According to Yoshimoto Teiichi, anyway, according to the requirements of the base camp, the First Army must not only ensure the stability of the Shanxi combat area, but also prevent the Chongqing First Theater on the south bank of the Yellow River from counterattacking southern Shanxi, and suppress the Second Theater in southwest Shanxi from having any If they act rashly, lest they have thoughts they shouldn't have, the troops themselves will be stretched to the limit.
Even under such circumstances, limited troops must be mobilized to supervise and cooperate with the troops newly recruited by the Nanjing government who were transferred to Shanxi by General Okamura to raid the so-called Taihang and Taiyue base areas of the Communist Army. Now There are really no troops left to mobilize.
If you want to mobilize reinforcements, you can either abandon Yuncheng and mobilize the main force of the 37th Division and concentrate all your efforts on dealing with the battle situation in northern Shanxi first, or you, General Okamura, can mobilize the 15th Division, or you, General Okamura, can move up from the base camp or It's the dispatch army, trying to find a way to mobilize new divisions to join the war.
In fact, Yoshimoto Teiichi is very depressed about the counterattack organized by the North China Front Army in Northern Shanxi. The entire Shanxi battlefield is obviously one, and the commander of the entire Shanxi First Army should be in charge of his jurisdiction and be fully responsible for command. This will be more conducive to coordinating combat operations and conducting unified deployment throughout the Shanxi battlefield.
But what was originally a complete battlefield was turned into two battlefields by General Okamura. As the highest-ranking military officer in the entire Shanxi battlefield, he could only command the 32nd Division and the 21st Division, as well as the ones currently being held. The Jinsui armed forces of the Communist Army surrounded and fought the Zuojian detachment.
However, all the troops on the battlefield in northeastern Shanxi were under the unified command of Lieutenant General Shunjiro Takeuchi, commander of the 116th Division. The 15th Division, which was re-transferred to Shanxi after reorganization in the name of sweeping the Taihang District, was under the command of Lieutenant General Shunjiro Takeuchi, commander of the 116th Division. He, Okamura Neiji, took direct command. With this move, his First Army, which had the heaviest burden and was already stretched thin in the use of troops, could only command two divisions at the front.
Not only was the entire front unable to coordinate, but most fundamentally, the command was constrained in many ways. Even so, General Okamura Neiji often bypassed the First Army Headquarters and directly issued orders to the two divisions below. This The 32nd Division ignored his repeated orders to divide its troops and move. I am afraid it was General Okamura who bypassed him and gave the order to the 32nd Division.
If Ide Tetsuzo's 32nd Division can follow his orders and form an integral cooperation with the 21st Division on the left, with the 21st Division as the flanking support, the remaining defense forces of the Northern Shanxi Anti-Japanese Alliance can be stretched. The entire division huddled together and pressed sideways in the direction of Datong. Although the speed of this action was slower, it was at least more stable. Even if northern Shanxi could not be recaptured, the main force of the division would not be seriously damaged.
The entire heaviest burden was given to him, but only half of the troops were given to him, because in General Okamura's entire plan, the 21st and 32nd divisions were used to attack. One division plus two brigades were used to attract the main force of the Northern Shanxi Resistance Alliance to the battlefield in northeastern Shanxi, leaving its flanks empty and creating conditions for the two divisions to attack.
Under the desperate reinforcements of General Okamura, the 15th Division, which is now fully equipped, is used as the final decisive force. It is used as the mobile force of the entire front army. It will not be used unless it is absolutely necessary. Only the 21st and 32nd divisions under the command of the First Army were engaged in front-line operations and were truly responsible for the reconquest of northern Shanxi.
Regarding General Okamura's entire strategic plan to regain northern Shanxi, Yoshimoto Teiichi and General Okamura had certain differences, but they were generally in agreement. However, they had quite different opinions on the division of command power. , the battlefield in northern Shanxi is a whole, what do you mean by creating two command systems?
The only mobile force on the entire battlefield is directly under the control of the front army. It does not accept orders from anyone except you, General Okamura. As for the two brigades and one division on the battlefield in northeastern Shanxi, you not only command it yourself. If you don't move, even if you want to maintain a unified battle situation, you can't do it.
These deployments have indeed served to distract and contain the anti-union forces, but now they are blocked in several counties and cannot even get out of the city. Even the Wuuchi detachment in Hunyuan has been surrounded and cut off. The connection with the 69th Brigade in Guangling and the mountain village detachment in Lingqiu, both of which were suffering under enemy attacks, still had the strength to support the 32nd Division.
Originally, according to the plan of General Okamura, the Takeuchi detachment passed through Yushe, Taigu, Taiyuan, and Daixian Mountain Village Detachment marched westward from Yuanping and Xinxian County, reached Hunyuan via Fanzhi, and contracted the 69th Brigade to Guangling and Shancun. The detachment entered Lingqiu and formed a triangle situation in northeastern Shanxi. These three detachments were backed by the 48th Division, threatening the junction of the battlefields in northern Shanxi and Chanan.
This attracted the main force of the Northern Shanxi Anti-Japanese Alliance to move eastward in order to ensure the safety of the northern Shanxi flanks and the junction with the Chanan battlefield. Moreover, a large number of troops were invested, forcing them to move eastward in order to ensure the safety of the junction and the flanks. Most of the troops in northern Shanxi were transferred to northeastern Shanxi to open up its defense gap.
At the same time, this line is used as the junction of the Hengshan Mountains and the Taihang Mountains. The complex terrain of the mountainous area prevents the enemy from using tanks to invest troops on a large scale. At the same time, the Zuojian detachment moves westward to attract its so-called local armed forces to Shanxi. northwest, and contain the remaining troops on its front.
