After hearing Iimura Rang's plans for future battles, Higuchi Kiichiro quickly found out the location of the 51st Division on the map and couldn't help but take a breath. This plan can be said to have set the 51st Division on the map.
The 1st Division and the Independent 4th Garrison were in a desperate situation, which was equivalent to sending the 51st Division into the tiger's mouth.
Without the cover of the Qiqihar Fort and the Daxinganling Mountains, it is almost impossible for the 51st Division to complete the opening of the North-Heilongjiang Railway under the attack of a large number of cavalry and armored troops from the opponent. Even under the attack of enemy tanks, it is almost impossible.
Under the impact, you may not be able to protect yourself.
Looking at Iimura Rang's cold and emotionless face after saying these words, Higuchi Kiichiro understood that this was the Kwantung Army's helpless choice to rescue the First Division. After a brief hesitation, Higuchi Kiichiro smiled bitterly.
He waved his hands and said: "That's all, since you Iimura-kun said so, what else can I do?"
"I will adjust my deployment now and put all the troops on hand into it for a desperate charge. This battle is not only for the damn young master in the First Division, but also for the honor of the Ninth Division. This battle is over.
If the ancestors of the Ninth Division find out about this, they will jump out of the graveyard and scold me."
"However, Iimura-kun, I won't hide it from you. I can only do my best. After all, we cannot have the final say on the battlefield. Such a tenacious, tactically superb, well-trained, and well-equipped opponent,
This is our first encounter with the Ninth Division. I don’t know how far we can fight. I’m not sure whether we can conquer the Twin Cities within forty-eight hours.”
In response to Higuchi Kiichiro's words, Iimura Rang waved his hand and did not answer him directly. Instead, he stood at the observation port of the 9th Division Regiment Headquarters and looked through the artillery mirror at the two ruins that had become ruins. From time to time, there was a burst of intensive gunfire.
After waiting for a long time, he said: "Higuchi-kun, do your best. As for the result, it depends on whether God will take care of the imperial army."
Speaking of this, Iimura Rang emphasized his tone and said: "This is why I came here from Xinjing. You may say you are supervising the battle or watching the battle, but the Kwantung Army must be prepared to face the worst situation when the situation develops.
Planned. The First Division must not be thrown away, let alone given up. This is my point of view and the point of view of Commander Yoshijiro Umezu."
"You have suffered heavy casualties these days, but I think the defenders will only suffer greater casualties under your heavy artillery strikes. The blood of the Ninth Division is almost dry, but the defenders combined are only one brigade and four regiments.
Coupled with the casualties suffered in the previous battle with the 25th Division, I don’t believe they have much strength left to continue to hold on. After a desperate charge, I think it is still possible to scoop up the twin cities."
Regarding Iimura Rang's last words, Higuchi Kiichiro was shocked and remained silent for a long time before saying: "Iimura-kun, is this going to end in such a useless way? The Imperial Army of Japan has never fought like this since its formation.
A tragic defeat. Should we try to fight with the base camp and mobilize a few divisions to come over and make another effort?"
"The Kwantung Army started fighting at the end of May. It is true that they are exhausted and have suffered heavy losses. But they have also fought from the end of May to now, and they have also been fighting for three months. We have suffered heavy losses, and we have given them the combat power of the Imperial Army.
The losses will also not be too light. Now it depends on who can persist to the end."
"Isn't it a pity to give up at this time? The Kwantung Army has suffered a lot, so isn't there still the Korean Army? Even if the Kwantung Army itself is insufficient, it can still mobilize one or two divisions from the Korean Army. You and I are both soldiers , everyone should know that at this time, it depends on who has the last straw to break the opponent."
Regarding Higuchi Kiichiro's wish to persist, Iimura Rang smiled bitterly and said: "Higuchi-kun, isn't it true that the Imperial Army only has one battlefield in the north? Judging from the current situation that there is only one Guards Division left in the country, where can we mobilize reinforcements? We can't just transfer the Guards Division over, even if we do, who would dare to let them go on the battlefield? The Kwantung Army, which is now severely weakened, can no longer fight."
"Commander Umezu and I can't understand the situation you mentioned. If we can't see it, we, the commander and chief of staff of the Kwantung Army, will stop doing our job. But now it is the Kwantung Army that cannot sustain it, and They are not our opponents. We cannot watch the Kwantung Army bleed out all their blood just because of a dispute of will."
"There is an old saying in China that we hide our courage by hiding our fuel. For the Kwantung Army, the most important thing at the moment is to accumulate strength and stop their development momentum instead of engaging in a temporary dispute here. Higuchi-kun, wait for the opportunity. They are here Northern Manchuria, which has a sparse population, has limits even if it can further develop. Compared with national strength, our Empire of Japan is ultimately stronger."
Lieutenant General Higuchi Kiichiro could only say nothing in response to Iimura Rang's wry smile. Even if he was unconvinced, he was not stupid enough to defeat the 9th Division when the Kwantung Army had terminated its follow-up combat plan. Go stir up your opponent's hornet's nest. Just like Iimura Rang said, do your best.
But the ensuing battle still gave Iimura Rang and Higuchi Kiichiro a headache. Although this difficult opponent was also seriously injured, no matter what methods the Ninth Division used, they would not retreat. In the following few days, During the battle, everyone except Iimura Rang carefully observed the fighting effectiveness of the defenders.
