On August 1, 1942, under the mobilization of Kanji Ishihara, the North China Expeditionary Army mobilized more than 50,000 troops and rushed to Linfen in batches, with the frontline directed towards southwest Shanxi.
This move of the Japanese army immediately shocked the commanders of the First Theater Zone. They all thought that the Japanese army planned to attack southwestern Shanxi and intended to capture the important town of Yuncheng.
The officers of the First Theater District were arguing endlessly. Hu Zhongnan wanted to fight the Japs, but in the end it was the national army in the First Theater District that suffered.
Li Mo'an, who was sitting at the head of the war room of the Chief's Department, had a frosty look on his face: "It's no good that Hu Shoushan is the principal's favorite student, but he couldn't see the Japanese army's dirty tricks. Fortunately, it didn't make a big mistake. Otherwise, he would be ashamed of the principal and the party and the country."
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One of the army commanders looked at Li Mo'an and smiled disdainfully, and said to the people around him: "He is obviously worried that the friendly forces will take the lead, so he is watching the fire from the other side, but it turns out that he is wise and far-sighted at the scene. It's really ridiculous!"
"Mianzhi, what are you talking about?"
"I say that the commander-in-chief has great insight. He anticipated the enemy's opportunity and saw through the Japanese army's intentions before the Japanese army moved. He is indeed a famous general in ancient times!"
Many senior generals of the national army present looked strange when they heard this. They wanted to laugh but did not dare to laugh. The atmosphere in the conference room was a bit strange for a while.
Li Mo'an secretly hated Samurai Min for refuting his face in public, and said with a smile: "We soldiers all have the responsibility to defend the territory, and the Japanese army is pressing down heavily on the territory. So what do you mean by the encouragement?"
"General seat, colleagues, although the Japanese army has a large number of troops, our army also has many defensive fortifications, so it is not impossible for us to fight. In my opinion, the top priority is to rush back to the front line, rectify the troops, and correct military discipline, rather than sitting here!
"
The 98th Army led by General Samurai Min was the old foundation of the Shaanxi Army. At that time, he firmly supported Zhang Yang's proposal of rejecting civil war and jointly resisting Japan. Later, he was always jealous of the old man.
It was not until Chief Wei came to power that the 98th Army was transferred to the Central Army's 14th Group Army, and the situation of suppression improved. But who would have thought that Chief Wei was jealous of the old man again. Now that Li Mo'an is in power, the 14th Army is also under the control of the 98th Army.
were suppressed together.
The officers and soldiers of the 14th Group Army were dissatisfied with Li Mo'an, but fortunately, the commander-in-chief of the 14th Group Army, Liu Mao'en, was a peacemaker and always protected Li Mo'an's remaining face.
Liu Maoen coughed lightly: "Chief Commander, I think what Mian Zhi said is reasonable. If the general is not in the camp, the morale of the army will be unstable. Since the Japanese army's goal is to capture Yuncheng, then the officers and soldiers of our 14th Group Army must do their best to serve the party and the country and promote our country."
The military might of the first theater of war!”
"In order to boost morale, Commander-in-Chief, do you think our department's outstanding military pay should be paid before the war?"
Liu Mao'en gave him enough face. The war was imminent and the emperor was still hungry. No matter how hard he suppressed, Li Mo'an didn't dare to make any mistakes at this time, so he nodded happily.
According to the deployment of the first theater, in addition to the 15th Army, 93rd Army, 98th Army and 80th Army under the 14th Army in the west of Zhongtiao Mountain, the 14th Army under the 4th Army stationed in the middle of Zhongtiao Mountain is west of Guoyun City
, go to cooperate in the battle.
The 14th Army is the direct descendant of the Chief of Guards, and was organized by Qiu Qi himself. It has three divisions: 83, 85, and 94.
The words are divided into two parts. The Japanese army mobilized its troops on a large scale in the occupied area, which naturally could not be concealed from the eyes of the Eighth Route Army. However, the Japanese army released a lot of smoke bombs this time, and it was difficult to determine their specific strength for a while.
