Chapter 88: The Dilemma of the Japanese Army in Shandong
As for Okamura Neiji, who has now withdrawn the front army headquarters from Tianjin to Jinan, facing Lieutenant General Eitaro Uchiyama's request for help, he may be aware that he has made a series of fatal mistakes on the Jizhong battlefield. The battle situation in Jizhong
The main reason for such rapid deterioration lies within myself.
Therefore, Okamura Neiji was very generous and used the emergency reinforcements from a brigade-level detachment of the 23rd Army to reopen the Jiaoji Railway and create conditions for the arrival of follow-up reinforcements and material transportation.
Forcefully advance towards Jizhong.
But Okamura Neiji did not expect that as soon as the detachment left Qingdao, it would be entangled in the line from Gaomi to Changle by the Shandong Military Region of the North China Communist Army and with the cooperation of the First Department of the Hebei, Shandong and Yu Military Region. In the short term,
In the meantime, Eitaro Uchiyama can't even hope for this brigade.
What Okamura Neiji did not expect was that the communist army in Shandong had actually expanded to such an extent. Although the equipment was far inferior to that of the communist army in Northeast China, and even compared with the communist army in Shanxi and Hebei, it was very different. But the
The extremely effective targeted tactics adopted by the Communist Army caused the detachment he sent to risk being trapped on the Jiaoji Railway, making it almost impossible to move.
Not only did they fail to open up the Jiaoji Railway, but they also reinforced the Jizhong battlefield according to their own ideas. They were even in danger of being divided due to the different number of troops carried by the military trains. The Shandong Communist Army fighting them was really a road-blocking army.
The military column he was riding on and the rails in front and behind each military column were completely removed.
Without the rails, how can this train run? Several military trains that the detachment was riding on were trapped on the railway line because the front and rear rails disappeared without a trace while they were traveling. They got off the train for emergency repairs.
The railway, however, was blocked by the enemy's intensive firepower and could not move inside the carriages.
Because they were riding in multiple military columns, each column had insufficient troops. It could neither break through the enemy's ambush nor assemble. The most critical thing was that a large number of troops were trapped on the railway line and could not advance or retreat.
.Not only were the battlefields in central Hebei unable to obtain much-needed troops, but these troops were also trapped on the railway, with neither food nor drinking water, and were themselves in danger.
Okamura Neiji has never been able to figure out how the Communist Army in Shandong accomplished these actions. They were able to move the rails between several military columns in less than half an hour.
He couldn't understand why they were stripped naked. The most important thing was that they didn't just remove the rails, but also deployed a large number of troops on both sides of the railway line.
On both sides of the railway line, and right under the noses of various Japanese strongholds, there were so many ambush troops. The Japanese troops who tried to get off the train to repair the railway were beaten so that they did not dare to show their faces. The only mobile troops in hand were trapped in Jiaoji.
Online, Okamura Neji is now at his wits' end.
Compared with the various units under the Twelfth Army that were originally stationed on the battlefield in Shandong, the defense areas are distributed throughout Shandong. The subsequent reinforcements are either still far away in East China and have just landed, or they are trying to find ways to reach the Jizhong battlefield safely. Or simply
The embarrassing situation of being trapped on the railway line and unable to move is already considered good.
Lieutenant General Eitaro Uchiyama, the commander of the Twelfth Army, has other troops under his command that are also the Japanese troops closest to the Jizhong battlefield. Now he can’t even think about it. The other garrison troops of his Twelfth Army in Shandong have been
It can be said that the Shandong Communist Army, which was deployed in full force, and the newly formed Fourth Army reinforced by northern Jiangsu were completely divided.
Now the actual situation faced by his Twelfth Army remaining in Shandong is this. If he wants to concentrate his forces, it is necessary to shrink part of the defense line and abandon some strongholds. However, these strongholds are either destroyed by the enemy or are divided by the enemy.
, is under siege. If you want to gather the troops in these strongholds, you must gather enough troops to respond.
However, the most difficult thing at the moment is that the entire Twelfth Army, no matter which organization it is, does not have enough troops to respond to the Japanese troops trapped in large and small strongholds. The Twelfth Army, which has been mobilized with almost all its mobile forces, has no divisions or regiments.
It is still a regiment, or an independent mixed brigade. It is really impossible to mobilize enough troops to break through the siege of the Communist army and gather the scattered garrison troops.
Compared with the base areas behind enemy lines in Shanxi and Hebei that have been re-equipped with the assistance of the Anti-Japanese Alliance. The anti-Japanese base areas behind enemy lines in Shandong were divided into one corner by the Japanese army and separated from other strategic areas by Japanese-controlled areas and railway lines, so they received equipment.
Support is minimal.
However, the Shandong base area was the one with the best development among all the war zones behind enemy lines in North China. During the Japanese army's sweeping raids on the entire North China in 1941 and 1942, the losses were minimal. The main force and local armed forces were fully prepared.
The number of militiamen is also quite large.
Under the orders of the central government, the Shandong Military Region carried out certain reorganizations before the war in order to cooperate with the Anti-Japanese War going south. In addition to transferring some of the main forces from each military region, eight divisions of field armies were centralized, as well as the New Fourth Army.
The reinforced unit will serve as a mobile force under the unified command of the military region for operations.
The local armed forces and various divisional forces have also been reorganized and adjusted to a certain extent. Faced with the current situation that the equipment is not as good as that of the Japanese army and the weapons for attacking critical tasks are scarce, the Shandong Military Region has also formulated targeted tactics to mobilize a large number of local armed forces to cooperate with the militia
Besiege various strongholds so that the enemy troops cannot receive any supplies and cannot be concentrated.
