When Chen Hanzhang was deploying his troops, he repeatedly told Xiong Botao that the assault must be fierce and the interspersed actions must be fast. Don't be entangled by small groups of Japanese and puppet troops, and absolutely don't have any love for battle. All tactical actions must be based on
It merges with the East Cluster as the core.
If the Japanese and puppet troops are blocked, use tanks as the guide to break through. The most important thing is to join the East Cluster as soon as possible and complete the blockade of the encirclement. However, the enemy is located between Baoding and Hejian, and between the Tang River and Zhulong River.
Gaoyang must be taken down and firmly controlled.
Moreover, Chen Hanzhang was firmly opposed to Xiong Botao's idea of waiting for the enemy in Anxin to be completely eliminated before initiating continued southward intersecting operations. Instead, he insisted not to wait for the fighter planes to arrive, and immediately went south quickly after opening a breakthrough to join the eastern front group on the river.
They merged together and completely sealed off the entire Hebei battlefield north of the Hutuo River.
The Battle of North China has been in full swing for some time. As of today, it is the fourth day of the interspersed battle between the two major clusters of the East and West. No matter how slow the Japanese army's reaction speed is, it will begin to deploy troops to reinforce the North China battlefield. Hejian and Gaoyang lines
It is located to the north of Shide Railway, especially Hejian County, which is the intersection of Xiongfu Highway and Cangbo Highway. Its strategic location is extremely important.
Whether the Japanese army is reinforcing north along the Ping-Han Railway or the Tianjin-Puzhou Railway, the line from Baoding to Cangzhou is a strategic area that the Japanese army must compete for. Especially the Baoding and Hejian lines, the current gap has not been closed for a long time. Now is the time to fight.
, if the entire army is entangled on the front line from Baoding to Anxin for too long, it will inevitably affect the progress of the campaign.
Therefore, Chen Hanzhang insisted on dividing his troops in Baoding, using one force to contain the Baoding battlefield and block the Japanese reinforcements along the Ping-Han Line. The main force still followed the predetermined plan, seizing Gaoyang and Hejian County, and joining the East Group in Hejian to completely seal off the Japanese army.
Reinforce the ground channel between Jizhong and Pingjin.
At the same time, taking into account the current situation of the Jizhong base area, Chen Hanzhang also repeatedly told Xiong Botao that when conducting roundabout operations, he must rely on himself and not think about the cooperation of the local armed forces in Jizhong, especially the original Jizhong Liu south of the Cangshi Highway.
The seven and two divisions insisted on coordinated actions by the troops.
In order to reduce the burden on Xiong Botao's troops, Chen Hanzhang left all the wounded to himself before dividing the troops. At the same time, he sent the mechanized infantry regiment of the 1st Armored Division, two battalions of the 17th Independent Tank Regiment, and the motorized reconnaissance company.
It was also assigned to Xiong Botao's outflanking troops.
Chen Hanzhang told Xiong Botao not to rely on the cooperation of the remaining troops in the Central Hebei Military Region, but to rely mainly on himself for the entire combat operation. He was not alarmist. His idea was based on the actual situation in the Central Hebei Region and was made after careful consideration.
Decide.
In fact, after the withdrawal of the Central Hebei Military Region in this battle, the small number of troops who stayed behind and later infiltrated back to Jizhong were not active in cooperating. Of course, after the Japanese army's large-scale raids in 1941, the Japanese army always stationed heavy troops in the Jizhong Plain and mobilized a large number of troops.
The puppet troops and puppet military and political personnel entered Jizhong.
Even though they suffered heavy losses in the 1942 campaign, the Japanese and puppet troops did not relax their control over their key area in North China, which was supported by war. The Jizhong base area was once called the Ukraine of North China, which shows how wealthy it is.
The ownership of control rights does not only determine the material supply of the base areas behind enemy lines in western Hebei.
