The tank troops led by Dai Anlan assaulted very quickly. When the commander-in-chief of this line of defense, Japanese Army General Hyakutake Haruyoshi, received the report and dispatched aviation units to support the first line of defense, Dai Anlan and the others They had already crossed the first line of defense and rushed into the Japanese second line of defense.
As soon as the Japanese aviation force was dispatched, the Chinese aviation force also appeared on the battlefield. As a result, the Japanese aviation force was unable to effectively attack Dai Anlan and the others, and could only watch the Chinese tanks continue to rampage towards them. advance in depth.
Neither Hyakutake Haruyoshi nor Honma Masaharu had expected China's use of large-scale tank troops to rush into the formation. This was not because they were deliberately negligent, but based on the fact that the Battle of Malan had lasted so long. A large number of actual battles have long proved that the special tropical jungle climate of the peninsula is not conducive to large tanks and even combat vehicles. In fact, the Chinese and Japanese sides of the Malay Peninsula have been in confrontation for so long, and the Chinese and Japanese troops have fought from the Denver defense line to Malan. Indeed, there is no precedent for China’s Third Expeditionary Group to launch tank-scale operations.
The unexpected acquisition of the unknown position was indeed an opportunity for the Third Expeditionary Army to break the deadlock in the Battle of Malan, but for the Japanese army in Southeast Asia, this was not an opportunity to eliminate the effective strength of the Third Expeditionary Army. It was precisely to realize this That's why Honma Masaharu hoarded a large number of troops between the unknown position and Gan Bang, and that's why Koizumi Toshiichiro came up with the idea of selecting qualified soldiers from the National Independence Army through actual combat. The Japanese idea is actually very simple, that is Through the superiority of troops, they killed as many as two divisions of Chinese elites in the unknown position.
After deciding to select brave soldiers from the National Independence Army for his headquarters, Koizumi Toshiichiro organized the army under his command into five front armies, namely the Southern Front Army, the Northern Front Army, the Western Front Army, the Eastern Front Army, and the Central Front Army.
Hyakutake Haruyoshi only recently came to Singapore from Japan. Senior generals like him with considerable practical combat experience are what the Japanese army in Southeast Asia lacks most. Therefore, after arriving in Singapore, he was immediately entrusted with an important task by Koizumi Minichiro and was appointed as the Southern Commander. The commander of the front army is responsible for leading more than 200,000 National Independence Army and nearly 10,000 Japanese troops to be responsible for the defense between the unknown position and Ganbang.
When Hyakutake Harukichi first received the report, he also thought that this was just a routine offensive by the Chinese army, so he did not issue special instructions to the troops on the first, second, third, and headquarters lines. After the first line of defense was broken, the third line of defense was broken. When the second line of defense was also in danger, he realized the seriousness of the problem. He immediately called the commander of the artillery unit of the Southern Front, Wada Naruzawa, and asked him to use the heavy artillery unit to prepare for indiscriminate bombardment.
His order was questioned by Chief of Staff Tamura Masa: "Your Excellency, if there is indiscriminate shelling, will it cause unrest in the National Independence Army? You know, under the high-pressure policy, the Nanyang people are already very dissatisfied. We must not Don’t worry…”
"Nagata Army, we have already made the mistake of underestimating the enemy. Are we going to make the same mistake again?" Nagata was interrupted by Hyakutake Haruyoshi before he could finish his words: "We thought that the tropical jungle was not conducive to tank warfare. But we forgot that this land has been transformed into a flat position by us. If this position is captured by the Chinese Army, what will it mean to us? That is to say, the Chinese Army will then attack Gan Bang from the flank. The line of our army will never tolerate this kind of thing happening."
It is well known that the Japanese army is good at civil engineering, and the National Independence Army has obviously inherited this fine tradition under the training of the Japanese army. Therefore, the National Independence Army may not be good at fighting, but its ability to dig trenches and build fortifications is first-rate. Yes, once, Hyakutake Harukichi was gratified that the Nanyang natives under his command could play such a role, but now, he just hates that he cannot predict the future. Otherwise, he will definitely not allow the National Independence Army to take this land. The land in the tropical jungle has been transformed into a formation of criss-crossing ravines.
The reason why the unknown position is an opportunity for the Third Expeditionary Army is that it can flank the Japanese army in Ganbang. It is natural that Hyakutake Haruyoshi cannot be confused about such a major matter, but he hastily decided to use the only heavy artillery under his command. The troops seem to have forgotten such a problem, that is, the artillery battle between the enemy and ourselves always ends with the Chinese side winning the final victory, and the reason why he hid the artillery troops deep is to prevent the artillery troops from being exhausted prematurely. .
The war situation on the front line was urgent, and it was understandable that Hyakutake Haruyoshi ignored this in his anxiety. Fortunately for him, perhaps because he was deeply affected by it, the commander of the artillery unit, Wada Narizawa, did not ignore it in the same way. In this regard, after receiving the order, he thought about it and immediately called back to ask whether it was burst firing or continuous shelling. Wada Naruzawa was a clever questioner. When Hyakutake Haruyoshi asked him strangely what the difference was, he told him My own concern is that if it is burst firing, there will be no problem at all, but if the shelling continues, there is a high possibility of retaliation from the Chinese artillery, so we must be mentally prepared to lose the heavy artillery regiment.
"Your Excellency, although I am very unconvinced, I have to admit that the Chinese artillery is more advanced than ours, and their artillery quality is also higher than ours."
In the past, Wada Naruzawa would have never dared to say such a thing, and whether it was Hyakutake Haruyoshi or other senior Japanese generals, they would definitely scold Wada when they heard such words, "to grow other people's ambitions will destroy one's own prestige." But now, let alone Wada These words were said so smoothly that even Hyakutake Harukichi could not feel any grudge in his heart after hearing them, because this was indeed a manifestation of the fact.
Should the heavy artillery regiment be sacrificed in order to block this round of China Army's attack? Hyakutake Haruyoshi hesitated.
There is no room for Hyakutake Haruyoshi to hesitate. In contemporary wars, the importance of artillery units is self-evident, and heavy artillery, as the king of artillery, is so critical that it can sometimes even determine the success or failure of a battle. The Battle of Malan has been going on until now. The reason why the China Army has a slight upper hand despite its weak strength seems to be related to the overall superiority of the China Army's weapons. (As for the humanistic factors such as the quality of the Chinese army's individual soldiers and the command level of its commanders, Hyakutake Haruyoshi (who resolutely refused to admit that their skills were inferior to others), but the core factor still lies in the stable performance of China's artillery and aviation forces. In view of the many previous battles in which our artillery was beaten by China's artillery as soon as it showed up, the reminder in Hotan Now, Hyakutake Harukichi will have to be more cautious when making decisions.