A regiment invested by the Anti-Japanese Alliance in the direction of New Guangwu was reduced to nothing. The 82nd Regiment of the 21st Division of the Japanese Army, which was responsible for guarding New and Old Guangwu and Yanmen Pass, also used up almost all combat troops.
In this bloody battle, Chen Hanzhang finally achieved his tactical intention of dividing the 21st Division's action sequence, but the price he paid was also huge.
In order to protect Shinkobu, in order to make up for the shortage of troops when the troops were no longer available, Colonel Okada Miyoshi not only sent three engineering squadrons to the front line, but also directly sent the baggage regiment
Staying behind, half of the regiment responsible for ensuring the transportation of food and ammunition for the entire division was also dispatched.
As a result, despite the objections of the captain of the division's baggage regiment, he forcibly requisitioned the two squadrons of baggage troops. The embers were consumed in less than half a day. When the battle reached this level, his 83rd regiment was already in a dilemma with no troops to mobilize.
In this situation, not to mention counterattacking the old Guangwu, even defending against the new Guangwu was actually beyond its capabilities.
Not only are there not much infantry left, but also the two mountain artillery squadrons, three rapid-fire artillery squadrons, six brigade artillery squadrons, two anti-aircraft artillery squadrons and one anti-aircraft machine gun squadron left to him by the 21st Division. All artillery and
All anti-aircraft machine guns combined, there are not many left now.
What annoyed the captain of the Colonel Corps most was that the division commander His Excellency Tanaka Jiuichi, when the Anti-Japanese Alliance had a large number of tanks and was very good at using tanks to make detours, in order to ensure the Yanmen Pass road for the 21st Division to fight north,
A lifeline, and a retreat when necessary.
Nearly half of the fifty-six German-made 50mm anti-tank guns that were specially assigned to strengthen the base camp for the 21st Division were left to the 82nd Regiment because they were afraid that the Anti-Japanese Alliance would use tanks as the forerunner to forcibly attack them.
Interspersed behind him, Lieutenant General Tanaka Jiuichi always scorned the information sent by the 32nd Division about the tank clusters of the Anti-Japanese Alliance in northern Shanxi, which had all been attracted to the area between Shanyin and Yingxian.
This old fox doesn't believe any intelligence at all except what he sees with his own eyes. Whether it's from friendly forces, the First Shanxi Army, or even the intelligence from the North China Front Army, he has to verify it again and again before he can partially confirm it.
It is believed that despite the oath of Lieutenant General Ide Tetsuzo, commander of the 32nd Division, he still left half of the new anti-tank guns allocated to the base camp at Yanmen Pass.
But I didn’t expect that at the last moment before the outbreak of the Empire’s Pacific War, the latest and most powerful PAK 38-type 50mm anti-tank gun imported from Germany would be defeated by myself in just one and a half days during this battle.
Only the four gates in Yanmen Pass are missing.
You must know that these anti-tank guns have extremely excellent performance and are far more powerful than the Empire's latest Type 1 rapid-fire anti-tank guns. The Empire has only imported less than a hundred guns in total. In addition to the remaining imitations that are necessary as standard, twenty
The First Division is currently the only division in the entire Imperial Army equipped with this weapon.
After the 21st Division arrived in North China, it changed from the previous aggressive and resolute approach of dispatching Japanese troops. It preferred to sit back and watch the best fighter planes miss, and stayed in Hebei for a long time. In addition, part of the reason was to adjust the original special forces.
Apart from weapons and equipment that are not suitable for fighting in the Chinese battlefield, the real main reason for fighting in Southeast Asia is to wait for these dozens of new anti-tank guns.
The armored cluster offensive adopted by the Anti-Japanese Alliance on the Suiyuan battlefield and the Northern Shanxi battlefield shocked even the North China Front Army, which had been psychologically prepared for a long time. What shocked them even more was the anti-tank weapons on hand, whether they were captured The two-pounder guns that were trophies of the British army were still the Type 97 rapid-fire guns originally equipped by the Japanese army, and even included the latest Japanese Type-1 rapid-fire guns, which were almost unable to deal with some of the tanks in the Anti-Japanese Alliance.
