"Okabe-kun, what do you think of the 109th Division's proposal!" Indoor Shroud gently put the message in his hand on the desk and looked at his lieutenant general, chief of staff, expressionlessly.
The message in his hand came from the headquarters of the 109th Division, requesting the front army headquarters to dispatch troops to exterminate the Chinese troops hiding in the Taihang Mountains in eastern Shanxi. Otherwise, the ministries would not be able to be disturbed, even the Handan-Changchang Highway.
Important transportation lines cannot be guaranteed to be safe.
It was difficult for Saburo Okabe to judge the true thoughts of his commander. After pondering for a moment, he still maintained his usual caution: "I believe that although the suggestions in Yamaoka-dono's telegram are suspected of seeking quick success and instant benefit, from the perspective of the interests of the empire, they are not
Not impossible.
The Chinese army in the Taihang Mountains in eastern Jin Dynasty is getting stronger day by day. If it is allowed to continue to develop, they may one day dare to face the Imperial Army head-on. If we try to destroy them at that time, we may have to pay a higher price than now!"
"It seems that Okabe-kun agrees!" Indoor Shroud nodded, but the expression on his face did not change much, and asked again. "I wonder how many troops Okabe-kun thinks the front army will need to enter the mountains and kill these Chinese troops.
And what troops are attached to it?”
"My subordinates believe that because the Taihang Mountains are difficult to defend and difficult to attack, and our army is entering the mountains to fight and is unfamiliar with its geographical terrain, we need to invest more troops, even more than the Chinese, to ensure victory."
Saburo Okabe thought about it carefully and answered.
The corner of the shroud's mouth twitched slightly without any trace, his eyelids lowered and he looked at the map spread on the table, waving his hand to signal Saburo Okabe to continue.
Seeing that the shroud in the room did not express any objection, Saburo Okabe became bold and continued: "I suggest that the 16th Division be transferred to the east of Shanxi, with it as the main force, supplemented by the 108th and 109th Divisions, and divided into 9 groups.
Attack the locations where the Chinese are entrenched. If the Chinese escape, our army will burn down all the Chinese villages they see along the way and kill all the Chinese who helped them.
If they don’t run away to confront our army, that’s good, kill them all! Eliminate the disaster in one fell swoop!”
The shroud in the room couldn't help but raised his head suddenly, looking at his usually low-key and reserved chief of staff, his eyes sparkling.
Being able to name these three divisions shows that he has convinced these three division commanders, but it is not terrible to use three divisions with nearly 80,000 troops. What is terrible is the evil thoughts of this army lieutenant general. It is really not something ordinary people can do.
You can think of it.
With a permanent division of 30,000 people as the main force and two ad hoc divisions of 50,000 people as the supplement, the strength is almost the same when compared to the remaining 200,000 to 300,000 Chinese troops in Jin Province, let alone a few Chinese infantry divisions.
enough.
Basically, the Chinese only have one way to escape from the mountains, but this man seems to have anticipated this outcome. Therefore, his real purpose is not to destroy the Chinese troops who are destined to flee, but the Chinese people in the mountains.
The main reason why the 921st Division was able to slowly develop in the mountains was that the Chinese in the mountains provided them with houses and food. This was something the Japanese army knew very well.
What Saburo Okabe means is that the Chinese army can escape, but the Chinese people who have lived in the mountains for generations cannot escape. Burning the villages of those Chinese people and killing them is equivalent to digging up the roots of the Chinese army.
They tried to come back again, but there was nothing.
This is truly a desperate measure.
Cruel enough, poisonous enough! But extremely useful.
After digging out the roots of the Chinese army, the Chinese army is nothing but rootless, isn’t it?
Even the shroud in the room felt the urge to agree to him at that moment.
But unfortunately, the current indoor shroud has long lost the high spirits he had when he first arrived in North China half a year ago. His mind is no longer on the feudal princes, but on how to stop making mistakes and successfully hand over the position of commander.
I can feel at ease now that I can return to my country and serve as a good military advisor. Maybe I can make a comeback in two or three years.
Therefore, the Japanese army general's eyes quickly dimmed, and he nodded and said: "Okabe-kun's suggestion is good, but I wonder if Okabe-kun has ever considered a problem. Opposite the 109th Division is the nearly 100,000 Jinsui Army. The 16th
The division is facing tens of thousands of Chinese Central Army elites. If they withdraw their entire army and enter eastern Shanxi, and the hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops who have lost their oppression take advantage of the situation to counterattack, what should our army do?"
