In Shuzhong, in the War Room of the Military Commission, several big guys still came early to check in. Today Zhong Cao is coming to hold a combat summary meeting, and everyone has to speak.
Compared with the complacency a week ago, the current image of God is like a group of defeated roosters, especially Admiral Chen, who has been wondering who is more suitable to be the scapegoat...
"The seed is here!"
As soon as Lieutenant General Zhang finished speaking in the Attendance Room, someone hurried in carrying a signature civilized stick, with no emotion or anger on his face.
Admiral Chen, who knew Zhongcai well, felt his heart skip a beat. This was the rhythm of being really angry. He would rather Zhongcai walked in angrily, which would only result in a few curses. What should be done once the storm is over? Things like this would only make people angry. He was at a loss.
"What's the matter? They all look like defeated roosters. Victory and defeat are common matters for military strategists. Besides, the battle of Zaoyang can only be considered a draw;
The government suffered heavy losses, and the Japanese suffered heavy losses too!
It's a pity that we missed a good opportunity to encircle and annihilate the Third Division. You are all responsible!
I am not here today to hold anyone accountable, but to hope that you will reflect on yourselves. You are all subordinates of the government. What I need is your sincere unity, not to undermine each other! !
Tell us all! "
After a while, someone saw that no one came out to speak, so he ordered General Chen's general. If he had not been selfish this time and wasted two precious days, he would not have missed the best opportunity to encircle and annihilate the third division. .
Admiral Chen will naturally not admit that it is his fault. If it is wrong, it is the fault of the following people who did not perform well:
"Zhongcai, this time the Japanese unexpectedly dropped a large amount of ammunition, especially heavy artillery shells, to the Third Division. They also transferred dozens of bombers from Jiangcheng. Our army was unable to adapt to the integrated air-ground combat method. The 44th Army The army commander was ill-prepared for the Japanese counterattack and was completely defeated in less than an hour;
If the Eighteenth Army had not arrived in time and stabilized the position, the consequences would have been disastrous! "
As expected of General Chen, a blame-shifting expert, he did not throw the blame to Commander Tang, who had a large number of troops, but to the commander of the 44th Army, indirectly letting Commander Tang take the blame, and his 18th Army became the one who turned the tide. division;
In this way, not only was it not wrong for him to mobilize the Eighteenth Army, but it was actually a meritorious service. His peach-picking move was also whitewashed by him as a move that was used by the enemy in advance.
"Extremely shameless!"
Xiao Zhuge couldn't help but uttered a curse word. Fortunately, he didn't throw the blame to De Gong, otherwise he would have been the first to jump out and curse:
"There are such shameless people in the world!"
The corner of Zhong Cao's eyes twitched, but he still held it back. There was nothing wrong with calling in reinforcements from the 18th Army. If it was wrong, he would also be responsible.
"Cixiu's transfer of the 18th Army to reinforce the Northern Front was an unintentional move. It stabilized the situation on the Northern Front and prevented it from collapsing. Although the Third Division broke out from the 44th Army's defense line, it also suffered heavy losses. This Let’s make the merits and demerits equal each time!”
After the verdict was settled, the rest was easy to talk about. They were all reflections without pain, and it didn't even count as self-punishment of three cups. The matter was just covered up.
This is easy to understand. When it comes to the Central Army, even if they lose the battle, they will hold it up high and put it down gently. What's more, in their eyes, this can only be regarded as a draw, let alone slap the Central Army on the butt. .
As for Xiao Zhuge, as long as he doesn't blame the Gui family, he will shut up.
The summary of the battle was easily revealed, and all that was left was to discuss the Japanese's next move. Admiral Chen was the first to speak, and he had to win back the battle.
"Zhongcai, after the first phase of the battle, the Japanese lost more than 20,000 troops. The two main divisions, the Third Division and the Thirteenth Division, were severely attrited and the troops were exhausted. The consumption of supplies was huge, and the airdrop of supplies It’s just a drop in the bucket and cannot support subsequent combat needs;
So I think the Japanese will give up their plan to attack Yiling and choose to withdraw their troops and rest. At least for a month, the Japanese will be unable to launch a large-scale attack! "
Admiral Chen's analysis was recognized by most of the big guys, and even Xiao Zhuge did not stand up to object.
