On May 8, the Japanese occupied Caiyang
11th Japanese Army Headquarters
Chief of Staff Major General Aoki Shigemai is reporting the latest battle situation to Lieutenant General Enbe and Ichiro. As the planner and organizer of this battle, Major General Aoki is not very satisfied with the early progress of the battle. Although the target city Caiyang was captured, the capture The goal of reaching the main force in the fifth theater was not achieved.
Major General Aoki was arrogant and tried to swallow up General Li's fifth theater. This time he only annihilated one 173rd Division with its tail cut off, so naturally he would not be satisfied.
Major General Aoki is a Japanese native of Ishikawa Prefecture. He was born into a military family. After graduating from Kanazawa No. 2 Middle School, he studied at the Nagoya Army Infant School and the CSKA Infantry School. In May 2013, he graduated from the 25th Infantry Division of the Army. ;
At the end of 2017, Aoki was admitted to the 32nd batch of Mainland University;
He was classmates with Eitaro Uchiyama, Nobumasa Tominaga, Masao Nakamura, Akira Muto, Noboru Kunisaki and others. When he graduated in 2020, he entered the "Saber Team" because of his "excellent" graduation results.
Unlike many of his classmates who served as field force officers to major general brigade commanders, or even lieutenant general division commanders, he, a member of the saber team back then, has been wasting his time in the position of military chief of staff, which sounds like he is on the same level. , but he does not have any real power, not to mention compared with the division commander, even the brigade commander.
So Aoki really wants to prove himself through a big battle, and this battle is a good opportunity!
If the main force of China's fifth theater is eliminated, it will be logical for him to be promoted to lieutenant general division commander due to his merit.
After occupying Caiyang, Aoki was not satisfied. He continued to suggest to Enbe and Ichiro:
"Your Excellency, Commander, we can use the strategy of showing weakness to the enemy, and declare to the outside world that the purpose of the operation on the left (east) bank of the Han River has been completed, the strategic purpose of attacking the Chinese Army has been achieved, and we are preparing to withdraw from Caiyang at another date. There is no further progress. The meaning of expanding the war;
And in private, we mobilized supplies and accumulated strength to induce the main force of the Chinese Army’s Fifth Theater Zone to engage in a decisive battle with our Eleventh Army, annihilating the main force of the Chinese Army in one fell swoop, and forming a threat to Shuzhong..."
Enbe and Ichiro nodded with satisfaction and said:
"Yo Xi, Aoki-kun, your battle plan is very good. General Li of China is a shrewd and cautious commander. Will he be fooled by us?"
"Your Excellency, Commander, it doesn't matter whether General Li is fooled or not. It only matters that the commander-in-chief in the middle of Shu, who can only be the leader of a regiment, is fooled. He can't control a decisive battle involving hundreds of thousands of people, but he likes to command and is so happy about his success;
As long as the imperial army baits enough, he will not be fooled. He will strictly order General Li to fight the imperial army decisively! "
Enbe and Lieutenant General were also moved after hearing this. It was difficult for him to refuse the big pie of annihilating the main force of the fifth theater. He decided to believe in Major General Aoki, because that person could only be the infantry regiment commander.
"Aoki-kun, just carry out your plan!"
In the middle of Shu, in the Military Commission of the State Government, the stars of the generals shine brightly, and the most inferior ones are all lieutenant generals.
The battle that took place in Caiyang naturally attracted the attention of the government bosses. The Japanese had not made such a big move for a long time.
Since the matter involved the fifth war zone, which was the territory of the Gui clan, Xiao Zhuge became unusually active and listened to him say:
"The winter offensive has only ended four months ago, and the troops have not yet recovered. Many of the main troops are resting and recuperating. The battle started suddenly, and the fifth theater rushed to the battle, resulting in heavy losses in the early stage;
Under the resolute blocking of our 173rd Division, the main force of the Fifth Theater Zone has broken away from the contact with the Japanese. Except for the 173rd Division, which is still fighting fiercely with the Japanese, the main force has stabilized its position. The Japanese only occupied Caiyang, an empty city. As long as we The army holds its position——"
"Brother Jiansheng, what you said is wrong. The Japanese are coming, so why not fight back?
