Matsui Iwane finally met a smarter staff officer who coincided with him.
He also thought so. The reason for dispatching troops early in the Dragon Boat Festival must be to lure the 26th Brigade from Chuzhou.
"Hmph, I almost fell into that Dragon Boat Festival trap. If the 26th Brigade keeps chasing, they will definitely be surrounded by Dragon Boat Festival. If I had known better, I would not have left this 150-kilometer buffer zone. ”
Matsui Iwane was angry, but he also had his own considerations at the time. Part of Yangzhou's weapons, equipment and military supplies were taken away by the Dragon Boat Festival, and the rest was burned by him.
Therefore, the weapons and equipment delivered to the front line by the Japanese army are gone, and once the war starts, they will fall into great passivity.
Therefore, Matsui Iwane simply negotiated an armistice and peace talks with the Chinese government and established such a buffer zone of 150 kilometers to prevent the two sides from clashing with each other.
Of course, the peace talks were fake. Matsui Iwane's real intention was to delay time, use the peace talks as a guise, quickly increase troops to the front, and replace the weapons and equipment lost on the front before starting a war.
But I don’t think the North China Expeditionary Force can’t wait to get a piece of China’s cake.
As mentioned before, the commander of the North China Expeditionary Force originally thought that the decisive battle between China and Japan would break out in Hebei. The North China Front Army was fully prepared to encircle and annihilate the Chinese army and force China to surrender in one fell swoop.
However, the highest strategic decision-making level of the Nationalist Government moved the location of the decisive battle to East China, allowing the Central China Front Army to seize the opportunity for the decisive battle, and achieved great benefits, occupying most of Central China.
Not only did the North China Front not have a chance to assist, it also had to deploy two and a half divisions to support the Central China Front.
Originally, the North China Front Army wanted to have some battlefield performance, but unexpectedly, a standby order for anti-Soviet operations left the North China Front Army no room for performance.
General Touichi Terauchi watched in vain as the Central China Front won the honor of a major victory in capturing Nanjing. Therefore, he became increasingly unable to hold back and urged the base camp on the North China Front's plan to penetrate into China.
And especially the 2nd Army commanded by Nishio Hisao was even more dissatisfied, because the North China Front originally believed that the focus of the decisive battle with the Chinese army should be along the Ping-Han Railway where the 1st Army was mainly attacking, and the Japanese Army fighting on the Jinpu Railway. The 2nd Army is responsible for assisting and encircling the right wing.
However, since the main force of the Chinese army did not gather at the Pinghan Railway, the Japanese Second Army had no chance to show its combat power. What is even more unexpected is that due to the expansion of the battle situation in Shanxi, the main force of the Japanese First Army entered Shanxi to assist the 5th Army. The division fought, and the 2nd Army was directly reduced to a reserve force, and therefore could not attack the Chinese army in depth along Jinpu Road. It could only stay in the area north of the Yellow River and prepare for war to prevent the Soviet army from attacking the Japanese-occupied areas.
It was not until the Central China Front successfully captured Nanjing, ice and snow blocked traffic in Siberia, and there was no threat of a Soviet army gathering that Japan's Second Army was released from reserve. Therefore, Nishio Hisao actively requested that the Second Army be allowed to Attack the Shandong Peninsula and snatch the few cakes.
This is what the North China Expeditionary Army thought at that time. The Central China Expeditionary Army snatched a lot of benefits in eastern China.
This includes territory, gold and silver treasures, minerals, food, etc., etc.
In fact, to put it bluntly, the little devils just robbed China. They grab whatever they see is good.
That's why the North China Expeditionary Forces were so impatient that the army and navy almost clashed over the territory.
Long before the Battle of Xuzhou started, the navy and army of the Japanese invaders had made an appointment. After the relevant army and navy forces were ready, they would jointly attack the Shandong Peninsula and occupy the area together.
However, after the Japanese troops in Central China captured Nanjing, part of the North China Second Army impatiently took the lead in moving towards Shandong. The navy became anxious and decided not to abide by the agreement. It attacked Shandong in advance and was determined to land in Qingdao before the army arrived.
The Navy concentrated a large number of Marines. It also used a smokescreen to keep the Army secret. In the name of education and training, it borrowed 20 transport boats from the Army Transportation Department, and together with the 4th Fleet, they independently shipped Shandong Peninsula and landed in Qingdao without waiting for the arrival of the Army's maritime base construction team. .
When the Army's 5th Division arrived in Qingdao at the time planned by the Army and Navy commanding agencies, the Navy had already occupied the place for nine days.
They saw that the port terminals, transportation and all security and administrative agencies in the area had been seized by the navy. The army came all the way from the battlefield in Shanxi and suffered a lot, but they didn't get any oil or water. They were furious and cursed the navy as selfish, incompetent, and all bastards.
The navy, on the other hand, used the captured ports, terminals and transportation power to challenge the army. Since then, the two armies have been at loggerheads and have formed a sharp confrontation for a long time.
So it can be seen how impatient the Japanese were at that time. ,
At this time, the Central China Expedition Army was not ready yet, but the North China Expedition Army was already on the move. And if the Prince of Beibai hadn't sent a message of rebuke, I'm afraid the Battle of Xuzhou would have started long ago.
Matsui Iwane also had a headache about this, but he felt that this might be one of the reasons why the Dragon Boat Festival suddenly hit An County.
If Duanwu eats up his 26th Brigade, then the military strength in Central China will be obviously insufficient unless he draws back troops from the offensive troops on the western front.
But if this happens, the troops on the Western Front will be empty, and the Chinese army may not be able to counterattack. He didn't want to give up the territory he finally gained to others again.
Matsui Iwane sighed deeply, just like snoring. After a moment, he said: "It seems that the 26th Brigade cannot go any deeper. Once it is surrounded by Duanwu's troops in the middle section between Lai'an County and Mingguang, the consequences will be disastrous.
Everyone, I have to say that our pursuit plan this time was a failure. We only saw Duan Wu running into our occupied area and acting recklessly, but we ignored that he was a cunning guy.
When he comes to An County, it will not be as simple as attacking an artillery brigade. He will use this mountain road that is more than 150 kilometers long to eat up our entire 26th Brigade.
Pass on my order, no matter what the current battle situation is, let the 26th Brigade withdraw immediately without any mistake. "
Matsui Iwane ordered, and all staff members stood up and bowed at the same time. Because they finally passed this level today. Everything they said about Dragon Boat Festival was wrong.
Of course, there was Leng Touqing who analyzed the Dragon Boat Festival tactics before and gave Matsui Iwane a lot of suggestions. However, after repeated defeats, Matsui Iwane was dismissed from his post.
Therefore, if you want to keep your official position safely and hide in the headquarters to live a debauched life, then you must not get involved in the Dragon Boat Festival. Even if you have 10,000 ways to capture the Dragon Boat Festival alive, don't talk about it at this time. Because if you say it and don't catch the Dragon Boat Festival, then your good life may be over.
But at this moment, just when many Japanese staff thought that today's level was finally over, the communications officer trotted into the conference room and reported: "Report, Prince Beibai is calling!"
(End of chapter)