"Your Excellency, Commander, the Chinese army is already struggling under the pressure of our army. If you can give them a certain breathing space, they are already very satisfied. If you want to say that they dare to take advantage of our army's empty strength to fight back, I judge that they have no such ability.
courage.
Moreover, our front army still has part of the Fifth Division in Jinzhong and the 20th Division in Shimen, which can reach the front line at any time. On the Beiping-Tianjin side, there are also two mixed brigades in Zhengodadan. Major General Yamashita has always hoped to lead his troops.
Go on an expedition." Okabe Saburo heard the shroud's intention to avoid the battle and quickly explained.
At this time, the Japanese North China Front was definitely Japan's largest military group in China, with more than 12 division-level troops and a total strength of nearly 400,000. Otherwise, it would not have the strength to participate in the Battle of Xuzhou while also fighting against the Japanese.
Hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops are fighting in Jin Province, and they also need to consolidate the territory they have already occupied?
Even so, they still have some remaining strength. At least two mixed brigades and one division are mobile forces.
As the Chief of Staff of the Front Army, Saburo Okabe could not directly mobilize, but he had a clear understanding of the strength of the Front Army. He hoped that Indoor Shroud could be persuaded.
Unfortunately, he underestimated the stubbornness of a person who was about to lose his power.
For Indoor Shroud at this time, even if this battle was successful, it would wipe out the Chinese civilians in the mountains completely, completely cutting off the foundation of the Chinese army, and achieving the previously formulated strategy, but for him
Say, what's the benefit?
Because the military order for his resignation as commander of the North China Front Army has been signed by His Majesty the Emperor. Now he is just waiting for the army base camp to decide on his successor. The emperor will never tear up the signed order just because he won a small victory.
Military orders coming soon.
And if this battle is not fought well and the army that breaks into the mountains and suppresses it suffers heavy losses, then whose head will this account be recorded on?
Undoubtedly, he was still the commander of the front army who signed the military order.
The battle at Taierzhuang had already caused him, a general commander, to lose his position. Now, if he returns to China, can he announce his retirement directly?
To put it bluntly, if the battle is over, he won't be able to eat meat, and if the battle is bad, he will be spanked by the board. Only indoor shrouds are crazy to agree to fight this battle.
Perhaps Saburo Okabe, the chief of staff, was the only beneficiary. If the battle was successful, he would have half of the credit. If the battle was not successful, there would be a general commander in front who had been weak in commanding recently.
Indoor Shouti knew this better than anyone else. He just wanted to see how impatient he, the lieutenant general and chief of staff, was.
From the very beginning, it was destined that Saburo Okabe's ambitions would only come to nothing.
"Really! Major General Yamashita is eager to fight? Oh! Then let him lead his troops to the east of Shanxi. First, he will assist the 108th Division in guarding the Handan-Changchang Highway. After our front army has solved the enemy in Xuzhou, it will then advance to Jin Province.
All remaining enemies will launch a full-scale attack, and at that time, they will give him a chance to show off his talents." Indoor Shroud replied calmly.
"Your Excellency, Commander, what Your Excellency, the Commander of the Yamaoka Division said" Saburo Okabe, who had already felt that he had just dared to talk nonsense for a long time, looked ugly, but still made his last effort.
"Tell Shan Gang Houshou that according to the Imperial Army's strategy, the front army's current operational focus is in Xuzhou. Whether it is logistics or army aviation, they will allocate resources to Xuzhou. If he is confident that he can still inflict heavy damage on the enemy in the mountains without the front army providing air support.
, I can sign and agree to his battle plan." Indoor shroud didn't even bother to raise his eyelids. He raised his hand to take out a writing brush from the pen holder, and spread a piece of rice paper on the table, as if he was about to write.
Its general meaning is just like ordinary people picking up a broom and sweeping the floor.
"Hi! I will convey the commander's wishes to him." Saburo Okabe's face turned red, he nodded to the shroud in the room with difficulty, and turned to leave.
He knew that the battle plan he had made with the three lieutenant general commanders of the 108th, 109th and 16th Divisions was completely ruined.
Saburo Okabe had no ambition to rise to the rank of commander of the front army. There were many important generals under the command of the North China Front Army, including Sakamoto Shiro, Madoka Doi, Isotani Suke, Kagawa Tsukasa, and other veteran lieutenant generals who were not in charge of the elite army, no matter how they were ranked.
Not to him, the lieutenant general chief of staff who came to gild.
