Rise from the sword

Chapter 580
"damn it."

Hengyang, in the command room of the Tenth Army, General Fang slammed his fist on the table, gritted his teeth, with a ferocious face:

"They are traitors."

"It's traitorous!"

The staff officers on the side were shocked by the roar of their own commander and the slap, they lowered their heads and did not dare to speak, but they also had angry expressions on their faces.

There are even quite a few people gnashing their teeth in the same way.

Just now, they received a telegram.

The telegram came from the remnants of the 193rd, 194th, and 197th divisions that originally planned to reinforce the Hengyang area.

Now that the Hengyang battle has been fought, the staff officers of the Tenth Army have given up hope for the support of other troops.

At the beginning of the battle, an order from the theater headquarters ordered their tenth army to hold out in Hengyang for a week, and reinforcements would arrive in a week later, but up to now, they have persisted for almost half a month, and as a result, the shadows of reinforcements from their own theater did not see.

Even the order from the theater command has been silent for a long time.

On the contrary, the Eighth Route Army arrived with plane after plane of aid, rifles and machine guns, cannons and mortars, bullets, shells, grenades, food, and medicines.

Every day I also ask what is needed and what is missing.

Especially today, in just eight hours during the day, 370 five transport planes landed, and one transport plane arrived almost every minute and a half, transporting nearly [-] tons of supplies in total.

Thanks to the large size of Hengyang Airport, the defenders launched another round of counterattack yesterday and regained some positions around the airport. Otherwise, there is really no way to accommodate so many sorties to land.In order to quickly unload these weapons, more than 3000 volunteers and more than 2000 soldiers have been busy all day, all of them were panting from exhaustion.

Including General Fang, the reason why they were angry this time was because the telegram not only said that the 193rd, 194th, and 197th divisions were blocked by a division and a brigade of devils, unable to advance and unable to support.

In fact, the Tenth Army did not need any support.

Although the current force is small, with sufficient supplies and powerful firepower, it is more than enough to block the devil's attack. The seriously injured can be transported to Songxian Airport Hospital for treatment, and there is no problem in guarding him for three months.

Besides, if we really need troops, we can transport them by air directly from Song County.

There are no eight ways, no one cares about this matter anymore, the most important thing now is to kill devils, as for the future, we will talk about it later.

But the problem is.

The telegram also said that when the three divisions still had a lot of spare power, they actually retreated, and the devil troops who took the initiative to break away from the defensive battle, and retreated all the way, letting the devils, a division, and a brigade attack Heading towards Hengyang.

Even more outrageous.

The telegram also stated that the remaining troops around Hengyang, as well as the Fourth Army that had withdrawn from Changsha, also retreated, and retreated in the direction of the mountain city.Dozens of divisions withdrew when there was still a lot of spare power and sufficient combat power.

Obviously, the high-level officials let the Changheng area go unnoticed and deliberately gave it to the devils, and then,
Sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight!
The devils know the situation in Song County, they know it, so the people in the mountain city naturally know it too, but the staff officers of the Tenth Army really didn't expect that the group of people with corpses and vegetarian meals would not resist and retreat the troops.

This not only betrayed their Tenth Army.

Still a traitor.

betray the common people.

"General Fang, there is no need to be angry."

Cai Jigang smiled and said:
"Things have happened, we have to think about how to deal with it."

"At present, all the devils in the surrounding area have lost their restraint, and they are all heading towards Hengyang. What we have to consider is how to defend Hengyang."

In fact, when Cai Jigang saw this telegram, he was very angry at first. After all, not only the Tenth Army was betrayed, but also millions of ordinary people around Hengyang.

But afterwards, he breathed a sigh of relief, as if a stone fell to the ground in his heart.

You are unkind, don't blame me for being unrighteous.

They were all forced to go to Liangshan.

"Yes."

Fang Jinjun nodded and regained his composure:

"It is estimated that in three to five days, 10,000+ devils will besiege Hengyang, and more heavy weapons will arrive. I am afraid we may not be able to defend it with this little force."

In the city of Hengyang, it had a population of just over 20 at its peak, but now it is actually facing the attack of nearly 20 devils.

"Do you want to ask the independent regiment for reinforcements?"

General Fang asked.

In fact, Fang Jinjun didn't know what the independent group and that Kong Jie were up to.

It's nothing more than seeing him in the Tenth Army.

But he believes that no matter what happens in the future, what he has to do now is to fight the devils, protect Hengyang, attract the devils, and prevent more land and more people from being persecuted by the devils.

