Seeing that the chief of staff also had a hesitant expression on his face, I immediately realized that he had the same idea as me, and immediately asked: "Master Cun, tell me what you think."
"I think the most important thing we should do now is wait and see what happens, and not send troops to reinforce the third brigade for the time being."
"Why? This is obviously the best opportunity to eliminate the Eighth Route Army in the city and capture Shunping County. Why are we waiting here? What if something happens to the third brigade?" The captain of the fourth brigade immediately raised objections.
"I suspect this is a conspiracy of the Eighth Route Army to attract us into the city for street fighting!" Lieutenant Colonel Cun Shang immediately expressed his thoughts.
"This is impossible..." the captain of the fourth brigade retorted again.
"If the Eighth Route Army really wanted to attract us into the city for street fighting, why did it send troops to stop us when it had just wiped out the second brigade and prevent the third brigade from entering the city? I think this was a simple counterattack without any conspiracy. The troops went straight in If we destroy the Eighth Route Army, we can seize Shunping County."
Lieutenant Commander Cun Shang shook his head: "You have forgotten that the Eighth Route Army is best at defeating each other..."
"When they surrounded and annihilated the second group, we still had nearly four infantry groups."
"One brigade is left to protect the artillery and headquarters, and the remaining three brigade can enter the city for reinforcements at any time. The total strength exceeds 4,000 people. No matter how big the appetite of the Eighth Route Army is, it will not be able to swallow up so many troops in one battle."
"After annihilating the Second Brigade, we only have two remaining brigades that can enter the city for reinforcements. In addition, the Third Brigade lost many people in the battle to reinforce the Second Brigade, and the total strength is less than 3,000 people."
"Excluding the losses of the Third Battalion in the Eighth Route Army's counterattack, the combat strength is likely to be less than 2,600."
"Everyone, please don't forget that in addition to the Wangdu Defense Regiment, our opponent also has a Duer Regiment with greater combat power."
"Since the start of the sweep, more than 3,000 elite members of the Second Battalion have disappeared from our sight. Maybe these 3,000 people are hiding in the city. Otherwise, why could the Second Battalion be wiped out in just 20 to 30 minutes? No one broke out."
Both captains were silent.
It is true that they want to gain military exploits and take advantage, but if they knew that the city was a trap, they would definitely not take the initiative to die.奥
The chief of staff's analysis is completely consistent with the Eighth Route Army's combat style.
When the strength of the two sides is not equal, first find a way to defeat them individually and consume some of the mopping up troops; wait until the strength of the two sides is equal, and then gather together to annihilate them.
Street fighting is the Eighth Route Army's best way to weaken the artillery and air superiority of the mopping up troops. If the Yizhong Eighth Route Army really plans to engage in a large-scale street battle with the mopping up troops in Wangdu County.
Once the troops enter the city, the aircraft in the sky and the artillery outside the city will be useless. The mopping up troops can only fight the Eighth Route Army with rifles and grenades.
Then they thought about the unstoppable momentum that the troops had after passing through the Tancun blocking position and encountered almost no resistance. The two of them felt more and more that the chief of staff's analysis was correct.
Then he gave up the idea of immediately reinforcing the third group, and at the same time turned his attention to Major General Kawasaki, waiting for him to make a decision.
To be honest, Major General Kawasaki thought that the Eighth Route Army's third counterattack brigade might be a trap, but he never thought about the Duer Regiment that had disappeared for two or three days.奥
If this unit is really in Wangdu City, the Duer Regiment engaged in street fighting is a bait set by the Eighth Route Army, and the 4th and 5th Brigades cannot easily enter the city no matter what.
Thinking about the strength of the Wangdu Garrison Regiment and the Duer Regiment, I am even more certain that the Chief of Staff's judgment is inseparable.
The two regiments combined have more than 5,000 people, but the proportion of recruits in the team is relatively high, and the overall combat effectiveness will definitely be affected to some extent, which is equivalent to more than 4,000 people.
It is very difficult to swallow four of your own brigades in one go, and there is a possibility of being swallowed back.
But without artillery and air superiority, it will definitely be no problem to swallow up two large groups.
After all, they are more familiar with the city's terrain than they are, and there are a lot of tunnels that can serve as bunkers to facilitate their transfer.
After the mopping up troops entered the city, they were like a bunch of blind people. They would definitely be tricked by the Eighth Route Army, and they would fight as hard as they wanted, and eventually they would be wiped out bit by bit.奥
After being silent for a while,
Looking into the eyes of his subordinates, he replied: "We must be on guard against the disappearance of the Duer Regiment of the Eighth Route Army. The remaining mopping up troops must not enter the city hastily before we understand the true strength of the Eighth Route Army in the city."
"At the same time, contact the Third Brigade and ask them to stabilize their defense line and block the Eighth Route Army's counterattack."
"Didn't the Eighth Route Army want to use street fighting to consume a lot of our troops? We can also retaliate in kind and use street fighting to consume a lot of their troops and weaken their strength."
"Observation posts, aviation troops, monitor the battlefield situation closely, and report any news to me as soon as possible."
…………
At the general headquarters of the Second Regiment in Chenzhuang, the map in front of Kong Jie clearly marked the specific location and strength of the Japanese and puppet troops' three-way sweep.
