PS: Thank you for the monthly ticket voted by the book friend "Flying Universe", and by the way, I ask for a recommendation vote ^_^

You must know that after the Eighth Route Army eliminated the 70,000 Japanese troops, the total number of permanent attrition of the Japanese army so far has exceeded the 1 million mark (including the results of the Red 15th Army in Hebei during the 77 Incident), which is more than the total number of Japanese troops annihilated in the eight years of the War of Resistance in history (Japan's early statistics say that they died 400,000 people in China, but there are many doubts, and now it is generally believed that the total number of dead and sick and missing should be between 600,000 and 700,000, but in any case it does not reach one million). On such a basis, the loss of another three or four hundred thousand will definitely make Japan break its muscles and bones. Moreover, if the new plan is adopted, the losses of the 15 th Group Army and the Eighth Route Army will be much smaller than the original plan, and on the whole, it may not be much worse than the original plan

Although Commander Lin of the 27th Army of the 18th Group Army was a little unhappy that the limelight would be snatched away by the 15th Group Army, he had always cherished his soldiers, so he still agreed with the proposal of the 15th Group Army Headquarters, and the other two commanders of the Eighth Route Army also felt that it was too much to lose by continuing such a strong attack, but Mr. Peng, who was in charge of the command, was easily unwilling to admit defeat, and was so unintentionally provoked by Hu Su, but became more and more eager to knock Kaifeng down to prove that the Eighth Route Army was not worse than the 15th Group Army. In the following week, the Eighth Route Army suffered as many as 100,000 casualties, but it only captured some field fortifications on the outskirts of Kaifeng, and failed to break the bones of the 11th Army, while the Eighth Route Army lost its ability to attack in an all-out way because of too many attritions in a short period of time and the almost exhaustion of large-caliber artillery shells and aerial bombs. The great man who was far away in Lanzhou was very dissatisfied when he learned about it, but in order to save General Peng's face, he did not directly seize his military command, but tactfully asked him to return to the North China border area to preside over the anti-sweeping work, so as to deal with the possible sweep launched by the Japanese North China Front Army because of the southward movement of the main force of the Eighth Route Army. As for the military command of the Western Front, it was transferred to Lin Biao, commander of the 27th Army. At the same time, after communicating with the headquarters of the 15 th Group Army, it was ordered that the 300,000 mobilized troops from the Central Plains Border Region be directly supplemented to the Eighth Route Army so as to facilitate unified command

Immediately after Lin Biao took office, he ordered the Eighth Route Army to suspend the offensive. On the one hand, Lin Biao actively encouraged and popularized the spontaneous "cold guns and cold artillery" movement of grassroots commanders and fighters, and on the other hand, he adopted special tactics such as night raids and night bombing by small units to attack the Japanese troops in Kaifeng.

Among them, the "cold gun and cold gun" movement did not take advantage of the fact that there were more sharpshooters in the Japanese army at the beginning. However, under the collective wisdom of the vast number of commanders and fighters, the advantage of the large number of mortars of the Eighth Route Army was brought into full play, and the sharpshooters of the Eighth Route Army won the best in the sniper duel. If you lose, then a row of mortar shells will hit it, and the enemy's sharpshooters at a distance of five or six hundred meters will definitely die for life, and the devil's grenadier range is insufficient, and the number of infantry guns is too small (relative to the number of mortars equipped by the Eighth Route Army), so it is impossible to effectively counter it, and naturally it suffers a big loss, and after a large number of casualties among the Japanese army's top shooters. The sharpshooters of the Eighth Route Army also had an increasing upper hand in sniper warfare (in addition, they received more training in battle than Japanese sharpshooters due to their higher survival rate, which is also an important reason). The casualties inflicted on the Japanese army were greater than one day at a time

However, the main purpose of the night raid and night bombing was not to directly kill or injure the Japanese troops, but to disturb the rest of the Japanese officers and soldiers. This was mainly due to the use of more than 4 times the strength of the Eighth Route Army (Note 1), so the Eighth Route Army could give the officers and soldiers a chance to rest through rotation, while the Japanese army could only fight fatigue all the time, and the devils could still hold on for the first few days, and after a long time, even Okamura Ninji, the supreme commander, had a pair of dark circles, not to mention the Japanese officers and soldiers below

After the Eighth Route Army's night harassment day after day, the devils who were generally short and strong quickly lost weight, and even described them as withered, and because of the long-term lack of sleep, many devils' mental state has problems to varying degrees, and some of them even lost their original calm and ignored the strict orders of their superiors, hysterically launched a board charge against the Eighth Route Army outside the city, but they were killed and injured by the commanders and fighters of the Eighth Route Army who had been prepared for a long time. According to post-war statistics, the Eighth Route Army not only killed more than 10,000 Japanese troops in a month after the change of generals, but also suffered only more than 1,000 casualties, which was a world of difference compared with the previous heavy losses

The interests of the 15 th Group Army were naturally greatly damaged by lending 300,000 high-quality reserve soldiers to the Eighth Route Army, and nine times out of ten they borrowed but did not repay them, but for the sake of the overall situation of the Central Plains General Battle, they did not have a better choice. After the war, the more than 100,000 wounded soldiers of the Eighth Route Army were not demobilized back to their original units, but were incorporated into the 15 th Group Army, which suffered considerable losses at that time.

In addition, the Eighth Route Army was equipped with all new firearms, mortars, 105 mountain guns, and 122mm howitzers (the production of bazookas was fast, and the demand was not as great as that of rifles, enough to equip all the regular armies of the Red Party. All of them were replaced and handed over to the 15 th Group Army, so that all its personnel were equipped with new weapons (except for heavy artillery with a caliber of more than 150 mm) made by the arsenal in the border area, which not only enhanced the combat effectiveness of the troops, but also reduced the difficulty of logistical work because of the unification of ammunition caliber and standards. Although the Eighth Route Army temporarily changed back to Japanese weapons with relatively poor performance, it also reduced the pressure on logistics supply, and besides, new weapons can be replaced sooner or later, and it is estimated that it will only wait for another half a year to a year

Note 1: After replenishing the mobilized troops in the Central Plains Border Region, the total strength of the Eighth Route Army in encircling Kaifeng reached almost 700,000 people, although due to the inclusion of a large number of recruits who lacked actual combat experience, the overall combat effectiveness may not be stronger than at the beginning of the Western Front Campaign, but the number is indeed enough. (To be continued.) )