Regarding Major General Watanabe Hiroshi's more reasonable analysis and suggestions, Lieutenant General Washizu Jinpei thought that his analysis and judgment were very reasonable, but he was unusually hesitant when making up his mind. This was undoubtedly a problem for him. A very difficult choice.
Of course, Lieutenant General Washizu Seppei did not want to die in Beipiao, and abandoning Beipiao was an impossible choice. General Umezu Yoshijiro's order was there, but he did not want to, and could not throw away Lieutenant General Shizuo Yokoyama. In Chaoyang City, if you just don't ask questions, you are an Army Lieutenant General, not an Army Lieutenant Colonel.
But the current situation is that he wants to have both fish and bear's paw, and he is likely to face the loss of both. But if he finally decides to give up which one temporarily, it will undoubtedly be a difficult choice for him, but in his heart, He also believed that Major General Watanabe Hiroshi's judgment was at least partially accurate, and Washitsu Jinhei was very satisfied with his chief of staff.
Just don't be afraid of ten thousand, just be afraid of the worst. If the enemy army is frustrated under Beipiao City and attacks Chaoyang with all their strength, then what should Shizuo Yokoyama do? He can mobilize reinforcements, but the enemy army is not a fool. He just stays outside Beipiao City and waits honestly. As reinforcements arrived, although the straight-line distance from Beipiao to Chaoyang was short, the hilly terrain between the two places, coupled with several tributaries of the Daling River, was not conducive to a quick breakthrough.
To leave a lieutenant general and a division headquarters under the siege of the enemy without any care is undoubtedly difficult for Washizu Jinpei to accept. Although the enemy army in front of him is no more than a regiment, who can It is guaranteed that no new enemy troops will emerge from the Nuruer Tiger Mountain.
As for Lieutenant General Washizu Jinhei's concerns, Major General Watanabe Hiroshi didn't take it too seriously, because he never believed that the enemy still had maneuverability. In Major General Watanabe's view, even the eighth enemy on the Jianhei battlefield The troops invested by the division were defeated, but judging from the strength of the 8th Division, the enemy would certainly suffer heavy losses. At least in a short period of time, it would be impossible for them to have the strength to go south to reinforce the Chaoyang battlefield.
Of course, if Lieutenant General Washizu Jinhei is really worried, Major General Watanabe Hiroshi thinks that he can use the two armored trains currently deployed by the Kwantung Army on the Jinzhou front line to forcefully rush to Chaoyang City and use the powerful firepower and defense on the armored trains to strengthen the defense. And cooperate with the defense of Chaoyang City.
At the same time, on the southern battlefield of Beipiao, as long as the connection between Beipiao and Yixian railway lines is opened, the armored train transferred from Chaoyang by Lieutenant General Shizuo Yokoyama, and even the two infantry squadrons, can be returned to Zhao intact. Well, in this way, three armored trains are deployed on the Jincheng Railway to support each other and cooperate with the defensive operations on the Chaoyang battlefield.
At least we can break the enemy's encirclement of Chaoyang City along the railway line. As long as Chaoyang can persist to the Beipiao battlefield to deal with the enemy forces in person, then we can sit back and relax. If it doesn't work, Lieutenant General Shizuo Yokoyama can be withdrawn to the armored train to take command. , even if the situation reaches an irreversible point, Lieutenant General Yokoyama Shizuo can be covered to retreat first.
Regarding Major General Watanabe Hiroshi's latest suggestion, Lieutenant General Washizu Jinpei hesitated for a long time, and finally nodded in agreement, because he knew that if the limited reinforcements that could be mobilized were allocated to two battlefields, facing an opponent with strong combat effectiveness, he would only If it can be defeated one by one, it is better to concentrate one force to deal with one enemy than to defeat both sides when the time comes.