He is trying to accumulate military exploits for his return to the Kwantung Army. The positions of the Kwantung Army's master corps are also very popular, and there are many people who want to go. Although the bosses above have already made promises, as long as he does not take office, it is not a sure thing.
He has to make more efforts on his own.
Unexpectedly, the old fox in the indoor shroud would rather not do it than enjoy the beauty of adulthood. If he had known that he would have enjoyed the beauty of the island given to him a few days ago, leaving this old immortal to eat leftovers, Okabe Saburo was angry in his heart as he walked.
complaining.
As for what Indoor Shroud said that the 109th Division could fight on his own if he wanted to, he could sign and agree, but Saburo Okabe didn't take it to heart at all.
Not to mention the battle a few days ago, the 5,000 troops led by Gu Tengchang were still beaten to a pulp by an infantry regiment. Even without that battle, the 109th Division would not have charged into the mountains as a division.
.
China's 921st Division is simply a group of lunatics. They will turn that mountain into a cemetery for the 109th Division.
The Japanese army has temporarily given up its plan to invade the Taihang Mountains, but this does not mean that the Chinese army in the Taihang Mountains will take it lightly.
In order to prevent Japanese retaliation, the 921st Division launched an extensive message tree plan around the garrison.
That is, every village must have militiamen standing guard on the hills. Once the Japanese soldiers are found, they will immediately knock down the half-cut trees on the hills. The whole village, young and old, must be moved immediately. The garrisoned soldiers will immediately move to the nearest village.
Report to the nearest garrison.
The 921st Division Headquarters will organize various departments to carry out corresponding interceptions based on the number of invading Japanese troops.
The 683rd Brigade was even more threatened this time. Not only did they not hold another celebration banquet, but they also used the captured Japanese arms to quickly replace 12 all-Japanese infantry companies. The rifles they replaced were piled up like mountains.
Didn't say it was empty.
Perhaps Brigadier Cheng had already planned to draw an infantry company from the 772nd Regiment and the 771st Regiment as the backbone, draw two infantry companies from the supplementary regiment, and gather militiamen from 50 villages around the station to form a brand new infantry regiment.
It's called the Independent Group.
Battalion Commander Xiao Ding, whom Tang Dao had longed for, was directly appointed as the leader of the independent regiment by Brigadier Cheng Da, completely putting an end to Tang Dao's thoughts.
In the past time and space, this young battalion commander died in the position of battalion commander at the end of this year. Now he has become the regiment commander. Like his former regiment commander, he has embarked on a different path from the past.
Perhaps, our destiny will be different from before!
After this battle, the strength of the 683 brigade directly increased by nearly 1,500 people. It has two main regiments, 771 and 772, a supplementary regiment, and two reserve regiments, an independent regiment, totaling four infantry regiments. Together with the troops directly under the brigade, the total strength exceeds 10,000.
As for the Four Lines Regiment, Tang Dao dispatched a special squadron to conduct daily latent reconnaissance training. It sent out about 10 groups of 20 people every day. One group of people will survive in the wild for 48 hours, and the maximum reconnaissance range is 15 kilometers away from the station.
Obviously, it is extremely unreasonable for such a high-intensity reconnaissance operation to be carried out by only 60 special forces.
After the battle at Xiangtangpu, the Special Forces Squadron first announced to the entire regiment a plan to expand into a reconnaissance company and recruited troops from the entire regiment.
As long as they pass the assessment, they can become reserve soldiers of the reconnaissance company. In addition to the original military salary, each person will receive an additional five yuan monthly subsidy.
This is also the standard of pay for the former officers and men of the Special Forces Squadron that is different from other officers and men of the Fourth Army Regiment. They are trained the hardest and are often located in the most dangerous battlefields during battles. They have better food and treatment, and receive higher military pay. No one can say anything.
Tang Dao also personally issued military orders to each battalion and company. The reconnaissance company wanted the best of the best. No battalion or company could stop anyone the reconnaissance company liked.
Obviously, Tang Tuanzuo's military order could not stop those company commanders who valued their one-third-acre land extremely. On the surface, they did not dare, but in private, they did enough homework, so that in the beginning
Two days later, let alone the assessment organized by Lao Hei and Gu Xishui, there were only a few applicants.
Then, Tang Tuanzuo had no choice but to come up with his trump card: as long as he sent an elite officer to the reconnaissance company, the battalion and company would be supplemented by five recruits, rewarded with a cigarette and ten pounds of toffee, and when the new standard pistol was installed in the troops
, based on the number of soldiers transported by that infantry company, and the equipment will be arranged according to the ranking.
