In Yang Zhen's view, in order to ensure the suddenness of the launch of the battle and achieve a comprehensive breakthrough in a short period of time, the anti-alliance forces' entry into the customs must be kept secret as much as possible. Feints are necessary, but
The actions of the main force entering the customs should be kept secret as much as possible until the end.
All troop gathering areas and material reserve areas must be kept strictly confidential. This is undoubtedly a serious challenge to the major base areas in North China, especially the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, the main gathering place for the anti-Japanese troops going south. Thousands of troops and horses
Action, this movement cannot be ignored. The Japanese are not blind or stupid, their sense of smell is still very sensitive.
Yang Zhen's initial idea was to launch a feint attack in the northeast at the same time to prevent the main force of the Kwantung Army from moving south. Concentrate the armored cavalry mechanized cluster, target Jinpu Road, and adopt a centripetal assault tactic. Use the rapid assault capabilities of tanks and mechanized clusters to attack the enemy as soon as possible.
defeated the Japanese army in the Jizhong Plain in a short period of time.
However, it is difficult to maintain strict confidentiality when a large number of armored troops move south. Especially this time, the Bac Ninh Railway is still in the hands of the Japanese army, and the troops have to pass through a large number of mountainous areas on the way, and the available marching routes are limited. The armored troops moved south in large numbers.
, almost all require mechanized marching and cannot rely on railway transportation. This has brought considerable challenges to the confidentiality work.
Whether the whereabouts of the armored forces and heavy artillery units can be concealed is a very important prerequisite for whether the goal of this battle can be achieved. Therefore, the Military Commission meeting was held for several days. Although the strategic guidelines were formulated, there were still tactical issues.
But still can't decide.
The requirements put forward by Yang Zhen are a bit too much for the veterans here. The tank is not a person. You can hide it by digging a hole. You can also specifically choose mountainous areas to avoid inhabited villages.
, marching at night to hide their tracks.
When a tank unit marches, the smoke and dust it raises can cover the sky and the sun can be seen from afar, and the track pressure on the ground causes vibrations and landslides. The key problem is that the march of tanks, cars, and heavy artillery cannot be separated from the road, so they are destined to have choices.
The march route is limited.
For such a huge armored group, it is an impossible task for almost everyone to hide and maneuver for a long time without being discovered by the enemy. What's more, there are a large number of cars, heavy artillery,
All must be concealed. At the same time, bridges in the base area must be reinforced and roads widened to allow the passage of these equipment. It is almost impossible to completely conceal such a large operation.
During the battle of 1942, Yang Jicai commanded a light armored group to bypass Taiyuan. Almost all the bridges and roads passing through all areas were severely damaged. During the Battle of Northern Shanxi, the bridges in the entire northern Shanxi area were also damaged by the Anti-Japanese War.
It was seriously damaged during the movement of mechanized troops.
After the battle, the Jinsui Military Region spent a lot of time repairing these bridges. It was just a light armored group. According to Yang Zhen, the bridges in almost all the passing areas needed to be heavily reinforced.
And necessary roads also need to be widened.
It is really difficult for such a large operation not to be noticed by the Japanese army. However, several veterans also know that once the Japanese army detects it first, then based on the usual reaction speed of the Japanese army, the progress after the battle begins will be abnormal.
It's very difficult. The Japanese army is not tofu. Once they are surrounded, there is a possibility of collapse. Surprise victory is the best way to win a quick victory.
But without these tanks and heavy artillery to participate in the battle, with the combat effectiveness and equipment of the Japanese army, fighting in areas like the Jizhong Plain will not only consume a lot of time, but also pay a heavy price, and it will also seriously affect the army's subsequent combat capabilities.
.The choice between the two aspects made it difficult for the princes in each strategic area.
Yang Zhen proposed that the Anti-Japanese League mobilize all the two armored divisions currently equipped by the Anti-Japanese League south to participate in the battle for the Jizhong Plain. At the same time, an armored brigade and two cavalry brigades were mobilized to participate in the battle. Among the heavy artillery units, in addition to the
The six newly formed German 150 howitzer regiments all went south and mobilized part of the rocket artillery to participate in the battle.
According to the number of troops proposed by Yang Zhen to participate in the war, the number of tanks alone reached nearly a thousand, and the number of 150mm howitzers reached 144. Coupled with a large number of trucks, half-tracks, and heavy artillery tractors, the number of tanks invested
The amount of heavy equipment was the first in a civil war.
At first, many people were not satisfied with the amount of troops proposed by Yang Zhen. Putting aside the issue of how such a large-scale force could be concealed, the materials required for such a large amount of mechanized equipment were difficult to meet in various base areas in North China.
Not to mention gasoline and other supplies, even food cannot be obtained even if each base area loses everything.
Moreover, such a large-scale mobilization is useless in telling people in advance that they are going to attack the Jizhong Plain. Such a large-scale tank unit cannot go south to fight except in the plains, and it cannot be towards the western mountains. So for Yang Zhen to mobilize such a large force
A group of armored units participated in the war, and all the veterans who attended the meeting were unanimously opposed.
No matter what point of view, it is undesirable for such a large group of armored troops to participate in the war. In the opinion of several veterans, mobilizing four to five hundred tanks to participate in the war is already the limit of what can be tolerated, and it is enough to meet the needs of this time.
No matter how much the battle requires, there is really no way to supply and conceal it.
