Rise from eight hundred.

Chapter 523 The melancholy Japanese division commander

Ushishima Sadao sat blankly in the division headquarters constructed of logs, steel plates, and sandbags, with an unusually gray face.

This should be the most failed day for the Japanese lieutenant general in his 37 years in the army.

Yes, since graduating from the non-commissioned officer school 37 years ago, he entered the army as a second lieutenant in the infantry. During this period, he participated in the glory of the war against Russia, and was also transferred to the Army University as an instructor and even promoted to lieutenant general. , after ambitiously entering China, it also encountered the biggest dilemma. A heavy artillery brigade following the division was attacked by the Chinese at night and the whole jade was broken.

But none of these were as severe as a seemingly tiny psychological fluctuation this evening.

More than an hour ago, the leading soldiers in charge of scouting the position came to report that there were gunshots and explosions on the flanks of the Chinese, and it seemed that soldiers were gathering.

As usual, Ushishima Sadao, who is the supreme commander of the [-]-strong army, would not pay attention to this news personally. It should be paid attention to by the regiment leaders at the front line.

However, the commanders of the brigades and regiments of the Japanese army who heard this information were extremely nervous at that moment, and ordered the front-line infantry to enter the trenches to stand by. Closely monitor its flanking military operations.

Until 10 minutes ago, the pioneers from the front reported that the Chinese did not take any action. The sound of gunfire should be their internal tests. As for the testers or equipment, the nearest reconnaissance vanguard was also more than 1500 meters away from its defense line. Mi can only be judged from the sound, and its real situation is unknown.

Ushishima Sadao involuntarily breathed a sigh of relief.

But what followed was an indescribable melancholy, even pain.

When did the Chinese have been able to easily test the performance of personnel and weapons on the battlefield, but the mighty Imperial Japanese Army was about to face a formidable enemy?

This subtle psychological change made Ushijima Sadao's face extremely ugly. He knew in his heart that this change was not due to anything else but a lack of self-confidence.

The unfavorable offensive for a week, coupled with the jade fragments of the 6th Heavy Artillery Brigade, has cast a haze on the heart of the Imperial Army, which once cheered for victory and marched forward courageously. Strictly ordering the No.18 Division to stand still is like the last straw that broke the camel's back.

The military department has already believed that the No.18 division alone cannot break through the Chinese defense line. The confidence of the Imperial Army is gradually consumed in this distrust, so that from below him, it is impossible to hear the Chinese guns. The sound is like a frightened bird, and the whole army is on alert.

It is extremely difficult for human beings to admit that they are extremely weak, let alone for a Japanese lieutenant general who was once full of self-confidence and wanted to make contributions in a foreign country.

Dare to admit one's weakness is progress, but the mood will never be too good.

For Ushishima Sadao, who has been sitting in the division headquarters for a long time, the only way to solve this sadness is to attack, relying on the strength of the division to break through the Chinese defense line and reshape the No.18 division. Confidence up and down.

10 minutes ago, he had sent a message to Commander Yanagawa Hirasuke of the Tenth Army Command. He hoped that in the early morning of tomorrow, the No.18 Division would restart its offensive and destroy Jiashan, Jiaxing, Yibin, and Guangde directly according to the original plan of the Tenth Army. After inserting Jinling, the capital of China, it joined forces with the headquarters of the Tenth Army, which was marching towards the front of Jinling along the Beijing-Shanghai Railway.

But unfortunately, he was rejected!

Heirasuke Yanagawa quickly called back, strictly ordering him and the No.18 Division not to act rashly. The reason is still that the Empire has lost the 6th Heavy Artillery Brigade. The Chinese are publicizing their military exploits at home and abroad. , can no longer bear the consequences of a heavy damage to an infantry division.

The No.18 Division can attack sporadically. Its function is naturally not to break through the opponent's defense line, but to contain the more than [-] Chinese troops that have caused heavy losses to the Imperial Army in Jiashan. After waiting to break through the Xicheng Line, the first A part of the Tenth Army bypassed Taihu Lake, attacking back and forth and wiped it out.

To put it bluntly, what Yanagawa Hirasuke means is that you, Ushishima Sadao and the No.18 Division, don't have any clues in your mind?
Bringing a heavy artillery brigade with nearly a hundred heavy artillery pieces failed to kill the opponent, and the opponent almost cut all the balls with a backhand knife. That's all, what else do you want? It's fine if people are disabled.

