Wanting to understand these Lieutenant General Chiba Kumaji, he closed his eyes and leaned against the wall of the bombhole, looking extremely tired. He knew that when the next round of artillery sounded again, his 72nd Division, as the Imperial Army's
A division may never exist in this world again.
The current strength of the 72nd Division has been basically exhausted. Trapped in this palm-sized area, there are only simple field fortifications and even positions built with the corpses of fallen Japanese soldiers. Such simple positions cannot even hold the enemy's force for a while.
It was covered by rounds of artillery fire. And the remaining defeated soldiers couldn't hold on for long even if they were all pulled up.
The fact that the enemy has temporarily relaxed its attack on the 72nd Division does not mean that they are interested in letting the 72nd Division go. Now for the 72nd Division, which has been sentenced to death, the difference is only whether to execute it immediately or
It's just a day's reprieve, just half a day. Either early death or late death is inevitable. The 72nd Division, which has just been established, will probably be wiped out in the first battle.
No matter what mistakes had been made in the deployment before, as an officer at the level of the Japanese division commander, Chiba Kumaji's vision was still very accurate. At this time, the final attack on him had not been launched, and it was indeed him who was facing the resistance in front of him.
Adjusting deployment. While the battle to encircle and annihilate the 72nd Division was progressing smoothly, his opponent's appetite was obviously increasing.
Just when he was trying his best to break through to the southeast, Chen Hanzhang had already come up with the latest battle plan. The 100th Division, which was currently attacking the old city with all its strength, was already in Chen Hanzhang's eyes. As for the reason why he chose the 100th Division on the right
, instead of the left wing, the 118th Division, which is now almost dying.
The reason is very simple. Compared with the 118th Division, the location of the 100th Division is more critical. No matter which direction Chen Hanzhang chooses next, this 100th Division must be solved. Otherwise, no matter how to solve the 118th Division,
Division, or outflanking the enemy's rear in Dezhou, the location of this hundred divisions would be like a stick in his throat.
What's more, the 100th Division is also equipped with a chariot brigade, which is a greater threat than the 118th Division. This is Chen Hanzhang's approach to attack the strong enemy first. The reason why he still retains only
The last breath of Chiba Kumaji and his remnants were just to allow the Hundred Division to go deeper. After he peeled off the skin layer by layer, they could completely solve it in one go.
As for the 118th Division whose vitality has been damaged, Chen Hanzhang believes that it is better to use the current tactics, using the two brigades of the Hebei, Shandong and Yu Military Region to strengthen one division in front of it and continue to besiege it in disguise. The troops of the Hebei, Shandong and Yu Military Region,
Although there was no large-scale enemy-annihilation operation, the combat mode of these two brigades plus two divisional troops also played a considerable role.
At present, he does not have much time and energy to consider the situation of the 118th Division. Chen Hanzhang believes that he should continue to adopt this tactic and forcefully drag it down and trap it to death in Wei County, between Qinghe and Nangong.
A more appropriate decision. However, Chen Hanzhang believes that if the troops of the Hebei, Shandong and Yu Military Region can increase the strength of two more brigades, it is not hopeless to solve the 118th Division at the same time.
After receiving Chen Hanzhang's telegram about attacking the 100th Division first, Yang Zhen did not immediately reply. Instead, he sat in front of the map and pondered for a long time without making up his mind. The 72nd Division was no longer a threat.
It is already certain. With most of the 72nd Division solved, a gap has been opened in the entire Japanese front.
On the point of making this gap into a meat grinder, Yang Zhen and Chen Hanzhang have no different opinions. But Yang Zhen still has to consider the next main direction of attack and where to place it. Regarding Chen Hanzhang, he will first clamp down on it.
Yang Zhen still agreed with the idea of the 18th Division.
This time, the two brigades under the command of Chen Hanzhang under the Hebei, Shandong and Yu Military Region fought in Wei County, Qinghe, and Nangong. Overall, this mobile battle was quite exciting. It not only effectively cooperated with Chen Hanzhang in Zaonan, Gucheng
The battles between them also effectively weakened the strength of the 118th Division.
