"Recently, the Eighth Route Army has dispatched a large number of fighter jets and bombers to conduct air strikes on roads and railways controlled by the locust army in North China."
"Major transportation lines suffered heavy losses."
Peiping, North China Front Army Headquarters, a combat staff officer bowed his head to report to Okamura Neiji.
Standing next to Neji Okamura were Chief of Staff Arisue Seizo, Deputy Chief of Staff Yamamoto Kazuki, and several combat staff officers.
"knew."
Okamura Neji nodded. Although this was what he expected, he still couldn't help but frown when he heard the news.
"The Eighth Route Army planes are really abominable!"
A combat staff officer clenched his fists and said angrily.
I was very angry, but there was nothing I could do.
The Eighth Route Army's aircraft can come and go freely in the skies of North and Central China. They can bomb not only the Japanese transportation facilities, but also the Japanese barracks and military depots.
Even Japanese ships transporting troops and combat supplies at sea were bombed.
"Your Excellency, General, would you like to dispatch the 6th Flying Division to teach the Eighth Route Army Air Force a lesson?"
Youmo Jingsan asked angrily.
Because of the indiscriminate bombing by Eighth Route Army aircraft, all Japanese troop and material transportation was moved to night.
As a result, the completion of the mobilization of Japanese troops and supplies was at least more than half a month slower than originally planned.
At present, the 6th Flying Division has been formed.
The division is headed by Lieutenant General Giichi Sakahana and Chief of Staff Colonel Tokunaga Kenji. Its strength includes 5 flying squadrons, a teaching flying group, and 8 airfield groups with about 200 aircraft.
Among them are 5 fighter flight teams and about 100 fighter jets.
After the 6th Flying Division was established in the Shenyang area, it was indeed not attacked by the Eighth Route Army Air Force.
Okamura Neiji was immediately moved. The Eighth Route Army aircraft that bombed traffic lines and Japanese military facilities were generally propeller fighters and light bombers.
But Okamura Neiji thought carefully, waved his hand and said: "The Eighth Route Army may not know that the 6th Flying Division of the Locust Army has been formed, and the 6th Flying Division cannot be exposed yet."
It wasn't long before the 1st United Air Force and the 60th Air Force in Central China were completely wiped out.
The strength of the five fighter squadrons of the 3rd Flying Division is at most about the same as that of the 1st United Air Force and the 60th Squadron.
Could it be the opponent of the Eighth Route Army Air Force?
Although the Eighth Route Army Air Force is small in size, the combined combat effectiveness of its pilots and fighter jets is indeed extremely powerful.
This 6th Flying Division is the only air power in Neji Okamura's hands.
If the 6th Flying Division is wiped out, the base camp will never send another pilot or plane to it.
"Hi."
There are three heads of the Mojing.
"Your Excellency, based on reliable information."
Kazuki Yamamoto reported to Neji Okamura with a solemn expression:
"The strength of the Eighth Route Army has greatly increased. It has no less than a thousand heavy artillery pieces and more than 500 tanks."
"Thousands of heavy artillery? 500 tanks?"
Hearing this data, even Okamura Neji couldn't help but take a breath.
Not to mention the several combat staff officers next to them, their pupils suddenly shrank, their faces full of disbelief, and even a look of despair appeared in their pupils.
The gap between the Japanese army and the Eighth Route Army was really huge.
"Is this still the group of Tubal Road people in the ravine?"
A combat staff officer sounded helpless.
Now the situation has been reversed, the Eighth Route Army has become an army of local tycoons, and the Japanese army has become an army of beggars.
"The Eighth Route Army is so rich."
"It seems that Mr. Yamamoto's guess is correct. The more jade pieces the Locust Army fights with the Eighth Route Army, the more weapons, ammunition and combat materials the Eighth Route Army will obtain."
There was a solemn look on Mo Jing Sanyi's face.