It is also very important for the current overall strategy of supporting war with war on the Chinese battlefield. Especially now that the Japanese army has stretched its arms too far and its national power is quite limited. The Jizhong Plain is very important to the Japanese army.
, is really too important. Stabilizing the Jizhong District not only cuts off the grain depots and soldier bases in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei base area. For the Japanese army, it is also an important base for supporting war with war.
In order to firmly control the Jizhong Plain area, after the 1941 raids completely controlled the Jizhong Plain, the Japanese army adopted a high-pressure policy of killing so-called bandit families and ten families without mercy once they were discovered, and adopted the policy of high-ranking officials with generous salaries.
A series of bribery methods to win over some weak-willed people, as well as a series of deceptive means to issue so-called agricultural loans.
In the face of insufficient troops, a large number of plainclothes teams and puppet military and political personnel were deployed to implement strict monitoring of the Jizhong base area, control of strategic materials, and prevent the North China troops from re-infiltrating back into Jizhong. At the same time, the number of puppet troops in North China was expanded.
, and strengthened control over the puppet troops.
Even after the original Jizhong Military Region jumped out of the outer line to fight, the Japanese army did not stop building blockade fortifications. On the original basis, they continued to build a large number of roads, blockade trenches, and large and small watchtowers throughout Jizhong base area, making the entire
The Jizhong Plain is divided into countless small pieces.
After the battle last year, in order to prevent the Jizhong troops from returning to the Jizhong Plain, the Japanese army organized and mobilized hundreds of trucks, as well as some cavalry and armored vehicles, and formed several mobile rapid columns in the Jizhong area. They were deployed in the Jizhong Plain.
It is used as a mobile force on several strategic points.
If a Japanese and puppet military and political officer was killed in that village, the Japanese army would use a rapid column to immediately dispatch to massacre the village. Some confusing methods were used for the so-called security villages and love villages. For example, when collecting military rations
, pay more appropriately, do not recruit laborers in these villages, and do not recruit large animals.
Under the strict rationing system for strategic materials such as cotton, kerosene, medicine, and salt, the quotas for the so-called security villages are higher than those for the so-called non-security villages. For the Japanese and puppet troops stationed in the security villages, the quota is
Strict control and restrictions have been implemented, and burning, killing, raping, and looting are strictly prohibited.
For all divisions of the Central Hebei Military Region, local government party, government and military personnel at all levels, as well as the sick and wounded, who have gone underground, prices will be clearly marked. What positions will be given and how much reward will be given for surrendering? They will also guarantee that they will never settle old scores afterwards. The people will hand it over.
What kind of reward will be given, and how much reward will be given for providing information for the Japanese and puppet troops to capture.
For the so-called non-security villages, we will conduct sweeps every three days and clean up the countryside every five days to implement strict material control. For those stubborn villages, we will set fire to all the houses and even massacre the villages. To force the so-called illegal villages to
In the security village, a large amount of military rations were handed over, and a large number of Japanese and puppet troops were dispatched many times to capture the young and middle-aged people in the village and use them as laborers.
Okamura Neiji adopted a combination of carrots and sticks, the so-called half-and-half military and political approach, which allowed some of the personnel and basic armed forces left behind in each division, as well as the armed workers teams who returned to work in the Jizhong base area, to move
It is extremely difficult. Even survival in this fertile land has become difficult.
Especially the local people, after experiencing the brutal raids by the Japanese army in 1941 that lasted for more than half a year, and the high-pressure rule in 1942 and the first half of 1943, they had a certain degree of resentment towards the troops and cadres who returned to the base area.
Fear. Even the original strongholds kept away from the troops and cadres.
The party, government, and military systems that were originally moved underground and persisted on the spot have also suffered varying degrees of damage. The troops and cadres re-sent from the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region are facing considerable difficulties, and are even untenable.
Dilemma. Large units cannot stand and small units are ineffective. Instead, they are easily eaten by the Japanese's rapid columns.
