Li Yunlong noticed Zhao Gang's expression and asked, "Old Zhao, what's wrong with you?" ”

"Oh, nothing." Zhao Gang casually stacked the two lists together, and now the war is not over, and it is not yet time for this matter.

"No, there must be something wrong with you."

Li Yunlong already knew Zhao Gang very well.

Zhao Gang said a little helplessly: "That's the case, in the Battle of Chenzhuang that just ended this morning, the casualties of our northwest column in Jin Province were a little large. ”

The brigade commander asked, "How many casualties?" ”

"More than three thousand." Zhao Gang said with a heavy expression, "Among them, more than 1,200 people have been killed, and more than 700 seriously injured people are being sent to the hospital for rescue, and I don't know how many people can be rescued in the end." ”

"So many casualties?" The brigade commander also looked gloomy when he heard this.

The atmosphere in the war room also became solemn at once, and everyone stopped talking.

Only Zhao Gang continued: "The main thing is the first wave of bombing by the devil air force, which caused a lot of casualties to the various units involved in the attack, and the situation is actually fine after the two sides get mixed together." ”

The brigade commander nodded and asked, "How many casualties have been suffered in total since the Battle of Northwest Jinxi began?" ”

Zhao Gang replied: "The casualties have exceeded 6,000, of which more than 1,900 were killed, and more than 1,600 soldiers were seriously injured and are being rescued in the hospital." ”

"So much?" Li Yunlong was startled when he heard this.

With more than 6,000 casualties, isn't this a reduction of one and a half brigades?

You must know that in three or seven years, when their 386th Brigade first arrived in Shanxi, there were only more than 4,000 people.

The brigade commander sighed lightly and said, "It seems that our soldiers and grassroots cadres are still not familiar with such large-scale offensive operations, otherwise the casualty number will definitely be smaller than now." ”

"It's going to take time." Wang Ye said, "It'll be fine next time." ”

The brigade commander nodded, and said: "Now that the county seat of Ping'an and the county seat of Laoxian have been recovered, there is only one lonely city left in Anhua County, but the troops are fighting continuously, and the soldiers are already relatively tired, do you think you should rest for two days first?" Or do you want to take Anhua County while the iron is hot and take Anhua County and annihilate the 69th Division? ”

Xing Zhiguo said: "That's still useful, it must be to take Anhua County in one go." ”

Wang Ye said: "Brigade commander, I think it is still necessary to develop a tenacious style of continuous combat. ”

Where is it now? It was just two or three tough battles, and there was no continuous battle at all.

When the civil war breaks out, that is really the time to test endurance, when a month of rapid marching, and fighting in between rapid marches will become the norm!

But such tenacity is not innate.

Rather, it has been tempered through one battle after another.

The three detachments of the Northwest Column of Jin, the style on the battlefield is absolutely nothing, it is definitely fierce enough, it is definitely a group of howling wolves, no matter how powerful the enemy is, they dare to bare their fangs and bite hard, even if they know that they are invincible, they have to tear off a piece of bloody flesh from the enemy.

However, the guerrilla habit of this force is also very strong.

What is guerrilla habits? In a word, if you can beat it, you will fight, and if you can't beat it, you will run.

To put it bluntly, Li Yunlong often talks about it, only allowed to take advantage, never suffer losses, and if anyone sells at a loss, he will scold his mother.

This is a typical guerrilla habit.

Troops with too strong guerrilla habits will not be able to fight tough and vicious battles.

It's okay to fight a tough battle once or twice once in a while, but it's not okay to fight a tough battle for a long time.

In the past, when I was in the Taihang Military Region, the new regiment and the independent regiment all acted with large troops, and the guerrilla habits on their bodies were actually not heavy, so they could shake 40,000 devils in Shuiyao Mountain for a whole month!

But since coming to the northwest of Jin, the three regiments began to attack separately,

In line with the spirit of "only taking advantage of the situation and not suffering losses," although the troops have developed rapidly and their weaponry has improved, their guerrilla habits have become heavier and heavier.

But such a force cannot fight a tough battle.

At least it is not possible to continue to fight a tough battle for a long time.

This point has already appeared in the last time Taiyuan was hit.

