After the base camp happily agreed to provide reinforcements to the two divisions of the North China Front within ten days, the general commander of the China Expedition Army, after receiving the telegram from Okamura Neiji, faced the unfavorable battle situation. There is no digging around, and the 11th and 13th armies currently under the direct control of the dispatch army basically have no large-scale combat missions, so they can allocate part of their troops to support the North China Front Army.
General Hata Shunroku knew very well that if the North China Front really lost Shanxi and the Peking-Tianjin area in this battle, his position as commander of the dispatched army would be over. After all, the North China Front was within the China Expeditionary Forces system. If the war is defeated, he, the commander of the General Army, will not be able to bear this responsibility even if he wants to. The key issue now is not to investigate the responsibility, but to protect Pingjin, Suiyuan, and Shanxi.
General Hata Junroku generously transferred the 86th Infantry Regiment, a field artillery battalion, four infantry brigades and two mountain artillery squadrons from the 63rd Division from the 22nd Division directly under the 13th Army. , the 109th and 138th regiments of the 116th Division, two artillery squadrons, a howitzer squadron, and all the rapid-fire artillery of the 13th Army were temporarily organized into a detachment, led by Shunjiro Takeuchi, commander of the 116th Division Lieutenant General provides unified command.
The 11th, 12th, 13th, 17th, and 20th brigades were independently formed from the 13th Army, and three infantry squadrons were drawn from each. In addition, the 14th and 18th brigades were drawn from the 11th Army. Two infantry squadrons, four mountain artillery squadrons directly under the reinforcement corps, a field artillery brigade, plus two rapid-fire artillery squadrons drawn from the 11th Army, commanded by Major General Haruo Yamamura, commander of the 13th independent mixed brigade.
It's just that the reinforcements mobilized by General Hata Shunroku this time do not have a complete division, or even a complete independent mixed brigade. Although they have been equipped with a large number of reinforced troops in previous battles with the Japanese army, the infantry as the backbone is still a single unit. The style, which is mainly based on the establishment, has completely changed.
Although the entire reinforcement force is composed of elite soldiers and generals drawn from each division, overall it is a colorful platter. Except for the Takeuchi detachment commanded by Lieutenant General Shunjiro Takeuchi, it is composed of two regiments of the 116th Division. It can be made up of basic elements.
The mountain village detachment is a complete hodgepodge of troops drawn from several independent mixed brigades. This mountain village detachment has a total of 19 infantry squadrons, each drawn from seven independent mixed brigades. The artillery is from the 13th Army. The directly subordinate artillery force was drawn from the 11th Army, and the rapid-fire artillery unit was drawn from the 11th Army.
Not to mention the squadron leader level, there are five temporarily formed infantry battalion captains, one from each of the five independent mixed brigades directly under the 13th Army. Not to mention having experience in coordinated operations, there are five infantry battalion captains. They are quite strangers to each other, and they have not even seen each other.
This temporary formation is completely different from the previous detachment that used a certain unit as the basis and increased the number of troops to form a detachment. It is unprecedented in the Japanese army's previous operations. According to normal principles, this detachment should carry out a period of Time has passed, but the development of the battle situation has made General Hata Shunroku have no choice but to bite the bullet and let this hodgepodge directly onto the battlefield.
There is no way. The 11th Army is responsible for the 6th and 9th theaters with the strongest combat effectiveness against Chongqing, and is also responsible for attacking Chongqing and completely solving China. It is the only field corps of the entire Chinese dispatched army. Although the 11th Army has a strong force, , but facing such a vast front, it is really powerless.
Shunroku Hata did not want to weaken the already limited offensive capabilities of the Eleventh Army by deploying too many troops. He only faced the Thirteenth Army in the third theater. Although the pressure on the battlefield was not great, the defensive tasks were considerable. Heavy, especially the areas controlled by the Thirteenth Army, are the richest Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions in China and the economic center of China.
The rice abundant here is the main source of military food for the Japanese army, and it is also an important source of financial resources for the entire dispatched force. Since the 15th Division of the Nanjing Garrison Force has been transferred away, Shunroku Hata can only transfer a batch from various aspects. Troops, mobilize reorganized divisions, the current dispatched army really does not have that strength.
However, considering the adequacy of the troops, in addition to these troops, General Hata Junroku also called the Tokyo base camp to prepare for the formation of the 62nd Infantry Brigade of the 170th Division, which is being assembled in Japan. To the North China Front, the four infantry brigades of the brigade that were to be transported to Ningbo were immediately transferred to Tianjin Port for landing.
But for Okamura Neiji, the base camp did not have any ambiguity and agreed to give him two divisions of reinforcements. The China Expedition Army Headquarters in Nanjing was also deploying troops and generals at all costs, but these scattered in various places Troop assembly and transportation require a lot of time.
China's area is too large, and the Japanese army's front line is too long. With insufficient troops, all divisions are scattered throughout the country to ensure the occupation of the occupied areas. With so many troops, even if there is no encounter To intercept and block the Chinese army, even mobilization and assembly will take a long time.
What's more, the two divisions promised by the base camp, one is still in the Philippines and the other is still in the Indochina Peninsula. They can be transported by sea and cannot be disembarked in less than ten days and a half. This is still a group of jellyfish in the Navy. In the case of the fleet.
Before these reinforcements, which were still on paper, arrived, Okamura Neiji knew that he could only find a way to quickly stabilize the war situation. At least, he would penetrate the enemy's tentacles deep into northern Shanxi and fight back at all costs to prevent the war situation from getting worse. On the one hand, he kept urging the mobilized reinforcements to assemble and set off immediately, and on the other hand, he desperately urged the 69th Division to go south immediately.
