Chapter 168: Changes in the North China Front (Asking for Subscriptions, Asking for Monthly Tickets, Asking for Various !! ）

As always, with the end of the previous fighting, the two sides will enter a period of lull for a longer or shorter period. It's like two beasts that have just fought, after a desperate fight, but neither of them killed the other. After being exhausted, they all chose to endure silently, went back to lick their wounds and waited for their strength to recover. The seriously injured one was worried that the lightly injured one would come to the door before it had recovered, so he desperately tried to recover. The one with the milder injury hopes that his injury will heal as soon as possible, but fortunately, the opponent's injury is not good before the door is good, and the beast also understands the truth that it will kill while it is sick.

Obviously, the Japanese army was seriously injured in this battle, and it can be said that they have already injured their muscles and bones, and it can be called a great injury to their vitality. Although the armistice between the two sides has been almost a week, the Japanese are still very nervous.

This is not only because the main force of Chen Feng's department is not far from Beiping, but more importantly, there is a problem within the Japanese army, because this time in order to hold Beiping City, Terauchi Shouichi ordered the Japanese and overseas Chinese in the city to fight together, and after the war, less than 20,000 of the more than 40,000 Japanese survived, and only more than 4,000 were unscathed, and the casualties reached a terrifying 37,000.

Such heavy casualties were unprecedented in the history of the Japanese army. More importantly, the casualties this time were all civilians, of course, this civilian was only recognized by the Japanese army, neither the Nationalist Government nor Chen Feng's 61st Army. As far as the 61st Army is concerned, as long as it takes up arms and goes to the battlefield, it is the enemy. All aggressors. They will not be soft on the invaders, let alone men, even if they are delicate big girls.

The death of so many civilians immediately provoked a strong reaction in Japan. When they learned that this was an order issued by the general of the temple, the families of the dead and injured overseas Chinese in the country quit and wrote letters demanding that the temple be severely punished. In addition, many of them were employees of various Japanese companies, and those who were sent abroad were often the most trusted employees of major families and companies, but they did not expect to suffer such heavy losses at the location of the Imperial Army's command center.

In addition, the war destroyed all the branches of the companies in Tianjin, and many employees became prisoners of the Chinese army, including many important members of various families. So. The Japanese people had serious doubts about the combat effectiveness of the North China Front and even the entire Imperial Japanese Army. For a time, the public in Japan was indignant. A large number of people took to the streets to demand severe punishment for Terauchi Shouichi, and at the same time demanded that the government severely punish the murderers and avenge the dead civilians and soldiers.

Originally, the base camp was very dissatisfied with this operation of the North China Front. Forget it if you lose so much. Even Terauchi Shouichi almost became a captive of the Shina people. It's a shame. Coupled with the pressure of the domestic people, the base camp intends to transfer Terauchi Shouichi back to China.

However, His Majesty the Emperor personally exonerated Shouichi Terauchi and took Tianjin as an example. It is said that even if General Terauchi Shouichi did not organize the expatriates to resist, the people of China would not let those civilians go, and Tianjin is the best example, the people of China not only looted all the property of Japanese merchants in Tianjin, but also robbed banks, and finally transported them back to their defense area with tens of thousands of Japanese overseas Chinese.

In addition, Emperor Hirohito also used the pretext that the Mongolian army had captured important towns such as Guisui and Baotou, believing that although Terauchi Shouichi had made a mistake in command, he gave the 61st Army an opportunity to take advantage of and caused huge losses to the empire. But his wisdom was not useless, and the results in the early stage of the war were still very good, at least he occupied all the major cities in the Mongol region of China, laying the foundation for the next move of the empire.

Most importantly, Emperor Hirohito did not believe that the defeat in this battle should be borne by Shouichi Terauchi. He believed that the intelligence department should bear the most important responsibility, first of all, the special high-tech department did not find out the actual strength of the 61 st Army in China, and in the end, the North China Army was greatly passive.

In the telegram sent by Tegaoke to the North China Dispatch Army and the base camp, it was clearly stated that the actual strength of the 61st Army in China should be about 80,000, and the maximum should not exceed 90,000. But in reality, the 61st Army of China placed at least 30,000 people in the direction of Datong.

At the same time, there were nearly 20,000 people in the Datong direction, and at least 20,000 troops in the 26th Division. There were already more than 70,000 people, and in addition, the 61st Army also sent nearly 40,000 people to attack Zhangjiakou and Beiping, and more than 20,000 people to attack Tianjin, so there should be at least 12 to 140,000 people in Laizhi.

In addition, the senior agents sent by the special high-tech not only did not succeed in assassinating Chen Feng, but made him vigilant, and finally made a series of operations after the North China Front fall short, so the responsibility for the defeat in this battle should be borne by the intelligence department, and Terauchi Shouichi only needs to bear the responsibility for the unfavorable command.

Under the direct intervention of Emperor Hirohito, General Terauchi Shouichi was only reprimanded by the base camp and still served as the commander of the North China Front. In order to appease the people in the country, the Japanese army headquarters directly ordered Major General Hirahara Eiichi, the head of the North China Front of the Special High-tech Branch, to return to China to report on his work, and Minakasa Suzuki and Jiro Yamada, who were in charge of the assassination operation, also returned to China for investigation.

