Of course, if Okamura Neiji knew that as early as September, the Anti-Japanese War had sent reconnaissance personnel, under the cover of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei-Pingxi Army, to secretly conduct several surveys along the Yongding River Valley from Huai to Sanjiadian.
The local area has even conducted repeated surveys more than once. The water volume, ice age, and ice thickness of the Yongding River in winter have been repeatedly surveyed.
We also conducted some drills based on different terrains with all the tank types equipped by the Anti-Japanese Alliance. We finally decided to use the American M-3 light tanks with strong off-road capabilities and high unit horsepower to pass through the Yongding River Canyon under the cover of cavalry to avoid the enemy.
Japanese defensive position in Xishan.
Directly inserted into Mentougou to the front line of Sanjiadian, and cooperated with the light infantry breaking through from both wings and the First Department of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, directly threatening Beiping City, Wanping and Changxindian front lines from Pingxi. Moreover, the entire movement plan has been passed by the Anti-Union Armored Forces countless times.
We conducted repeated drills and prepared several response plans for unexpected situations.
This sudden attack by the Anti-League made the previously relatively calm and stable front line in the entire Pingxi area suddenly become surprisingly lively. Mentougou and the three stores were already within easy reach of Peiping City and the first of the July 7th Incident.
The Marco Polo Bridge and Wanping City are also within easy reach.
After the anti-alliance forces attacked three stores, the sound of artillery could be heard clearly throughout the entire city of Peiping. Although the Japanese army's war situation has always been kept strictly confidential, they did not know much about the war outside Peiping.
But the rumbling gunfire from the northwest and the Anti-Japanese Alliance planes everywhere in the sky over Beiping City could not hide it from them. After all, they were neither blind nor deaf.
The sound of gunfire rang out from the direction of Sanjiadian, and people in the city of Peiping were suddenly panicked. First, it was the seat of the puppet North China Provisional Government, and now it is the seat of the puppet North China Political Affairs Commission and the North China Security Army Headquarters. The number of traitors in Peiping
It can be said to be the best in the country, definitely not inferior to Nanjing, where the Wang Puppet regime is now located. When the anti-alliance troops arrived at the gates of Peiping, these rebels were like headless flies for a while.
Some want to take advantage of the fact that the railway between Beijing and Tianjin has not been interrupted, and want to go to Tianjin so that they can board a ship and escape at any time. Some are secretly preparing to contact Chongqing so that they can stop at any time. Some want to take advantage of the surrounding anti-alliance forces to invade.
Before the city, there were some who escaped from the city and hid in the countryside.
It turns out that the traitors, big and small, who were arrogant and provocative in Beiping City completely disappeared from the streets. Even the fake policemen suddenly became a lot more polite. Not only did they not dare not give money when they took things, they actually begged grandpa to sue grandma.
, wanting to find a guarantor to prove that he had no choice but to act as a pseudo-policeman during the fall of Japan and that he had not done anything bad.
As for the ordinary people, their faces were full of joy when they heard the sound of cannons that were already close at hand. Even many people in the city were already preparing to welcome their troops into the city. Although most of them
, did not understand the Anti-Japanese Alliance that had already reached the outside of the city, and Yan'an at all, but this did not hinder their joy from the bottom of their hearts.
It has been six years since the 29th Army withdrew from the July 7th Incident, and Beiping City has been occupied for six years. The people in Beiping City have not seen their own troops for six full years, and they are suffering under the iron heel of the invaders.
After struggling for six years, who among the Chinese people with a little bit of backbone is willing to be a slave to the subjugation of their country?
Looking south to see Wang Shi for another year is exactly the true mood of these simple Chinese people. It is just hard expectations, but it makes these people disappointed year after year, and even quite a few people have despaired. Now it is about to come true.
, many people dare not show it on their faces, but they are extremely happy in their hearts.
After hearing the rumble of cannons in the city of Peiping, some people were happy and some were worried about the myriad scenes. As well as the chaos of the puppet government, the high-ranking traitors and the puppet army generals, and the panic all day long, trying to find a way for themselves.
