Along with the independent columns in Jinchaji and eastern Hebei, the main forces were successively dispatched to fight behind enemy lines. The Japanese troops stationed in North China suddenly discovered that the situation in North China, which had already calmed down, seemed to be deteriorating.

Even the 10th Division of the Japanese Army, which crossed the Yellow River from North China, repeatedly protested to the North China Front in the face of the untimely supply of materials in the rear. Without a stable supply of materials, how can the main forces of the Japanese army on the front line concentrate on fighting?

What was even more fatal was that as the 117th Division under the command of Xu Xiangqian advanced into Jinlu Hebei, the Japanese army soon felt that their material transportation was even more difficult. On the other hand, the Japanese troops marching from Nanjing seemed to have marched relatively smoothly.

The Central Army, which originally established a defensive line in Henan to block the Japanese army from advancing to Zhengzhou, also gained extremely rare time for defensive preparation. Even the troops that ordered the Japanese army to advance into Henan also fought very hard.

Even in this case, the Central Army saw that the front line was still fighting smoothly, and knew that the Winter Offensive launched by the Eighth Route Army in North China had indeed provided them with great help, and no one mentioned the matter of transferring the Eighth Route Army into Henan to fight.

In fact, for Lao Jiang, if he could, he would rather the Eighth Route Army just stay in Shaanxi and not move again. Once the Eighth Route Army expanded its power to other occupied areas, he could almost predict that those occupied areas would all have the surname of Eighth Route in the future.

As Henan, which is strategically located, Lao Jiang also did not want the Eighth Route Army to come in. For him, Henan is also one of the granaries of the Central Army. If the Eighth Route Army occupies this place, it will undoubtedly give the Eighth Route Army wings.

It seems that the Central Army does not want the Eighth Route Army to march into Henan, and the Eighth Route Army troops sitting in Xi'an have also gathered a lot of reserve troops in the Tongguan and Luonan areas, ready to advance into Henan at any time.

Even when the Japanese army launched its offensive against Henan, many of the Eighth Route Army's newly formed military engineering units behind enemy lines had already begun to operate in Henan to form anti-Japanese guerrilla zones. But there were very few clashes with the Central Army stationed there.

In short, in the context of the all-out War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, although the Central Army and the Eighth Route Army are currently on guard against each other, no one dares to undermine this situation of the unification of the War of Resistance. The Eighth Route Army, on the other hand, also focused on the development of the North China base area.

Compared with the Japanese army and the Central Army, when they were going all out to prepare for the Battle of Xuzhou, the independent columns that launched the offensive against Shuozhou and Datong were in full swing to continuously advance the forward offensive front, which made the Japanese troops in the two places miserable.

The 2nd Division of the Column successfully wiped out the Japanese troops stationed in the southern suburbs, and the main force of a regiment appeared outside Datong to deploy defenses, making the defenders of Datong also feel the taste of the coming future.

What made the Datong defenders even more helpless was that the reinforcements they were looking forward to were still on the way to help at the moment. Even the independent garrison from Zhangjiakou has casualties of varying degrees almost every day.

Faced with this situation, the 2nd Division, which arrived outside the city of Datong, began to build fortifications outside the city. Such a move made the Japanese army wing stationed in Datong also feel a little unclear, but it did not disturb the deployment of the Eighth Route Army.

At least when the Japanese army came, as long as their reinforcements arrived, the Eighth Route Army, which was deployed outside the city, had only one way to retreat if they did not want to be completely annihilated. After all, the Japanese army wing stationed in Datong did not lose much in strength.

With the main force of the 2nd Division, the assembly was completed in the Datong area. According to the order issued by He Zhengdao, the main force of the Second Division bypassed Datong City and began to march towards Xinrong and other places. The defenders there alone could not resist the march of the Second Division.

In order to ensure that the Second Division completed the encirclement of Datong and recovered the surrounding counties, He Zhengdao even sent the rest of the Fourth Division, whose combat effectiveness had been greatly reduced, to the Datong area to cooperate with the Second Division in the operation against Datong.

After all, the commander of the Jin-Cha-Ji Army Division, who is now cooperating with the Second Division in the Datong area, is himself the former commander of the Fourth Division. Let the rest of the main forces of the Fourth Division cooperate in the operation, and I believe that it will be more convenient to cooperate.

In the encirclement of Datong by a main regiment, as long as the Japanese army does not leave the city, the Eighth Route Army staying outside the city will not take the initiative to attack. Such a strategy made the Japanese troops in the city feel very uncomfortable as well.

Because when they were holding on to Datong, the surrounding counties of Datong were constantly falling. This made the Japanese co-captain guarding Datong feel too cowardly, and it also made several captains look very aggrieved.

At the regular meeting, one of the captains said, "Captain, how long do we have to stay here?" When will we, like those incompetent Chinese army, have to hide in the city and defend it? We have to attack! ”

In the face of these captains' invitations, the co-captain stationed in Datong also said helplessly: "Gentlemen, the current situation is very unfavorable to us. According to the information we have received, the troops attacking Datong should be the independent division of the Eighth Road.

