But if there really are no new reinforcements from the Japanese army, then Nishihara Kanji has such great courage that he will not even leave his flanks and rear and mobilize all troops. You must know that once the front line of Shuangjingdian is captured by the Anti-Japanese Alliance, then it is equivalent to His route of retreat was completely cut off, and his flanks were breached. By that time, he and his last troops, who were already surrounded on all sides, could only end up with the entire army annihilated.
The attack force of only three infantry brigades, without follow-up support and offensive operations from the surrounding areas, facing a well-equipped unit is no different than seeking death. Every regiment commander understands this truth, and those who graduated from the Japanese Army University The Japanese division commander and division chief of staff would not be clear about this.
If this move, which is similar to breaking a jar, had been done by a different Japanese regiment captain or a bold combat staff officer, Yang Zhen might still believe it, but as a division lieutenant general and commander of a division, Yang Zhen might still believe it. , Kanji Nishihara still does this.
Yang Zhen believed that it was basically impossible to pull off this empty city strategy when the retreat had not been cut off, and he knew that the counterattack had very little hope of success based on its existing military strength. Kanji Nishihara did not So crazy, his superiors would not allow him to completely defeat the entire 23rd Division.
After all, the Japanese army at this time is not a few years later. The Japanese army has been exhausted. It is prone to a decisive battle. If a division is completely destroyed, it will be very detrimental to the morale of the entire Japanese army, and the entire battle situation. It was far from that point for the Japanese army, so Yang Zhen believed that the 23rd Division's counterattack on the Sunjiayingzi front line, including the previous Twelve Tu front lines, would definitely not be the forces that had been exposed.
If the sound of artillery fire on the Twelfth Front Line has stopped, it means that a breakthrough has been made here and the reinforcements of the Anti-Japanese Alliance have been defeated. I am afraid that even a fool will not believe this, let alone Nishihara Kanji, who thinks that the Japanese troops on the Twelfth Thousand Front Line have made a breakthrough. Having the upper hand and leaving his flanks and rear undefended, Kanji Nishihara's mind would not be so simple.
So since this can't be the problem, then what the hell did Kanji Nishihara do? Is he really audacious? He set up an empty city strategy for himself to attract the anti-alliance reserve team currently on the front line of Twelve Tu to attack his own. The front line of Shuangjing Store in the rear is to buy time for a breakthrough on the front line of Sunjiayingzi, or is there really some other conspiracy involved?
The senior operational staff officers at the Kwantung Army Headquarters, even if they were very aggressive and didn't care about the life and death of the troops below, would not put all their bets on this kind of attack that was destined to fail without backup and force a division to fight. The price of annihilation of the entire army is to consciously die. Even Umezu Yoshijiro cannot bear this responsibility, and no one in the Kwantung Army dares to bear this responsibility.
And if the counterattack of the 23rd Division can only be short-lived in the end, and ultimately fails due to lack of strength, and cannot meet the requirements of the Kwantung Army Headquarters to hold back Wang Guangyu's command, then the entire follow-up combat plan of the Japanese army has not yet been launched. The danger of failure.
Because he had to consider whether his counterattack force, especially the counterattack force on the southern front, would suffer from a pincer offensive from two sides. In the Battle of Nomenhan, he had already suffered a big loss from the Soviet army. The Kwantung Army will not fail to take this into consideration. Considering the Japanese people's always calculating character, they will not fail to take this change into consideration.
Two brigades of nearly 600 tanks and armored vehicles providing air cover and support, plus two cavalry brigades and two motorized infantry divisions, as well as the powerful impact of a large number of artillery, can be placed on any Japanese division alone. It will undoubtedly be a huge disaster, especially for the Japanese army with large-scale maneuverability and effective anti-tank weapons, which will be even more difficult to resist. But what exactly is the 23rd Division relying on to ignore the rear and go all out?
These three connected ifs raised a big question mark in Yang Zhen's heart. As these three question marks rose, his eyes turned from the Linxi battlefield to the Wengniute flag in the east, and in his hand With red and blue pencils, I drew a large circle on a large area to the west of the Wangye Mansion where the Wengniute Banner administrative seat is located at the southeastern border with Linxi, to Guangde Gong in the south, and to the south bank of the Xilamulun River in the north.
The junction of Wengniute Banner and Keshiketeng Banner and to the north is the junction area between the southernmost edge of the Greater Hinggan Mountains and Qilaotu Mountain. It is the junction of Zhongshan platform terrain and low mountains and hills. Due to the sparse population, the vegetation there is better than that in Horqin Sand. The eastern part of the western edge of the earth is much denser.
If the Japanese army mobilizes heavy troops from Jianping here regardless of Chen Hanzhang's headquarters in Tongliao in the north and the anti-alliance offensive in other directions, there will be no problem at least hiding one Japanese division in this area, let alone one division, even one As the backup of the 23rd Division, the regiment also played a considerable role in the Japanese army's entire tactical plan.
Could it be that the reinforcements secretly mobilized by the Japanese army are hidden here, but that is the activity range of two detachments of the reconnaissance brigade directly under the military region that Wang Guangyu spread out as soon as the battle started. If the reinforcements of the Japanese army are really hidden there, It shouldn't be discovered all the time. Even if there are thousands of troops, there won't be any clues.
Yang Zhen's fingers kept wandering from the western mountainous area of Wengniute Banner to Linxi and Keshiketeng Banner. Regardless of whether there were follow-up soldiers from the 23rd Division, it was better to be cautious in the face of such a cunning opponent as the Japanese army. , since the Japanese army has been trying to find ways to conceal their true strength, then I will give them a way to lure them out of the hole and let them take the initiative to expose their true intentions.
