blenderwars #215 - The Japanese are surrounded by enemies on all sides
#215 - The Japanese are surrounded by enemies on all sides
Ze Zhou, headquarters of the Japanese devils.
Okamoto Yasuyuki, of the 36th Division, felt a little uneasy.
Although there were no signs yet that the Eighth Route Army in southeastern Shanxi was about to launch an attack, the enemy, the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army, was unusually fierce. With major battles erupting in most areas of Shanxi, there was no reason for the Eighth Route Army's top main force to lie down and sleep.
Although the First Army Headquarters only informed the various divisions and brigades of the recent battle situation, and had not yet issued any instructions, Okamoto was undoubtedly the most tormented after receiving the news.
The Taiyue Military Region, confronting his 36th Division, had more than 50,000 main force troops alone. For this garrison division with only three main infantry regiments, the pressure was enormous.
Because there were indications that the Taiyue Military Region's troops had more than 100 heavy artillery pieces!
This data was compiled from the reports of the suicidal Imperial Japanese Army during the Luzhou defense battle, encountering artillery attacks. It was truly a bloody lesson.
"Order, all troops in Lingchuan to retreat completely, concentrate the Lingchuan Gendarmerie Corps and the 4th Regiment of southern Shanxi to Gaoping for defense. At the same time, shrink the third-level strongholds in villages and towns, and comprehensively strengthen the security of traffic line strongholds from Gaoping to Zezhou to Jiyuan."
Okamoto, the little devil, paced around for more than ten minutes before finally making up his mind.
Concentrate the core strength first to ensure the security of his main traffic lines.
Now, the Zhongtiao Mountain and Qinshui guerrillas were active, which was not a good thing for the Imperial Japanese Army.
Lingchuan was isolated, relying on a gendarmerie corps and a puppet army regiment. If the Taiyue Military Region took any major action, it would be like leaving food out for delivery, unable to stop the attack of the Eighth Route Army's main regiments.
The 222nd Regiment and an artillery company were stationed in the Gaoping area, plus the Second Division of the puppet army (more than 3,000 people). Relying on the city, they could hold out for more than a week.
Near Zezhou, there were the 223rd Regiment and the 224th Regiment, as well as the 36th Mountain Artillery Regiment, plus infantry converted from engineers and quartermasters, and the First Division of the puppet army stationed locally. Okamoto felt somewhat confident that he could hold on.
But he could only shrink back and survive. Now, besides begging the Amaterasu Great Goddess to pay attention and not encounter an attack by a large force of the Eighth Route Army, he couldn't think of any other way.
As one of the high-level generals, Okamoto knew that the North China Front Army Headquarters had no good tricks to solve this crisis.
The attacks in the Lüliang Mountains and Wutai Mountains areas made the little devils in Shanxi smell an ominous sign, because in the face of such a situation, the First Army in Shanxi actually had a feeling of helplessness. The First Army Headquarters had not come up with a countermeasure even more than 6 hours after receiving the news.
This was a very obvious signal. Because the main force of the Eighth Route Army in Taihang and Taiyue had not moved, now the little devils of the First Army Headquarters, as well as the little devils of the North China Front Army Staff Department, could not figure out what the ultimate purpose of this sudden attack by the Eighth Route Army was?
Unlike the previous sabotage warfare, which was simply to break the little devils' prison blockade.
But this time, they directly attacked county towns and other large and medium-sized strongholds, seemingly wanting to take down Shanxi in one fell swoop.
This made the First Army and the North China Front Army staff members fall into fierce quarrels. Some believed it was absolutely impossible, and some believed that the Eighth Route Army might just do that.
With the loss of one county town after another, the little devils of the First Army finally reacted, ordering the little devils and puppet troops in the strongholds in these two areas to temporarily withdraw to the traffic line strongholds near the Tongpu Railway, concentrating their forces to ensure the security of the Tongpu Railway.
In their view, they could not figure out the intention of this wave of attacks by the Eighth Route Army for the time being, so they should protect their most important things first.
The Eighth Route Army did not figure out the little devils' movements so quickly, so according to the prior deployment, Lüliang and Wutai moved first to see if they could mobilize some of the main force reinforcements of the Taiyuan First Army to reduce some obstacles to the Taiyue Military Region's offensive.
But the little devils' main force shrank back this time, which made the Eighth Route Army Headquarters and the Border Region Staff Department somewhat stunned.
According to the little devils' consistent tradition, they must rescue when there is difficulty, but this time it was very abnormal, allowing the little devils in those county towns to be divided and eaten, without moving the air force or the ground army. This was a bit difficult to deal with.
However, the Headquarters did not stop the plan for the Second Southeastern Shanxi Campaign because the enemy's movements did not move.
According to the planned schedule, on the third day after the launch of the Lüliang and Wutai campaigns, a main force of Taihang moved to Quanyang and launched a Pingding attack, while another main force left Qipan Mountain and attacked Taigu, with the spearhead pointing directly at Taiyuan Airport.
This was like poking a hornet's nest, and the First Army was indeed mobilized.
The 59th Brigade (Independent Infantry 82nd, 83rd, 84th, 85th Battalions) and the Mountain Artillery Battalion and Cavalry Battalion of the 69th Division urgently dispatched to support Taigu.
In this way, nearly three brigade's worth of little devils were firmly attracted.
The little devils in Shanxi, who were stretched thin, no longer had any extra mobile forces to send out as reinforcements.