The eight divisions and twenty-one regiments gathered together, plus the two brigades of the New Fourth Army, were equipped with the best weapons and relatively sufficient ammunition in the division structure, and were used as mobile troops. Once the Japanese army cooperated with the puppet army,
Then, the Japanese troops were forced to break out of the encirclement and concentrated. Mobile troops were used to ambush along the way, taking advantage of the Japanese army's departure from the stronghold to catch them off guard.
This tactic seems to be quite effective now. Not only the detachment transferred from the Southern Army was trapped on the Jiaoji Railway, but even the two divisions of the Twelfth Army left behind in Shandong and Northern Jiangsu, plus two
Some of the troops in the mixed brigade were also dispersed and besieged in strongholds of various sizes, almost equally unable to move.
And if you want the Japanese troops stationed in various strongholds to find a way to break out of the encirclement, then in the current Shandong battlefield, this approach is tantamount to entering the tiger's mouth. The enemy does not want to confront you head-on, but what the hell is it doing?
His tactics can be described as undermining. He lacks the means to attack strongholds, so he rarely attacks strongholds directly.
But he can surround you overnight and surround the stronghold, making it difficult for you to move forward. Using land mines, cannons and cold guns, he can directly block one of your gates and prevent you from leaving. You can send troops to respond, even if you try your best
To squeeze out some of the troops, the ambushes along the way will be almost endless.
It often happens that the responding troops fail to rescue the people they want to rescue. Instead, they end up beating the dogs and never come back. Breaking out on your own, even if you can stand out from the siege of their mines, earthen artillery, and cold guns. But.
From this stronghold to the assembly point, they still adopt the same tactics and ambush you all the way.
Moreover, when they ambush you, it is not those Tuba Road, but all Old Eighth Road. The key is that the Japanese troops are stationed in a dispersed manner, and there are not many Japanese troops in each stronghold. In this case, you can break out of the encirclement on your own.
If a relatively powerful supporting force were to assist, it would be tantamount to seeking death.
The chief of staff of the army who took command in his place once tried to get the Japanese defenders of several large strongholds to withdraw. As a result, the first-level troops of the small team were like sheep entering the mouth of a tiger almost as soon as they left the stronghold. They were unaware of the enemy and completely
Disappeared into unknown corners of Qilu land.
The squadron-level troops were beaten violently all the way until they arrived at the designated assembly area. Well, the remaining people might as well not be concentrated, because the losses would be smaller. The more mountainous a stronghold is, the more difficult it is to evacuate.
The losses are also increasing. Even at the county level, it is difficult for the Japanese army to leave the city.
Because it is easy to defeat Tuba Road, but behind them there is Lao Balu, which is very powerful. When you go out of the city to sweep Tuba Road, you often end up facing Lao Balu. There are not many garrison troops there, but they can withstand the addition of Lao Balu.
A large number of Tuba Road came together to besiege?
So now, the Japanese troops in various parts of Shandong can only sit in sleepy cities. In some counties, even the sorghum rice that the Japanese did not eat before has been mixed to the point of not having enough to eat. There are even several garrison strongholds in Weihai area, because they were
A large number of communist troops surrounded him. They could not get supplies, could not fight, could not get support, and had no troops to respond. As a result, they starved to death in the stronghold.
As for the garrison troops at several surrounding strongholds, no one dared to collect the corpses. In fact, there were also soldiers nearby. They couldn't even get out, and the friendly troops who couldn't protect themselves had no way to collect the corpses. According to the report from the army chief of staff.
, many garrison troops in strongholds have gone to the extent of exchanging weapons and ammunition for food in order to keep their bellies full.
The troops below even dared to sell heavy machine guns and grenade launchers to the Communist army in Shandong in exchange for part of the food they depended on for survival, or a promise not to attack by the enemy. Under such circumstances, let alone assembly
Troops were dispatched to reinforce the Jizhong battlefield. Even the area controlled by the Twelfth Army was on the verge of losing control.
At present, Tubal Road in Shandong does not occupy as many county towns as Hebei and Shanxi. It mainly occupies the countryside, but now it has developed to the point where they openly carry guns and wander into the county town. Not to mention the local puppet troops, it is the local
The Japanese garrison was simply ignored.
It's not that the Japanese troops in various places don't want to take care of it, but they really don't dare to take care of it. If you catch one of them, it's like stabbing an ant's nest. The days that follow will make your life worse than death. Not only the surrounding Laoba Road, but also the local
The Eighth Route Army will retaliate, and even the already difficult food routes will be cut off directly, leaving all Japanese troops hungry.
After receiving the report from the Chief of Staff of the Army, Lieutenant General Eitaro Uchiyama lamented that the enemy's dragnet tactics were too powerful. He could only secretly lament the situation in Shandong, and even the situation in North China as a whole.
Fei. The Imperial Army, which was so majestic in the battlefields of China, has fallen to such an extent that even to get some food, it has to exchange weapons for it.
This situation does not need to be frequent. Two years ago, who would have believed that the current Twelfth Army would be reduced to a garrison force and actually starve to death in the stronghold. The surrounding friendly forces did not even dare to collect the corpses. Most of them
The troops were so depleted that they couldn't even get out. However, Lieutenant General Eitaro Uchiyama, who was beaten to death, did not dare to mobilize his own troops.
Because once Shandong is completely lost, it means that the North China Front Army's contact with the Japanese troops in Central and East China will be completely interrupted. Therefore, Lieutenant General Eitaro Uchiyama, currently the commander of the Twelfth Army, cannot pin his hopes on his own organization.
As for the divisions under the command, we can only place our hope of increasing the number of troops on the base camp and the dispatched troops.