Before six o'clock, the sky had completely darkened. In a bunker in the Madang Fortress in Pengze County, Okamura Neji looked at the stack of intelligence in front of him, and suddenly felt a strong sense of uneasiness in his heart. The 11th Army's Chief of Staff Major General Yoshimoto Sadatsuki walked in under the guidance of a major. He saw Okamura's frown and asked: "Sir, why are you so anxious to recruit me back?"
"Look at these." Okamura pushed the stack of information in front of him.
Yoshimoto picked them up one by one and looked through them carefully. Five minutes later, he sat across from Okamura and asked: "Have you figured out the order of the enemy's troops? They are at least one army. Judging from their equipment, they should be the cadet army." It is a regular army, but it does not have heavy weapons such as artillery and tanks, which is a bit puzzling." Yoshimoto has studied the establishment of the Xuebing Army and knows that artillery and tank troops account for a certain proportion in its regular army. , that’s why I have this doubt,
That's not what Okamura was worried about. He said: "These are not the key. The key is, what is Ouyang Yun's intention in doing this? Are they aware of our intentions and want to fight us in Jiangxi, or do they just want to delay me?" The army is advancing to strengthen its combat readiness."
"Your Excellency, have you decided on the focus of our army's next action?"
The order from the Japanese base camp to the 11th Army was for them to capture the entire territory of Jiangxi and then wait for new action orders. The reason why Seishiro Sakagaki acted so cautiously was because he was worried that Ouyang Yun might detect their combat intentions in advance and take the initiative to send troops. Jiangxi first concentrated its superior forces to severely damage the 11th Army, thereby shattering their encirclement plan. Seishiro Sakagaki rarely behaved so low-key, but he forgot that Japanese generals have a tradition of "resisting the orders of foreign emperors". His In Neji Okamura's view, caution is a sign of missed opportunities. How could the young and middle-aged officers of the Okamura tribe, who were eager to wash away the shame of the Battle of Madang, be led by him?
Okamura was once wavering between attacking Yingtan first and opening up the battlefield in southwest Jiangxi. Of course, no matter what strategy the 11th Army would eventually adopt, Nanchang must be captured. Okamura was pragmatic. He thought I want to say: "Ignore the focus of the next step. Now, capturing Nanchang is the top priority. I always feel that there is some conspiracy in the sudden appearance of the Xuebing Army in the Nanchang area. By the way, you and Tokugawa are so smart." How's the communication going?"
"Tokugawa said that as soon as Commander Hatatoshi's order is delivered, he will immediately fully cooperate with our combat operations."
Okamura cursed: "Ba Ge." He leaned back on his chair and fell silent.
Today's battle at Nanjin Kiln, in Okamura's view, if it could have received the support of the First Air Corps, it would never have been the same as it is now. Although Okamura couldn't stand Yokoyama Isamu's arrogance, he thought it would be better to let the First Air Corps support him. It is not necessarily a bad thing that the 17th Division suffered a defeat, but when the battle report came and he learned that the 53rd Regiment actually lost two brigades by Xiushui, he felt heartbroken. In the Battle of Madang, four of the 11th Army In the end, there was only one and a half divisions left, and the number of direct battle casualties reached 25,000. With such huge battle losses, if His Majesty the Emperor hadn't guaranteed it, Okamura knew that he would have been forced to resign at this time. ,
Okamura knew that the attack on Anqing Airport was the cause of today's situation. Tokugawa Yoshitoshi's First Air Corps suffered heavy losses in this attack and was almost dismissed. Tokugawa Yoshitoshi believed that it was the 11th Army. The failure to effectively snipe the cadet army led to this accident, and the blame was all placed on Neji Okamura. At the time, Neji Okamura confidently thought that it had nothing to do with him, but now he has truly tasted the bitter pill. ,
The dejection shown by Okamura made Yoshimoto feel sad. He comforted him in a low voice: "Your Excellency, please send a message to Commander Tianjun and ask for his understanding."
It was well known in the 11th Army that Okamura and Shunroku Hata did not deal with each other. Okamura was arrogant and arrogant. Although he lost the Battle of Madang, he always felt that it was not his fault, and Shunroku Hata hated him for not doing so. Following his own orders and doing whatever he wanted with the support of the Emperor, the relationship between the two parties became more and more tense, and now it has reached the point where they are at odds with each other.
