The sudden action of the 12th Army put the 27th Division and the 57th Division in Suiyuan into a desperate situation. The hope of turning defeat into victory was shattered, and the morale of the army fell into an unprecedented low.

At present, the two divisions combined still have more than 20,000 soldiers. The soldiers do not have enough to eat or wear, and their combat effectiveness is getting lower day by day.

It is no longer possible for foreign aid to come. If you stay where you are, you will only be trapped by the Chinese. The most important thing now is to break out.

The word "surrender" has never appeared in the minds of Harada Kumonaki and other Japanese officers. As long as they have a breath left, they will fight with all their strength.

The main officers of the 27th Division and the 57th Division gathered next to Harada Kumakichi. Due to lack of food and clothing, the officers all looked very haggard and slovenly.

"Your Excellency, Division Commander, it is no longer possible for the Front Army Headquarters to send troops to support us. Your Excellency, the Commander, only asked us to break out of the encirclement and did not tell us the specific direction of the breakout. What should we do now?"

Takagi Ryuzaburo, the captain of the 117th Wing, who was hanging by one arm, asked with a worried look on his face.

The rest of the people all looked at Harada Yukichi after sighing briefly.

Chief of Staff Sekine Taro began to analyze the surrounding situation, and seemed to be providing military information reference to the division commander.

"The Chinese troops are advancing in layers in the east and west directions. The Casu Banner in the east has been occupied by the Chinese. It won't be long before the division headquarters is located within the range of Chinese heavy artillery.

The Chinese army's cavalry is distributed in all directions on the battlefield, and our intentions can easily be grasped by the cavalry. Therefore, if we want to break through, we must contact the aviation forces in the rear to cooperate.

In addition, the eastern, western and northern fronts are all nationalist troops, and only the southern Yellow River defense line is the Red Party army.

The Red Party troops are poorly equipped and poorly trained. If the entire army moves together, they will not be able to stop it. Compared with other directions, I think the south is more conducive to a breakout."

Yu Daitai of this village took a step forward, pointed to the area at the corner of the Yellow River on the map and said:

"The guerrillas can't stop the imperial army, that's for sure. However, if we choose to break out to the south, we must also consider one thing. That is, the south is full of mountains, deserts and rivers, and the land is vast and sparsely populated. Sometimes we can't even encounter enemies within a hundred miles.

Previous town.

The warriors were short of food and clothing, so they might be able to break through with all their strength, but we have to consider what will happen after the breakout.

With no food or supplies, the two divisions plunged into unfamiliar mountainous areas, with more than 100,000 Chinese troops pursuing them from behind.

If we don't solve the food problem, even if we can break out, we won't be able to reach the area controlled by the imperial army."

The atmosphere in the headquarters suddenly cooled down. Food shortage was the biggest crisis at the moment.

The number of airdrops is so small that it cannot solve the fundamental problem.

Harada Xiongyoshi also tended to break out to the south. He pondered for a few seconds and asked:

"If all the horses in the baggage train, engineer regiment and artillery regiment are killed, can the problem of food shortage be alleviated?"

Sekine Taikuro has thought about this problem for a long time,

"All the injured and sick horses have been killed. Our space for activities is getting smaller and smaller. Not only are the people starving, but the horses can't find food. In order to prevent the horses from starving and thinning, the warriors have been killing them privately.

few.

The number of war horses is less than we thought. Even if we kill them all, we won't be able to solve the big problem. At most, we can only give each warrior a bowl of soup!"

The commanders of the infantry regiment and the artillery regiment all lowered their heads. It was obvious that they were aware of this situation.

Harada Xiongyoshi stared at him.

He had been holding on to the hope of a desperate counterattack, and the artillery regiment would play a huge role in the counterattack, so he never gave an order to massacre the war horses.

He never thought that hungry soldiers would commit suicide without permission!

The shocked and angry expression of the division commander fell into the eyes of all the commanders, and they felt even more guilty because every one of them had eaten horse meat and drank bone soup.

The word "surrender" jumped into the mind of the commander of the 27th Division, Harada Kumakichi, for the first time.

He hurriedly shook his head, putting away the thought that it was a crime to think about it.

Under the gaze of the officers, Harada Kumonaki spoke slowly, his voice hoarse, desolate and sad,

"With the current state of the warriors, it is almost impossible to break out from the front. Although the terrain in the south is complex and there is no material supply, there is hope of breaking out after all.

If your Excellency, Commander, can send troops to respond, the hope of a successful breakout will be even greater.

The chief of staff immediately contacted the aviation and front army headquarters to determine the breakout time and notify all units to prepare!"

"Hiyi!"

This was the only possible way out, and the officers had no other opinions.

After reporting the situation and intentions to the front army headquarters, Sekine Taikuro walked heavily to Harada Kumakichi. He licked his lips and deliberately lowered his voice and asked.

"Your Excellency, Division Commander, what should we do with the wounded in the field hospital?"

Harada Xiongji suddenly raised his head. He actually forgot about this matter and frowned.

"How many wounded are there, I want an accurate number?"

"There are 2,500 seriously injured people, more than 1,700 people with minor injuries who can't walk, and 1,000 people with minor injuries who can barely walk."

"this……"

Harada Kumayoshi was surprised by this number,

"Why are there so many wounded?"

"Some of it is frostbitten."

Harada Xiongyoshi nodded numbly. This is a very difficult and heart-wrenching question.

Although he was reluctant at all costs, he still said:

"Let the seriously injured people kill themselves. No matter whether they can walk or not, the lightly injured people should be kept on the position to buy some time for the main force to break through.

We have to run at least 300 miles, and the lightly wounded can only follow us for a while, and they will be sacrificed sooner or later.

Leave them behind and give other warriors a chance to survive!"

At the end of the sentence, Harada Kumakichi hung his head deeply.

The order from the front army headquarters was quickly passed on, and Harada Kumakichi's breakout plan was approved.

Tada Shun promised to send all aviation forces to cover the 27th Division and the 57th Division, and also send out response troops.

It just didn't say the number and specific number of the responding troops.

In the early morning of January 4, 1940, Taikuro Sekine brought a bowl of hot horse meat soup to Kumayoshi Harada.

The broth is as light as water, but there are about two taels of horse meat soaked in it.

Seeing that the division commander showed a sad look again, Tataro Sekine said hurriedly from the side:

"Your Excellency, Division Commander, the warriors have all eaten, please eat quickly..."

It’s time to hit the road after eating!”
Chapter completed!