Although he was protected by His Majesty the Emperor, General Terauchi still regarded this incident as a great shame in his life. As the eldest son of the Terauchi family and the eldest son of Marshal Terauchi Masatsuki, he felt that this battle was not only a shame for the Imperial Japanese Army, but also a shame for their Terauchi family.

In fact, Terauchi Shouichi did not feel that the main responsibility for the defeat of this battle should be borne by the intelligence department, all the details of this battle were personally formulated by him and the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Okabe Naosaburo, and the intelligence department and Minako Suzuki and others were just an assistant, so it was a bit too much for them to take this responsibility.

As a true soldier, Terauchi Shouichi is not afraid to take responsibility, and a soldier should have the courage to take responsibility. But he feared that if he was first found responsible for the defeat, he would be in danger of being transferred from the front line and possibly even court-martialed. He was not afraid of any punishment, but he was afraid of losing the opportunity to take revenge.

Shame can only be washed away with blood, this is the mantra given to him by his father, Marshal Terauchi Masatsuki, he has a reason to stay, unless he screws off the head of that hateful Shina, otherwise he will feel regretful even if he goes back and is promoted to Lu Xiang, so he knows that Eiichi and others are innocent, but Terauchi Shouichi did not intercede for them.

On 14 February, the North China Front convened a meeting of senior officers, which was mandatory for all officers of the rank of major general.

At the meeting, General Terauchi made a detailed report on the previous operations, and at the same time made a rare self-criticism at the meeting. Subsequently, General Terauchi Shoichi commented on the performance of each combat unit in the previous battle. Among them, Seishiro Itagaki Seishiro's 5th Division and Ryosuke Isoya's 10th Division were directly rebuked by Terauchi Shouichi as incompetent, while Yamashita Fumimi and Major General Sasaki Piichi, the commander of the 3rd Division of the 15th Division, were evaluated by Terauchi Shouichi as the bravest and most capable senior commander in tactical command in the Japanese Empire.

At the meeting, General Terauchi Shoichi read out the base camp's order on the readjustment of the combat units of the North China Front, and the commander of the readjusted North China Front Army was still General Terauchi Shouyi, the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Okabe Naosaburo, and the deputy chief of staff, Major General Kawabe, Shozo, and the headquarters was set up in Beiping.

After the adjustment, the North China Front Army has three armies, the First Army, the Second Army, and the Army Garrison in Mongolia, as well as some directly subordinate troops. The commander of the 1st Army was still Lieutenant General Kiyoji Kazuki, but the chief of staff was replaced by Major General Hashimoto to Major General Iida Shinojiro, and Major General Hashimoto was transferred to the head of the Japanese General Staff Headquarters. The headquarters is located in Baoding. The First Army has the 5th Division, the 14th Division, the 20th Division, the 1st Armored Vehicle Wing, the 1st Light Tank Wing, the 1st Independent Mountain Artillery Brigade, and the 1st Field Heavy Artillery Brigade.

The commander of the 2nd Army was Lieutenant General Nishio Toshizo, and the chief of staff, Major General Suzuki, led the way, and the headquarters was located in Jinan. The Second Army has the 10th, 15th, and 108th Divisions, the 2nd Armored Vehicle Wing, the 2nd Light Tank Wing, the 2nd Independent Mountain Artillery Brigade, the 6th Field Heavy Artillery Brigade, and the Army Signal Corps.

The troops directly under the Front Army are the 6th and 109th Divisions, the Provisional Aviation Corps, the Air Defense Brigade directly under the Front Army, the 1st Brigade of Independent Siege Heavy Artillery, the Front Army Signal Corps, the Railway Corps, the troops directly under the military station, and the Chinese Garrison Military Police. In addition, the former Chinese Independent Mixed Brigade Garrison in Tun will be expanded into the Chinese Garrison Division with immediate effect, with Major General Yamashita Fengfumi as the commander and Jiro Ono as the chief of staff. The division has the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Independent Infantry Wings, the 1st Cavalry Wing, the 1st Field Artillery Wing, the 1st Engineer Wing, the 1st Light and Heavy Pong Wing, the Signal Team, the Sanitary Team, and the 1st to 4th Field Hospitals. The Chinese Garrison Division was also assigned to the battle sequence of the troops directly under the North China Front.

After the readjustment, the strength of the North China Front Army has been greatly enhanced, and the previous eight divisions and regiments have suddenly increased to nine divisions and six brigades. The most important thing was that the artillery of the front army had increased significantly, and this battle made it clear to General Terauchi that the Shina army was no longer as vulnerable as it was when the war began.

Whether it is the Nationalist Government or the 61st Army, the combat effectiveness of its troops has been markedly enhanced. The Sixty-first Army is just that, that army has always been so strong, and the front army is used to it. However, this time, the China War II Zone actually took the initiative to launch an attack on the imperial army on the Xinkou front, and although it failed to completely drive the 108th and 109th divisions out of Shanxi, according to the information fed back by these two divisions, the combat effectiveness of the China army has obviously become stronger. (To be continued......)

PS: The next chapter is around 10 o'clock, so stay tuned!!!