Chapter 173: The Opportunity in Chen Hanzhang's Eyes
In Chen Hanzhang's view, the Japanese army as a whole came up with such a deployment method. Not counting the two divisions attacking southeastern Shanxi, just from northern Henan to the Bohai Bay, there were several divisions with aircraft above and tanks and heavy artillery below.
Under cover, advancing hand in hand, the momentum is indeed quite scary.
However, in the entire deployment, this all-or-nothing approach, in which victory will lead to a strategic goal and failure to risk both perish, also gives itself a considerable space for maneuver. In the entire Shandong battlefield, as long as one of the two Japanese armies is defeated,
There is a lot to be done by taking advantage of the strong mobility of your troops and breaking into the Japanese front lines.
As long as you are in front of Lubei, you can tightly entangle the main force of the Japanese army. Even if you are on the battlefield west of Texas, you can make a buckle for the 72nd Division and consciously make the 72nd Division unstoppable. But the Japanese army at the moment
Unless the blockade of the Jiaodong Peninsula is abandoned, it will be difficult to mobilize troops to support or cooperate with the 72nd Division.
And as long as you solve the 72nd Division, even if the Japanese army urgently deploys a division from the front of Lubei to block this gap, then you can also push forward the front-line and close group tactics adopted by the Japanese army in Lubei.
They move in a mess. When the time comes, it will no longer be difficult to find a fighter plane to strike hard at them.
However, the premise is that when the 72nd Division is sent north, there will be no surprises in the frontal defense of the north bank of the Majia River and Dezhou, and the Japanese army in front of Lubei will not be given any chance. And it must be entangled tightly.
, the Japanese divisions attacking from the north of Lu.
Otherwise, when the depth is threatened and the direct connection with the Western Cluster is cut off, we will fail to defeat the tiger and suffer the consequences. As for the front line of the Bohai Bay, although it is our most fatal weakness, there are some problems in the Bohai Bay.
Du Kaishan is in charge, but Chen Hanzhang is not worried.
Du Kaishan, who was beaten and cut by No. 1 this time and dealt with severely, will probably not relapse into his old habits. Even if he cannot solve the problem from the root, he will at least calm down for a while. As long as Du Kaishan can sit down honestly
In the Bohai Bay, Chen Hanzhang is quite assured based on his own abilities.
Of course, Chen Hanzhang's first wave of targets was placed on the 72nd Division in front of Xiajin, which was also carefully considered. The three Japanese divisions in northern Shandong adopted a front-line push tactic, and their attack intervals were extremely narrow.
, and adopted the tactic of group attack.
Not only is it difficult to find fighter planes, but even if you find a chance to encircle one of them, with the surrounding Japanese troops hugging each other, it will be difficult to complete the total annihilation in a short time. Maybe your main force will be defeated instead.
The Japanese army was entangled. The most critical thing was that there was still a Japanese division on the Shouguang-Yantai highway east of northern Shandong.
As a result, the strategic pattern appears to be too narrow. Compared with the northern Shandong battlefield, the northwestern Shandong battlefield has much more room for maneuver. The two divisions deployed by the Japanese army in this area are actually equal to partial divisions. The two divisions respectively have
Their respective attack directions provide relatively convenient conditions for intervening.
Another reason why Chen Hanzhang decided to place the first wave of counterattacks on the 72nd Division is much simpler. Not only is the direction of the division's attack critical, but its own position is also quite critical.
The advantage lies in the connection between the Japanese army in the northwest of Shandong and the Japanese army in the north of Shandong. If you deal with the 72nd Division first, you will have much more room for maneuver.
In fact, according to Chen Hanzhang's idea, once the Japanese army launched a full-scale counterattack, he would adopt a solid defense from Dezhou to Qingyun, and adopt a series of resistance tactics in the northwestern Shandong area. To widen the distance between the Japanese army in the northwestern Shandong and the Japanese army in the northern Shandong, in
A protrusion is formed at the junction of northwest Shandong and southeast Hebei, so we look for fighter planes to attack the enemies attacking toward northwest Shandong in one go.
At that time, his target was not just the 72nd Division. It was all the forces of the three divisions that the Japanese army would invest in the battlefield in northwest Shandong. According to his prediction, it would not exceed all the forces of the three divisions. As long as the enemy in northwest Shandong was solved,
To the enemy, it was equivalent to opening a large gap in the entire front of the Japanese attack.
