Seeing Luo Ronghuan meditating on the map, Cai Zhong said: "Commander, actually we have many choices now, because the Japanese army does not know that the main force of our army is in southeastern Shandong, south of Shandong and the Taiyi mountainous area. We are hiding in the dark and waiting for opportunities.
The tigers are exerting their strength. I don’t know where we will go. In addition to going north to eliminate the enemies on Jiaoji Road and going west to eliminate the enemies in Tai’an, I am considering going south to eliminate the 114th Division in the direction of Xuzhou and the puppet Manchuria.
National Defense Force. I calculated that in addition to the 114th Division, the Japanese Army in Xuzhou also had the Xuzhou Garrison, with a total strength of about 30,000. Including the Puppet Manchuria National Defense Force, the total number was about 60,000. During this period, I
The Japanese army vigorously carried out a cold-arms and artillery campaign, and the Japanese and puppet troops suffered heavy casualties. Even if the Japanese army could be quickly replenished, the puppet Manchuria National Defense Force had no place to replenish it. Their number had to be reduced a little further. In this way, the total number of Japanese and puppet troops should be 50,000.
There are about 6,000 people. Our army can adopt the method of division and annihilation. First attack the puppet Manchukuo army, and then attack the Japanese army. In continuous operations, the chance of winning the attack will be greater. Moreover, attacking Xuzhou can quickly disrupt the Japanese army in Wuhan and Zhengzhou.
offensive, effectively supporting the Battle of Wuhan."
Before Liu Yimin spoke, Luo Ronghuan, who was deep in thought, suddenly answered: "What Director Cai said is wrong. If we attack the puppet army first, it will be easy for the little devils in Xuzhou to wait for reinforcements. Although our army has strong firepower, the casualties in the city attack battle will be too high."
If the Japanese army has one division and the Xuzhou garrison to defend Xuzhou, if our army wants to take it, the casualties will definitely exceed the Japanese army. If not, the loss of the main force of our army may reach one-fifth or even one-fourth. That would be terrible.
, the central government will never approve it. Moreover, when our army takes Xuzhou, it must rest and replenish. At this time, the Japanese army may take advantage and fight us again with Xuzhou as the center. However, the national army's strength has been damaged after the Wuhan battle.
If strong support is impossible, then we will be completely in danger, and we will probably have to abandon the Shandong base again and implement breakout tactics. I will never agree!"
Perhaps because he felt that his words were too harsh, Luo Ronghuan stood up, walked around on the ground twice, and then said: "Actually, whether we launch an offensive on Jiaoji Road or in Tai'an, we can still disrupt the Japanese army's deployment. The key is to
Let’s see how to fight is more conducive to our army holding on to the Shandong Anti-Japanese Base Area and more conducive to our army’s development and growth. From this point of view, it is obviously better to attack the enemy on Jiaoji Road.”
Liu Yimin was not surprised at all by what Luo Ronghuan said. He was the founding marshal of the People's Republic of China. Of course he was a military and political worker. He must be outstanding in strategy and tactics, otherwise he would not have been the founding marshal of the People's Republic of China.
Liu Yimin said with a smile: "That's the truth, my opponent. Think about it, if we capture Xuzhou, it will cut off the retreat of the Japanese frontline troops in Zhengzhou and the troops at the northern foot of the Dabie Mountains. The little Japanese would rather leave Wuhan and Guangzhou than return to the division.
You can't fight us desperately. No matter how correct our strategy is and how high our tactics are, we can't be the opponent of all the Japanese troops. When the time comes, we will definitely be made dumplings by the little devils. Besides, Xuzhou is a fortified city and a transportation hub.
, is a large supply base for the Japanese army. No matter what we do, it is impossible to mobilize the Japanese troops responsible for the defense of Xuzhou. They cannot bear the responsibility for losing Xuzhou. In addition, the Japs have air superiority, even if we take out all the puppet troops
After being eliminated, a 114th Division plus a Xuzhou garrison can hold out in Xuzhou for a while. No matter how powerful our army's firepower is, it will never be possible to pour ammunition into Xuzhou City. In this way, the city will inevitably be attacked.
