The terrain in southwestern Shandong is flat, and the Japanese and puppet troops marched very fast along the road. They arrived at Caoxian County at dawn, and then continued their march north to reach Heze via Dingtao.
The number of Japanese and puppet troops that set out from Shangqiu reached 15,000. According to the normal process, the puppet troops naturally served as cannon fodder at the front.
Two regiments of puppet troops were at the front, with the Japanese brigade headquarters and infantry brigade, the tank squadron in the middle, and two other regiments at the rear.
The 25th Cavalry Regiment and the remaining four puppet regiments were distributed on both sides of the main force, acting as barriers.
Although the Japanese army's secret service has not yet figured out the specific combat plan of the Eighth Route Army, Kojima Yoshizo, an old Japanese enemy, has a deep understanding of the Eighth Route Army as an old enemy.
After hanging up the phone with Ichiro Tengyuan in Heze City last night, I thought about it for a while and immediately realized that despite the considerable commotion in Heze, the real goal of the Eighth Route Army was to reinforce the troops.
Therefore, the Japanese and puppet troops were more careful during the march. For this reason, Kojima Yoshizo even sent out the cavalry regiment to act as a search team.
...
Among the marching troops, Sun Liangcheng was riding on a tall horse, and beside him was his confidant Zhao Yunxiang.
These eight regiments of the puppet army were all integrated into the Fourth Army, which had jurisdiction over the 19th Division, the 38th Division, and the Guard Regiment directly under the military headquarters. Zhao Yunxiang was the division commander of the 38th Division.
I saw Sun Liangcheng looking back at the moving tank in the middle of the team, with unspeakable envy in his eyes. He immediately turned back and said to Zhao Yunxiang: "Damn it, the Japanese are very talkative, but when they are in front of the formation
, each one cherishes his life more than the other, hiding in the iron bastard and refusing to come out!"
Zhao Yunxiang heard this and said: "Military seat, it is very obvious that the Japanese want us to be cannon fodder. Although the Eighth Route Army has contact with us, it is hard to say what their attitude is. We still need to be careful!"
"The Eighth Route Army is not someone to be trifled with. What they are best at is encirclement and reinforcements. This time, the Eighth Route Army left Dingtao alone and left Cao County untouched. They went to attack Heze County. It's very strange. They might be waiting for us on the road!"
Sun Liangcheng was a typical wallflower. After taking control of eight regiments of the Appeasement Army, he felt that his own strength had greatly increased, and his attitude towards the Eighth Route Army also changed significantly.
Comrades from the enemy's engineering department in Shangqiu City who were responsible for contacting Sun Liangcheng visited his home many times, hoping to obtain from Sun Liangcheng the specific troop movements of the Japanese army in the near future. Unexpectedly, Sun Liangcheng avoided seeing them.
But before the Japanese and puppet troops set off today, Sun Liangcheng thought carefully, and in order to ease the relationship, he sent someone to deliver a copy of the troop mobilization of the Japanese and puppet troops.
"An Xin, the Eighth Route Army has at least two thousand people in Heze. Even if troops are mobilized from other places, how many people will there be? It's not certain who will win in this battle?"
"It's best to lose both sides, which is the most beneficial for us!" Sun Liangcheng turned to Zhao Yunxiang and said: "Ruiqing, the 38th Division is my only capital, and there is no room for loss. Now follow the Japanese in the middle.
, It looks safe, but the Eighth Route Army often attacks the Japanese where they are, so we must remind brothers to pay more attention!"
"Yes, military commander, I have given your instructions!"
Near noon, the Japanese and puppet troops arrived in Dingtao. The 26th Cavalry Regiment under the 4th Cavalry Brigade had been waiting here for a long time. The leader looked exactly like Yong Temple.
Kuroshima Morita is the captain of the 26th Cavalry Regiment, commanding operations in Shanxian, Chengwu, and Yucheng areas. Another identity is that he is the younger brother of Isamu Terauchi.
Isamu Terauchi's family is a branch of the Terauchi family in Japan, but their family fell into decline. Kuroshima Morita was adopted as an adopted son since he was a child.
Seeing the brigade commander leading the main force arriving, Kuroshima Morita's hygienic hair on the corner of his mouth trembled, his eyes flashed, and he immediately waved to signal to join the main force.
"Your Excellency, Brigade Commander, our troops have been ordered to come and rendezvous!" Kuroshima Morita said loudly.
After receiving the news, Kojima Yoshizo poked his head out of the hatch of the tank and looked at his confidant with satisfaction: "Kurojima-kun, thank you for your hard work!"
"Hey, brigade commander, please rest assured. I have dispatched a cavalry squadron to conduct reconnaissance ahead, and we will definitely find traces of the Eighth Route Army as soon as possible!"
"Youxi, this battle with the Eighth Route Army requires you to lead the cavalry troops to advance and show off the power of the imperial army's cavalry troops!"
[To be honest, I have been using Yeguoyuedu to read and catch up on books recently. I can switch sources and read aloud with many sounds. Yeguoyuedu is available for Android and Apple.]
The words are divided into two parts.
Although the Japanese strongholds were getting denser and denser as they approached Heze County, Ichiro Tengyuan took the lead in withdrawing troops from the peripheral strongholds. Two units of the Eighth Route Army had already met in Heze.
"Brigadier Han, I am Xin Tiebing, chief of staff of the Southwestern Shandong Military Division. I was ordered by the Communist Party members to join up with my brother troops. Our Communist Party members said that this siege will be entirely under your command!" Xin Tiebing knew that Brigadier Han had seniority.
He also showed great respect.
"Okay, then I won't be polite!" Brigadier Han said with a smile.
"Brigade Commander Han, there are more than 1,300 people in the independent regiment accompanying me this time. There are also two artillery companies, 12 infantry guns, 4 mountain guns, and the artillery shells are very rich..." Xin Tiebing briefly introduced
The situation of the troops.
In order to give full play to the firepower advantage of the artillery regiment, Zhou Weihan did not split the artillery regiment of the Hebei, Shandong and Henan Military Region. Instead, he separately mobilized the two artillery regiments of the First Regiment and the New First Regiment to support the siege troops.
In this operation, it is very important to unify the command of the troops of two secondary military regions.
Although Xin Tiebing is the chief of staff of the Southwest Shandong Military Region and has experience in attacking Changzhi in the Tainan Military Region, his shortcoming is that he is not qualified enough.
If Zhou Weihan forced Xin Tiebing to command the operation, Brigade Commander Han would not look good on him. Even if he agreed, the soldiers of the New Third Brigade would also have objections in their hearts.
With a war imminent, this is a taboo.
For this reason, Zhou Weihan specifically stated that the siege battle was fully commanded by Brigade Commander Han. However, considering that the troops of the New Third Brigade had no experience in attacking Japanese major towns, Zhou Weihan also privately told Xin Tiebing to pay more attention.
"Haha, Chief of Staff Xin, this is the second time we have met, don't be too polite!" Brigadier Han waved his hand.
"The Japanese commanders in the city are very vigilant. The Japanese and puppet troops in the outer strongholds have escaped early. I just asked people to investigate and found that only a few strongholds outside the city have troops left!"
"We have nearly 6,000 troops participating in the war. However, if they are divided into the four directions of Heze County, the troops will be too scattered and it will be difficult to effectively threaten the enemies in the city. Moreover, our back is not stable, so we need to reserve troops for defense!
"
"In my opinion, what do you think about concentrating troops and artillery to launch offensives in the east and south directions?" Brigadier Han asked.
Brigadier Han's words were exactly what Xin Tiebing meant, and he immediately expressed his attitude: "Commander Han, just do what you say!"