Especially the Maltida II tanks and T 34 tanks, there are almost no weapons that can deal with them. Even the 38 type field guns are helpless at close range.
Although the small number of Type 90 field guns and the captured British field guns are powerful enough, their numbers are limited after all. In the case of fire suppression and support, they are somewhat unable to undertake anti-tank tasks. The most critical thing is the quantity, which is simply far from being able to meet the needs.
The intelligence from Huade, Shangdu, and Datong battlefields was immediately sent to the base camp by aircraft from the North China Front. Photos taken from the Datong garrison and picked up by small planes were uploaded to the Xinjing battlefield in the Northeast. The photos of the Anti-Japanese Alliance tanks and the limited information from Shangdu and Huade battlefields were interpreted by the base camp and confirmed to be Soviet-made T-34 tanks and British-made Matilda II tanks.
The Tokyo base camp, which is also worried about the deterioration of the war situation in North China, knows that once the Anti-Japanese Alliance opens up the land connection with the Guan Nei and is supplemented by the rich human resources in the Chinese Guan, the Kwantung Army may no longer be able to suppress it. .
The Japanese base camp understands very well that everything has a chain reaction. If there is no way to contain the tank offensive of the Anti-Japanese Alliance, the North China Front Army's operation this time is likely to be a complete failure. Once the Anti-Union Army opens up the connection with the North China Front, At that time, it will not only be the Kwantung Army that will be unlucky. The North China Communist Army, which can also rely on the rapid establishment of military industry support by the Anti-Japanese Alliance, will also plunge the North China Front Army into a state of never-ending peace.
Moreover, the United States and the United Kingdom, regardless of China's current situation, had direct contact with the CCP army and provided a considerable amount of assistance, which made the base camp even more worried. The Matilda II tanks, Crusader cruise tanks, and other equipment used by the Anti-Japanese Alliance on the battlefield were also used on the battlefield. A large number of British light bombers appeared on the battlefield in Southeast Asia.
Coupled with the later appearance in Northeast China, the Japanese army also encountered and captured the American M-3 light tanks on the battlefield in Southeast Asia. These standard weapons and equipment of the American and British armed forces have shown that the United States and Britain are now beginning to provide assistance to the Anti-Alliance, and these assistance have given The Anti-Japanese Alliance, which also belongs to the communist army, actually means that it will also be transferred to the communist army in North China.
Once the communist army in North China is fully replenished with equipment and ammunition and becomes stronger, these communist troops, who are like maggots on the tarsal bones of the Japanese army, will never have peace in North China, and the Japanese army will pay a heavy price in 1941. The relatively stable situation in North China that we have just gained will all be in vain.
The ability of these communist troops to survive and develop is simply too terrifying. If they were not short of guns, ammunition, and insufficiently trained before, the price the Japanese army would have to pay to deal with these people would only be greater. Now if they are given adequate supplies, they will be even more If it is even more powerful than a tiger, then the result of waiting for the Japanese troops in North China will be unacceptable to Japan.
Now more than half of Northeast China has been lost, and only one-third of what was once the lifeline of Manchuria and Mongolia is left. If North China is no longer stable, and the newly formed Fourth Army in central and eastern China is in its same order of operations, the Japanese army will rely on China's rich resources. , the plan to support war with war will be completely shattered.
Although the Japanese's strategic vision in this war can only be described as barely satisfactory, they must not allow the Anti-Japanese Alliance to open up ground contact with the Communist Army in North China, as well as the chain reactions that would result from this. , the view is still quite long-term.
