"Nani?" Shinozuka Yoshio's eyes widened and he said with disbelief, "A farewell telegram from the Yamazaki detachment?"
"Hi!" Kasai Toshimatsu said suddenly, "Two minutes ago, Second Lieutenant Shiro Kato of the Yamazaki Detachment's communications team sent a request for help halfway through the telegram and changed it to a farewell telegram!"
The entire combat hall of the First Army was silent.
All the combat staff were stunned in place like statues, looking at each other in disbelief.
Kusuyama Hideyoshi's eyes widened with disbelief on his face.
How is this possible? The situation is obviously very good, so why do you suddenly send a farewell telegram?
Isn't this too fast?
Two hours ago, Yamazaki Yehei sent a telegram saying that Guanjianao was easy to defend but difficult to attack, and that Tubal Road was vulnerable and could hold on for at least two days.
Not long after this, the Yamazaki detachment sent a farewell telegram...
The situation is obviously very good. As long as the Yamazaki detachment can hold on until tomorrow morning, the peripheral mopping up troops will be able to arrive!
By then the main force of the Eighth Route Army will be eliminated.
Almost subconsciously, Shinozuka Yoshio and a group of combat staff looked at Kusuyama Hideyoshi, the initiator of this battle, and everyone's eyes were focused on his face.
Kusuyama Hideyoshi's face flushed red, his whole body trembled slightly with shame and anger, and the nails in his clenched fists almost dug into his flesh.
This battle plan was personally agreed upon by Yoshio Shinozuka and Shun Tada.
A tall man was responsible for the collapse of the sky, but he lost more than 1,300 elite Japanese troops in one fell swoop. He could not have no responsibility at all.
What on earth is Yamazaki Yehei doing?
Even if a pig is sent to lead troops to guard Guanjianao, it is impossible to be wiped out by the Eighth Route Army so quickly, right?
In addition to anger, Kusuyama Hideyoshi's brows furrowed tightly, almost twisting into the character "Chuan", and he was filled with confusion.
How did the Eighth Route Army capture the Guanjianao Highlands in two hours?
Even if the Eighth Route Army mobilized a large number of artillery, it would be impossible to capture the Guanjianao Highlands in such a short time, right?
Which link is the problem?
"Kusuyama-kun, are you okay?" Yoshio Shinozuka asked with a frown.
"Your Excellency, Commander." Kusuyama Hideyoshi took a deep breath and suppressed the doubts in his heart, "I am fine, Kasai-kun, please read the farewell telegram."
Since the Yamazaki Detachment has sent a farewell telegram, it means that the defeat of the Yamazaki Detachment is inevitable. The Yamazaki Detachment is now in the hinterland of the Eighth Route Army, and reinforcements are still dozens of kilometers away. Defeat means the entire army is annihilated.
I hope to find out the reason for the defeat from the Yamazaki detachment’s farewell telegram.
"Hi!" Kasai Toshimatsu paused, picked up the farewell telegram and started reading.
"Yamaki Zhongzuo Telegraph: Guanjianao Highlands was bombarded by at least three artillery regiments of the Eighth Route Army, resulting in heavy losses. The Eighth Route Army is currently launching a fierce attack on our position, requesting tactical guidance..."
The first sentence shocked Yoshio Shinozuka and Hideyoshi Kusuyama.
Three artillery regiments?
Since the Japanese army's communications troops did not understand the organization of the Eighth Route Artillery, they replaced it with artillery regiments. This was mainly because the Chinese army's artillery regiments were too few.
In fact, an artillery regiment of the Japanese army has about the same number of artillery pieces as an artillery regiment of the Chinese army.
According to the standards of a Class A division, an artillery regiment has 48 artillery pieces.
Generally, they are 75mm and 105mm artillery, and special units are equipped with large-caliber heavy artillery. Of course, this is the standard for Class A divisions, which is the highest standard.
The artillery regiments of Class B and Class C divisions have only 36 artillery pieces.
