After Lieutenant Colonel Masanao Aoki left in a hurry to convey the order, Colonel Haruo Tsuchiya, the chief of staff of the 24th Division, who was standing next to Iimura Rō, looked at Lieutenant General Iimura Rō's livid face. Although he did not want to speak, he remembered Higuchi, the commander of the 9th Division just now. After Lieutenant General Ji Yilang's telegram, he hesitated and said: "Your Excellency, Lieutenant General, Lieutenant General Higuchi, commander of the Ninth Division, just called, hoping that the 24th Division can take over the Seventh Regiment of the Ninth Division to target Shuangcheng. Offensive at the station front.”
"Do you think we should follow Lieutenant General Higuchi's wishes? Our division commander has not arrived yet. The previous order given to us by the Kwantung Army Headquarters is to obey the full command of Lieutenant General Higuchi Kiichiro, commander of the 9th Division. We Whether this order should be carried out or not, please give me your instructions, Chief of Staff."
Hearing that Higuchi Kiichiro actually hoped that the 24th Division could take over part of his offensive, Iimura Rang frowned slightly and said: "No need for now, I will give you orders after all your divisions arrive. From now on, the arriving troops of the 24th Division will be under my personal command. Without my order, you are not allowed to use a single soldier. As for Lieutenant General Higuchi, you should ignore any of his orders."
The war situation continues to deteriorate, so Iimura Rang no longer dares to make any mistakes. Especially the 24th Division has almost become the only mobile force that can be mobilized by the entire Kwantung Army. If something unexpected happens, according to the current strength of the Kwantung Army, I'm afraid not even the Xinjing Kwantung Army can muster the strength to defend it.
After explaining to Colonel Haruo Tsuchiya, Iimura Rang rushed directly to the Ninth Division headquarters without any stop to see Lieutenant General Higuchi Kiichiro. He wanted to see what was the reason for this arrogant division commander. The regiment commander actually ignored the request to stop the attack, and then mobilized the troops of the 24th Division without going through the Kwantung Army headquarters.
When Iimura Rang rushed to the headquarters of the Ninth Division on the front line of the Sui family shack and saw Lieutenant General Higuchi Kiichiro, who had aged almost ten years, as well as the Sui family shack where a large number of wounded soldiers had gathered, he discovered that The battle situation was much more severe and tragic than he had imagined. Even the Ninth Division's regiment headquarters had a large number of wounded soldiers. The battle situation was obviously not optimistic.
Seeing Iimura Rang coming, Lieutenant General Higuchi Kiichiro, who was explaining something to Colonel Hirakaki Masakichi, the commander of the 35th Regiment, stood up and said with a wry smile: "Chief of Staff, at this time you actually ran to Come here, General Umezu probably thinks that our Ninth Division is too afraid to fight if we don’t work hard enough, so he asked you to personally supervise the battle, right?”
In response to Lieutenant General Higuchi Kiichiro's complaint, Lieutenant General Iimura Rang shook his head, walked to the map and said: "Higuchi-kun, you and I are old classmates, so we shouldn't say these weird things between us. What you are looking at is the first The Ninth Division, and General Umezu is looking at the entire Manchuria and the entire Kwantung Army."
"You have different points of view and naturally care about different things. One looks at the local part and the other looks at the whole. There is nothing to argue about. Okay, old classmate, tell me about your battle situation and the current situation of the army. It seems that you The situation here is not very optimistic. As far as I know, you are a person who never admits defeat."
Hearing Iimura Rang's words, Lieutenant General Higuchi Kiichiro could only smile bitterly and said: "Iimura-kun, the Ninth Division fought this battle with utter cowardice. After three days of hard fighting, the main points of Shuangcheng County and the train station were almost destroyed. No one could scoop it out, but I suffered heavy casualties. In just three days, the entire division suffered nearly 6,000 casualties. As you can see, even my division headquarters is full of wounded soldiers."
"This opponent is very flexible on the battlefield, and their fighting will is too tenacious. It is said that the Imperial Army's fighting will is unique in the world, but the fighting will of this team is not inferior to ours. The Ninth Division has been fighting on the battlefield in China Pass for quite some time, but this is the first time we have encountered such a tenacious opponent."
"The Ninth Division has always been known for fighting hard and fierce battles in the Imperial Army. But this time it has actually met its opponent. Iimura-kun may think that I am bragging about my opponent and making excuses for myself. But I’m not making excuses, I know it myself, and everyone in the Ninth Division knows it.”
"Let's not talk about the peripheral battles. Almost every ditch, every village, and even every courtyard has to go through repeated battles to determine the final ownership. And in the street battles, if every house and every street It takes a lot of hard work to scoop it out."
"In battle, the defenders must be completely annihilated before they can be completely taken down. As long as there is one person alive in the defenders, they will resist to the end. And usually, even if the defenses are taken down, it does not mean that we can stand. Often Before we had time to stabilize, their counterattack troops had already arrived."
"In just three days, my Ninth Division suffered 6,000 casualties in this small county in northern Manchuria. This number was higher than the number of casualties suffered by the Ninth Division when it fought from Shanghai to Nanjing. The ratio of killed to wounded was almost one to one. As well as ammunition, almost two-thirds of the artillery shells carried by the division were consumed."
