Requesting tactical guidance was, in the Island Nation's Army, a request sent to higher command only when a unit had been driven into a desperate dead end. Once such a request was made, it meant the situation had deteriorated beyond all hope of change.
Lieutenant General Kawabe Masazō knew full well that since Lieutenant General Sakurai Shōzō and Lieutenant General Honda Masanori had sent such a telegram, it undoubtedly meant they had run out of options regarding the current situation.
But Lieutenant General Kawabe Masazō had no other options either! Although the Netherlands East Indies Expeditionary Army still had several divisions and independent mixed brigades under its command, and still possessed considerable combat strength, the German defensive line was solid, its firepower formidable, and its air support far superior to that of the Island Nation's Army. Now that the German Navy had also appeared, all of this meant that the Island Nation's Army's landing plan would likely end in failure.
Even if they continued sending reinforcements to eastern Borneo, they probably still would not be able to change that outcome. Moreover, doing so would only make their losses grow ever greater.
"Mr. Nakahashi, what do you think we should do now?" Lieutenant General Kawabe Masazō asked.
"Commander, the 28th Army and the 33rd Army lost more than fifty thousand men this time! They have already suffered severe blows. Although we still have five infantry divisions and three independent mixed brigades, totaling more than a hundred thousand troops, even if we sent all of them to Borneo, I fear it would still be difficult to break the deadlock," Major General Nakahashi Tarō said.
Lieutenant General Kawabe Masazō nodded. This was what worried him as well. If they could not gain a firm foothold on Borneo and instead caused their losses to