There is only a D-level division, or simply one artillery brigade.
In addition to artillery regiments, the Japanese army also has independent artillery brigades, which have a high status and are generally equipped with 105 mm and 150 mm heavy artillery.
The mountain field artillery used by the new regiment this time was equivalent to the number of artillery pieces of the two artillery regiments of the Japanese B and C Division.
Although the rest are all mortars, they cannot support a large number and can barely be regarded as an artillery regiment.
"Nani? Three artillery regiments?"
"Baga? Did I hear correctly?"
"Tubal Road actually took out three artillery regiments?"
The battle hall was blown up. There were three artillery regiments. When did the Eighth Route Army in the southeastern Shanxi bandit area become so rich?
The last time the Eighth Route Army attacked the 225th Regiment, they used less than two artillery regiments.
At that time, the entire First Army Headquarters unanimously believed that this was all the artillery massed by the Eighth Route Army in Southeast Shanxi, and the shells had been almost consumed.
However, it now appears that the number of artillery and artillery shells on Shanxi Southeast 8th Route far exceeded their expectations.
Kasai Toshimatsu continued to read: "Captain Yamazaki has been shattered. The firepower of the Eighth Route Army was very fierce. The Eighth Route Army had already attacked the high ground as soon as the artillery fire stopped. The infantry of the Eighth Route Army was extremely cunning. They actually ambush at Fengnaoding on the flank of Guanjianao Highland.
A large number of sharpshooters prevented the imperial army's forward positions from exerting their firepower."
"The remaining imperial army faced the Eighth Route Army in a desperate attack..."
"His Majesty the Emperor is on board, the Imperial Japanese Army is on board, October 9, Showa 15."
After Kasai Toshimatsu finished reading the telegram, the entire combat hall fell into silence again.
Kusuyama Hideyoshi also found the real reason for the demise of the Yamazaki detachment from the farewell telegram.
It was swept away by artillery fire from three artillery regiments.
However, this is not the most critical thing. The most deadly thing is the Eighth Route Army's use of Fengnaoding to suppress the firepower of Guanjianao Highlands.
If that idiot Yamazaki Yehei had sent troops to occupy the Fengnaoding Highlands earlier and formed a rivalry with the Guanjianao Highlands, then even if the Eighth Route Army used three artillery regiments, it would never be that easy to capture the Guanjianao Highlands.
But it's too late to say anything now.
…
Near Guanjianao, the 386th brigade command post.
Li Yunlong accompanied several leaders to watch a wonderful ground-to-air battle.
Mechanical anti-aircraft guns and large-caliber heavy machine guns battled against Japanese fighter jets and attack aircraft.
Two mortar positions of the Eighth Route Army were destroyed and two mortar companies were lost.
But the Japanese planes did not get any benefits, and two Type 96 bombers were shot down.
The news was passed to the 386th Brigade Command Post by the communications troops. The boss immediately smiled and said: "Two mortar batteries are exchanged for two Japanese planes. It's not a loss."
"It's indeed not a loss." The chief of staff nodded, "After all, Li Yunlong will reimburse us for the artillery we lost."
The brigade commander and deputy brigade commander Han also smiled and nodded in agreement.
Only Li Yunlong smiled and said nothing.
hehe…
In addition to reimbursement, I also have to account for 6 75mm mountain guns.
By the way, about 1,000 Japs were killed in this battle, and 10 tons of medicine and 60 large-caliber heavy machine guns were recorded.
You big bosses just don't lose money, but we, Mr. Li, make money with blood.
The radio station beeped.
A decoder scribbled the message on the paper, then stood up and gave a military salute.
"Chief, the 385th Brigade has an urgent call!"
The brigade commander took it and took a look and said: "The Japanese are moving very fast. The closest place to us is only 30 kilometers away. The 385th Brigade recommends that we move as soon as possible."