"Chief, the telegram from the Eighth Route Army headquarters forwarded by Yanzhou!"
From the time Zhou Weihan entered Xi'an, he and the brigade commander have been stranded for a full month. The discussions between the two parties are not serious at all. The Eighth Route Army is also willing to accompany the show, and the National Army also knows that the Eighth Route Army is willing to cooperate.
There will be a lot less red tape when the two parties negotiate.
Zhou Weihan and the brigade commander were at a leisurely pace. Apart from their daily superficial dealings, they hid in their room all day studying the upcoming war.
The brigade commander read the telegram and wondered: "Where did the Japanese army get so many troops? Do they no longer want the territory?"
Zhou Weihan glanced at the telegram. It was a reply from the Eighth Route Army headquarters regarding the mobilization of Japanese troops. Ever since they knew that this war was inevitable, Yanzhou had been asking all frontline troops to pay close attention to the movements of the Japanese troops.
In order to test out the Japanese army's troop mobilization, the Eighth Route Army from Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei, Shanxi-Hebei-Henan, Shandong and other places sent small groups of troops to conduct exploratory attacks. However, they were met with a resolute counterattack by the Japanese army, and it seemed that the number of troops in the defense zone had not decreased.
However, Yan Wangshan got a piece of information from Terauchi Isamu. The North China Expeditionary Army Headquarters transferred two dissatisfied brigades from the 41st Division, with a total of more than 1,700 people rushing to Shimen.
As early as late April, the North China Expeditionary Army asked Japanese troops from all over the country to secretly transfer elite puppet troops to Peking for training. This was because the puppet troops were mobilized in the name of changing defenses in other areas. Although the Eighth Route Army in various places was aware of this, they
Didn't care.
There is a precedent for such mobilization of puppet troops. The little devils were also afraid that the puppet troops would collude with the local Eighth Route Army, so they deliberately changed the territory of the puppet troops.
"Ishihara Wanji should not be underestimated. He ordered the Japanese troops everywhere to shrink their troops when he first took office. Now he has finally shown his fangs. This time, the national army will really suffer a big loss!" Zhou Weihan said with a frown.
"Based on the troop strength mobilized by the 41st Division, the Japanese army stationed various divisions in various places. The total troop strength mobilized by the brigades should be between 12,000 and 15,000. In addition, Linfen's independent ninth mixed brigade is stationed in Hejin.
The number of Japanese troops in Jishan and Jiangxian areas was only 20,000, so there could not be as many as mentioned in the telegram!"
The brigade commander nodded when he heard this: "Yes, so there is water in it, but Hu Zongnan probably didn't expect that the Japanese army would go to war in such a big way. It might just be a pot of raw rice!"
"However, based on the current location of the Japanese army, they can cross the Yellow River through Hejin and other ferries to the west, enter the Hancheng area, and attack the Central Army in the Yuncheng area to the south. However, no one can predict the final true intention of the Japanese army.
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A wry smile appeared on Zhou Weihan's face, and he couldn't help but worry about his eldest brother Zhou Weiguo. He originally wanted to fish to lure the Japanese army in, but what he expected to catch was a crocodile.
In fact, Ishihara Kanji spent nearly a month on mobilizing Japanese troops. Judging from the unit numbers in the Japanese combat plan, it clearly included ten brigades of Japanese divisions and brigades from various places.
, the 9th Linfen Mixed Brigade, the 69th Division stationed in Peiping for training, and the main force of the 59th Division stationed in Jinan, Shandong Province.
Although the 69th Division and the 59th Division were newly formed divisions by the Japanese army, during the process of mobilizing troops, all the new soldiers were transferred to various local garrison units, and the veterans were transferred back to form the main force of the divisions. However, they continued to bear the original designation.
In addition, more than 20,000 elite puppet troops who had been secretly trained in Peiping for four months participated in the battle, with a total strength of more than 50,000.