"There are also supply lines, which are often attacked by its small forces, long-range artillery fire, and aviation. Not only cannot the supplies of ammunition be transported, but even food cannot be transported. The entire Ninth Division is almost out of food. The Ninth Division is about to run out of food. The logistics base set up by the division in Lanling was taken over by aviation forces. The ammunition and food stored there, as well as most of my baggage regiment, were all blown into the sky."
"Iimura-kun, it's not that the Ninth Division is not trying its best, nor is it that I, Kiichiro Higuchi, is shirking the easy task. It's really that the Ninth Division can no longer fight. At the current rate of casualties, in two days the Ninth Division will The regiment has almost no troops available. What I need now is to replenish troops, food and ammunition, especially artillery shells, and the most important thing is air support."
"As you can see, their planes have been flying over our heads all day long. If I hadn't made preparations and dispersed the artillery, my artillery would have been blown up by them by now. Under the enemy's ground and air firepower Under the pressure of the people, the Ninth Division has been able to fight until now, and it has already tried its best."
After listening to Higuchi Kiichiro's complaints and depressed tone, Iimura Rang frowned but did not answer. He still believed in Higuchi Kiichiro's words. If nothing else, outside the headquarters of his 9th Division The wounded soldiers and the planes circling above my head all day have proven the credibility of these words.
After hesitating for a long time, Lieutenant General Iimura Rang said: "Higuchi-kun, the 24th Division is not being transferred to replace you this time, but to ensure the safety of your flanks. So far, the 24th Division has been It is already the last mobile division in the hands of the Kwantung Army headquarters. If something unexpected happens, the Kwantung Army will not be able to mobilize a single soldier from Harbin to Xinjing to participate in the battle."
"In other words, if the opponent is willing, they can attack Xinjing at any time. Once the mood is lost, no matter how many casualties the Kwantung Army has, all our efforts in the past ten years will be in vain. So the battle here still needs to You can rely on your Ninth Division to solve it yourself."
"As for ammunition and food, I will solve it for you within twenty-four hours. But I don't have aviation support now. However, I can transfer a few anti-aircraft artillery squadrons to you from the Lalin River line. The first phase of the operation , the Kwantung Army’s aviation force suffered heavy losses, and few fighter jets can fly anymore. We really can’t send planes to support you at the moment. I hope you can understand this matter.”
"But within five hours, I can provide you with a large group of supplementary troops. Within twenty-four hours at the latest, I can allocate you a regiment. But there is a premise for this, that is, your current offensive must not Stop, can't even abate."
"And within forty-eight hours, your Ninth Division must scoop out the Twin Cities and open the door to Harbin north. In other words, after forty-eight hours, I want to see your military flag planted at the enemy headquarters in the Twin Cities. Remember This is an order from the Kwantung Army and you must execute it."
Iimura Rō hesitated for a moment, then decided to tell the truth: "Higuchi-kun, I'm not going to hide it from you now. Among the four divisions in the entire northwest Manchuria region, your ninth division is still the most complete. The 51st Division suffered heavy losses under repeated attacks by a large number of armored units, and a regiment was defeated in one battle."
"The current situation of the First Division is even worse. The main force of the division has been divided. Its two regiments have been encircled. The remaining two regiments, the First Regiment, have gathered a group of Japanese military and political circles. Helping the noble young master and a few of the palace family's disciples, apart from causing trouble and being overly ambitious and underhanded, they don't have much real fighting power."
"And few people have the guts to actually go to the battlefield. If these people lose one or two Kwantung Army troops, it won't be a problem. If there are too many casualties, we won't even be able to go to the Emperor. Don't Not to mention, if something happens to the relatives of Empress Ryoko, considering the Emperor's feelings towards His Majesty the Empress, we all will not be too happy."
"The Third Regiment, which originally had the strongest combat effectiveness in the First Division, has been assigned to the 28th Division. The remaining newly formed Third Regiment has not yet been staffed with officers. Only a few of them have limited combat effectiveness. The squadron was also surrounded along with the 57th Regiment."
"The situation at Yokoyama Isamu's place is very dangerous if we rely on two regiments with mixed qualities and even lack of grassroots officers. We must not lose the first division, and I won't tell you the reason. I have already said what I should say. Now, I’ve said what I shouldn’t have said, and you should know in your heart what to do.”
"If you fail to defeat the Shuangcheng and attract the enemy's main force to come back for reinforcements, the First Division will face the danger of the entire army being destroyed. Now the Kwantung Army Command has ordered the 51st Division to abandon Qiqihar and make every effort to break through Beihei. The line opens the way for the First Division."
"But in the face of the superiority of the opponent's armored and aviation forces, this mission is a narrow escape for the 51st Division. So whether it can save part of the battle and create conditions for the First Division to break out depends on the Ninth Division's success in Shuangcheng Can the offensive make breakthrough progress here?"
"Higuchi-kun, do your best. You know the status of the First Division in the Imperial Army. Whether you can rescue the remaining defeated soldiers of the First Division depends mainly on you. If Lieutenant General Ueno Kanichiro really loses there, , then the Kwantung Army can only place its hopes on you.