The rapid escalation of the fighting made the Japanese base camp very dissatisfied, but more worried about the future situation. It was early June 1939, when Germany had annexed Czechoslovakia and the situation in Europe was extremely tense. Germany's strong rise not only made the surrounding small countries tremble, but also panicked the Soviet Union, a large country.

In order to stop the aggression of Nazi Germany, the USSR was at this time negotiating with Britain and France aimed at creating a system of collective security. But for a variety of reasons, the negotiations were not successful. On April 20, on the day of the 50th birthday of the German Führer Hitler, Germany held a grand military parade.

Despite this, Britain and France did not agree to an alliance with the USSR, believing that so many years of efforts should move the Germans, and the direction in which German tanks would advance would only be east, and not west, where they were. More importantly, Britain and France have their own plans, France is very confident in the Maginot Line that cost 5 billion, and the Germans want to attack France behind it through this line, at least 500,000 casualties will have to be paid, so France has nothing to fear.

Britain, on the other hand, because of the natural barrier of the English Channel, would not worry about the German attack. Although the German army was very strong, the proud British did not take the German navy seriously, and the British gentlemen who crisscrossed the five continents and four oceans would wipe out all the landlubbers in Germany when the straits were exhausted.

Although the negotiations did not yield much results, the Soviets did not give up. They traveled from country to country, frequently meeting with dignitaries of various countries, and holding talks. All this made Japan extremely nervous, and once the Soviet Union resolved the threat from the east, it was bound to deal with the crisis in the east with all its might.

At this time, although Japan thought that it was very strong, it did not dare to go to war with China and the Soviet Union at the same time, because at this time, Japan's economy could no longer support a larger war. Originally, according to the idea of the base camp, even if it was a certain price, even if Japan took the initiative to retreat, it would be necessary to solve the northern crisis. But due to the strength of the Kwantung Army. It was believed that the scale of the war could be controlled in a local area. And it should be possible to crush, or even completely annihilate, the Far Eastern Front of the Soviet Red Army in a short period of time.

However, it backfired. For two and a half months, instead of crushing the Soviet Red Army. On the contrary, it was repeatedly hit hard by the Soviet-Mongolian coalition forces. Now it has attracted more than 100,000 troops in the eighth station area of the national government. This is not only the base camp panicked. Even the command of the Kwantung Army, which had always been strong, was in a hurry.

The development of things so far is definitely not what the North China Front wants to see, let alone what the Japanese army base camp sees. And yet it has happened. Either way, they have to face it.

Tens of thousands of troops marched westward, expanding the scale of the war again. At this point, the two major strategic groups of the Japanese army overseas were all thrown into the fierce war. In the north, the main force of the Kwantung Army was divided into two battlefields, the first battlefield was the Nomenkan battlefield, and at the same time it was also the main battlefield, where the Kwantung Army mobilized 3 divisions and 2 brigades, in addition to more than 400 tanks and 450 aircraft, and confronted the First Army of the Red Army in the Far East commanded by Zhukov.

The second battlefield was in the eastern grasslands, mainly concentrated in Chifeng, Tongliao and the eastern part of Xilin Gol. Here, the army mobilized two divisions and four puppet army divisions, and the 150,000 troops under Chifeng were hard to carry.

In North China, the Japanese army was also in full swing, and the First Army of Shanxi was on a rampage. The northern Hebei side is ready to move, and even the eastern Hebei region, which has been quiet for less than five months, is also surging undercurrents, and both the commander of the Kwantung Army, Senior General Ueda, and the commander of the North China Front, Senior General Binshanyuan, feel very pressure. Although their two major corps combined had nearly one million troops, only more than 400,000 of them could really be put into attack after excluding the troops left behind.

However, the enemy they have to face is far more than 400,000, and now there are 150,000 or 60,000 troops on the side of the Soviet-Mongolian coalition army, and the total number of troops in the north and south of the eighth station area is 200,000, and there are at least 200,000 troops in the second theater that can be put into the attack. The most important thing is that both the Soviet Red Army and the 8th, 2nd, and 1st theaters of the Chinese war can quickly draw more troops to participate in the war, which is far stronger than them.

Therefore, the battle seemed to be on fire, but the Japanese did not want to make such a big deal of it. In a telegram sent from the headquarters to the Kwantung Army Headquarters and the North China Front Headquarters, Prince Kanin Miyakihito, the de facto commander of the Japanese army, warned Senior General Ueda and Senior General Binyama Moto that it would be best if the battle could be ended as soon as possible, and if it could not be ended as soon as possible, the war should be controlled within a certain range, because something big was likely to happen in Europe.

