Chapter 949: The Battle of Nanning (1)

The war in the south began, the Guangdong warlord Yu Hanmou, the first could not stand it, in order to save his net worth and life, so as not to be beaten too badly by the Japanese, he had to ask Tang Qiuli for help, there is his careful eye and plan, the independent division troops entered Guangdong, it must be a tough battle with the Japanese, this little bit of family wealth in his own hands can never be mixed in, at this time is not called a helper, that is a big fool, not to mention, there is still a five provinces military joint defense agreement handwriting is not dry, do not look for Tang Qiuli to find that?

With Tang Qiuli's troops in front, the Cantonese army can run away, as long as the guns are kept, the chance to make a comeback is that Yu Hanmou has even thought about it, once the Japanese stop the offensive in Guangdong, he will send his henchmen to contact the Japanese, at least ask for peace and quiet, be a local emperor in a remote corner, and even, further cooperation with the Japanese is not impossible, but Tang Qiuli's first telegram was poured down with a basin of cold water, which made Yu Hanmou's heart cold.

Yu Hanmou used the most vicious language in the office of the provincial government in Guangzhou to curse Tang Qiuli, what to do if he didn't save him when he saw death, one set in front of him and one behind his back, etc., and also smashed his beloved set of tea sets, he didn't know if his troops in southwest Guangdong could withdraw to Guangzhou along the way, that was one-third of his family background, such torment, tortured him until the evening.

Just when Yu Hanmou scolded Tang Qiuli, Tang Qiuli's second telegram came again, this telegram made Yu Hanmou extremely excited, Tang Qiuli changed from a devil who does no evil to an angel of all living beings, that is all cute, Tang Qiuli not only wants to send troops, but also to equip his troops, this is a good thing that pie in the sky.

Tang Qiuli let the troops in southwest Guangdong retreat to the vicinity of Guangzhou, which is in line with Yu Hanmou's thoughts, he secretly laughed at Tang Qiuli for being pedantic, he had already ordered the troops to run away, this time, with a justifiable reason, Commander-in-Chief Tang ordered to retreat, and the troops ran more chicly, as for what Tang Qiuli said, the troops could only withdraw when the people ran first, Yu Hanmou scoffed at this, and looked down on it, but this was just slander in the stomach, did you ask for help.

Think you, Tang Qiuli, are the saviors? Let your own soldiers cover the retreat of the common people, you can imagine that if you don't let the troops of the Independent Division block the Japanese in front and act as a substitute for the dead, Guangdong will not have a foothold for you Tang Qiuli, and in Yu Hanmou's heart, he does not think that the troops of the Independent Division can block the attack of the Japanese.

In the telegram sent to him by the front-line officer, the fear of the Japanese has affected Yu Hanmou, that is, he is completely more afraid, in fact, he does not even plan to defend Guangzhou, and tries his best to ask Tang Qiuli for help, to put it bluntly, he wants the independent division troops to be a substitute for the dead, for him and the Guangdong army to block the Japanese attack, Yu Hanmou in the state of the six gods and no master, hit the idea on Tang Qiuli's head, the result can be imagined.

The fundamental reason why Tang Qiuli decided to fight hard with the 15th Army of the Japanese Army in the area of Guangzhou was that no matter how much pressure was relieved on Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi in the direction of Nanning, he did not expect Yu Hanmou's Cantonese army to play any role in this battle.

In five days from the day of the Japanese attack, all the strategic points along the coast of the Beibu Gulf, Fangchenggang, Qinzhou, and Beihai had fallen, and the main forces of the Japanese army's Third and Fourth Armies had cleared away the resistance of the Gui Army in the coastal areas of the Beibu Gulf.

The garrison units of the Gui army in various places, without the support of the main force, withstood the attack of more than 200,000 Japanese troops in five days, and their combat effectiveness can be seen; compared with the Cantonese army, which was about to collapse at the touch of a button, the heroic behavior of the local garrison troops of the Gui army was remarkable, and it also caused great casualties to the Japanese troops attacking in this direction, and also won valuable time for the deployment of the Gui army in Nanning.

Lieutenant General Masaharu Honma, commander of the Third Army of the Japanese Southern China Dispatch Army, did not have the heroic spirit of the commander of the 15th Army, Yamashita Fengfumi, but he was cunning and dangerous to surpass Yamashita Fengfumi, thanks to his experience gained from many battles with the North China Independent Division, that is, do not look down on the squadron and Chinese soldiers, especially Tang Qiuli's troops, which will suffer a big loss.

Moreover, the opponents encountered were also different, these indigenous Chinese caused trouble for the imperial army troops everywhere, and after occupying Fangchenggang, Qinzhou, and Beihai, Honma Masaharu ordered the vanguard 11th Division to slow down the pace of attack, consolidate the occupied area, and wait for the arrival of the 9th Division of the follow-up troops, and then attack in the direction of Nanning.

