Chapter 506: The strategy of the general's duel

On November 16, the 32nd year of the Republic of China (1943), the Chinese and Japanese armies broke out a battle on the west bank of the Luan River.

The battle finally ended in a major defeat for Siye, the 4th Armored Division of Siye was heavily damaged, the three main armored regiments and the armored battalion of the division headquarters were all annihilated, the division commander Lieutenant General Hu Xianqun was martyred, and the mechanized infantry regiment and the self-propelled artillery battalion of the division headquarters of the 4th Armored Division were also surrounded and annihilated by the Kwantung Army in order to cover the withdrawal of logistics troops from the front line.

In the current service, Siye lost a total of 354 M4 medium tanks, 123 armored combat vehicles, 247 trucks and jeeps, 36 self-propelled artillery pieces, and more than 9,000 casualties, of which more than 3,600 were killed.

The only thing that makes people shine is Lieutenant General Hu Xianqun's decisive counterattack in a desperate situation!

Due to the decisive counterattack of Lieutenant General Hu Xianqun and the successful destruction of the Kwantung Army's advance base on the outskirts of Changli City, the main force of the armored group of the 1st Front Army of the Kwantung Army lost the conditions for pursuing the victory, which won valuable time for the safe transfer of a large amount of materials hoarded at the Siye Advance Base and the transfer of the main force of the 4th Army in the direction of Yanshan.

…………

Tianjin Xiǎo Station, Siye Advance Headquarters.

At this moment, the Xiǎo conference room next door to the combat hall was already full of stars, except for General Dai Anlan, commander of the 4th Group Army, who had not arrived for some reason, the commanders of the other seven major group armies, General Wei Lihuang, deputy commander-in-chief of the field army, General Huang Jie, chief of general staff, and Yue Weihan, deputy chief of general staff, all arrived.

Due to the defeat at the front, the atmosphere in the conference room was obviously a little solemn.

Yue Weihan's mood is also uncomfortable, the supreme commander of the Fourth Field Army, if Yue Weihan is still happy, then he is not worthy of being a man, however, if you want to say how depressed Yue Weihan is, it may not be, the ancients, fortune and misfortune depend on each other, and the defeat of Luanhe is not necessarily a bad thing for Siye!

Since the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression has been fought, it has been a large corps battle with millions of people participating in the war at every turn!

In such a large-scale war, the destruction of a mere armored division, or even the death of thousands of officers and soldiers, is no longer enough to cause the strength of both sides to decline, Siye will not lose the strategic initiative because of the defeat at the Luanhe, and it is impossible for the Kwantung Army to fundamentally change the passive situation faced by its own side because of a victory at the Luanhe River.

However, the defeat of Luanhe is enough to sound a wake-up call to the proud soldiers of the four fields!

Before the defeat of the Luanhe River, because of the successive victories in Singapore, in the southwest, in Taiwan, in Shanghai, and in North China, there was already a strong sense of pride in the army, believing that the Japanese army was already in decline, and wherever the Siye army went, the Japanese army was bound to be invincible, and there were not a few people who held this view even at the headquarters of the field army.

Now, these proud soldiers should always know that the Japanese army is not without the strength to fight!

Yue Weihan's sharp gaze swept over everyone's faces one by one, and he took the lead in breaking the silence and said, "Let's talk about it." ”

"Well, I'll start with a few words." General Wei Lihuang coughed and said, "Although our army suffered a defeat at Luanhe, in my opinion, it is not all bad, at least let us recognize the fact that the Japanese army, especially the Kwantung Army, still has quite strong combat effectiveness, and our army must not take it lightly." ”

Mr. Zuo also said: "Before the war, our army ignored the influence of meteorological conditions on the course of the war, which is also a lesson. ”

After saying this, Mr. Zuo said: "In the battle of Luanhe, if the air force can participate in the battle, even if the Kwantung Army has a Tiger heavy tank cluster assisted by Germany, the 4th Armored Division may not be defeated, at least it is absolutely not a problem to retreat in its entirety, so I suggest that meteorological experts be immediately invited to come to North China to make accurate predictions about the future weather." ”

"Well, that's a good suggestion." Yue Weihan nodded happily and said, "After the meeting is dismissed, a special plane will be arranged to pick up Elder Zhu and his scientific research team from Myanmar to North China. ”

…………

Shanhaiguan, headquarters of the 1st Front Army of the Kwantung Army.

At the same time that the 1st Front of the Kwantung Army won a great victory at the Luanhe River, the Japanese base camp also underwent major personnel adjustments.

