Chapter 177: Campaign Ends, Transportation Department Reforms
On October 7, Year 27 of the Republic, seeing that the encirclement deployment was complete, Xue Boling issued the order for the general offensive.
The 106th Division was fundamentally unable to contend with the Blue Army, and Division Commander Matsuura Junroku originally wanted to lead his troops in a suicidal charge.
But upon receiving the telegram from headquarters, the 9th Division had already sent troops to aid, and on the frontal battlefield, the 42nd Regiment and 155th Artillery Regiment led by 101st Division Commander Tanigawa Kozo were also frantically attacking the Fourth Army positions, attempting to blast an escape route for the 106th Division.
Upon receiving the telegram, Matsuura Junroku felt a glimmer of luck in his heart, so he decisively ordered the troops to break through toward Zhanggu Mountain.
This battle resulted in over six thousand casualties, and the surviving Japanese devils retreated to defend Zhanggu Mountain, waiting for the 101st Division to open a rescue passage.
However, their hopes were soon dashed.
Early on October 8, the 3rd Air Group dispatched over ten airplanes to air-drop more than two hundred officers into the Wanjia Ridge battlefield.
These officers jumped from the airplanes full of confidence, but what awaited them was not applause from the 106th Division.
Instead, it was the New 39th Division’s machine gun company that had long been ambushed near the drop zone.
Over two hundred men became machine gun targets before they even landed; some who luckily touched down were quickly surrounded and annihilated by the ambushing troops.
It could be said that these more than two hundred mid- and low-level officers died to the last man without having a chance to play their roles.
Upon learning the news, Matsuura Junroku was instantly devastated as if he had lost his own father.
However, he still held hope for the 101st Division. To hold Zhanggu Mountain, he ordered the construction of fortifications, using the natural defenses to resist the Blue Army’s offensive.
Zhanggu Mountain was the throat of Wanjia Ridge and the only hope for the 106th Division’s survival.
On the night of October 8, 74th Army’s 305th Regiment Commander Zhang Lingfu gathered five hundred warriors, using leggings tied together as ropes to scale up the cliff behind Zhanggu Mountain.
The frontal troops feigned an attack with gunfire to draw the Japanese devils’ attention.
By the time the Japanese devils discovered someone climbing up from behind the cliff, it was too late to react, and a major battle was inevitable.
To suppress the Japanese devils’ firepower, Zhang Lingfu directly chose close-quarters combat with bayonets; his troops tangled with the enemy, rendering their artillery and heavy machine guns ineffective.
After a night of fierce fighting, by dawn, the Blue Sky, White Sun flag was flying atop Zhanggu Mountain.
The loss of Zhanggu Mountain positions did not mean the 106th Division was willing to give it up. After daybreak, Matsuura Junroku ordered an artillery bombardment to bloodily wash Zhanggu Mountain and contacted the 3rd Air Group via radio to carry out a bombing mission.
Although the 305th Regiment’s weapons and equipment were inferior, they held firm with sheer hot blood against the enemy’s frenzied attacks, and Zhang Lingfu was wounded in the right leg by enemy shrapnel in this battle.
After a day and night of intense fighting, Matsuura saw he could not retake Zhanggu Mountain, and at that moment, Blue Army troops encircled them again. Helpless, Matsuura could only order a withdrawal.
On October 9, the 106th Division, nearly out of ammunition and supplies, huddled in Leiming Guliu Village, awaiting final rescue.
At this time, soldiers under 66th Army Commander Ye Zhao discovered Japanese devils’ motorcycles near Leiming Guliu Village, and moreover, the Japanese devils had erected an antenna in the village.
Through intelligence analysis, Ye Zhao determined this place was the 106th Division’s headquarters, so he emulated Zhang Lingfu’s night raid on Zhanggu Mountain.