Aggrieved or not?
As one of the core members of the Tenth Army's conservative strategy of consolidating the Beijing-Hangzhou defense line regardless of the base camp, Ushishima Sadao, who was one of the core members who chose the radical tactics of attacking the Chinese capital in two ways, was of course aggrieved.

Heisuke Yanagawa, who had agreed to take the capital of China and made progress fairly well, was going to completely suppress him and throw a scapegoat at him.

Of course Ushishima Sadao knows, don’t look at the idiot Ushishima Man who has resigned, but the incident of the 6th Heavy Artillery Brigade Yusha is not over yet. It is wartime, and more than 20 imperial troops are still on the battlefield. In order not to shake the morale of the army Well, he, the commander of the division commanding an army of [-] to [-], was not moved, but once the war ended in stages, it was necessary to settle accounts after the fall.

Whether it was because he had issued a wrong military order and was transferred from the Guard Infantry Regiment of the Heavy Artillery Brigade, or because he had just been appointed as a reserve general to directly serve as the commander of the reorganized No. He is the most suitable person to take responsibility.

And the only way to drag him out of this quagmire is after he led the No.18 Division to Jinling successfully in the original plan to attack the Chinese capital.

But if according to what Yanagawa Heisuke said, the Eighteenth Division is only responsible for containment, waiting for a part of it to come around Taihu Lake to block the retreat of the Chinese in front of him, is he still capable of leading the battle along the way?
The 6th Division has existed in name only. The commander of the Kunisaki detachment of the 5th Division, Kunisaki Teng, is only a major general, but there is also a division commander of the 114th Division, Moji Suematsu, who is a lieutenant general. It is almost conceivable that Ushishima Sadao, Yanagawa Hirasuke It must have been Paisho Matsumoji and his subordinates who came here.

The 18th Division, one of the famous "Double Walls of the Empire", has to be led by a special division. Even if he does not have to bear too much responsibility for his achievements in this battle, his reputation will be ruined. He waved again.

Don't tell me, Ushishima Sadao may be a little mediocre in his frequent tricks on the battlefield, but he has a great advantage that all Japanese generals on the battlefield cannot match.

Self-awareness is very clear.

You know, even in the past time and space, under his command, the No.18 Division defeated Jiashan, Jiaxing and Guangde, which was defended by the Sichuan Army, and successfully copied the back road of Jinling. In order to show his determination to live and die with the city, the supreme commander of Jinling burned most of the transport ships, resulting in hundreds of thousands of Chinese defenders who had no way out and were massacred.

But this world is full of coquettish operations of "you worked hard, but the credit is someone else's". A certain senior wage earner who was happily waiting for a promotion and salary increase actually became the commander of the security force in Hangzhou after the war. The leader of the 'armed police' who maintained order in the occupied area was fine, but within a few months he was dismissed from active service because he was 62 years old, and then became a reserve, and finally became the so-called 'Imperial Veterans Association' Vice president.

The fate of the unlucky child does not change with time and space. In this time and space disturbed by the little butterfly traveling through time and space, the fate of the once unlucky child is even more tragic.

One is not good, let alone being a vice president, I am afraid that he is not even qualified to join that association.

If he wanted to take his fate into his own hands, he had to do something instead of watching the dog leash around his neck get tighter and tighter.

Sadao Ushishima sat blankly for half an hour, with a gray face, until the night outside the window was dark, and a cold light appeared in his eyes.

"Command Chief of Staff Koto Megumin to inform Major General Ono Kameho, Major General Tezuka Shozo, Chief Toku Notomi, Chief Saburo Fujiyama, Second Chief Kataoka Kakube, and Chief Kokai Katamatsu to come to the regiment headquarters!"

The 18th Division has two infantry brigades under its jurisdiction. Kameo Ono is the head of the 23rd Infantry Brigade, and Tezuka Shozo is the head of the 35th Infantry Brigade.

The other four commanders are the captains of the 55th, 56th, 114th, and 124th Infantry Regiments respectively.

It also means that what Ushishima Sadao convened was the core seven members of the 18th Division, and he was also considered his hardcore.

Obviously, if he wants to fight hard for his future, he must get the support of these people.

The dim lights of the No.18 Division headquarters did not go out until 11 o'clock in the middle of the night.

(End of this chapter)