"Nani? Break through Shaqiaogang Fortress in one fell swoop?!" Nakamura Jun said in shock.
Nakamura Jun's stunned expression was of course an act. In fact, as early as yesterday morning, when the news of Nishio Juichi's death came back from the front line, Nakamura Jun had already keenly foreseen this possibility, and promptly Passed the information to Xu Rui and reminded Xu Rui to strengthen the defense of Meixian County.
Jun Nakamura has not given up his fantasy yet. He is still fantasizing about getting through by providing some irrelevant information to Xu Rui. However, the information he provided to Xu Rui yesterday was regarded as irrelevant information, because even if Xu Rui Knowing that, at most it can strengthen the defense of Meixian County, it is not enough to pose a fatal threat to the Japanese army.
However, Nakamura Shun's pretended surprised expression made Kawabe Shozo feel secretly happy.
"Nakamura-san, you don't have to be so surprised, right?" Hebian Shozo said with a smile, "I know that the Shaqiaogang Fortress is very strong. The Himeji Division once suffered a bloody head collision in front of the Shaqiaogang Fortress. With its strong With only one battalion of permanent fortification groups and fortress artillery groups, it will be difficult for the imperial army to break through the Shaqiaogang Fortress."
Nakamura Shun said: "Does your Excellency, Chief of Staff, think that Shaqiaogang Fortress does not even have a battalion of defenders?"
Kawabe Shozo did not answer directly, but shook his head and said: "Nakamura-san, before we formulated the raid plan, we did some research on the size of the Dameishan Independent Regiment. Although the Dameishan Independent Regiment has done a very good job of keeping it secret, the Emperor It’s difficult for army spies to sneak into Damei Mountain, but we still know the strength of the Damei Mountain Independent Regiment, right?”
Jun Nakamura said: "Yes, the total strength of the Dameishan Independent Regiment should be around 15,000."
Kawabe Shozo then asked: "So, if you were Xu Rui, how many troops would you mobilize to Daping Town in order to deal with the Kumamoto Division's attack?"
"Is this it?" Nakamura Shun frowned and said, "Of course, the more, the better."
Changing his tone, Nakamura Shun added: "But after all, we cannot ignore the Osaka Division in the south, so we still have to leave a considerable number of troops."
"Isn't there still Pu County?" Hebian Zhengzo said, "Is there such a possibility? This Pu County is Xu Rui's guard post on the southern line. Once Pu County is lost, Xu Rui will immediately transfer some The troops will return to Meixian to ensure that his home base is not lost, but if Puxian is not lost, he will concentrate all the troops in Daping Town to deal with the Kumamoto Division?"
Nakamura Shun said: "This is very possible. If I were Xu Rui, I would do the same."
"Hey," Zheng San said in a ferocious voice by the river, "If Pu County is not lost, but the imperial army suddenly appears in Shaqiaogang, can the Dameishan Independent Regiment be caught off guard? Or even capture the Shaqiaogang Fortress directly. What? After all, no matter how strong the fortress is, it still needs people to defend it. If there are not enough troops, it is equivalent to being undefended!"
Kawabe Shozo said so, and Nakamura Shun certainly couldn't say the opposite again.
At that moment, Jun Nakamura took advantage of the situation and said: "Your Excellency, Chief of Staff, is wise. Maybe it is really possible to succeed."
"However, this move is a bit risky after all." Kawabe Shozo added, "So there is no need to rush."
"That's true." Nakamura Shun said with deep approval, "When the Kumamoto Division has been in a stalemate with the main force of the Dameishan Independent Regiment in Daping Town for a while, once the troops are tight, even if he still has troops left behind in Meixian, they will probably be mobilized. Once it’s empty, if we send out troops to launch a surprise attack at that time, we’ll have a greater chance of success!”
"So." Kawabe Shozo smiled and nodded, "For now, let's just let the Osaka Division attack Pucheng according to the original plan. If Pucheng can be defeated in one battle, there will be no need to make any surprise attacks and just use the army directly. Pushing forward, the Dameishan Independent Regiment will focus on one thing and not the other, and its defeat is only a matter of time."
After a pause, Hebian Zhengzo said again: "Even if Pucheng cannot be taken, it will not be too late to send out surprise troops when the time comes."
"Hai." Shun Nakamura paused and complimented, "Your Excellency, Chief of Staff, has a clever plan. I admire you even though you hold such a humble position."
Kawabe Shozo waved his hand and added: "Now, it just depends on whether the Osaka division can capture Pucheng."
(Dividing line)
At this time, the Osaka Division had already arrived at Pu County.
Although the Third Regiment tried its best to block the attack, it sent out the Eighth and Ninth Battalions, broken them into pieces, and carried out harassment day and night. The Seventh Battalion even fought an annihilation battle in Qiaotou Town and annihilated a brigade of the Osaka Regiment. However, with only After all, the strength of a regiment is still not enough to stop a Japanese division.
What's more, the Osaka Division also has a tank regiment to help out!
Two days later, the Osaka Division still came to Pu County.
However, the Osaka Division did not surround the city on all sides, but camped outside the south gate.