Just when Honma Masaharu was carefully arranging, he got the 15th Army of Yamashita Fengwen who attacked from the direction of the Leizhou Peninsula, and marched all the way, taking Xuwen, Leizhou, Zhanjiang and other important towns, and had completely controlled the Leizhou Peninsula area, and Yamashita Fengwen did not wait for the 11th Army to follow up, and he alone waved his division to attack and advance in the direction of Guangzhou.

When the news reached the headquarters of the Third Army, the senior officers of the Japanese Third Army, who were deeply stabbed, were full of enthusiasm, and they asked Honma Masaharu to fight, asking to lead the headquarters to pursue the retreating Shina army and kill all these Shina people, Honma Masaharu did not agree to the request of these officers, and the independent division troops that stayed in Hunan, Jiangxi, and Fujian were always a lingering shadow in his heart. It's going to be a nightmare.

For Yamashita Fengwen's fanaticism, Honma Masaharu did not dare to agree, in his opinion, this is a table that has not suffered losses, so, as the commander of the Third Army, Honma Masaharu adheres to the steady strategy of steady and steady, advancing on the whole front, at this time, he got the information, the Gui army troops, one after another to the direction of Nanning, a large number of troops, there seems to be an attempt to hold Nanning.

The old Jiān giant and cunning Honma Masaharu immediately realized that this was the best opportunity to gather and annihilate the Katsura troops in China, and at the critical moment, the Shina people made a great mistake and concentrated the troops together to fight a decisive battle with the imperial army troops, for the main attacking Japanese army, this was the best opportunity to annihilate the opponent, if the Gui army troops retreated north in an orderly manner, the protracted pursuit battle would give Honma Masaharu a headache.

In the next few days, Honma Masaharu increased the collection of information on the Nanning squadron, and with a large amount of valuable information, a steady stream of information was sent to him, all the information showed that the Gui army troops continued to assemble in the direction of Nanning, and Honma Masaharu became more and more sure of his judgment, the Chinese made a fatal mistake, and should not overestimate their strength.

Honma Masaharu reported his campaign plan to General Terauchi Shouichi, commander-in-chief of the Southern Dispatch Army, and clearly stated his campaign purpose and implementation method, Terauchi Shouichi praised Honma Masaharu's campaign plan, and then appointed Honma Masaharu as the commander-in-chief of the Nanning Campaign, unified command of the third and fourth armies attacking the Guangxi direction and the seventh army of the dispatch army reserve, with a total of more than 200,000 troops, and the dispatch army headquarters, and the order to Honma Masaharu was to completely annihilate the Guangxi troops in China on the Nanning line. Establish a solid rear for the attack on Chongqing.

Honma Masaharu immediately held a meeting with Lieutenant General Kenji Iijima, commander of the Fourth Army, to discuss the specific details of the Nanning Campaign and the battle plan.

In order to achieve greater results, Honma Masaharu and Iijima Kenji jointly agreed that the Third Army and the Fourth Army would slow down the pace of attack, deliberately leaving only enough time for the Gui army to mobilize troops to Nanning.

After the battle plan was decided, Honma Masaharu and Kenji Iijima sent a telegram to General Terauchi Shouichi, commander-in-chief of the dispatch army, the core content of which was that the task of encircling and annihilating the Guangxi Army in China was to be completed independently by the General Headquarters of the Nanning Campaign, and that it did not want the troops attacking the direction of Guangdong to be involved, and also implored His Excellency, Commander-in-Chief, to keep the other troops secret.

Honma Masaharu has his own careful eye, he is guarding against Yamashita Fengwen, a madman, in the battle to the final victory, suddenly attacked Nanning from the direction of Guangdong to grab the credit, with his understanding of Yamashita Fengwen, this madman can definitely do such a thing, Hengchā is not counted, and he also beat Luàn He deployed as a whole, quarreled and quarreled, and lost his temper is not the opponent of Yamashita Fengwen, who is nicknamed "Infantry Artillery", so, first seal this mén child, and don't give Yamashita Fengwen a chance.

Terauchi Shouyi agreed, in fact, he was not too proud of the extremely arrogant Yamashita Fengwen, however, this guy is very capable of fighting, he has a lot of contacts in the base camp, the background is very hard, many times, he has made his own claims, and has repeatedly disobeyed orders, such as this time, without waiting for the follow-up of the Eleventh Army, the Fifteenth Army will advance to the interior of Guangdong alone, leaving the Eleventh Army far behind, not to mention, the key is that there is no order from the General Headquarters of the Dispatch Army, which makes Terauchi Shouichi as the commander-in-chief very uncomfortable, so, Masaharu Honma's request, he happily agreed.

The Japanese Third and Third Armies stopped continuing their attacks in the direction of Nanning, Guangxi, and the ports occupied by the Japanese troops along the coast of the Beibu Gulf were extremely busy, with a large number of transport ships constantly carrying large quantities of supplies between the Japanese mainland and Hainan Island, and a large number of armored units and heavy artillery units landed.

When Honma Masaharu was preparing, Bai Chongxi, the military superintendent of Guangxi in Nanning City, was also preparing in jīng's heart, and in this battle, the two bigwigs of the Gui family, Li Zongren and Bai Chongxi, also hoped to play the prestige and confidence of the Gui army.