Receiving the order from the base camp, the North China Front quickly adjusted its strategy, and part of the First Army immediately stopped the offensive, and in a telegram sent to the First Army by Senior General Binshan Moto, Binshan Moto ordered Umezu Mijiro to control the front as it had done at the end of '38, so as not to cause a strong backlash in the Second and Eighth Theaters of the Shina Theater.

The Japanese army, which originally planned to attack in the direction of Zhangjiakou and Phoenix Mountain, also urgently retreated, which made Xu Hu, commander-in-chief of the 52nd Group Army, who was ready to meet the enemy, very depressed, as if he had punched cotton.

Although the Japanese army had the idea of retreating, Chen Feng did not agree, and the Japanese could not judge the situation in the world, but he knew the way clearly. Moreover, he also knew very well that the Japanese were about to plant a big heel in Nomenkan this time, and it was a good opportunity for him to break through into the eastern steppes and the northeast region.

Therefore, Chen Feng personally went to Xilinhot to command the battle. Knowing that two divisions of the Japanese army and a large number of puppet troops were attacking the areas of Keshiketengqi, Linxi and Xiwuqi, Chen Feng ordered the local defenders to retreat immediately and resolutely not engage the Japanese until reinforcements arrived.

On June 4, the 5th Wing of the 8th Division of the Japanese Army captured the Keshiketeng Banner, the 17th Wing captured the Right Banner of Bahrain, and the 12th Infantry Brigade of the 12th Division of the Japanese Army captured the Left Banner of Bahrain.

Originally, according to Li Yifeng's operational plan, a part of the troops was dispatched south to contain the Japanese army's westward advance, and at the same time a special task force and two cavalry divisions were sent northward, while he himself personally led the rest of the troops to attack Huanglong, and Huolin Gol directly attacked the Japanese military town of Tongliao.

But this operational plan was vetoed by Chen Feng, because Chen Feng knew very well the results of the Battle of Nomenkan, and the seemingly powerful Kwantung Army was simply vulnerable in front of Zhukov, the god of war. What's more, Nomenkan is too far away from Xilinhot, and it is also a strategic place that the Soviet and Mongolian armies attach great importance to, so the Soviet Union will not let itself rely on that place, so it will not do much good to run so far.

Since the Japanese army wanted him to fight in the south, he would do as they wished, and all the 150,000 troops went south, not even the Huolin Gol that had just been captured, and the army went south on the same day and went straight to the Zalut banner. Chen Feng knew that the Japanese army had only stationed one division in the Horqin area, and his target was this 12th division.

The reason why Chen Feng dared to fight this permanent division of the Japanese army was because the 12th division happened to be a Japanese army unit stationed in the Horqin area, and there was nothing to do about it. On the other hand, it is because Chen Feng understands the 12th Division, not only its past, but also its present and future. It can be said that this division is the most special division of all the Japanese troops, and compared with the fourth division, which is laughable, the luck of this 12th division is very enviable.

The 12th Division was formed on October 1, 1898, in Kurume. It has the 14th, 24th, 46th, and 48th wings. Chinese mainland The 12th Division not only has four strong infantry wings, but also has a field heavy artillery brigade, one field artillery wing, one independent mountain artillery wing, one field heavy artillery wing, one anti-aircraft artillery wing, and one tank wing.

After the Russo-Japanese War and before the 128 Shanghai Incident in 1932, the 12th Division participated in only one small-scale war, and its performance was mediocre. In the Shanghai Incident in 32 years, the 12th Division sent three infantry brigades and one mountain artillery brigade as the backbone to form a mixed 24th brigade to Shanghai to participate in the war. However, after the successful landing at Wusongkou in Shanghai, the brigade became a melee with the 5th Army that encountered Zhang Zhizhong on the line of Wusong Town-Miaohang Town-Dachang Town. It took nearly three months for the 24th Brigade to occupy Miaohang Town, and its performance was very disappointing to the Japanese high-brass. In April 1936, the 12th Division was ordered to garrison Manchuria, during which time there was no fighting.

Moreover, Chen Feng also knew that even after the outbreak of the Pacific War, the 12th Division had no chance to go to the battlefield. Until November 1944, the 12th Division was sent to Taiwan to serve as the defense of Taiwan. Until the surrender of the Japanese army in August 45, this new force did not fight with China's regular troops, let alone with the US army, and the only battle was probably a small fight with the US submarine in the process of transporting to Taiwan, and the result was that three warships were sunk and thousands of Japanese soldiers were killed.

It can be said that although this army looks scary on the surface, it is actually a group of recruits, and Chen Feng can't miss it. If he were to change to other Japanese divisions, Chen Feng would have beaten a side drum at most, but since he had encountered this 12th Division, which had a lot of money and stupid soldiers, Chen Feng would have to eat it in one bite, and then let the Kwantung Army have a good experience of his Chen Someone's power. (To be continued......)