Chapter 238: The Evacuation Plan of the 120th Division
He is also deploying all possible troops at the moment. Doesn’t Lieutenant General Uchiyama Eitaro know that in addition to a squadron serving as a guard at the division headquarters, two baggage squadrons remaining in the rear, and an engineering squadron, the 120th Division
Has the regiment now even enlisted the grooms to fight?
If the 120th Division still had enough troops to stop the enemy's roundabout, they would have sent out troops to stop it long ago when one part of the enemy's army defeated part of its own forces on the flanks and forced its way through Qingyun territory.
Why bother waiting until the enemy troops are behind you before sending out troops to stop the attack?
Regarding Eitaro Uchiyama's order, even though he knew that if he could not execute this order, it would be equivalent to kicking down the stool he was standing on after inserting his head into the noose. This was also the only way to ensure the survival of the 120th Division.
The only way. But Lieutenant General Yanagawa Shinichi and his 120th Division have neither the ability nor the strength to execute it.
As for the order to wait for the 48th Division to arrive for cover, Lieutenant General Yanagawa Shinichi shook his head. The enemy's tank group had already hit a place very close behind him, but the 48th Division, which was far away in Jiaodong, was still a pure infantry.
The division came to the rescue. This idea is good, but can the distant water extinguish the nearby fire?
Lieutenant General Yanagawa Shinichi is very clear that judging from the current situation, he cannot wait for the arrival of the 48th Division. Judging from the current advancing speed of the enemy tank group, when the 48th Division arrives, the entire 120
The corpses of the Tenth Division had already become cold.
I don’t know what to do, why don’t I just sit here and wait for death? Withdrawing means death, and not retreating and persisting is also death. Faced with the dilemma, looking at the enemy’s attack direction reported by the commander of the army on the map, Yanagawa Shinichi is there
After pondering for a long time with the division's chief of staff, Lieutenant Colonel Nakanishi Manchujiro, and the division's senior combat staff, Major Mitsuo Shibuya, they really got them to come up with a solution.
The current situation has shown that the enemy is penetrating behind us. Although its route is far away from our 120th Division, the battlefield can be said to be close at hand. However, it is only defeated, and our division is intersecting behind it.
Some of the troops on the route did not directly attack their flanks.
It was obvious that the first target was not his own 120th Division, but to outflank the entire Hebei-Shandong border battlefield. The enemy had a great appetite, and wanted to take advantage of the entire Hebei-Shandong border battlefield to have all participating divisions be attacked in person.
The enemy seized the opportunity and outflanked the Hebei-Shandong border battlefield, forming an encirclement of all the divisions in the entire Hebei-Shandong border battlefield.
According to the intelligence received from the army commander, the enemy's penetration of troops is indeed a considerable threat. But in addition to the large number of tanks, there is also a relatively fatal weakness. That is the number of attached infantry. Compared with the entire Hebei and Shandong Province,
There are not too many border battlefields in any direction. Its main containment is still placed on its frontal troops on the Hebei-Shandong border battlefield.
In other words, according to the current situation and comparison of forces, it is basically impossible for them to leave too many forces behind them. In other words, their spearheads are very sharp, but the forces behind them are very weak. Especially when approaching from the east
In the Bohai Bay area, it is impossible for them to leave too many troops.
If you try your best to get rid of the enemy's entanglement in front of you, and follow the old road of Sinvsi River to **, you may be able to find a gap to protrude. As long as you cross the Dashan Street line, you should be safe. Then, follow the Bohai Bay
Heading south, passing through Yongfeng, Fuguo Line, and Lijin Line to cross the Yellow River, there shouldn't be any big problems.
But the key right now is how to get rid of the entanglement of the enemy in front of you, and quickly retreat eastward before the enemy completes the outflank and turns behind you. Although the total strength of the enemy in front of you is not enough to kill you,
But the two sides were fighting too hard. It would undoubtedly be another headache to get rid of the enemy's entanglement.
But he also understood that the current development of the war situation would not give him too much time. Forced to the point of almost getting angry, Yanagawa Shinichi simply made up his mind. If the three regiments of his 120th Division could withdraw,
They can withdraw as many as they can. If they really can't withdraw, let them hold back the enemy troops on the front line and take on the important task of covering the retreat.
In order to keep confidentiality, the steady Yanagawa Shinichi did not issue orders to the 259th, 260th, and 261th regiments to which he belonged via radio. Instead, he and the division chief of staff personally spoke on the military phone and asked for three orders one by one.
Each regiment captain, and even some group captains, explained the retreat route respectively.
Yanagawa Shinichi told the officers of each regiment that starting from 21:00 tonight, all troops whose positions are 200 meters away from the enemy will evacuate under the cover of night. They must be careful when the evacuation operation is carried out, and they must not
Being noticed by the enemy. It is better to move slowly than to expose your whereabouts.
By midnight, all units that could escape were out of contact with the enemy in front of them. The squadrons whose first-line positions were too close to the enemy's positions and had no possibility of evacuation were held on the spot to cover the transfer of the main force of the division.
After the transfer, the remaining squadrons broke out on their own.
At the same time, in order to conceal their actions and speed up the retreat, all evacuating troops only carry five days of dry food and necessary ammunition. All excess supplies and weapons that cannot be taken away, including all trucks and pack horses, should be thrown away.
The evacuated troops should be as lightly equipped as possible.
The order of retreat of each regiment is determined by each regiment leader and does not need to be reported. The 259th Regiment on the front line of Huangjia Town, east of Leling, is the final covering force. Each regiment does not need to assemble after leaving the first-line position.
