At the Japanese Army Brigade Headquarters in Baoding, Kawasaki Ozuo was promoted to major general as he wished. The word "agent" was also removed from his head, and he became the de facto brigade commander of the mixed brigade. admire
This would have been a good thing worth celebrating, but Major General Kawasaki was not happy at all.
Looking at the telegram just sent by Neji Okamura, his brows furrowed deeper and deeper, and he didn't say a word for a long time.
"Commander of the brigade, intelligence shows that after the Yixian offensive and defensive battle, the Eighth Route Army operating in the Yizhong area is like a chicken blood, and is recruiting and training troops like crazy." The chief of staff decided to add fuel to the fire. , further strengthened the brigade commander's determination to implement military orders and took the initiative to speak out.
"There's a lot of gunfire going on every day at the station."
"It is difficult for other Eighth Route Army units to hold live-fire training once a month. The frequency of live-fire training for the Yizhong Eighth Route Army is as routine, which shows that they are eager to let the troops form combat effectiveness."
"I also found out something from my humble position. The strength of each garrison regiment in the Eighth Route Army's Wing Center base has been expanded to 2,000 men. The total strength of the Duer Regiment has exceeded 3,000 men. It is equipped with a large number of artillery and has sufficient ammunition."
"Once this force becomes combat effective, our opponent will be an elite force of ten thousand people." Yang
"Although the mixed brigade does not yet have the strength to sweep the Yizhong Plain, we can find ways to harass the Yizhong Plain, slow down their development speed, and create conditions for our next sweep of the Yizhong Plain."
Major General Kawasaki's face was very ugly. Although he had only fought against the Yi Zhong Eighth Route Army once, he still remembered it vividly and was even a little afraid of them.
At that time, he was full of confidence and felt that he would be able to severely damage the Eighth Route Army in Yizhong. As a result, a proactive attack by the Duer Regiment completely disrupted his sweep rhythm and severely damaged the mixed brigade, causing the mixed brigade to lose the ability to sweep the plains in the center of the wing.
The Baoding Mixed Brigade was defeated in his first battle, and the psychological shadow caused to Major General Kawasaki was definitely not something that could be repaired in a few days.
Nowadays, the overall strength of the mixed brigade has not increased much. On the contrary, the strength of the Eighth Route Army in Yizhong is increasing day by day, which means that the disparity in strength between the two sides is being broken little by little.
The mixed brigade was no match for the Eighth Route Army in the Wings before, let alone now.
However, Okamura Neiji wants to form a brigade and attack immediately, attacking the Wing Center Plains with insufficient troops. Isn't this a rush of money and courting death? admire
Major General Kawasaki was under great pressure and felt that his confidant would definitely be defeated after executing the order.
If you don't carry out the order, you will be labeled as disobeying military orders, and the outcome will not be much better.
This is a very difficult choice, and you may fall into an abyss if you make the wrong move.
Chief of Staff Cun Shang Zhongzuo is a talented person. He saw Major General Kawasaki's concerns at a glance and picked up the telegram he had just placed on the sand table to continue his analysis: "Although the mixed brigade does not yet have the strength to fight a decisive battle with the Eighth Route Army in Yizhong, your Excellency, Commander, obviously Seeing this, we allowed us to attack the Eighth Route Army in Yizhong through sneak attacks to consume their strength and slow down their development. We created a posture that we would attack the Yizhong Plain in a large scale, put pressure on the Eighth Route Army, and forced them to withdraw their activities in the Fangshan area. The Eighth Route Army."
"In my humble position, I studied the Eighth Route Army's guerrilla warfare. When we were strong and the enemy was weak, the Eighth Route Army defeated us through guerrilla warfare many times."
"The current situation in Yizhong has not yet reached the point where the enemy is strong and we are weak. It is still a situation where the enemy is weak and we are strong. The troops respond in kind and use the guerrilla warfare that the Eighth Route Army is good at to fight them in turn. The combat effect should be better and we will definitely achieve unexpected results."
The chief of staff said this so confidently, as if the Eighth Route Army would be defeated as soon as the troops took action. admire
But Major General Kawasaki is not optimistic about this style of play.
The North China Front Army is best at fighting tough battles and positional warfare, while the Eighth Route Army is good at fighting guerrilla warfare and mobile warfare.
Now asking the troops to use guerrilla warfare, which they are least good at, against the Eighth Route Army, which is particularly good at guerrilla warfare, is tantamount to showing off their martial arts in front of their masters and asking for trouble.
"Brigade leader..."
The operator walked in again, as if he had eaten candied fruit, and reported excitedly: "Your Excellency, Commander, there is an urgent call."
"In order to clear out the Eighth Route Army operating in the Yizhong area as soon as possible, the Commander decided to ask for help from the Kwantung Army and dispatch a main brigade from the northeast to go south to reinforce Baoding."
"But because of the long distance and difficult coordination, it will take two months at the fastest for the reinforcements to arrive in Baoding." Yang Yang
"Your Excellency, the Commander, requires us to send troops as soon as possible to retaliate with guerrilla warfare, harass the Eighth Route Army operating in the wings, prevent them from growing too fast, and at the same time push back the main force of the Eighth Route Army operating in Fangshan."
The chief of staff advised again: "Commander of the brigade, give the order..."
"Even if our guerrilla warfare doesn't work, the troops can retreat intact."
"When the Eighth Route Army fought guerrilla warfare with us, they fought when they could and ran away if they couldn't. We would follow the same example and there would definitely be no problems."
Okamura Neiji sent two consecutive telegrams asking him to attack, and also pulled out the Kwantung Army to encourage him. Obviously he was worried that he would disobey military orders.
