Sato Taka put down the telescope, his face as gloomy as the thick clouds in the sky.
As a naval commander, Taka Sato has always looked down on his colleagues in the Japanese Army, and this is also a common fault of almost all naval officers. Due to the Japanese government's long-term insistence on the strategic thinking of emphasizing the navy and underestimating the Japanese army, the navy's status is far behind the Japanese army. The fact that he was superior to the military also created the pride and strength of the naval officer.
Even though Chiaki Shigeto was a senior and a major general, Taka Sato still looked down on Chiaki Shigeto from the bottom of his heart.
Today's battle further confirmed Sato Takashi's view. In his opinion, Shigeto Chiaki is simply an idiot!
Chiaki Shigeto is a fan of the authorities, but Taka Sato is a bystander. Sato Takashi has already seen that the Shigeto detachment has fallen into the Chinese calculations from the very beginning. The Chinese calculations are interlocking and follow each other step by step. They are very clever. But Shigeto Chiaki is like an idiot, falling into a desperate situation step by step without knowing it.
The outcome of the Battle of Nantong should not have been like this.
If we catch the Chinese's covert plan as soon as possible, we can attack from upstream and downstream. Even if we do this, it will take more time. Even if we allow the temporary 79th Division to escape, at least we can still keep it. Chongteng detachment, but now, the entire Chongteng detachment, nearly 10,000 people, has all taken part in it.
It is no exaggeration to say that the Shigeto detachment simply died due to Shigeto Chiaki's selfishness and stupidity.
Looking at the corpses of Taiwanese soldiers scattered all over the river beach, and seeing the river surface almost stained red with blood, as cold as a Sato hawk, I couldn't help but feel a little unbearable. Even though the dead were all Taiwanese, not Japanese, but they are now After all, they are also soldiers of the Imperial Army. This is an army of nearly 10,000 people, with nearly 10,000 living lives.
"Your Excellency Colonel, there is an urgent call from the headquarters!" the adjutant strode up to Sato Taka and reported.
Taka Sato took the telegram and glanced at it, but it was an order from the Fourth Fleet Headquarters, asking him to immediately lead the seventh detachment back to Nanjing to assist the main fleet of the second detachment in blocking the section of the Yangtze River from Xiaguan to Yanziji. It turned out that the main force of the Central China Front had already Advancing to the outskirts of Nanjing and capturing Guanghua Gate, the hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops guarding Nanjing were defeated and were gathering on the riverside from Xiaguan Wharf to Yanziji, intending to cross the river and withdraw north.
After reading the telegram, Sato Taka said: "Order all ships to rush to Nanjing immediately."
The adjutant whispered: "Your Majesty Colonel, how should the Chongteng detachment explain it?"
"Explanation?" Sato Takashi said coldly, "Explain what? Is there any explanation? Is it possible that the Chongteng detachment was beaten like this by the Chinese army? Can our navy be blamed? Besides, the ambush and death of Fu Prince Jian Gong Toshiyan is the commander of their Central China Condemnation Force and not the commander of our Fourth Fleet, so what does it have to do with us?"
The adjutant stopped talking. Indeed, it was the Army that was embarrassed anyway, not their navy.
Sato Taka snorted, and then said: "But it seems a little inappropriate for us to just leave like this. Let's order all the ships to carry out a half-hour attack on Nantong Pier, urban areas and targets suspected to be China Army positions. With the rapid attack of firepower, our navy can be considered worthy of our colleagues in the Army."
"Hai." The adjutant paused heavily.
After a while, all the artillery and heavy machine guns on the six Japanese gunboats and more than a dozen armed merchant ships anchored in the center of the river turned and began a rapid fire attack on targets such as Nantong City, the docks on the north bank, and the mud hills along the river. , in an instant, the entire dock, Nantong urban area, Nishan and other targets were blown into a sea of flames.
(Dividing line)
On the mud mountain, Xu Rui and the others had retreated to the reverse slope of the mountain.
"No, something's not right." Xu Rui lay down behind a big rock on the top of the mountain, risking being hit by Japanese naval guns, and put his head over the stone, and said to the veteran who was also lying next to him to observe the enemy's situation, "Japanese It is obviously not logical for the gunboat to conduct a sudden fire attack at this time."
"What's so illogical?" the veteran asked, "Isn't it always like this for the Japs? The artillery bombarded, the infantry charged. After the infantry charged, the artillery bombarded. After the artillery bombarded, the infantry charged again. Just now the Japanese infantry suffered a big loss. , of course their artillerymen have to think of revenge, is this normal?"
"But this is the navy!" Xu Rui said, "not the artillery of the little devil."
The veteran was stunned for a moment, but he had forgotten this. This was indeed the navy.
Xu Rui pondered for a moment, then suddenly a murderous intent emerged from the corner of his mouth, and said, "I understand! The little devil's navy is preparing to leave!"
Xu Rui suddenly remembered that at this time, the main force of the Japanese army in central China had almost reached the gates of Nanjing and had even broken through the Guanghua Gate. Once the Guanghua Gate was broken, more than a dozen people were frightened by the Japanese army on the Songhu battlefield. Ten thousand defenders were immediately defeated, and they all gathered at Xiaguan Pier and along the Yangtze River, preparing to cross the river.
