Chapter 127: Personnel Adjustment of the Japanese Army

On the same day, the 120th Division was stationed in Shenchi and Ningwu counties, and at the same time sent two regiments of 771 and 772 to take over the defense of the three counties of Biguan, Hequ and Qingshuihe, while Ma Zheng's headquarters set off to return to the base area overnight with all the booty.

When leaving, Ma Zheng left a cavalry regiment of horses and equipment for the 120th Division, all of which were captured by the puppet Mongolian army, and all the things that could not be transported were left to the 120th Division, including more than 100,000 catties of potatoes and corn. As a return gift, Master He gave Ma Zheng a Browning pistol he carried.

In this operation in the northwest of Shanxi, Ma Zheng's headquarters dispatched more than 6,700 troops, including 3 cavalry regiments, 1 infantry guard regiment, and 1 special operations brigade. In the battle that lasted for more than half a month, Ma Zheng's troops took down 3 county seats, uprooted 33 devil strongholds, killed more than 2,200 Japanese soldiers, captured more than 3,000 puppet soldiers, and rescued 1,000 Kuomintang prisoners.

A large amount of booty was seized by the Ma Zheng Division, more than a dozen carts of weapons and equipment were loaded with cars alone, and food and cloth were not less, so that when they came, the guard regiment was a mechanized infantry in a car, and when they returned, everyone marched on foot, and completely became "infantry" soldiers.

The most important thing is that when they came, there were more than 6,000 people, and when they went back, instead of losing much, the troops were expanded to more than 10,000 people, which was the envy of Commander He and others, and at the same time, they also witnessed the terrifying expansion ability of Ma Zheng's department.

For this reason, Commander He specially consulted Ma Zheng and asked him how he led the troops, why those puppet soldiers and rescued prisoners were willing to follow him to fight devils, Ma Zheng's answer was very simple, for the coercion and temptation of the puppet army, for the coercion and coercion of the Kuomintang prisoners, and the willingness to follow the army to fight devils, everything else is easy to say, if there are other ideas, then it is necessary to talk about it.

For Ma Zheng's answer, Division Commander He was immediately dumbfounded, the 120th Division's method of dealing with prisoners is the same as that of other units of the Eighth Route Army, that is, if they can fight for it, they will try their best to fight for it, and if they are unwilling, then they will issue travel expenses and send them home. Basically, they will not be forced, which is coercion, temptation and deterrence like the Duqi Division, basically reaching the point of capturing a puppet army unit and adding a soldier.

The most surprising thing is that even if the Duqi Division did this, the combat effectiveness of the troops did not decline. You must know that the biggest hidden danger in this expansion of the troops is that although the number of troops has increased, because these people are all unwilling, in the end, the morale of the troops is low, and the combat effectiveness has fallen instead of rising.

To this, Ma Zheng's answer was that the army is a melting pot, and anyone who enters it is not a separate individual, but a part of the collective. Just let them fit in, and after a while they'll all be qualified soldiers. Of course, the premise is that they must be thoroughly integrated into it and become part of this glorious whole.

Fearing that the Mongolian garrison would launch an attack on the base area, Ma Zheng's headquarters worked day and night, and at about 8 o'clock in the evening of June 8, the troops finally returned to Fengzhen County.

After returning to the base area, Ma Zheng reported the summary of the operation and the results of the dispatch to the northwest of Shanxi to the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, and then returned to the Suicha base area for rest.

The headquarters of the Eighth Route Army was extremely satisfied with the results of the Seventh Division's dispatch to the northwest of Shanxi Province and, with the approval of the central authorities, awarded the Suicha Base Area a first-class meritorious service.

After returning to the base area, the first thing Ma Zheng did was to disrupt and reorganize the newly brought back prisoners of the puppet army. After coming back, Ma Zheng learned that in the half month since he left, the army had recruited more than 6,000 recruits, and now all brigades and regiments are fully staffed, and more than 2,000 recruits are still in a state of no number.