"You can't let the whole regiment suffer because of my own dignity." Okamura sighed in a low voice, gritted his teeth and made a decision, and said to Yoshimoto: "Please help me draft this message."
"Hai, sir, I will write it right away."
"Okay, by the way, where is Isamu Yokoyama?"
"I received a telegram before saying that they have arrived in Xingzi County."
"Give him and Nakajima Qingcun a separate telegram, asking them to wait until dawn before launching an attack. By the way, tell them that no matter what means are used, they must find a way to obtain the order of battle of the Xuebing Army. This Very important."
"Hai."
Not long after Yoshimoto left, Okamura, who began to concentrate on studying the Nanchang area battle map on the table, suddenly slapped the map and shouted: "It's so dangerous." Then, he knocked on the table and shouted: "Come here, go and get Staff Yoshimoto." Sir, please come here, there is an urgent military situation."
Soon, Gibbon came in with a half-drafted telegram.
Okamura was already waiting at the door. When he saw him, he asked straight to the point: "How long has it been since the 33rd Division sent a telegram back?"
"From the time the power was generated and the attack on Lions Gate was underway, there were no more telegrams sent back."
"Quick, send him a power immediately and order him to leave at least one regiment to garrison Gao'an."
Gibbon was stunned for a moment, and then asked subconsciously: "Sir, you are worried about Xue Yue of the Central Army."
"No, it's not Xue Yue, I'm worried about Ouyang Yun."
"Ah, I got it, I'll go right away."
Under the command of Chu Tiange, the Xuebing Army guerrillas tried their best to snipe the 11th Army into the Nanchang area from three directions. This made Okamura feel very uneasy and puzzling. The size of the Xuebing Army that had appeared was only one army. If it were simply In order to defend Nanchang, they should stick together as a group. However, they were divided into three groups. This really went against military common sense. Just now, after he carefully checked the geographical environment around Lion Gate, he thought in his mind Suddenly, he thought that once Gao'an fell into the hands of the Xuebing Army, the 33rd Division would be trapped in the Lion Gate area. He immediately realized that this might be a conspiracy by the Xuebing Army against the 33rd Division, so he I will immediately find Yoshimoto and make the above explanation,
Okamura Neiji had some predictions about Ouyang Yun's plan to encircle and annihilate the 33rd Division. At the same time, the Second and Third Learning Divisions, led by Bai Liusu and Liu Zheliang, had arrived in Ji'an and began to turn northward, and Behind them, the 9th Xue Division was leading the way, with the 17th Xue Brigade as the vanguard, running towards Jishui County.
The 17th Brigade is a tank brigade. Except for the 349th Regiment, which is a conventional infantry regiment, the 350th and 351st Regiments are all tank regiments. The equipment of this brigade is luxurious. Even the 349th Regiment is equipped with about ten Great Wall vehicles. brand military trucks (including one or so maintenance vehicles), two light armored vehicles serving as command vehicles, about 20 light and heavy armored vehicles, and about 10 logistics and equipment vehicles (including ammunition supply vehicles and oil tankers), In addition, there are about ten two-wheeled and three-wheeled motorcycles, and about five off-road vehicles, which are used for the reconnaissance platoon. The equipment of the conventional infantry regiment is so luxurious, and the configuration of the tank regiment is even more terrifying. , except for two heavy armored vehicles used for reconnaissance and command, the others are various types of relay tanks and their support vehicles. Among them, there is one battalion of heavy tanks, with a total of twenty-seven vehicles; and two battalions of medium tanks, Fifty-four vehicles; support vehicles mainly consist of ammunition vehicles and oil tank trucks, including 18 ammunition vehicles, nine oil tank trucks, and three maintenance vehicles.
Because of Ouyang Yun's idea of building an army and because he holds too many hugely profitable patents, the Xuebing Army at this time has grown into a steel behemoth, and this is what senior decision-makers such as Sakagaki Seishiro and other Japanese military base camp no matter what.
Unexpectedly, when they finally wanted to solve the serious problem of the Xuebing Army, the Xuebing Army had already completed a magnificent turn on land.