"Can you hurry up?" Deputy Brigadier Han said, "This is clearly a well-deployed combat operation by the Japanese targeting our base in southeastern Shanxi, so the Japanese have been prepared for a long time and want to use the Yamazaki detachment to catch our fish.
We must eat up our main force in one bite."
"There is no bait now." The brigade commander said with a disdainful tone, "I wonder what he is going to do for fishing?"
The boss said in a deep voice: "Although there is no bait, the enemy's raids will probably not stop here. Send me an order for all units to retreat according to the second set of plans."
Just as the boss expected, the retaliatory raids that the Japanese army had been planning for so long would not stop so easily.
However, the Eighth Route Army headquarters had long guessed that the Japanese army would carry out retaliatory raids on the base area, so it made preparations in advance.
Food has been hidden, people have been relocated in advance, and various ministries have prepared retreat routes in advance.
The second set of plans is for the common people to fortify the walls and clear the country, and part of the main force uses sparrow warfare, tunnel warfare, etc. to deal with the enemy.
The other main force dispersed and jumped to the outer lines to fight and destroy the enemy's lines of communication.
If the Japanese army's logistical supplies could not keep up, they would naturally retreat from the base area.
Although the main force of the Eighth Route Army is now greatly strengthened, it is still not time for a decisive battle with the main force of the Japanese army.
Even if they concentrated their forces in the base area to fight against the 30,000 Japanese troops and lose both sides, the Japanese army could quickly mobilize 30,000 troops and equipment from Japan.
However, the Eighth Route Army may not be able to recover for several years after its vitality is severely damaged.
What's more, there is not much chance of winning. If they lose, it will be an even more devastating blow.
With the Japs' bloodthirsty and brutality, the entire southeastern Shanxi Province may become a no-man's land.
The task of the new group is also to jump to the outside line.
At that moment, Li Yunlong led a new regiment towards Liao County.
Although the Japanese's four-pronged army attacked the eight-pronged base area in separate attacks and besieged them on all sides, almost all of them marched together in brigades or regiments.
Rather than a dragnet-style sweep, this gave each unit the opportunity to escape from the enemy's encirclement.
The main force of the Eighth Route Army, which had the advantage of home field, was familiar with the terrain and did not have to engage in direct firefights with the Japanese. They simply jumped to the outside line.
…
Early the next morning.
The first to arrive in Guanjianao was the Japanese 9th Brigade.
The 9th Brigade was originally assembled along the Baijin Line. After receiving the order from the First Army Headquarters, it rushed to Guanjianao without stopping.
During this period, they encountered strong resistance from the Eighth Route Army, but the 9th Brigade's offensive was also very fierce.
Yesterday afternoon, after the blocking troops received orders to retreat, the 9th Brigade marched straight in.
However, because they were not familiar with the road during the night march, the vanguard made several mistakes and walked the 30-kilometer mountain road all night.
Guanjianao and the surrounding hills were densely packed with soldiers from the Japanese 9th Brigade.
The major general brigade leader, surrounded by his adjutant, staff officers and guards, came down to the Guanjianao Highlands.
The entire Guanjianao Highlands was in a mess, with dense craters. Most of the trenches, foxholes and other fortifications originally built by the Yamazaki detachment had been flattened by artillery shells. Koshiki Toranosuke randomly grabbed a handful of soil and found several pieces of it.
piece of shrapnel, one can imagine how intense and intensive shelling the Guanjianao Highlands was subjected to.
All the corpses of the Yamazaki detachment and all the soldiers were stripped down to only a pair of crotch pants.
Koshiki Toranosuke's face was gloomy and he covered his nose: "Burn the bodies of the brave warriors, take their ashes away, and send them back to the Yasukuni Shrine."
"Hi!"
Now the Japanese soldiers dug a hole in the Guanjianao highland.
Other Japs collected some branches, mixed them with gasoline and ignited them. After the fire became bigger, they carried over the bodies of the Japs and threw them into pits to be burned.