After the Sixty-ninth Division lost contact, the Chinese saying that good fortune never comes singly, and misfortunes never come singly, appeared in Okamura Neiji's mind. After the Sixty-ninth Division's radio contact was completely lost, he immediately reacted When something went wrong, Okamura Neiji immediately dispatched reinforcements to bypass Liangcheng and directly reinforce them. As for the direction of Datong, he temporarily put it aside.
Although the anti-resistance alliance there has broken into the city and is in fierce battle with the defenders in Datong City, the troops and fortification groups defended by Datong are still intact. In particular, there are favorable fortification groups to rely on. Most of the outer positions of Datong are still intact. It is still in the hands of the defenders. As long as the Datong defenders do not rush out of the city to counterattack, there is no danger in holding on for ten days and a half.
It's just that he did this to make Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadichi, who had just been transferred from the post of chief of staff of the Kwantung Army to the commander of the First Army. As soon as the battle started, he made him an almost bare commander. No one could think of it. Knowing that, Okamura Neji, who was eager to rescue the 69th Division who might be in danger, could no longer care about his feelings at this time.
Before this battle, it was he, Okamura Ningji, who applied to the base camp to transfer a senior officer of the Kwantung Army to the North China Front Army as deputy chief of staff or chief of staff of that army, in the name of the North China Front Army having no experience in fighting the Anti-Japanese Alliance. In particular, the Mongolian Army and the First Army are the two directions that Okamura Neiji believes should be strengthened.
But the base camp didn't know what was going on. In February this year, Lieutenant General Yoshio Iwamatsu, the former commander of the First Army, was transferred to the Xinminhui as the top adviser, and the Kwantung Army's chief of staff, Yoshimoto Sadichi, was transferred to the Xinminhui. He was transferred to the First Army as Commander, and after Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadichi took office, he created a lot of obstacles for Okamura Neji.
Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadichi, who had fought against the Anti-Japanese Alliance many times when he was the chief of staff of the Kwantung Army. He believed that he had a detailed understanding of the enemy's army. He directly asked Okamura Neiji to abandon Chaxi and Suidong and move the 26th Division to the First Division. The 10th Division withdrew to the front lines of Tuchengzi, Xinghe, and Zhangjiakou, and made every effort to defend the Chanan and northern Shanxi battlefields to ensure the safety of northern Shanxi and Suinan.
At least two infantry divisions were mobilized in Yanggao and Tianzhen in northern Shanxi and Fengzhen in Suinan to be used as the second echelon and mobile emergency force. Yoshimoto Sadai believed that the 26th Division alone could It is difficult for the 10th Division and the independent mixed 9th Brigade to defend the vast area of Chabei.
Instead of dividing the troops to guard and being defeated by the enemy one by one, it is better to withdraw the troops to Tuchengzi, Xinghe, and Zhangjiakou, and use the local terrain of mainly mountainous areas with narrow plains to gradually consume the enemy's effective strength and material reserves. , and lengthen the enemy's supply line as much as possible.
We must persist until the land is civilized in mid-April, when the enemy's vehicle mobility is restricted and their maneuverability drops significantly. If we carry out a full-line counterattack, the enemy's manpower will be greatly reduced and the transportation of materials will be affected by the muddy roads. It gave the Japanese army the opportunity to annihilate the enemy forces on the Western Front in one fell swoop.
Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Teiichi, who had suffered heavy losses many times during the Anti-Japanese War and never accurately judged the enemy's strength, firepower, and equipment, came up with this plan. In fact, it is not complicated. He just wants to make sure the terrain is flat and can be used by the enemy. The terrain where military tanks exert their power places the main lines of defense in mountainous areas.
Because Yoshimoto Teiichi believed that although the Anti-Japanese Alliance could not manufacture high-tech weapons such as tanks, since the Empire was already at full war with the United States and Britain, the United States and Britain wanted to weaken the momentum of the Empire's offensive and disperse the Empire's forces to fight against the United States and Britain.
