Chapter 279: Internal Disunity
Taiyuan First Army Headquarters
“Go send a telegram to Kumamoto Division Commander there, tell him.”
Shinozuka Yoshio called over a staff officer and said to him: “The Kwantung Army has already agreed to airdrop supplies with transport planes, and the First War Zone and other war zones will also have transport planes continuously reinforcing him, so he must heavily damage more than a dozen direct line armies for me!”
Shinozuka Yoshio already knew Kumamoto Division Commander’s plan to use tungsten ore as bait to set a trap for more than a dozen direct line divisions.
“Hai.” The staff officer nodded and left.
No sooner had the staff officer left than another staff officer hurried over: “Your Excellency Commander, this is the telegram from Regimental Commander Yoshino.”
“What was the result?” Shinozuka Yoshio did not take the telegram, but asked tensely.
The Yoshino Regiment had sent an urgent telegram just after being jointly attacked by the Eighth Route Army and Jin Sui Army.
The telegram claimed that the Eighth Route Army’s firepower was fierce, the troops of the Yoshino Regiment there were quickly split in two, and finally encircled.
This sudden turn of events also made Shinozuka Yoshio’s heart tighten instantly.
That was more than ten thousand Emperor’s soldiers, the backbone strength of the First Army.
“The Yoshino Regiment says he led fewer than three thousand men to successfully break out.” The staff officer replied.
“What about the rest?” Shinozuka Yoshio’s heart still skipped a beat.
The staff officer replied: “All perished honorably.”
“Baka!” Shinozuka Yoshio slammed his fist on the table furiously: “These damned Jin Sui Army, and this bunch of Eighth Route Army, they are truly too hateful. Once the Kumamoto Division resolves the crisis there, we must turn around and prioritize dealing with them…”
Shinozuka Yoshio’s words were not finished when North China Area Army Chief of Staff Miyano Doichi quickly walked over and interrupted him: “Your Excellency Commander, bad news has just come in.”
“What bad news?” Shinozuka Yoshio’s heart immediately tightened again.
“A large number of Jin Sui Army troops are heading towards our Taiyuan Rear. It looks like they intend to take advantage of our rear being empty to grab some profits.” Miyano Doichi said.
“Baka!” Shinozuka Yoshio slammed the table again: “These rat-like Jin Sui Army, when did they grow such tiger-wolf courage? Where do they get the guts to come to my Taiyuan Rear for profits!”
In the past, just half a division of the 5th Division had scared them into fleeing in panic, handing over Taiyuan without a fight, and offering up the vast Shanxi Province with both hands.
Now that the 5th Division was gone, did these Jin Sui Army really think there were no tigers in the mountains, and that he, this monkey, could call himself king!
Immediately after, a ferocious look appeared on Shinozuka Yoshio’s face: “Fortunately, Commander Okamura sent us another batch of biological weapons from the Kwantung Army’s Unit 731. Since these Jin Sui Army want the monkey to be king, let them have a good taste.”
Miyano Doichi also nodded: “Although our Taiyuan Rear is short on troops, with biological weapons as reliance, we are not afraid of the Jin Sui Army coming. In fact, the Jin Sui Army coming here is actually a good thing.”
“How so?” Shinozuka Yoshio looked at Miyano Doichi suspiciously.
How was the Jin Sui Army heading towards Taiyuan Rear still a good thing?
Miyano Doichi said directly: “Although Kumamoto Division Commander there has already used tungsten ore to set a trap for more than a dozen direct line divisions, heavily damaging more than a dozen direct line divisions will still consume a lot of ammunition and energy. What’s more, there are Eighth Route Army troops there that will join forces with the direct line divisions. But once Kumamoto Division Commander deals with the direct line divisions and Eighth Route Army, he definitely won’t have the strength left to deal with the Jin Sui Army. If the Jin Sui Army didn’t come to our Taiyuan Rear but went straight for the Kumamoto Division’s main force, that would truly be a nightmare.”
“Yoshi!” Upon hearing this from Miyano Doichi, a smile appeared on Shinozuka Yoshio’s face: “Hearing you say that, it does seem indeed so. These stupid Jin Sui Army and direct line divisions appear united but are divided inside; this is missing the best opportunity to heavily damage Kumamoto.”
Miyano Doichi continued with a smile: “Although we didn’t annihilate China in three months, now we occupy vast swathes of Chinese territory. Apart from the poor command of the Chinese armies, the main reason is their lack of unity and heavy internal conflicts. Direct line armies squeeze out local armies, local armies squeeze out the Eighth Route Army, Sichuan Army warlords from the rear area go to the frontline without even issuing guns and ammunition, using our hands to weaken the Sichuan Army warlords’ strength, and so on. If they were truly united as one, this war definitely wouldn’t be like it is now.”
Shinozuka Yoshio mocked: “Even before we came in, they were fighting among themselves. These stupid Chinese pigs really need us to be their masters.”
Immediately after, Shinozuka Yoshio said: “But the Jin Sui Army now not heading behind the Kumamoto Division’s main force is still a threat. Immediately summon the operations staff officers; I need to give them a good lesson with biological weapons.”
“Yes, Your Excellency Commander.”