The Sunjiayingzi front line is located at the strategic point of the entire eastern part of Linxi. The geographical location is extremely important. To the northeast, you can attack the Bahrain Right Banner, to the southwest you can control Linxi County, and to the west you can penetrate into the entire Linxi territory, and attack Linxiji directly. Chaosing the depth of the entire Linxi battlefield.
Although the number of defenders of the roundabout troops in this aspect is not as good as that of the Japanese army, and the number of artillery is also not as good as that of the Japanese army, not only is the unit firepower density far higher than that of the Japanese army with a similar number, the four 107 rocket launchers it is equipped with can fire in one salvo. , which is equivalent to all the artillery that the Japanese army invested in the front line of Sunjiayingzi, not to mention that there is still a certain number of troops deep in the front line of Sunjiayingzi, that is, his second line.
If the 23rd Division wants to rely solely on these three infantry brigades, it will be like breaking through the front line of Sunjiayingzi. The casualty ratio may not be too light. Even if it breaks through the frontline of Sunjiayingzi, I am afraid that it will no longer be able to develop in depth. At this time, If the 23rd Division really has hidden troops, then if they want to achieve their tactical goals, they will have no choice but to hide their presence.
After pondering for a long time, and seeing that Wang Guangyu had not responded to his call, Yang Zhen raised his head and said to the operational staff: "Immediately draft a telegram and order the defenders on the front line of Sunjiayingzi to adopt a gradual contraction strategy after persisting for six hours and abandon Sunjiaying." On the front line, we will shrink our troops to the three key points of Longping, Dajing, and Subutai Temple."
"Tell Wang Guangyu that the second-line troops cannot be used easily. Now we mainly rely on the first-line defense troops to kill the Japanese troops as much as possible. As long as the first-line defenders can hold on, the second-line troops should not be invested. Also, let him organize artillery and aviation as much as possible. Provide fire support to the defenders on the front line of Sunjiayingzi. In a word, we can kill as many Japanese troops as we can."
"Since we can't figure out the real reason why Kanji Nishihara is taking such a risk at the moment, let's give them a way to lure the snake out of the hole. I want to see if Lieutenant General Kanji Nishihara really has the courage to play the empty city strategy, or if there is someone behind him. He supports me. Since they continue to cover up their true intentions, I will let them expose themselves and see what kind of medicine he is selling in Kanji Nishihara's gourd."
"In addition, the aviation force was ordered to dispatch aircraft to conduct detailed reconnaissance of the area west of the Prince's Mansion of Wengniute Banner in the southwest of Linxi, north of Guangde Gong, and south of the Xilamulun River. Any disturbance must be reported. In fact, No, dispatch a few light bombers and bomb this area several times close to the highway, and at the same time order the aviation force to closely monitor the highway from Wengniute Banner to Shuangjingdian."
At this point, although he hesitated at first, Yang Zhen finally said firmly: "Telegraph the headquarters and the troops in all directions on the front line to be prepared for a full-scale counterattack by the Japanese army, especially Chen Hanzhang's headquarters in Tongliao direction, and also informed The aviation force and the Japanese army may take actions to sabotage the Songhua River embankment, and I am afraid that they will start today and tomorrow, so that they can be ready to fight at any time."
"In addition, let the chief of staff control the speed and intensity of Ma Chunsheng's attack north of Xinjing. He must not let this guy go too far alone. The fist must be able to be extended and withdrawn at any time, especially if Ma Chunsheng Watch his left wing, it's too empty right now."
"At the same time, let the chief of staff consider, as appropriate, whether to take back all other tank units other than those assigned to Ma Chunsheng's headquarters, form a temporary brigade, and transfer it to Qiqihar as the total mobile reserve of the entire army, so as to be ready to deal with the West at any time. Full of changes in the war situation."
After the staff officer quickly recorded Yang Zhen's order, before he had gone five meters away, the combat staff officer who had sent a telegram to Wang Guangyu hurried over and handed the telegram in his hand to Yang Zhen and said: "No. 1 , Commander Wang called, saying that after the roundabout troops entered Linxi, the Japanese army not only suddenly arrested a large number of laborers from the surrounding areas and entered the mountainous area west of Wengniute Banner, but also transported a large number of laborers from Jianping, Xifuxin and Zhangwu. .”
"It's just that these workers were all taken to Wengniute Banner in batches of thousands. Judging from the information provided by the reconnaissance team, the workers captured in Wengniute Banner had obvious characteristics of Tangshan and Liaodong areas in Guanhai. The accent is just that the Japanese troops in custody were under strict control. These laborers spoke very rarely, and most of them did not dare to speak during the escort process."
"However, they found out through the capture of a straggler escort that these laborers were because the 23rd Division is currently on the battlefield and there are insufficient troops in Wengniute Banner. In order to prevent our army's roundabout troops from breaking through the Linxi line , and threaten the Jianping and Kulun lines through the Wengniute Banner."
"In order to complete the defense fortifications that had been built as early as May in the western mountains of Wengniute Banner as soon as possible, the Kwantung Army urgently transferred some laborers from other areas to Wengniute Banner, because the train line only goes to Chifeng. So these workers got off the train at Chifeng and walked to Wengniute Banner."
"Because it was indeed discovered that the Japanese army had built some fortifications in the west of Wengniute Banner, Commander Wang only sent a detachment from the reconnaissance brigade directly under the military region to conduct surveillance there, because the number of these workers was only about 5,000, and it was The number of puppet Manchukuo soldiers and police assigned to be escorted to Wengniute Banner was only a few hundred, so Commander Wang didn't pay much attention."