Now from the overall battle situation, it is more beneficial to retain the 118th Division first than to solve the 118th Division first. In other words, Yang Zhen basically agrees with Chen Hanzhang's plan. The reason why he
The reason why he did not give Chen Hanzhang an immediate reply was that for Yang Zhen, fighting this hundred divisions was not a problem.
But if he attacks the 100th Division first, including the 72nd Division, and reaches the current situation, he will have to carefully consider what kind of chain reaction it will have on the entire war situation. The next step for the Japanese army
This action is not only related to the battle situation at Chen Hanzhang's place, but also related to the timing of his troops, who have secretly moved south, to launch a full-scale counterattack against the two Japanese divisions on both sides of Pinghan Road.
At present, the Sixty-fifth Division of the Japanese Army stationed in Yanzhou is heading north with all its strength. On the battlefield in southeastern Shanxi, the deputy commander-in-chief has commanded the main force of the Shanxi-Hebei-Luyu Military Region and most of the Taiyue Military Region to attack the two battlefields in southeastern Shanxi.
The Japanese divisions launched a siege. However, the current battlefield in southeast Shanxi is still in a stalemate stage as a whole.
In the direction of Shexian County, the reinforcements from the Taihang Military Region started a tug-of-war with the Japanese and puppet troops attacking from Shexian County on the Dongyang Pass line. At the moment, the only good news on the battlefield in southeastern Shanxi is that after a month and a half of fierce fighting, at
While Hou Guozhong eliminated most of the 72nd Division, on the battlefield in southeastern Shanxi, the First Division of the Shanxi-Hebei-Luyu Military Region finally completely recaptured Changzhi and completely annihilated the Japanese 36th Division.
Although at the last moment before Changzhi was completely captured, the Japanese army sent a plane from Kaifeng and used a small airport temporarily repaired by the Japanese army along the east side of Changzhi City to fly Lieutenant General Tanami Hachiro, commander of the 36th Division, and 224
Most of the surviving senior officers, including the commander of the regiment, Colonel Matsuyama Yoshiemon, were taken away, resulting in the failure of this battle to achieve full success.
However, the encirclement and annihilation of the Thirty-sixth Division also set a record for the first complete annihilation of a Japanese division by Guannei troops. Although faced with the special terrain of Changzhi, which is high on all sides and low in the middle, as well as solid city defenses, plus shameless
Using defensive tactics, the troops from Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong and Henan fought hard for a month and a half, and suffered heavy casualties.
In particular, the brigades responsible for the final attack suffered casualties of about one-third. The main attacking brigade even suffered casualties of two-thirds. Among the brigades that participated in the war, only five regiment-level cadres were sacrificed. In these few
Without a long period of rest and recuperation, the brigade was unable to engage in any battlefield again.
The Changzhi battlefield was completely over and achieved quite good results. It indicates that the Guan Nei troops have gradually completed the transformation from guerrilla warfare to mobile warfare. Although the overall casualties in this critical battle were larger, the various troops participating in the Guan Nei war also achieved great results.
Considerable experience in tackling difficult problems.
Although it cost a lot of casualties overall, it also achieved great results and trained the troops. This exchange ratio is generally considered cost-effective. At the same time, the Changzhi battlefield has completely come to an end, at least for the troops of the Shanxi-Hebei-Luyu Military Region.
All energy can be used on the two Japanese divisions on the battlefield south of Changzhi.
After the Changzhi battlefield came to an end, after careful consideration and in view of the fundamental change in the situation, the deputy commander-in-chief decided to readjust the deployment of the entire Shanxi battlefield. With the Zhuozhang River as the boundary, and to the north by the deputy commander of the Shanxi-Hebei-Luyu Military Region
, the deputy political commissar of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region who led the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei troops southward formed the Northern Command to unified command the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei and Shanxi-Sui troops participating in the war, as well as the first section of the Taihang Military Region, responsible for fighting from the direction of Shexian County, and from the north of the Zhuozhang River to
Defense operations between the Shota and Taipei Railways.
