Chapter 26: Investigation
Zhou Lin set his sights on these dozen or so individuals.
The people in the garrison must be from the Guard Regiment. They are all soldiers, unlikely to be involved in military plans.
Normally, an operation like the Seventh Division's surprise attack is highly confidential. Officers below the rank of camp commander wouldn't be privy to it.
According to the records, the Seventh Division received orders at 5 p.m.
After 5 o'clock, the Seventh Division began its preparations. They held a meeting of officers ranked captain and above, where the operational orders were announced.
At 7 o'clock, the entire Seventh Division assembled.
At 7:30, the Seventh Division left the military camp.
At 11 o'clock, the Seventh Division entered the combat zone.
At 5:30 in the morning the next day, just as the day was breaking, the Seventh Division launched their attack. They pressed forward with full force.
The front soldiers fell, and the ones behind surged forward.
The battle lasted for an hour, and at 6:30, the Seventh Division discovered that there was a Japanese brigade engaged in combat.
Immediately, they telegraphed the situation to the war zone.
The war zone ordered the Seventh Division to withdraw.
At this time, a thousand Japanese troops cut off the Seventh Division's retreat.
The Seventh Division's breakout attempt failed.
At 8 o'clock, the entire Seventh Division was annihilated.
Afterward, military experts investigated the Seventh Division's operational situation.
They concluded that the Seventh Division Commander's operational plan was not flawed.
The issue lay in the fact that within a few hours, the Japanese dispatched a brigade to the vicinity of the ammunition depot and hastily set up a battlefield.
It can be affirmed that the Japanese obtained intelligence in advance, knowing that the Chinese army was going to attack the ammunition depot.
So, the Japanese temporarily adjusted their deployment, bringing in a brigade from a battlefield 30 kilometers away to besiege the Seventh Division.
After the battle, this brigade returned to its original station.
It is said that this order came directly from the Japanese Shanghai commander. No one knows what they discussed.
After receiving the commander's call, the Japanese brigade discreetly entered the vicinity of the ammunition depot in batches.
All military experts agree: the Japanese obtained the Seventh Division's operational plan in advance.
The Seventh Division's operational plan leaked after the meeting of officers at the captain level and above.
At that time, during wartime, all radio stations in the Seventh Division were not allowed to be used.
So, the traitor could not send a telegram externally.
Therefore, the only place the traitor could report to was in this market outside the Seventh Division.
In other words, there was a Japanese contact point in the market.
The traitor handed over the information to the Japanese contact. The Japanese contact used a telegram to report it.
If they relied on human runners, then that brigade wouldn't have arrived so quickly around the ammunition depot.
Future experts have analyzed it. The more than ten people who didn't go to the battlefield are highly suspicious.
Zhou Lin also agreed with this statement.
However, among the more than ten people, who could it be? Excluding the ten from the Guard Regiment, there are seven remaining.
Three are dormitory managers who stayed to guard the military camp.
These three can be ruled out. They are not qualified to attend meetings of officers at the captain level and above. Even in meetings at the company level, they wouldn't be included.
After this exclusion, four people remain.
As fate would have it, these four people all have reasons.
One is the deputy division commander, who was hit in the thigh by a stray bullet in the previous battle and has been in the hospital in Zhaxi.
Another is also a deputy division commander, who three days ago took leave to return to Nanjing because his father passed away. Coincidentally, there were no combat missions at that time, so his leave was approved. He didn't make it back when the Seventh Division acted.
The third person is the deputy director of logistics. He is in charge of the camp's supplies, so he stays behind to guard the warehouse.
The last person is a staff officer from the staff office. He had a sudden attack of appendicitis and was taken to the hospital for surgery.
Military experts speculate that this staff officer is the most suspicious.
Firstly, he knew about the orders from the war zone earlier than others. He was the one who answered the phone at that time. Later, he called the division commander into the room.
The room wasn't soundproof, and the division commander's voice reached him.
Secondly, he didn't have to attend meetings of officers at the captain level and above due to his rank. However, since he knew about it in advance, he is considered an informed person.
Thirdly, the timing of the appendicitis was too precise. It happened just when the division commander was gathering people for a meeting. The division commander thought he didn't know the inside story, so he approved his surgery.
Fourthly, this person disappeared after the surgery.
Of the seventeen people who survived in the Seventh Division, he was the only one missing.
He certainly knew he couldn't escape, so he took the opportunity to escape from the hospital.
Even decades later, there was no news of him.
In Zhou Lin's mind, things quickly became clear.
However, this time was short, only the time it took to smoke a cigarette.
Zhou Lin took out another cigarette and handed it to Wang Hong. "Captain, I have a suggestion for you."
"Go ahead!"
Zhou Lin said, "Someone has informed me about the situation in the Seventh Division. If there are issues with the people in the Seventh Division, it's among these ten."
"Which ten people?"
Zhou Lin mentioned two deputy division commanders, a logistics deputy director, and a staff officer. For the remaining six, Zhou Lin arranged three from the dormitory guards, the deputy company commander, and two company commanders from the Guard Regiment.
These three guards from the Guard Regiment were the three survivors that night.
Captain Wang took out a notebook and pen, jotting down the names of these ten people.
He had unconditional trust in Zhou Lin because, in the previous Japanese special case, Zhou Lin's actions were very correct.
It was this case that promoted him from captain to major. Moreover, he went from being in the miscellaneous army's Military Statistics Dare to Die Team to the main force of the National Army, becoming the deputy director of political work.
The original director of political work definitely wouldn't come back, so there was a chance for him to be officially promoted.
You should know, that the director of political work is a colonel.
"Zhou Lin, what do you think about assigning people to keep an eye on them?" Captain Wang asked.
Zhou Lin: "Of course, keep an eye on them. But under no circumstances should you use people from the original political work department. It's best to use personnel from the 20th Squad. However, don't use the political work department's people to watch the deputy division commander in the hospital. Just by getting close, he'll know and suspect you're onto him. In the hospital, there are at least five people around him. Once they recognize people from the political work department, they will report to him."
Captain Wang nodded. "This is troublesome."
Zhou Lin said, "What's troublesome? As the captain, you can choose from the people in the original company, right?"
Captain Wang slapped his thigh. "Right! Why didn't I think of this? Those people have no connections with the Seventh Division, and they are reliable when it comes to handling affairs. I'll go find the bureau chief and request it. I should be able to bring in some people."
Zhou Lin said, "If you can bring in people, deploy them outside. Once someone from these ten leaves the military camp, the political work department's people shouldn't follow them. Let the external personnel handle it."
Zhou Lin knew that soon, something would happen to someone in the Seventh Division.
One is the deputy division commander who went home on leave. There's also the staff officer; did he escape on his own, or was he eliminated by someone?
(End of this chapter)