Under cover of night, he gathered five hundred warriors, stripped off their upper clothes, infiltrated Leiming Guliu Village, and ordered that shirtless men be signaled by shoulder taps, while anyone wearing clothes be killed without mercy.
At midnight, this group of daredevils charged into the village and engaged the enemy in close-quarters combat with bayonets.
At that moment, Matsuura was still dreaming of how to retaliate against the Blue Army after escaping, when he suddenly heard shouts of killing outside.
The guarding soldiers escorted Matsuura Junroku in a panicked flight toward the back mountain, and afterward, under guard cover, Matsuura narrowly escaped with his life.
According to postwar recollections by Japanese soldier Nasu Ryo: At that time, the Blue Army daredevils were less than a hundred meters from Division Commander Matsuura; if not for the cover of night, Matsuura would have become the first general captured in the early War of Resistance.
On October 10, Officer Xue commanded large forces to sweep away the remnants of the 106th Division and wired the Military Affairs Commission that the Wanjia Ridge Battle had achieved complete victory.
This news caused a national uproar.
Shanghai’s Daily News published a story from Chongqing’s Central Daily, claiming this battle annihilated over seventeen thousand enemies.
However, the Japanese side called it a rumor. 《Asahi Shimbun》 published casualty records clearly stating that due to command errors by Japanese officers, this campaign resulted in over three thousand troops killed and over four thousand lightly and seriously wounded.
However, just a few days after the Japanese report was published, Shanghai’s 《Economic Times》 published a special news story.
The story’s illustration was a photo of 106th Division’s Matsuura Junroku seriously wounded on a stretcher, narrowly escaping Blue Army checks.
At the same time, the news clearly published a Japanese internal military report stating that the 106th Division had 3,679 confirmed deaths in this campaign, 4,427 seriously wounded, and another 9,488 hospitalized for other reasons.
This “hospitalized for other reasons” was quite clever; no one knew what illness they had, nor which hospital could admit so many soldiers at once.
Once this report came out, Shanghai’s major intelligence agencies felt as uncomfortable as if they had swallowed a green-headed fly.
This level of intelligence leak was like repeatedly slapping intelligence agencies in the face nakedly.
This also ruthlessly trampled the Central China Expeditionary Army’s last shred of face underfoot.
Of course, for Chen Yang, this report was not entirely without benefits.
The 106th Division’s battle report was quickly delivered to Expeditionary Army Headquarters and, after discussion by the Expeditionary Army Staff Department, the operational failure process and casualty data were sent together to the General Staff Office.
The Expeditionary Army Staff Department believed the 106th Division’s failure had three causes: Matsuura Junroku’s arrogance and misjudgment of Blue Army strength, as well as overestimation of the 106th Division’s strength, for which he should bear primary responsibility.
Second, the Eleventh Army Staff Department provided erroneous maps, causing the 106th Division to fail to complete the infiltration mission in a short time, bearing secondary responsibility.
Third, the Southern Transportation Department, Section 1’s transportation mission error led to the 106th Division’s supplies not arriving on time; Matsuura Junroku chose to advance lightly equipped without sufficient supply budget.
Matsuura was certainly at fault, but Section Chief Matsushima Jun of Section 1 was also held accountable.
Ultimately, the homeland issued the resolution: demote Matsuura Junroku, remove Section Chief Matsushima Jun of Southern Transportation Department, Section 1, and demote Eleventh Army operations staff officer Numaida Tomizo; only then did this incident conclude.
A few days later, in mid-October, while Shanghai people were still basking in the joy of the Wanjia Ridge Battle, bad news came from the south.
Guangzhou had fallen.
Under Yu Hanmou, two hundred thousand soldiers lost half of Guangzhou in less than half a month.
Guangzhou’s fall also brought extremely headache-inducing problems for the Blue Army.
Losing China’s southernmost city meant that China’s maritime routes were now completely controlled by the Japanese.
Continuing to hold Wuhan at this point would risk supply issues for the Blue Army at any time,
without effective protection, it could drag a million-strong army to death alive.
