allonlinenovel Chapter 191 Expansion and Propaganda War
Chapter 191 Expansion and Propaganda War
"Brigade Commander, I have asked Xu Fusheng to send people to dig several deep pits to bury the bodies of the Japanese soldiers. The weather has become warmer, and we must prevent the plague." Ouyang Heng took a few gulps of water from the kettle on the table and reported to Zhang Wenwu.
After hearing Ouyang Heng's report, Zhang Wenwu also said "hmm" softly. All his attention was now attracted by the account book in front of him that recorded the Japanese military supplies seized this time. He took out the material purchase price list he got from Deputy Director Liang and began to calculate the accounts by comparing it.
After counting a few items, he threw the account book on the table in annoyance and said with some regret: "Those wounded Japanese soldiers in the field hospital are really bad. Why do they commit suicide when there is nothing to do? It would be great if we could capture them. They can all be sold at a high price. It's such a loss, such a loss."
Seeing his young brigade commander's regretful expression, Ouyang Heng smiled and consoled him, "Brigade commander, it's okay. We will capture more Japanese in the future. Besides, we have captured a lot of Japanese this time. The more than 300 Japanese prisoners and the Japanese regiment flag we got today are already a great achievement."
After hearing Ouyang Heng's consolation, Zhang Wenwu also laughed. He knew that he was a little greedy, so he took out a cigarette and lit one for Ouyang Heng, then said jokingly: "That's right, this time our army can be said to be famous throughout the country. Maybe I can become a general now, haha."
Just as Zhang Wenwu and Ouyang Heng were chatting and bragging, the phone on the table suddenly rang. Ouyang Heng picked up the phone and said, "This is the 100th Brigade. I'm Ouyang Heng. Yes, Chief of Staff. I'll report to the division headquarters with the brigade commander right away."
When Zhang Wenwu and Ouyang Heng arrived at the division headquarters, the chief officers of the 210th and 211th brigades were already smoking in the yard. When Zhang Wenwu was about to go over and smoke a cigarette, he saw Chief of Staff Zhao Dong walking out of the division hall and said to everyone with a smile on his face: "Everyone is here, come in for the meeting, and it's okay to smoke inside."
After hearing what Chief of Staff Zhao Dong said, everyone knew that Chief of Staff Zhao Dong was in an extremely good mood. It seemed that there was good news to be announced at this meeting, so everyone quickly threw the cigarettes in their hands on the ground and walked quickly into the operations hall of the division headquarters.
"Brothers, our 102nd Division is now famous throughout the country. The Battle of Taierzhuang was entirely thanks to the bravery of all of you here in the battle, as well as the selfless dedication of all the officers and soldiers of the division. In order to commend the merits of our 102nd Division, the Military Commission has approved the expansion of our 102nd Division into the New 210nd Army of the Chinese Revolutionary Army, which will be composed of three new divisions: the New 211th Division, the New 100th Division, and the New th Division. I will serve as the commander of the new nd Army, Zhao Dong will serve as the chief of staff, Qi Xingfa will serve as the deputy commander, and all officers and soldiers will be promoted one level. In addition, the highest level of the government has specially rewarded our New nd Army with oceans to commend everyone for their outstanding performance in this battle and to encourage everyone to keep up the good work." Commander Huang announced the good news to everyone with a smile.
When Commander Huang announced the news, everyone present was delighted. Zhang Wenwu also looked incredible. He had just been promoted to colonel a few days ago, and he was about to become a major general? His 100th Brigade was about to become the new 100th Division. This news really made him happy. In this way, he could ask Cao Huaguo to kidnap more people for him. Now his army had a name, money, and organization.
After the meeting, Commander Huang and Chief of Staff Zhao Dong also kept Zhang Wenwu, because Zhang Wenwu's promotion was a little different from others. There was no other way. Zhang Wenwu was too young. He had just graduated from school for more than a year. Although his military exploits were real, the Military Commission still felt that it was a bit inappropriate. So, they came up with a solution, which was to give Zhang Wenwu a nominal rank of major general and a real rank of colonel.
Zhang Wenwu had no objection to this. He also knew that his age was a disadvantage on the road to promotion. If it weren't for his strong background and good family background, he would at most be a major now.
According to the order of the Military Commission, the new 22nd Army will be the first batch of reorganized troops to conduct a pilot project. The previous brigade-level combat units will be abolished, and the regiment-level combat units will be directly led by the division headquarters. This will make it more convenient and quick to convey and execute orders, allowing the troops to respond more flexibly to rapidly changing situations on the battlefield.
Zhang Wenwu's new 100th Division is composed of the 811th, 812th and 813th Regiments, a special forces battalion directly under the division headquarters, an artillery battalion, a baggage transport battalion, a division medical team and other direct units. If the division is fully staffed, it will have people.
After Zhang Wenwu returned to the command post at Taierzhuang Railway Station, Ouyang Heng had already made a rough outline of the structure for the expansion of the troops. Zhang Wenwu now had a total of more than 813 officers and soldiers under his command. Ouyang Heng directly organized the more than new soldiers who arrived last night into the th Regiment. Now each regiment has less than half of the established personnel, and there are quite a lot of soldiers who need to be supplemented. Zhang Wenwu is not very worried about this. As for poaching, the new nd Army has a master school, and the Military Commission has also specially approved more than new recruits for the new nd Army, and they are ready to move from Hubei Province to the Fifth War Zone for reinforcement.