This is actually understandable. The Osaka Division's operational goal is to advance to the foot of Qingfeng Ridge as soon as possible. It is not their goal to completely annihilate the Pucheng defenders. Therefore, Miyake Toshio hopes that the Pucheng defenders can take the initiative to retreat. , he could easily capture Pucheng without a fight, and then continue to advance north until Qingfengling.
For this reason, the Osaka Division did not surround the city on all sides, but only blocked the south gate.
At this time, Toshio Miyake was summoning the captains of each of his regiments to the division headquarters for a meeting.
Although the 104th Division is a special division, its organizational structure is exactly the same as that of the 4th Division. In addition to having two infantry brigades under its jurisdiction, each infantry brigade has two infantry regiments. There are cavalry, engineers, baggage, and artillery regiments directly under the division and regiment headquarters. Of course, now there is also a tank regiment.
At this time, two major general brigade commanders, nine colonel commanders, plus Lieutenant General Toshio Miyake, the division commander, and the chief of staff of the 104th Division, Colonel Kaoru Kataoka, were all present.
"Everyone." Miyake Toshio's cold eyes swept over the faces of the two brigade commanders, nine regiment captains, and Chief of Staff Kaoru Kataoka one by one, and then said, "The Kumamoto Division will go to Japan in less than two days. We advanced more than two hundred miles and easily captured the county seat of Shanxian County, but what about us? Where is our Osaka Division?"
"It took our Osaka Division three whole days to travel less than a hundred miles!"
"Not only did we move slowly, but we also suffered more than two thousand casualties along the way!"
"What's even more shameful is that we have an entire tank regiment to help out!"
"I don't know what you are thinking, but my face is burning!"
"His Majesty the General and the Chief of Staff did not say much, but I can feel the disappointment in His Majesty's heart from the message sent from the headquarters of the dispatched troops. It is not only a disappointment for me, Toshio Miyake, but also for you and for me. The entire Osaka Division’s 25,000 officers and men were extremely disappointed.”
All the generals and colonels present at the meeting lowered their heads, showing embarrassment.
Miyake Toshio's eyes became more and more sharp, and he said with murderous intent: "In short, for tomorrow's attack, I hope that all of you here can realize your shame and be brave, and show your authority! We must not only comfort Shigeichi through the battle of Pucheng Young Master’s heroic spirit in heaven will comfort the heroic spirits of all the fallen soldiers along the way, and we must wash away the shame of our Osaka Division through this battle. We must use our resounding record to tell the world that the Osaka Division can also fight tough battles!”
The two major generals and ten senior officers all stood up and paused.
Then there was a loud: "Hai!"
(Dividing line)
At the same time, He Shuya also called several battalion commanders for a meeting.
The atmosphere in the regimental meeting room was also solemn, and the air was filled with suffocating depression.
"I won't go into detail about the hardships of this battle." He Shuya looked calmly at regimental deputy Huang Shouxin, seventh battalion commander Yang Banan, eighth battalion commander Ding Li, ninth battalion commander Lei Peng, artillery company commander Mo Zhengqiang and others. Pan Baishun, captain of the Pu County Militia Brigade, glanced over his face one by one, and then continued, "I just want to ask, have all the suicide notes of each battalion, company, and brigade been written?"
"Collect them all." Several battalion commanders, company commanders, and captains nodded one after another.
"Okay." He Shuya nodded and said to Huang Shouxin, "Give the suicide note to the people in the security department and take it back to Meixian overnight."
"Okay." Huang Shouxin nodded and said, "I will collect the suicide notes from each battalion, company and brigade and give them to the people in the security department."
"Captain Pan, have the people in the county missed anything again? Have you brought someone to check again?" He Shuya asked Pan Baishun again, saying that Pu County will soon become a battlefield between the two armies, and the generals that will be staged this time It would be a street fight, and if nothing unexpected happened, the entire county would be reduced to rubble, so He Shuya didn't want any civilians to stay and be accidentally injured.
Pan Baishun said: "Commander Xiao He, don't worry, I have led people to check it no less than three times. There is absolutely nothing missing. All the old, young, women and children have been safely transferred to Meixian."
However, He Shuya was still worried and warned: "The Japs won't attack tonight. While there is still time, Captain Pan, please lead someone to check again to make sure there are no blind spots left. For this counter-mopping up, Pu The people of the county have made great contributions, even their homes, and we must not let them bleed any more."
"Okay." Pan Baishun nodded and said, "I'll take someone to check again later to make sure there are no dead ends."
"Okay." He Shuya nodded and said, "Now let's talk about the street fighting that is about to start tomorrow. If nothing else happens, the Japs will most likely attack from the south gate first."
After saying that, He Shuya turned his attention to Ding Li.
Because the southern area of the city and the south gate were defended by Dingli's eighth battalion.
He Shuya looked at Ding Li and said: "Captain Ding, the south gate city wall was seriously damaged in the previous battles and has no great defensive value. Therefore, you can just defend it symbolically."
Ding Li nodded and said: "Understood, we must not defend the city wall."
He Shuya said: "In tomorrow's battle, I hope that your Eighth Battalion can show the prestige of our Third Regiment, because the performance of your Eighth Battalion will directly determine the fate of the Third Regiment. If your Eighth Battalion fights well, our Third Regiment can fight Okay, if your eighth battalion doesn't fight well, then our third regiment will be in trouble."
"Captain, don't worry!" Ding Li said solemnly. (To be continued.)