At nine o'clock in the morning, the Kwantung Army, which had stayed up for half the night, finally reached the outside of Baoding City. The open city gate, the silent city head... It seems that every part of the city is full of mystery, which puts the Japanese forward troops in a dilemma at the city gate, fearing that there is a conspiracy in the city and they will not be able to get out after entering.
Okamura Neji also stared at the top of Baoding City without saying a word. He is familiar with Chinese art of war and has heard stories about the empty city strategy, but this may be just an appearance.
Baoding City actually ambushed a large number of Eighth Route Army troops, preparing to provide a trap for the siege troops. If you are not careful, you may lose one or two thousand elite Kwantung Army soldiers again.
But no matter what the enemy's situation is, you can only know it by sending someone to try it. Okamura Neiji didn't put down the telescope he held in front of his eyes, and directly ordered: "Send a squadron into the city, occupy the city wall first, and then proceed to investigate the city and find out the situation in the city as soon as possible." Time passed by, but there was no news in the city. No sound of exchange of fire.
Several Japanese officers who looked down on the Eighth Route Army with all their heart immediately made bold statements: "The Eighth Route Army only engages in guerrilla warfare and is great at field warfare."
"On the frontal battlefield, one brigade of the Kwantung Army can suppress two of their regiments."
"It's daytime now and we still have air support."
"Even if they have city fortifications as a bunker, they don't dare to stay here and fight a positional battle with us."
"Your Excellency, Commander, the Yizhong Eighth Route Army that captured Baoding must have been scared away by us." Okamura Neiji did not answer, but he recognized these words in his heart.
Although I also suffered defeat at the hands of the Eighth Route Army in Yi Zhong, it was a strategic defeat and a real loss.
If the Eighth Route Army in Yizhong were to fight head-on with him in a tunnel battle, not to mention a division, even a main brigade would be able to defeat them.
I wanted to think about it, but I didn't show it. It is a fact that he lost to the Yizhong Eighth Route Army. It is impossible to rant about the vulnerability of the Yizhong Eighth Route Army just after the battle. That would be tantamount to a slap in the face.
Pretending to be very calm, he replied: "Don't underestimate the enemy..."
"Even if the Eighth Route Army gave up Baoding, it would be their retreat."
"It shows that the Eighth Route Army knew that it was not good at positional warfare and took the initiative to give up Baoding."
"Relatively speaking, this kind of enemy who knows himself and the enemy is more difficult to deal with... Boom..." Okamura Neji was about to explain a few more words when an explosion suddenly came from the city.
Everyone, including Okamura Neji, had an embarrassed expression on their faces. Just now they were discussing that there was no Eighth Route Army in the city. This explosion was like a loud slap, hitting them hard in the face, telling them that there were still enemies in the city, otherwise the explosion would not have come out of thin air.
"Boom..." Two more explosions came from the city, making Okamura Neji even more certain that there was still an Eighth Route Army in the city, and he immediately ordered.
"The troops will prepare to attack the city immediately..."
"The forward squadron immediately withdrew from Baoding and confirmed the strength and equipment of the Eighth Route Army in the city..." Groups of little Japanese followed the tanks and armored vehicles and quickly moved outside the city. Mortars, field guns, and heavy artillery all raised their black muzzles, etc. Okamura Neiji gave the order to attack.
"Your Excellency, Commander..." The squadron leader who entered the city finally panted and ran to Okamura Neji. His body was blackened by gunpowder smoke, and he looked like he had just withdrawn from the battlefield.
Okamura Neiji hurriedly asked before he could speak: "How many Eighth Route Army are there in the city and where are they mainly gathered..." The squadron leader heard this inexplicably and hesitated for several seconds before speaking: "The Eighth Route Army..."
"We didn't encounter the Eighth Route Army in the city?"
"Then what happened with the explosion just now?" the division leader asked anxiously. He suffered a loss at the hands of the Yizhong Eighth Route Army last night, and he always wanted to make up for it.
If there was an Eighth Route Army in the city, he would be able to save face through a head-to-head victory. As a result, his subordinates actually told him that there was no Eighth Route Army in the city, so wasn't his joy just in vain?
The squadron leader replied firmly: "Report to the commander..."
"There really is no Eighth Route Army in the city..."
"The explosion just now was caused by us stepping on a landmine."
"The Eighth Route Army planted landmines in the military camp, and we unfortunately stepped on them when we went in to conduct reconnaissance..."
"The humble position has asked the troops to seal off the military camp. No one can enter until the engineers have cleared the mines."
"The Baoding Garrison Headquarters was also mined by the Eighth Route Army..." Okamura Neji's embarrassed expression disappeared instantly. If the explosion just now was just a landmine, then the so-called slap in the face would not exist. He immediately ordered: "Send three more infantrymen." The squadron enters the city..."
"All engineering teams under each brigade entered the city and cleared all the mines buried by the Eighth Route Army in the city." At eleven o'clock in the morning, the captain of the entering brigade hurriedly answered Okamura Neiji: "Your Excellency, Commander."
"All the mines buried in the city by the Eighth Route Army have been cleared. There are more than 600 mines in total."
"Thankfully you realized the danger in the city in advance and sent troops to investigate and find these mines. Otherwise, these mines would have caused at least thousands of casualties to us."
"Have the arsenal in the city been destroyed by aviation..." Okamura Neiji suddenly asked another question without receiving the report from his subordinates.
"Ha Yi..." Although the captain found this question a bit puzzling, he still answered it seriously.
"All four arsenals were razed to the ground..."
"All the weapons and ammunition stored there by the Baoding garrison must have been destroyed." Okamura Neiji was not the kind of person who was overjoyed at success. He shook his head and replied calmly: "It is impossible to destroy them all."
"The Eighth Route Army entered Baoding City in the early morning and captured Baoding at two or three o'clock in the morning."
"The aviation force only felt the bombing of the arsenal over Baoding after dawn."
"There is at least five or six hours of transit time."
"They must have taken away a lot of weapons and ammunition."
"The Yizhong Eighth Route Army's combat effectiveness is already very strong. With so much more equipment and ammunition suddenly added, the overall combat effectiveness will definitely be stronger."
"It seems that we have to be careful in the next big sweep." The division commander immediately comforted: "Compared with the equipment and ammunition stolen by the Eighth Route Army, we must have destroyed the majority."
"Even if the Eighth Route Army's combat effectiveness is improved, it won't be much." Okamura Neji thought about it and this was really the case.
This is a war, you can't take all the benefits, you will always suffer some losses. Little did he know that the four arsenals in the city that were razed to the ground were all bombed by Kong Jie himself.
The purpose was to make Okamura Neiji mistakenly believe that the Yizhong Eighth Route Army only received part of the arsenal of the Baoding garrison, which would bring limited benefits to the Yizhong Eighth Route Army, thus making them think of underestimating the enemy.
For the Eighth Route Army in Yizhong, the most obvious change is the artillery. Excluding the artillery supplementary support troops, each battalion mortar company in the Wing Center base area has reached full strength and is equipped with nine mortars.
Although the artillery company directly under the regiment is still a company-level organization, it has been expanded to four rows of eight artillery pieces. The most exaggerated ones are the Sudoku Two Group and the One Group.
As the veritable main force of the base in the wing, they all formed their own artillery battalions, equipped with uniform field artillery and heavy artillery.
There were nearly twice as many siege artillery pieces as there were before Baoding was captured, let alone mortars.
