Songhu: Never Give Up

Chapter 283: War breaks out again on the southern front
Southern Front, 3rd Division Headquarters
The 3rd Division, which had been fully replenished, became stronger again. The headquarters' six-way siege plan made Fujita Susumu ambitious again. He was eager to prove with military exploits that the 3rd Division was still one of the best divisions in the Japanese army.
Having received the royal edict from the headquarters, Fujita Susumu once again considered crossing the Huai River and fighting the guerrilla column.

For this purpose, he also invited Lieutenant General Tanaka Shizukazu, the commander of the 13th Division, to the headquarters to discuss important matters. He pointed to the map and said:
“Tanaka-kun, the headquarters’ six-way siege plan is like a huge skynet covering the hundreds of thousands of nationalist troops in the Xuzhou area;

This was definitely an unprecedented war of annihilation. In order to achieve this strategy, the empire did not hesitate to mobilize 13 divisions and 30 troops.

The hundreds of thousands of elite Chinese are like a big piece of fat meat, placed on the table with an enticing aroma. Whoever gets to eat it will depend on their ability!"

After hearing this, Tanaka Shizuka nodded excitedly, but he seemed to be very afraid of the guerrilla column, so he took over the conversation and said:
"Mr. Fujita, if our two divisions rashly attack the Huaihe River defense line, will it disrupt the attack rhythm of the base camp and scare off the Chinese in the Xuzhou area?"

Fujita Shin waved his hand and said:
"Mr. Tanaka, you underestimate the Chinese general Li. He currently has nearly 60 troops.
When he only had 30 troops, he dared to encircle and annihilate the 5th and 10th divisions. Our two divisions are not enough to scare them away. If things go wrong, it may even stimulate him to mobilize heavy troops and fight another Taierzhuang decisive battle on the north bank of the Huai River. "

Tanaka Shizuka nodded and said:
"It is indeed possible, but the situation is different now. Previously, two divisions of the Imperial Army advanced alone and deep into the enemy's territory, and thus fell into his trap.
Now the headquarters has learned its lesson and assembled 13 divisions to encircle Xuzhou from the north and south. If the Battle of Taierzhuang happens again, the victory will definitely be the Imperial Army.

The biggest problem now is that the guerrilla column defending Bengbu is very difficult to deal with, and the troops in the direction of Xuzhou are strong. If we cannot seize the position quickly, we will easily fall into a stalemate.
Yue Qianli can also get reinforcements from Xuzhou, and once again fight a bad battle, thus missing the feast of hunting down the main force of China. "

Fujita Susumu seemed to understand that Tanaka Seiichi was worried that the dispute would go badly and he would miss the feast. He then repeated Yu Ren's oral instructions forwarded from the headquarters. Now the old devil Tanaka had nothing to say.

Fujita Susumu continued to instigate him:
"Tanaka-kun, you should know about the conflict between Yue Qianli and His Majesty, right?"

Tanaka Shizuka nodded. At their level, the affairs of Prince Higashikuni Naruhiko were no longer a secret.

Then Fujita continued:
"If the hundreds of thousands of nationalist troops in Xuzhou are compared to a big fat pig, Yue Qianli's troops are the fattest piece. Whoever eats it will have the greatest military merit.
In your majesty's eyes, all other troops combined are not as good as a guerrilla column!"

Tanaka Seiichi has just taken over the position of the dead Ogisu Ritsu division commander and is in urgent need of proving himself;

Yue Qianli also has a deep hatred for the 13th Division. The most effective way to turn the tide is to destroy Yue Qianli's troops.

Anyway, with the Third Division playing the leading role and Yu Ren's backstabbing orders, he can be completely invincible;
After realizing this, Tanaka Seiichi expressed his willingness to fully cooperate with the Third Division to annihilate Yue Qianli's troops.

After convincing Tanaka Shizuka, Fujita Susumu told him his battle plan, and Tanaka Shizuka nodded repeatedly.