It is bound to provide assistance to the Anti-Alliance, especially the British. As early as the Napoleonic era, they were quite skilled in the one-on-one method.
Both the United States and Britain have the ability to produce and manufacture tanks in large quantities. If they assist the Anti-Alliance tanks in large quantities, it will be too dangerous to fight with the Anti-Alliance coaches in the plains, especially when the Japanese army's anti-Alliance intelligence collection plans have repeatedly failed and are almost impossible to obtain.
With a little bit of useful information, the safest way is to stick to the mountainous areas and abandon the plain terrain.
Shorten your own supply line, lengthen the opponent's supply line, and use huge material consumption to crush the enemy's large-scale offensive. Who knows, every time you give the Kwantung Army some new tricks to resist the alliance, this time it will give the North China Front another
What kind of surprise, for such an unpredictable army, sometimes it is necessary to give up something.
In fact, Yoshimoto Teiichi's idea is most in line with the current situation of the Japanese and Anti-Alliance forces and equipment before the battle started. It is also an effective summary of his experience after years of suffering losses. After the battle started, the entire battle progressed in accordance with
As a result of his idea, the number of tanks dispatched by the Anti-Japanese Alliance far exceeded the Japanese army's expectations.
But his idea seems to be consistent with reality in the eyes of Okamura Neiji, but after all, he, Yoshimoto Teiichi, is not the commander of the North China Front Army. As the commander of the First Army, he can give up Chahar and Suidong and focus on northern Shanxi.
, this is his duty as the commander of the First Army.
But Okamura Neiji cannot do this. He will abandon the entire Chahar except Chanan and even the entire Suidong without firing a shot, and shrink his troops to the Suizhong area. If Okamura Neiji does this today
Well, the commander of this front army will have to be replaced tomorrow. Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadichi is also considered a senior general of the empire. When has he ever seen the empire eat something and spit it out without doing anything?
Although Yoshimoto Seiichi's idea cannot be implemented, Okamura Neji, who actually agrees with it in his heart, did not say much about his idea. However, among the top brass of the North China Front, many people think that Yoshimoto Seiichi's
The idea is to defend his first military area with all his strength.
In particular, Lieutenant General Ichiro Nanada, the commander of the garrison in Mongolia, had strong opinions on Yoshimoto Seiichi's plan. Okamura Neiji worked hard to suppress the request of some senior generals to replace the new commander of the First Army.
He retained his position as commander of Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadichi and did not become the shortest-lived army commander in the history of the First Army.
However, Yoshimoto Sadichi was still ignorant. Instead of understanding his painstaking efforts, he called the North China Front several times and insisted that his plan be implemented. Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadichi even suggested that if his plan was not implemented, then the first
The general will not participate in this battle.
Not to mention which of the three divisions and two independent mixed brigades of the North China Front will be transferred to participate in the war, the First Army will not agree to transfer even one squadron, because Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadichi insists that then
It was to deliver results to the Anti-Japanese Alliance rather than to fight.
The two people had a very heated argument over deployment matters. In the end, Lieutenant General Harem Chun, Chief of Staff of the Army, was dispatched to mediate. This time fighting in Chahar and Suiyuan, in addition to the third independent mixed brigade, The North China Front Army was not mobilizing other units of the First Army. The North China Front Army was under-strength, and the dispatched army was responsible for solving the problem. Only then did we understand the matter.
But after the Anti-Japanese Alliance broke into Datong, the two of them had another quarrel. Yoshimoto Teiichi insisted not to add any reinforcements to Datong, but believed that the most important thing to do at the moment was to take advantage of the opportunity that the Anti-Union offensive was delayed by the Datong battlefield. , mobilize sufficient troops to build a second deep line of defense in Shuoxian, Yingxian, and Hunyuan along the line of the Inner Great Wall.
Because in the view of Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadichi, the situation of the Anti-Japanese Alliance in Fengzhen, Jining, and Datong is obviously to encircle the points for reinforcements. Although the enemy forces attacking Datong are not large, they are supported by the communist troops in Nanguan. , the North can add a large number of troops at any time.
