Chapter XIII: Chi-Go Sakusen
Part III: March 27 – May 15
At midday on the 27th, Okamura was shifted out of Hanoi to amphibiously land on the beaches of Zhanjiang. Itagaki was performing the same maneuver, heaving earlier been moved southward from the eastern beachhead. Kawabe’s corps was bundled onto transports a day later and sat around waiting in the Gulf of Tonkin until Ishiwara’s corps finally captured Zhanjiang on the 29th, at which time his transports dashed into port. On the 30th, Okamura and Itagaki finally finished unloading the entirety of their corps. Within three days of the Chinese capture of Haiphong, we had placed four corps totaling twelve divisions on their flank. At 0600 on the 30th, Ishiwara began moving out of this beachhead, angling northwestward to march through Qinzhou to Bose. By April 1st, Itagaki and Okamura had joined in the advance: Itagaki by beginning his race toward Wenshan and Okamura by moving into QInzhou. Kawabe was to hold the original beachhead around Zhanjiang from any aggressive Chinese action from the outside.
Late on the 5th, the Chinese assaulted Lianyuangang with six divisions, revealing a slight increase of forces. Fortunately, Imamura was ready to attack Xuzhou yet again, and thus the Chinese attack came to nothing, though at the cost of quite heavy casualties again. This event was, however, eclipsed by the failure of Itagaki’s dash on the 7th. Namely, in Bose he ran into an army of nine divisions, including at least one mountain division, commanded by the very capable General Le Duan. At the very same time, he came under attack in Qinzhou from Haiphong by the competent General Liu Jianxu, with seven divisions of which one was armored. He was thrown back to Zhanjiang quickly and Hata ordered Ishiwara and Okamura to halt their own advances; some quick thinking was in order.
Fortunately, Hata was up to this new task. His first orders were for Okamura to supply himself for an extended and rapid offensive and make for Jiangmen on the Chinese coast, encircling Maoming. This circuitous path would bring him to Wuzhou southeast of the Imperial Capital of Guilin, but it would end with an unknown number of Chinese divisions encircled and then destroyed in Maoming. Ishiwara would follow in his footsteps, but halting at Wuzhou to hold the second of the four provinces that constituted Okamura’s path. On the 11th, Hata added a new dimension to this plan as he sent Itagaki barreling toward Bose again, through which Le Duan’s army had only passed; this time however Itagaki would race through Nanning. However, Hata realized that the forces available could not possibly be enough and decided to take an incredible risk. Kawabe was sent into Nanning as well, and Hata and Yamashita transported their units from Hanoi to Zhanjiang. Yamashita was to garrison Zhanjiang while Hata moved northward into Nanning as well. By the 18th of April this maneuver had been completed. Hanoi was completely undefended.
On the 18th Itagaki, who had held his advance toward Bose when new Chinese units arrived there, renewed it as Hata and Kawabe joined their own corps to his. In the event, there was only one division in Bose, an infantry division commanded by the great defensive mind of Lieutenant General Lindemann. He was, however, thoroughly outclassed and quickly forced to pull back northward.
However, a mere two days later crisis struck the operation as the Chinese launched a massive attack against the very base of the offensive: Zhanjiang. The Chinese attacked from both sides, Qinzhou and Maoming, throwing eight divisions against Yamashita’s two. Forced to act incredibly quickly once again and having won in Bose, Hata ordered Okamura to break off his encirclement of Maoming, as he had yet to even leave the environs of Nanning, and attack Maoming without support from any other corps even though the Chinese were in unknown strength in that province. At the same time, Hata, Kawabe and Ishiwara attacked Qinzhou; Itagaki was to continue with his original mission and dash toward Wenshan.
Hata’s gamble concerning Maoming paid off; there was but a single Chinese division there under the command of Lieutenant General Wang Zuanxu and Okamura easily put it to flight. In Qinzhou the fighting was fiercer as nine Japanese divisions tangled with seven Chinese divisions, of which one was an armored division. However, within thirty-seven hours of beginning the battle Liu Jianxu was forced to retreat from Qinzhou back into Haiphong. Unfortunately, Yamashita could hold out only for thirteen hours, and at 0600 on the 21st he had begun withdrawing onto Hainan Island.
Unfortunately, with all eyes on this crisis, it was only noticed too late that the Chinese had been massing for another concentrated attack against our eastern bridgehead. Sugiyama was ejected from Lianyuangang early on the 22nd and later that same day Long Yun launched a large offensive against Nanjing, utilizing nine divisions, of which four were armored. I attacked toward Wuhu but immediately broke off, running into the defenses of all four of those armored divisions as well as those of two infantry divisions, all under the overall command of Gu Zhutong. Imamura did better, defeating the four infantry divisions under Long Yun around Hefei. As this was occuring, however, Sugiyama and Hata together decided upon a very drastic course of action and transports were sent up to Shanghai, arriving on the 24th. Also on the 24th, Sugiyama’s corps finally reached Nantong and he announced that the eastern beachhead would be evacuated totally. All four corps remaining in this beachhead began withdrawing toward Shanghai that same day.
On the 29th, the first corps to board transports at Shanghai, Yamada’s brave cavalry, reached Hanoi in time to begin a battle with ten Chinese divisions, including at least one mountain division, under the command of Field Marshal Chen Jitang. I am somewhat proud to mention that it was only with my arrival the next day, however, that Chen Jitang gave up the attack. The Chinese had, however, by this time extended their hold on northern Indochina by moving into Luang Prabang and had begun moving deeper into the area. On the 1st of May, Hata, Kawabe and Ishiwara reached Qinzhou and Hata ordered Okamura to follow Itagaki and hold on to Bose. Later that same day, Hata ordered Yamada and myself to attempt to eject the Chinese from Luang Prabang. The Chinese had, however, a corps of infantry commanded by the defensive Lieutenant General Lu Han in the area and, together with the heavily mountainous terrain, they stymied our efforts and Yamada decided to break off the attack early rather than exhaust our divisions attempting to batter their defenses.
Itagaki finally gained Bose on May 10th, only to be immediately counterattacked from Haiphong by Chen Jitang with nine divisions, including at least one mountain division. This counterattack drew a massive response from Hata and Sugiyama, who had by that time arrived in Hanoi with Imamura’s marines as well. Twenty-one divisions attacked Haiphong and wrecked Chen Jitang’s offensive though Hata and Sugiyama decided against pressing their offensive home just yet. By the 15th, Itagaki had finally reached Wenshan and Okamura had taken over the defense of Bose. As there was no possibility of passage between Luang Prabang and Jinghong, the considerable Chinese armies that had been in southern China guarding against Hata’s one army had been greatly outmaneuvered and encircled largely by that same one army they were supposed to guard against. The eastern beachhead had disappeared, but the southern front stood on the brink of returning to a war of maneuver.
Considerable Chinese armies had been encircled in northern Indochina by the 15th of May.
but thank you for reading, good sir! 