Some even speculated that compared to the price of Locust Army soldiers, the price of Locust Army generals was higher.
How else to explain that every time a general came to North China, the Eighth Route Army would dispatch intelligence and kill him?
Of course, these are all speculations made by Mo Jingsan, and there is no solid evidence.
However, all current intelligence points to this speculation.
The soldiers and generals of the Imperial Locust Army are regarded as price tags, just like the pork on the chopping board, calculated by the pound.
Youmo Jingsan felt very aggrieved. Sometimes he wondered, how many heavy artillery pieces and tanks would his North China Front Army Chief of Staff, Lieutenant General rank, be worth in the Eighth Route Army?
"What are the two chiefs of staff's response?"
Okamura Neji squinted his eyes and looked at Arisu Seizo and Yamamoto Kazuki.
Under the huge disparity in strength, even Okamura Neji, known as the master tactician, felt somewhat helpless.
The military strength is not as good as the Eighth Route Army, the weapons are not as good as the Eighth Route Army, the logistics is not as good as the Eighth Route Army, and the aviation force is not as good as the Eighth Route Army.
The Eighth Route Army also has the advantage of fighting locally and can win the support of the common people.
It seems that the Locust Army has no chance of winning this battle.
"Your Excellency, General."
"We should engage in a strategic decisive battle with the Eighth Route Army and defeat the Eighth Route Army in one battle to completely eliminate worries."
Youmo Seishan thought for a moment, looked at Okamura Neji and said:
"The main force of the Eighth Route Army should have given up on guerrilla warfare now and has advantages in all aspects. The next stage of the offensive will definitely seek a decisive battle with the main force of the Locust Army."
Okamura Neji nodded. On this point, Sue Seisan's analysis was correct.
"In a strategic decisive battle with the Eighth Route Army, the Locust Army has little chance of winning."
Okamura Neji shook his head, his tone a little helpless.
The current strategic decisive battle with the Eighth Route Army is to gamble on the fate of the Locust Army and the Empire, sending countless soldiers to the meat grinder battlefield.
"If we add the Kwantung Army and the Locust Army in Central China, we have a chance of winning."
Youmo Jingsan said.
"Headquarters will not agree."
Okamura Neji thought for a moment and still shook his head.
Now that the Japanese Empire is in full bloom, the two battlefields in the Pacific and Southeast Asia are no smaller in scale than the Chinese battlefield, and materials are in very short supply.
If the Kwantung Army and the Japanese troops in central China are mobilized, there will be six to seven million Japanese troops.
With so many Japanese troops fighting the Eighth Route Army, there is definitely a chance of victory, but the amount of combat materials needed is also huge.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! The strategic focus of the base camp is to plunder strategic resources, rather than investing a large amount of resources. If they lose, the Japanese army will suffer immeasurable losses.
Moreover, once the main forces of the Kwantung Army and the Japanese army in central China are transferred away.
Then the National Army in Central China and the Soviet Army in the Far East will most likely take action.
The base camp even believed that the Eighth Route Army was not very strong and sent multiple telegrams to urge Okamura Neiji to eliminate the Eighth Route Army as soon as possible after the allocated troops, combat supplies and flying divisions arrived.
"Then we can only implement a defense-in-depth strategy."
Youmo Jingsan said.
The so-called defense-in-depth strategy is to use echelon proportions, layer-by-layer defense, and set up a defense depth focusing on cities and traffic routes.
Let the Eighth Route Army fight all the way over.
This is the battle plan formulated by Okamura Neji.
"Your Excellency, General, Your Excellency, Chief of Staff, I have another tactic that may work."
At this moment, Kazuki Yamamoto, whose eyes were as sharp as a hawk, said.
"Yamamoto-kun, what's the tactic?"
Okamura Neji and Arisu Seizan both looked at Yamamoto Kazuki.
"The tactics used by the Eighth Route Army to deal with the Locust Army." Yamamoto Kazuki said in a deep voice.
