coobybook Chapter 447: Iron-Blooded Military Spirit
Chapter 447: Iron-Blooded Military Spirit
447 Iron Blood Forged Military Soul
"Commander, stop chasing."
The adjutant hugged Lu Dahai and said it was very dangerous to continue chasing.
Although some Japanese soldiers fled, their main force actually maintained an orderly retreat.
This means that the Japanese still have the ability to fight back.
In this situation, there would be no problem in letting the newly arrived reinforcements such as the 25th Army and the 73rd Army continue the pursuit.
If Lu Dahai and the dozens of people behind him chased them too deep,
Once the Japanese commander realizes the strength of Lu Dahai's side, he may launch a counterattack at any time.
Although Lu Dahai has a reckless personality, he has fought for so many years.
In fact, he also understood this principle.
However, people tend to lose their rationality when they are impulsive.
Especially since so many of their brothers were killed or injured in this battle, their hearts were already filled with anger and hatred.
How can I be so rational?
"Commander, the division commander has said so.
If you disobey orders, you will have to wait until the commander-in-chief provides new recruits to our division.
Just don’t give it to us.
We were not allowed to participate in the subsequent counterattack and revenge against the devils."
The adjutant hugged the angry Lu Dahai and continued.
It was Zhangfa who understood Lu Dahai's character and gave him a warning in advance.
"Master, did you really say that?"
Lu Dahai calmed down as expected.
The adjutant nodded repeatedly.
"Damn it, let the Japs be proud for two more days.
I will withdraw to the rear, replenish my troops, and then come back to seek revenge on the Japs."
"Let's withdraw!"
Immediately, Lu Dahai led his regiment and the engineering regiment to retreat from the west bank of the valley.
On the third day, the 209th and 76th Divisions withdrew to Yiwu County for rest and recuperation.
Ye Qingshan came personally and brought people to welcome the two withdrawing divisions outside the city.
"salute!"
After seeing this scene, many officers from Ye Qingshan's headquarters saluted the soldiers passing by.
Ye Qingshan felt a lump in his throat as he watched his 209th Division withdrawing from the mountains.
What a majestic team they were when they left, but now they are like this when they come back.
More than half of the soldiers in the team were injured.
Many soldiers could only move forward with the support of each other.
Fortunately, what made Ye Qingshan feel relieved was that although the 209th Division was crippled.
However, after the baptism of this battle, there is still light in the eyes of the soldiers of the 209th Division.
They did not retreat in dejection after being defeated.
They won the battle, accomplished the headquarters' mission brilliantly, and returned in triumph, so naturally their spirits were different.
A wounded tiger is still a fierce tiger.
"Commander-in-Chief!"
Not long after, Zhang Fa and Lin Fengtian arrived on horseback.
"Okay, just come back safely."
Ye Qingshan patted Zhang Fa's shoulder and was very satisfied with Zhang Fa's performance.
"Commander Lin, your 76th Division is also great.
I didn’t bring shame to Commander Gu.”
Ye Qingshan then looked at Lin Fengtian beside him and said with a smile.
The 76th Division also performed amazingly in this battle.
As expected of Gu Zhutong's direct descendant, he is quite capable.
"Thank you for the compliment, Commander-in-Chief."
Half a day later, Ye Qingshan, Zhang Fa, Lin Fengtian and others returned to the temporary headquarters in the city.
However, when Ye Qingshan looked at the final battle damage report of their two divisions handed over by Zhang Fa and Lin Fengtian.
Ye Qingshan was silent.
Before setting off, the 209th Division took more than 76 people with it when it went into the mountains to rescue the th Division, excluding the artillery regiment that did not arrive and some other troops.
And after more than half a month of bloody battle.
The 209th Division was reduced from more than people to people.
The casualties were almost half.
Among the 7,000 survivors, there were more than 2,000 wounded and nearly 1,000 seriously injured.
If a division were to fight to this extent, according to foreign armies, it would have lost its combat effectiveness long ago.
In fact, the 209th Division is almost the same.
At this time, the 209 men of the th Division were estimated to have less than one-third of their combat effectiveness in their prime.
Although there are still 7,000 people, injuries, fatigue, and consumption of weapons and ammunition have greatly weakened their combat effectiveness.
Otherwise, the 25th Army and the 73rd Army will come to support.
In two days at most, all 7,000 of them might be completely wiped out by the Japanese.
In an encirclement and annihilation campaign, the front part is the most difficult to fight.
As for Gu Zhutong's direct 76th Division, it was even more miserable.
Originally, after being ambushed by the Japanese 12th Mixed Brigade, the 76th Division had only about people left.
After half a month of hard fighting, their number was reduced to only about 3,000.
Nearly half of them were injured.
In the later stages of the battle, the 76th Division was basically completely dependent on the 209th Division for combat.
If it weren't for the 209th Division, the 76th Division would have been annihilated by the Japanese long ago.
“Alas, the 76th Division is in such a state now.
I feel a little sorry for Chief Gu."
Ye Qingshan put down the battle damage report in his hand and said with a sigh.
Before Gu Zhutong was injured and retreated to the rear, he asked Ye Qingshan to rescue the 76th Division.
Now, the 76th Division was indeed rescued by him.
But this division of more than 10,000 people now has only a little over 3,000 people left.
This is just short of canceling the number.
Ye Qingshan felt somewhat guilty.
“The Commander-in-Chief doesn’t have to say that.
If it weren't for the commander-in-chief, our 76th Division might have been completely wiped out by the Japanese this time.