Emperor Hirohito was worried that Hideki Tojo, who was both prime minister and chief of the General Staff, would become a military dictator and then become the second shogun, and that Hideki Tojo would not perform well after becoming the chief of the General Staff, so Emperor Hirohito issued an edict to remove Hideki Tojo from his post as Chief of the General Staff, and the Minister of War Yuki Anami concurrently served as the Deputy Chief of the General Staff and acted as the Chief of the General Staff.

Unlike Hideki Tojo, Anami had great respect for Okamura Ninji, and as soon as he took office, he asked Emperor Hirohito to promote Umezu Mijiro, commander-in-chief of the Kwantung Army, and Okamura Ninji, deputy commander-in-chief, to marshal of the army.

On the day of the promotion edict, he arrived at Shanhaiguan, and Okamura Ninji is now a field marshal!

At this time, Hattori Kotaro was reporting to Okamura Ninji and Nakazawa Mitsuo about the final results of the Battle of the Luanhe River: "Due to the destruction of Changli's previous base by the Shina Army, our tank cluster was short of fuel, and although it was urgently dispatched from all sides, it was only enough to ensure the combat needs of one tank wing, so it seriously weakened our army's ability to penetrate defenses. ”

"In the end, although our army has achieved major results and basically annihilated the main force of the armored cluster in China, it has not been able to intercept a large amount of materials that the army has hoarded on the front line, and the mechanized infantry group in China has also been able to calmly withdraw from the battlefield.

"Hey." Nakazawa Sanfu clapped his fists and said hatefully, "Our army has almost all of the three major elements of war, such as time, location, and people, but it has only achieved such a non-embarrassing and embarrassing result, which is really regrettable." Saying this, Nakazawa Sanfu said with a solemn expression, "If the air forces of both sides participate in the war, it is really unpredictable what the result will be." ”

Okamura Ninji waved his hand and said comfortingly: "Nakazawa-kun, the tactical literacy of the officers and soldiers of Shina has made great progress compared with a few years ago, whether it is the decisive assault of its armored group or the emergency transfer of the mechanized infantry group, it has shown extremely high fighter capture ability and tactical command ability, and it is not easy for our army to achieve such results." ”

Nakazawa Sanfu frowned and said: "But hundreds of thousands of jīng sharp into the Yanshan Mountains, like a tiger lying on a barren hill, may jump out at any time to hurt people, before the follow-up of all the armies arrived, our army is afraid that it will be difficult to move forward, but now is a good time to take advantage of the victory and pursuit, but our army can only sit and wait for the fighter plane to disappear, so as not to teach people to regret." ”

The corners of Okamura Ningji's mouth suddenly bloomed with a sly smile, and he said thoughtfully: "Nakazawa-kun, there is an old saying in Zhina, it is called misfortune and fortune are relied on, and fortune and misfortune are lurked, in the battle of Luanhe, although our army has not completed the whole work, let hundreds of thousands of jīng sharp streams into the Yanshan Mountains, but this is not necessarily a bad thing for my Kwantung Army." ”

"Oh?" Sanfu Nakazawa said abruptly, "Your Excellency Marshal, how do you say this?" ”

"Heaven cannot be leaked." Okamura Ninji smiled slightly, and then said, "Nakazawa-kun, immediately transfer 12 to 15 mechanized infantry divisions from the Luanhe front line to outflank them from the southern and eastern foothills of Yanshan, and then call the rest of the armies on all fronts, asking them to send more than a dozen mountain divisions to advance south from the northern foot of Yanshan, and encircle them from three sides into the Zhina Army in the Yanshan Mountains!" ”

Nakazawa Sanfu said awe-inspiringly: "Your Excellency Marshal, do you want to eat these hundreds of thousands of troops in one bite?" ”

Okamura Ninji smiled: "It's good to be able to eat these hundreds of thousands of troops in one bite, but if you can't eat them, at least let the people of China be exhausted to save these hundreds of thousands of people." ”

…………

Tianjin Xiǎo Station, Siye Headquarters.

The summing up meeting was over, and Yue Weihan and the commanders of the various group armies reappeared in the combat hall.

The huge mō sand table is already full of soldier models, tank models and artillery models of the Chinese and Japanese armies, as well as models of bases and fortresses, although these models are no different from xiǎo children's toys, but they can represent millions of officers and soldiers and a huge number of tactical arms, this is a real battle of large corps.

