Since last year's battle ended in a disastrous defeat for the Kwantung Army and the railway linking Hailar Binzhou was cut off, the supply of the 23rd Division and the 8th Border Guard Corps has fallen into a situation where it is worse than a month. When the railway line, which is the main means of transportation, is interrupted Under the circumstances, the Kwantung Army, which could only rely on roads for supplies, always lacked a sufficient number of trucks.
This disadvantage has been exposed as early as the Battle of Nomonhan, but domestic production capacity is limited, and new divisions are constantly being formed, so that the Kwantung Army's shortage of trucks has not been fundamentally solved. Changes, especially when the Kwantung Army lost almost two-thirds of its trucks in last year's battle, it was simply unable to devote a sufficient number of trucks to ensure the supply of the 23rd Division.
The road supply line from Aershan to Hailar was often interrupted by anti-Japanese air raids. The limited number of transport trucks were often destroyed in convoys on the way. The limited supplies sent to Hailar were not enough for a complete division plus For the large number of attached troops, it is no exaggeration to describe it as a drop in the bucket.
If it could meet two-thirds or even half of the normal consumption of the 23rd Division, Kanji Nishihara and the former division commander would have to burn incense, but even this standard has never been reached, and as time goes by The intensity of the anti-alliance air raids continued to intensify, and by the end of last month, all supplies were completely cut off.
Especially for the gasoline used by the tank troops, even the warehouse has been completely depleted. The original food used as strategic food reserves is not well supplied in the rear. In order to ensure the daily needs of the large number of Japanese and puppet troops in the entire Hung Yen North Province, as well as the Japanese Under the daily consumption of expatriates, it has already bottomed out.
The daily food rations for the troops of the 23rd Division have been reduced to two-thirds of the Army's standard, or even barely half. If they continue to be consumed in Hailar, the entire northern Hung Yen Province will be full of food in a few days. The puppet army and all Japanese overseas Chinese will be completely deprived of food.
In fact, this time the 23rd Division retreated from Hailar, the food they carried at all times was not only part of the original strategic reserves, but also a considerable part of the food they had robbed from the local people during the massacre. If you don't eat it, in their eyes they can only use cornmeal as feed, and the rest are biscuits in the strategic reserve.
As for the rice balls made of mixed rice and barley that Army soldiers love most, that has long been out of the question. Although the Japanese Army has always been more tolerant of coarse food, its daily staple food is also made of rice, white flour and other fine grains, with ginseng. It is mainly mixed with a small amount of barley, and whether it can be full and what kind of food is completely different.
Facing the somewhat gloomy Nishihara Kanji, Major General Chida Sadao didn't know what to do. On the Aershan front line, the ammunition problem could be effectively solved, but the food problem has become an urgent need. Even fools know that now There is no food inside, no reinforcements outside, and no necessary fire support.
Continuing to stay on the Aershan front line, even if there are some fortifications to rely on, is tantamount to courting death. Without food, everything is out of the question. Everything that can be lost along the way is lost, and what cannot be lost is basically lost. The food was almost there, but there was not enough food when we were in Hylar, not to mention that the original two-day trip was stretched to nearly four days due to the bombing.
The various squadrons that went to the Aershan front line basically had no weapons above the heavy machine gun left, and the grenade tubes were only one-third of the original number. The number of light machine guns was relatively complete. Although they did not carry much ammunition, Each person only carries one hundred and twenty rounds of basic ammunition, but some can be replenished in Aershan.
Although there are no heavy weapons in the munitions warehouse in Aershan, there is still a considerable amount of light weapons and ammunition in reserve. Even heavy machine guns and 92 infantry cannons can be replenished in Aershan's inventory of weapons. Although The original establishment quantity cannot be restored, but at least it can be effectively replenished, but the food carried when setting off is basically gone.
Even if the 23rd Division scrapes three feet of ground in the Aershan area, it probably won't be able to produce enough food for the entire division for two days. This would be done by replacing the pig and dog food that all workers eat with the food used by the imperial army. It was barely scraped together, but even this could not guarantee the supply of all the officers and soldiers of the entire division for three days.
And these so-called grains such as sorghum rice, acorn noodles, and corn noodles, according to Lieutenant Colonel Higuchi Shiro, the division's military medical director, are not suitable for the Japanese physique at all. After eating them, the Imperial Army soldiers who are accustomed to eating rice and barley , I am afraid there will be adverse reactions.
Not to mention that most of these so-called grains are moldy. Even if they are eaten reluctantly, they may poison the soldiers and cause serious non-combat attrition. In the eyes of the Japanese, they call them Manchurians. The Northeastern Chinese are not human beings, and the Chinese in Guanhai, whom they call Chinese, are even less human.
However, these Japanese have always cherished their own lives. Although many times, when necessary, they took the lives of ordinary soldiers and low-level officers as little seriously, but now for the 23rd Division For the regiment, what should be done most is how to restore the morale and combat effectiveness of the division.