Ma Zheng then decided to set up a rapid reaction force, the number of which was approved at about 3,000 people, and in order to strengthen the regiment's establishment, all soldiers in the regiment were given a war horse. But unlike ordinary cavalry, they are essentially an infantry, but equipped with horses to improve their mobility.

After some preparations, the independent regiment of the Suicha base area completed the formation work in Jining, the head of the independent regiment was Xu Hu, the head of the former guard regiment, and some of the soldiers were members of the original guard regiment, and the other part was drawn from other units, and then this part of the puppet army captured this time was supplemented to various units. The post of head of the guard regiment was held by Xing Chao, the former deputy head of the guard regiment.

In view of the large increase in the number of new recruits in the unit, and at the same time all officers had to undergo short-term training, so it was impossible to conduct large-scale operations for a while, so Ma Zheng issued an order for rectification training in the name of the commander of the base area and the commander of the 7th Independent Division. The unit had no combat mission for the next month, and the only task of all officers and men was training, and in Ma Zheng's original words, as long as they could not die, they would be trained to the death.

Under Ma Zheng's call, a round of training frenzy was set off in the entire base area. At the same time, Ma Zheng personally conducted intensive training for nearly 500 newly selected grassroots units to solve the problem of a shortage of cadres in the troops.

Ma Zheng is busy here, and the headquarters of the Corps in Mongolia is also gloomy! In this attack on the northwest of Jin, although the formation was not small, the two major front armies dispatched nearly 20,000 troops, but because of the sudden appearance of Ma Zheng's department, the results fell short, not to mention the loss of troops and the body of His Excellency Liannuma Pan was not recovered, and the base camp had no choice but to resolve the matter through diplomatic channels.

At the same time, this battle once again allowed the Japanese army base camp to see the strength of Ma Zheng's department. In view of the vast area of Chahar and Suiyuan, and the importance of their strategic location, coupled with the serious banditry in the region, especially the long-term disconnection of the Pingsui Railway. The base camp of the Japanese army believed that the existing strength of the army stationed in Mongolia could no longer meet the rule of the Mongolian frontier region, so the base camp of the Japanese army decided to increase the number of divisions and regiments of the garrison in Mongolia, and the specific division and regiment would be transferred to the command of the headquarters of the army stationed in Mongolia.

In addition to increasing the number of troops stationed in Mongolia, the Japanese army headquarters also ordered the headquarters of the army stationed in Mongolia to supervise and supervise the puppet Mongolian army to immediately form a new puppet army unit to cooperate with the operations of the imperial army.

On June 10, the base camp issued five orders for appointment and dismissal, and adjusted the relevant personnel appointments of the North China Front Army and the Mongolian Army: "Lieutenant General Ando Toshiyoshi succeeded Itagaki Seishiro as the commander of the 5th Division, and Itagaki Seishiro was promoted to Minister of War of the Japanese Government." ”

"Lieutenant General Umezu Mijiro, Vice Secretary of the Army, succeeded Kiyoshi Kazuki as commander of the 1st Army, and is still stationed in Shijiazhuang."

"Major General Machijiri Ōkiki succeeded the chief of staff of the 2nd Army led by Suzuki."

"Lieutenant General Yoshio Shinozuka succeeded Ryosuke Isoya as commander of the 10th Division."

"Lieutenant General Takamasa Iseki succeeded Kenji Dohihara as the commander of the 14th Division, and Tohihara was transferred to the General Staff Headquarters."

"Lieutenant General Motojiro Taniguchi succeeded Kuma Shimoto as the commander of the 108th Division."

"Lieutenant General Minoru Ushijima succeeded Kawagishi Bunzaburo as commander of the 20th Division."

"Lieutenant General Norihide Abe succeeded Jun Harem as the commander of the 26th Division."

"Major General Shigetoku Kuroda was transferred to the position of commander of the 2nd Independent Mixed Brigade."

"The 10th Infantry Brigade of the 11th Division took over the 30th Infantry Brigade of the 16th Division and assumed the garrison task of Nanjing, and the 16th Division immediately went north to North China by sea and was assigned to the Mongolian Army."