At that time, I will mobilize my reserve team, strengthen all the tank forces in hand, break through the canal line from northwest Shandong, and go southeast to outflank the enemy in Dezhou. Cut off the connection between the Japanese army in northern Shandong and the enemy in Yanzhou, and reopen the connection with the Shandong Military Region
ground connections between.
Chen Hanzhang's plan was based on Yang Zhen's overall deployment plan for the second phase of the battle. Yang Zhen deployed two large triangular defense postures between the Pinghan Line and the Jinpu Line, with sufficient depth of troops and just enough force.
This is a prerequisite for the implementation of this plan.
The deployment of troops of the Western Cluster west of Hengshui allowed him to safely attract the Japanese troops in northwestern Shandong in depth, opening up a gap between the frontal attack on the Japanese troops in northern Shandong and his own offensive posture. The larger the gap, the greater the gap.
The more advantageous it is for Chen Hanzhang.
But if Chen Hanzhang's idea is followed, it will require the full cooperation of the main force of the Hebei, Shandong and Yu Military Region. Otherwise, it will be difficult for him to mobilize enough troops to implement this plan while maintaining frontal stability. Although Yang Zhen mobilized it for him
Powerful ground artillery, but infantry is still needed to solve the fundamental problem of the battlefield.
The most critical thing is that the main force of the tank force is in the hands of Du Kaishan. He only has one armored brigade and several independent tank regiments in his hands. The assault force is relatively thin, so Chen Hanzhang can only find a way to replace it with infantry. However, the No. 1 plan was originally formulated
The entire combat plan has been adjusted to a certain extent within the operational scope of the Hebei, Shandong and Yu Military Region.
Chen Hanzhang, who knew the difficulty of No. 1, had no choice but to deal with one of the two Japanese troops on the northwest Shandong battlefield first. As for the remaining Japanese troops, he could only temporarily suppress them.
But in Chen Hanzhang's plan, Chen Hanzhang also prepared a very thorough plan for the Japanese troops on the front line of Linqing.
In fact, Yang Zhen's original plan was that when the Japanese army launched a full-scale counterattack, the troops of the Hebei, Shandong and Henan Military Region, in addition to using some troops to fight along the Ping-Han Line, most of the troops moved away from the front of southern Hebei and moved to Ping-Han Road.
To the west and northwest of Shandong, after the main force of the Japanese army has passed, take advantage of being good at mobile warfare.
Use three brigades to jump to the west of the Pinghan-Han line to outflank the Japanese army's retreat, and cooperate with the two military divisions in northern Henan to open up direct contact with the fourth division of the New Fourth Army in the Henan, Anhui, and Jiangsu areas, and cut off the Japanese army facing them from the eastern Henan area.
Cooperate with the anti-alliance forces deployed deep on the western front to encircle and suppress the Japanese troops on the western front.
The anti-alliance forces deployed behind the Hebei, Shandong and Yu Military Region took advantage of the innate geographical conditions of the water network zone in the upper reaches of the Fuyang River to separate the Japanese attack sequence in order to find the most advantageous fighter opportunities for the encirclement and annihilation campaign. Yang Zhen's plan
It was to use the enemies on the Western Front to attract part of the Japanese troops on the Eastern Front, and first deal with the enemies on the Western Front while reducing the burden on the Eastern Front.
At the same time, the troops transferred to northwest Shandong will cooperate with the troops originally staying in northwest Shandong to ensure the defense of northwest Shandong and cooperate with Chen Hanzhang's troops in the combat operations in the Hebei-Shandong border area. But for Yang Zhen's deployment, Hebei, Shandong and Yu
But the military region firmly disagreed.
Their intention still depends on the situation. If the Japanese army invests too many troops in northern Henan, they will use a force to block it layer by layer to weaken and delay the Japanese army as much as possible. In order to ensure the flanks of the Shanxi battlefield, it also provides a second-line
The anti-alliance forces completely eliminated the Japanese army's biggest fighter plane.
If the number is less than two divisions, we must still fight the Japanese army in the border area of Hebei, Shandong and Henan and use the advantage of familiarity with the terrain. The Hebei, Shandong and Henan Military Region believes that the troops are now equipped and will move to the enemy if the Japanese army comes.
