And on the same day, after half a month of all-out efforts, the newly reinforced divisions of the Japanese army, braving the air strikes of the Anti-Japanese Alliance and paying a considerable price, arrived at the front lines of Shandong and northern Henan.
In addition to the 117th Division and the two and a half divisions originally on the battlefield in eastern Henan, which were left in eastern Henan to monitor the first battlefield and stabilize the rear area in eastern Henan, the two divisions were assigned to the First Army for use in Henan.
Outside the Northern Battlefield.
Seven of the fourteen divisions mobilized by the Japanese army and added to the Chinese Expeditionary Force were all assigned to the border areas between Shandong and Hebei, Shandong and Henan. After withdrawing from the Shanxi battlefield, the First Army had lost 60% of its strength.
, under the nearly crazy all-out reinforcements of the Japanese army, the organization and vitality have been restored. They were deployed on the spot in northern Henan and Handan, after the arrival of the 100th Division.
During the period when the Japanese army concentrated all the transport fleets of the Army and nearly one-third of the Navy's transport fleets, and massively increased its troops to the Chinese battlefield, the U.S. Navy's submarines did not attack these large-scale ships.
team, launched any attack.
During the entire transportation process of the Japanese army, only one transport ship and one escorting old-fashioned destroyer were sunk. In other words, among the hundreds of thousands of troops mobilized this time, the Japanese army only lost less than 5,000 people. The vast majority
Almost all of the reinforcements transferred to the Chinese battlefield successfully arrived in China.
On March 11, the Japanese Navy dispatched the battleship Yamato, which had just been renovated on the mainland, and the battleships Fuso and Yamashiro, which had become training ships for the Naval Military Academy, under the cover of a heavy cruiser, three light cruisers, and six destroyers.
Then, a large-scale artillery bombardment was carried out on the Qikou front line.
During the whole morning's bombardment, thousands of rounds of bombs were dropped on the Qikou line, including more than 200 460mm artillery shells. The entire Qikou line was bombed with huge craters, one after another, as neat as fish scales.
Qi started from three kilometers away from the seaside and reached the maximum range of the He's 460mm naval gun.
Now it has actually been transferred to reserve. At this time, the battleships Fuso and Shancheng, which were pulled out of Laoji, also fired thousands of 356mm artillery shells in the north and south directions of Qikou. The entire Qikou Town was under bombardment.
It was completely razed to the ground. After the shelling, apart from the huge craters, not even a small tree was left.
While the Japanese fleet was firing at the Qikou line, two Japanese aircraft carriers were stationed behind the fleet, and a large number of Zero fighter jets were dispatched to escort the Japanese naval fleet. They were not worried about the Anti-Alliance's coastal defense artillery, but they were worried about the Anti-Alliance aviation.
It will pose a threat to the fleet.
The two old ships Fuso and Yamashiro are just that, but the Yamato is the national treasure of the Japanese Navy. It was built with almost all the efforts of Japan. If a hair is wiped off in this battle, the Japanese Navy will
I feel so sad. This time, under the pressure of the Army, the Navy changed its original plan to transfer the renovated Yamato to Truk Island, which made the Navy very reluctant.
It was just contrary to the expectations of the Japanese Navy. When the entire fleet was bombarding the Qikou line fiercely, not only the coastal defense artillery that might exist in the Anti-Japanese Alliance did not respond at all. Even the most threatening Anti-Union aviation force did not dispatch a single aircraft.
Carrying out even a disruptive attack allowed the navy to successfully complete the bombardment.
The only loss in dispatching such a large fleet was the destroyer Wakatake, because the channel was not too wide, and the main channel had to be cleared for the battleships behind it. When turning after completing the firing, one accidentally bumped into the escorting light cruiser Oyodo.
superior.
Completed in 2003, the destroyer Ruozhu, with a full load displacement of only 1,000 tons, was the opponent of the light cruiser Dadian, with a displacement of nearly 10,000 tons. The bow of the ship was damaged on the spot and could only be towed by Dadian to Port Arthur for maintenance.
