mtl008 Chapter 319: Relocation to Xiangyang
Chapter 319: Relocation to Xiangyang
When half of the troops of the New 22nd Army had just crossed the Yangtze River, they received a telegram from the Military Commission, requiring the New 22nd Army to change its previous garrison in western Hubei to move the entire army to Xiangyang, and ordering the New 22nd Army to rush to Xiangyang as soon as possible.
After receiving the telegram from the Military Commission, Commander Huang also notified each division of the new destination. For the new 22nd Army, any place of garrison is acceptable now. After all, the troops are now fully equipped and staffed, and can be deployed to the front line at any time to confront the Japanese army. Commander Huang also has this confidence in his heart.
The Military Commission's latest relocation order was also based on the judgment that after occupying the three towns, the Japanese army would definitely attack northwards to eliminate the threat of the Chinese army to the north of the three towns and provide flank protection for the Japanese army to continue its westward attack.
After all, although the Japanese army has now occupied the three towns, the northern part of Hubei Province and the southern part of Henan Province are still under the control of the Chinese army. If the Japanese army continues to attack westward rashly, the Chinese army north of the three towns will attack southward with all their strength, which will seriously threaten the retreat of the Japanese army advancing westward. Therefore, this is the area most likely to be attacked by the Japanese army in the next stage.
After studying the collected intelligence, the Military Commission also analyzed and determined the next direction of the Japanese army's operations. Therefore, after the Battle of Three Towns, the section of the Yangtze River defense west of Shashi in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, the northern part of Hubei Province, the southern part of Henan Province and the Dabie Mountain area were designated as the Fifth War Zone. Now, the Fifth War Zone shouldered the important task of guarding the government's central gateway, eastern Sichuan.
Taking into account the losses suffered by the Fifth War Zone in the Battle of Three Towns, the Military Commission also transferred some of its own troops to strengthen the Fifth War Zone.
As the most combat-capable army-level unit among the current government's direct forces, the New 22nd Army was naturally assigned to the Military Commission. However, the combat sequence of the New 22nd Army has not yet been changed to the Fifth War Zone. This is because the Military Commission is afraid that the Japanese army will not act according to predictions, and the troops will have to change their combat sequence at that time.
Commander Li of the Fifth War Zone was quite satisfied with the division of his own war zone. Now, his Fifth War Zone was in charge of a very important position. For their own safety, the government and the Military Commission would certainly send good troops to their own war zone to fight.
In this way, it would be much easier to arrange the battle. After all, the combat effectiveness of the regular troops is much stronger than those miscellaneous troops before.
The most important thing is that the degree of mutual coordination between the government's direct troops is much higher than that between the miscellaneous troops. When you deploy your troops directly, you even have to take the historical issues of the miscellaneous troops into consideration, which is simply too energy-consuming.
Moreover, the miscellaneous troops did not trust each other, and the miscellaneous troops did not trust the government's direct troops even more. This was also an important reason why the various troops were always unable to execute the pre-war combat plans.
Now the Military Commission has dispatched a number of capable government troops to its own theater of operations, which has greatly enhanced the combat capability of the Fifth Theater of Operations and also made Commander Li more confident about future operations.
The jurisdiction of the Fifth War Zone still has very advantageous terrain conditions. First of all, the Dabie Mountains are located in the east, the Tongbai Mountains are also lying in the north, the Jingshan Mountains are supported in the west, and the Yangtze River is in the south. There is also the Dahong Mountain in the middle. The Xiang River connects the north and the south, and there are the Hanyi Railway and the Xianghua Railway to ensure the rapid mobilization of troops.
It can be said that the location of the Fifth War Zone can advance to harass the Pinghan Railway and threaten the three towns, and retreat to ensure the security of the Sichuan-Shaanxi rear area. It can be said to be a place that the Chinese and Japanese armies must fight for.
After the Battle of Three Towns, the troops belonging to the Fifth War Zone continued to harass the Japanese army by relying on the favorable terrain, which made the Japanese army that had occupied the three towns feel very uneasy.
Lieutenant General Okamura Yasuji, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, looked at the sand table in front of him with a frown on his face.
Although his 11th Army has occupied the Sanzhen area according to the orders of the expeditionary force and the headquarters, the disastrous defeat on the Nanxun Line on the south bank of the Yangtze River has resulted in several divisions on the Nanxun Line still being replenished, and the threat to the Three Towns from the south still exists.
As for the north of the three towns, there is a large-scale Chinese army constantly harassing them, and this is where the threat to them is the greatest.
According to the plan of the headquarters and the expeditionary force, their troops need to continue attacking westward along the Yangtze River until they occupy the temporary capital of the Chinese government, Shancheng, and force the Chinese government to surrender to the Empire of Japan.
But if he wanted to continue attacking westwards, he would have to eliminate the Chinese troops on the north and south sides, otherwise his troops would not be able to continue attacking westwards safely.
As to whether to attack the south first or the north first, Lieutenant General Okamura Yasuji, commander of the 11th Army, had already made up his mind.
The several divisions in the south have not yet been replenished and trained, and the Chinese army on the Nanxun Line still has some direct troops of the Chinese government. If we want to eliminate them quickly, it will still be difficult based on the current situation of the several divisions on the Nanxun Line.
As for the north, although the Chinese government has a large number of troops, these troops are basically composed of miscellaneous brands. The systems of each unit are complicated and chaotic, and their combat effectiveness is uneven.
As long as the troops near the three towns have rested and replenished, they will be able to quickly launch an attack on the Chinese army in the north. After eliminating the threat to the north of the three towns, the several divisions on the Nanxun line will also be replenished, which will be just in time to eliminate the threat to the south of the three towns. In this way, their 11th Army troops can continue to attack westwards.
After making up his mind, Lieutenant General Okamura Yasuji, commander of the 11th Army, ordered the General Staff to quickly formulate an operational plan to attack northward and destroy the main force of the Chinese government's Fifth War Zone.
At the same time, Lieutenant General Yasuji Okamura planned to attack northward with the 3rd Division, the 13th Division, the 16th Division, the 2nd Cavalry Brigade, and the 4th Brigade. He asked the logistics support department to give priority to quickly replenishing the previous battle losses of these troops so that these troops could begin to implement the northward combat plan as soon as possible.
The troops of the new 22nd Army also rushed to Xiangyang in early February. After marching for more than a month, the officers and soldiers were a little tired, especially the new recruits who had been recruited in western Guangdong. They felt very uncomfortable with the winter in the Central Plains and were all frozen.
Commander Li of the Fifth War Zone felt relieved when he saw that the government troops dispatched to him by the Military Commission were basically in place.
At this time, the Military Commission was busy formulating a comprehensive counterattack plan for the "April Offensive" in accordance with the requirements of the highest level of the government.
(I have been out of town these days, thank you all for your support and encouragement! I will thank all the friends who have given me gifts when I return home. Thank you all.)