After all, the two sides have been fighting for more than 20 days, and ammunition has been supplied by air drops. The supplies needed to support the offensive operations of an army of 70,000 to 80,000 people are an astronomical figure and are not so easy to raise!
Modern warfare is all about logistical supplies. Offensive operations without supplies will cost lives.
Seeing that everyone's opinions were surprisingly consistent and coincided with his thoughts, Cai Zhong immediately nodded with satisfaction. He no longer wanted to continue fighting with the Japanese, and conserving his strength was the best policy.
After Zhongcai concluded that the Japanese would not continue to attack Yiling, the government adjusted the local troop deployment in the Hexi area;
Transferred most of the main forces of the 33rd Group Army and the Jiang Defense Army originally stationed in Hexi to Hedong, leaving Hexi with no troops;
There was no plan to fight in Hexi. Not only were Yuan'an, Nanzhang and other counties undefended, but Yiling also had very few defensive troops.
This bad move was caught by the Japanese again. After receiving more than 1,000 tons of supplies, the Japanese Third Division and other troops suddenly crossed the Han River, took advantage of the opportunity, and caught the Nationalist Army by surprise;
At this time, the commander of the fifth war zone had a major deviation in their judgment of the situation. They all thought that the Japanese were feinting. The left army group was commanded by the war zone commander, General Li, to attack Xianghua. Lu, Jingzhong Road and Hanyi Road were behind the Japanese troops, trying to cut off the Japanese supplies.
Unfortunately, the Japanese did not pay attention to their own retreat. Instead, the two divisions accelerated their attack after crossing the river. They broke through the 41st Army's defense line that night and entered Xiangcheng the next day. The two divisions immediately lined up and attacked southward. Advance, get behind the 33rd Army, and force our army to turn around.
This is a typical situation where you fight yours and I fight mine. Your left army's heavy troops cut off my supply line, and I rush all the way to the back of your right army;
The Japanese have already replenished their supply, and it is not a big problem to carry the supplies for ten and a half months, so they don't care at all if the Kuomintang army cuts off their supply line.
Because the Thirty-Third Army, whose back was attacked, could not last ten days and a half. It was forced by the Japanese to change directions hastily and change its formation when facing the enemy. This is a taboo for military strategists!
The Thirty-Third Army changed from attacking eastward to resisting north. Our army fell into chaos in a hurry. The Japanese took the opportunity to attack fiercely. All units of the Thirty-third Army suffered heavy losses, and the war situation took a turn for the worse.
Later, the Military Commission was engaged in various frivolous operations, commanding one army at one time, and commanding that army at another, leaving all the ministries exhausted;
The telegrams exchanged were decrypted by the Japanese again, which meant that they were openly fighting against the Japanese!
One step was wrong, every step was wrong, and the Japanese kept leading them by the nose, focusing on one thing and not the other. All the ministries were smashed to pieces by the two Japanese divisions, and they suffered heavy losses.
On June 12, the Japanese occupied Yiling and completed the initial campaign goal;
On June 13, just one day, Yiling was liberated by the Eighteenth Army!
On the same day, thousands of miles away, Mustache's troops occupied Bali, and the entire Western Europe fell into Mustache's bag.
The world situation is undergoing violent turbulence. Under this situation, the Japanese base camp is eager to solve the Chinese problem as soon as possible so as to free up its hands to participate in world-wide competition.
Yiling is the bridgehead for the attack on central Sichuan. Huge differences arose in the Japanese base camp on whether to occupy Yiling for a long time:
The military faction hopes to use Yiling as a springboard to mobilize more than 200,000 heavy troops to invade Shu in one fell swoop and completely resolve the Huaxia Incident;
The political faction believed that the brief occupation of Yiling was to put huge military pressure on Shu and force Shu to negotiate peace with the Japanese under certain conditions, so that the Japanese could withdraw from China as soon as possible.
In the end the political faction prevailed!
On June 18, the Japanese occupied Yiling again. The Kuomintang army was unable to regain it. The Japanese 11th Army did not want to expand the war any further, so the battle ended.