According to the evaluation of some veteran Red Army cadres who participated in the three-year guerrilla war in the south, the current situation between the enemy and ourselves in central Hebei is worse than that in the Central Soviet Area after the Long March. Although the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region has responded to the return of troops and cadres who stayed and persisted,
The army implemented the unified leadership method of the party, government and army, but it has been unable to open up the situation.
Especially local cadres have suffered a huge loss in the past two years. Except for some areas around Baiyangdian, most areas have been completely reduced to so-called security areas by the Japanese army. The original local governments have basically collapsed.
A considerable number of the underground organizations that had been infiltrated into the Japanese and puppets had also lost contact.
The part of the troops that originally stayed in Jizhong, as well as the small number of military workers who later penetrated and barely managed to gain a foothold, basically only served as guides in the Anti-Japanese Alliance's southward campaign. As for other aspects, because
The local government is basically still in the reconstruction period. At the same time, there are too few combat troops left in Jizhong District, and it is really powerless.
The Japanese and puppet troops controlled the Jizhong Plain area with great strength and the tightness of the blockade was beyond Chen Hanzhang's expectation. Although he had certain psychological preparations, after breaking into the concentrated area, he found that its road network was dense and the number of blockade ditches was huge.
Chen Hanzhang was still quite shocked by the sheer number of large and small bunkers.
Looking up at the watchtower and stepping onto the highway are not enough to describe the tightness of the Japanese army's blockade of Jizhong District. Of course, many things are not all negative, and some things are very dual-sided for the Anti-Japanese Alliance. In order to blockade Jizhong District, the Japanese army
The dense spider web-like highways built in the war greatly facilitated the movement of mechanized troops of the Anti-Japanese Alliance.
Although the quality of the dirt road is not very good, it at least provides considerable convenience for the movement of troops, especially the movement of heavy artillery troops. As for those tall, living target-like gun towers, they are of no use to the Anti-Japanese Alliance.
pressure. After a few shells, it turned into a pile of rubble.
But in any case, the current Hebei Central District really does not have much ability to cooperate with the Anti-Japanese War. Therefore, Chen Hanzhang repeatedly told Xiong Botao that he can only rely on himself for everything. At least until the recovery of the Hebei Central District, this battle will not be completed.
Kanglian needs to bear it alone.
After explaining the plan and general route of Xiong Botao's operation, Chen Hanzhang repeatedly telegraphed the headquarters in view of the pressure on the Baoding battlefield, requesting the headquarters to coordinate the aviation force to make more efforts to support the Baoding battlefield. Regarding the fight for air supremacy, Chen Hanzhang put forward special requirements.
Chen Hanzhang was very dissatisfied with the performance of aviation after crossing the Pingjin Railway. When he advanced south after crossing the Pingjin Railway, he basically failed to get cover from the aviation. Although the Japanese army did not dispatch many aircraft,
Most of them were diversionary actions or aerial reconnaissance, which only destroyed one truck in his Western Group, causing almost minimal damage. However, the harassment by some Japanese fighter planes also reduced his assault speed accordingly.
Although he also knew that whether the Anti-League combat aircraft took off from Zhangjiakou Airport in Cha'nan or Chengde Airport in Renan, they were too far away from the central Hebei theater. Especially for tactical aircraft and fighter jets with shorter ranges, the required
The combat radius is still a bit too large.
Many tactical attack aircraft and fighter jets can only stay over the war zone for a short period of time before returning immediately. Moreover, the headquarters is currently encircling and annihilating the Japanese troops around Peiping. Due to terrain restrictions and difficulty in the movement of heavy artillery units, it relies on aviation.
Very big.
Moreover, although the air strikes on Japanese soil have been temporarily reduced, the aviation force now has to take care of several major battlefields such as Shanxi, Peiping, and Northeast China, and it is impossible to invest too many troops in a battlefield in central Hebei. Especially at present, the Japanese army is investing in battlefields in central Hebei.
With only a few aviation units, we can only focus on the Peiping battlefield for the time being, and the intensity will definitely not increase.