At the Japanese North China Front Headquarters, Okamura Neiji was called back to the headquarters by his subordinates as soon as he lay on the bed, and saw Major General Ikeda's telegram requesting the withdrawal of troops.
The chief of staff already knew the contents of the telegram and was studying the latest status of the mopping up troops while Okamura Neji was reading the telegram.
The situation was very bad. Apart from withdrawing the troops and hastily ending the counter-mopping up, he could not think of any other way to support the mopping up troops to continue their fight.
Seeing Neji Okamura put the telegram on the table with a sullen face, he immediately analyzed it: "Your Excellency, Commander, we were too careless."
"When we equipped the garrisons in various places in Peiping with a large number of mortars, we even forgot to add mortars to the mopping up troops. If they had enough mortars to fight back after being attacked by artillery fire, the large-scale mopping up would never be like this. Today He won't be blown into pieces by the Eighth Route Army later."
"This is a humble duty. I did not consider the issue thoroughly before the war. Please punish me, Commander."
Okamura Neiji decisively raised his hand to interrupt what the chief of staff had not finished saying: "It is your responsibility, you can't escape even if you want to. But our top priority now is to help the mopping up troops get out of trouble."
"A hasty withdrawal is the worst plan and must not be implemented unless it is absolutely necessary."
"We have assembled 6,000 troops to sweep Mao'er Mountain. If we return with a disastrous defeat, the North China Front will lose all face."
"The Eighth Route Army hiding in Mao'er Mountain will also take the opportunity to grow and expand its troops. The difficulty of annihilating them in the future will definitely increase exponentially."
The chief of staff shook his head: "Sorry for my incompetence. Apart from increasing the number of mortars and increasing the strength of the mopping up troops, I can't think of any other solution."
"The Eighth Route Army's artillery is too strong. If the mopping up troops don't have the advantage of artillery fire for one day, they will be bombarded for one more day."
"The Eighth Route Army is in the dark and the mopping up troops are in the light. There is no place to hide even if you want to."
"As long as they have enough artillery shells, they can severely damage the mopping up troops without infantry attack, and completely lose their combat effectiveness."
"At that time, it may be full of danger for them to even withdraw from the mountain. Any accident may lead to the complete destruction of the mopping up troops."
Okamura Neiji replied seriously: "Then send them troops and add mortars."
"The big sweep must not end so hastily. The withdrawal should be the result of the sweep troops returning victorious. At worst, they must capture Mao'er Mountain and destroy the Eighth Route Army's garrison hidden in Mao'er Mountain. They must not return with a disastrous defeat."
The chief of staff did not agree with Okamura Neji's proposal and shook his head in opposition: "Commander, please think again."
"The mopping up troops are already all the mobile troops that can be mobilized in the Beiping area. We want to mobilize troops to reinforce the mopping up troops but there are no troops available."
"Even if we gather enough troops from various garrisons to reinforce the battlefield, it will only be a day or two later."
"The Eighth Route Army will definitely use this period of time to attack and mop up the troops, further depleting their strength and inflicting heavy losses on them."
"It is possible that the reinforcements we sent over were not enough to make up for the losses of the mopping up troops in the past two days."
"The result will be a situation: after the reinforcements are in place, the overall combat effectiveness of the mopping up troops has not increased, and they are still suppressed by the Eighth Route Army in the mountains."
Okamura Neji nodded in approval and gave up the proposal just now.
But he still didn't want to issue a withdrawal order. He frowned and thought for two minutes, then his eyes lit up and he said, "You can use gas bombs..."
"Now that the wind is light, it is the best time to use poison gas bombs. Let the aviation force airdrop some poison gas bombs to the mopping up troops."
"If both sides use high-explosive bombs, the mopping up troops must be equipped with more than twice as many mortars if they want to completely suppress the Eighth Route Army artillery."
"But if the mopping up troops used gas bombs on the battlefield, the result would be different."
"Poison gas bombs are much more powerful than high-explosive bombs, and their killing range is several times larger than high-explosive bombs. Three mortars can produce the power of a mortar squadron, which can definitely annihilate the Eighth Route Army artillery force, save the defeat, and conquer the enemy. Mao'er Mountain."
This method was not considered by the chief of staff.
After thinking about it in my mind, it was really the only way to clear up the troops and break the situation.
As for the possible negative effects of using poison gas bombs, the chief of staff did not pay attention at all.
As long as the mopping up troops successfully eliminate the Eighth Route Army and conquer Mao'er Mountain, they can destroy the corpses and eliminate traces and minimize the impact.
He immediately chose to support: "Your Excellency, Commander, is wise, and I will make arrangements now for my humble position..."
…………
On a hill ten kilometers southeast of Poling, the Japanese and puppet troops who had retreated for ten kilometers were making repairs here.
The withdrawal request was sent to Neji Okamura by Major General Ikeda half an hour ago.
He was very reluctant, but in order to preserve the only remaining mobile force in the Beiping area, he had to do this.
If the mopping up troops are completely destroyed in the mountains and Peiping is put in danger because of the loss of mobile troops, Major General Ikeda will become the criminal of the entire North China Front.
"General, the specific casualties have been calculated!" Ishii Shaozuo walked up to Ikeda with a solemn expression and reported.
"The damage is greater than we thought."
"We lost more than 500 people at the Poling garrison, and nearly 60% of the soldiers belonged to the imperial army."
"On the way back, they were shelled in turns by two mountain artillery pieces and six infantry artillery pieces of the Eighth Route Army, resulting in the loss of 118 people. More than 70% of the soldiers belonged to the imperial army, and the battle fatality rate exceeded 85%."
