[Anti-Japanese Iron Blood King] Chapter 356: The Progress of the Japanese Army's Departments (Ask for Subscriptions, Ask for Monthly Passes, Ask for Everything!) ）

Just when Ma Zheng's unit was turning over the river and the sea in northern Chahar, the counter-sweeping campaign carried out by other units of the Eighth Route Army in southern Hebei also made considerable progress. In mid-February, when the 10th Division and the 110th Division formed an encirclement situation in southern Hebei, the 1st Division of the 26th Division of Norihide Abe advanced westward from Bozhen on the Jinpu Road and the 114th Division of Shigeji Suematsu in Liaocheng, Dezhou, Shandong Province, in order to cope with the attack of the 10th Division and the 110th.

On 25 February, under the reconnaissance and cover of its air force, the enemy on the two routes launched a joint attack on Nangong, Jixian, and Zaoqiang counties, and then occupied the county towns in the central area of southern Hebei.

At this time, the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army in southern Hebei had divided its subordinate 385 Brigade, 386 Brigade, Youth Column, Eastward Column, and Advance Column into several combat groups with the local armed forces. At the time of the enemy's joint attack, these troops had already crossed the encirclement in advance, turned to the flank of the Japanese army, attacked Wuyi, Fucheng, Jingxian and Qinghe south of Jixian and Zaoqiang, and ambushed the enemy near Gaoyi on the Hengshui and Pinghan Road on the Deshi Road in order to contain and disrupt their supply and transportation. One also attacked the enemies of Jixian, Nangong, Julu, and Guangzong.

Due to the limited strength of the Japanese army and the small number of mobile troops, in order to sweep a certain area with a large area, it must draw troops from various areas where it is deployed. At the beginning of the sweep, they often first encircled the anti-Japanese base areas from all sides, looked for anti-Japanese troops to fight, occupied county seats, market towns and key points, and controlled the key points of highways, waterways and mountains.

After occupying and controlling the territory, reconnaissance personnel were sent to gather information to force the population to repair the damaged roads, build strongholds, fences and watchtowers, dig trenches on the perimeter of the strongholds, and lay barbed wire and deer barrage. At the same time, it carried out disguise and divisional sweeps to find out the anti-Japanese forces hidden in the occupied areas. Sometimes a mobile unit is also prepared. Dispatch at any time, and when the situation is discovered, it will be immediately dispatched to conduct a tracking attack.

According to these operational characteristics of the Japanese army during the sweep, the 386th Brigade of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army decided to set up an ambush in the Xiangchenggu area, about 20 kilometers south of Wei County, in order to annihilate the pursuing Japanese army. The 386th Brigade and the 3rd Regiment of the Eastward Column, the 1st Regiment of the new formation, and the 688th Regiment of the 115th Division each have one each. After Weixian, the main force attacked the city of Weixian every night and then withdrew, in order to lure the troops of the enemy's 10th Division to pursue to the predetermined ambush area.

After the Japanese army attacked Wei County, the 40th Infantry Wing of the 8th Brigade of the 10th Division of the enemy, on the morning of 26 February, with an infantry reinforced squadron and artillery, pursued south of Wei County in eight vehicles. When they arrived at the South Grassland at about 12 o'clock, the cavalry company of the 386th Brigade was the first to block the enemy. Then the battle and retreated to the Xiangcheng fixed ambush area, the enemy still pursued closely and entered the bag-shaped ambush area, after being attacked by fire from three sides, the enemy broke into the Xiangcheng solid village, but at this time it was surrounded by the 688th regiment and the supplementary regiment.

At 5 o'clock in the afternoon, the remaining enemy attempted to break through and flee northwest to Weixian, but were blocked by the 688th Regiment and the newly formed 1st Regiment set up in ambush at Zhangjiazhuang and Maluobao. The 386 Brigade concentrated its troops. Launched an attack on the enemy, and fought fiercely until dusk, annihilating all the besieged enemies. More than 200 people below the captain of the enemy brigade were killed or wounded. One mountain artillery, two "Type 92" infantry guns, one mortar, and dozens of long and short guns were captured. The casualties of the troops under the command of the 386th Brigade were about 50 people.

After the Japanese army suffered many attacks, it focused on Nangong, Julu, Weixian, Guangzong and other places in central Hebei to carry out divisional sweeps. The 129th Division cooperated with the local armed forces and the people. Guerrilla warfare was carried out on the inner front, and the main forces were transferred to the outer front.

However, in order to complete the sweep of the central and southern Hebei regions, the Japanese army dispatched four divisions at once, and the strength was far above that of the Eighth Route Army. After more than 100 operations in more than half a month, the base areas of the Central Hebei Military Region and the Southern Hebei Military Region were greatly damaged. However, it was never able to find the main force of the Eighth Route Army. The offensive had to be stopped after Ma Zheng's troops captured Chabei.

At the same time, the Japanese 12th Army also launched large-scale sweeping operations in Shandong, northern Jiangsu, and eastern Henan. Compared with the difficulties in southern Hebei and central Hebei, the results of the Japanese army in Shandong were much more brilliant.