As for the future of the Tenth Army, we will talk about it later.

Even if they all belong to Kong Jie's command, that's a good thing, at least for these soldiers, they can eat well, drink well, get enough military pay, and the guys in their hands are more useful when they work hard.

He was still struggling before, but now, he doesn't need to worry about it anymore.

"It's not necessary for now."

Cai Jigang said:
"Moreover, Commander Kong...has said that most of the independent regiments are currently recruits and are undergoing military training, and the heavy equipment cannot be transported by air, so only a small number of lightly armed troops can come to support them."

"My suggestion is that we go to meet the surrounding participating troops, such as the troops of the 193, 194, and 197 divisions."

The higher-ups ordered all to retreat, but anyone with a discerning eye knew what was going on, so many officers, risking being dealt with by military law, led the troops to leave and blocked the Japanese army alone.

Some of them sent telegrams to Hengyang.

Moreover, the leader of this part is the commander of the 194th Division. With the gathering of remnants along the way, the current total strength is as high as 7000. Because the devils are moving closer to Hengyang, they have not encountered many obstacles.

"Support the 194th division and others?"

Commander Fang fell into deep thought.

If this group of troops is supported, the biggest problem in Hengyang at present can indeed be improved-the serious shortage of troops.

There are more than 7000 people, which is equivalent to two-fifths of the current Hengyang total force.And on the way to pick up, there will definitely be quite a lot of remnant soldiers, estimated to be tens of thousands.

Many retreated, but many remained.

This is better than asking for help from the Independent Corps.

Asking for help from the independent group, although it can also solve the problem.

However, the combat system of the Independent Regiment is completely different from theirs. The proportion of heavy weapons is quite large, especially the long-barrel 105 howitzer, 125 heavy howitzer, armored vehicles, and tanks. These are not transportable by transport planes.

And there's the trickier question of command.

"but."

Then Commander Fang frowned:

"Do we have the strength to respond?"

The total strength of Hengyang is only [-], and this still counts the volunteers who stayed.

"Have."

The chief of staff on the side immediately said:
"Today, the Independent Regiment airlifted a lot of weapons and equipment, especially artillery, a lot."

"So so far, we have a total of 36 105 mountain guns, 36 120 mortars, 82 180 mortars, and 60 [-] mortars."

"Each gun is equipped with at least ten bases of ammunition."

After the chief of staff finished speaking, the corners of the mouths of everyone in the headquarters, including Fang Jinjun, twitched.

Not counting the caliber, the Tenth Army now has more than 350 artillery pieces, and even among them, there are 72 large-caliber artillery pieces, that is, those with a caliber of more than [-] mm.

And the Tenth Army is full of 2 people.

Even the German mechanic back then couldn't keep up with flattery.

Moreover, each artillery has more than ten bases, that is, each artillery has 28 shells.Calculated, that is the current total number of shells of the Tenth Army, [-] rounds.

28 rounds.

Still the lowest.

In fact, I am afraid that it will exceed 30.

Thinking of this number, every staff member of the Tenth Army blushed with excitement, wishing to fight the devil immediately and shoot tens of thousands of shells at the devil's head.

"Without compromising the strength of the defense and leaving the guard battalion as the final reserve, we can draw out a force of 500 troops."

The chief of staff continued.

At this moment, the chief of staff spoke excitedly and smoothly.

The supplies in his hands are sufficient, and the supplies are sufficient. Although there are not many troops, this is still the most enjoyable battle he has ever fought.

none of them.

In the face of a siege of more than 1000 troops, his troops of less than 500 were able to mobilize [-] people, or a quarter of the troops, while leaving a reserve of [-] people.

It is unprecedented.

But after calculation, he thinks there is no problem. The remaining troops, even if the devils attack in an all-round way, can easily defend it, and even if the devils attack at night, there is no pressure.

When the devils come, just cover them with artillery fire. If the devils don't leave, the artillery fire will not stop.

"Is this enough troops?"

General Fang asked.

Excluding casualties, there are more than 5 devils outside Hengyang City, and 66 new reinforcements are about to arrive, that is, the devil's 17th division and No.[-] brigade that were restrained by the previous three divisions.

There are more than 4000 people and more than 5 people. The difficulty of supporting the troops is not ordinary.

"enough."

The chief of staff answered fluently:
"The rest of the three divisions are [-] kilometers away from us, and they can be reached in a day's march. The two sides march to each other, and they can be received in half a day."