Their attack speed is very fast, and the corresponding battle losses are also very large, especially the mopping up troops in the middle and the mopping up troops on the left.奥
Chenzhuang, where the headquarters is located, is the final battlefield prepared by Kong Jie for the Japanese.
At this moment, Kong Jie was reviewing the decisive battle plan for the last time, checking for omissions and filling in the gaps to ensure the final victory of the counter-mopping up in the Yizhong base area.
"Reporting to the regimental commander, Deputy Commander Li has an urgent call..." The communications platoon leader hurried over to report.
"The Wangdu garrison successfully annihilated a reinforced Japanese brigade in Wangdu County, with the loss of more than 600 people..."
"Captain Li decided to use the street fighting fortifications in the city to fight the Japanese again and try to capture another brigade."
"I knew that Li Yunlong would turn into a wild horse on the battlefield. Sure enough, I don't know what kind of ecstasy soup he drank for Deng Jingye, but he went crazy with him." Kong Jie said angrily after hearing this.
Chief of Staff Shen Quan was very cautious in fighting. After thinking about it for a moment, he frowned and then stood up and reminded: "Commander, do you want to send a reminder telegram to Deng Jingye to let them take their time to fight."
"Although the Wangdu Garrison Regiment has four main battalions, only three battalions have truly formed combat effectiveness. However, the number of participating troops is less than 2,500. After the loss of 600 people, the number of participating troops has dropped sharply to more than 1,800. There are only four to five hundred more people than a fully-equipped Japanese army, so it doesn’t have much of a strength advantage.”
"The troops continue to fight, but their physical strength is no match for that of the little devil."
"I'm worried they'll suffer a big loss."
Kong Jie finally said it, but he had no doubts about Li Yunlong's commanding ability.
He shook his head and refused: "No need to send a telegram."
"Li Yunlong is a lunatic. He would not be called Li Yunlong unless he made some mistakes every time he fought."
"But no matter how you make mistakes, you can win the battle in the end and defeat the little devil."
"The fact that he dared to command the Wangdu garrison to fight this battle shows that he has the confidence in his heart. Otherwise, with his character of only taking advantage and not suffering losses, he would definitely not have made this decision."
"Just wait, I guess it won't take long for new news to come back."
After saying that, he stared at the map and asked, "Where are the Japanese and puppet troops sweeping up the middle road?"
Chen Quan immediately replied: "Deputy Chief of Staff Huang just sent a telegram: The Japanese and puppet troops have successfully occupied Shunping County. They plan to repair it overnight and prepare a surprise for them tomorrow."
"Surprise?" Kong Jie's eyes lit up and he asked, "Did Xiao Huang say what the surprise was specifically?"
Chen Quan shook his head: "I didn't say, but based on what I know about Deputy Chief of Staff Huang, it will definitely be no problem to kill thousands of puppet troops with this surprise."
Kong Jie's eyes instantly became hot: "If the Shunping garrison can really kill more than a thousand puppet troops, then our decisive battle plan will have to change."
"Among the three lines of mopping up troops, the right side of the mopping up troops has the smallest number. The original plan for the decisive battle was to pick up the weak ones and start with the right side of the mopping up troops, eat up the troops from all of the three mopping up lines, and then force back the remaining two mopping up troops."
"Now that the war has started, the previously strongest middle-line mopping up force has become the weakest."
"The central mopping up force is still the Kwantung Army, the army known as the most powerful in combat."
"If we can annihilate them in Chenzhuang, the other two mopping up troops will definitely be scared to death and withdraw immediately. They will not dare to stay in our base area for a minute longer."
"Immediately send a telegram to Huang Yu and Li Yunlong, asking them to return to the headquarters as soon as possible."
…………
The Japanese brigade in Baoding was in poor command, and Neji Okamura looked very ugly.奥
In his plan, after the more than 20,000 mopping up troops set off, the Eighth Route Army in Yi Zhong would definitely be defeated.
As a result, things went counterproductive, and the Kwantung Army, which had high hopes, was the first to have an accident.
Taipingzhuang, a village that could not be found on the map, turned out to be an iron wall blocking the mopping up troops on the middle route. It blocked them for an afternoon and a night, and cost them three to four thousand people.
Okamura Neji couldn't understand.
I don’t know how many vases I dropped before I regained my composure.
As a result, before they had time to take a breath, the left sweep force suffered a big loss in Wangdu County, losing a reinforced brigade and six tanks.
Qi and blood surged up, and he almost spit out a mouthful of blood.奥
Followed by the right-wing mopping up troops, first they lost half of the brigade in the villages everywhere, and then they lost half of the brigade again in the battle to capture Tang County.
Although the losses in the two battles were not large, they still added up to a strengthened brigade.
They only have four brigades in total. After deducting the battle losses and the troops left behind in Tang County, the total strength is suddenly reduced to two and a half brigades.
If the Eighth Route Army in the wing concentrates all its forces to deal with them, the right-wing mopping up troops will definitely be in danger.
As a result, he had to repeatedly send telegrams to the right-wing mopping up troops, reminding them not to advance alone, but to strengthen their vigilance and not give the Eighth Route Army any chance to ambush them.