For the basic formation, the regiment jumped eastward over the Qingyun-Wudi Highway, reached Dashan Street, and then turned south.
After passing through Fushanzhuang, Daliu and Yongfeng lines, crossing the Tuhai River at Shaojia and Fuguo lines, the entire division assembled at Liguo line in Lijin and crossed the Yellow River between Yanyao. Although at Yanagawa Shinichi and
In Nakanishi Manchujiro's view, in fact, as long as they crossed the Tuhai River, the main force of the division would be safe. However, considering the enemy's extremely strong mobile combat capability, he decided to withdraw directly across the Yellow River in one go.
But looking at the troops reported by each regiment that can be withdrawn, as the division commander and chief of staff of the 120th Division, after looking at each other, they both felt a burst of sadness in their hearts. At the moment, the 120th Division
In the fierce fighting for nearly a month, the regiment has lost more than one-third of its troops. If a large number of wounded who have lost combat effectiveness are included, the casualties of the entire division are actually nearly half.
Excluding the troops who are too entangled with the enemy forces in front of them and cannot evacuate, the remaining troops that can be evacuated are less than half of the remaining troops. This result means that even if they can evacuate safely, the entire 120th Division
The regiment only had less than one-third of its strength left.
What made Lieutenant General Yanagawa Shinichi and Nakanishi Manchujiro even more speechless was that not only were a large number of troops unable to withdraw because they were too tightly attached to the anti-alliance forces in front of them, but also due to transportation capacity, all the wounded were unable to be carried.
All were thrown away. Not to mention this was something that greatly affected morale. As the two decision-makers of the 120th Division, they would also receive the most severe criticism after they were out of danger.
But as the division commander and chief of staff of the division, they knew very well that it was impossible to retreat with so many wounded people. In order to break through as covertly as possible and achieve the greatest tactical surprise, there were not many trucks.
We can only give up. With these trucks to retreat, you know what you are going to do, so why retreat?
Relying on manpower to transport and evacuate, at present, the division's various brigades generally have only three to four hundred people in most and two to three hundred in small numbers. Each squadron has more than a hundred people in each squadron and only thirty or forty people in small numbers.
There are not enough manpower to evacuate the wounded. It is basically impossible to recruit migrant workers and coolies to transport the wounded.
Without trucks and enough manpower, the wounded could not be taken away at all, so they had to give up all. After hesitating for a moment, Lieutenant General Yanagawa Shinichi still ordered that the wounded officers above the captain level be taken away as much as possible. As for the captain,
The following wounded officers can only be left behind along with the ordinary wounded soldiers.
Although they felt a burst of sadness for the embarrassing current situation of their divisions, both Yanagawa Shinichi and Nakanishi Manchujiro did not hesitate to give orders to leave a grenade for every five wounded so that they could provide help when needed.
His Majesty the Emperor's loyal command.
Fortunately, although the casualties of the combat troops of the 120th Division were too high, in order to achieve the strategic goal, during the preparation stage of this battle, the Japanese army mobilized a large amount of ammunition to meet the needs of the combat troops. The current 120th Division's
There is still plenty of ammunition, so there is no need to worry about insufficient grenades for the wounded to commit suicide.
After the deployment was completed, considering that everyone with the 115th Division on his left was a comrade in the Imperial Army, it would be unreasonable for him to retreat without saying hello. Besides, with his withdrawal, the entire 115th Division would be affected.
Their right wing will also be completely exposed. So before leaving, it is best to say hello to them.
The most important thing is if he can persuade Lieutenant General Sugiura Eikichi, the commander of the 115th Division, to retreat with him. The two divisions are close together. Although the movement is a bit louder, it is still better than in his own hands. The total number of remaining defeated troops is still less than that in his own hands.
When there are not many troops, it is safer. Once an emergency occurs, the two divisions can have more contingency measures if they are close together.
But Lieutenant General Yanagawa Shinichi's telegram received no reply from the commander of the 115th Division of the Ningjin Front, Sugiura Eikichi. No matter how much the radio station of the 120th Division urged, the radio station of the 115th Division over there was still
I don’t know why, but I just kept silent.
Seeing the time passing by, the 115th Division did not give a reply, but Yanagawa Shinichi could not wait any longer. At 21:00 in the evening, it was time for the frontline troops to begin their secret evacuation.
After making the last effort, Yanagawa Shinichi, who still had not received an answer, did not dare to delay any longer. He ordered his division headquarters to immediately pack up their baggage and prepare to retreat.
Except for carrying a radio station to maintain contact with each regiment, all communication equipment, as well as redundant code books and cipher machines, were destroyed. All confidential documents and maps were retained except for a map marking the direction of retreat.
In addition, everything should be burned on fire, and the division and regiment headquarters must leave no scraps behind.
The senior officers' cars at the division headquarters were all thrown away, along with several trucks and horses. All personnel at the division headquarters walked towards the nearest 260th Regiment. What Lieutenant General Yanagawa Shinichi meant was
, the division headquarters should follow the one with the most complete strength among the three regiments of the 120th Division, which is better in terms of safety.
It's just that Yanagawa Shinichi and Nakanishi Manchujiro, who are leading the 120th Division to move closer to the 260th Regiment, are still unclear at this time. No matter what their purpose is, they give the 115th Division
The telegram sent by the regiment was intended to drag the 115th Division to retreat together, but it was sending the remaining troops of their 120th Division to hell.