Although the strategic position of Beipiao City is not as good as that of Chaoyang City, Beipiao, as an important coal producing area in western Liaoning, currently occupies a major position on the Kwantung Army's chessboard. Although these coal mines have been lost to the sudden appearance of the enemy, they can As long as Beipiao County is still in the hands of the Kwantung Army, even if the enemy forces occupy Beipiao coal mines, they will not be able to stand.
Although the temporary output will be affected, these coal mines are still in the hands of the Kwantung Army after all. To ensure the control of the Beipiao coal mines, this is the apparent reason to deal with the enemy forces around Beipiao first. As for the other things, it is inconvenient to say clearly. There are many reasons. At least a military headquarters is much more important than a division headquarters. Whether it is internal or external factors, they all determine that the Beipiao battlefield must be given priority.
After making up his mind, Lieutenant General Washizu Jinhei constantly urged Lieutenant General Shizuo Yokoyama to immediately mobilize all the troops on the Kianhei battlefield, especially now that the main enemy forces are currently concentrated in the eastern mountainous area, and Kianhei Castle is When the number of foreign enemy troops was not large, Jianping County was abandoned and the original defenders were immediately withdrawn.
Taking advantage of the overall situation that the main force of Ye Baishou's enemy troops has now entered Chaoyang and the Beipiao battlefield, and that Ye Baishou has few defensive forces left behind, concentrate his forces southward to recapture Ye Baishou, creating a flanking attack on Chaoyang's enemies and minimizing Chaoyang's situation. City defense pressure.
At the same time, the Jinzhou garrison was ordered to immediately gather all the garrisons in Jinzhou, Xingcheng, Jinxi, and even Huludao, and immediately take trains to the Beipiao battlefield for reinforcements. The focus was on the river-crossing engineering regiment with four squadrons, which was all They were mobilized, opened the arsenal in Jinzhou, and fully armed the engineering unit.
His order to Jinzhou was to gather all the troops that could be used on the battlefield, including the military police, the Japanese Armed Railway Police Force and other forces. As for the two armored trains stored in Jinzhou and Huludao before gathering the troops, he , mounted on the two railway squadrons in Jinzhou, and immediately went north to cooperate with the Beipiao battlefield to immediately open up the big board.
As for whether the cross-river engineering regiment, which is currently under the command of the Fourth Army, actually requires the authorization of the Kwantung Army headquarters for all deployments, but he does not have such authorization to mobilize, can it obey his orders? Washizu Seppei The lieutenant general was not worried.
Because he firmly believes that in the hearts of Imperial soldiers, they have the loyalty to serve His Majesty the Emperor and the determination to open up new territories for the Empire. Of course, he himself does not believe these words, but they should be used to deceive those young officers who are full of achievements. Still no problem.
Moreover, at present, these troops belong to the Fourth Army. Although they only have management rights but no mobilization rights, they are still their direct superiors. Mobilizing them to participate in the war is not regarded as disobeying orders and acting without authorization. Even those senior officers, There aren't many reasons to object.
After issuing a series of orders in succession, and after hesitating for a while, he sent a secret telegram to Lieutenant General Yokoyama Shizuo alone, informing Lieutenant General Yokoyama Shizuo of the entire battle situation and his own countermeasures, and asked him to defend Chaoyang City. Do not leave Chaoyang City until reinforcements arrive.
As the commander of the army, although he can forcefully issue orders and tell his junior student at the Army Sergeant School, I can't save you in a short time. Now you can only find a way to save yourself. Can reinforcements arrive? , it’s up to you, but doing so seems a bit unethical and will hurt each other’s friendship.
Therefore, Lieutenant General Washizu Jinhei, who had thought a lot and was very comprehensive, finally wrote a secret message to Lieutenant General Shizuo Yokoyama in order not to hurt the feelings between the two people. On top of this sealed message, Washi Jin Zeping explained his determination very clearly, hoping that Lieutenant General Yokoyama Shizuo could understand him.
