Since mid-to-early October, the Wanjialing battlefield has fallen silent. Although the commander of the Songpu Division led nearly 1,000 officers and men to break out of the iron net and avoid the doom of being completely annihilated, the 106th Division, as a division capable of fighting battles, no longer existed.

However, to the surprise of the Nationalist army, in mid-October, the Japanese army suddenly divided its forces in South China and forcibly landed in Daya Bay, Guangdong, with the strength of one fleet and two army divisions. The Chinese defenders Yu Han's troops were poorly prepared before the battle, and their resistance was weak, and within 10 days, Guangzhou, an important city in southern China, fell to the Japanese army.

The southern gate of overseas support for the Chinese battlefield was closed. Even if Wuhan is held, it will lose its strategic value.

On October 11, Okamura Ninji crossed the Yangtze River and came to the 6th Division, which was entrenched in Tianjia Town. His sudden appearance in Tianjia Town heralded a sudden change in the battlefield in Jiangnan and even in Wuhan.

Okamura was a leader among the high-ranking generals of the Japanese army invading China, and it was a helpless move to make such a decision so far.

He wanted to change the main direction of the 11th Army, with the 6th Division as the backbone, along both sides of the Yangtze River to the west of the Yangtze River, and enter Wuhan. He really didn't have the courage to let the 2nd Army take the lead again, and then let the military dignitaries in Tokyo see his jokes.

What prompted him to make up his mind was the downfall of the 106th Division of Songpu at Wanjialing, but it was more than that. In the Dabie Mountains of Jiangbei, the 2nd Army of Dongjiuer has approached Xinyang, Songbu, Macheng and other places, and is only a stone's throw away from Wuhan. And the main force of his 11th Army was still entangled by Xue Yue on the Nanxun line, and it was obviously behind the 2nd Army.

Although the 6th Division successfully captured Tianjia Town all the way, it was unable to advance to Wuhan due to excessive losses and no backup.

Changing the strategy and putting the main force in the direction of the 6th Division will naturally help the 11th Army win the first prize and enter Wuhan at an early date. But as a military man, he knew the consequences of such disruption of campaign coordination. If the encirclement cannot be achieved, the main force of hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops will slip out of the palm of their hands, and even if Wuhan is taken, only half of the military goal will be achieved.

But without changing the tactics, there was no sign of being able to defeat Xue Yue's more than 20 elite Chinese divisions in the direction of Nanxun, and the battle could not be resolved for a long time, dragging the whole army back, and it was also a shame for him, an old soldier.

In the headquarters, Okamura Ninji wandered around the room, thinking about it before and after, but he couldn't make up his mind. Anxious and troubled, he hated Xue Yue and was helpless, how could he just run into such an enemy.

The Songpu Division was almost completely annihilated. When the news came, it was like a blow to the head, almost knocking him down. It was a crushing failure and a humiliation he had never suffered in his decades-long conducting career.

At this moment, the chief of staff beside him saw Okamura's hesitation, so he said: "If you can enter Wuhan first, you will make a contribution." With the first work, all the mistakes in front of you are not exaggerated. ”

A word to wake up the person in the dream, Okamura Ninji immediately made up his mind. Strengthen the 6th Division and the Pota detachment on the Banbidian side, if these two vanguard units of the 11th Army can enter Wuhan first, the 11th Army will have a meritorious service in the whole battle.

Okamura Nints was a good soldier, but he still couldn't get rid of fame and fortune. Although Nanxun was still in contact with Xue's troops, Okamura had completely given up his attempt to defeat Xue's corps. The main forces were massively reorganized under the accounts of the Inaba 6th Division and the Hatata Detachment.

The Inaba Division in Tianjia Town has been strengthened three times, with more than 10,000 troops. The new cutting-edge of the replenishment, the combat effectiveness has even surpassed that of the 6th division itself.

Immediately, the Ushijima Brigade of the 6th Division began to attack and advance along the Guangji-Xishui Avenue.