Having said this, it would be a disgrace to the commander to trust and support him any further.
He raised his eyebrows and answered seriously: "Deploy one regiment of the Imperial Army, two infantry brigades, and a certain number of mountain artillery and infantry artillery to form several action teams to use guerrilla warfare to sneak attack on the Eighth Route Army base areas." Yang
"Warning to all commanders of participating troops, they must be cautious when taking action. Attack if you can take advantage, retreat if you cannot take advantage. Never advance alone and make the big mistake of underestimating the enemy."
"The Eighth Route Army likes to lure the enemy deep and ambush us."
"As long as we don't be greedy for success and don't give the Eighth Route Army any opportunities to take advantage of, even if we fail to win, the casualties will still be within control."
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At the camp of one battalion and one company of the Wangdu Garrison Regiment, more than a hundred soldiers were fast asleep in the reception room. A dozen soldiers were scattered around the camp, some were patrolling, and some were hiding in corners as secret sentries.
About five kilometers away from the station on the road, a Japanese and puppet army was marching rapidly.
They are a commando team just formed by Major General Kawasaki. They have an infantry squadron, a company of the Imperial Army, an infantry artillery squad, a heavy machine gun squad, and a mortar squad, with a total of more than 480 people. The first target of the attack was the one-battalion and one-face garrison of the Wangdu County garrison in the area they occupied. admire
In order to avoid the eyes and ears of the Eighth Route Army arranged around the stronghold, the troops set out in the early morning and at the same time sent troops to blockade the town next to the stronghold. No one was allowed to enter or exit, so as to prevent the news of the troop dispatch from being leaked.
The Japanese's move was very effective. The troops were almost at the doorstep, and the battalions and companies still didn't have any warning.
In fact, it’s not their fault.
In everyone's perception, the Japanese are well-equipped. They go out either in cars or chariots, and they show off with great fanfare wherever they go.
As time went by, everyone took it for granted that the Japanese would not attack by surprise, and were afraid of night battles, so their defense against the Japanese at night became much more relaxed.
"boom……"
A gunshot rang out about 800 meters away from the station. A hidden sentry hidden on the roadside spotted the Japanese and puppet troops and quickly issued a warning. admire
However, this hidden sentry was also fired at by several light machine guns for suppressing the target, and was swept into a sieve before it could even fire a second bullet.
But the gunshots were enough to wake up a company of sleeping soldiers.
Several soldiers patrolling the door immediately formed a fighting formation and rushed towards the location of the gunfire. The sleeping soldiers got up from the bed at the same time, picked up weapons and ammunition and rushed out.
As soon as the troops were assembled, gunshots were heard outside the station. This was the exchange of fire between the patrol and the Japanese and puppet troops. A soldier rushed into the station at the same time. When he found the company commander, he said with horror on his face.
"Little Japs, there are little Japs attacking us outside the station. The total strength is more than 400 people, equipped with a large number of light and heavy machine guns and artillery..."
"Instructor..." The company commander realized something was wrong as soon as he heard this and ordered with a stern face.
"You lead three platoons to cover the folks in the village and move to the rear. At the same time, you send someone to contact the battalion commander and ask for reinforcements...I will lead people up immediately and hold off these little devils at all costs."
Only one platoon of the entire first company has fully formed combat effectiveness, the second platoon has initially formed combat effectiveness, and the third platoon has the worst combat effectiveness. The opponent has four to five hundred men and is well-equipped. The company commander's arrangement is obviously to take on the most dangerous mission, and it is very likely that they will never return.
The instructor wanted to say no, but he couldn't.
The First Company must not only ensure the security of the station, but also protect the people in the village. If the troops leave, they will definitely become the target of the Japanese and puppet troops' anger and suffer heavy losses.
Looking at his old partner, he replied seriously: "Don't worry, company commander, I will definitely transfer the folks to the rear safely... You have to take care and don't go head-to-head with the Japanese."
After saying that, he rushed towards the village with three platoons.
The people there had been awakened by the sound of gunfire and were in a state of shock and panic. They were in urgent need of help from the troops.
As soon as the company commander led his troops out of the station, the firefight a few hundred meters away stopped. It didn't take much to know that something had happened to the patrol. admire
His brows furrowed deeper than before, and he took out his cannon box and gave a serious order: "The troops will disperse immediately and establish a defense line on the spot. Be sure to block the Japanese and puppet troops. Hurry up..."
…………
The command of the Japanese brigade in Baoding was not in control, and the left center on the left was sorting out the good news just received by the communications department.
Every time I receive one, my face smiles a little more and I feel very good.
After receiving four successful reports in a row, he couldn't bear it anymore, so he took it and ran to the war room.
"General, our action plan to use guerrilla warfare to attack the Eighth Route Army has initially succeeded. Four commando teams have sent good news. The commando team with the greatest results successfully eliminated a company of the Eighth Route Army, and the commando team with the worst results was also defeated. One company of the Eighth Route Army destroyed more than fifty Eighth Route Army troops and captured half the company's equipment."
Major General Kawasaki's tense nerves did not relax. He looked at the Chief of Staff and asked anxiously: "Are our losses big?"
Cun Shangzhongzuo shook his head: "It's minimal."
"The troops launched an attack at night, and the Eighth Route Army had no preparations. They were all beaten and didn't worry."
"In order to cover the transfer of ordinary people, our targets had to defend their positions and confront us head-on."
"Our army is equipped with a large number of mortars and heavy machine guns, and we overwhelm them as soon as the battle starts. The four raids are more like four one-sided massacres."