“Right, also send another telegram to Kumamoto Division Commander there, tell him to act faster, solve the direct line armies and Eighth Route Army as early as possible. If the Jin Sui Army suffers losses, they might head his way later, which probably won’t be good.”
“Yes.”
……
Kumamoto Division Headquarters
More than a dozen direct line divisions attacked, fierce despite everything, engaging Kumamoto Division’s vanguard troops in firefights, even tearing open the defensive line.
Kumamoto Division Commander was not panicked at all, methodically handling each frontline situation report.
“Kumamoto Regiment Commander, this is the telegram from headquarters.” The communications officer handed the new telegram to Kumamoto Division Commander.
Kumamoto Division Commander took it and read it.
The content at the beginning of the telegram greatly relaxed Kumamoto Division Commander’s emotions; Commander Shinozuka Yoshio said in the telegram that airdrops and air forces were being arranged continuously.
But the reminder at the end made Kumamoto Division Commander’s heart tighten.
“Baka, Regimental Commander Yoshino there actually suffered a crushing defeat, Jin Sui Army troops are heading towards Taiyuan Rear.” Kumamoto Division Commander said in shocked tone.
The commander said Taiyuan Rear has preparations and is not afraid of the Jin Sui Army taking advantage of the situation.
But still urged the Kumamoto Division side to act faster.
If the Jin Sui Army couldn’t be dealt with by the commander there, and they turned to reinforce the direct line armies here, that would be bad.
Kumamoto Division Commander took two deep breaths to steady his emotions first.
Then Kumamoto Division Commander turned his gaze to the map, thought for a moment, and shouted: “Person!”
“Division Commander, what are your orders?” Soon a Japanese invader appeared before Kumamoto Division Commander.
“Go, immediately summon the operations staff officers.” Kumamoto Division Commander ordered.
“Yes.”
Soon, all the operations staff officers arrived, and Kumamoto Division Commander got straight to the point: “The commander sent news that the Jin Sui Army and Eighth Route Army jointly defeated Regimental Commander Yoshino.”
Upon hearing this, the operations staff officers were all shocked:
“Division Commander, can the Jin Sui Army and Eighth Route Army do that?”
“Didn’t Regimental Commander Yoshino there have more than ten thousand men? Weren’t they pursuing the enemy? How were they instead defeated by the enemy?”
……
“Gentlemen, why Regimental Commander Yoshino there lost is not what we need to consider now. His failure there has created a big problem: a large number of Jin Sui Army troops remain. If they come our way, that would be our nightmare.” Kumamoto Division Commander said seriously. “Fortunately, these fools intend to grab profits from our Taiyuan Rear; they are now heading to Taiyuan Rear, and the commander has preparations, so we need not worry about Taiyuan Rear. The problem now before us is that we must heavily damage more than a dozen direct line divisions in advance, or if the Jin Sui Army turns halfway to our side, it will be trouble.”
An operations staff officer immediately suggested: “Division Commander, the direct line army troops have already torn an opening in our frontline position, and soldiers are fiercely fighting them. How about having the soldiers yield, let them in, wait until they are all in, then seal the opening and concentrate superior firepower to attack them?”
“We definitely cannot directly open the gap; that would be too obvious.” Kumamoto Division Commander shook his head.
According to the original plan, slowly open the gap, let the direct line divisions fight to the tungsten ore location, then surround them with heavy troops.
Now needing to hurry, directly opening the gap might backfire.
Soon another operations staff officer spoke up: “The direct line divisions’ main intention is the five trucks of tungsten ore in our hands. How about we pretend we can’t hold, then send out a bait troop carrying the tungsten ore to withdraw. This way, the direct line divisions are very likely to pursue and encircle that bait troop; once they encircle the bait troop, we counter-encircle them from outside?”
“That’s a good suggestion.” Kumamoto Division Commander nodded. “Then, if our air forces reinforce at the opportunity, heavily damaging them will be no problem, but there’s still one problem.”
“What problem?” The operations staff officers asked.
“Eighth Route Army.” Kumamoto Division Commander said. “When we deal with the direct line divisions, the Eighth Route Army definitely won’t sit idly by. The Eighth Route Army won’t fail to understand that after we deal with the direct line army, we’ll still deal with them; after all, the essence of this battle is to raid them, so they will definitely help.”
“Division Commander, how about this.” A staff officer suggested again. “We organize more manpower, pretend to split the tungsten ore and carry it away in separate groups. This way, our men scatter everywhere, and the Eighth Route Army should pursue and block everywhere, thus to some extent diverting their attention and dispersing their troops. And when dealing with the encircled direct line army later, we leave some troops to prevent the Eighth Route Army from sneak attacking from behind.”
Kumamoto Division Commander listened and pondered for a moment: “Then those teams pretending to carry tungsten ore separately will definitely all perish honorably in the end; we need to select from the troops…”
“As long as we can deal with the direct line army in the end and divert the Eighth Route Army’s attention, this is a price that must be borne!” The operations staff officers said. “Moreover, we don’t need many Imperial Army soldiers in those teams; most can use puppet army.”
“Mm.” Kumamoto Division Commander acknowledged and said, “Let’s do it that way, and discuss some of the details among them.”
……