He could have directly ordered the 13th Division, but the attack on Yue Qianli's troops was not part of the six-way siege, so Tanaka Shizukazu had the power to refuse.

The 13th Division and the 3rd Division have no direct subordinate relationship. Fujita Susumu is just temporarily assigned to be in charge. Tanaka Shizuka can completely rely on him. The division commanders have a lot of autonomy, and sometimes even the headquarters cannot restrain them.

Fujita Susumu had already made a detailed attack plan before this, and Tanaka Seiichi had no objection, so they reached a consensus;

The 3rd Division and the 13th Division began to sharpen their swords, preparing to launch an attack on the northern city of Bengbu and the Huaihe River defense line.

The Japanese's large-scale deployment of troops could not be hidden from the guerrilla column's eyes, and Fujita Susumu did not intend to hide it;
There were only two routes to attack the north bank of the Huai River, which was an open question. After Fujita Susumu and Tanaka Shizuka discussed, the result was that the 3rd Division would focus on attacking the railway bridge and the north city, and the 13th Division would cross the river from the right wing defense line. The two divisions would push the Huai River defense line flatly.

In order to avoid being involved in street fighting again, Fujita Susumu learned his lesson this time and prepared to use the heavy artillery brigade and the flying wing to speak. He wanted to blow up the northern city of Bengbu.

In order to maximize the role of the heavy artillery brigade, he pushed the heavy artillery group several kilometers towards the south city;

At the same time, the 68th Regiment was sent to the west to guard to prevent the First Detachment from attacking the heavy artillery position from the flank.

North of Bengbu City, the unusual movements of the Third Division aroused Yue Qianli's vigilance. The first thing he did was to evacuate the people. The heavy artillery group of the Third Division was no joke.

Fortunately, it took some time for the Third Division to prepare for the attack, and the evacuation of the people in the northern city went very smoothly;

With the assistance of the guerrilla column soldiers, Beicheng once again became an empty city, and the guerrilla column fought back, preparing to fight the devils again on the Huai River.

At the military deployment meeting, Yue Qianli said domineeringly:
"The civilians can evacuate. As soldiers, you and I have the responsibility to defend our territory. Since Fujita Susumu wants to fight, we will fight him to the end!"

Chen Zhongyuan took over and said:

"Old Yue, this time the Japanese have an additional 13th Division, which means they have more troops. Moreover, the Japanese seem to be using heavy artillery to bombard the North City. This street fighting will be difficult!"

As soon as the Japanese heavy artillery group was mentioned, everyone's expression became serious. According to the news sent back by a team, the Japanese heavy artillery brigade had moved forward several kilometers. This was the rhythm of preparing to speak with heavy artillery. It was not easy to fight with heavy artillery, and it would be difficult even with tunnels.

They could only look to Yue Qianli with hope, because he was the "Wolf King" and in times of crisis the wolf pack trusted the Wolf King the most!
Yue Qianli naturally had to step forward and show the courage of the Wolf King. Only in this way could he consolidate his position. This was the law of nature.

Yue Qianli faced everyone's gaze and said:
"Brothers, the Japanese are attacking from two directions this time. My idea is to strictly guard the Huaihe River defense line and block the 13th Division to the south of the Huaihe River.
As for the north city, only one unit was sent to delay the Japanese in street fighting in the ruins, allowing the 3rd Division to cross the river, and then the artillery battalion was used to deal with them.

They have cannons, don’t we?
This time I prepared 3 rockets and 5 other shells for them, which is almost % of the shells in the entire column. I can't live like this anymore!"

Everyone's eyes suddenly showed a hungry gleam. The first Huaihe River battle was so difficult that no rockets were used on a large scale. Only a few hundred rounds were fired in the counterattack.

Since the quartermaster battalion rested in Wuhu, it has been working overtime to produce rockets. It has been more than three months now and a lot of rockets have been stored. This time they can finally come in handy!

Then Yue Qianli stated his specific battle ideas. Everyone who listened nodded repeatedly, full of infinite expectations for the upcoming battle.

(End of this chapter)