Even as the chief of staff of the Kwantung Army, he did not hesitate to personally interrogate the prisoners of war to clarify the true combat effectiveness of the defenders. Kiichiro Higuchi was scratching his head. Although the Ninth Division had made its best efforts, it was impossible to scoop out two soldiers in 48 hours. The city is still just a bubble.
There have been many times when we were just a little bit away from success. Even though our strength was almost exhausted and it looked like it was a dying defender, it could always withstand the Ninth Division. It seemed like it should be theoretically possible. The last offensive.
Facing the unrelenting defenders, Higuchi Kiichiro's efforts ultimately failed. Although he had occupied three-quarters of the entire twin cities and more than half of the train station, the battle was still unable to end. The defenders were unable to end the battle. Despite desperate resistance, the efforts of Rō Iimura and Kiichiro Higuchi finally turned into a colorful bubble. No matter how hard Higuchi Kiichiro tried his best, time passed day by day, but there was still no hope of success.
Compared to Higuchi Kiichiro's screams of pain, Ma Fengqi in front of him was even more helpless in the following battle. In just three days, the entire twin cities had been beaten to the ground, and all the troops in the city could only fight. Able to rely on ruins to fight the Japanese army.
In the following days of fighting, if it were not for the desperate support of the aviation force and the occasional long-range artillery fire from the train guns parked north of Shuangcheng County, his Independent Second Brigade, which suffered equally heavy casualties, would have been overwhelmed by the overwhelmingly superior Japanese army. They were driven out of the city.
In the ensuing battle, the Ninth Division suffered heavy casualties, and the Second Independent Brigade was no better. On the seventh day of the battle, the Second Independent Brigade, which had almost lost all its blood, finally couldn't hold on any longer. In desperation, it only We can give up some important targets such as Shuangcheng Station freight yard, dispatch office, and even the platform, and retreat to the station. In addition to some positions in the northwest corner of Shuangcheng County, we also gave up 80%.
The entire outer position has been abandoned except for a few highlands in the north that restrict the supply line and the evacuation channel for the wounded. The last two and a half battalions of the brigade withdrew to the connection between Shuangcheng Railway Station and the county seat. Even the brigade guard company They were all pulled up and beaten. By the tenth day of the battle, the actual position of the entire brigade was less than one-fifth of what it was before the war.
Looking at the past ten days, Ma Fengqi, who had lost a layer of skin due to severe lack of sleep, was unshaven and haggard, was no better than him. Huang Shengbin shook his head and sighed secretly in his heart. The Second Independent Brigade was completely exhausted this time. was disabled.
The three regiments of the entire brigade plus the attached 13th regiment of the 5th brigade. After ten days of hard fighting, there are now only two and a half battalions left, including the lightly wounded. All external passages except the north are only accessible by desperate efforts. Stay outside the next narrow corridor, which has all been cut off.
After receiving Huang Shengbin's look at him, Ma Fengqi, who was lying on the map doing homework on the map, raised his head, saw Huang Shengbin's face that was almost as haggard as his own, and smiled after throwing the set triangle and compass in his hand on the map. He smiled and said: "Old Huang, what's the matter? Are you a little worried?"
Huang Shengbin ignored him and walked to the observation port where the third headquarters had been replaced. He raised his telescope and looked at the front line that was less than 300 meters away from the headquarters and was currently undergoing fierce fighting. After observing for a long time, he said: "Old Ma, the Japanese have been here for the past two days. Some evil people actually spared Shuangcheng County and put all their efforts in the direction of the train station. If it hadn't been for the heavy rain yesterday afternoon, the train station might not have been able to hold on."
"Also, after the 24th Division arrived, it was busy repairing fortifications all day long and did not even participate in the battle. The Ninth Division was always taking the lead in the battle ahead. The fully-organized 24th Division mobilized It’s been six or seven days since I came here, but I’ve been sitting on the sidelines all the time. Just a short distance away, watching their friendly forces fighting hard, but they only occasionally mobilized large groups to support them. This is a bit intriguing.”
"I have always been worried that the 24th Division is waiting for us to run out of blood and then swarm forward. Even adding the lightly wounded on hand, we have less than two and a half battalions left. If the 24th Division If they all come up, I'm afraid we won't be able to hold on for even a day."
"Old Ma, should you send a telegram to the headquarters and ask for support from the headquarters? After all, the headquarters only requires us to hold on for seventy-two hours, and now we have been fighting for ten full days. We have overfulfilled the combat tasks assigned by the headquarters. Now we are requesting reinforcements and Not excessive.”
"The strategic location of the twin cities is too important. They are the southern gate of Harbin. If the twin cities are lost, Harbin will lose its southern barrier. Now that the first column and our column are fighting outside, Harbin's military strength is quite empty. Once the twin cities are lost, , According to the speed of the Japanese army's movement and the distance from Shuangcheng to Harbin is only more than thirty kilometers, I am afraid that neither the first column nor our column will be able to get ahead of the Japanese and return to Harbin to aid."
"We don't want too many, even if the headquarters only transfers one regiment. As long as we can hold on until the column returns from outside operations, even if we all die here, we won't be afraid of losing the twin cities. But it's not that time yet. The headquarters has two There is no battle report issued, so we are all blind. The situation in the column is not clear. If the two cities are lost, you and I will be guilty. Is it better to be safer?"