While the upper echelons were still debating “continue holding or retreat to the rear,” Hu Zongnan, garrisoning Xinyang, made a major mistake.
After the great victory at Wanjia Ridge, the Japanese Army accelerated its encirclement of Wuhan.
The 59th Army, led by the Plum Blossom General, was ordered to block the enemy around Huangchuan for ten days.
After completing the mission, it withdrew on October 18 as ordered.
Afterward, the Japanese Army captured Huangchuan and charged straight for Xinyang.
Seeing the situation turn unfavorable, Hu Zongnan immediately withdrew his troops, and this retreat badly screwed over Li Delin.
With Xinyang lost, Hu Zongnan also unauthorizedly withdrew the seven divisions blocking the enemy, retreating to defend Nanyang City.
This decision left Wuhan’s gates wide open, forcing the top command to finally resolve to preserve vital forces, wage protracted war, and trade space for time.
Thus, on October 22, the Military Affairs Commission issued the order for the Blue Army to withdraw from Wuhan.
But to deny the Japanese a complete Wuhan, the Blue Army set a fire during the retreat.
The blaze burned for two days and nights; by the time Japanese main forces arrived in Wuhan, only a city of devastation and ruins remained.
In Shanghai, the Japanese first took Guangzhou, then Wuhan; these messages naturally sparked Japanese cheers and jubilation.
Some even predicted that by year’s end, the Japanese could capture Chongqing.
However, as Transportation Section Chief, Chen Yang had keenly sensed something amiss.
Homeland transportation supplies seemed unsustainable after the Wuhan Battle.
It could be said that monthly supply materials were decreasing, even requiring northern bases to supply the south.
Based on AI analysis in Chen Yang’s mind of recent transportation supply data, at least in the short term, the Japanese Army could not launch a battle on the scale of the Wuhan Battle.
So, reaching Chongqing by year’s end was absolutely wishful thinking.
Chen Yang originally wanted to send this news back to Chongqing, but he thought about it: these were his analyses, without concrete evidence to support them.
If the superiors asked, was he to say this was all his judgment? One could guess what expression Boss Dai would have then.
Thus, Chen Yang dropped it and gradually grew accustomed to life and work in the Transportation Department.
Late October, Southern Transportation Department.
Chen Yang had just entered the office when he received Oshima Kenjiro’s order to go up to the third floor meeting room for major news.
Chen Yang didn’t dare delay; after setting down his briefcase, he hurried to the third floor.
Third Floor Minister’s Office.
Chen Yang stood at the door, carefully straightening his clothes before knocking.
“Come in.” Oshima Kenjiro’s voice sounded from inside.
Chen Yang pushed open the door, his gaze inexplicably shaken, and the reason for his surprise was that two other men were standing in the office.
One of them was none other than…
“Section Chief Chen, you’ve arrived just in time. Let me introduce you: this is Gendarmerie Headquarters Logistics Officer Ino Yusuke.” Oshima Kenjiro pointed to the man in front and said to Chen Yang, “He was specially recommended by the Logistics Department.”
“Section Chief Chen, please take care of me.” Ino Yusuke slightly bowed, acting as if he wasn’t acquainted with Chen Yang at all.
Chen Yang was unfazed and promptly bowed in return.
Oshima Kenjiro slightly raised his hand and said, “Section Chief Chen, I called you here to give you good news.”
“The homeland has approved the Southern Transportation Department reorganization plan.”
“The previous First Section, Second Section, and Third Section will be disbanded and unified into the Army Transportation Section.”
“The Logistics Department carefully reviewed all your performance since joining the Southern Transportation Department and believes your abilities are very suitable for the Section Chief position.”
“As for the two Deputy Section Chiefs, Nagashima No-hiro you should be familiar with, and the other Deputy Section Chief will be Ino-kun.”
“Do you have any questions?”