Li Zhengying's death squad was directly organized into the division's special service battalion. Currently, this battalion has only a little over a hundred people. As for other vacancies, Zhang Wenwu plans to wait until the entire division is almost replenished, and then select capable officers and soldiers from the entire division to supplement the special service battalion. As for other direct teams, they can only wait for the relevant personnel to be replenished before they can be organized.
After the two of them roughly set up the structure of the expanded force, Zhang Wenwu and Ouyang Heng had a detailed discussion about the issue of commanders at the regiment and battalion levels and finally finalized it.
In the headquarters of the 10th Division of the Japanese Army, the division commander, Lieutenant General Isogai Lianjie, and the chief of staff, Major General Tsutsumi Fukata, were sitting on a tatami and drinking sake. After drinking a glass of sake, Lieutenant General Isogai Lianjie said to Major General Tsutsumi Fukata: "Tibu-kun, I will apologize to the expeditionary army for the failure of this operation. After I leave, I will ask you to take care of the 10th Division for the time being. When the expeditionary army sends a new division commander, I believe the 10th Division will quickly regain its strength."
Major General Tsutsumi Fukata knew that the impact of the failure of this operation was too great. Even the flag of the 63rd Regiment was seized by the Chinese army. This was a shame for the Imperial Japanese Army. The commander of the rd Regiment, Colonel Fukuei Shinpei, was simply a fool. Why didn't he burn the flag of the regiment before dying?
Major General Tsutsumi Fukata looked at the division commander who was drinking in silence, and after thinking for a long time, he said, "Division commander, you have done your best, and Colonel Fukuei Shinpei has also done his best. Facing the attack of tens of thousands of elite Chinese troops who suddenly appeared on the battlefield, all the officers and soldiers of the 63rd Regiment have done their best. This failure was caused by the serious dereliction of duty of the intelligence department. It is unfair for you to bear the consequences alone."
Lieutenant General Isogai Lianjie was a little drunk. After listening to Major General Tsutsumi Fukaki's consolation, he smiled and said, "Tibu-kun, Colonel Fukuei Shinpei has gone to see Amaterasu. The military and the mainland will make him a hero. The responsibility for this failure can only be borne by the living. With so many officers, soldiers and equipment lost, someone with a suitable position must come out to confess his guilt in front of His Majesty the Emperor. The military also needs to give an explanation to the people. I am the most suitable person. But don't worry, the most I can do is resign from the position of division commander and transfer to the military in the mainland. This is also good. I can spend more time with my family."
Major General Tsutsumi Fukaki knew that what the division commander said was right, but he had nothing to say to comfort the division commander, so he could only accompany him and drink sake.
After the Chinese government announced the news of the victory in Taierzhuang, the Japanese side also published the news of the Battle of Taierzhuang in newspapers in the mainland and occupied areas. In the Japanese propaganda, the 63rd Regiment of the Japanese Army bravely occupied the small town on the first day of the attack on Taierzhuang, and then they were attacked by more than 100,000 elite Chinese Central Army. The regiment commander, Colonel Fukuei Shinpei, led the warriors of the Empire of Japan, and held the Taierzhuang position for ten days under the bombardment of dozens of heavy artillery and the repeated attacks of the Chinese army. After destroying more than 30,000 Chinese soldiers, they all died heroically. However, their deaths also bought time for the follow-up troops to adjust and gave other troops to consolidate the occupied areas. As for the more than 300 captured Japanese soldiers, the Japanese side insisted that they were all disguised as counterfeit people sent by the Chinese side.
The Japanese military also promoted the regiment commander, Colonel Shinpei Fukuei, to the rank of major general, and all other officers and soldiers who died in the battle were promoted to the first rank, and a grand ceremony to summon the souls of the dead officers and soldiers was held in Tokyo.
Zhang Wenwu was sitting in the command post in Taierzhuang Railway Station, listening to Ouyang Heng reading the news published in the Japanese newspaper with a smile. He admired the Japanese ability to lie. They even said that they had 100,000 elite troops and dozens of heavy artillery. This was too much of a lie. If he had 100,000 elite troops, he could surround and attack the 10th Division.
Of course, the battle reports in Chinese newspapers were a bit exaggerated. The news about how many Japanese troops were eliminated was everywhere every day. Both sides were bragging to each other. Anyway, it was a question of who was braver and who dared to brag. According to the daily number of enemy troops killed publicized in some small Chinese newspapers, the 10th Division should have been completely wiped out by the Chinese army.
Zhang Wenwu certainly understood the intentions of both sides, but he knew even more clearly how the number of enemy troops killed in those Chinese tabloids came from, because he had contributed to this. He and Deputy Director Liang had recently been doing a big business in selling Japanese-captured items. According to the Japanese-captured items he sold, the 10th Division had indeed been "sold" by him and was completely annihilated. After all, any piece of equipment on a Japanese soldier could be counted as an enemy killed. By this calculation, a Japanese soldier could be killed at least eight times.