So Wang Ye feels that now is a very good opportunity.

We can take this opportunity to change the guerrilla habits of the Northwest Jin Column, so that the Northwest Jin Column can truly become a heroic force that cannot be defeated or dragged down!

The independent regiment of the original play is just an elite unit.

But Wang Ye hoped that the Northwest Column of Jin would become a heroic unit.

After a pause, Wang Ye said again: "This is of great benefit to the civil war after the end of the Anti-Japanese War. ”

"Civil war?" The brigade commander nodded, and said thoughtfully, "Xiao Wang, I didn't expect you to think so far, then okay, then let the soldiers work hard to overcome the difficulties and continue to launch the Anhua Campaign!" ”

After a pause, the brigade commander said to Zhao Gang again: "Xiao Zhao, your political department must do a good job in ideological work. ”

"Yes!" Zhao Gang said solemnly, "Our Political Department will mobilize all forces to eliminate the negative psychology of the soldiers. ”

The brigade commander turned his gaze to Xing Zhiguo again, and said: "And your logistics department, you must also do a good job in logistics." ”

"The brigade commander can rest assured that our logistics department will never drag the front behind." Xing Zhiguo also said with a serious face, "Considering that the physical consumption of the soldiers in continuous combat is relatively large, our logistics department has managed to purchase a thousand pigs from the villagers' homes, and is ready to make a meal of pork and cabbage stewed vermicelli for the soldiers of the whole column." ”

"Good!" The brigade commander nodded happily.

……

The Eighth Route Army is sharpening its knives here, and of course the devils will not be idle here.

After Tanimura's wing (lacking a brigade) was completely annihilated, Inoue Sadawei panicked.

Because before the Tanimura Wing was completely annihilated, the Utada Wing stationed in Ping'an County and the Tokuda Wing (lacking a brigade) who rushed to the aid of Ping'an County had been completely annihilated by the Eighth Route Army.

In other words, there was only one infantry brigade left in the combat unit of the 69th Division.

The 69th Division has three infantry wings and nine infantry brigades, and now only one infantry brigade remains.

The rest of the troops consisted of a baggage brigade, an engineer corps, and two mountain artillery brigades, and then the troops directly under the division headquarters and medical personnel.

Although there are quite a few people, there are more than 6,000 people, but they are all technical arms.

Although these technical arms also receive the same rigorous training as the infantry, they are not real infantry after all, and they cannot be compared with the infantry of the infantry units in terms of combat experience and tactical literacy, and what is even more troublesome is that the equipment of these technical arms is far from being comparable with the infantry units.

Because the infantry unit has perfect firepower, from rifles to light machine guns to heavy machine guns, grenadiers and infantry guns, there is a whole set of powerful firepower, but the technical arms are only equipped with a small number of rifles and pistols, and the firepower intensity cannot be compared with the real infantry units.

Those two artillery brigades of yours?

Without the coordination of the infantry, the artillery unit is a dish.

Therefore, Inoue sent three telegrams asking for help to the headquarters of the First Army.

After receiving Inoue's telegram for help, Yoshimoto Sadaichi also realized the seriousness of the situation, but the 36th and 37th Divisions were held back by the Eighth Route Army in Taihang District and Taiyue District, and the Fourth Brigade did not dare to act rashly, because Yoshimoto Sadachi was afraid of repeating the mistakes of Iwamatsu Yoshio.

In case after the Fourth Brigade goes north, the Eighth Route Army will give them a direct attack on Huanglong and come to fight Taiyuan, then it will be troublesome.

So this time Yoshimoto learned his lesson, and the Fourth Brigade did not dare to move, but cheekily sent a telegram to the headquarters of the North China Front, requesting support from the Front.

……

When the telegram was received, Okamura was still on the Jizhong front.