Otherwise, they would not have repeatedly agreed to Okamura Neiji's requests, which even in the eyes of the Commander-in-Chief of the China Expeditionary Forces, Shunroku Hata, seemed to be unreasonable, to form an organized division under the situation that the troops had been used to the extreme. Regiments, a large number of anti-tank guns, anti-aircraft guns and other equipment, food, ammunition and other supplies. It is not easy for the current Japanese army to get what they want.
In order to avoid further deterioration of the situation in North China, contain the armored cluster offensive of the Anti-Japanese Alliance, and ensure that the North China Front Army could expel the Anti-Japanese Alliance that had entered northern Shanxi, the Tokyo Base Camp not only spent a lot of money, but also suspended the offensive in Southeast Asia and mobilized Return to the two divisions.
Even after second thoughts, before the decision to go to war with the United States and Britain last year, in order to deal with the powerful armored forces of the United States and Britain, the latest PAK 38 type with 90 doors was specially imported from Germany as a housekeeping treasure and prepared for large-scale imitation. Fifty-six of the 50mm anti-tank guns were transferred to the 21st Division.
Before entering the battlefield, the former Chief of Staff of the Kwantung Army and current Commander of the First Army of the North China Front was repeatedly reminded by the commander of the 21st Division, Lieutenant General Tanaka Kuichi, that in order to ensure his The rear route was safe, leaving half of it to the 82nd Regiment that stayed behind.
As a result, although this man gave full play to the true role of these new and most powerful anti-tank guns of the Japanese army, he indeed contained the anti-Japanese tank group, outflanked the movement, and captured the old Guangwu The intention was actually used in the right place.
However, after Chen Hanzhang changed his tactics, except for the four gates left at Yanmen Pass, the rest were under the blockade of the Anti-Japanese Alliance and could not be withdrawn from the front line. They could only be used as infantry artillery that was overqualified. During the attack, they were either destroyed or they ran out of ammunition and had to blow themselves up. In the same way, the main force of his 82nd Regiment was also consuming the embers little by little.
Chen Hanzhang's judgment was correct. The troops he threw into the front line of Yanmen Pass suffered heavy casualties. However, under the superior firepower concentrated by the Anti-Japanese Alliance and the absolute advantage of individual firepower, the 8th Regiment of the 21st Division who stood firmly on the front line of Yanmen Pass was defeated. The Twelve Regiments also exhausted their own blood.
With the few remaining troops on hand, Colonel Okada Miyoshi would not dare to reinforce the new Guangwu no matter what. Yanmen Pass is the escape route for the 21st Division. Even if the old and new Guangwu are lost, as long as Yanmen Pass is in hand, Once the main force of the division returns to support, there will be room for relaxation, but if even Yanmen Pass is lost, then the 21st Division will really be trapped in the battlefield in northern Shanxi.
What's more, among the only one and a half squadrons left around him, half of the squadrons are not combat troops at all. Except for half of them being orderlies and grooms, the remaining half are actually responsible for cremating the corpses of Japanese soldiers killed in battle. Cremated soldiers without even guns. In such a situation, Okada Miyoshi still dared to send troops to reinforce the Shinkobu battlefield which was entering the last moment.
Apart from sending out an infantry squad and an engineer squad as symbolic reinforcements, they simply did not dare to dispatch any more soldiers. And of these two squads, except for losing one in the artillery blockade area passed by the Anti-Japanese Alliance, the remaining Also on the anti-slope position of Xinguangwu, it was blown to pieces by a mortar shell.
There were only a dozen troops who actually rushed to reinforce Xin Guangwu. They could only send telegrams to the division headquarters, asking the division headquarters to return immediately to recapture Xin Guangwu and provide frontline reinforcements to Yanmen Pass. Protect the lifeline of the 21st Division and the final retreat.
Colonel Okada Miyoshi, whose strength has been exhausted, is no longer able to reinforce Shinguangwu. After Chen Hanzhang captured Shinguangwu, he was unable to continue southward. He could only use the original regiment in Beiyue District and the remaining troops. , and left an artillery unit to defend Xinguangwu on the spot.