Zuo Zong held the command pole and pointed to the sand table to explain the latest situation of the two armies: "According to the latest battle report from the front, the Kwantung Army has taken the initiative to stop the offensive, and the battle line is basically stable near Luanxian, however, this situation will not last long, with the arrival of reinforcements from the Kwantung Army and the remobilization of materials, a new round of offensive will definitely be launched." ”

"If nothing else, the Kwantung Army will launch a new round of offensive within three days, and the only variable is that the 4th Army, which has entered the Yanshan Mountains, is watching more than 100,000 jīng sharp, which is bound to cause great deterrence to the Kwantung Army, and the Kwantung Army will not and dare not attack with all its might."

After Mr. Zuo introduced the battlefield situation, everyone's eyes focused on Yue Weihan.

The battle of a large corps of millions of troops is a new and unfamiliar subject for all the senior generals present, even if it is the war genius Li Zong, at the moment, it is just a corner, and it is still far from the success of the soldiers, in this case, only Yue Weihan can afford to carry this heavy burden.

Yue Weihan pondered for a moment and asked Zuo Zongdao: "What is the situation of the 4th Army now?" ”

Zong Zuo said: "The morale of the troops is still there, but they are a little impatient, from the commander of the group army to the ordinary soldiers, they are all anxious to find a place to get back, but this is also understandable, when did we Siye suffer such a big loss?" After saying this, Mr. Zuo said, "Also, Dai Anlan has been relieved of his position, and Liao Yaoxiang is now acting as the commander." ”

"Nonsense!" Yue Weihan frowned and said, "Do you want to pick a stack at this time?" It's not such a cheap thing, call Dai Anlan immediately, if he can't take the 4th Army and can't take these hundreds of thousands of soldiers out of Yanshan, just wait for the military court! Even if I, Yue Weihan, don't deal with him, the people of the whole country won't be able to spare him! ”

"Yes." Mr. Zuo stood up and took the order.

Seeing Zuo Zong's figure leaving, General Wei Lihuang said worriedly: "Loyalty, although the 4th Group Army has entered the Yanshan Mountains, it has also become a lone army, now don't talk about replenishing ammunition, I'm afraid that even raising food will become a problem, if the weather is not good, the Air Force will not be able to airdrop supplies, I'm afraid it won't last too long." ”

Yue Weihan was silent, why wasn't he worried about the safety of the hundreds of thousands of officers and soldiers of the 4th Group Army?

However, the Siye Army, which had already arrived in North China, except for the 8th and 8th Group Army, had just landed at Pukou and was marching to North China along the Tianjin-Pudong Railway.

The Tianjin-Pudong railway has not yet been opened, and the navy's transportation capacity is too weak to be effective.

With the 5th Army, in the face of the huge tank cluster of the Kwantung Army, it is still not enough to hold on, and it must not take the initiative to attack again, otherwise it is very likely to repeat the defeat of Luanhe! If the 5th Panzer Division was also heavily damaged by the Kwantung Army, then this big battle with the Kwantung Army would really not be easy to fight.

For the sake of today's plan, Yue Weihan can only hope that the weather will clear within three to five days, and the air force will be able to airdrop supplies to the Yanshan Mountains in time, and at the same time, no matter how difficult the 4th Group Army's current conditions are, can they be even more difficult than when the Baoshan Brigade fought guerrillas in Lunan and southern Hebei?

Seeing that Yue Weihan was silent, Huang Jie suddenly sighed and said: "It's a pity, if the Kwantung Army can go south a few months late, and wait until our army aviation unit is built into an army, it won't be too large, as long as there are 3 to 5 army aviation regiments, they can fight the armored clusters of the devils all over the place, how can they be allowed to show off their power so much?" ”

"Don't even think about that." Yue Weihan said, "Be patient." ”

First of all, the helicopter manufacturing workshop in Myanmar has just been built, and the output has not yet gone up, and at most forty or fifty units will be produced every month, and secondly, flying a helicopter and driving a fixed-wing fighter are completely different things, so the army aviation pilots have to be specially trained, and there is no way to transfer pilots from the Air Force, and if you want to train a group of qualified army aviation pilots, it will take three months to say the least!

So at the moment, this period of time is the most difficult for Siye.

Due to the Kwantung Army's advance to the south, the plan to establish a defense chain of the Great Wall has come to naught, after the defeat of the Luanhe River, even the expectation of forming a stalemate with the Kwantung Army in eastern Hebei is full of variables, if the extremely bad weather continues for a period of time, Siye can only give up the front, and instead hide with the Kwantung Army in the vast North China Plain.

However, until the last moment, Yue Weihan would never make this choice, because it means that the land of North China will be trampled by the Japanese army again, and it means that millions of compatriots will shed blood and sacrifice, Yue Weihan will never want to see this scene appear, especially on the eve of the imminent victory of the Anti-Japanese War!