After reading the telegram, Okamura Ningji said quietly: "I expected that the Eighth Route Army in the northwest of Jin would definitely not settle down, and it would definitely take action this year, but I still didn't expect this battle to come so quickly." ”

Yousue Jingsan put down the telegram and said: "The main reason is that the batch of American weapons that Chu Yunfei provided to the Eighth Route Army, as well as the five base ammunition, greatly accelerated the combat readiness of the Eighth Route Army, otherwise, at least in the first half of this year, the Eighth Route Army in the northwest of Shanxi would not be able to launch such a large-scale offensive." ”

"Weapons and ammunition are only one of the reasons." Okamura Ninji waved his hand and said, "The key is still the concept. ”

After a pause, Okamura Ninji said: "From defensive warfare and guerrilla warfare to offensive warfare, it is necessary to carry out a complete change in concept from the inside out, I originally thought that the Eighth Route Army was accustomed to guerrilla warfare, and it would take at least two or three baptisms of small-scale offensive operations to be able to evolve to the current stage, but ...... I still underestimated them after all. ”

Seizo was silent for a few seconds and asked, "Your Excellency, what now?" ”

Okamura Ninji also fell into a long silence when he heard this, frowning and not knowing what he was thinking.

Yusue Seizan waited a few seconds and didn't wait for Okamura Ninji's answer, so he asked tentatively: "Your Excellency General, why don't you stop the sweep of the Jizhong bandit area first?" ”

"Because after nearly a month of repeated sweeps,"

"The Eighth Route Army in the Jizhong Bandit Region is already seriously injured, even if there are still fish that have slipped through the net, it is impossible to recover to its previous momentum in a short period of time."

"In the future, the difficulty will be greatly reduced."

After a pause, he said: "However, if the main force of the North China Front Army is transferred to the battlefield in the northwest of Shanxi at this time, it will definitely be able to kill the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army by surprise, and if you don't do it, you will be able to end the battle in a short time." ”

"What if it doesn't end in a short time?" Okamura Ninji asked faintly, "What should I do?" ”

"This ......" was speechless for a moment, and if it couldn't be finished in a short time, it would be a big trouble.

Because the Eighth Route Army of the Jizhong Military Region was still very strong, it caused great trouble to the Japanese troops involved in the sweep.

Therefore, after nearly a month of continuous fighting, the Japanese troops who participated in the sweep were extremely exhausted both mentally and physically, and more importantly, there were not many war materials left.

Okamura Ninji prepared supplies for the four divisions for this sweep.

By now, there is not much left of the materials for these four divisions and regiments.

The remaining combat materials are more than enough to continue to sweep the Jizhong Military Region, but if they want to be used to deal with the main force of the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army entrenched in the northwest of Shanxi, it will be overstretched.

After a long time, there was a third person who said: "So, what does Your Excellency the General think?" ”

"The sweep of the bandit area in central Hebei continues." Okamura Ninji said quietly, "For this May Day sweep, we have been preparing for such a long time and paying such a big price, how can we give up halfway?" ”

"After all, the central Hebei region is the most fertile grain-producing area in the entire North China Plain."

"Therefore, if the Eighth Route Army is not completely smashed in the central Hebei bandit area, it is absolutely not allowed to withdraw troops."

After a pause, Okamura Ninji said again: "What's more, in order to serve His Majesty the Emperor and His Excellency the Prime Minister, we also need to show a decent record in the North China Battlefield." ”

"But...... "There are three ways of the end of the essence," "What about the 69th Division in the northwest of Jin?" ”

After a pause, there was a sue Jingsan and said: "Judging from the battle report provided by the First Army, if the North China Front Army Headquarters does not dispatch reinforcements, the First Army alone will definitely not be able to rescue the 69th Division. ”

"Once the 69th Division is completely annihilated by the Eighth Route Army, it will set a record of shame."

"Because before this, the imperial army had never been completely annihilated at the division and regimental level on the Chinese battlefield."

After another pause here, there was a sue Jingsan and said: "However, this is not the most troublesome, the most troublesome thing is that after the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army completely annihilated the 69th Division, the entire northwest of Shanxi will be reduced to a bandit area, and not only will the Tongpu Railway be completely cut off by the Eighth Route Army, but the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army will also be able to calmly build a bandit area, build power plants, steel plants and even arsenals, and once the Eighth Route Army builds the arsenal, then the Imperial Army will be in big trouble!" ”

The strategic intent of the Northwest Column of Jin Province is actually a conspiracy, which can be seen with a little vision.