There are not many things, and I don’t know when the pistols will be installed, but it is an honor to transport elite soldiers to rank.
The company-level commander didn't want his infantry company to be looked down upon by his reconnaissance company. In the end, his infantry company ranked last, which would be an embarrassment.
Even someone as stingy as Li Jijin couldn't stand it after seeing Tang Tuanzuo's 'murderous and soul-destroying' reward plan, and instead ran to find Gu Xishui and use the back door.
"Brother, you know my brother. As long as your brother has needs, I, the brother, will do it for you even if I risk my life." Li Jijin's impassioned speech, if you don't know,
, Juebi will be moved to tears by him.
It's a pity that Gu Xishui is no longer the innocent young man he used to be. Especially two days ago, he went to Li Jijin to ask him to recommend some veterans. Veteran Youzi also slapped his chest loudly in front of him, and turned his face to
There are only three people in the special squadron's roster.
One of them is a new recruit who has just joined the army less than three months ago. Even if he performs well, he is still a new recruit and has participated in less than three battles in total. The other two are of high military age. They are both two-year soldiers at least, but those two are only one.
During the Battle of Beiganling, he was shot in the arm by a machine gun bullet and half of his arm was lost. He is still lying in the medical team. He was shot in the other head and is still awake.
Gu Xishui was so angry that he scolded her on the spot, but veteran Youzi only left a deputy company commander to receive Gu Xishui. In his words, the conversation was based on the corresponding level, and he didn't even show his face.
As a result, after Tang Tuanzuo performed this move, Li Jijin came over shamelessly and said he would do it for you even if he risked his life. Who the hell wants to believe his lies again?
If Gu Xishui didn't trust anyone, he rolled his eyes with a cold hum.
"Hey, why don't you believe your brother and me? You forgot that when our brothers rushed out of the warehouse with the regimental commander at Sihang Warehouse, did I rush in front of you?" Li Jijin jumped up directly.
Got up.
This is true. When the old soldier took the risk, it was true. But according to him later, his brain must have been crazy at that time. It was definitely crazy.
Facing this brother who didn't want Bilian, Gu Xishui lost his temper and stretched out his hand angrily: "Give me the list, there are less than fifteen. From now on, you are no longer my Jiujin brother, and I am not your Xishui brother."
"Damn it, you can guess this too, it's incredible, it's incredible." Li Jijin exclaimed indifferently.
The 15 people were the manpower he selected after weighing all the pros and cons. According to his estimate, half of the 15 people could be recruited, and a maximum of 10 people would be recruited. This would not strain the infantry company too much, nor would it be ranked last.
.
After all, the regiment has 9 infantry companies, 3 fire support companies, and several direct companies. As long as they are not ranked among the bottom three, the face will not be too ugly.
"Hmph! Who doesn't know that you, Captain Li Dal, are the worst of thieves? If you hadn't come to see me today, Captain Hei would have been so stingy with you that I wouldn't want any of the soldiers from your Seventh Company."
Gu Xishui snorted coldly.
"I'm bahting at him, old black, don't you believe it? You've grown up as an official, and you've forgotten how many brothers dug trenches one by one! He's not a good person, Xi Shui, don't imitate him.
." Li Jiujin jumped so high again.
"I'm going to scold you for being such a veteran. I'm just trying to imitate you, right? I just take care of your one-third of an acre of land every day." Lao Hei strode in from outside the house, but he also didn't give any advice to his old comrades.
Good look.
The two chief officers and deputy officers of the special squadron had been fed up with these company commanders in the past two days, and they would be damned if they didn't get them back now.
"Brother Hei is back. I've given you the list. Remember to give me some face during the assessment. Just take half of the 15 people, not too many and not too few. That's it. Let's go." In front of the old comrades,
Li Jijin has always said that if I am not embarrassed, you will be embarrassed. As soon as he reveals his true intentions, he immediately slaps his butt and leaves.
"This guy is really shrewd!" The two of them smiled bitterly at each other as they looked at the list that had no water at all this time.
They also knew that if a dozen elite veterans were selected from an infantry company at once and replaced with them as company commanders, they would probably have to make a jump.
But in this assessment, Tang Tuanzuo could say that the reconnaissance company would rather be lacking than excessive. If the infantry company was weakened by this, then he would find a way to make up for it.
The fact that Li Jijin came through the back door doesn't really mean much. The examiner, Tang Dao himself, didn't dare to do anything about it.
And this night, the reconnaissance company received registration lists from each company, with a total number of more than 300 people, all of whom were veterans, but the final number of admissions was only 100.