Facing the opposition of most people except for the two veterans who advanced to the army, Yang Zhen could only say patiently: "I also know that such a large group of troops, let alone concealed, is a daily
The fuel consumption of vehicles and the food chewed by people and horses are astronomical figures."
"But bosses, in this battle we are not only facing a pure North China Front Army, but also Japanese reinforcements that can be mobilized from Central China, East China, and even South China via the Jinpu Railway at any time. In this way, our army is almost
They are fighting against the entire main force of the Japanese army invading China."
"Everyone is well aware of the combat effectiveness of the Japanese army. If we rely solely on infantry and part of the artillery to compete with the Japanese army, you can imagine the number of casualties in a battle. It takes at least half a year for a soldier to enter the camp as a new recruit and develop combat effectiveness.
The above training time.”
"At that time, once the losses of the front-line combat troops are too great, the follow-up troops are not replenished in time, or the combat effectiveness is not strong. Facing the swarming Japanese reinforcements, how can we defeat the Jizhong Plain at such a high cost?
Hold on? Since we have determined to make great efforts to fight for Jizhong, we must grit our teeth and persevere at this juncture."
"I still have the same view. Once the equipment is knocked out, we can replenish it at any time. But if all the people are used up, what will happen with more equipment? The current backbone units of each army have all experienced the anti-mopping up in 2001.
, the old bones preserved from the bloody battle in Chahar in 1942 in northern Shanxi. Once these people are all wiped out, it will be the most fatal loss to our army."
"Furthermore, the plain terrain in central Hebei is conducive to the concentration of tank clusters and large-scale interspersed operations. We can also use this battle to exercise our army's ability to operate large-scale armored clusters in plain areas. We can't bear to use it.
If you don't catch the wolf, if an army wants to truly grow and be trained in the flames of war, it won't work without spending a lot of money."
"The most important thing is that by concentrating a large number of armored clusters to adopt centripetal assault tactics, we can use the rapid assault capabilities of the tank clusters to achieve our strategic goals in the shortest time. In this way, we can save as much time as possible in launching the campaign
.At the same time, some troops can be saved to deal with subsequent counterattacks by the Japanese army."
"But no matter what, the Anti-Japanese Alliance mobilized so many armored troops to participate in this battle south. In the final analysis, it can be said that once the equipment is exhausted, we can still find ways to make it ourselves or find foreign aid. But the old foundation, old bones, if
Once it’s been destroyed, it will be difficult to rebuild it.”
After Yang Zhen's words fell, everyone including the chairman who presided over the meeting fell silent. It's not that they didn't understand the truth behind Yang Zhen's words. As military experts, several veterans still understood this truth. But all of a sudden
After investing such a large-scale force, the subsequent pressure made it difficult for several veterans. After all, war is not just about things on the battlefield.
There was silence at the meeting for a long time, but the chairman suddenly said: "Since Comrade Yang Zhen has even taken out the capital, then we have nothing to fear. In this way, I think we will do what Comrade Yang Zhen wants. Not only
We need to mobilize them from the northeast, and the armored brigade stationed in Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia will also be mobilized."
Having said this, the chairman turned to Yang Zhen and said: "You can't bring all the armored troops to North China. Northeast China is now our hope for the future. If we move in the south, the Kwantung Army in South Manchuria will inevitably cooperate. I think so
, in addition to a brigade from the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, it will be enough for you to deploy another division and a brigade."
Regarding the chairman's idea, Yang Zhen smiled and said: "Chairman, don't worry. Two armored divisions have been transferred, plus an armored brigade. We still have five brigades of armored troops left in the northeast, plus some independent tank regiments.
, the quantity is enough for the Kwantung Army to fight another heart-breaking battle."
"With the development of the Daqing oil field and the commissioning of the refinery, in addition to aviation fuel, we are now basically self-sufficient in the oil required for various mechanized equipment. Changes in conditions have allowed us to invest heavily in one go
Batch of mechanized equipment for combat. At least in terms of fuel, we don’t have to worry about being strangled.”
"Judging from the changes in the world war situation, if there are no big changes, the Americans will spend some money in the first half of this year. The United States has promised to give us 500 M-3 light tanks in the first half of this year.
One hundred and fifty M3 medium tanks."
"Although the M-3 medium tanks among them, we have exchanged a batch of fighter jets with the Soviet Union. They are temporarily unavailable to us, but the remaining M-3 light tanks are enough to deal with Japanese tanks and infantry. The 37mm artillery
, it is also sufficient to deal with the Japanese field fortifications."
"Using this batch of tanks, we can make up for the original gap. The British also promised to provide a batch of Maltida II infantry tanks and a batch of Crusader tanks. Our own T-34 tanks have also completely solved the production problem.
At the end of last year, we started to put into production one after another. Although the monthly output is only a few dozen vehicles, it can be regarded as partially solved."
"In addition, with the end of the Battle of Stalingrad and the arrival of a large number of German-made tanks transferred from the Soviet army, the armor strength in our hands is still sufficient. The only weakness is that we cannot put all the German-made tanks into the front line. We still need to
Keep part of it and use it as parts."
"It's just that considering the scale and time of this battle, the tank troops originally planned to train and equip various troops in the pass can only be temporarily postponed. In order to ensure sufficient numbers in the two major battlefields of Northeast and North China at the same time,