There will be no more than 3,000 people left.
Moreover, after this battle, our 76th Division will be reborn and become a truly elite division."
When Lin Fengtian saw Ye Qingshan blaming himself, he also spoke.
Lin Fengtian didn't say this to please Ye Qingshan.
He means it from the heart.
Because after this battle, the elite troops left behind by the 76th Division, both officers and soldiers, seemed to have been reborn.
There was an extra layer that Lin Fengtian couldn't explain clearly, but was extremely familiar with.
Military spirit!
In the end, only these two words popped into Lin Fengtian’s mind.
The troops that survived without going through bloody and bitter battles will not understand the meaning of these two words.
The same is true for the 209th Division and the 76th Division.
Lin Fengtian also understood why the 209th Division was able to hold out to the end under such fierce siege by the Japanese invaders. It was precisely because of this that they relied on.
Lin Fengtian believed that as long as their 76th Division was fully staffed with the existing more than surviving veterans of the bloody battle as the backbone.
The 76th Division will surely be reborn.
"Commander-in-Chief, you promised to give us additional troops.
Let us participate in the subsequent counterattack against the devils, this must count."
At this time, Zhang Fa brought up this matter.
"Nonsense, what I say, of course, counts.
Do you think I said this to trick you into retreating?"
Ye Qingshan widened his eyes and spoke loudly.
"Yes. I also believe that the commander-in-chief will not break his promise."
Zhang Fa straightened his head and chest and shouted loudly.
"You guy, believe me, I'll ask you one more time.
You, the cold-faced god, have also learned bad things from Zhou Pingkou and the others."
Ye Qingshan shook his head.
“First settle the soldiers of your division, let them have a hot meal and a good sleep.
As for the new recruits that will be given to you.
I have prepared it for you a long time ago.
However, it is not with me at the moment. I have to wait until the Chief of Staff returns."
"When will the Chief of Staff come back?"
"That's about it for tonight."
"Then Commander-in-Chief, we will go back first."
"Go."
After Zhang Fa and Lin Fengtian left.
The young martial artist standing nearby couldn't help but say, "Commander Zhang really hates the Japanese devils.
He doesn't want to rest for a moment.
I just want to replenish my troops, weapons and ammunition, and then go back into the mountains to seek revenge on the devils."
"Yes."
"Then Commander-in-Chief, where do you get the troops to replenish the 209th Division?"
Xiao Wusheng had always been following Ye Qingshan, so he naturally knew that Ye Qingshan had no reserve soldiers at the moment.
If there really were reserve soldiers, Ye Qingshan would not have had to wait for the 25th and 73rd Armies to come for support.
Zhang Fa had actually thought of this a long time ago.
Otherwise, Zhang Fa wouldn't have asked this question again just now.
"Why, can I still cheat you?
The Chief of Staff went to Quzhou not only to welcome the 25th Army and the 73rd Army, but also to allocate supplies, weapons and ammunition to them.
I also asked him to gather up the defeated soldiers of the 28th Army who had fled earlier.
The 28th Army originally had more than people, but very few were killed in the fighting on the front lines.
There were at least 16,000 to 17,000 defeated soldiers who fled all the way from Jinhua to Quzhou.
Most of them retreated to Quzhou.
Some even went up the mountain and became bandits.
How can this work?
Now, the commander will give them a chance to redeem themselves for their crimes.
I just don’t know how many defeated soldiers the Chief of Staff can bring back.”
“Former soldiers of the 28th Army.
The commander-in-chief is really thoughtful. Why didn't I think of that? "
The young martial artist also suddenly understood.
"So, I am the commander-in-chief, and you are just the adjutant."
"Hehe, what the commander-in-chief said makes a lot of sense."
Ye Qingshan was also amused by the young martial artist.
“When I first arrived, I was actually planning to target these defeated soldiers from the 28th Army.
But unfortunately, at that time, the defeated soldiers of the 208th Army had just suffered a disastrous defeat in the river valley.
Morale is low and there is no desire to fight.
So, I asked Captain Wang Anshan to take away the large amount of military supplies left by Commander Gu in Jinhua City.
After retreating to Quzhou, they distributed food supplies in Quzhou and gathered the defeated soldiers of the 28th Army.
And give them time to recover their morale.
Finally, the chief of staff was sent to reorganize and bring back these defeated soldiers.
In this way, we will have enough troops to supplement the 209th and 76th Divisions."
"But Commander-in-Chief, if you do this, will Commander Tao of the 28th Army and the officers of the 28th Army agree to it?
I guess they would rather gather these defeated soldiers and rebuild the 28th Army."
The little Wusheng said.
"Humph!"
Ye Qingshan's face suddenly turned cold, and he snorted coldly, "The defeated general, this commander will not hold him responsible for the defeat.
This is already giving face to Chief Gu.
The 28th Army was so derelict in its duty that, in my opinion, execution would be a light punishment.
As for whether or not to rebuild the 28th Army, a group of defeated generals have no right to speak.
No matter what I do, I don’t need to consider their feelings.”
That night, Xiao Shanling arrived in Yiwu County with tens of thousands of soldiers from the former 28th Army.
"Haha, it's still the Chief of Staff who has to take action."
Ye Qingshan was also very happy to see Xiao Shanling bringing back so many soldiers from the 28th Army.
Tens of thousands of people, this is more than Ye Qingshan himself expected.
"Fortunately, I live up to my fate!"
Xiao Shanling said with a smile.