Since Xie Tian has a plan to attack Pingjin, Commander He will of course ask Xie Tian what his current total strength is.
However, Director He didn't think that Xie Tian would have too many troops. After all, Xie Tian's time to come forward was too short.
Most of the remaining nine theaters are composed of two group armies. Including independent divisions, the number will be between 40,000 and 50,000 people. Some theaters even only have more than 20,000 troops.
For example, Yan Xishan's second theater has two armies, with a total strength of 55,000, which is the strongest among the ten theaters.
There is only one 41st Group Army in Xie Tian's Tenth Theater, and the Military Commission only symbolically allocated two brigades of troops to the 41st Group Army. One is Yan Xishan's 26th Mixed Brigade of the Shanxi-Sui Army, which has not yet been reorganized. , the other is the 386th Brigade of the 129th Division of the 18th Group Army.
The Chairman has long been familiar with the art of balancing. His two brigades were assigned to the 10th War Zone. Rather than helping Xie Tian form the 41st Group Army of the 10th War Zone, it was better to say that it was to assist Xie Tian in Yan Xishan and Yan'an. Interplant thorns.
Even if Xie Tian (Xie Baoqing) has taken all of these two brigades as ordered, plus what he originally called the People's Liberation Army, Chongqing estimates that the total strength of the 10th theater should be only about 20,000, which still enlarges the 386th brigade. Optimistic figures estimated based on strength.
More than 20,000 troops were already thinking about Pingjin. Chief He only thought Xie Tian's idea was funny.
After winning several battles, I don’t know how high the sky is.
Xie Tian looked at Chief He and smiled and said: "If there are not too many soldiers, the one who uses them well will win. If there are not too many weapons, then the good dancer will win. Of course, if there are many soldiers and the generals are well-equipped, the battle will be easier."
Pang Yuanshen nodded in sympathy. Since the founding of the People's Liberation Army, the weak has not defeated the strong in that battle, and has achieved impressive results that others thought impossible to win.
Xie Tian is the man who is good at using soldiers and wielding swords.
Chief He disagreed, thinking that Xie Tian was avoiding the important and taking the easy. He smiled and nodded perfunctorily and asked, "How many troops do you have now?"
Xie Tian smiled and said: "Not counting the reserves, the 41st Army, including its directly affiliated divisions, has a total of more than 66,700 soldiers."
"That's not bad," Director He said casually. Suddenly he looked at Xie Tian in surprise and asked, "How much?"
Xie Tianyixiao: "As of last night, there are 66,775 soldiers to be exact. The Battle of Yangquan is not over yet, and the specific number of soldiers should fluctuate to a certain extent."
Commander He looked at Xie Tian in shock. 66,775 soldiers were more powerful than Yan Xishan. Is it true?
The fluctuation in the number of people that General He understands is that Xie Tian's troops will experience a certain degree of attrition after the Battle of Yangquan. However, the fluctuation that Xie Tian mentioned is that after the People's Liberation Army recovers Yangquan, it should expand a group of soldiers in Yangquan, and also establish a new army. The local security forces stationed in Yangquan can be regarded as second-class troops.
The first-category troops naturally refer to field troops, and the second-category troops include local security forces, engineering troops, logistics support troops, etc.
The most terrifying thing is that Xie Tian also has a large number of reserve troops, and at least half of the troops can be converted into first- and second-class troops in a short period of time.
Chief He and Xie Tian looked at each other for a long time, finally believing that Xie Tian did have so many troops in his hands.
With so many troops, it can indeed pose a great threat to the Japanese army in North China, but it is still impossible to regain Pingjin.
Recovering Pingjin is not easy. First, we must occupy a large area of land in northern Hebei as a base to ensure sufficient strategic depth. Even if we are lucky enough to capture Pingjin, the Japanese army will never be willing to abandon Pingjin, the choke point in and out of the Central Plains. They will definitely organize Crazy counterattack.
By then, the troops occupying Pingjin will face a two-sided encirclement by the Japanese Kwantung Army and the North China Army.
Without hundreds of thousands of people and hundreds of miles of strategic depth, it would be a fool's errand to hold on to Pingjin.
Of course, if you think about the bright side, if Xie Baoqing's troops can really regain Pingjin, then the situation of the country's anti-war war will completely change.
Strategically, the division of the Japanese Kwantung Army and the North China Front Army has been achieved. The remaining nine theaters of the national army can concentrate their firepower to destroy the Japanese troops who invaded North and South China. Relying on the two natural barriers of the Yangtze and Yellow Rivers, it may be possible to divide the Japanese troops twice and three times. Divide, so that the large Japanese army is cut into small pieces, which is extremely conducive to our gathering troops to annihilate them. Even if we have another Battle of Xuzhou, it is not a bad idea.
If this strategic goal can really be achieved, that is, our army has achieved a strategic counterattack in the true sense, then the war situation will be much better.
Director He couldn't help but stand up, smoke his cigarette and walk to the window, staring at the spring swallows pecking at the mud under the edge of the room. What came to his mind was the overall strategic map of the Republic of China, and he fell into deep thought.
Thank God for not being in a hurry, he also picked up a cigarette and lit it.
Pang Yuan looked at Xie Tian and asked in a low voice: "Are you really planning to fight Pingjin?"
Xie Tian grunted and nodded: "Sooner or later we will have to fight, but our current strength is still lacking. It would be better if we could have more aircraft and tanks."
The fight must be fought, but there is no telling when.
There must be a step-by-step process.
Sending troops from Shanxi to attack Pingjin is nothing more than taking two routes. One route is to send troops from Pingxingguan, attack Baoding and take Langfang, and divide Pingjin first from the middle road. Choose one of the two. Relatively speaking, it is more important to attack Peiping first than to attack Tianjin first. Take it easy.
Tianjin is the headquarters of the Japanese Army in North China, guarding two important sea and land routes. The Japanese army has heavy troops stationed in Tianjin.
Peiping is relatively isolated.
However, attacking Peiping would have to bear the reinforcements of the Japanese troops from Tianjin, Zhangjiakou, and Chengde. The Japanese troops were several times larger than mine, so it would be difficult to successfully regain Peiping.
Pingxingguan is now under Xie Tian's control, and this seems to be the only way he can choose to send troops to Pingjin.
The other route is to take the lead in regaining Datong, march to Zhangjiakou, and push across from Zhangjiakou from north to east, taking Peiping first and then Tianjin, cutting off the land transportation between the Kwantung Army and the North China Army in one fell swoop.
At the same time, another unit can send troops out of Pingxingguan to attack Baoding and Cangzhou to cooperate, forming an encirclement of the Japanese troops in Pingjin.
Perfect.
It's a pity that this strategic concept is enough to be thought about in the mind. Really trying to implement it is tantamount to wishful thinking.
First of all, there is Fu Zuoyi's unit in the Second Theater Zone between Datong and the People's Liberation Army of the Tenth Theater Zone. Is it possible to want Yan Xishan to cooperate with Xie Tian?
Yan Xishan didn't even invite Pang Yuan to come to Taiyuan to welcome General He and the Allied inspection team. Will he cooperate with Xie Tian to fight the Japanese?
Yan Xishan probably wanted to eat Xie Tian alive. If he didn't shoot Xie Tian behind his back, he would be taking care of the overall situation.
