In fact, not to mention Japan, even the United States was in trouble. What's more, with the technological foundation of the United States, if it started from the first generation of cloud explosive bombs step by step, it would not take too long, but However, the United States was misled in its research direction by the super-era third-generation cloud bomb. As a result, the research progress of cloud bombs was much slower than in history, but that is a story for another day...
Having said that, the regiment commander's worries were not completely unreasonable, but Hu Weidong had already figured out countermeasures over the years. Fully armored troops that meet the "three defenses" conditions in the field can minimize the lethality of cloud explosive bombs, and In tunnels and other fortifications, you can only rely on multiple closed gates to shield the shock wave and negative oxygen effect. (You can also change the tunnel network into short tunnels that are independent of each other, but then the power of tunnel warfare will be greatly reduced, which may not necessarily be the case. Cost-effective.). Both of these methods require strong national strength as the basis, but by the time the great powers equip a large number of cloud explosive bombs, China should have already developed nuclear weapons? Besides, "it is people who determine the outcome of a war, not one person" "Two new weapons." Hu Weidong can't think of a cheap and efficient way now. Maybe no one among China's hundreds of millions of soldiers and civilians will think of it in the future. And even if there is really no good way, then the enemy won't do the same to our cloud. Is there no way to go about exploding bombs? It should be noted that according to China's current development momentum, it is not impossible for its industrial strength to be among the top three in the world twenty or even thirty or forty years earlier than in history. What's more, if you have powerful weapons, it is better than nothing?
Due to limited time, the tunnels dug by the Japs in Jinan City were not very long. Even though the number of individual cloud explosive bombs brought by the 15th Army for actual combat testing was not very large, it was enough to clear out the Japs who were ambushing in the tunnels and firing black guns. .And the cloud explosion bombs have miraculous effects on any kind of fortifications in the world. Therefore, the Japanese positions that the soldiers of the 15th Army had to work hard to capture are now being captured one after another without any blood. The Japanese who were still stubborn in the past have also been captured by this kind of enemy. The mysterious new weapons were so frightening that even though Commander Seishiro Itagaki personally supervised the battle, some of the Japanese troops in Jinan began to surrender one after another. When the first to return from the mountains, the 9th Infantry Regiment of the Japanese 5th Division was eager to rescue Jinan. After the brigade was completely wiped out by the main force of the 15th Army, which had already prepared for siege and reinforcements, the Japanese army in Jinan City lost all confidence. Seishiro Itagaki, who tried his best and could only watch his army being defeated, let out a long sigh, Slowly drew out his sword...
"Your Excellency, General, the empire still needs you!" the adjutant said anxiously upon seeing this.
"If we break through from the beginning, there may be hope. Now the 15th China Army has surrounded Jinan City like an iron barrel, and it is impossible to break through." Seishiro Itagaki carefully wiped his favorite sword in his hand. He replied, "Besides, I, Itagaki, have already abandoned my troops once, and I don't want to abandon them a second time..."
Perhaps because the fear of the unknown was too great, Itagaki's seppuku did not inspire the courage of many of his subordinates. Before the 15th Army attacked the city, no fewer than 10,000 Japanese troops in Jinan surrendered, out of a total of no less than 20,000. However, Itagaki conducted a raid on the mountains before committing hara-kiri. The last order issued by the hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops, and a telegram he sent directly to the headquarters of the Japanese Central China Front, bypassing his superiors, almost succeeded in reversing the situation of the Anti-Japanese War...
"Instead of going north to rescue Jinan, you chose to go south to join the hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops in southern Shandong?" Hu Weidong made this judgment after receiving the telegram sent back by the reconnaissance plane and the report from the Shandong base area. He couldn't help but frown slightly.
Originally, if these Japanese troops left the base area and went north to Jinan, they would be divided into several groups due to the restrictions of the mountainous terrain. Their strength was already limited.
It was not as good as the Fifteenth Army, and it would be even less of an opponent if it divided its forces. In this way, the Fifteenth Army could kill more than 100,000 Japanese soldiers in one breath without paying a high price. Who would have expected that the Japanese soldiers suddenly gave up the rescue and went south to join the Japanese army in Lunan.
The total number of troops exceeds 250,000. This is obviously not something that Hu Weidong can fight head-on with the more than 100,000 people at hand. No wonder Hu Weidong feels depressed...
"It is indeed a wise choice. Should it be Itagaki's death? Otherwise, even if they knew that I dug a hole, they would not dare not to save me. This guy Itagaki is indeed not simple. He has disgusted us before. I didn't expect that he would cause trouble for us even after he died.
..." Hu Weidong thought of this, but instead laughed, "But in the end, I am still the winner! And do you think this is the only plan I have? Itagaki, Itagaki, keep watching with your eyes wide open in hell.
!”
Next, Hu Weidong took advantage of the opportunity of the Japanese army in Shandong to retreat south, divided his troops at an extremely fast speed and attacked in all directions. In just ten days, he captured many cities and dozens of counties that the Japanese army had actually abandoned, making the Shandong base area expand rapidly.
It expanded to cover more than half of Shandong, and its population exceeded 24 million (Shandong Province in 1931
It had a population of 37 million. In the following years, the situation in Shandong became relatively stable. With its own population growth and the influx of refugees from other provinces, even if it decreased after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the population of the province should have been 40-45 million at this time.),
Surpassing any other base area of the Red Party including the Central Plains Border Region...
The hundreds of thousands of local troops and militia guerrillas in the Shandong base area had already been tempered by the flames of war. After joining the main force of the 15th Army, they received a large amount of weapons and ammunition and were quickly armed. The number of troops in Hu Weidong's hands suddenly increased to 20.
More than 10,000 people, including ten field troops alone
80,000 people (if the number of new recruits exceeds one-third, the combat effectiveness of the army will be greatly reduced, and some troops need to be retained in the base area, so Hu Weidong only selected 70,000 to 80,000 people from the armed forces in the base area.), even with Lu
The two to three hundred thousand Japanese troops fighting in the south may not necessarily lose.
In addition, even Seishiro Itagaki was negligent. He asked the Japanese army in Shandong to directly abandon a large amount of territory and withdraw southward. Although it effectively preserved its strength, it also lost many airports. For a time, the Japanese army in Shandong only had two airports, Yantai and Qingdao.
How many planes can be used even if they are full? After Hu Weidong realized this, he immediately asked two air force divisions to immediately station in Jinan and other airports that had just been seized from the Japanese.
He suddenly seized the air superiority on the Shandong battlefield. The only thing that made him regretful was that because the Japanese voluntarily abandoned the airport, the 15th Army basically failed to capture a few aircraft this time, but 4 Japanese Type 97 transport planes still fell into the air.
In the hands of the 15th Army, although the performance of this transport aircraft is simply appalling, it is still more suitable for air transport than bombers, and it also inherits the traditional advantages of Japanese products - fuel economy...