Traitors, big and small, who have no chance of survival.
Facing the situation where the Anti-Japanese Alliance has already reached right under his nose, Okamura Neiji is Yang Zhen's most valued opponent, but he is older than his chief of staff, Lieutenant General Narito Sanji, and deputy chief of staff, Major General Nakanishi Sadaki.
Much calmer. He refused without any hesitation the suggestion to immediately mobilize second-line troops to reinforce Peiping.
Instead, he ordered Pingxi's independent mixed 8th Brigade to immediately gather the scattered troops that were washed away, along the Mentougou to Sanjiadian line, and block the anti-union tank troops in the canyon of the Yongding River at all costs, and
Among the high mountains surrounding Mentougou.
However, considering the existing strength of the independent mixed eighth brigade, it was simply unable to cope with the sweeping resistance. He urgently concentrated all the troops that could be mobilized in Beiping City and strengthened them to Pingxi. He mobilized a direct subordinate of the front army from the direction of Fengtai.
The engineering regiment, plus a field supplementary team, immediately sent reinforcements to Wanping and Marco Polo Bridge in Pingxi, preparing to build a second line of defense to ensure the safety of Beiping City.
The reason why Okamura Neiji refused Lieutenant General Okinoto Sanji and transferred troops and reinforcements from the second line was very simple. After the sudden change in the situation in the northwest, he had a vague feeling that this strange force would definitely not be his young opponent.
The only feast and surprise prepared.
Although there is no information about this yet, as a battlefield veteran with a keen sense of smell, this feeling has been lingering in his heart. This is a judgment he made based on a soldier's intuition. So.
Before the follow-up troops of the Anti-Japanese Alliance appeared, he would never use the reserve troops deployed in depth.
Okamura Neiji firmly believes that even if the enemy commanders must ensure a certain strategic reserve force, they must still have a large number of troops hidden in the high mountains of Pingbei and have not been deployed on the battlefield. Therefore, he firmly believes that
The troops in the Jizhong Plain area on the second line were not transferred to the front line for reinforcements.
Even though Huairou and Shunyi, the two key points in the north direction of Ping, had been captured by the Anti-Japanese Alliance, he only transferred one regiment of the 48th Division to Sunhe and Beiyuan as the second echelon. However, the situation around Peiping,
It also forced him to consider the safety of Beiping City.
Just kidding, if the location of the North China Front Army Headquarters was lost, then his position as commander of the Front Army would be over. After hesitating for a long time, he still allocated five infantry squadrons from the 17th Division and the 110th Division, and immediately
Move north to reinforce the Beiping battlefield.
Okamura Neiji's decision to avoid mobilizing reserves before seeing the enemy and not to dispatch the second-line combat echelon easily can not be said to be incorrect for the current situation. But he forgot one thing. If all
If things are so certain and can be dealt with according to routine, then miracles will not happen repeatedly in wars.
After successively capturing Shunyi and Huairou, the Anti-Japanese Alliance saw a large number of tanks appear for the first time on the battlefields around Peiping. On the fifth day of the battle, the Anti-Japanese Alliance suddenly deployed tank troops for the first time on the Pingbei battlefield. Two
The tank regiment cooperated with an infantry division and suddenly rushed out from the Pingbei Mountains. Regardless of the desperate resistance of the surrounding Japanese troops, the target was directly aimed at the Tongzhou line.
Tongzhou is the eastern gateway of Peiping. Once Tongzhou is lost, Daxing and Nanyuan will basically be unprotected. Even if the Anti-Japanese Alliance is willing, their tank and infantry groups can directly attack the eastern suburbs of Peiping from Tongzhou. This is
All of a sudden, it can be said that Okamura Neji's lifeline has been grasped. He can't do anything without mobilizing the second echelon.
The independent Ninth Mixed Brigade deployed in the northeast of Peiping was not even able to cope with the powerful enemy offensive. The entire Northeast Ping defense line was already in a precarious situation. Faced with the rapid deterioration of the overall surroundings of Peking.