.And due to the severe shortage of supplies during the war, the destroyer was not able to complete the renovation until Port Arthur was recaptured by the Anti-Japanese Alliance.
Although this bombardment caused basically no losses to the Japanese navy, Admiral Harem Jun, who was on the naval fleet to personally observe the battle situation, was very disappointed with the bombardment. During the bombardment of the naval fleet, the entire Qi Dynasty
The line of his mouth was as silent as death.
In order to find out the enemy situation around Qikou, he even took a navy carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft and flew over Qikou to observe in person. However, except for the endless plains and the craters created by the navy fleet, there was nothing underneath the plane.
Discovered. Not to mention the traces of enemy troop mobilization, not even the coastal defense positions of the Anti-Japanese Alliance were found.
The plan to alert the enemy failed, causing him to be complained by the naval admiral. The navy's large-caliber naval gun shells, battleship gun barrels that are extremely expensive to manufacture, and now even more precious fuel are used to fight against the United States.
Naval battleship duels are not meant to be wasted in the wasteland like this.
But even though his tactics of striking the grass and alerting the enemy did not achieve the desired results, General Chun Gong insisted that the deep front line of Qikou would never be as peaceful as it is now. The enemy would never leave such an important target as Qikou undefended.
The army is deliberately hiding itself, waiting to deal the most fatal blow to the landing troops.
In fact, when the Japanese navy bombarded the Qikou line without scruples, the heavy artillery units deployed by the Anti-Japanese Alliance on the Bohai Bay line called for battle one after another, hoping to compete with the Japanese fleet. However, Du Kaishan, who was sitting in Licun, east of Qingxian County,
However, he suppressed his somewhat restless emotions and never ordered a counterattack.
It's not that he doesn't want to fight back, but that all his artillery, even the German-made cannon with the longest range, can't reach the large Japanese ships with a range of dozens of kilometers. A rash fight back can only destroy some light ships that fire close to the coast.
Apart from the ships, there was no way to touch the surface of the Japanese main ships.
Not to mention that it could not solve the big problem, but it exposed its own position. Let the Japanese army, which has always been extremely stingy, waste so many large-caliber naval artillery shells and bombard Qikou so wildly deep in the seemingly empty wilderness. I am afraid they are
In order to find out his defense around Qikou...
Therefore, when Japanese naval ships bombarded Qikou this time, Du Kaishan, who has always advocated that offense is the best defense, showed the calmness he should have. He resolutely suppressed Qikou's front-line artillery and asked for a counterattack. The difference in firepower was too great.
There is no advantage in fighting back at this time.
In Du Kaishan's view, the Japanese are not bluffing in Qikou. Their actions today are to test the strength of their defense in Qikou. Since they have started testing today, the Japanese landing operation may not be too far away.
.So he was waiting for the Japanese to come ashore and have a good fight with the Japanese army.
However, after the Japanese warships poured out their artillery shells, Du Kaishan and his artillery staff immediately rushed to the Qikou seaside to measure the range of the artillery of various Japanese warships. According to the order of deployment of various ships during the Japanese warship bombardment, he evaluated the effectiveness of the artillery in his hands.
Ability to fight back.
To be honest, Du Kaishan was also surprised by the strength of the Japanese naval fleet dispatched for the two bombardments along the Bohai Bay. According to his judgment, under the current unfavorable situation in the Pacific war situation, the Japanese navy was in order to cover the landing.
The Japanese army may dispatch only a few cruisers and destroyers.
Therefore, when he set up artillery positions, he set them up to confront the Japanese Navy's heavy cruisers. If the Japanese Navy had not first dispatched two battleships to bombard the coast of Tianjin, which aroused his alertness, all artillery deployed on the front line would be deployed in the shortest possible time.
Within a short period of time, they were all moved to second-line or even third-line positions.