As time goes by, the troops who were originally third-rate or fourth-rate soldiers will develop the combat effectiveness of first-rate troops when they fight to the death, and the battle will turn into a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. This is not my fighting style, Liu Yimin.
It’s not the fighting style of our instructors. As the old saying goes, instructors rely on their brains to fight. They need to fight skillfully, fight with small casualties and large captures, and never compete with any enemy. And we attacked Jiaoji Road
The enemy, the Japs are basically holding on to county towns and market towns, none of which has the strategic position of Xuzhou, and it is easy to mobilize the Japs. In addition, our army has deliberately paralyzed the Japs in recent times, and the Japs on Jiaoji Road have left the railway intact.
It has been repaired. Compared with the Japs in Xuzhou, they are relatively less vigilant, making it easier for our army to make sneak attacks and set up ambushes. Moreover, Jiaoji Road is too far from Wuhan and Zhengzhou, and the Japanese elite field divisions have no time to rescue them, except for air support.
, the little devil has no other choice. I predict that as soon as we start fighting on Jiaoji Road, the Japanese garrison divisions in Shandong, Pingjin and Tianjin are afraid of being annihilated, and no one dares to reinforce them. They can only watch us eat them.
08th Division and 33rd Division."
Liu Yimin finally explained the truth thoroughly. Cai Zhong was also a Red Army general who had experienced hundreds of battles. How could he not figure it out? Not to mention Luo Ronghuan, he had already figured it out. So Liu Yimin called the deputy director of the Staff Department.
Zhu Zhexiao asked him to immediately draft a telegram to the Central Committee and the headquarters, requesting approval to launch the Jiaoji Road Campaign, seek to annihilate the Japanese 108th Division and the 33rd Division, and completely restore the Qinghe, Luzhong, Jiaolai, and Jiaodong base areas
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The content of the telegram was not long, it was just a battle plan, and Zhu Zhexiao wrote it quickly. After reading it, Liu Yimin added the secret mobilization of the Japanese Fifth Division and his own judgment about the Japanese army's possible sneak attack on Guangzhou, and then handed it to Luo Ronghuan.
After Luo Ronghuan read it, he immediately climbed to Liu Yimin's desk and wrote down his analysis and opinions on Liu Yimin's judgment that the Japanese army was about to attack Guangzhou. Then he signed the document and asked Zhu Zhexiao to take it for distribution.
As soon as Zhu Zhexiao left, Luo Yan, the reconnaissance section chief and reconnaissance battalion commander of the General Staff Office, came. Liu Yimin inquired in detail about the defense situation of the Japanese 108th Division and the 33rd Division on Jiaoji Road.
After the main force of the teaching division returned to Shandong, the reconnaissance battalion carried out reconnaissance on the Japanese troops on Jiaoji Road, Jinpu Road and the eastern section of Longhai Road under Liu Yimin's order. In addition, the enemies on Jiaoji Road also cooperated with the 7th Jiao Brigade and the Qinghe Guard Brigade, and the Jiaodong Guard Brigade
The brigade kept fighting, the battle never stopped, and the enemy's situation was naturally relatively clear.
According to Luo Yan's report, after the main force of the Japanese army pursued the main force of the instructor division southward, the Japanese army on Jiaoji Road also changed their tactics. They mainly focused on protecting Jiaoji Road and building roads. Most of the troops were used to blockade and raid the Jiaodong area, and at the same time organize
Part of the troops strengthened the rule of the occupied areas. After the main force of our army in Jiaodong jumped out of the encirclement, they went to Jiao Lai and Qinghe to carry out a cold-blooded campaign to restore the base area. Only one regiment of the Jiaodong Garrison Brigade was left to fight guerrillas with the Japanese. It didn't take long for the Japanese to realize that something was wrong.
The Japanese strategy was quickly adjusted. The 108th Division withdrew from Jiaodong and along the Jiaoji Railway and Jiqing Highway. The division headquarters was stationed in Weixian and directed the Japanese Jiaoji Railway garrison to maintain the safety of traffic lines.