In this battle situation, Okamura Neji could no longer remain calm.
If the line between Tongzhou and Daxing is really lost, then the ground transportation between Beiping and Tianjin, the two central cities in North China, will be completely interrupted. In desperation, Okamura Neji can only mobilize deployment whether he wants to or not.
The deep troops marching north will at least block the Anti-Japanese Alliance's offensive. They must not be allowed to capture Tongzhou to ensure the safety of the Ping-Tianjin Railway.
What makes Okamura Ningji feel even more stressed is that the anti-alliance tank clusters that appeared earlier in Peiping and Tianjin have torn apart the Japanese second line of defense, completed the encirclement of Baodi and captured Xianghe. They are now concentrating their forces directly.
Baoqing was inserted into the Ping-Tianjin railway line, which meant that the second line of defense between Ping-Tianjin had also been torn open.
The change in the situation made Okamura Neiji unable to calm down. He immediately ordered the 110th Division in Zhuoxian County to go north on the spot, passing through Fangshan and Changxindian to Sanjiadian and Mentougou to flank the line. At the same time, he ordered the independence
They formed the first brigade, held on to their existing positions, and held back the North China Communist Army who came out of the Taihang Mountains.
He ordered the First Army to immediately shrink its forces and withdraw to the Zhengtai Railway and Nantongpu Railway in order to reinforce the Hebei battlefield at any time. His order to the First Army was to except the 37th Division on the Nantongpu Railway between Yuncheng and Taiyuan.
In addition, the First Army, with a strength of no less than one division, abandoned its existing positions and cooperated with the Third Mixed Brigade to immediately shrink along the Zhengtai Railway.
The 59th Division, which had been strengthened from the Twelfth Army before the war, was ordered to immediately launch a campaign to recapture the Baodi and Xianghe lines along the Ping-Tianjin Railway with the cooperation of two tank regiments. The Japanese troops in Tianjin were ordered to immediately dispatch no less than one independent mixed unit
The brigade, strengthened by a tank regiment, launched an attack from Tianjin to the northeast.
Although he has begun to mobilize reserve forces, Okamura Neiji still firmly controls the 17th Division and most of the remaining tank regiments as the last strategic reserve. At the same time, he orders the First Army
Reduce the strength of the troops and make preparations to withdraw all troops from the Shanxi battlefield and invest in the Hebei battlefield.
Although the battle has only started for a few days, Okamura Neiji has already felt that the troops at his hands are far from insufficient. The main force of the dispatched army is deep in the Changde battlefield and it is difficult to withdraw for a while. Reinforcements from the 15th Army are still waiting for the base camp.
Waiting and watching, Okamura Neiji no longer cares about the overall strategy of the base camp at this time. If Hebei cannot be defended, Shanxi's First Army will become a turtle in the urn.
Once Pingjin is lost, what is the use of Shanxi's First Army staying in Shanxi? If Pingjin is lost, the First Army will be cut off from all channels of communication with the outside world. It will be isolated and helpless, and even logistical supplies cannot be connected.
Under such circumstances, it can only be eaten one bite at a time.
Rather than letting them sit back and watch the war in Hebei deteriorate, it is better to take the opportunity to transfer them back to Hebei and try their best to hold on to this choke point connecting the Kwantung Army to the Expeditionary Force. Leave a thirty-seventh division mixed with the independent third brigade and deploy it in Nantong
Along the Pu Railway and the Zhengtai Railway, it can be regarded as an explanation for the base camp.
The 110th Division and the 48th Division, which Okamura Neiji had refused to use at first, finally moved. For Yang Zhen, it meant that the best time to attack had arrived. Just as Yang Zhen forced reinforcements to the north despite the air raids of the Anti-Japanese Alliance,
When the main force of the 110th Division entered the front line of Fangshan, after Yang Zhen started the battle, the two armored groups in the east and west, which had been waiting in hiding, issued orders to attack across the entire line according to the predetermined plan.