latelenovela Chapter 188 Okamura Neiji
Chapter 188 Okamura Neiji
Peking, the headquarters of the Japanese North China Front Army.
Okamura Neiji was looking at the huge detailed map of Shanxi Province at a loss, his face full of melancholy.
He was the commander-in-chief of the North China Front Army who took over in July, commanding the Japanese invaders in Hebei Province, Shanxi Province, Shandong Province, Suiyuan Province and parts of Chahar.
After learning about the situation of Xu Le's troops in Shanxi Province, the Japanese headquarters specially transferred him to replace Tada Shun in order to completely eliminate Xu Le's troops, hoping to wipe out the decline of the previous year.
He came here full of confidence, and as soon as he took office, he drew up a mopping-up plan targeting the guerrillas and the 88th Army in most of North China.
To this end, he raised funds for a full three months, made guarantees at the Tang Expeditionary Army Headquarters, and then borrowed a large amount of ammunition from the Kwantung Army.
He analyzed the 88th Army's combat methods, and found that there was nothing outstanding about them. It could even be said that they had no tactics at all.
But one thing is worth affirming, that is, the 88th Army had sufficient ammunition reserves, and every time it fought, it fired ammunition free of charge.
Especially the artillery shells. According to the battle summary reported by his subordinates, every artillery battle of the 88th Army was just fire coverage, and never emphasized precise strikes.
It is obvious that a large fortification can be destroyed with just a few shells after adjusting the angle.
But the 88th Army chose not to do so. They focused on a quick victory. A small artillery tower could be hit by dozens of shells in a minute.
The point is, the hit rate of a single artillery shell is not low.
It is no wonder that the 88th Army was able to win battle after battle. Even the king of heaven would not be able to withstand such a super-tycoon’s fighting style.
But now he was doubting whether the plan he had worked so hard to draw up was wrong, because half a day had passed since he received the first call from Iwamatsu Yoshio at 8 o'clock in the morning, and all the reports he received were about the destruction of the troops.
Just as Iwamatsu Yoshio said to Sakai Naotsugu, both sides had their arrows on the bowstring and had to shoot. If one of them canceled the plan to retreat, it would be like turning its back to the other side, and no one could afford the loss.
Therefore, in the morning he ordered the direct troops of the North China Front Army to launch an offensive from northern Henan. The 1th Army of Shandong Province also had a division and an independent brigade attacking eastern Henan.
At the same time, almost all the remaining troops in Hebei Province came out in full force to carry out a large-scale sweep of the guerrilla bases entrenched in all the jurisdictions of Hebei Province, Suiyuan Province, Shandong Province, etc.
It is no exaggeration to say that this battle was a large-scale battle involving millions of troops.
But an unexpected thing happened. The firepower of the 88th Army's equipment was several times stronger than what the intelligence showed.
"Pass on my order. Order the First and Second Flight Regiments directly under the Third Flight Group to reorganize immediately and set off tomorrow morning. The target is Jin Province. Iwamatsu Yoshio will be in unified command. Make sure to completely annihilate the main force of the 88th Army."
He was panicked. The Third Flight Group had three flight regiments under its jurisdiction, corresponding to the northern, central and southern regions of North China, with a total of more than 300 fighters and bombers.
Now he transferred two flying regiments to deal with the 88th Army, which relieved the pressure on the guerrillas.
.......
"Deputy Commander, there's news about Division Commander Liu." The communicator screamed and stood up.
"Damn Liu Quanhua, there's been no news for half a day. I thought he was dead." Wang Dafu took the phone cursing and started yelling.
No one knew what Liu Quanhua said on the phone, but everyone in the command center saw the changes in Wang Dafu's expression: first he was furious, then he calmed down, and finally he was overjoyed.
He also said that he wanted to commend Liu Quanhua.
After the call was hung up, Fang Yue hurried forward to ask, "How is it? What did Commander Liu find out?"
Wang Dafu drank two large bowls of water in succession before he said with relief: "When the Apache helicopter is fully loaded with ammunition, the range is 1200 kilometers. This old man ran back to his division headquarters after running out of fuel. However, this guy did not run in vain. He carefully scouted every place within a 50-kilometer radius of Huo County.
In order not to miss any details, we flew at low altitudes in many places and were discovered by the Japanese several times. However, the Japanese did not expect that we had planes and ordinary anti-aircraft weapons were useless. So he returned in a swagger over the heads of the Japanese.
What he discovered was incredible; the Japs indeed had a big conspiracy.
Did you know? Just in Fenxi County and Pu County, there are more than 20 groups of Japanese soldiers operating within 10 kilometers to the east, not including those who are hiding and have not appeared. The old man said that he has drawn a simple distribution map and sent it over. "
Fang Yue was also relieved after hearing this. Ever since the 1st Armored Regiment had an encounter with the Japanese artillery regiment in Yunyi Village in the early morning, the 2nd Armored Regiment also encountered the Japanese full-strength cavalry regiment that was resting near Yukou Village on the main road.
[There were three types of roads at that time: the first was highways, which were suitable for vehicles to pass quickly. This type was the least common and only existed between most county towns. The second was main roads, which were in poor condition and were mainly used by horse-drawn carriages and ox-drawn carts, and wheeled vehicles had poor passability. The third was small roads, which were made by footsteps and wheeled vehicles could not pass through. Except for special sections, tracked vehicles could pass slowly.]
The two sides started fighting urgently. Originally, the 2nd Armored Regiment had an overwhelming advantage. After all, the Type 69 tanks and Type 63 armored vehicles were like grandfathers meeting grandsons in front of the Japanese soldiers and horses. But who knew that during the fighting, dozens of Japanese tanks appeared, followed by artillery shells falling from the sky.
After a bloody battle, the 2nd Armored Regiment won the battle with the tracks of 5 tanks and armored vehicles damaged, and the remaining Japanese invaders fled.
The regiment commander realized that something was wrong and did not pursue them rashly. Instead, he rested on the spot and asked for orders from the division headquarters.
Near noon, the 3rd and 4th Battalions of the Artillery Brigade, which set out from Fenxi, encountered a Japanese infantry battalion while deploying artillery positions between Huo County and Lingshi.
Both sides were confused at the time. Fortunately, there was a mechanized infantry battalion of a motorized infantry division nearby, otherwise the two towed artillery battalions would have suffered losses at the hands of this Japanese brigade.
You have to know that this is at the border between the 88th Army and the Japanese defense line. Under normal circumstances, no troops from either side would cross the line.
These series of actions made Wang Dafu conclude that it was the Japanese conspiracy, and he immediately ordered all troops to stop advancing.
The artillery brigade also dispatched their helicopter to conduct reconnaissance of the area from Huo County to Pu County in the south.
.......
Half an hour later, the armored division's communicator drove a BJ212 jeep to the command post in a hurry.
"My goodness, adding up the data sent back by the two helicopters, the Japanese have deployed at least 12 troops. Judging from the current organization of the Japanese Third Regiment, there are at least 6 fully staffed divisions. But unfortunately, the location of the Japanese heavy artillery was not found."