What he didn't expect was that during the transportation of the main force of the 15th Division to Shanxi via the Zhengtai Railway, Jingxing and Yangquan stations suddenly encountered fierce air attacks from the Anti-Union Army fleet. Due to the tense war situation, the two trains were seriously overloaded. The column was suddenly filled with several infantry brigades, and Jingxing and Yangquan stations were bombed at the same time.
The two military columns, together with the entire Jingxing and Yangquan stations, were razed to the ground by more than thirty anti-Japanese planes loaded with bombs. The main force of the entire 15th Division, except for the five infantry brigades that set out early, had not yet arrived in Taiyuan. He was bombed and went straight back home. Lieutenant General Naoji Sakai, the commander of the 15th Division, was also killed in the air raid.
The lifeline of the Shanxi battlefield, which was closely protected by the Japanese army, was also interrupted during the bombing. The North China Front Army urgently dispatched a field railway unit for emergency repairs. Under the continuous anti-Japanese air raids, the repairs were delayed and unable to be completed. Usually here Just after it was repaired, it was blown up again over there. Just when the bridge here was barely passable, the station over there was blown up again.
Since the entire battle started, the Shota Railway was bombed for the first time. In addition to causing heavy losses to the Japanese army, Okamura Neji immediately had an unpleasant feeling in his heart. He immediately sent a report to the commander of the 69th Division, Inoue Sadae. , ask him to stop going south and immediately shrink back to Jining.
But no matter how the North China Front Army's high-power radio called, there was no answer except a lot of interference. After the 69th Division cut off all contact, in less than a day, the 110th Division The regiment's radio call sign, unlike the intermittent contact it had in the past, has completely disappeared.
By April 10, the Japanese army's only two divisions on the Suinan and Suidong battlefields had completely lost radio contact, which made Okamura Neji feel deeply uneasy. The radio signals on the battlefield were completely blocked. The interruption indicates that these two divisions are likely to be in danger.
Faced with an unfavorable battle situation, Okamura Neiji could not care about anything else. As the reinforcements mobilized from the base camp and the dispatched army headquarters could not arrive yet, he immediately dispatched troops who had just returned from Jishan to Taiyuan. They were originally planning to pass through Taiyuan. The 222nd Regiment of the 36th Division returned to Changzhi via the Baijin Railway, plus the two independent brigades of the Fourth Brigade stationed in Taiyuan.
The Thirty-sixth Infantry Regiment of the Thirty-sixth Division, commanded by Major General Sakuma, formed a detachment and immediately took trucks to go north, passing through Ningwu, Shuoxian, Pinglu, and Youyu. After exiting the killing tiger's mouth, it passed through Liangcheng and immediately reinforced Jining. , Okamura Neiji directly ordered Major General Zusama Kuto not to have any entanglement with any Chinese troops on the way to reinforcements. He must reach Liangcheng within three days at all costs.
Order Lieutenant General Qing Shuigui, commander of the 41st Division, not to have any entanglement with the Communist Army in the Taiyue area. All the main forces of the division will set off as soon as they can gather a regiment to get rid of the Communist Army in the Taiyue area. harassment, immediately sent reinforcements to the direction of Datong in northern Shanxi.
In Okamura Neiji's view, Datong, which has a solid city defense to rely on, can last much longer than the 69th Division and the 110th Division, which were separated from the cover of the strong city due to their own command errors, and are now hanging alone in the On the Suidong battlefield, Okamura Neiji wanted to rescue him but was beyond his reach.
But the 69th Division must be rescued. If the 69th Division, which has lost contact now, really has an accident, or is wiped out by the Anti-Japanese Alliance, then the entire Suinan battlefield will no longer have room for recovery. , it will even involve the battlefield in northern Shanxi, and there will be a chain of defensive collapses.
In fact, after Okamura Ningji gave the order to the commander of the 69th Division, Lieutenant General Sadae Inoue, to complete the retreat to the south, it didn't take long for him to realize that he had made a big mistake. The enemy forces around Jining all It is a tank-mechanized force. In a field battle, this kind of opponent will have a huge impact on the 69th Division, which is basically pure infantry and has only one squadron of anti-tank guns.
In Jining, there is not only a solid city wall to rely on, but also a large amount of ammunition, food and other materials in Jining, a transfer station for transferring materials from Shanxi to Suidong and Suinan. If we rely on the strong city defense, sixty The Ninth Division can hold on until a large number of reinforcements arrive, but his own intervention may push the Sixty-ninth Division into the abyss in advance.
But the order has been issued, and General Okamura Neiji himself cannot change it. Changing the order early and late will only plunge the troops below into chaos. At the same time, it will also have a considerable impact on his prestige as a commander, and For Neji Okamura, even though he found that he had made certain mistakes in his decision.
However, he insisted that this mistake might not really happen. What the Anti-Japanese Alliance was most worried about now was the Sixty-ninth Division's reinforcement of the Suidong battlefield, instead of retreating south to Datong. He ordered the Sixty-ninth Division to retreat south, which was also It was a surprise, and the result of the Sixty-ninth Division waiting to retreat south from the Datong battlefield may not really be an abyss.
Okamura Neiji's view was too idealistic, and he also underestimated the judgment ability of the front-line commanders of the Anti-Japanese Alliance. The result of the Sixty-ninth Division's southward retreat was the worst result he could imagine. Development, less than four hours after the Sixty-ninth Division retreated south, both the North China Front Army Headquarters and the First Army lost direct contact with this division.