gnovel Chapter 171: Almost the entire 1st Division was annihilated.
Chapter 171: Almost the entire 1st Division was annihilated.
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After issuing this order, he then said to Atsuro Umemura:
"After our army carried out the breakout order, we immediately sent a telegram to Kawagishi Bunzaburo, telling him that our army could no longer resist and had broken out to the northeast, and that he should fend for himself."
After saying this, Isogai Rensuke felt an unprecedented sense of powerlessness sweep over his entire body.
His legs went weak, and he fainted.
Upon seeing this, Umemura Atsuro hurriedly went to help Isogai Rensuke.
"Your Excellency the Division Commander, Your Excellency the Division Commander."
After saying that, he hurriedly asked a soldier to help Isogai Rensuke into the car.
"Order all units to disperse and break out towards the Baodugu Mountain area!"
Atsuro Umemura replaced Rensuke Isogai and issued the order for a dispersed breakout.
However, after issuing this order, he did not send a telegram to Bunzaburo Kawagishi's 20th Division.
According to Atsuro Umemura, the existence of the 20th Division could help the 10th Division attract a considerable number of enemy troops.
This was quite useful for the 10th Division in preserving its manpower.
This would inevitably be unfair to the 20th Division, but Atsuro Umemura wouldn't care about that now.
What he had to do was to lead the remaining soldiers of the 10th Division out.
Inside the Third Detachment Command Post, Long Wenzhang rushed in and reported to his superior:
"Commander, something's wrong with the Japanese. They've started to break out in small groups."
"Scatter and break out? I thought this Rensuke Isogai was going to fight us to the death."
Li Jianghe's words carried a hint of hope.
Only by fighting the 10th Division to the bitter end can more Japanese troops be eliminated, or even the entire 10th Division be wiped out.
However, if the enemy forces break out in different directions and take advantage of the darkness, even if his armored forces are powerful, it will be almost impossible for him to annihilate all of them.
At most, they can only intercept a portion of them.
However, Li Jianghe still spoke without the slightest hesitation:
"Order all units to pursue, but remember one principle: our Third Detachment has no need for prisoners."
Long Wenzhang raised an eyebrow, naturally understanding the meaning behind it.
"Yes, sir! Our Third Detachment really doesn't need any prisoners!"
[At this point, I hope readers will remember our domain name: 10 ...
Meanwhile, the Northwest Army and the Sichuan Army also noticed something unusual about the Japanese troops on the other side.
In particular, when they attacked some Japanese positions, they found them completely deserted, with many wounded soldiers abandoned there and committing suicide with grenades.
Therefore, both Chi Fengcheng and Wang Mingzhang decisively ordered their troops to accelerate the pursuit.
A chase unfolds in the dead of night, amidst the roar of tank engines.
For the soldiers of the 10th Division, these scenes seemed somewhat familiar.
It was all night, all breakouts, all the roar of enemy tank engines.
Previously, in the direction of Taierzhuang, they were attacked from both sides by the Third Detachment of the Eighth Route Army and were in a similar sorry state.
Many Japanese soldiers in the 10th Division couldn't understand why, when they were once an invincible and fierce army, they were like a flock of sheep being driven by wolves when facing the 3rd Detachment, always so disheveled and suffering such heavy casualties.
Ahead were the armored units of the Third Detachment, using vehicle-mounted machine guns and various other weapons to reap the lives of the Japanese soldiers attempting to break through.
Behind them were the Sichuan Army and the Northwest Army, tearing at them like a pack of wolves.
Flares were launched into the sky, as if trying to dispel all the surrounding darkness, so that the fleeing Japanese soldiers would have nowhere to hide.
Kawagishi Bunzaburo was completely unaware of the 10th Division's breakout operation.
He still believed that the 10th Division was holding its ground on the east, protecting their flanks and rear from the threat of the 3rd Detachment.
The battle continued into the latter half of the night, and in fact, the pursuit of the Japanese 10th Division had essentially come to an end.
Li Jianghe knew very well that once these Japanese troops rushed into the Baodugu mountain area, his mechanized units would be less effective.
However, according to the intelligence obtained, Kawagishi Bunzaburo's 20th Division failed to break through.
This reminded Li Jianghe that the guys from the 10th Division hadn't notified their comrades and had run away on their own.
He could understand why the 10th Division did this.
Leaving the 20th Division behind would draw away the Nationalist troops and prevent them from relentlessly pursuing the 10th Division.
After all, compared to the 10th Division, which was left with only remnants of its troops, the 20th Division, which still had a large number of soldiers, was obviously a piece of meat that was extremely easy to catch.
This mentality of "better to die than to die" perfectly explains the choice made by the 10th Division.
Even so, in the first half of the night's pursuit, the Third Detachment, the Sichuan Army, and the Northwest Army had already inflicted considerable damage on the Japanese 10th Division.
Based on the merit points he had earned, Li Jianghe could basically deduce that in this counterattack, the Third Detachment alone had eliminated more than 6,000 soldiers of the 10th Division in the east.
As for the Northwest Army and the Sichuan Army, they also eliminated a considerable number of Japanese troops, especially in pursuit operations.
Therefore, even if some members of the 10th Division manage to break out, its total strength should not exceed 5,000 men.
It should be noted that after that reinforcement, the 10th Division had a strength of around 30,000 men.
Such a large force was almost completely annihilated by the Third Detachment, the Sichuan Army, and the Northwest Army in less than half a month. This can be said to be an unprecedented and enormous victory since the start of the War of Resistance Against Japan.
Considering that the continued pursuit of the 10th Division would not yield much further gains, Li Jianghe ordered his troops to assemble and launch a fierce attack on the flank of the Japanese 20th Division before dawn.
Li Jianghe strongly suspects that, even now, Kawagishi Bunzaburo probably doesn't know that he has been betrayed by Isogai Rensuke.
Because in the first half of the night, the Third Detachment, the Northwest Army, and the Sichuan Army did not attack the east side of the 20th Division, but instead concentrated their forces to pursue and annihilate the scattered breakout troops of the 10th Division.
Inside the command post of Fumizaburo Kawagishi, he received good news.
The 38th Division, which came to provide support, has made it clear that it will move south along the Jinpu Railway after dawn and launch an attack on the northern part of Tengxian County to assist the 20th and 10th Divisions in breaking through the encirclement.
"In this way, the enemy's offensive in Teng County to the north will be greatly relieved, and we will be able to transfer troops to protect our flanks and rear."
Kawagishi Bunzaburo looked at the telegram and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Chief of Staff Hisazo Kinemura also nodded and said:
"Yes, fortunately, the troops attacking our flanks and rear were all Guangxi Army infantry units, and they lacked artillery and shells, so their advance was not too fast."
As for the east side, with the 10th Division present, the two were relatively at ease.
After all, their eastern flank has remained safe until now, without any attack from the enemy.
But at that moment, a communications soldier suddenly stood up and said:
"Report: Our observation post on the east flank has detected a large number of enemy armored units that are rapidly advancing and have already approached our forward positions deployed on the east flank."
"How is that possible?"
Kawagishi Bunzaburo, whose heart had just settled down, suddenly sat up in his chair and slammed his hand on the table.
Kinemura Hisazo no Nakamura:
"Where is it located?"
Upon hearing this, the communications soldier hurriedly marked the location of the enemy armored forces on the map.
Kawagishi Bunzaburo's face darkened as he said:
"What is this Isogai Rensuke doing? Why did he allow the Third Division's armored forces to penetrate to this position?"