mtl008 Chapter 273: Shinozuka Yoshio: Say it again? Commander Hirata is dead?
Chapter 273: Shinozuka Yoshio: Say it again? Commander Hirata is dead?
The two regiments of Japanese invaders were defeated by a regimental combat unit of the Chinese army. This had never happened since the Japanese invaders entered Shanxi, or in other words, since the Japanese invaders entered China.
And the speed at which these two regiments collapsed far exceeded the imagination of all the devils.
No matter whether it was the Japanese grassroots soldiers or the Japanese high-level generals, they could not believe that they had collapsed in such a short time.
What was extremely strange was that after the collapse of the 225th and 227th Regiments of the th Division, no one reported this news to the Japanese high-level officials for a while.
So much so that in Taiyuan City, the Japanese high-ranking officials still believed that the 37th Brigade had already surrounded the main force of the Independent Regiment in Bizigou, and that taking over the Independent Regiment was as easy as taking candy from a baby.
Yoshio Shinozuka paced back and forth in his combat command room. Seven or eight hours ago, he had arranged for Yamamoto Ikki to set off in the direction of the independent regiment's headquarters and the Liaoyuan Arsenal.
In order to ensure that everything goes smoothly in the battle, the Yamamoto Special Forces has entered radio silence. It can be said that the entire Japanese army is temporarily unable to contact the Yamamoto Special Forces unless the Yamamoto Special Forces takes the initiative to contact the Taiyuan headquarters.
Yoshio Shinozuka has not slept since he was awakened late at night. He has been waiting for battle reports from the direction of Bizigou and the location on the map where the Standard Yamamoto Special Forces might have arrived.
Feedback on the battle situation in the Bizigou direction continued to be received. According to the feedback in the morning, the two regiments had surrounded the main force of the independent regiment in the Bizigou Copper Mine.
Although the Independent Regiment had a large number of automatic firearms, which was a bit tricky, after a morning of tenacious attacks, the main force of the Independent Regiment was basically out of ammunition and food. As long as they were given another hour or two, they would be able to wipe out the main force of the Independent Regiment, avenge the locust troops that had been killed in battle, and wipe out the shame of the empire.
Yoshio Shinozuka was very excited. Since the beginning of this year, whenever the Locust Army confronted the Independent Regiment, they had never had a good outcome. Now, finally, they had mobilized the forces of two regiments of the Type B Division to encircle the main force of the Independent Regiment.
It can be said that it was a victory in one battle!
As long as the independent regiment is wiped out today, the locust army will have a smooth journey in Jin.
What Shinozuka Yoshio is more worried about now is whether Yamamoto's special forces can achieve results. If they can penetrate into the Liaoyuan Arsenal, which is well guarded by the Eighth Route Army, then this time the Eighth Route Army will be completely defeated.
He even began to think that after the 37th Division completed the operation, it would quickly advance with the cooperation of the Special Operations Brigade to complete the encirclement and suppression of the Liaoyuan Arsenal and achieve another extraordinary feat.
Ding, ding, ding.
Suddenly, the phone on Yoshio Shinozuka's desk rang. He didn't know if it was his illusion, but there was a sense of urgency in the ringing tone.
Yoshio Shinozuka picked up the phone and heard a shrill scream.
"General Shinozuka, Division Commander Hirata has died. We are defeated!"
It was like a basin of ice water was poured over Yoshio Shinozuka's head. He was stunned on the spot and didn't even know how to react to this sentence.
In other words, at this moment Yoshio Shinozuka's mind was blank.
He didn't expect the battle situation to collapse so quickly?
The situation was apparently very good in the morning, how come things have become like this after only three or four hours?
Kenkichi Hirata, commander of the 37th Division, held the rank of major general of the Japanese army.
The Japanese had a total of 173 divisions, and 105 divisions were responsible for invading China. Who would have thought that a division commander would be killed by an independent regiment in a small Bizigou.
This news caught Yoshio Shinozuka off guard.
"General, general!"
A shrill voice came from the phone, which brought Yoshio Shinozuka back to his senses.
"What did you say? Say it again?"
Yoshio Shinozuka still couldn't quite believe the result and continued to confirm with the person on the phone.
"Reporting to General Shinozuka, I am the commander of the 225th Regiment of the th Division. Our commander, Kenkichi Hirata, died in battle with the Independent Regiment. He has already died for his country."
After carefully listening to the voice coming from the phone, Yoshio Shinozuka's eyes went dark and he almost fainted on the spot.
He still managed to ask, "Please give us a detailed report of the damage. Why did the situation turn out like this when the situation was so good this morning?"
At this moment, Yoshio Shinozuka had a lot of confusion in his mind. Why was the situation still so good in the morning, but collapsed into the current state after just a few hours?
"Report to the general, our troops completed the encirclement of the main force of the independent regiment at around 4 a.m. After a morning of fighting, we inflicted heavy casualties on the independent regiment.
At noon, the Eighth Route Army mobilized heavy artillery from somewhere unknown.
In less than an hour, the Eighth Route Army fired more than 200 heavy howitzers, and our 225th and 227th Regiments suffered very heavy blows.
Our makeshift command post was exposed to the heavy artillery fire of the Eighth Route Army, and they bombarded our command post with 18 howitzers.
Division Commander Kenkichi Hirata and the entire division command center were destroyed."
The commander of the 225th Regiment gave a detailed report on the entire process.
Yoshio Shinozuka listened to the entire battle process in silence. He had already made up his mind that there was no problem with the tactical strategy of the 225th and 227th Regiments of the entire th Division participating in the battle.
But who could have imagined that the Eighth Route Army, which had been hiding in the mountains, suddenly had so many heavy artillery.
According to the commander of the regiment, this was not just one heavy artillery piece, but a cluster of heavy artillery pieces.
This heavy artillery cluster broke in with an unreasonable and arrogant attitude during the very tough tug-of-war between the two sides, and shattered all the deployments of the 37th Division by force, and also sent the entire command center of the 37th Division to heaven.
"Okay, I understand. You will temporarily manage the work of the 37th Division. We must stabilize the situation at this stage and not give the Chinese army a chance to launch a surprise attack."
Shinozuka Yoshio said this in the calmest tone possible.
"Hai!"
Yoshio Shinozuka hung up the phone. He could clearly feel the suppressed joy in the words of the captain of the 225th Regiment, but he had no time to care.
During the period when he was in charge of the management of the entire Shanxi area, he actually allowed the Eighth Route Army to grow so rapidly in strength, which led to the deaths of two senior military officers at the general level, Hattori Naoomi and Hirata Kenkichi. Even if he had Okamura Neiji to take the blame for him, he would probably have to be reprimanded this time, and there might even be more serious consequences.
"We can't give the Chinese army a chance to launch a surprise attack?"
Yoshio Shinozuka muttered to himself, then gave a bitter smile. Are these the words of the Locust Army?
It has only been a short period of time, and the locust army was making great progress in other provinces. Why did they turn the tide only in Jin?