It is detrimental to the morale of the troops and the restoration of popular sentiment.
Our own troops have been operating in the Hebei-Shandong-Henan border area. They are not only familiar with the geographical environment, but also have innate intelligence advantages. There are two more military divisions in northern Henan, which have controlled the military divisions in most areas of northern Henan except the Pinghan-Han line.
They can cooperate in combat, which is the advantage of the Hebei, Shandong and Yu Military Region.
At the same time, we are fighting in the Hebei-Shandong-Henan border area. We will try our best to contain the forces invested by the Japanese army in the Hebei-Shandong-Henan border area. We will limit the main operational scope of the Japanese army's offensive in southern Hebei and northern Hebei to the southern Hebei area. Contain their strong battlefield mobility.
Advantages, greatly reducing the pressure on the flanks of the Shanxi battlefield and Shandong battlefield.
The most critical thing is that the head of the Hebei, Shandong and Henan Military Region believes that there is still a long distance from the Handan line to the battlefield preset by the Anti-Japanese Alliance for the Japanese army. If the main force of the Japanese army is allowed to go north along the Pinghan Line with all its strength, the entire combat plan may
There are too many variables. Once the Japanese army in northeastern Henan breaks through the Linming Pass line and only uses one force to contain the anti-alliance forces, most of them will turn westward into the Taihang Mountains, which will have a great impact on the hinterland of the Taihang Military Region.
threats.
In the view of the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region, Pinghan Road is too close to Jijun Pass and Huangze Pass, which connects southern Hebei and southeastern Shanxi and is located in the hinterland of the Taihang Mountains. Once the Japanese army turned to Jijun Pass before entering the surrounding areas of Xingtai, Huangze Pass
On the Zeguan line, Liao County, the hinterland of the Taihang Military Region, will face a direct threat from the Japanese army. Once the Japanese army breaks into southeastern Shanxi, the main force of the Taihang Military Region currently fighting on the Baijin Railway will face the situation of being attacked from both sides.
At the same time, although the terrain to the north of Handan is located on the southern Hebei plain, there are many rivers around here that can be used as natural positions. Even if the Japanese army in front of them cannot be completely blocked at the junction of southern Hebei and northwest Shandong, it is still possible to bite a piece of flesh from the Japanese army.
No problem, this can also reduce the pressure on the anti-alliance forces in subsequent operations.
This request from the head of the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region gave Yang Zhen a headache. The most important thing is that the current superior of the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region, the old chief of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region, Yang Zhen, does not very much agree with Yang Zhen's military position on the Western Front.
plan. It is believed that no matter which direction one looks at, the troops of the Hebei, Shandong and Henan Military Region should try their best to block the Japanese army in southern Hebei and northern Hebei.
The old commander's judgment on the Japanese counterattack was almost astonishingly consistent with Chen Hanzhang's. Judging from the entire terrain, enemy situation, and traffic environment around the battlefield, the Japanese army would not invest too many troops in southern Hebei. The Japanese army would be in Pinghan.
Some troops will be invested on the line, but the Ping-Han Line will definitely not be the main direction of the Japanese army's attack.
Compared with southern Hebei, Yang Zhen should concentrate his forces on the front of northern Shandong and the northwest theater of Shandong, that is, on the battlefield along Jinpu Road. As for southern hebei, should it be a battlefield with a cooperative position in the overall Japanese army's war situation?
The Hebei, Shandong and Yu Military Region should be allowed to play its role.
Under this situation, according to Yang Zhen's plan, too many anti-alliance forces were restrained in southern Hebei, which could easily cause the strength of the eastern front to be unable to meet the needs of the Japanese counterattack. As long as the Jinpu line was defeated
Although the main force of the Japanese army in southern Hebei was backed by eastern Henan, they were strategically isolated and helpless.
Unless the Japanese army wants to completely bury all the troops they have invested in North China, they can only retreat without fighting. The old commander believes that Yang Zhen should focus his strategy on the Jinpu line and the northwest Shandong battlefield. In the largest
Concentrate everything to the maximum extent, and use the concentrated forces to defeat the enemy with a single blow. This is the strategic thinking of this old commander.