In this situation, the Brigade Commander indeed began to act. After two days and one night of movement, the Independent Regiment, the New Third Regiment, and the New Fourth Regiment went south out of Qinshui, sweeping away the little devils' strongholds near Yangcheng like lightning, and surrounding the Yangcheng little devils, leaving them no room to escape.
After 4 hours of shelling, the inside men in the city turned against the Third Regiment of the puppet army and opened a city gate. The Independent Regiment rushed into the city like a tide and wiped out the little devils' Gendarmerie Corps and Secret Service Team in less than 6 hours!
Kong Jie's New Second Regiment left Zhongtiao Mountain, cleared the little devils' strongholds ten kilometers east of Zezhou, and controlled the southeast exit.
The main force of the New First Regiment appeared west of Gaoping. Around Gaoping, the 16th Regiment, the 17th Regiment, the 18th Regiment, and the 20th Regiment, all Class B regiments, surrounded Gaoping tightly.
The Brigade Commander personally led the 20th Regiment, the 25th Regiment, the 38th Regiment, the 54th Regiment, the 55th Regiment, the 56th Regiment, and the Artillery Regiment to cross Gaoping and surround Zezhou. Together with the four main force regiments that arrived earlier, such as the Independent Regiment, they surrounded the little devils in Zezhou, leaving no room for escape.
The 59th Regiment went to occupy Lingchuan, which the little devils had withdrawn from, and guarded the Baijing of the Taihang Eight Paths, which the little devils came from the east.
Overnight, the situation in southeastern Shanxi changed!
The Brigade Commander staged a modern version of Ambush from Ten Sides for Okamoto.
The 771st Regiment and the 772nd Regiment, two main forces, were ready but not launched. Now, no one knew where the Brigade Commander had hidden them.
"Baga, the main purpose of the Eighth Route Army is southern Shanxi. They were obviously not satisfied with taking Luzhou before. The target of this large-scale attack is still southern Shanxi!"
In the First Army Staff Department, Nan Shan Xiuji roared to the entire staff group, "We cannot sit idly by and watch Okamoto's 36th Division commit suicide. This is not just a problem of southern Shanxi, but once the 36th Division commits suicide, we will no longer be able to stop the Eighth Route Army's strategy for the entire Shanxi!"
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"Gentlemen, if the 36th Division cannot stop the Eighth Route Army's attack, how can the Imperial Japanese Army stop the Eighth Route Army in Quanyang, in Fengling, or even in Taiyuan?"
"This is the worst situation. We must request the North China Front Army, and even the Imperial Headquarters, to launch a full-scale rescue of the 36th Division, and take this opportunity to counterattack the main force of the Eighth Route Army. Maybe we can reverse the unfavorable situation in the entire Shanxi."
"Let Okamoto-kun hold on for more than a month, and our North China Front Army can gather more than 4 divisions to use troops in Shanxi and realize a central flowering. This is our only chance to turn the tables."
Nan Shan Xiuji's eyes were full of madness. He was actually gambling heavily.
This was the usual practice of the little devils. When fate came to a crossroads, they liked to use gambling to complete the last nail on their coffin.
According to the mobile forces that the North China Front Army can now mobilize, it may be possible to gather 4 divisions with all its strength, such as gathering the Front Army's 26th Division, 63rd Division, 110th Division, and 35th Division.
But in this way, the devil's North China defense would become riddled with holes. The 26th Division was in Yunzhong, and it had to face the pressure from northwestern Shanxi and the risk of the Sebei Military Region going south from Jiuyuan; while the 110th Division was in Shijiazhuang, which was also a key node to control the activities of the Taihang main force and the Jin-Cha-Ji main force; the 35th Division defended Bianliang and had to face the First War Zone of the National Government.
Only the 63rd Division, as a mobile force in Beiping, prevented the Jin-Cha-Ji troops from attacking Tianjin, which was slightly more mobile.
Nan Shan Xiuji's approach was a crazy gamble, betting that the Eighth Route Army in other places would not be able to attack after these troops were transferred out.
"Xiuji-kun, you are playing with fire."
Iwasong Yoshio shook his head and directly rejected Nan Shan Xiuji's suggestion. "In North China, we do not have the ability to transfer 4 divisions to rescue the 36th Division. Otherwise, if Zezhou is a ruse by the Eighth Route Army to lure the tiger away from the mountain, then our North China will even have the risk of collapsing."
"If the 26th Division leaves Yunzhong, the defense will be so empty that the Eighth Route Army will only need to dispatch three or five main regiments to take down our garrison troops in one fell swoop. Their current heavy weapons have greatly reduced the power of city defense. Our city walls cannot stop the 107 rockets in the hands of the Eighth Route Army."
"If Yunzhong is lost, our northern barrier of Taiyuan will be lost. Next, northern Shanxi will collapse completely. Now Lüliang and Wutai are already very bad. If the 26th Division leaves, I think northern Shanxi will be completely lost in less than a month."
Iwasong Yoshio was much calmer than Nan Shan Xiuji.
He even put himself in his shoes and regarded this as a conspiracy, which was so terrifying to think about.
Nan Shan Xiuji looked at the map and was also frightened by Iwasong Yoshio's words!
"But then we just sit idly by and watch the 36th Division commit suicide?"
Nan Shan Xiuji said somewhat dejectedly.
"Of course not! We must strongly advise Commander Gangcun of the North China Front Army that it is a critical moment to request the Kwantung Army to go south! As long as the Kwantung Army mobilizes 4 divisions to go south, everything will be solved!"
Iwasong Yoshio slapped the table hard.
First update.