According to his thinking, based on previous combat experience, although he only had one regiment of troops marching eastward, compared with the seven battalions and all the firepower that were concentrated in that battle, the troop and firepower invested were indeed too disparate. Compared with the seven battalions, the strength of one battalion is far behind.
But I don’t have to eat any number of your troops. I can’t eat an infantry brigade at a time. I can eat one or two squadrons in one battle. Is it possible to add up to a small amount? Even if the Japanese army coming to assist is an infantry brigade. , then I don’t have to annihilate them all, as long as they can be severely damaged, it can be considered a victory.
Although my army does not have the courage to fight an offensive battle with an infantry battalion like the brothers of the Anti-Alliance Army, I only want you to stay away from the surrounding areas of Beipiao City. As for how much advantage I can take, No matter how much you take, it’s fine as long as you don’t suffer any loss.
As for the Japanese troops in Chaoyang City abandoning Chaoyang City and breaking out toward Beipiao with all their strength, he was not worried about this possibility. Previously, an armored train in Chaoyang, taking advantage of the opportunity before he could surround him, rushed out of Chaoyang Station and headed straight for Beipiao. The incident gave him a wake-up call.
So when he arrived at the outskirts of Chaoyang, he directly cut off one-third of the railway line from Chaoyang to Beipiao from Yugou to Mamigou. He didn't cut it all. First, he didn't have enough time, and second, he couldn't draw it. Send out so many troops to do this kind of thing.
In the old base area of Taihang, these things are usually done by mobilizing ordinary people. In the old base area, as long as you say hello to the local government and local armed forces, thousands of ordinary people can be mobilized to participate. But now in western Liaoning, you can only rely on yourself. There isn't that much time left.
However, although time is tight, manpower is insufficient, and the railway lines that need to be destroyed are relatively long, it is because they often destroy railways that the people in North China call them the old troops of the road-breaking army. Their railway-breaking actions are not only fast, but practice makes perfect. , and quite professional.
Coupled with the two engineering companies attached to the Anti-Japanese Alliance, the opinions provided in certain aspects, and some of the tools they carried, when destroying the railway, although they did not use the customs to destroy the railway, it was like a 180-degree change. The method was to turn over the railroad tracks, take them away to the arsenal, and pile up the sleepers and burn them on fire.
However, under the suggestion of the engineer company commander of the Anti-Japanese League, many methods were adopted that could save time and significantly reduce the railway's carrying capacity. In the direction of Chaoyang, two rows of spikes on each sleeper on the railway were placed. Unscrew them all every other one, and unscrew two-thirds of the remaining one. Also unscrew the fishplate spikes at the joints of the rails by two-thirds.
After the roadbed was hollowed out, wood was placed inside, and then the outside was covered with gravel. The hollowed out distance was calculated, and a very thin earth wall was used as a temporary load-bearing in the middle. The entire hollowed out distance was just enough to fit a locomotive. All bridges have also been damaged to a certain extent.
Blow up two-thirds of the main bridge pillars in the middle facing the east direction, and leave the remaining third standing there. He is skilled in the business, plus the engineer company commander who was trained by the Anti-League, and the A wide variety of wilted bars undermine ideas, and their methods of destruction can be described as diverse.
When the train is running, if you don't get off the train and look carefully, you won't be able to tell that the railway has been damaged. However, once the train is running on it, there is only one consequence, and that is a 100% derailment. As long as the railway line is blocked, the Chaoyang Japanese army will forcefully retreat to Beipiao. , you can also stop them in the direction you choose.
Therefore, after leaving the main force under Chaoyang City and leaving half of the light and heavy machine guns captured in the Sihan River Basin, he personally commanded a regiment of troops and continued to attack northeast, directly entering Daban Town and cutting off the Japanese army from entering. The channel for reinforcements from Yixian County to Beipiao.