No matter how many reinforcements are mobilized, unless a large number of reinforcements are dispatched at the same time, they will only be eaten up by the Anti-Japanese Alliance. No matter how many troops are currently invested in the battlefields of Jining and Datong, the final result will be to lose wives and lose troops. Instead of a large number of reinforcements, The troops were wasted in vain, so it would be better to retreat to the front line of the inner Great Wall, stick to various strategic points, and form a deep defense.
Although Okamura Neiji does not deny that Yoshimoto Seiichi's opinion is correct, but again, he is the commander of the North China Front Army, not the commander of the First Army. His jurisdiction covers the entire North China, as well as Suiyuan and Chaha You, give up Suinan without fighting, sit back and watch Datong fight bitterly without rescue, the base camp will definitely not allow it.
So after the war situation took a turn for the worse, in order to reduce the constraints of Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadichi, Okamura Neji simply learned the method of inserting himself into the side, disrupting his own deployment, and bypassing his superior General Hata Shunroku. The commander directly mobilizes the divisions under the First Army.
As for Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Teiichi, who he had made into a polished commander, Okamura Neiji gave him a new mission, which was to lure the commander of the Second Theater District to surrender at all costs, and even ordered Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Teiichi to surrender. Except for the area from Yumenkou in southern Shanxi to Yuncheng south of Quwo, all garrisons in the counties west of the Tongpu Railway will be evacuated.
At the same time, all control of the counties in northwestern Shanxi was secretly handed over to the Jinsui Army, so that the Jinsui Army could replace the already insufficient First Army to wipe out the Communist forces in the Luliang Mountains. If Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadichi felt that he could control To maintain the rhythm, Qinyuan in the Taiyue Mountains, Yushe, Wuxiang, and Liao County in the hinterland of the Taihang Mountains can also be handed over to the Shanxi-Sui Army.
And dispatched some troops to cover the Jinsui Army crossing the Tongpu Railway. If there is friction between the Jinsui Army and the troops of the 18th Group Army, some troops will be deployed to cooperate with the Jinsui Army's military operations. In a word, we must be good at using the Chinese internal forces. The conflict caused them to kill each other to solve the problem of insufficient Japanese troops.
Okamura Neiji's move was very vicious. He used several counties as bait to lure the World War II areas who were eager to expand their living space, and replaced the under-strength First Army to fight against the Kanai troops. As for those abandoned counties, in Okamura Neiji's view Giving up is only temporary. If the commander of the second theater does not know how to praise him, his first army can turn around at any time to completely eliminate the hundreds of thousands of troops in the second theater once the current crisis is resolved.
In order to stabilize the war situation as soon as possible, Okamura Neji worked hard. However, although there was a more convenient railway for transportation, the main force of the 15th Division was bombed, and Okamura had no way to transport reinforcements. However, Ningji did not dare to take the railway again no matter what.
Moreover, after the Anti-Japanese Alliance suddenly appeared near Datong, enemy aircraft bombed the Tongpu Railway immediately. The entire North Tongpu Railway was bombed and could only pass intermittently. Not to mention that railway transportation is extremely dangerous, even if it can It can be used, but the reinforcement speed cannot increase.
Since the railway is no longer in use, the only thing Neji Okamura hopes for this time to go north for reinforcements is to use a large number of trucks in his hands to transport these troops along the highway to where he has designated them in the shortest possible time. position, and now rescuing the 69th Division, which is probably in trouble, has become Neji Okamura's top priority.
The reason why the radio signal of the 69th Division disappeared is very simple, because not only was the headquarters of this division destroyed, but even the main force of the division was wiped out. The entire division organization has completed a two-sided attack. The anti-resistance alliance was divided and surrounded, and was in the process of being encircled and annihilated. The division and regiment headquarters were destroyed, and the entire organization was disrupted. Naturally, this high-power radio station could not be used.