I am afraid that this unprecedented bombardment by the Japanese fleet will cause heavy losses to his artillery positions. Because facing the huge power of 460 mm naval guns and 356 mm naval guns, his artillery positions will suffer heavy losses.
It is so strong that it cannot withstand an attack from a shell of these two calibers.
A single 460mm high-explosive grenade fired by the Yamato would level the entire town of Qikou. If it had landed on his artillery position, there would probably be no other result besides destruction and death.
His German-made K-18 170mm cannon with the longest range has a maximum range of nearly 30 kilometers, but it is impossible to match the Japanese battleships in an artillery battle.
Moreover, although the total number of his cannons is not small, facing the direction of Qikou, there is a serious problem, that is, the lack of armor-piercing shells to attack ships. Ordinary high-explosive grenades are not powerful enough for these thick-skinned battleships.
, Du Kaishan still knew it well.
These high-explosive grenades may be barely enough to deal with Japanese light cruisers or destroyers. Faced with the situation where the Japanese army dispatched several battleships, the limited number of high-explosive grenades cannot reach the range.
Under such circumstances, I am afraid that not even the skin of the enemy can be hurt. Faced with a situation that exceeded his original expectations, Du Kaishan could only adjust his combat deployment.
At the same time that the Japanese warship formation carried out a large-scale artillery bombardment on the Qikou line, on the Dezhou battlefield in northern Shandong, the Japanese army led by three tank regiments and launched more than 300 artillery pieces with a caliber of more than 75 mm.
, and with the cooperation of more than 30 aircraft of the Naval Air Force.
Five divisions were deployed in a row on the front of Dezhou, and a three-pronged advance strategy was adopted with Dezhou as the center. Along the two wings of Jinpu Road on the front of Dezhou, from Leling in the east to Zhengjiakou in the west, a full-line attack was launched north of Dezhou.
On the Shandong North battlefield, the Japanese army's attack focus was on Ningjin and Leling east of Dezhou, and its strategic target was directly at Nanpi, the deep strategic area of Dezhou's first-line anti-Japanese war.
On the battlefield of Gucheng to the west of Dezhou, a division was deployed to use the Gucheng as a base to launch continuous attacks in the direction of Fucheng. The 22nd Division on the front of Dezhou, which had completed reorganization, was to cooperate with the division.
, launched an attack along the front of Texas towards the anti-Union positions in Mulberry and Jingxian on the east bank of the South Canal.
At the same time as the battlefield in northern Lu began, the First Army, which had been restored in northern Henan, deployed with two divisions along the Pinghan Road and launched attacks on the Xingtai and Renxian lines. At the same time, it was stationed in Xinxiang,
The two divisions on the front line of Qixian County launched a full-line counterattack towards Shunping and Lingchuan in the southeastern Shanxi Province.
The Japanese First Army launched an attack from northern Henan to southeastern Shanxi, aiming directly at the Changzhi area, which is the only fierce battle in the entire Shanxi battlefield. Its strategic goal is quite clear, which is to rescue the thirty-six soldiers who now have only one Changzhi city left.
The remnants of the division.
At the same time as the start of the northern Shandong area, the Japanese army in the northwestern Shandong area, just as Chen Hanzhang expected, concentrated two divisions. The first wave of the offensive used the strength of the two divisions to kill him and Jilu.
The northwest region of Shandong, which is the junction of the Henan Military Region, tried to cross the South Canal and seize Jixian and Nangong.
The goal of the Japanese offensive in northwest Shandong was very clear. It deployed two divisions in one go and adopted the tactic of two fronts advancing simultaneously, in order to cut off the connection between the Anti-Japanese Alliance in Dezhou and the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region. And the Japanese army launched the attack in Dezhou.
Cooperate to complete the outflank of the Dezhou battlefield. At the same time, cooperate with the two Japanese divisions launching an offensive in northern Henan to break the resistance of the Hebei, Shandong and Yu military regions. Cooperate with the Jinpu Road operation to contain the Anti-Japanese Alliance Western Cluster from being able to move eastward.