"You mean, guerrilla warfare?"
Yusumei San was dumbfounded and looked at Yamamoto Kazuki in disbelief, thinking that Yamamoto's circuit was indeed different from others.
"Yes, it is guerrilla warfare."
Kazuki Yamamoto said:
"When the Locust Army was strong and the Eighth Route Army was weak, the Eighth Route Army used guerrilla warfare to deal with the Locust Army and was successful. Now that the Eighth Route Army is strong and the Locust Army is weak, the Locust Army can also use guerrilla warfare to deal with the Eighth Route Army."
"The Eighth Route Army's guerrilla warfare was successful because of the support of the Chinese people."
Arisu Seizo was dismissive of Yamamoto Kazuki's tactics:
"Yamamoto-kun doesn't think that the common people in China will support the locust army's guerrilla warfare, right?"
The advantage of guerrilla warfare is that you attack while traveling. The enemy does not know where you will attack from, and you come and go without a trace.
Follow the principles of reasonable selection of combat locations, rapid deployment of troops, reasonable allocation of troops, reasonable selection of combat opportunities, and rapid retreat after the battle.
Recently, Major General Yamamoto Kazuki is studying the Eighth Route Army's guerrilla warfare and has gained a lot of experience.
"Of course the Chinese people will not support it," Kazuki Yamamoto said.
"Without the support of the common people in China, where would the food and ammunition of the locust army guerrillas come from?" Youmo Jingsan asked.
"You can rob it from the hands of ordinary people in China, or you can rob the Eighth Route Army's transportation lines." Yamamoto Kazuki replied.
"Yamamoto-kun, your idea is very good, but it is difficult to implement." Arisu Seizan poured cold water on Yamamoto Kazuki unceremoniously.
"Yamamoto-kun, tell me what you think."
Okamura Neji was somewhat interested.
Yamamoto Kazuki pointed at the map and said: "Next, the main force of the Eighth Route Army will inevitably attack North China. The Eighth Route Army has a large number of heavy artillery, tanks and aircraft. Frontal combat is not good for the Locust Army. I suggest abandoning railways and highway transportation lines and conducting special training operations.
The locust army, organized into squads and squadrons, entered the mountains to fight guerrillas with the Eighth Route Army. These guerrillas mainly ambushed the Eighth Route Army's transport teams and destroyed the Eighth Route Army's logistics lines."
"A war is all about logistics. As long as the Eighth Route Army's logistics supply lines are effectively destroyed, the pressure on the locust army on the front battlefield will suddenly be much less."
"Don't forget, Yamamoto-kun." Arisu Seizo reminded: "The Eighth Route Army has the ability to call for airdrops on the battlefield, the kind of airdrops where hundreds of large transport aircraft can cover the sky and the sun."
"With hundreds of thousands of Eighth Route Army troops engaged in protracted operations, it is impossible to rely entirely on air-dropped supplies to sustain operations."
Kazuki Yamamoto said:
"No country can do it now. I believe your Excellency, Chief of Staff, can understand this truth."
Okamura Neji nodded, what Yamamoto Kazuki said seemed to make sense.
In terms of guerrilla warfare, the Eighth Route Army was the professional player, and the Japanese army was just an amateur player.
The Japanese army used amateur players to challenge the professional players of the Eighth Route Army, which was just an act seeking death.
but.
Okamura Neiji never thought of relying on special tactics and guerrilla warfare to reverse the Japanese army's disadvantageous situation.
The Japanese guerrillas would be considered successful as long as they could destroy the Eighth Route Army's logistics supply lines.
"Yamamoto-kun, I will leave it to you to organize and train the Locust Army guerrillas."
Okamura Neiji looked solemn and issued a combat order:
"This battle is related to the reputation of the entire North China Front and even the fate of the empire. Does Yamamoto-kun understand?"
"Hi." Yamamoto lowered his head and said, "I will do my best in this humble position."