Judging from the information fed back from various localities so far, this independent division should be the unit with the strongest combat capability in the Eighth Route. In their attack on Xinrong and the southern suburbs, they even used a mountain artillery and field artillery brigade.

At present, the independent garrison from Zhangjiakou is still on its way to help. The Eighth Route was very fierce against them, and the time for the reinforcements to arrive was only afraid that it would be greatly delayed. Therefore, we must preserve our limited strength.

I also want to go out of the city and lead you to attack the Eight Roads. But you should be aware of the importance of Datong. Once Datong is lost, our Shanxi campaign will be a complete failure, and it will even affect the empire's rule over Suiyuan. ”

'General, then we just watched the siege of the Chinese army? If reinforcements still haven't arrived, how long can we hold out with the supplies we have stockpiled? Even if we don't attack, we can let the independent garrison attack! ’

Soon, the commander of the Japanese infantry brigade proposed that the garrison with six infantry brigades be sent out of the city to counterattack the Eighth Route Army outside the city. In fact, the independent garrison now stationed in the city is not formed.

But even so, the 14th Independent Garrison Co., Ltd., which cooperated with the Japanese army wing stationed in Datong, still had four infantry brigades guarding the city. With the addition of these people, the Japanese army still has a lot of troops assembled in Datong.

Listening to the words of the captain under his command, the captain of the Japanese army looked at the captain of the garrison and said, "Zechuan-kun, what do you think?" ”

'Your Excellency, Wing Commander, please give orders!' I'm willing to be a pioneer for the Empire! ’

In the face of this Japanese wing commander with the same rank, but still a higher position, Sawakawa Daisa, the captain of the 14th Independent Garrison, still gave this answer very happily.

For Sawakawa, the taste of being in the city is really uncomfortable. The most important thing is that he knows more or less that most of the soldiers of the independent garrison are recruited and trained by prisoners of war from China.

Now that Datong's supplies are about to fall into a shortage of supplies, if he has to choose a force to fight out of the city, then his garrison is undoubtedly the best candidate. Even if he was the captain of the garrison, he also considered the Japanese army.

As long as the garrison is established, the number of lost soldiers can still be expanded from prisoners of war in the future. Now some cannon fodder is needed, and the Japanese army naturally wants to push out the garrison. After all, many of the officers and men of the garrison are Chinese!

'Yo! Sawakawa-kun's loyalty to the empire, our admiration. No matter what, in order to test the strength of the Eighth Road's troops outside the city. Please also send an infantry brigade out of the city to see how this Eighth Route Army differs from the others.

If they are equally vulnerable, I will suggest to General Itagaki that all of your 14th Independent Garrison be sent to Yanggao and other places to carry out encirclement and suppression operations, and receive reinforcements from Zhangjiakou.

If the attack is unfavorable, we can only choose to hold on to Datong. Regarding the shortage of supplies, I have sent a telegram to General Itagaki asking for help. When the weather improves, the Empire will send planes to carry out the airdrop. ’

After making this decision, the scouts of the 2nd Division and the 2nd Regiment, who had been guarding Datong, soon saw that the originally closed city gate was suddenly opened. Looking at the troops that drove out of the city, the scout looked somewhat surprised.

But soon the reconnaissance captain who led the team said: "Wang Er, hurry back to the regiment headquarters and tell the regiment commander that the little devil has troops out of the city." You go report first, we're here to scare the little devils, and we'll be back later. ”

'Yes, Captain, be careful! ’

As he spoke, a scout, also cloaked in a white cloak, quickly rose from a patch of snow outside the city. After a few steps, from the top of a slope, pick up two poles and step on two boards, and slide quickly with both legs.

Such equipment for skiing was not uncommon in the reconnaissance units of the four main divisions of the separate column. Many scouts have found that once they master this skiing technique, they can walk much faster.

If you come across a place where you can't slip, the weight of these things is not heavy, so you can pick them up and continue walking. For this reason, when fighting in the snow, this is already a fixed equipment for the scouts.

As the scouts returned to the regimental headquarters to report the news, the reconnaissance team responsible for monitoring the movements of Datong City quickly watched every move of the Japanese troops leaving the city. After discovering an infantry brigade, the gates were quickly closed again.

Knowing this, the captain of the reconnaissance squad sneered: "It's just an infantry brigade, do the little devils want them to come out and send them to death?" Go to one more person and report the situation to the regimental commander, and everyone else will join me in scaring them. ”

'Yes! ’

With another scout leaving the squad, the rest of the scouts began to prepare for battle. The snipers of the squad immediately seized the best sniper position, and the rest of the scouts planted mines under the snow.

Although the people in the reconnaissance squad knew that with only a dozen of them, they were an infantry brigade that could not move the little devils out of the city. But let the little devils be scared, they can still do it.

Moreover, as soon as the gunfire outside the city rang out, the main regiment in the rear could also know that the front was engaged. In this way, it also provides valuable time and conditions for the blocking and encirclement of the main regiment behind! (To be continued.) )