.There is currently only one Thirty-third Division in Jiaodong, which is responsible for public security and cleanup in Jiaodong. The division headquarters is stationed in Laiyang. The Japanese Qingdao Garrison is responsible for the defense of Qingdao and the defense of several surrounding counties. The Japanese army is still patchwork in Jiaodong, Qinghe, Jiaolai, and Qingdao.
Some puppet troops were recruited to assist in the defense. However, the number of puppet troops was small, mainly because the Eighth Route Army fought well in Shandong, and no one wanted to be a puppet army. Most of these puppet troops were coerced by devils and traitors, and basically had no combat effectiveness.
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After reporting the overall situation, Luo Yan took out a detailed distribution map of the Japanese troops on Jiaoji Road drawn by the Reconnaissance Section, pointed at the map and reported the Japanese troop deployment to Liu Yimin in detail.
Liu Yimin left the Japanese troop distribution map brought by Luo Yan and asked him to divide the reconnaissance battalion that was conducting reconnaissance and surveillance of the Japanese troops into five reconnaissance teams to closely monitor the mobilization of Japanese troops in the direction of Xuzhou, Qingdao, Jinan, Tai'an, and Jiaodong.
Report the enemy's situation at any time.
When Luo Yan left, Liu Yimin told him that a war was imminent and asked the investigators to keep their eyes open and not to miss any clues.
After Luo Yan left, Liu Yimin immediately ordered the Wang Huhu special operations formation in the direction of Tai'an to withdraw quickly, and ordered the 1st Teaching Brigade, the 3rd Teaching Brigade, the 4th Teaching Brigade, the 6th Teaching Brigade, the 8th Teaching Brigade, the Cavalry Brigade, the Artillery Brigade, and the Air Defense Brigade.
The heavy machine gun regiment, engineer brigade, baggage regiment, and training headquarters immediately mobilized to replenish the ammunition base and wait for the order to attack. The Southeast Shandong detachment was ordered to immediately take over the defense line of the Eighth Teaching Brigade and the Cavalry Brigade to assume the task of guarding the Japanese troops in the direction of Xuzhou.
In the afternoon, Liu Yimin received a telegram from the chairman.
The chairman said in the telegram that based on all intelligence, the Battle of Wuhan has reached an advanced stage, and various Japanese armies have successively attacked the outskirts of Wuhan. Although our army has resolutely resisted on the outskirts of Wuhan, it still cannot completely stop the Japanese attack. If the Japanese army really makes a sneak attack
In Guangzhou, the National Government is bound to be in chaos, and Wuhan is in danger! If no miracle happens, the Japanese army will surely capture Wuhan. The war in the direction of Zhengzhou is not optimistic either. Once Wuhan is lost, the Zhengzhou defense line will inevitably be shaken, and the Japanese army is likely to go straight to Luoyang and then attack Tongguan westward.
Either by attacking Xiangyang through Nanyang or by crossing the river and attacking the Tiaoshan garrison, the war situation will inevitably deteriorate further. This is a great opportunity for our Eighth Route Army to make a decisive attack to save the country and the people. We must plan carefully, formulate detailed and feasible operational plans, and gather all the resources we can.
We must not only destroy the Japanese 108th Division and the 33rd Division in one battle, but also decide the fate of Shandong in one battle. Because after our army eliminated the two Japanese divisions, Jinan and Qingdao were all exposed to our army.
Our army can attack at any time. When the time comes, the Japanese army in Tai'an will inevitably shrink. If the enemy dares to shrink towards Jinan, our army can attack him halfway, and the situation will be better. If the enemy shrinks towards Lunan, our army can attack it with one force.
Calmly besiege Jinan, concentrate the main force and quickly move north to the Hebei-Shandong border and central Hebei, strive to wipe out part of the enemy and force the enemy to shrink towards Pingjin. Our army can then take advantage of the situation to attack the enemy in western Shandong and southern Hebei, forcing the enemy to shrink towards Pinghan Road, and in one fell swoop
Restore the Hebei-Shandong border, Jizhong, southern Hebei, and western Shandong base areas. Then return to the division south and restore the western Tai base area, the southern Shandong base area, and the southwestern Shandong base area.
