binnovel Chapter 541 Became a Pursuit
Chapter 541 Became a Pursuit
Inside the headquarters of the 19th Army Group of the 9th War Zone of the Chinese government, Commander Luo read the contents of the telegram sent by Song Yingzhong, commander of the 107th Division, and his anger reached its peak.
What was going on? Were the three divisions of the 70th Army possessed? How could the 33rd Division of the Japanese Army be so good at choosing the direction of attack? They attacked the 70th Army’s defense line twice, and the three divisions of the 70th Army were like possessed, and were broken through by the 33rd Division of the Japanese Army one after another.
Moreover, this time, the commander of the 107th Division, Song Yingzhong, actually said that the Japanese army had new combat troops joining the battlefield, and launched a large-scale attack on the rear of the 107th Division. In order to avoid being divided and surrounded by the Japanese army, which led to the annihilation of the 107th Division, the commander of the 107th Division, Song Yingzhong, actually led his troops to retreat. Isn't this a joke?
If every unit was willing to abandon its position because the Japanese were attacking from behind, then what was the point of fighting an encirclement operation?
After carefully inquiring with the theater intelligence department, Commander Luo of the 19th Army also concluded that there was no new Japanese troops joining the battlefield as mentioned by the commander of the 107th Division, Song Yingzhong. So, Commander Luo suppressed his anger and ordered the commander of the 107th Division, Song Yingzhong, to immediately lead his troops to re-plug the gap in the encirclement, otherwise he would be subject to military law.
Commander Luo of the 19th Army was so angry. It was obvious that the 107th Division was frightened by the bluff of the 33rd Division of the Japanese Army. The Japanese Army had no new reinforcements at all. If this were to be made public, everyone would laugh at Commander Luo for being fooled by the Japanese Army. Who could stand this? Moreover, this was not his own problem. It was the fault of his subordinates that he had to take the blame.
After receiving the harsh telegram from Commander Luo of the 19th Army Group, the commander of the 107th Division, Song Yingzhong, reported clearly that he had been tricked by the 33rd Division of the Japanese Army. So, Song Yingzhong quickly ordered the troops that had just withdrawn to turn around and attack again, trying to retake the gap in the encirclement and make up for the mistakes he had made before.
However, when the commander of the 107th Division, Song Yingzhong, led his troops to counterattack, they were stopped by the blocking troops of the 34th Division of the Japanese Army who were protecting the breakthrough point. The troops of the 107th Division attacked three times but failed to break through the blocking line set up by the Japanese Army.
Song Yingzhong, commander of the 107th Division, looked at the Japanese army's blocking line. He knew very well that with the current strength of his 107th Division, it would be impossible to break through the Japanese army's blocking line and fill the gap in the encirclement.
Therefore, the commander of the 107th Division, Song Yingzhong, quickly sent a telegram for help to Commander Luo of the 19th Army Group, hoping that Commander Luo could dispatch reinforcements as soon as possible to attack the Japanese blocking line together and try to plug the gap in the encirclement.
However, Commander Luo of the 19th Army Group had no reinforcements at hand. In order to encircle and annihilate the troops of the 34th Division of the Japanese Army, Commander Luo had already used all the troops he could use. There was no way he could send any reinforcements to the 107th Division.
Moreover, even if reinforcements were sent to the 107th Division now, it would be impossible for them to arrive at the battlefield before the 34th Division of the Japanese Army escaped from the encirclement.
Seeing that the 107th Division was unable to break through the Japanese blocking line near the breakthrough point of the encirclement, Commander Luo of the 19th Army quickly ordered all participating troops to increase their attack on the 34th Division. At the same time, he ordered all troops to pursue the Japanese 34th Division that had broken through.
Commander Luo of the 19th Army now knows very well that it is impossible to surround the 34th Division of the Japanese Army and completely destroy this Japanese force. Now he can only let all the troops chase the fleeing 34th Division of the Japanese Army and try to destroy as many Japanese troops as possible.
Thus, what was originally a massive encirclement and annihilation campaign turned into a magnificent pursuit operation. Moreover, judging from the scene, this pursuit operation was much more morale-boosting than the encirclement and annihilation operation. Newspapers and eyes all over China were focused on this small area from Shanggao to Hongcheng.
Judging from the descriptions in the newspapers, the Chinese army was chasing the Japanese army and beating them up, or the Japanese army was defeated by the Chinese army and was fleeing in panic towards Hongcheng. This was very interesting to the Chinese people, and people in the streets and alleys of major cities were talking about this unprecedented and satisfying victory.
Even Commander Luo of the 19th Army Group had not expected that the encirclement and annihilation battle, which had originally failed to achieve the pre-war combat objectives, would turn into a second-best pursuit operation. This turned out to be an unexpectedly good result in boosting the morale of the entire nation, which relieved Commander Luo's depressed mood a lot.
After Lieutenant General Ohgamo, commander of the 34th Division of the Japanese Army, led his troops out of the encirclement, he briefly exchanged glances with Lieutenant General Sakurai Shozo, commander of the 33rd Division who was waiting outside the encirclement, and then quickly fled towards Hongcheng with the 34th Division. After all, the pursuit troops of several divisions of the Ninth War Zone of the Chinese government were following closely behind him, and if they retreated a little slower, they might be entangled by the Chinese army again.
When the commander of the 213rd Division, Lieutenant General Shozo Sakurai, saw that his mission had been accomplished, he recalled the th Regiment that had previously rushed into the encirclement, and at the same time ordered the regiment that was attacking the rear defense line of the two divisions of the New nd Army to withdraw quickly.
For Lieutenant General Shozo Sakurai, commander of the 33rd Division, the current task was to flee with his troops as soon as possible, lest his own troops rescue the 34th Division while his 33rd Division was surrounded by the Chinese army. In that case, the 33rd Division would be doomed, because the 11th Army would not be able to send reinforcements to rescue the 33rd Division in a short period of time, as all the troops in Hongcheng were already here.
However, the retreating troops of the 33rd Division of the Japanese Army were also indiscriminately pursued by the participating troops of the Ninth War Zone. For the participating troops of the Ninth War Zone, it was a pursuit operation anyway, so it didn't matter which Japanese division they were pursuing.
The 34th and 33rd Divisions of the Japanese Army were chased and attacked all the way by the troops of the 9th War Zone. It was a miserable experience, especially for the 33rd Division. In the last attack, all the artillery shells were used up, which resulted in the 33rd Division not being able to even block the artillery fire along the way. It had to grit its teeth and withstand the attacks of the troops of the 9th War Zone. It suffered heavy casualties along the way before retreating to Hongcheng.