"We were still being chased by several groups of the Eighth Route Army on the road. In order to prevent the main force of the mopping up troops from being bitten by the enemy, we sent two small teams to block the attack with two companies of the Imperial Association Army behind them. We lost more than 300 people, and the Imperial Army occupied The ratio is more than 30%.”
"A total of nine hundred and sixty-three people have been lost. Now the total of the two mopping up troops is less than 2,000. Their morale is low and they are exhausted. They will definitely not be able to continue the fight."
"A total of 6,000 elites were killed, and more than 4,000 were lost before the decisive battle with the Eighth Route Army. What kind of bullshit war was this? It's so embarrassing..." Major General Ikeda angrily pulled out his command knife on the spot and slashed a few times at the bushes nearby. He was slashing with the knife and cursing at the same time, his whole face turned red with anger.
"I have been fighting for so many years, and I have never been as frustrated as I am today."
"One day, I will definitely make the Eighth Route Army in the mountains pay for their blood debt... No, I will personally kill them alive with a command knife to avenge my previous shame."
Ishii Shaozuo hadn't finished his report yet. Seeing that the brigade commander was furious, he was afraid of getting angry and burned himself, so he swallowed back the words he had spoken and planned to wait for him to calm down his anger before continuing to report.
This wait is five minutes.
Perhaps because he was tired of scolding, Major General Ikeda finally regained some sense. Seeing that Major General Ikeda did not leave, he immediately asked: "Is there anything else?"
"Hai..." Ishii Shaozuo answered immediately.
"In addition to our troops, we also lost a lot of weapons and ammunition."
"The troops retreated from Polingcang Village, but they didn't have time to take away many weapons and ammunition."
"On the way back, we were also attacked by long-distance artillery fire and intercepted by infantry from the Eighth Route Army. Many heavy weapons were thrown by the troops on the way back. Coupled with the losses of the artillery squadron in the artillery battle, we only had 12 mortars left to continue fighting."
"Two of the four mountain guns are left, one of the four infantry guns is left, and nine heavy machine guns are left..."
"The remaining heavy weapons were either destroyed in shelling or abandoned by the troops on their retreat."
"Poling station also lost a large amount of ammunition and supplies and did not bring them back. The military situation was urgent at that time. We only exploded less than 40% of the ammunition, and at least 60% fell into the hands of the Eighth Route Army."
Major General Ikeda was immediately furious. The larger the raiding force became, the weaker it became. On the contrary, the Eighth Route Army became stronger because of the rich seizures.
He held the command knife and the handle tightly with both hands, the veins were exposed, and his body was constantly shaking. He was panting heavily, like a powder keg that might explode at any time. Ishii Shaozuo was so scared that he closed his mouth again.
Everyone else next to him said nothing, and even their breathing was much lighter than usual.
"Report..." The operator didn't know what happened here, so he rushed over recklessly.
Everyone gave him a look full of pity, thinking that he would become the target of the brigade commander's anger.
"Bagaya Road, didn't you see that we are discussing issues here? Get lost..." The situation was exactly as everyone expected. Major General Ikeda instantly turned into a ignited powder keg, staring at the radio operator and yelling curses.
What was unexpected was that the radio operator did not follow the order and leave. Instead, he answered with the brigade commander's almost murderous gaze: "Report to the general, Your Majesty the Commander has an urgent telegram. I want you to call back immediately after reading the telegram."
Hearing the word 'commander', the anger on the brigade commander's face suddenly subsided.
After all, Major General Ikeda is a brigade commander with a heavy army, and he will not lose his mind no matter how he rises.
After receiving the telegram, I glanced at three lines and read it in a few seconds. Then I handed the joint guarantee to Ishii Shaozuo with a very ugly expression on his face.
"Your Excellency, Commander, you want us to continue the fight?" Ishii Shaozuo was also shocked by the contents of the telegram.
Then he ordered the guards on the side: "With the brigade commander as the center, form a cordon with a radius of ten meters. No one can approach without the brigade commander's order."
After everyone left, Ishii Shaozuo turned his attention to Major General Ikeda: "General, I think that the Commander takes it for granted. Even if the headquarters drops poison gas bombs for us, the mopping up troops cannot be the opponent of the Mao'er Mountain Eighth Route Army. .”
"The casualties of the troops were too great. Among the remaining two thousand people, there are only more than 1,300 imperial troops who can directly fight on the battlefield. The rest are all artillery, heavy equipment, and the Imperial Army."
"If the Eighth Route Army comes over now and continues to attack us with mortars from a long distance, there will be hundreds more casualties before dawn."
Major General Ikeda has been thinking about why Okamura Neiji sent such a telegram, even willing to use poison gas bombs in order to capture Mao'er Mountain. Now he figured it out.
Looking at Ishii Shaozuo's helpless expression, he replied: "If we are defeated and evacuate the mountain in a hurry, not only will the mixed brigade not be able to afford to lose this person, but the Commander will also not be able to afford to lose this person."
"The Eighth Route Army of Mao'er Mountain can now resist six thousand mopping up troops. If we lose, they will continue to grow and develop, and even if we gather ten thousand troops in the future, we will never be able to destroy them."
"The commander wants us to fight harder. Even if we can't annihilate them all, they will still be severely damaged. We will not give the Mao'er Mountain Eighth Route Army a chance to continue to grow and develop."
"The worst we can do is capture Mao'er Mountain, where the Eighth Route Army is stationed. After capturing it, our face will be saved."
