Chapter 357 The painstakingly managed General Meijin
Umezu Yoshijiro's attitude towards this move is very obvious. Even if he temporarily abandons the eastern front, he must first solve the problem of Western Manchuria, which has reached Linxi territory. South Manchuria is already very close to the Tongliao line, which has threatened the South Manchurian industrial base. Troops, as for the Fourteenth Division's emergency situation because of the imminent counterattack, he did not consider it. In his opinion, as long as the counterattack started, the Fourteenth Division's predicament would naturally be relieved.
For this counterattack, Umezu Yoshijiro not only tried hard to mobilize troops, but also took great pains to conceal the true strategic intention. In order not to arouse the alert of the Anti-Japanese Alliance before the counterattack started, Umezu Yoshijiro personally gave these current adjustments to the counterattack. The order for the troops going to Western Manchuria is that until the order is received, a knife will be sent from the sky.
Before receiving the order to counterattack, it was not allowed to fire a single bullet, and all efforts were made to cover up the strategic intentions. In order to keep the Kwantung Army secret and even secret orders, all the Manchu villages in the area where all divisions were deployed, and all the Manchus in the villages, Kill them all and silence them to ensure the suddenness of this counterattack.
In the lurking areas of various divisions, no Manchus are allowed to appear. If any Manchus are found in the hiding areas, they can be executed directly without any warning, even if they are Manchu labor that must be recruited by the Kwantung Army to transport supplies. After all the required transportation tasks are completed, all the people must be silenced. All transportation processes must be carried out at night. During the day, not a single car or person is allowed to appear on all roads leading to the war zone.
In order to maintain strict confidentiality and not reveal their tactical intentions before the counterattack started, the Anti-Japanese Alliance even conducted exploratory bombings in the area west of Linxi and all the mountainous forest areas where large troops could be hidden, in an attempt to find out the true dynamics of the Japanese army. .
When faced with the losses reported by each division commander in the bombing, although they also had some headaches because of the losses caused by the bombing, the senior officials of the Kwantung Army, including General Umezu Yoshijiro, were transferred to various divisions in Western Manchuria. The order still insists on not fighting back.
The Kwantung Army headquarters even ordered that no matter how heavy the losses suffered during the bombing of the Anti-Alliance, no soldiers were allowed to be dispatched without receiving an order, let alone the anti-Alliance bombers flying into the sky. Fired one bullet and one anti-aircraft shell.
Even when the Japanese aviation force was fighting for air supremacy in Western Manchuria, in order to conceal the true strategic intention, the aviation force received an order to give up the fight for air supremacy in all designated areas. In order to prevent the downed aviation force from leaking secrets, the aviation force was even transferred to Western Manchuria. The Kwantung Army did not inform the aviation forces of the lurking areas of each division.
After all the divisions participating in the war arrived at the designated combat areas, the Kwantung Army Headquarters repeatedly emphasized that the divisions were not allowed to conduct forward tactical reconnaissance. All tactical intelligence was provided by the 23rd Division. All divisions participating in the battle were Before the battle begins, it is strictly prohibited to make fires or any other actions that may expose the rest of the Kwantung Army's tactics.
The transportation and distribution of materials required for combat operations have been completed as much as possible as early as when these divisions were mobilized. Even the subsequent necessary transportation of materials has been concealed to the greatest extent, even taking into account the carrying capacity of Japanese soldiers. , and actual needs, this time all Japanese divisions were distributed field rations and did not carry a grain of rice.
When each division arrived at the designated combat area, they were told that before the battle began, during the period of concealment and standby, each division could only rely on the supplies it carried. Once each division entered the designated area,
All vehicles and horses are not allowed to move during the day.
After arriving at the designated location, each division should try its best to use the various underground fortifications built in the local area as a second-line battle position against the Soviet Union. During the day, in addition to necessary actions, all divisions should move underground as much as possible.
All radio communications were stopped, and all communications were made using wired telephones with underground lines. As early as the construction of the fortifications in Western Manchuria, wired telephones had been built.
In order for the Western Manchuria counterattack to proceed smoothly, Umezu Yoshijiro had good intentions. Not only did he put in a lot of effort when mobilizing the divisions, but even after these divisions had entered the designated areas, the Kwantung Army Headquarters
In order to conceal their strategic intentions, various strict measures were also prescribed.
The various divisions transferred to Western Manchuria have now almost completed their deployment. Although they all suffered some losses during the Anti-Japanese War in Zaozi, some lost their troops, some carried supplies that were blown up, and some divisions
As well as the attached tanks and heavy artillery regiments, the losses suffered by the Anti-Alliance bombings were quite heavy.
Even an independent field heavy artillery regiment was blown to pieces in its shelter. Seventeen of the twenty-four French 155 howitzers in the establishment were blown up by napalm bombs used by the Anti-Japanese Alliance at the assembly area, almost
Having lost 80% of its combat capability, even though it suffered considerable losses, the Kwantung Army still ordered that no counterattack be allowed.
After painstaking efforts, at least according to the intelligence currently available to the Kwantung Army, the current whereabouts of these divisions that have been deployed to various designated combat areas have not been exposed. This result is undoubtedly a pretty good result for the Kwantung Army.
beginning.
Nearly 100,000 troops, hundreds of artillery pieces, and more than 100 tanks marched to the war zone and have been hiding for several days without any traces being revealed. This alone is enough for the Kwantung Army to be proud of. Although the new
The weather in the Beijing theater suddenly changed, casting a shadow over the counterattack.