When Liu Yimin saw this, his heart tightened. Historically, the Chairman advocated independent mountain guerrilla warfare after the Wuhan Battle. How could it have changed so much that he actually let the instructors engage in a war of annihilation? And he also wanted to recover the whole country in one battle.
Shandong, this idea is too grand!
Shaking his head and continuing to read, the chairman said: "Of course, this is only the best idea, and it may not be realized. Because the Japanese army is different from the Kuomintang troops, they have a tenacious will to fight and will not retreat easily. Therefore.
, this battle can also be fought according to the second deployment, that is, to mainly eliminate the effective forces of the Japanese army, win through ambush warfare, mobile warfare, and eliminate the enemy on the move. If the enemy's 108th Division and the 33rd Division can be completely wiped out,
Even better, if the enemy shrinks too fast and can only annihilate one Japanese division, the Japanese 108th Division should be the first choice to force the enemy's 33rd Division to shrink towards Qingdao. Considering that the Japanese army is well-trained and has powerful firepower, and
Due to air superiority and other factors, our army should avoid daytime offensive operations to avoid excessive troop losses. At the same time, considering that the Japanese army may resort to retaliatory heavy encirclement and suppression, our army may not attack Jinan, Tai'an, Yanzhou, Qingdao, and Xuzhou where the Japanese army is firmly fortified.
and other cities, but it is necessary to recover the small county towns and vast rural areas surrounding the above cities and force the enemy to retreat to the cities. Even so, the purpose of restoring the base area and supporting the Wuhan and Zhengzhou operations has been achieved."
Finally, the chairman said in the telegram: "The instructors are the strategic group with the best equipment and the strongest firepower in our army. They have created miracles since the formation of the army. They are invincible and invincible. Liu and Luo must not be arrogant.
Don't be impetuous, but also be resolute and resourceful, dare to make up your mind at critical moments, and do everything with the purpose of eliminating the enemy's active forces and establishing a stable Shandong base. There is no need to look forward and backward. You want to achieve great results but are afraid of heavy casualties. Where in the world can there be such a situation?
Is it a good thing?"
After reading the telegram, Liu Yimin was speechless, pacing back and forth in the room with his eyebrows furrowed.
After Luo Ronghuan read the telegram, he said to Liu Yimin: "Send a telegram to the Chairman and explain clearly that our army's main focus in this battle is to eliminate the enemy's effective forces and cannot engage in city assault battles. To seize cities, we must mainly rely on surprise attacks. Considering the current situation between the enemy and ourselves,
Based on the balance of strength, our army cannot hold a city like Jinan even if we are not afraid of casualties. It is not that we cannot defend the city through a battle to defend the city, but that the Japanese aircraft will blow up the city that our army has recovered into ruins. Qingdao is more
That's right, if our army is determined to attack and defend Qingdao by force, the Japanese navy fleet will wipe Qingdao off the map. Then the gain will outweigh the losses. Don't you always say seek truth from facts? Then analyze it realistically, report it truthfully, and report it truthfully.
Deploy and fight. Otherwise, you will suffer a big loss!"
Liu Yimin now completely admires Luo Ronghuan's character. He knows that this man is honest and honest on the outside, but he is full of beauty and loyalty on the inside. Having such a person as a partner can be regarded as a blessing accumulated by generations of people.
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Without further words or hesitation, Liu Yimin immediately sat down and drafted a telegram to the chairman. He explained that the main purpose of this battle was to destroy the Japanese 108th Division and the 33rd Division, and to restore the base areas in Shandong. But it would never be carried out.
