The Third Reich: The Return of the King

Chapter 723

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Celestial Empire did not know at this time that the development of the situation in Europe would have such a significant impact on itself. Even if they knew, they might not be in the mood to pay attention.

In May, the Battle of Songhu, which lasted for more than a month, finally ended. The final outcome of this battle ended with the defeat of the Celestial Empire.

After a long period of siege, the Japanese army temporarily suspended the attack in the Great Wall area, and transferred five divisions from the north to land near the mouth of the Qiantang River. After landing, they immediately attacked Lin’an.

The number of defenders in Lin’an was small.

Most of them were Sun Chuanfang’s warlord troops who were incorporated after the Northern Expedition.

They were originally the kind of fence-sitters who would do anything for their mothers.

Therefore, facing the attack of the Japanese army, these people’s determination to resist was not firm.

After a little setback and seeing the power of the Japanese army’s powerful artillery fire, they immediately surrendered to the Japanese army, resulting in a huge loophole in the defense system of Lin’an City.

The Japanese army took these surrendered troops as the vanguard, reorganized them on the spot, formed the Imperial Army, and then let them lead the way to attack Lin’an.

Most of the defenders in Lin’an surrendered at this time, and the rest realized that the situation was not good and began to retreat on their own initiative. As a result, the Japanese army captured this place with almost no effort. On

May 1, after taking Lin’an, the Japanese army attacked from south to north and began to threaten the southern defense line of the Celestial Empire’s army on the Songhu battlefield!

At this time, the main force of the Celestial Empire was deployed in the Wusongkou area. This was the main battlefield where the Japanese army landed from the sea before, and most of the troops from both sides were gathered. Therefore, in order to deal with the threat of the Japanese army, the main force of the national army was basically deployed here.

At this time, the Japanese army suddenly attacked from south to north, threatening the southern defense line of the Celestial Empire, which caught the Celestial Empire off guard!

Once the weakest southern defense line of the Celestial Empire’s army was broken, the Japanese army would most likely encircle the Celestial Empire’s army in the Wusongkou area, thus putting more than one million national troops in danger!

Therefore, in order to deal with this situation, under the advice of General Seckt, the National Army began to retreat from the south line. In order to avoid being pursued by the enemy during the retreat, the National Army selected an elite force to enter the Minhang warehouse to block the Japanese army and delay the pursuit of the Japanese army.

This elite force successfully blocked the Japanese army for eight hours, winning time for the retreat of the main force of the National Army, but they themselves were almost all killed in battle, which was extremely tragic!

Because the number of this force was only 800, this force was also called the Minhang Eight Hundred Warriors!

After realizing the retreat of the Celestial Empire’s army, the Japanese army did not hesitate and started the pursuit, following behind the Celestial Empire’s army, biting the Celestial Empire’s army tightly, and they retreated smoothly.

Although the Nationalist army put up a fierce resistance in the Minhang area on the southern front, winning eight hours for the retreat of the large forces, the Japanese army had air superiority, and the bombers and fighters continued to bomb, strafe and harass the retreat of the Nationalist army, which greatly slowed down the Nationalist army’s retreat.

Moreover, after the Nationalist army in the south began to retreat, the Nationalist army in the Wusongkou area became a salient on the battlefield. They could be intercepted by the enemy at any time, and once the enemy cut off their retreat, they would definitely be surrounded and annihilated.

So when the Nationalist army in the south began to retreat, the Nationalist army in the north had to retreat as well, and the Japanese army in the north immediately launched a pursuit. The two sides launched a fierce pursuit battle on the front line of more than 100 kilometers. One side was anxious to retreat, and the other side would not let it retreat, biting it tightly from behind.

If such a battle continued, the retreating side would inevitably collapse across the board. After all, when retreating, no one wanted to stay behind. Staying behind meant being bitten and eaten up little by little without any assistance.

This is completely different from when attacking, when attacking, friendly forces are in the rear, and the troops in the front can get continuous support from friendly forces in the rear, while the situation is just the opposite when retreating. Falling behind means being abandoned.

People have the instinct to survive, and no one wants to be abandoned and become cannon fodder, so when retreating, everyone will certainly not want to fall behind, and everyone wants to run to the front.

If there is no effective organization and leadership, the order of retreat is not arranged, and the rear and cover troops are not arranged, so that the troops can take turns to cover and retreat in an orderly manner, if everyone rushes forward, it is tantamount to leaving the undefended rear to the enemy.

The enemy only needs a charge to cause an avalanche-like rout!

If millions of troops were defeated, it would be a terrible thing. This was the case with Fu Jian in the Battle of Feishui in history. When facing the enemy’s pursuit, they were scared and wanted to run away. They had no mood to resist. As a result, 800,000 people were chased and beaten by 80,000 Beifu soldiers, and the whole army was destroyed!

Therefore, any qualified general can recognize the danger of retreat for the army!

Historically, in the Battle of Songhu, the national army fought very tenaciously and the results were acceptable.

However, they were defeated because they did not make good arrangements when retreating, which led to the defeat.

As a result, after the army retreated to Jinling, they had no time to repair and were attacked by the enemy.

President Jiang fled inland with a group of senior officials from the government and the military, leaving the troops in Jinling, leaving the army without a retreat and organization.

The army was in chaos and was defeated and annihilated by the enemy before it was organized!

The failure of the Battle of Jinling was a huge blow to the National Army. They spent a huge amount of money and finally formed several German-equipped divisions. They performed so well on the battlefield of the Battle of Shanghai and accumulated so much experience in fighting the Japanese army. As long as this army retains the spark, it will definitely become a powerful iron army in the future and become the ace unit of the National Army!

However, due to a series of operations by President Jiang and the military during the Battle of Jinling, these armies were annihilated, and the ace troops of the National Army in the Battle of Shanghai were almost wiped out. This led to the National Army in the future being a group of third-rate troops with no experience, no combat effectiveness, poor equipment, and poor fighting will.

Such troops, when encountering the well-equipped, sharp artillery, air force support, and experienced Japanese troops on the battlefield, they naturally have little chance of winning, and it is not surprising that they were beaten with a super high loss ratio!

At this time, if the national army is not careful and fails to handle the issue of retreat, then history will repeat itself, and they will still suffer heavy losses or even be completely destroyed!