mtl008 Chapter 620 Scare Yourself
Chapter 620 Scare Yourself
"Okay, Mr. Karakawa, go send a telegram to Major General Jiro Harada, the commander of the Harada Mixed Brigade, and ask him to quickly withdraw his troops to Lishui and wait for the next combat instructions from the headquarters." Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, commander of the 13th Army of the Japanese Army, closed his eyes and ordered the chief of staff, Major General Yasuo Karakawa, with great loss.
Major General Jiro Harada, commander of the Harada Mixed Brigade in Songyang, was anxiously waiting for a telegram from Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, commander of the 13th Army of the Japanese Army, in his brigade headquarters. Major General Jiro Harada believed that with the experience of the Kojunjiang Brigade, Commander Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada would definitely order his troops to withdraw from the Songyang area.
Even before the telegram order from Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, commander of the 13th Army of the Japanese Army, arrived, the brigade commander, Major General Jiro Harada, had already ordered the troops attacking Yuankou to retreat to Songyang City. The brigade commander, Major General Jiro Harada, had also made preparations for the retreat in advance. Now he only had to wait for the telegram from Commander Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada to arrive so that he could lead his troops to retreat towards Lishui.
Finally, while the brigade commander, Major General Jiro Harada, was anxiously waiting, the retreat order from Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada, commander of the 13th Army, finally arrived. As soon as he received the telegram, the brigade commander, Major General Jiro Harada, ordered the troops to begin retreating towards Lishui. As for Songyang, the brigade commander, Major General Jiro Harada, did not want to stay there for even a minute.
In the eyes of the brigade commander, Major General Jiro Harada, Songyang now is like a ferocious beast with a bloody mouth that can swallow him and his troops at any time. This is definitely a place of right and wrong. Every minute in Songyang adds danger to his troops.
In fact, the brigade commander, Major General Jiro Harada, was really scaring himself this time. This time, the Third War Zone of the Chinese government had never thought of surrounding and annihilating the Harada Mixed Brigade and Nara Detachment of the Japanese Army in the Songyang area. The original intention of the Third War Zone Command was to consume the Japanese army in the Songyang area, and after the Japanese army was exhausted, see if there was any opportunity to take advantage of the Japanese army.
As for encircling and annihilating the Japanese Harada Mixed Brigade and Nara Detachment in Songyang, Commander General Gu of the Third War Zone of the Chinese government also wanted to do so. However, Commander Gu does not have enough troops to carry out this task now. Even if he transfers the New 22nd Army in Wenzhou, it will not be possible.
If the New 22nd Army leaves Wenzhou, and if the Japanese army attacks Wenzhou again, the temporary 33rd Division headquarters and the infantry battalion in Wenzhou City will not be able to defend against the Japanese attack. Therefore, the only thing the troops can do now is to carry out blocking and harassing operations against the Japanese Harada Mixed Brigade and Nara Detachment in Songyang area, creating the illusion of surrounding the Japanese army in Songyang area to scare the Japanese army.
Commander Gu's original intention was to scare the Japanese Army's Harada Mixed Brigade and Nara Detachment, so that the Japanese army would not dare to advance too quickly. At the same time, a lot of troops would be drawn to maintain the retreat route to Lishui, causing mental pressure on the Japanese Army's Harada Mixed Brigade and Nara Detachment.
However, even Commander Gu of the Third War Zone did not expect that he just wanted to scare the Japanese troops in Songyang area, but he actually scared the Japanese troops so much that they began to withdraw from Songyang area. This was really a blessing in disguise.
Therefore, Commander General Gu of the Third War Zone ordered the 25th Army to launch a flanking and tailing attack on the Japanese Harada Mixed Brigade and Nara Detachment that were evacuating Songyang. However, Commander Gu also reminded the 25th Army not to advance rashly, meaning that they should take advantage of the Japanese retreat to gain some benefits but not suffer heavy losses from the Japanese, as that would be counterproductive.
Major General Jiro Harada, commander of the Harada Mixed Brigade, commanded his brigade and the Nara Detachment to quickly withdraw from the Songyang area to Lishui. How fast was the retreat? The pursuit troops of the 25th Army of the Chinese government did not catch up with the retreating Japanese troops.
The Chinese troops on both wings also hurried to the sides of the Japanese army's marching road, but the main Japanese forces had already passed in front of them, and only a small part of the Japanese rear guard troops were walking at the end.
Therefore, the Chinese troops on both wings had no time to deploy their troops and just started shooting at the last few Japanese troops on both sides of the road. For the Chinese army, it didn't matter how many Japanese soldiers they could kill, because even a small mosquito is still meat.
Walking at the end of the Japanese retreating troops was a squad of officers and soldiers from the 88th Independent Infantry Battalion assigned to fight in the Harada Mixed Brigade. The battalion commander, Major Haruno Okubo, led the 88th Infantry Battalion to withdraw to Songyang from the farthest place.
Therefore, the brigade commander, Major General Jiro Harada, naturally ordered the commander of the 88th Independent Infantry Battalion, Major Haruno Okubo, to lead his troops as the rear guard of the entire retreating force to prevent attacks launched by the pursuit troops sent by the Third War Zone of the Chinese government.
After being attacked by the Chinese army on both sides of the road, the last squad of officers and soldiers of the 88th Battalion of the Japanese Army, after more than a dozen of them were knocked down by the sudden attack, hurriedly carried the wounded soldiers and ran forward without any intention of resisting. As for the dead soldiers, they could only take away some of their belongings and leave the bodies on the road.
When the news that the rear guard troops were suddenly attacked by the Chinese army on both sides of the road reached Major General Jiro Harada, the commander of the Harada Mixed Brigade, he was also frightened and lamented that his retreat was fast enough.
The appearance of the Chinese army was obviously intended to block his retreat route. If he had not acted decisively and assembled the troops before the retreat order from Commander Lieutenant General Shigeru Sawada was issued, he would not have been able to successfully retreat before the Chinese army's encirclement was formed.
The brigade commander, Major General Jiro Harada, was so relieved, as he was just one step away from making the Chinese government's Third War Zone's combat plan a success. He was so proud now. He felt that Commander Gu of the Chinese government's Third War Zone would be furious after knowing that all his troops had successfully withdrawn from the encirclement.
Contrary to what Major General Jiro Harada, commander of the Harada Mixed Brigade, had guessed, Commander General Gu of the Third War Zone of the Chinese government is now grinning from ear to ear in the command hall of the headquarters.
With the retreat of the Japanese Harada Mixed Brigade and Nara Detachment, the troops of the 25th Army have recovered all the previously lost ground without any losses. This is simply a victory won under their own command.