These staff officers believed that they were fighting positional warfare outside the city. The North China Front Army, which now had only such a small number of troops, was indeed no match for the enemy. Moreover, even if the expatriates were armed, they had not received strict training and would have no support outside the city.
Under such circumstances, the encounter with the enemy might lead to a defeat even faster.
However, relying on the countless streets and alleys in Beiping City, as well as the many crisscrossed alleys, there is no problem in fighting the enemy in a desperate street battle. What's more, the base camp will not sit back and watch Peiping's losses, and will definitely reinforce at all costs. Rely on street fighting.
By persisting as long as possible, maybe we can delay it until reinforcements arrive?
These main combatants who advocate a decisive battle even believe that if Beiping City can hold out for one day, it will prevent a large number of enemy troops from moving south, which is equivalent to favorable support for the Jizhong battlefield. If Beiping City is abandoned now, then there will be more free hands.
A large number of enemy troops moving south will increase the burden on the battlefield in central Hebei and even cause quite adverse chain reactions.
Compared with the more stable officers at the rank of colonel and above, most of these young officers at the rank of major and lieutenant colonel insist on rejecting the enemy's suggestion of negotiation. They insist that the Imperial Army only has officers who died in battle, and there are no officers who cower or flee from the battle.
.Although he did not dare to bring it up openly, the eyes he looked at the hesitant senior officers were full of contempt.
Under the interference of a group of staff officers who were desperate to fight to the death, the combat meeting of the entire North China Front Army turned into a pot of porridge. Those who were inclined to accept the enemy's conditions and all withdraw from Peiping, Tianjin and Tanggu had a quarrel with those who were firmly opposed.
They were in a group. But while they were quarreling, everyone, intentionally or unintentionally, turned their attention to General Okamura Neiji, who was sitting in the upper seat, with a livid face but said nothing.
Looking at the quarreling subordinates in front of him, Okamura Neiji, who was sitting at the top, just watched quietly without saying a word. To say that it was embarrassing to abandon Beiping City, no one would be more embarrassed than him, the commander of the North China Front.
Where is Peiping City? It is the location of the North China Front Army Headquarters.
If the city of Peiping is lost, what will the base camp and the people think of him as the commander of the front army? How will he explain it to the base camp? But what he knows better is that even if armed expatriates are mobilized, once the enemy forces are determined to attack the city, the entire Peiping will be destroyed.
The city could not hold out for three days.
Even if you can take the transport plane currently stored at the Temple of Heaven temporary airport and leave Peiping, which has become an isolated city, what about the tens of thousands of expatriates in the city and these subordinates? If you really leave all the expatriates behind, I am afraid that what awaits you will be
Even if you want to transfer to the reserve force, it is almost impossible.
I am not General Umezu Yoshijiro, and the person standing behind me is the Emperor. I have lost hundreds of thousands of overseas Chinese, and yet I can still secure my position as the commander of the Kwantung Army. If I have lost these tens of thousands of overseas Chinese in Peiping City, then what will happen to me?
I'm afraid he won't be any better than the former commander of the Kwantung Army.
The focus now is not the success or failure of Beiping City. The line from Zhangjiakou to Suiyuan has been lost, and all the routes south of Beiping City on the Ping-Han Railway have been cut off. The current strategic status of Beiping City has actually declined.
It has reached the point where it is dispensable. It doesn't matter whether we can hold it or not. But the tens of thousands of overseas Chinese in Beiping City must not be lost.
But to abandon Peking without a fight and retreat in disgrace under the eyes of the enemy is quite embarrassing for Okamura Neiji. At the same time, the base camp will not accept this result. It is very difficult to agree to this agreement.
It's an easy thing, just nod your head. But it's even more difficult to give an explanation to the base camp and the people.
He never thought that he would be defeated so miserably, let alone that he would be in such a dilemma. Although General Okamura Neji is expressionless at the moment, he always thinks that he is decisive in killing.
But I have never been so hesitant in my heart.
Seeing the quarrel at the meeting, and the silent General Okamura Neiji. Before the Sixty-third Division was completely defeated, the commander of the Sixty-third Division, who escaped alone from the Pingbei battlefield, thought several times.
He wanted to open his mouth to persuade, but he never opened his mouth and finally chose to remain silent. As a defeated general, he still had some self-awareness and had no right to speak now.
Compared with the quarrels in the North China Front Army Headquarters, the North China Battlefield General Headquarters, which has now been moved to Shunyi, is unusually silent. In fact, negotiations were made with the Japanese army to deal with the remaining Japanese North China Front Army troops trapped in Beiping City, and
Both the boss and Yang Zhen were very reluctant to give the expatriates back to Tianjin in exchange for their withdrawal from Peiping.
At present, there are less than 2,000 remaining Japanese troops in Peiping City. The remaining combat troops are only a few squadrons. The largest part is just an infantry brigade under the Japanese North China Special Guards, and the rest are just some
Military police, special agents and other non-combat troops.
It would not be difficult to capture Peiping now. Yang Zhen even believed that by moving a division into the city, the battle could be over in at most two days without using artillery with a caliber of more than 75 mm. But domestic and foreign forces
The pressure of public opinion has given the boss and Yang Zhen more and more headaches.
Since the start of the North China Campaign, many interested people from all walks of life have continued to exert pressure on the central government through various channels. Some democrats who are close to the central government have written to and visited the Eighth Office of the Chongqing and Chengdu more than once.
. Various departments of the Chongqing government also frequently put pressure on the central government.