At the beginning of the sweep, the 12th Army of Otaka Kamizo in Shandong included the 21st Division of Washizu Leadhei stationed in Xuzhou, the 114th Division of Shigeji Suematsu stationed in Yanzhou, the 5th Division of Jun Imamura stationed in Qingdao, and the independent mixed 5th Brigade in Qingdao for public security tasks. In addition, the 32nd Division, the 6th and 10th Independent Mixed Brigades of the newly formed divisions in Japan were also transferred to Shandong, making a total of 4 divisions and 3 independent mixed brigades.

The Otaka Kamezo Department learned that there were 50,000 to 70,000 anti-Japanese troops stationed in the Lunan Mountains, namely the first Marine Corps of Qingdao led by Shen Honglie, chairman of Shandong Province of the Kuomintang, the Shandong Provincial Security Corps and the newly formed 4th Brigade of Wu Huawen, the 69th Army of Shi Yousan, the 113th Division of Zhou Guanglie of the 51st Army of Yu Xuezhong, the 114th Division of Mou Zhongyan, the 57th Army of the Northeast Army, and the Eighth Route Army led by the Communist Party that had established a base in the Surabaya area. An operational plan for sweeping southern and northern Jiangsu was immediately drawn up and implemented in mid-February.

In order to sweep away the anti-Japanese troops in Lunan and occupy these areas, the enemy's 12th Army decided to launch an attack on Lunan with four divisions and one independent mixed brigade and one part of each group, and its deployment was as follows: The 21st Division was prepared to attack Siyang, Shuyang, and Ahu Towns with about five infantry brigades and two artillery brigades, and advanced to the front line of Fangshan Town and Hudongkou with about one infantry brigade to prepare for a flank attack on Haizhou. The main force was preparing to attack Huaiyin.

Secondly, the 5th Division, with about two infantry battalions, sailed from the mouth of the Guan River to the vicinity of Xin'an Town, about 25 kilometers southwest of Xiangshuikou. With 1 infantry brigade, it entered the vicinity of Dayishan Town, ready to flank Haizhou at any time, and the main force was ready to attack Huaiyin. In addition, two infantry squadrons and one artillery squadron were sent to Ganyu, about 30 kilometers north of Haizhou, to prepare for an attack on Haizhou.

In addition, the 114th Division advanced to the area of Shandong Province on the road from Linyi to Haizhou with about 1 infantry brigade and 1 artillery squadron. And the main force occupied the area near Tancheng about 50 kilometers south of Linyi to cover the security of the left side of the 21st Division.

After receiving the order, the 21st Division of Washizu Leadhei gathered its main forces near Suqian, southeast of Llama Lake, and one group was assembled near the artillery carriages east of the canal, and began operations on February 24. On the 27th and 28th, it reached the Shuyang and Siyang areas, and the 1 infantry brigade along the railway marched east to the Ahu area.

The Kuomintang army near Siyang, because there was no strong resistance to the enemy and there were signs of retreating south of Huaiyin, the enemy's 12th Army decided to attack Huaiyin and attempt to annihilate the retreating Kuomintang army in the narrow strip north of Baoying, without waiting for the predetermined concentration of troops. The two squadrons of the 21st Division and the 1st Brigade of the 21st Wing of the 5th Division were ordered to pursue in the direction of Huaiyin. Due to the cooperation of the 7th Flying Regiment's aerial reconnaissance, attack, and bombing, the enemy was able to conquer Huaiyin, Huai'an, and Baoying counties in a short period of two days.

After more than half a month of fighting, the Kuomintang and the Eighth Route Army in southern Lunan and northern Jiangsu suffered heavy losses, and a large area of territory was occupied by the Japanese army, and they had to withdraw to the mountainous areas of Lunan in order to fight later.

Sugiyama Yuan was very satisfied with the 12th Army's sweep in Shandong, and not only called to commend the 12th Army Headquarters, but even went to Jinan to cheer up the 12th Army. This also made Sugiyama Yuan, who suffered a big loss in Chabei, win back a city, but in general, Sugiyama Yuan still felt that he had suffered a big loss.

After all, although Lunan and Northern Jiangsu are rich, the area is small, and even if it wins, it can only be regarded as a small victory. What's more, in order to defeat the Kuomintang and Communist forces in Lunan, the Japanese army dispatched four divisions in a row.

The grassland of Chabei is vast and rich in good horses. Losing ten cities in a row in one day and one night, losing 20,000 or 30,000 troops, how to say it was also a fiasco, compared with a small victory and a fiasco, Sugiyama Moto's heart is still not a good taste. Therefore, Sugiyama Yuan, who was not ready to take action against the Suicha Military Region, was shaken, and in his opinion, since he wanted to fight, he had to solve the threat of the hateful Zhina army once and for all, so he could only raise tigers for trouble, so Sugiyama Yuan ordered the North China Front Army to immediately shrink its forces except for the troops in northern Jinbei and Chanan, and prepare to use troops against Ma Zhengsuo of the Eighth Route Army. (To be continued.) )