However, it also takes into account that without transferring the 48th Division, with the strength of the existing two divisions, if you want to complete the entire battle plan of the front army, Lieutenant General Uchiyama Eitaro is somewhat underwhelming. △↗, reported to the front army headquarters, and asked the 50th Division, which was now attacking along the east of the Pinghan Road, to turn around and move eastward.

Or the 65th Division, which has now advanced from Xuzhou to Yanzhou and has been temporarily transferred from the 13th Army to the 12th Army, will participate in the war. And a brigade that was now downsized from the 114th Division was shrunk back to the Yanzhou front line to replace the 65th Division. As far as possible, on the battlefields west of Dezhou and east of Pinghan Road, we should concentrate absolutely superior forces and strive to solve the anti-coalition forces in the shortest possible time.

In response to Uchiyama Eitarō's request, Okamura Ninji finally partially agreed to his establishment and transferred the 65th Division to Gaotang. However, Uchiyama Eitarō's temporary downsizing of the remnants of the 114th Division into a brigade and the transfer of the 114th Division to Yanzhou was not approved.

Instead, the Third Independent Infantry Brigade of the First Army, which is still in the Shanxi-Henan border region, was transferred to Yanzhou to take over the defense line of the 65th Division. And in other directions, adjustments of a certain scale have been made. After the 65th Division went north, the deployment of troops on the front line of Yanzhou was ensured.

For Okamura Ningji, who had a lot of dealings with the Eighteenth Army in North China and knew that this army had strong survivability, which was rare in the world. He absolutely cannot tolerate the risk of sacrificing great interests and even facing accusations from many parties. The troops of the Shandong Military Region of the North China Communist Army, which trapped him on the Jiaodong Peninsula, once again broke away from the blockade area that he had painstakingly constructed.

Because he knows too well what kind of irreparable damage will be caused to the Jinpu Railway, the lifeline connecting the north and south of the Japanese army, and even the entire rear of the battlefield in northern and northwestern Shandong, once the main force of the Shandong Military Region troops and even most of them are evacuated from the Jiaodong Peninsula and returned to the mountainous area of Luzhong.

At the beginning, he withheld a field supplementary team for the First Army, in order to use this field supplementary team to replace the 48th Division and continue to undertake the blockade of the 18th Group Army-controlled area on the Jiaodong Peninsula when it was necessary to transfer the 48th Division to the north of the blockade area and the 48th Division to participate in the battle.

Just considering that Yantai is the closest port to the current Shandong battlefield, the strategic location is extremely important. The field supplementary team that Okamura Ninji held in his hands was also handed over to the command of Lieutenant General Kunitaro Yamada, commander of the 48th Division, to strictly defend the line from Shouguang to Yantai.

For Okamura Ninji, the communist army in North China was as a threat to the anti-Japanese alliance that had already invaded the city. One is well-equipped, well-trained, and powerful firepower, and new tactics and tactics are emerging one after another on the battlefield. In particular, the use of tank tactics and firepower can be said to be absolutely not inferior to any modern army in the West.

One is like a maggot on the tarsal bone, which can't be driven away, can't fight, and can't die, but it makes you eat poorly, sleep restlessly, and make you unable to live in peace all day long. As long as you are given a piece of land, you can survive even in a barren mountainous area. Once they put down roots, it was the beginning of a nightmare against the local garrison.

Dealing with two different armies, Okamura Ninji didn't dare to take anything lightly. Although the most powerful enemy army at the moment was the Anti-Japanese Union in southern Hebei, Okamura still did not dare to relax the communist army in Shandong. Therefore, Okamura Ninji still accepted the construction of Uchiyama Eitaro not to transfer the 48th Division for the time being, but to mobilize the 65th Division to go north instead.

However, after satisfying some of Uchiyama's needs, Okamura Ninji asked him not to wait for all the reinforcements to arrive before proceeding to the next step. First of all, with the 100th and 118th Divisions, they attacked and advanced on the battlefield in Zaonan, and absolutely did not see the entire 72nd Division being annihilated.

Under the urging of Okamura Ninji, in response to the current changes in the situation of the Jilu border, the Japanese army is closely and constantly adjusting its deployment. The 118th Division, which was closest to the 72nd Division, after receiving the order, its division commander, Lieutenant General Uchida Ginnosuke, ignored the containment of the surrounding troops of the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region and launched an all-out attack in the direction of Zaonan with the 89th Infantry Brigade as the first echelon.

It turned out that after receiving the task, although both General Okamura Ninji and Lieutenant General Uchiyama Eitaro repeatedly patted their chests and promised. But Lieutenant General Uchida Ginnosuke, who was still frightened, although he was fighting in the northwest of Lu. But in terms of deployment, he has always been cautious. I am afraid that my bait, which is used as bait, will be swallowed by my opponent in one go.

At present, the enemy army did not attack themselves, but turned around and attacked the 72nd Division. Although this is undoubtedly quite good news for Lieutenant General Ginnosuke Uchida. But he also knows that his relatively isolated situation has not been completely changed.

Once the enemy has eliminated the 72nd Division, then the next target is likely to be their own 118th Division. As a newly formed division regiment with a two-brigade regimental system, Lieutenant General Uchiyama Ginnosuke is very clear. Most of them have been mobilized three times as reserve soldiers, and a considerable number of officers are reserve officers, and there are even a large number of officers with rare origins.

Not only did the infantry have no new Type 99 rifles, but even the Type 38 rifles were not available in sufficient numbers. The light weapons are still mainly rifles from the stock of 30-year-old rifles. Both in terms of firepower and real combat effectiveness, it was inferior to the 72nd Division. If the 72nd Division collapses first, once the enemy turns to attack the 118th Division. Then the 118th Division, it would be a real tragedy.