But he didn't expect that as soon as he commanded the troops to arrive at Daban, an important town in southern Beipiao, they would encounter two infantry squadrons transferred from Yixian County by the Japanese army. As soon as the two armies came into contact, they would be in Daban, the gateway to southern Beipiao, which is about 20 kilometers away from Beipiao. A small-scale but far-reaching battle broke out at a key point on the Jincheng Railway 13 kilometers from the county seat.
The scale of this battle was not large, but it made two Japanese lieutenant generals, Washizu Jinhei and Yokoyama Shizuo, break out in cold sweats. On the Daban line in the south of Beipiao, the sudden appearance of enemy troops made the two of them jump to each other. Everyone believed that the enemy was going to execute a beheading tactic and first attack Beipiao, where the army headquarters was located.
While breaking out in a cold sweat, facing a situation with no troops to maneuver, the two men were helpless. With enemy troops appearing on the front line, the troops from Yixian and Jinzhou could not be reinforced unless Chaoyang was abandoned and heavy troops were mobilized from Fuxin. Return reinforcements, otherwise the entire western Liaoning battlefield will now have no troops to rescue Beipiao.
With nothing to do, Lieutenant General Jiujin Qianping could only order the armored train that escorted the Chaoyang troops to Beipiao to be dispatched immediately. The two squadrons that had just arrived in Beipiao and had not yet got off the train were escorted by armored vehicles. Next, immediately go south to re-open the Daban front line and receive reinforcements from Yixian and Jinzhou.
As for the troops on the Fuxin front line, the command power is no longer under the jurisdiction of Lieutenant General Washizu Jinhei. After the entire Western Liaoning battlefield started, Lieutenant General Umezu Yoshijiro will directly station the troops from Fuxin to Beizhen. The troops on the Montenegro front line are under the control of the Second Kwantung Army. The 15th Division was commanded by Lieutenant General Chichai Yazozo and was placed under the direct jurisdiction of the Kwantung Army Headquarters.
In other words, Lieutenant General Washizu Jinhei can only command the troops west of Fuxin, and the command from Fuxin east to Fengtian, which is the main force of the 25th Division, is now in the hands of Umezu Yoshijiro. , these troops were numerous, accounting for a quarter of his original military strength.
But now he can no longer mobilize one of his troops, and without this quarter of his troops, it will have a considerable impact on his subsequent deployment of the entire battle. The war is progressing smoothly, and although these troops are not needed, right now The war situation was progressing, but it was not going smoothly. Without these troops, Washitsu Jinhei's entire deployment was undoubtedly greatly restricted.
Now there are only two options in front of Lieutenant General Washijin Seppei. One is to order the troops on the Jianping battlefield to break out at all costs and go south to reinforce the Beipiao battlefield. Even if the troops participating in the battle can withdraw two infantry brigades, It is a help to the Beipiao battlefield.
But this hope is undoubtedly very elusive now, because although it is not easy to attack, it is not easy to retreat, especially when the enemy's strength on the northeast battlefield of Jianping is still barely dominant, and the troops deep behind the enemy's rear want to It is so easy to make a smooth retreat.
Either give up Beipiao or Chaoyang, and bring the forces of Beipiao and Chaoyang together to ensure some needs. However, whether it is to give up Chaoyang or give up Beipiao, it will undoubtedly be a difficult task for Lieutenant General Jiujin Yuhei. There is no need to say more about the importance of choice and Beipiao. If you give up Beipiao, you will not be able to pass General Umezu Yoshijiro.
Although Chaoyang does not produce coal, it is an important link connecting the two strategic groups of the Japanese army inside and outside the Chinese battlefield. The entire strategic position is extremely important, and it is the gateway to Jinzhou and Rehe. If Chaoyang is lost, the Kwantung Army will be there. Redong's only control areas, Lingyuan and Jianping, are equivalent to giving up. Giving up two counties is a very tangled matter for Lieutenant General Jiujin Qianping at the moment.