The Japanese have just declared that the campaign objective has been achieved, which shows that they are looking for excuses to withdraw their troops!
The real situation is that the Japanese have almost exhausted their supplies and cannot move anymore!
Within a few days, they will retreat to the original position. The main retreat is Xianghua Road, and vehicles cannot move on this road after the rain, which greatly reduces the mobility of the Japs. It can be said that the main force of the Japs has been stuck in the mud;
This is a God-given opportunity. The troops in our fifth theater should take advantage of the Japanese army's unfavorable situation, lack of supplies, and difficulty in retreat, use all their strength to capture and annihilate them near the battlefield, and then pursue them towards the Yingcheng and Huayuan lines. "
Before Xiao Zhuge finished speaking, General Chen jumped out and interrupted him. He talked rhetorically and advocated mobilizing heavy troops to pursue and severely damage the main force of the Japanese 11th Army.
Admiral Chen was indeed fooled by the Japs' pretense of retreat. He had hidden evil intentions in urging the main force of the Fifth Theater Zone to use all his strength to fight the Japs.
The victory was due to his far-sightedness and his insistence on decisive battle;
The defeat was due to General Li's incompetent command, which led to the loss of troops and generals, and the losses were all miscellaneous names such as the Gui Army, the Northwest Army, and the Sichuan Army.
As long as Commander Tang's 31st Army is informed privately to retain its strength, after this decisive battle, victory or defeat will consume a large amount of miscellaneous troops!
Admiral Chen has always been known as "Xiao Zhongcai". His tacit understanding with Da Zhongcai is natural. In terms of grasping the holy will, he ranks second, and no one dares to call him first.
Sure enough, as soon as Admiral Chen finished speaking, Da Zhongcai heard the elegant meaning of Xiange, nodded secretly and said:
"Ci Xiu knows what I mean! The Japs are already showing signs of fatigue. It's a great time to mobilize the army for a decisive battle. Not only can we win a big victory and annihilate a large number of Japs, but we can also consume a lot of the miscellaneous people in the Fifth War Zone..."
Just as Xiao Zhuge was about to refute Admiral Chen's words, he was stopped by Zhongcai:
"Brother Jiansheng, Ci Xiu is right. After the winter offensive, the main force of the Eleventh Army has dropped significantly. Several main divisions cannot even break through the positions of our 173rd Division. This is proof of this. There are countless in our Fifth Theater Ten elite divisions like the 173rd Division, an army of more than 300,000 people!
The Japanese only have three divisions, and after the early consumption, they are already exhausted;
In addition, it has been raining for several days in Central China and the roads are muddy, making it unsuitable for mechanized marches. 350,000 vs. 80,000. The right time, place and people are all on our side. The advantage is mine!
I have made up my mind and ordered the fifth theater to concentrate thirty to thirty-five divisions to pursue the Japanese with all their strength, launch a counterattack, and defeat the Japanese in one fell swoop!
All ministries should unite sincerely, be determined to sacrifice their lives, and fight the enemy in Jianghan. Anyone who delays the opportunity to fight will be severely punished! "
"I order that in case of the enemy's invasion of Sha and Yi, we should immediately make pre-deployments and prepare to preemptively attack the enemy... The fifth theater should take advantage of the enemy's intention to invade Sha and Yi to carry out a preemptive attack before the enemy's intention to invade Sha and Yi becomes obvious. Commander Tang's 31 The two main forces of the Army Group and Commander Wang's 22nd Army were to attack the enemies on Jingzhong and Hanyi Road from the areas on both sides of Dahong Mountain..."
After talking eloquently for more than an hour, we went directly to the deployment at the division and regiment level. It seemed that it had been planned long ago, and the meeting was just a formality!
Xiao Zhuge fainted on the spot. Now the command has reached the division and regiment level.
"Hey, how can we fight this battle? Is this the work of a traitor?"