Running towards the idea of mourning the death of a rabbit and a fox, Lieutenant General Uchida Ginnosuke was quite hard working when rescuing the 72nd Division. It is to adopt the tactics of multi-point offensive and group offensive. A fierce attack was launched against the troops on the left flank of the 72nd Division. An attempt was made to open up contact with the 72nd Division in the shortest possible time.

Even the troops of the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region, which were constantly attacking around him, did not care about it. Single-mindedly to the northeast, desperately attacking and advancing. Under the supervision of Lieutenant General Uchida Ginnosuke, the commanders of the two brigades under the division even went to the front line to supervise the battle.

It's just that the division is a two-brigade regiment system of the Japanese army, and the artillery under its jurisdiction has only one artillery team at the brigade level, which is equipped with eight Type 41 mountain guns and four Type 38 field guns. Although four mountain artillery squadrons were reinforced before the sortie, plus two squadrons of 105 howitzers. However, compared with the artillery of the anti-United Nations blocking force in person, it is much inferior in quantity and quality.

Under the suppression of the accurate and fierce artillery fire of the anti-United Nations blocking forces, the offensive launched by the 118th Division was smashed like a tide meeting a. After two days of attack, only less than five kilometers were advanced. But his own losses were quite staggering, and he was even disabled by a brigade in one day.

The 100th Division and the 4th Independent Tank Brigade were also reinforced by four anti-aircraft gun squadrons under the stern orders of Uchiyama Eitaro, and with the support of naval aviation, the 2 wings of the 4th Independent Tank Brigade were the leading forces, and they attacked and advanced from the old city to Zhengjiakou.

But Uchiyama Eitaro, who was born as an artillery officer, made a fatal mistake in the use of the 4th Brigade of Independent Combat Vehicles. Lieutenant General Yasushi Sakai made a deep impression on him in the battle outside Baoding City. A fully formed tank brigade was destroyed in the assembly area by the enemy's attack aircraft group before a single shot could be fired.

Under no circumstances could it be allowed to be assigned to the 4th Brigade of Tanks, which was assigned to him, and this result also occurred. I am afraid that the Fourth Brigade of Independent Combat Vehicles will repeat the mistakes of the First Tank Brigade on the Baoding Battlefield. Ignoring the resolute opposition of the brigade's commander, Hideki Takazawa, the two tank wings to which the brigade belonged were scattered as squadrons and distributed to each brigade of the 100th Division, with one or two squadrons.

As a result, the end of the Baoding North Battlefield was indeed avoided, and it was staged again. It also avoids the situation of being attacked by the anti-United Nations attack group at one time and destroying too many tanks. But a tank brigade that was originally used to concentrate on breakthroughs in order to exert greater power was scattered by him.

Each of its infantry brigades was reinforced by a tank squadron, and its assault capability increased. But the overall breakthrough ability was completely lost by him. At the same time, the scattered deployment of this tank brigade has also greatly reduced the pressure on the anti-coalition forces in person.

It was also his deployment that made the latest Type III tank equipped by the Japanese army with this tank brigade, and it was also the first tank used by the Japanese army to fight the tank, lose most of the role it should have played. In two tank battles that broke out in succession, the Japanese tank unit, which had an advantage in performance, lost two battles in a row.

However, it is not that Uchiyama Eitaro is too conservative in strategy and refuses to accept new tactics.

In fact, in the Japanese Army, which has always been known for its conservativeness, Lieutenant General Eitaro Uchiyama, who was born as an artilleryman, is still a rare general who is relatively quick to accept new things.

However, after the end of the Baoding battlefield, before it could be carried out on the battlefield, it was wiped out by the anti-United Nations attack aircraft group, and the cry of Major General Ano Yasuri, commander of the 1st Tank Brigade, and the detailed report of Lieutenant General Yasushi Sakai, who was still dismissed, left too deep an impression on him.

Since General Okamura Ninji decided to put the 4th Independent Tank Brigade into this operation. The report of Major General Ano Anli on the battle situation in Baoding North has been constantly showing in his mind. How to avoid the situation in the northern battlefield of Baoding from being repeated again has become something that Uchiyama Eitaro has been thinking about.

After thinking about it for a long time, Uchiyama Eitaro still adopted the method of decentralized allocation. In this way, even if the old tricks of the Anti-United Nations are repeated, the losses caused to the 4th Brigade of the Independent Tank will not be too much at one time. At the very least, the assault capabilities of the participating troops can be guaranteed, as well as the forces of rapid mobility.

The most important thing is that in the opinion of Uchiyama Eitaro, such an approach, although on the surface, disperses the troops. However, in fact, when it is scheduled to be put into the battlefield and the front is not very wide, no matter which direction there is a threat and needs rapid reinforcement of tank troops, this tank brigade with a not very wide deployment area can be regrouped as needed.

Anyway, these tanks can be quickly maneuvered. The predetermined direction of attack is not blocked by natural obstacles. On the terrain of a flat river, this tank brigade is simple to disassemble, and it is only a matter of a few hours to concentrate. Although there is a certain risk in such a deployment method, it is better than letting people serve it in one pot.

And Uchiyama Eitaro didn't completely dismantle this tank brigade. In addition to the five tanks directly under the brigade headquarters, each wing also left one squadron of light and medium tanks and one squadron of artillery tanks. The motorized infantry belonging to the brigade and regiment was also left to the brigade commander as it was.

The dismantled Fourth Brigade of Independent Combat Vehicles, with only four squadrons left and motorized infantry, was entrusted with the task by Eitaro Uchiyama. It is not responsible for front-line offensive tasks, but is used exclusively as a maneuver. Tank units that are specifically responsible for dealing with the anti-coalition to ensure the safety of frontal attacking infantry.