted to say, never lead a charge personally unless absolutely necessary, but after hesitating for a moment, he swallowed these words in the end. He didn't want to ruin his glorious image in his son's mind because of this sentence, and he didn't want to give his son a chance because of this sentence.
As a veteran, Nishio Hisao knows very well that there must be no chance of anything left on the battlefield.
"Father, take care of me!" Nishio Juichi bowed deeply to Nishio Juzo and then turned around.
Because he was delayed for some time while crossing the river, when Nishio Juichi returned to the military camp, there was less than five minutes left before the assembly. Nishio Juichi hurriedly packed his luggage, and he didn't even have time to buy toiletries. , and rushed directly to the assembly area with his backpack on his back.
However, when Nishio Juichi hurried to the assembly area, he was surprised to find that there were only his captain Kanta Kawai and more than 20 soldiers on the drying ground used as the assembly area.
Nishio Juichi looked at his watch again. He wondered if he had read the wrong time before. But when he looked at his watch, he found that the hour hand had indeed pointed to 10:30 in the morning. The assembly time had come, but why were the soldiers who came to assemble so... few? Their first infantry brigade has more than a thousand people!
"Captain." Nishio Juichi asked Kawai Kanta, "What's going on?"
Kanta Kawai just gave Nishio Shigeichi a cold look, but said nothing.
Kanta Kawai is a boy from a poor family. He relied on hard study and arduous training to get to where he is today step by step. Moreover, he never went to Army University, so he was born to dislike young men like Nishio Juichi, because like Nishio Juichi When such a young master is born, his life is destined to be more exciting than that of a child from a poor family.
From Kanta Kawai's point of view, everything Nishio Juichi has now is just a gift from his father. If it weren't for the fact that he had a good father who was an Army general, would he have been able to get into Army University? Do you want to be promoted to Major at such a young age? Dream on, if it weren’t for having a general father, I might still be a private in an infantry squad!
Kanta Kawai has a bad attitude, but Juichi Nishio doesn't care much. This little brat has been completely brainwashed by the old devil Nishio Hisao. This brat Nishio Juichi is not only full of militaristic ideas, but also a pure soldier at heart. , he would not care about anything else at all.
Admiration among colleagues? In Nishio Juichi's opinion, it was just a cloud.
At that moment, Nishio Juichi said: "Captain, I'm going to urge them to gather."
After saying that, Nishio put his backpack on the ground and hurried back to the military camp.
When he came back just now, Nishio Juichi thought that all the officers and soldiers of the brigade had gone to the designated area to assemble, so he did not take a closer look in the military camp. He just went back to his dormitory to simply pack up and left. Now that he is back, Nishio Juichi just I found that the situation was really abnormal, because the entire military camp was empty.
The Japanese military camps were divided into small groups.
But Nishio Juichi searched all twelve dormitories and couldn't find even a single soldier!
"Where are the people? Where are they?" Nishio Juichi couldn't help but feel dumbfounded when he couldn't find anyone. A brigade with more than a thousand people couldn't just disappear without any reason and without making a sound, right
However, when checking the last dormitory, Nishio Juichi still found some clues.
On a board in the last dormitory, Nishio Juichi found a few drops of blood, and the blood was still very fresh. It was obvious that it had just been dropped not long ago. In an instant, Nishio Juichi knew what was going on. Then, Nishio Juichi's face immediately turned black, and then he turned around and stormed out of the military camp.
After leaving the military camp, Nishio Juichi did not go to the assembly area, but went to the First Field Hospital.
The Japanese army has seventeen permanent divisions. Each division is equipped with four field hospitals, each supporting four infantry regiments. Although the 104th Division is an ad hoc division, all the standards are in accordance with The Fourth Division came. Originally, the 104th Division was actually the Fourth Division, a family.
The first field hospital of the 104th Division is located near the Kawai Brigade station.
Not long after walking, Nishio Juichi arrived at the gate of the First Field Hospital. Before he entered, Nishio Juichi heard the roar of people. When he walked through the door again, Nishio Juichi saw something that made him jaw-dropping. After a scene, I saw that the entire field hospital was full of stretchers under the porch and in the yard, and each stretcher was full of people.
It's like this under the porch and in the yard, and you can imagine the same thing inside the house.
What made Nishio Shigeichi even more angry and turned blue was the condition of these "wounded soldiers".
After just listening for a moment, Nishio Juichi heard no less than eighteen injuries.
"Military doctor, military doctor! My stomach hurts. My stomach hurts so much. I seriously suspect that I have intestinal perforation."
"Military doctor, military doctor! My head hurts. I accidentally fell down just now. I may have a concussion."
"Military doctor, military doctor! I'm injured. During the stabbing training in the morning, I was scratched on my arm by Yamamoto. Look, it's still bleeding."
"Military doctor, military doctor! I... my butt hurts. I suspect that my nevus has flared up again. You know, military doctor, that once a nevus attacks, the bleeding will stop. I, I, I can no longer go to the battlefield. Could you please give me a diagnosis?" Shu, please, whatever, I’ll treat you to a drink later, Kiku Masamune’s special sake.”
Hearing this, Nishio Juichi really couldn't listen anymore.
"Baga, Baga Yalu!" Nishiochu rushed in with a big step and yelled angrily at the "wounded soldiers" in the hospital, "Look at you, do you still look like a soldier? You still look like a soldier. Samurai?"