With the Baijin Railway as the dividing line, the Taiyue Military Region commands the main force of the Taiyue Military Region, plus a brigade from the Jinsui Military Region that enters the Taiyue Military Region and a detachment, as well as all the local troops of the Taiyue Military Region, and is responsible for the Baijin Railway to the entire
Defense operations along the Nan-Tong-Pu Railway. After this adjustment, the main force of the Shanxi-Hebei-Luyu Military Region can concentrate on dealing with the battlefield in southeastern Shanxi.
But the Japanese troops on the battlefield in southeastern Shanxi were very cunning. No matter how the deputy commander tried, they just marched together with the Dadan River as the dividing line. They would rather go slower, but never break in alone. Even if the enemy in Changzhi has been completely eliminated
, these two divisions are still immersed in attacking deep into the southeast of Shanxi.
On the day of the attack on Shexian County in front of Dongyang Pass, the puppet troops also made corresponding strategic adjustments after arriving in front of Dongyang Pass. Instead of continuing the original fierce attack tactics, they fought with the blocking troops on the spot in front of Dongyang Pass.
.At the same time, they concentrated their forces and repeatedly fought for the commanding heights on both wings, trying to control the entire frontal battlefield of Dongyang Pass.
The Japanese and puppet troops in this direction gave up the fight for the front of Dongyang Pass, and instead focused on controlling the surrounding commanding heights, which was beyond everyone's expectations. This group of puppet troops paid great attention to preserving their strength before surrendering to the enemy.
The main force is a miscellaneous army. In the Taihang Mountains, which are full of lofty mountains, they are afraid of encountering an ambush and are slow to move. At least on the surface, this is not surprising.
Although I don’t know what kind of promises the Japanese army made to this puppet army, which made this puppet army work so hard. And its performance in Dongyangguan was considered normal, but it was the seemingly normal performance of this unit that made it work so hard.
Yang Zhen does seem to be somewhat abnormal. On the Dongyangguan front line, the department focused on the surrounding commanding heights, which can explain some problems.
Although the actions of the Japanese and puppet troops in this direction are mainly puppet troops, the Japanese army also has two reinforced brigades that are always following the puppet troops. According to the current intelligence, one of these two infantry brigades is always following the puppet troops.
The military operations of the puppet army. If the puppet army does not work hard, the Japanese brigade may not make life easy for these puppet troops.
In other words, the actions of the Japanese and puppet troops in Shexian County are not at all a deliberate attempt by the puppet troops to preserve their strength, but a conscious and deliberate act by the Japanese army. If you look at it this way, the Japanese and puppet troops in Shexian County include the entire Japanese army in the southeast of Shanxi.
The action is very interesting.
It is precisely because of this consideration that Yang Zhen is a little worried about the current battle situation in southeastern Shanxi. Although there are a lot of troops participating in the battlefield in southeastern Shanxi, the weapons and equipment are also quite good. They even fight in the mountains.
Among them, compared with the current Japanese army, they still have a slight advantage.
It can be said that even if the Japanese and puppet troops in both directions cannot be eliminated within a short period of time, at least they will not suffer losses. At least there will be no problem in blocking the two Japanese divisions between Jincheng and Changzhi from the Shangdang Basin.
Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadichi should not be unclear about this.
If the Japanese army really wants to outflank their flanks, they will never waste time like this on the battlefield in southeastern Shanxi. It is precisely for this reason that in the face of the battlefield in southeastern Shanxi that seems a little nervous at the moment, but is actually always calm, Yang
Zhen always had a vague feeling that something was wrong.
I once reminded the deputy commander not to overestimate the ability of the first theater to contain the Japanese army. If needed in the battlefield in southeastern Shanxi, the number of follow-up troops that the Japanese army can mobilize is, at least on paper, quite sufficient. In this situation
Under the circumstances, the current battlefield situation in southeastern Shanxi is that the two ends are heavy and the middle is light, which is very bad.