The central government is required to ensure that Peking City, the thousand-year-old capital, does not suffer too much damage during this battle. Some experts and scholars even proposed that not a single plant or tree in Peiping should be damaged. Since the battle around Peking started,
Politically, the central government has always been under tremendous pressure from the country.
Not only well-known experts and scholars at home and abroad wrote jointly to put pressure on the central government, but even Americans joined in. The U.S. Ambassador to China constantly visited the Eighth Office in Chongqing, demanding that the Anti-Japanese Alliance must be in the fight.
It is necessary to ensure the safety of American and British missionaries, professors and others detained by the Japanese army in Peking City.
Taking into account the influence of these well-known scholars and experts on the central government's work to win over intellectuals, the central government has repeatedly requested that the Anti-Japanese Alliance must be cautious during operations and try not to cause damage to ancient buildings inside and outside Peking City.
What a big deal of damage.
The central government kept reminding the boss and Yang Zhen over and over in telegrams. The chairman even directly told Yang Zhen in a telegram written by himself that this was a political task and must be completed with quality and quantity. If it is really impossible to guarantee that the city of Beiping will not be damaged,
We can temporarily consider giving up the siege of Beiping City and instead adopt a long-term siege.
Even when the battlefield around Peiping was coming to an end and the troops had entered an siege situation, the central government sent a long telegram to the General Front Committee, which listed a list of ancient buildings that required absolute protection from damage, which made Yang
Zhendu felt a little dizzy.
Not to mention the famous ancient buildings such as the Forbidden City, Jingshan, Ancestral Temple, and Temple of Heaven, as well as temples such as Baiyun Temple and Yonghe Temple. There are many palaces in this list alone. There are also many ancient buildings.
Yang Zhen, a common man in the world, has never heard of it. Yang Zhen really wants to ask, what are these things?
Who can tell him about the Grand Gaoxuan Hall when there was such a building in Beiping City? What kind of thing is this? What else is Huang Shicheng? Are these things all in Beiping City? Later generations have been there more than once.
Yang Zhen from Peking has never heard of him at all.
As for this life, although he has lived in Peking for several years, after all, the memory of that period has long faded for Yang Zhen. As for the current Peiping and Beijing a few years later, Yang Zhen's memory is still dominated by the later generations. But Yang Zhen
Zhen still doesn't know, when did Beiping City have so many more ancient buildings, or are ancient buildings necessary to ensure safety?
Looking at the locations of these ancient buildings densely marked on the map, Yang Zhen felt an unusual headache. If he followed this list, the battle in Peking, which had no suspense at all, would not be fought at all. This list of the central government is comparable to the boss's temporary list.
The one I created by scratching my head is much more detailed.
In order to complete this so-called political mission, Yang Zhen hesitated for a long time and finally proposed to send people to negotiate with the Japanese army in the city. He proposed that the Japanese army ensure that the ancient buildings in Peiping City would not suffer any damage and hand over all political prisoners and those detained by them.
Americans and British people.
All Japanese troops peacefully withdrew from Peiping, and the surrounding anti-alliance and 18th Army units ensured that the Japanese troops' retreat would be without any interference. In order to increase the bargaining chip for success, Yang Zhen even offered to stop the offensive against Fengtai Station.
The remnants of the 110th Division, which was trapped in the Mentougou Mountains, retreated to Fengtai Station.
At the same time, Yang Zhen is also very clear that once the Japanese army agrees to give up Peiping, the 59th Division currently on the Tongzhou battlefield will also become a request made by the Japanese army. Looking at the 110th Division that is already lingering, and the 59th Division
Yang Zhen was most reluctant to withdraw the remnants of the division to Tianjin.
Most of the main force of the 110th Division has now been annihilated. Less than one-fifth of the remaining troops are currently trapped in the Mentougou Mining Area. With all surrounding commanding heights captured, the reorganized 110th Division
The time that the Zero Division remains in this world is already numbered.
On the Tongzhou battlefield, the division and encirclement of the 59th Division had been completed, and one-third of its troops had been eliminated. It can be said that by this time in the battle, most of the enemy forces around the Peiping battlefield had been eliminated.
The Beiping battlefield has actually come to an end.
At present, there are still Japanese troops resisting outside the city. The total total strength of the troops is less than 6,000. Among them, the number of troops that can be used for front-line combat is even smaller, and they are divided into two major battlefields, Pingxi and Pingdong.
In terms of heavy equipment and air cover, the Anti-Japanese Alliance now has an absolute advantage.
At the same time, on the Pingbei and Pingxi battlefields, the anti-alliance tank troops have basically been freed up. The two reserve divisions deployed have also been stationed in the west and north directions of Beiping and controlled Xizhimen and Xizhimen Station. In Pingping
The north has captured the Temple of Earth, completed the blockade of Deshengmen and Andingmen, and seized the urn of Deshengmen.
In the direction of Pingdong, the Anti-Japanese Alliance and the attached part of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region have arrived at Chaoyang Gate and cut off the city-circling railway outside Beiping City. The gates of the entire Beiping City in the west and north directions have been opened at this time.
In the east direction of the city, the sweep of the outer city has also been completed.
For the Anti-Japanese Alliance, although the losses in the first phase of the battle were not light, through an effective replenishment system, the troops that had suffered excessive battle losses in the past have also completed the replenishment of most of the battle-damaged troops through the deployment of reserve troops.
, and restored most of their combat effectiveness. There is actually no suspense on the current Beiping battlefield. At this time, sending the remnants of the Japanese army back to Tianjin felt quite unhappy for Yang Zhen, who had always been more concerned about wounding the enemy with ten fingers than cutting off one.