With that said, the chief of staff came to the map and pointed to a location on the map called Laohekou:

"First of all, mobilize all the mountain artillery, use Laohekou as the artillery base, and the supporting troops will also start from here."

Because of the artillery factor, the depth of modern battlefields is very large. It is impossible to defend a city by relying solely on the city wall. It must rely on the surrounding positions of the city, such as high ground, canyons, etc., and then rely on the city to defend a city.

Of course, there is another way, simply let go of the city gate and let the enemies in.

street fighting.

But street fighting is a double-edged sword. While killing the enemy, it is also killing oneself. With the current strength of the Tenth Army, street fighting can only be the last resort.

Laohekou is the easternmost position of the Tenth Army. This is actually a mountain pass with a narrow front and a flat terrain behind it. It is stationed by a regiment of the Tenth Army.

"The terrain outside the Laohekou is flat, suitable for troop maneuvers and artillery fire."

"The range of the 105 mountain cannons is 36 kilometers. That is to say, with Laohekou as the position, [-] mountain cannons alone can escort the troops for a distance of ten kilometers. Within this ten kilometers, there is not much threat from the devils."

Hearing the chief of staff's words, everyone nodded in unison, including Commander Fang.

With the abundant artillery of the Tenth Army, even if 36 mountain cannons were removed, it would not have much impact on the position. Anyway, there are more than 300 mortars.

The 36 mountain cannons are mountain cannons with a caliber of more than [-], which can completely suppress the devils. With the observation of artillery from the air, it is difficult for any devils to form an army to approach, and the supporting troops are very safe.

"As for the follow-up itinerary."

The Chief of Staff continued:
"We can contact the Independence Regiment and let their planes provide cover."

"Of course, for the remnants of the three divisions, we can also apply for air cover from the Independent Regiment. However, they don't have a liaison officer, and they need to contact the Independent Regiment in detail."

"The only thing to worry about."

The Chief of Staff frowned at this moment:

"That is, the 66th Division and the [-]th Brigade, which were out of contact with the three divisions, we don't know where they are now."

"Let the independent regiment conduct aerial reconnaissance."

Commander Fang said.

In his words, he had agreed to the chief of staff's plan.

······
at the same time.

Tokyo.

The prime minister's mansion has already turned upside down.

"After taking Hengyang, we should continue to attack and force the mountain city to surrender as quickly as possible."

Someone was banging on the table to make their point.

But immediately someone came out to object:

"It's ridiculous, how long will it take to force the mountain city to surrender? Hengyang can block us for half a month, how long will it take to fight over? Three months, or half a year? Or longer?"

"For such a long time, the Independent Regiment in Song County may already have hundreds of thousands of troops. In my opinion, after taking Hengyang, we should concentrate our efforts to eliminate the Independent Regiment troops in Song County, prevent it from growing further, and consolidate our strength. Powers of the South."

"..."

Soon, the crowd became noisy, but among the crowd, they obviously supported the first plan, that is, the plan that forced the mountain city to surrender quickly was the most, but there were also many who supported cutting off the Song County Independent Regiment as soon as possible.

Glancing at the crowd who were arguing endlessly, Prime Minister Hideki Tojo looked cold and resolute, and did not speak.

In front of him was a piece of information that he had someone obtain from the Navy through means—the Navy Department's plan for the future empire strategy.

Although there is the suppression of the locusts and the entanglement of fuel oil, the division is still deep in the bones. Both sides hope to be the helm of the empire, and they have completely different visions for the future of the empire.

A sneer twitched at the corner of Tojo's full mouth.

This plan is completely different from what he, the prime minister of the army faction, planned to give up the battlefield of the Republic of China, and instead put troops on coastal islands into India.

In that peninsula, there are population, resources, food, and markets, just like the Republic of China.

He even set his sights on a continent in the southern hemisphere.

but.

At present, he has stabilized the domestic situation by relying on the large amount of supplies he obtained from the Republic of China. Even if he loses in the land battle, as long as the Kwantung Army holds the territory and can force the mountain city to surrender, his position will be unbreakable.

The Army is unshakable at the helm.

Although the Navy is not fighting for the time being, it seems to have repelled the US Navy's attack, but it needs to deal with the potential threat of the US Navy still staying in the Western Pacific. After all, the American warships are only temporarily attacking, and only a very small number of capital ships and some destroyers have been mobilized. .

Instead of retreating.

·····
Also at the same time.

White House.

The wheelchair-bound president called an emergency meeting.

(End of this chapter)