If we really use this kind of food to distribute to the troops, the result will only make the already low morale even lower. This may be counterproductive, but other than these, where can we find food to feed the twenty-three There are more than ten thousand mouths in the division, but it has become the 23rd Division. Of course, it is also the most urgent matter for the Eighth Border Guards, whose fate is connected to him.
Major General Chida Sadao looked at the map. The situation in front of him made Rao, who was always known to be quick and resourceful, at a loss for a moment. What made Major General Chida Sadao even more worried was that once the Anti-Japanese Alliance really seized the White Wolf front line, It was equivalent to grabbing the 23rd Division by the neck and cutting off the 23rd Division's southward retreat route.
The current situation is an embarrassing dilemma for the 23rd Division and the 8th Border Guard, with no way to defend and no way to evacuate. Major General Chida Sadao has graduated from the Army Non-commissioned Officer School until now. It's been a while, but this is the first time I've seen such a complicated situation.
But after all, he was a staff officer. After all, Major General Chida Sadao had many more evil ideas than Nishihara Kanji. Since going south and east was no longer feasible, Chida Sadao turned his gaze to the west of the map and remained silent for a long time. Chida Sadao raised his head and made a bold suggestion to Nishihara Kanji: "Your Excellency, the current situation is quite unfavorable to us. Judging from the current situation, we are currently in a dilemma."
"In the war, there is neither food nor reinforcements nor heavy fire support. Standing still and waiting for reinforcements is not a good choice for us at the moment. Lieutenant General Kimura Hyōtaro, Chief of Staff, has promised to use all means to supplement us. Supplies, but under the attack of the Anti-Alliance ground and air firepower, even if these supplies can be transported in the shortest time, how many of them will reach our hands."
"Leaving, I'm afraid, is not a good choice. Now that the forward troops of the Anti-Japanese Alliance have appeared on the White Wolf line in the south, their main force should not be far away, and the number of enemy troops rushing towards us is How many are there and what is the equipment like? We don’t have any information at the moment.”
"Maybe, an ambush is waiting for us on our southward retreat route. As a soldier of the Japanese Empire, I have nothing to fear, but if the problem of supplies cannot be solved, we will have no choice in this battle. Fight, we can't let our soldiers go hungry and fight against a well-equipped army."
"Division Commander, in the face of the current situation, I have a suggestion. You see, most of the Mongolian troops stationed opposite the Aershan have been transferred and have entered the hinterland of North Hung Yen Province. The strength of the Mongolian troops opposite the Aershan is now abnormal. It is empty, and the Bayinbur land just opposite the Aershan is one of the strategic supply points of the so-called Soviet-Mongolian coalition eastern cluster."
"In order to fight the Kwantung Army, the Soviet-Mongolian coalition forces have stored a large amount of ammunition and food there. Although the Russian ammunition does not matter, the food there is what we urgently need. If we take advantage of the Mongolian army's lack of strength and head west, After capturing the front line of Bayinbur Land and obtaining strategic supplies, without making any stops, immediately turn around and head south to return to Manchuria. The possibility of success is still very high."
"Although the Soviet army has stationed an armored group on the front line of Qiaoba Mountain, according to our intelligence, most of its troops have been transferred westward. The remaining troops will definitely not pose much of a threat to us, and when they come from By the time troops from other places were mobilized and arrived, we would have already withdrawn into Manchuria."
"And for us, in addition to food and possible enemy ambush threats on the southward retreat route, the biggest threat is the aviation force of the Anti-Japanese Alliance. If we pass through Mongolia, we can not only obtain supplies from the Mongolian army to supplement our own, but also It can avoid falling into the siege of the Anti-Alliance."
"The most important thing is that their aviation force, which poses the greatest threat to us, has also lost its role. Whether they are ground troops or aviation units, they absolutely dare not enter Mongolia to pursue us, because as a force also supported by Soviet Russia, they have no The one who had the guts to attack the tiger’s head.”
"Outer Mongolia is now under the jurisdiction of Soviet Russia. Because the Mongols have been under the jurisdiction of the Manchu Qing government in China for hundreds of years, Soviet Russia's precautions against the Chinese are far superior to the Kwantung Army. As a single-handed supporter of Soviet Russia If they are armed, at least they cannot afford to anger Moscow yet."
"Your Excellency, Division Commander, the remnants of the Twelfth Division also evacuated to North Korea via Soviet Russia during the Battle of Nian, thus avoiding heavy losses. As for later, Soviet Russia only protested, but for the Kwantung Army, it was Having ensured a well-trained force, the situation in Europe is now only worse than last year, and Soviet Russia will not put most of its energy on the Eastern Front."
"The most fundamental thing is that we are just taking advantage of the road this time to raise some military supplies. We are not trying to occupy Mongolia. As long as we don't stay in Mongolia for too long and make a quick victory, the Russians who no longer have the energy to go east are I won’t mind it too much, the Russians will not go into full-scale war with the empire in this form.”