At the end of June, Peiping, North China Expeditionary Army Headquarters.
Okamura Neji was holding the microphone to his ear, speaking very politely.
"Umezu-kun, on behalf of my colleagues in the North China Expeditionary Force, thank you very much for your support!" Okamura Neiji solemnly said.
"Okamura-kun, you and I are all here to serve His Majesty the Emperor and open up new territory for the Empire of Japan. This time there is an order from the base camp, so naturally I fully support it!"
"I hope you, Okamura-kun, will wipe out the Chinese resistance in North China as soon as possible. Otherwise, once the war in Southeast Asia starts, it will be difficult for North China to get support!" Umezu Yoshijiro on the other end of the phone pointed out.
"Hey, I understand!"
After Okamura Neji hung up the phone, his face instantly turned gloomy. How could he not understand what Umezu Mijiro said!
However, after the Anyang Japanese army led by Suzuki Sadji suffered another defeat in the Hebei, Shandong and Henan areas, Okamura Neiji clearly realized that although the Japanese army had repeatedly sent heavy troops to encircle and suppress it, the Japanese army had repeatedly suffered defeats in the war. Although the Eighth Route Army also suffered losses,
But it revived soon after.
In North China, especially the Eighth Route Army troops with the Taihang base as the core, the situation was extremely difficult to control. The Japanese army was trapped in repeated firefighting and was exhausted.
For this reason, Okamura Neiji ordered the Japanese troops in Anyang to shrink their forces to the county town and along the highway. They were not allowed to fight against the Eighth Route Army without authorization until additional troops arrived.
Then he rang the electric bell on the table, and the adjutant of the attendant's room pushed the door open and entered.
"Go and call the Chief of Staff!"
"Hi!"
Not long after, Chief of Staff Tanabe Moritake knocked on the door and walked in.
"Your Excellency General!"
"Tanabe-kun, I have good news. I just had a phone call with His Excellency Umezu Yoshijiro of the Kwantung Army. Tomorrow, 13 field brigades drawn from various divisions under the Kwantung Army will rush to Peiping by bus. To supplement these troops,
Where, I want to hear your opinion!" Okamura Neji asked.
Tanabe Moritake was overjoyed when he heard this. In terms of combat effectiveness, the Kwantung Army's battle order was second to none among the Japanese army. There were fourteen combat units at the division level alone.
Among them, the 1st Division, 8th Division, 9th Division, 10th Division, 11th Division, 12th Division, and 14th Division belong to Category A divisions.
The combat capabilities of the rest, such as the 23rd Division, 24th Division, 25th Division, 28th Division, 29th Division, and 57th Division, cannot be underestimated.
"Your Excellency General, the area where the Eighth Route Army troops are most concentrated is the Taihang Base Area where its command organization is located. The Eighth Route Army is indeed the enemy of the Imperial Army, but with all due respect, the first thing that should be dealt with should be the National Army troops entrenched in southern Shanxi!
"Tanabe Moritake sorted out his thoughts and slowly expressed his thoughts.
"Oh! Tell me more!" Neji Okamura sat up straight after hearing this. What Tanabe Moritake said was very different from what he thought.
Tanabe Moritake was naturally capable when he became the chief of staff. Within a short period of time, he sorted out his thoughts and then said: "Since last year, whenever the imperial army launched an encirclement and suppression campaign against China's armed forces, no matter it was
The National Army or the Eighth Route Army will send troops to support!"
"It can be seen that the top leaders of both sides have a tacit understanding and provide mutual assistance. The so-called anti-Japanese national united front is no longer an empty talk. This can be clearly observed from the battles surrounding the Changzhi area and even the Zhongtiao Mountain area!"
"The imperial army has a crushing advantage against any armed force, but when both sides join forces, it is inevitable that there will be some constraints!"
"It has always been difficult for the Eighth Route Army troops to find traces of them. In addition, they are constantly suppressing them. Just like the weeds, they always resurgence, which affects most of the energy of the Imperial Army in North China. From the current situation, it can be expected that the Imperial Army and the Eighth Route Army
The battle between them will be difficult to end within a few years!”
"Therefore, it is better to target the national army in southern Shanxi first and concentrate the main force to eliminate the largest combat group of the national army south of the Yellow River. In this way, it can attack the military power of the Nationalist government and accelerate the frontal battlefield war.
After the war, we can concentrate our efforts on dealing with the Eighth Route Army!"
"Therefore, the thirteen field brigades of the Kwantung Army should be concentrated in the Changzhi area. The geographical location of this area is too important. It is necessary to combine the power of the First Army to regain the dominance of the Changzhi area, and then concentrate all our forces to solve the problem of southern Shanxi
The national army!" Tanabe Moritake finally said.
"Yusi, Tanabe-kun, your words have awakened me. I have been confused by the successive defeats recently!" Neji Okamura nodded after hearing this, and then continued: "But Tainan, Jiluyu and other places
The Eighth Route Army still cannot relax, Zhou Weihan is a serious thorn in the side of the imperial army, and we must speed up the process of integrating China's armed forces from all over the country!"
"Relying solely on the Imperial Army and the existing Imperial Alliance Army, the power of the Public Security Army cannot stabilize public security in various places. The number of personnel must be increased. The most fundamental strategy is to use China to control China!"
"Hi, Your Excellency General, the Intelligence Section reported that the special envoys of the Imperial Army have made contact with the armed forces near the Daimyo in Handan and along the Wei River. I believe there will be results soon!" Tanabe Moritake finally reported.
There are no Category A divisions in the North China Expeditionary Force's combat sequence, and most of them are three-unit guard divisions formed later.
When these divisions arrived in North China from Japan, they had equally powerful combat capabilities compared with the Eighth Route Army and the National Army.
However, as the war progressed, the Japanese army fell into a vast sea of people in North China.
Throughout North China, big battles and small battles occurred one after another. The Eighth Route Army used guerrilla warfare, sparrow warfare, and cold guns to accumulate small victories into big victories. The casualties of Japanese soldiers increased day by day.
According to statistical reports, a brigade stationed by the Japanese army in a certain place in central Hebei did not engage in fierce battles with the Eighth Route Army. However, over the past 40 years, it had unknowingly lost more than 400 people, with more than one-third of the casualties.
.
Although this is a special case, it also shows the human losses suffered by the Japanese army in the confrontation with the Eighth Route Army.
However, the quality and combat effectiveness of the additional personnel that the Japanese army later transferred from the country could not compare with the original veterans. Based on this, Okamura Neji ordered the expansion of the puppet army's strength.
The words are divided into two parts.
The Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region is still organizing personnel to dig trenches on a large scale in the base area, mobilizing up to 200,000 manpower. All county committees and regiments report progress every day.
Now, after nearly a month, the ditches in the villages outside the base area have begun to take shape. It just needs to be further connected to the ditches in each village to form a complete network.
The timing of this nationwide trench digging campaign was just right. The Japanese troops bordering the base area were aware of the considerable movement in the base area early in the morning.
However, due to the damage to his own strength and the order of Okamura Neiji, he only sent a small group of troops to approach for reconnaissance, but was immediately wiped out by the Eighth Route Army of the Hebei, Shandong and Yu Military Region, Zhihu, and there was no further movement.