After the loss of Tianjiazhen, Chairman Chiang in Wuhan and the generals of the army and division of the 5th Theater of Operations had all become frightened birds, realizing that Wuhan would eventually be difficult to protect again, and the remnants of all armies had vigilant eyes to prevent being outflanked by the Japanese army and falling into a siege.

So a small Ushijima detachment shook hundreds of thousands of defenders in the 5th Jiangbei Theater. This is also a great spectacle in the later stage of the Battle of Wuhan.

On the night of October 18, the Ushijima detachment, which had not encountered a fierce battle all the way, arrived at Jieling. A night of onslaught, that is, a breakthrough of the Chinese defenders' defenses.

On the 22nd, Major General Ushijima, who was short and strong, led his team to continue to march on his toes.

Okamura Ningji's greed bankrupted the plan of the entire two armies of Sun Lianzhong and Li Pinxian, and Higashi was very angry, and led the 2nd Army to attack Wuhan directly, and Okamura Ningji must not be asked to enter Wuhan first.

Okamura and Tohisa compete with each other for merit, completely ignoring the overall situation. As a result, hundreds of thousands of troops in China's 5th Theater of Operations successfully crossed the Pinghan Line.

As the saying goes: you can't have both fish and bear's paws. Since Okamura won the first prize and advanced to Wuhan, there will inevitably be a lone advance of the 6th Division, and in the end it will be empty.

Okamura Nintz, despite his brilliance, was still entangled in worldly fame and fortune, and eventually became burdened by this, and lost a staggering opportunity for war.

As for Higashijiure, as the commander of the Assist Army, the offensive of the department is fierce and anti-guest-oriented. However, the 2nd Army, as an assist force, was unable to work closely with Okamura's main attacking force, and only attacked alone with the courage of a horseman, and was also a short-sighted tactician who lacked foresight.

Although the sixth general Tian Jun was the supreme commander of the Wuhan battlefield, he was ineffective in coordinating the two armies, allowing the 11th Army to suddenly break through the middle and then without restraint, and only blindly acquiesced, resulting in the overall imbalance, as a result, Li Zongren once again followed the footsteps of Xuzhou and safely cleared out hundreds of thousands of troops from the Japanese army's iron net.

On the side of the national army, although Li Zongren failed to turn the tide of the battle in Wuhan, he once again safely withdrew from the besieged army, which can be regarded as another miracle. And this miracle was brought about by the commanders of Okamura, Tian Shunroku, and Higashikure, who were shallow and had no big mind.

It seems that Li Zongren is a tiger general of the Chinese army, but he is also a lucky general. The Battle of Xuzhou and the Battle of Wuhan can be safely evacuated without danger. 

In the Battle of Wuhan, especially in the later period, dozens of Chinese divisions had the experience of losing contact with their superiors and becoming entangled with the Japanese army and almost being annihilated. However, the Japanese army paid too much attention to utilitarianism and the empty city of Wuhan that was close at hand, so both Okamura and Higashikuri missed the opportunity to annihilate China's entire army and division again and again.

The later period of Wuhan was a big chaotic war. Whether it is for the Chinese army or the Japanese army, strange scenes in the chaotic battle emerge one after another.

For example, the Japanese army captured a large number of prisoners of the national army, but in a blink of an eye, the prisoners disappeared, and all the devils guarding the prisoners died.

For example, Luoshan was lost, Xinyang was abandoned, and Song Xilian's troops had no way back, but overnight, they had jumped out of the encirclement. Even Higashikure dared to be inexplicable.

For another example, the headquarters of the Fifth Theater of Operations is located in the East Village. Li Zongren felt inexplicably uneasy, and evacuated the East Village with the headquarters overnight. In less than two hours, the Japanese 2,000 cavalry arrived, and Li Zongren escaped.

…………

The periphery of Wuhan is chaotic, we are chaotic, and the enemy is even more chaotic; The city of Wuhan was also busy holding an emergency military meeting to prepare for the evacuation of Wuhan.

(End of chapter)