In order to create a powerful fighter opportunity for the two divisions of the frontal attack to move north, this plan is indeed a good combat plan. If the enemy does not invest new reinforcements, judging from the current battle situation in northeastern Shanxi, it has to be It can be considered a considerable success.
It's just that General Okamura's intention was indeed achieved, but he didn't expect that the anti-alliance forces on the opposite side moved faster. After these troops stationed at the designated location, they surrounded them from behind. As a result, the three Japanese troops did not have an advantage in terms of strength and firepower. , the two sides fought against each other, and as a result, the two brigades and a mixed division transferred to northeastern Shanxi were blocked in the city and unable to get out.
The connections between them have been fragmented into pieces. The roads connecting several counties have been cut off. Even the Takeuchi Division stationed in Hunyuan has not only been cut off from the other two divisions, but also itself. It was also divided up by others and each made dumplings.
The Takeuchi Division went out to fight many times in the city, trying to rescue a field regiment of the Takeuchi Division that was separated by the enemy and trapped in Wanghu Fort. As a result, the many rescue operations were either bombed back by intensive artillery shells or were destroyed by the enemy. The superior force was pressed back, and the entire regiment of Wanghu Fort could only be watched helplessly, being torn to pieces by ground and air firepower combined with a large number of enemy troops.
It is estimated that as early as when the Takeuchi detachment moved to northeastern Shanxi, the Anti-Japanese Alliance had their eyes on them, who were the backbone of the triangle formation in northeastern Shanxi. Otherwise, they would not have been able to move so quickly, and their speed and courage in mobilizing troops would have been almost beyond comparison.
Beyond everyone's expectations.
The courage to dare to mobilize the troops fighting in Suidong to go south quickly while the 110th Division was still resisting, regardless of the safety of the retreat, was astonishing. For any other army, there would be quite a lot of troops behind them.
In the case of strong resistance, he would not deploy troops in his most lethal parts, but this opponent did just that.
Although the current situation in Northeastern Shanxi is that the Anti-Japanese Alliance dare not, and cannot mobilize troops to reinforce other fronts, the troops deployed by General Okamura in Northeastern Shanxi are now equivalent to being locked up, and they are also somewhat tight.
, once the situation on the other two fronts becomes critical, there will be no support at all.
In this battle to go north to regain northern Shanxi, the 32nd Division on the center line and the 21st Division on the west line are the backbone forces, especially the 32nd Division on the center line, which plays a role in connecting the two flanks of the entire campaign.
If the 32nd Division is defeated, this counterattack in northern Shanxi will also be a complete failure.
But now the fatal problem arises not from Northeastern Shanxi, but from the two divisions attacking frontally, and the divided command of the two battlefields has caused disunity in command. As a result, General Okamura was making this deployment when
, the most dangerous situation that was not expected at the beginning appeared.
The most difficult aspect now is that the two divisions used as the main offensive force are fighting independently and facing difficulties. They cannot get any reinforcements from the friendly forces in northeastern Shanxi, especially those originally thought to be the most vulnerable.
The 32nd Division, which was safe and should be the most successful, was also in danger. I am afraid that this result was something that General Okamura did not expect at all.
Faced with such a development of the situation, Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Tetsuichi, after receiving a telegram from Lieutenant General Ide Tetsuzo asking for help, without any troops to mobilize, directly transferred Ide Tetsuzo's plan without any embellishment or modification.
The telegram was forwarded to the North China Front. You, General Okamura, have done such a trick. You should wipe it off yourself.
Anyway, the only mobile force that can be mobilized on the entire Shanxi battlefield is also in your hands. The First Army just wants to rescue. Unless it violates the orders of the base camp and abandons the Shanxi control area, it will not be able to mobilize troops. He Gang
If the village general doesn't want to lose this battle too completely, he should find a way on his own.
General Okamura's calculations were very clear, but he forgot one thing, that is, the empire was mobilizing reinforcements to reinforce the North China battlefield, but the Anti-Japanese Alliance could also mobilize assistance. He had advised him more than once that he could not use this army.
Look at it from the perspective of other armies in China.
Even on the battlefield, this army that is currently fighting on two fronts seems to be using its troops to the extreme, but they will always find a way to come up with something new at the most critical moment. In this matter, the Kwantung Army has already
They suffered heavy losses more than once, and many times the battles that were originally stalemate failed because they suddenly invested new effective forces at the most critical moment.
When I served as the chief of staff of the Kwantung Army, I had been dealing with the Kwantung Army for so many years, and I couldn't exactly figure out how many troops they had. The maximum number of troops that could be mobilized when needed could only be determined according to the Kwantung Army's response.
They control the area's population to calculate the number of troops they can mobilize. Only God knows how accurate this calculation is.
In addition, although they do not have railways to use, they do have a large number of trucks that can mobilize a large number of troops at any time. They can mobilize reinforcements from the northeast to northern Shanxi in the shortest time. The combination of mobility and suddenness Together, they can become a key factor in determining the direction of the battlefield at any time.
According to the original intelligence, the so-called 10th Division of the Anti-Japanese Alliance, which had been fighting in the Xinjing theater of the Northeastern battlefield but suffered heavy losses in the First Battle of Xingjing and then retreated for reinforcements, now not only appears in northern Shanxi, but is even fully staffed, indicating that even though it has two Fighting on the front line, but it is not really that the potential of the soldiers has been exhausted.
Judging from Yoshimoto Teiichi's judgment when he was in charge of the Kwantung Army, it currently has only half of its strength and is still the Thirty-second Division organized by the Security Division. It is probably difficult for it to be an opponent of this fully-staffed army, especially since it can be obtained at any time. With a large amount of air support, the 32nd Division must either receive reinforcements within a short period of time or retreat immediately. Otherwise, the outcome of the 32nd Division may not be good.