After the main force rested for a week, the Eighth Route Army once again launched a fierce attack on the North China Front. The 103rd Column moved from north to south, and the 105th Column went north from Jizhou, attacking the Japanese's Great Wall defense line in front and back;
Since the Eighth Route Army captured Shengjing City, the Japs on the Great Wall defense line have faced the dilemma of being attacked from both sides, losing the meaning of holding on.
The old Japs Okamura was a pragmatic man. When he saw that the situation was not good, he immediately ordered the Japs on the Great Wall defense line to shrink to the outside of Huangcheng to help defend and avoid being cut and surrounded by the Eighth Route Army;
As the Japanese took the initiative to retreat from the Great Wall defense line, the 103rd Column and the 105th Column successfully joined forces along the Great Wall, and all the main Japanese forces were compressed to the periphery and inside of Yancheng.
The main force of the Eighth Route Army surrounded the Yancheng area from the south, north, and west, and then launched a fierce attack on the outskirts of Yancheng. They successively captured the outlying positions of Yanqing, Huairou, Miyun, Fangshan, Changping, and annihilated more than 20,000 Japanese soldiers, forcing The main force of the Japanese retreated into Yancheng;
Column 106 also surrounded Jinmen on three sides. The hundreds of thousands of Japanese soldiers had no room to move, and there were not many choices before them.
Seeing that the time had come, the Joint Command sent people to Yancheng to contact the Japanese and convey the message that they hoped to resolve the North China issue through negotiation;
Of course, the level at the beginning was not high, just conveying information and waiting for the reaction of the North China Front.
Yancheng, the headquarters of the North China Front. General Okamura is wearing a kimono and is playing a game with Lieutenant Commander Sanji Kido, the chief of staff. Both of them are dressed casually. The surrounding area is heavily guarded within tens of meters. No idlers are allowed to disturb the Commander. chess.
After Okamura gently patted a chess piece, he said calmly:
"Okato-kun, what do you think?" "Okamura-kun, the danger of Yancheng lies in the nine border areas. Now that they have all fallen into the hands of the Eighth Route Army, Yancheng is no longer safe to defend;
From a military perspective, Yanjin has become a dead place, and it is only a matter of time before the entire North China is lost.
The reason why the Eighth Route Army did not launch an offensive was not that they could not defeat the four cities in North China, but that they were unwilling to bear the losses caused by the war.
The biggest problem now is that most of the division commanders and middle- and lower-level officers cannot see the situation clearly, and they want to hold on to luck and want to defend the four cities with hundreds of thousands of lone troops. "
Okamura frowned deeply and said:
“The empire was led into the quagmire by these stupid people, and the China Incident went south before it was resolved;
Here we just encountered a powerful enemy like Yingjiang, and over there we turned around and headed north to provoke a behemoth like a black bear!
The empire is currently fighting against the three most populous, largest and most powerful countries in the world at the same time. This is simply seeking death.
After occupying the Far East, North China, Manchuria and Mongolia will soon be lost, completely overturning the overall strategy formulated before the war of first Manchuria and Mongolia, then China, and then the world. "
Lieutenant General Ojodo said with deep sympathy:
“Destroying Yanjin and destroying hundreds of thousands of elite North China Front troops is not in the interest of the empire and will only deepen the hatred between the two sides.
The Chinese will not give up the attack just because they are afraid of defeating Yanjin. They have their own attack timetable, and we still have a week;
If we cannot respond, the Eighth Route Army will launch an attack, leaving us little time. "
General Okamura naturally knew this truth, but he had great concerns;
The Japanese have always had a tradition of subjugating their superiors. If on the issue of withdrawing troops, if they do not get the support of most division commanders and independent brigade commanders, their order to withdraw troops will not be carried out at all.
Many middle and lower-level officers and soldiers were still clamoring to fight the Chinese one by one and to die together with the Chinese. There was nothing he could do;
The withdrawal of troops could not be discussed publicly yet. He could only ask Lieutenant General Oshiroto to communicate privately with the division commanders and brigade commanders to get their bearings and win their support.
And these people also need to communicate with their subordinate wing captains and group captains. This is a huge project. He must win the support of at least half of the backbone, otherwise it will trigger a mutiny;
He had experienced the madness of the middle and lower-level Japanese officers. On February 26, they killed many senior officials of the ruling faction.
"Ojoto-kun, please!"
Okamura bowed deeply to Ojoto, the profound meaning of which was unspoken, and Lieutenant General Ojoto took the order and left.
Practice has proved that General Okamura understands the national habits of chickens, and he did not misunderstand the madness of the Japanese;
They will not give up easily before losing all their chips.
Most of the middle and lower-level officers strongly opposed the withdrawal, and some crazy people even committed hara-kiri to express their will. The withdrawal could only be put on hold for the time being and prepare for the war with all their strength to welcome the thunderous attack of the Chinese.
At the Joint Command, the Japs' reaction did not surprise Chu Xiong. They still had hundreds of thousands of people and would not give in easily.
“If you don’t shed tears until you see the coffin, then beat them until they shed tears!
I suggest that we generate electricity for the 107th Column and the Qilu Military Region, launch the Battle of Quancheng, capture Quancheng within three days, and annihilate all the Japanese in Quancheng!
Again, as long as they do not kidnap the people of Quan City, they are allowed to surrender and treated as prisoners of war;
The general attack time is set at ten o'clock tomorrow morning. The air force will fully support their operation. Before the military attack, a powerful political offensive must be launched to make all the devils aware of our army's policy and neutralize the enemy! "
Chu Xiong's proposal was approved by the joint command, and the Battle of Quancheng began.
In Quancheng, at the headquarters of Column 107, Commander Wang Jin is holding the final battle deployment meeting. They have been waiting for this day for a long time, and they can finally take Quancheng back from the Japanese with their own hands!
"Comrades, the Joint Command has made the determination to fight. Our 107th Column and the Qilu Provincial Military Region will jointly recover Quancheng. The headquarters Air Force will provide us with the greatest air support;
According to the intelligence sent back by underground organizations in the city, the Japs in the city include the 21st Division, the First Division of the 32nd Division, the 27th Independent Mixed Brigade, the Twelfth Army Headquarters, etc., with a total strength of about 35,000;
There are also about 20,000 puppet troops, the main force being the 21st Division.
Everyone is familiar with this 21st Division, which has frequently launched raids on our base areas, resulting in heavy losses of blood.
The comrades on the inside risked their lives and paid a huge price to obtain the enemy's troop deployment map in the city. The heavy artillery wing that posed the greatest threat to the attacking troops was solved by the comrades of the Air Force!
Our army's participating forces are all 107 columns, 3 garrison brigades of the provincial military region, and about 150 aircraft of the air force, with a total strength of about 100,000;
The time limit given to us by the headquarters is 3 days, and the time I give you is 2 days. This is the expectation of hundreds of thousands of people in Quancheng!
The land of Qilu has been liberated, and we have no reason for the people of Quancheng to still endure the bullying of the Japanese. Do you have the confidence, comrades, to be able to do this one day sooner? "
"have!"
Seeing that the morale was working, Commander Wang said with great satisfaction:
"very good!
As a soldier of Qilu Province, there is no need to mobilize to regain Quancheng. Now the chief of staff will convey the specific combat deployment. "