However, Major General Watanabe Hiroshi, the chief of staff of the Fourth Army, did not agree with the judgment of Lieutenant General Washizu Jinpei. Based on past intelligence and judgment of the entire battle situation, he believed that while the Jianping battlefield was still fiercely fighting, It is impossible for the enemy to invade western Liaoning on a large scale, which means that the enemy's current actions in the western Liaoning area can only be diversionary and harassing at best.
Distracting the attention of the Fourth Army from the Jianping battlefield, making it impossible for the Fourth Army to reinforce the Jianping battlefield. As for completely capturing the Ye Baishou, Chaoyang, and Beipiao lines, judging from the troops they currently invest on the battlefield, it is still not possible. It is not enough to pose a fundamental threat, that is to say, on these two points, its military strength is more than enough to bluff, but it lacks the ability to fight hard.
And even if it is won, it will be difficult to hold it after the war situation stabilizes. Judging from the entire war situation in Manchuria, the enemy's current strength is not enough to support the penetration into the western Liaoning region. Even considering the post-war pattern, its It is also impossible to deploy a large number of troops in western Liaoning.
Major General Watanabe Hiroshi believed that his judgment was very well-founded. He believed that with the current strength of the Fourth Army facing the enemy, which was only one division plus two brigades, it was still necessary to ensure the safety of the areas under its control in Rehe. Under this situation, it was impossible to complete the offensive on the entire western Liaoning battlefield.
As the connection between Western Manchuria, Chahar, and Suiyuan battlefields, Rehe is so important to the entire war situation that it cannot completely ignore the safety of Rehe and invest all its forces on the Rehe battlefield. The battlefield in western Liaoning, so the enemy's existing forces invested in the battlefield in western Liaoning are, at best, nothing more than harassment to Beipiao and Chaoyang.
If they really want to completely occupy Beipiao and Chaoyang, they need to add at least one more division to their strength. This is still according to the standards of the old resistance alliance. As for their so-called advancing army, they need at least three to five brigades of strength. , and now, they simply cannot afford so many troops.
Especially in the Jianping battlefield in the northwest, which is still in a stalemate, the forces that can be invested in Beipiao and Chaoyang are even more limited. Although this enemy force has now occupied Ye Baishou, it is not enough to threaten Safety to Chaoyang and Beipiao.
After all, Ye Baishou's garrison originally only had a Japanese squadron, plus the Manchurian armed police and part of the Manchurian Railway Guard Corps. Although after losing contact on the Jianping West battlefield, Jiujin Qianping quickly mobilized some troops for reinforcements, but in On Ye Baishou's local battlefield, the enemy still had the upper hand in terms of strength comparison.
But at present, Chaoyang and Beipiao not only have far more garrison troops than Ye Baishou, but also have complete defensive fortifications in both places. The number of Manchurian policemen is also far greater than that of Ye Baishou. These people have no field ability, but they have the ability to hide in the fortifications and shoot outside. There are still some.
Moreover, although the number of defenders in the two places was not too large, the amount of ammunition was extremely sufficient.
As long as they can't hold on, unless the enemy forces attack one point at all costs, the troops invested in the two battlefields will only ensure harassment outside the city, and they will not be able to launch attacks on Beipiao and Chaoyang at the same time. Judging from the enemy's movements outside Chaoyang and Beipiao cities, it seems that they were not very willing to attack the cities by force.
What Du Beiyang means is that the current situation has not deteriorated to such an unmanageable level. The enemy forces around Chaoyang and Beipiao City are only two infantry regiments and three infantry battalions, and their strength is not enough to attack the two cities at the same time. Moreover, the two enemy armies have different organizational structures, and the units they belong to belong to two different organizations.
Although generally speaking, there has been no situation of fighting independently so far. The two armies with different organizational systems cooperate very well on the battlefield. However, there are obvious differences in the combat effectiveness and equipment of the two armies, and they have different organizational systems. , I am afraid that the command may not be so smooth at the critical moment. This is undoubtedly a fatal hidden danger for the enemy's deployment on any battlefield.