However, the news that the 23rd Division, which was the first to conduct a trial, seized the front line of Sunjiayingzi early this morning and split the anti-alliance forces in Linxi into two when it concentrated its final strength to counterattack, undoubtedly seems to have given the Kwantung Army a warning.
It was like a shot of stimulant. For the Kwantung Army, everything was ready and all it needed was the east wind.
And all of these divisions that have been transferred to designated areas have yet to move. They just haven't received orders yet and have not taken action. If the Kwantung Army's plan is to be advanced, all it needs is an order.
That's all, it doesn't require any extra effort at all.
Once the order is issued, its several divisions deployed in Western Manchuria, as well as a large number of heavy artillery and tank regiments, can launch operations in the shortest time. Therefore, Umezu Yoshijiro ordered Okabe Naosaburo to launch an attack on Western Manchuria within twenty hours.
Full of promises to fight back, he just immediately returned the favor on the spot, and then conveniently gave them a reassurance.
As for whether the Kwantung Army, which is betting almost everything they have this time, can achieve the results they expect, that is not certain. Whether their counterattack can be successful depends on not only their own seamless deployment, but also the success of their counterattack.
Let's see if Yang Zhen will fall into his trap.
Although the Anti-Japanese Alliance has not yet figured out exactly how many troops the Kwantung Army has mobilized and where these reinforcements are hidden, the counterattack launched by the 23rd Division's remaining troops has already made Yang Zhen somewhat aware. , but he hasn’t received any precise information yet.
Regarding the dispute between the two giants of the Kwantung Army and their so-called base camp representatives currently located in the new headquarters of the Kwantung Army on Siping Street, they had just rested for eight hours at Li Yanping's strong request, even though they were extremely exhausted. But Yang Zhen, who was still awakened on time by his own biological clock, had no idea at all.
No matter how powerful the Anti-Alliance Intelligence Department is, it is impossible for it to stick its nose into a small secret meeting attended only by the Kwantung Army Commander, Chief of Staff, and Kwantung Army Chief Operations Staff Officer, plus two representatives from the base camp, so for what happened The Anti-Alliance Intelligence Department was completely unable to detect this small dispute between the Kwantung Army.
However, Yang Zhen has already noticed that this counterattack of unprecedented scale that the Kwantung Army has painstakingly prepared may be possible. However, although he ordered Wang Guangyu to conduct multiple reconnaissance of the deep areas behind the 23rd Division, a period of continuous progress has passed. Time passed, but no news came. The first thing he did after waking up was to tell Wang Guangyu that all the reports were coming during his rest period. Yang Zhen felt somewhat uneasy.
The Kwantung Army must take some action in Western Manchuria. Yang Zhen can be sure that he has not made any mistakes in judgment. However, where are their current troops hidden, how many troops are participating in the war, and what kind of equipment they will have. This made Yang Zhen scratch his head.
At present, the only information we have about the precursors of the Kwantung Army's counterattack is that most of the Kwantung Army's divisions in southern Manchuria, except for a few remaining troops, have been transferred out. But where and how are they transferred? Those who were transferred were not aware of the fact that the Japanese army adopted strict confidentiality measures during the operation. Even the transfer of various Japanese divisions was only discovered when many camps were empty.
The Japanese army took a lot of cover-up measures to adjust its troops this time. The units of each division that participated in the war were not transferred out at the same time as they were established. Instead, they adopted a method of transferring out in batches based on the brigade. During the mobilization, they even deployed troops to enforce strict martial law in the area where the military camp was located. As long as anyone without a special identification mark, even a Japanese, could be shot dead on the spot without warning.
In order to cover up the truth about troop mobilization, the Kwantung Army also gathered most of the Korean puppet Manchukuo troops who were relatively fluent in Japanese and changed their Japanese military uniforms. They used some covert means, such as climbing over the wall into the camp and staying there to act as traps for the Japanese army to confuse the resistance alliance. intelligence officer.
The various tactical deception methods adopted by the Kwantung Army this time can be said to be quite successful after painstaking efforts. Although due to the reduction of the jurisdiction, the Kwantung Army has a large number of troops and the density of troop garrison is also quite high. Such large-scale mobilization It was difficult not to be noticed, but the Kwantung Army used various methods to make a considerable part of the camp area. It was not until all the Japanese troops stationed in the camp were transferred out that the surrounding anti-alliance intelligence personnel discovered the anomalies.
Not only did a variety of concealment methods be adopted when leaving the original station, but even the rear divisions were sent to the front line. Perhaps to avoid losses caused by the bombing by anti-alliance bombers, perhaps because they wanted to keep strict confidentiality, all railways were not used as usual. Not to mention the way the troops marched in and all the military personnel mobilized were Japanese.
All the divisions that were mobilized also adopted various confusing methods during the mobilization. Not only the direction of departure of the military trains, but none of them moved towards Western Manchuria. Instead, they all took advantage of the extremely developed Northeast Railway system to move forward in a roundabout way. Moreover, the place where we got off the bus was far away from the Western Manchuria war zone.
Even when getting off the bus, they always choose a place to get off without prior notice. When choosing a route to the war zone, they try to avoid densely populated areas and choose mountainous areas with dense vegetation. In order to maximize their safety, General Yoshijiro Umezu was extremely well-intentioned in keeping the secret possible.