kingnovel Chapter 1258 Showing Face
Chapter 1258 Showing Face
The 2nd Infantry Division's long-range infiltration operation greatly enhanced Li Shaoyi's prestige in Chongqing. During a meeting of high-ranking officials in the Ministry of National Defense, the operation was specifically mentioned, noting that it involved nearly four to five Japanese divisions and provided significant opportunities for the surrounding Central Army and other armed forces.
Unfortunately, the surrounding troops had suffered heavy losses in the previous resistance, so they didn't capitalize on the opportunity and only managed to recapture two or three county towns. However, Li Shaoyi didn't say much about it; his men were already suffering enough on the battlefield. Now, these incompetent advisors in the Central Committee were making reckless decisions, talking about counter-offensives all the time. "Why don't you go to the front lines and see how exhausted your soldiers are? How can you possibly launch a counter-offensive?"
In Li Hu's telegram to Li Shaoyi, many elite infantry divisions of the Central Army now had fewer than 8000 men, nearly half their original strength. Under these circumstances, it was already quite an achievement to get them into a counter-offensive and hold their current positions.
Of course, there were also some people with ulterior motives who believed that after this long-distance training exercise, the 2nd Infantry Division could even lead other troops in a counter-offensive in the area. When someone said this, Li Shaoyi went up and slapped him twice. "Is that something a human being would say? No human being would say something like that!"
My army has just completed a march of several hundred kilometers, breaking through three lines of Japanese defense, and the entire 2nd Infantry Division has suffered nearly 10% losses. Under these circumstances, you want my army to launch a counter-offensive? Who do you think you are?
Before the plans formulated by some people in the Ministry of Military Affairs had even been discussed in a meeting, Li Shaoyi had already leaked them. The people of the 72nd Group Army are patriotic, but they are not tools for certain people to curry favor with. Don't think that you can command the troops on the front lines just because you're in the Ministry of Military Affairs building.
After these words were spoken, many senior staff officers immediately shut their mouths. They didn't want the Party and the State to lose face again. If the Ministry of Military Affairs issued an order to fight, and the men of the 2nd Infantry Division simply carried them back, they would be extremely embarrassed.
The main reason is that your foolish actions have brought shame to the Party and the State. Although the various units are not exactly fighting independently, they are still paying lip service to some of the orders issued by the Party and the State's high command.
It's not that the local areas are ignoring orders, but rather that the staff officers in the Ministry of Military Affairs have never actually been to the battlefield. They issue tasks based solely on maps and some data, completely disregarding the actual situation on the ground. Therefore, many division and brigade commanders at the front have said that these people from the Ministry of Military Affairs should be sent to the front lines to see the actual situation and then consider how to formulate operational plans.
Regardless, the 2nd Infantry Division's operation once again enhanced the prestige of the 72nd Group Army. With the Japanese army occupying Chinese territory, the 2nd Infantry Division was able to forcefully penetrate Japanese-occupied areas and join forces with the National Revolutionary Army—something no other army had accomplished.
Newspapers were lavish in their praise of this event, even demanding that the Nationalist government award it a commendation. If this army had been part of the Nationalist government's Central Army, commendations would likely have been flying everywhere. But because this army was under General Li's command of the 72nd Army, all your departments were rendered speechless.
Li Shaoyi didn't pay much attention to the commendations mentioned in the newspapers. "If we were fighting solely for these kinds of awards," he thought, "we'd probably still be haggling with those people in the Ministry of Military Affairs. We fight for the entire country and its people. Saying that might sound a bit pretentious, but that's truly what I believe."
Currently, due to the large-scale occupation of our land by the Japanese army, many people in the country are in a state of decline, meaning many have lost their confidence to resist. Under these circumstances, Li Shaoyi's action can be seen as a shot in the arm for them, showing them that even if the Japanese occupy our territory, so what? As long as we stand firm, we can come and go freely in the Japanese-occupied areas.
Although the Japanese did not disclose the number of casualties during this operation, the Second Division had a rough estimate of the number, capturing a total of more than 6900 people, all of whom were killed in the temporary prisoner-of-war camps.
The number of Japanese soldiers killed along the way was even greater. According to a rough estimate by the 2nd Division, at least [number missing] Japanese soldiers died on our advance. Although they belonged to different divisions, if you add them all up, it would be equivalent to an entire division being wiped out by the 2nd Division.
When the 2nd Infantry Division reported this number, the Nationalist government immediately exaggerated it by a factor of two. Such situations were common during wartime. To boost the morale of our demoralized citizens and troops, the numbers were inflated to show everyone the glory of our victory.
The Japanese side initially did not intend to release these figures, as any number they released would be seen as a defeat, given the staggering casualty ratio of 1:10 between them and the 2nd Infantry Division. Therefore, they initially wanted to remain silent, but seeing the increasingly intense reports from the Nationalist government's newspapers, they had no choice but to release the true casualties of their intercepting forces, reporting a ratio of 1:8, meaning they suffered heavy losses.
When this number came out, many Chinese people were truly happy. They didn't believe the figures released by the Nationalist government, nor did they believe the figures released by the Japanese, because the Nationalist government's figures were too exaggerated.
The figures released by the Japanese have significantly reduced the number of casualties. However, considering the proportion of casualties, the actual number is still substantial. Even if we consider human casualties, given the current situation, this is one of the few victories we have achieved domestically.
Of course, the most important thing is that the 2nd Infantry Division announced that a total of more than 1090 soldiers were killed in action, more than 870 were seriously wounded, and more than 4000 were slightly wounded.
The seriously wounded and fallen soldiers are unlikely to return to the battlefield. The other lightly wounded soldiers, after treatment, are able to return to their original battlefields. Our casualty ratio compared to the Japanese was an astonishing 1:8.
This data was unprecedented on other battlefields. So when the data from both sides came out, the Japanese originally intended to suppress the Nationalist government's figure of nearly 4 casualties. Unexpectedly, the data they released made the entire Chinese people happy.