A city assault battle to avoid excessive troop casualties. Because this battle may prevent the Japanese army from capturing Wuhan, Guangzhou, and Luoyang, but it does not rule out the Japanese army making a concerted effort to forcibly capture Wuhan and Guangzhou. But regardless of whether the Japanese army captures Wuhan and Guangzhou, they will not
Sit back and watch the Eighth Route Army regain Jinan, Qingdao or Xuzhou. The next battle will be more difficult. Maybe it will be another situation where the Japanese army concentrates its forces to clear Shandong. That will cause problems.
At the end of the telegram, Liu Yimin wrote sincerely: "The Japanese army has captured Wuhan, and Guangzhou is not terrible. The longer the battle line is, the more dispersed the Japanese troops will be, and the more opportunities our army will have. According to the captured Japanese army documents, there is no internal understanding of the next step within the Japanese army."
There are differences in the direction of the use of troops. One group advocates concentrating its forces to expand the war of aggression against China and forcing Chiang Kai-shek to surrender. The other group advocates concentrating its forces to go north and start a war with the Soviet Union. If our army wants to recover all of Shandong, it will cause the Japanese army to shift its strategic direction and probably concentrate the Japanese army.
The North China Front Army, the Central China Expeditionary Army, and the Kwantung Army are mainly encircling and suppressing our army. By then, the situation in Shandong will be reversed, and our army will have to abandon the Shandong base area again. For this reason, this battle must be fought hard, accurately, and
To control the attack range, as long as the 108th Division and the 33rd Division can be eliminated and the Japanese army is forced to stick to Jinpu Road, the purpose of the campaign will be achieved. As for how to expand the results in the next step, it depends on the changes in the enemy situation. Now
It is too early to say how to plan how to regain the Hebei-Shandong border, Jizhong, and southern Hebei."
After sending the telegram, Liu Yimin ate two steamed buns at the division headquarters, drank a bowl of boiled water, and sat in front of the map to think.
In the evening, the chairman's reply finally arrived. This time the chairman's instructions were very concise: "We agree to launch the Jiaoji Road Campaign. The combat goal is to eliminate the 108th Division, the 33rd Division and the Japanese Jiaoji Railway Garrison.
Take the opportunity to expand the results of the battle and restore the base areas in Shandong. Liu and Luo are responsible for the battle command. When and where to launch the attack, Liu and Luo make the decision."
Liu Yimin was relieved and ordered the Shandong Southeast Detachment to go south at night and change defenses with the Eighth Teaching Brigade and the Cavalry Brigade. The Eighth Teaching Brigade and the Cavalry Brigade rushed back to Dadian at the latest day and night and set off with the division headquarters. He ordered the Tai'an Detachment to closely monitor the Japanese troops in the direction of Tai'an.
movements, and was responsible for the task of containing the Japanese troops in Tai'an. The Fifth Teaching Brigade was ordered to monitor the movements of the Japanese Yanzhou defenders in the south of Shandong. Hong Chaoyuan, commander of the Fifth Brigade, and Guo Zihua, political commissar of the Southeast Shandong Detachment, were ordered to uniformly command the Teaching Fifth Brigade, Tai'an Detachment, and Southeast Shandong Detachment to fight.
Ensure the successful completion of the northern front operation.
After issuing the order, Liu Yimin took out the battle plan that he had secretly formulated and handed it to Cai Zhong to notify each unit to execute it secretly according to the battle plan.
After finishing all this, Liu Yimin left the division office and went home to rest.
Back home, Tang Xingying asked him if the army was going to fight a big war?
Liu Yimin wondered why Tang Xingying had such a sensitive sense of smell. The orders were all top secret and she couldn't know. But when he asked Tang Xingying, he found out that she didn't know if the army was going to war at all, but she just met Huang Wenhu, Li Xiaoshuai and the others.
While replenishing ammunition, I thought about the possibility of going to war.
Liu Yimin told Tang Xingying that the army was taking action and asked her and her children to stay here and work with peace of mind.
At this point, Tang Xingying quit, saying that the nursery had been built and He'er could be sent to the nursery. She took Ping'er and went with Liu Yimin. This time she must personally capture a Japanese officer!
If we don't fight, other comrades will think that she is just Liu Yimin's wife and forget that she is a Red Army hero who has walked the Long March!