The Japanese navy that had blockaded the river must have felt a shortage of troops, so it wanted to transfer the navy here to Nanjing. This can logically explain why the Japanese gunboats unexpectedly carried out a sudden fire attack, because they were about to leave, in order not to give up The Army left a pretext, so it carried out a sudden fire attack.
As for the negative impact that the navy's departure will have on the Chongteng detachment, I'm afraid the commander of the Japanese Navy will not take it seriously, because the six infantry brigades of the Chongteng detachment have been disabled and it is no longer possible to defend them. The Chinese navy in Nantong poses a threat. Is it possible that they have to rely on their navy to seize the beach and land on the mainland
Yes, it must be like this, it must be this logic.
"What?" the veteran said in astonishment, "Old Xu, what did you say?"
Xu Rui smiled and said in a deep voice: "I said, the little devil's navy is leaving!"
"The kid's navy is leaving?" the veteran asked blankly, "How did you know?"
"I just know it!" Xu Rui said happily, "Veteran, do you know what this means?"
"What does this mean?" the veteran asked subconsciously, then suddenly reacted and said in a voiceless voice, "Old Xu, you don't want to counterattack the south bank, do you?"
"Why not?" Xu Rui said with a ferocious smile, "As soon as the Japanese navy left, the Yangtze River suddenly became a smooth road. This is the opportunity God gave us. If we miss it, God will shed tears! Taking advantage of people's illness to kill people, this time I want to Kill all the remaining Japs on the south bank, I will annihilate the Chongteng detachment, annihilate the Chongteng detachment, annihilate the Chongteng detachment!"
At the end of the sentence, Xu Rui waved his fists and almost shouted hysterically.
Seeing Xu Rui yelling hysterically, the veteran was a little lost.
Oh my god, annihilate the Chongteng detachment? How dare you think!
"He Shuya!" Xu Rui turned around and shouted.
"Yes!" He Shuya immediately bent over and ran to Xu Rui.
Xu Rui shouted: "Pass my order. As soon as the Japanese navy leaves, the second team will immediately start to clean up the remaining enemies. No Japanese trapped on the river beach will be spared. Kill them all. Kill them all! In addition, The first team gathered immediately, and as soon as the bombardment by the Japs stopped, they followed me back to the south bank and wiped out all the remaining enemies!"
"Yes!" He Shuya agreed and ran to the cliff to signal.
Half an hour later, the Japanese naval bombardment ended, and they turned around and headed westward along the Yangtze River, heading for Nanjing.
As soon as the Japanese navy left, the more than 200 remaining soldiers of the 1st team of the Independent Battalion, who had been huddled in the ruins of the city, immediately emerged from the tunnels and air-raid shelters and attacked the remaining Japanese soldiers on the river beach. This time, the officers and soldiers of the Independent Battalion But without any scruples, he rushed directly to the river beach and launched the final mopping up operation.
At the same time, Xu Rui personally led more than two hundred veterans of the second team, and rushed to the hiding spot of the ship ten miles downstream at the speed of a forced march. By this time, the sky had darkened, and Xu Rui immediately ordered to rush across the Yangtze River. By forty minutes, all the more than two hundred remaining soldiers of the second team had returned to the south bank.
But at this time, the old devil Shigeto Chiaki was ignorant.
Chiaki Shigeto had taken off his woolen coat, leaving only a thin shirt on his upper body, and the buttons of the shirt had been unbuttoned, exposing his abdomen.
Funakoshi and Oda Nobuyoshi looked at each other with miserable expressions.
Shigeto Chiaki cannot escape the blame for the situation that Shigeto detachment is in now, but how can the two of them escape responsibility? If Shigeto Chiaki must commit hara-kiri to thank the emperor, what about them
"Funakoshi-san, Oda-san, today's disastrous defeat is the responsibility of Chiaki Shigeto, but you two acted under orders. I will make this clear to the front army headquarters." After laughing twice, Chiaki Shigeto slowly returned. Pulling out his saber, there was a soft sound of metal friction, and the sharp and bright Yuci saber was already unsheathed.
Looking at the pattern of chrysanthemums and stars on the handle of the knife, Shigefuji Chiaki's expression turned gloomy.
Back then, when he just graduated from the Army University, Chiaki Shigeto was really high-spirited. With the foresight of his colleagues and classmates, he soon became a key member of the "Sakura Club" and single-handedly planned the February Incident and the During the October Incident, it was a pity that the coup failed in the end, and he was demoted to Taiwan and sat on the bench.
The Sino-Japanese war broke out in full force, and Shigeto Chiaki thought that the opportunity for a comeback had arrived.
However, he never expected that he had just led the Chongteng detachment to mainland China, and before he had time to show off his skills, he would suffer a disastrous defeat in Nantong. The defeat was unimaginable. The detachment of tens of thousands of people , the four infantry regiments were nearly wiped out and lost almost all technical equipment and technical arms.
This was simply an unprecedented defeat for the imperial army, the biggest defeat since the Meiji Restoration!
Chiaki Shigeto knew very well that as the commander, he could not escape the relationship no matter what.
"That's all." Shigeto Chiaki sighed, grasped the front of the blade with both hands, raised the saber diagonally, pointed the sharp tip at his abdomen, then closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and was about to send it in, but At this moment, a burst of fierce gunshots suddenly came from the distance. (To be continued.)