According to the analysis of the General Staff of the Supreme Command, after the meeting of the four heads of state, the Malay Peninsula, the Far East, the Indochina Peninsula, and the Middle East may all become the main attack directions of the anti-China alliance. Among them, the Malay Peninsula is at the forefront of both sides. , there are forces from the three countries of the United States, Britain and Japan in the surrounding areas, and the scale of the war will even exceed that of the Far East battlefield.
This is also the reason why the Supreme Command finally agreed to the Southeast Asian plutocrats to equip the Central Seventh Army with special artillery units. Without it, compared to the Central Third Army and the Sixth Army, the Seventh Army has the worst quality of soldiers and actual combat experience. Yes, in order to prevent the Seventh Army from holding back the Third and Sixth Army in future wars and affecting the layout of the Supreme Command in the Malay Peninsula, then giving priority to supplying them with weapons and equipment can be regarded as balancing the three. A means to strengthen the combat effectiveness of the army.
After the meeting of the four heads of state, the Supreme Command ordered Xue Changkong to strengthen aerial reconnaissance in the Pacific region. As Kong Lingyi sent back relevant intelligence, he learned that the United States might take over the Philippines from the Japanese as an advance base for operations against China. After consultation, the Supreme Command made a decision to open a second battlefield in Southeast Asia in the Philippines, that is, to help the Chinese army in the Malay Peninsula reduce pressure through active offensives, and at the same time use offense as defense to try to avoid wars on the mainland that would bring too much damage. destroy.
Stern has made a lot of preparations for today's meeting, including setting up a staff group to prepare a military sandbox in Southeast Asia for today's meeting.
A huge sand table was placed in the center of the conference room. Gu Zhu and others were immediately attracted after entering. On the sand table, several major islands such as the Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, and the Philippines were included. In some place names, there were also inserts. There are some small green flags. These small green flags are the size of enemy forces known to China.
According to the instructions of the Supreme Command, the Chinese army in the Malay Peninsula will set up a frontline command post. Among them, Gu Zhutong will serve as the frontline commander. After everyone sat down on the high stools on both sides of the sand table, Gu Zhutong opened the folder, first read out the order regarding the formation of the frontline command and his letter of appointment. Then, he put down the folder and glanced at everyone and said: "It is a great honor to fight side by side with all the generals. The first thing I want to state is that in In the Malay Peninsula, whether it is the Sixth Army, the Seventh Army or the Third Army, we first have a common name, that is, the Chinese Army. We have come here all the way, and what we do is to safeguard the dignity and interests of the country. This is a basic Starting point, I hope all generals can have a clear understanding."
As a general who grew up in the old-school warlord army, even though he later became accustomed to considering the overall situation because of his status, many times, Gu Zhutong still inevitably looks at problems from the old perspective. Therefore, what he is most worried about is not the combat effectiveness of his troops. , but the attributes of this unit.
The liaison meeting will be chaired by Gu Zhutong. Gu Zhutong will also read out the latest instructions from the Supreme Command at the meeting. Everyone has known this for a long time. Therefore, after Gu Zhutong announced that a frontline command will be established and he will serve as Stern and Lin Jiangshi were not surprised when they took over as commander-in-chief.
"I don't think I need to reiterate the importance of Singapore. Our military purpose this time is to regain Singapore and completely defeat the forces of the United States, Japan and other countries in Southeast Asia. What I need to remind you again is that as far as the intelligence we already have is , our enemies will no longer be just the Japanese army and the Nanyang indigenous troops controlled by the Japanese army, but also the American and even British troops..."
The so-called liaison meeting actually became a military meeting due to the establishment of the frontline headquarters. Since there is no affiliation between the three forces, the assignment of tasks and the division of combat functions of each force became the main topic.
In order to serve as the commander-in-chief, Gu Zhutong made a lot of preparations before coming. However, due to the lack of information in the application form, he did not know that the Japanese army was preparing to abandon Singapore. Therefore, when assigning tasks and combat areas to each unit, , it appears conservative.
Lin Jiangshi listened for a while and saw that he had no intention of attacking Singapore immediately, so he raised his hand.
There were only seven people attending the meeting. When Gu Zhutong saw it, he stopped and asked, "General Lin, do you have any questions?"
Lin Jiangshi nodded, and then directly told him what he knew.
"You said that the Japanese army may abandon Singapore. Is this information accurate?" Gu Zhutong was slightly surprised.
"Just the night before yesterday, our intelligence officer saw about ten divisions of the National Independence Army leaving Singapore by boat. According to the intelligence he sent back yesterday, yesterday morning, another group of National Independence Army and about two divisions left Singapore. The Japanese troops began to leave by boat, Commander-in-Chief Gu, I think there is no problem."
Gu Zhutong looked at Sun Liren and asked, "Didn't the reconnaissance plane of the Third Army detect us?"
"Our reconnaissance planes are always dispatched during the day. We don't know what happened the night before yesterday. Yesterday morning, we saw a lot of ships full of little devils off the coast of Singapore."
Gu Zhutong frowned. He thought for a while, glanced at everyone, and finally his eyes fell on Lin Jiangshi's face and said: "It is not like Koizumi Minichiro's style to give up Singapore voluntarily. Moreover, after the bloody incident in the Far East, The war between us and the Soviets has already started like a prairie fire, so it is reasonable that Koizumi Toshiichiro should consider counterattack at this time."
Whether the Japanese army holds on to Singapore is directly related to the next stage of the Chinese army's action strategy in the Malay Peninsula, so it cannot be allowed to be reviewed again and again by Gu Zhutong.
"It is certain that the Japanese army is withdrawing its troops. Otherwise, we can organize a trial attack." Stern said.
Lin Jiangshi immediately responded: "Commander General Gu, our Seventh Army is willing to carry out this mission. Our unit has not fought a single battle since entering the Malay Peninsula. I also want to take this opportunity to train the troops."
Gu Zhutong frowned.
Just when Gu Zhutong was doubtful about the intelligence that the Japanese army was about to abandon Singapore, in a military camp in the east of Singapore, Shota Sasaki was thinking hard about how to send this information out.
As for Koizumi Minichiro's sudden decision to abandon Singapore, Shota Sasaki felt very sudden at first. After thinking about it carefully, he couldn't help but say "high" secretly. As a high-ranking official of the Japanese army in Southeast Asia, he was well aware of the problems existing in this army and the severe situation it faced. In his view, Singapore at this time had become a piece of useless material for the Japanese army in Southeast Asia, and giving up was the best option.