After receiving the order from Lieutenant General Washizu Seppei, which was half an explanation and half an order, Lieutenant General Shizuo Yokoyama could only shake his head. In addition to providing troops for the Kianhei battlefield, he once again issued an order to retreat immediately at all costs. Outside, nothing was done.
Because now, apart from constantly urging the Jianping frontline troops to immediately return reinforcements on telegrams, he, who has been directly demoted from the division commander to the battalion captain, has basically nothing to do except go to the top of the city to personally direct the defensive operations. Otherwise, he basically has nothing to do now.
All the troops in his hands have been dispatched, and they are currently stuck on various battlefields. There is only such an infantry brigade around him. All he can do now is to command this infantry brigade to defend Chaoyang. Even in order to ensure the safety of Chaoyang City, he Send all the soldiers in the division and regiment headquarters who are breathing and alive to the city wall.
Those who had guns were given guns, and those without guns were given two grenades. In order to collect enough guns, this man collected all the police weapons in the city and distributed them to his engineers and baggage troops, and used these forces , urgently built fortifications and barricades in Chaoyang City.
At present, except for the few troops in Chaoyang City, Shizuo Yokoyama actually has no troops to command. The only thing he can do now is to prevent the enemy from letting the enemy troops arrive before he knows when Lieutenant General Washizu Jinpei will come over. The so-called Before the reinforcements arrived, they took over their old nest.
No wonder Lieutenant General Shizuo Yokoyama was so nervous. Although the reinforcement group advancing outside the city did not attack the city with all its strength, it dug tunnels outside the city and assumed a posture of forcibly attacking the city. Mount a few cannons overhead, or set up a large number of light and heavy machine guns, and shoot wildly at the defenders at the top of Chaoyang City.
Especially when setting off, the two large-caliber machine guns that Li Mingfeng strengthened for him, plus the two double 23 anti-aircraft guns, are extremely powerful. The bullets fired from the city can easily be fired from the distance of the machine guns. Through the thick bricks used to build the city wall, if it weren't for the small number of reinforcements, I am afraid that no one can stand on the top of the city.
For the Japanese troops defending the city, although the casualties caused by these weapons were not many, the psychological impact was huge. The thick bricks on the city could be easily penetrated. In the past, if it hit a person and cut it off directly, its power was extremely astonishing. Coupled with the higher rate of fire than the Japanese Type 92 heavy machine gun, the Japanese army had almost no defense against these two machine guns.
What caused the greatest psychological trauma to the Japanese army was the oblique-firing Double 23 anti-aircraft guns. Although there were only one or two of them, their rate of fire was extremely fast and their power was quite astonishing. Wherever it targeted, the defenders were basically beaten to pieces. Even if they hid behind the city bricks, it was still useless.
The huge power of the double 23mm anti-aircraft guns and the 14mm and 12mm anti-aircraft machine guns made Shizuo Yokoyama somewhat frightened. Even the city bricks were useless. What fortifications could protect against these weapons? If the enemy forcefully When attacking a city, there is no way it can be resisted on top of the city.
Although the enemy army in front of them only opened up their posture and did not really attack the city, this situation between fighting and not fighting is what makes the opponent most nervous. Although the overall battle situation is somewhat unfavorable at the moment, he can still cross the mountain. Lieutenant General Shizuo doesn't want to be loyal to the empire just yet.
Although the brigade commander who advanced into the army did not know what psychological warfare was, and at this time, there was no such thing as psychological warfare, the move he made with obvious demonstration intentions before advancing to Lindong did make people Shizuo Yokoyama had trouble sleeping and eating.
Even in this battle, although his troops never attacked the city, after seeing the huge power of these weapons with his own eyes, it had an indelible impact on the Japanese Army Lieutenant General for his entire life. This battle lasted for decades. Years later, even after returning home to Fushan County, his subordinates were still torn to pieces by these weapons from time to time. They woke up from nightmares caused by the tragic situation at that time.