With the observation power of Okamura Ninji and Arisue Seizo, it is naturally not difficult to see the strategic intentions of the Northwest Column of Jin.

"No, it won't." Okamura Ninji shook his head and said, "How can the construction of the factory be so easy, let alone the arsenal, I even doubt that the Eighth Route Army can find a qualified engineer." ”

"Even if it is not so easy to build a factory, the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army can at least have enough time to build a defensive system, which will inevitably greatly increase the difficulty of our attack." ”

At this point, there was a sue Jingsan and said: "I am even worried that the difficulty and tragedy of this offensive operation are likely to exceed the Battle of Songhu." ”

Okamura Ninji was silent when he heard this.

Because he actually has the same concern.

After a long time, Okamura Ningji said: "That's also a helpless thing, there is a Chinese proverb, you have to eat bite by bite when you eat, you have to do things one by one, you can't eat hot tofu in a hurry, for now, it's better to smash the Eighth Route Army Hebei Central Bandit Area first, as for the Northwest Shanxi Bandit Area, it's a big deal to fight for more resources when the time comes." ”

Yusue Jingsan sighed: "But for the sixty-ninth division, is it really not doing anything?" ”

"Of course not." Okamura Ningji said quietly, "Let the Mongolian army send an infantry wing to the south for reinforcements, and then let Yoshimoto-kun transfer an infantry wing from the fourth brigade to the north for reinforcements, this will most likely have the strength of the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army has been used to the limit, and these two infantry wings will be able to play a decisive role." ”

"Okay." There is a helpless way of the end of the essence.

"It seems that this is the only way to go."

……

Taiyuan, the headquarters of the First Army.

Sadachi Yoshimoto was pacing back and forth in the war room with his hands behind his back.

Every few steps, Yoshimoto would stop to look at the communication room next door, and when he saw that no one had come out, he turned around and continued pacing with a disappointed face.

The eyes of several section leaders such as Takuya Mizuhara, Masao Inamori, and Jiro Sakuma followed Sadachi Yoshimoto back and forth.

Finally, Yasushi Inoue, the head of the communications section, walked out of the communications section, walked up to Sadachi Yoshimoto, and reported one after another: "Your Excellency Commander, the front army headquarters is in an emergency!" ”

"How?" Yoshimoto said urgently.

Inoue Yasushi said: "The front army command ordered us to immediately send an infantry wing from the fourth brigade to the north for reinforcements. ”

"Huh? That's it? Yoshimoto Sadachi was disappointed when he heard this, and Takuya Mizuhara and several other section commanders also looked at each other, this is the rhythm of letting the 69th Division fend for itself?

Inoue said again: "The Mongolian army will also send an infantry wing from Datong to the south for reinforcements." ”

"Ugh." Yoshimoto sighed and said to the adjutant, "Ask Nakajima-kun to come over." ”

The brigade headquarters of the Fourth Brigade of the Japanese Army was located in Taiyuan, and it was next door to the headquarters of the First Army.

A phone call from the adjutant passed, and the commander of the 4th Brigade, Tokutaro Nakajima, soon came to the headquarters.

"Nakajima-kun." Yoshimoto Sadachi asked, "I asked you to transfer the first and second brigades of the third wing back to Taiyuan, where are these two brigades?" ”

Tokutaro Nakajima replied, "It's already past Shouyang, and I'll be able to reach Taiyuan soon." ”

"Okay." Yoshimoto Sadachi said happily, "The two brigades of the third wing don't have to come to Taiyuan, you immediately take the direct team of the fourth brigade to Wusu, and after meeting with the two infantry brigades of the third wing, immediately go north along Tongpu Road to reinforce the 69th Division trapped in Anhua." ”

Tokutaro Nakajima said:

"Hello!"

……

In Anhua, the East Gate Tower.

Inoue Sadawei couldn't stay at the division headquarters, and took a few staff officers to the East Gate Tower.

Standing on the tower of the East Gate and looking out, you can clearly see the Eighth Route Army about two kilometers away, and you can see that the Eighth Route Army is nervously digging trenches and repairing fortifications.

Although the Eighth Route Army was the attacker, it was also meticulously repairing fortifications.

This is actually a good habit, because Sun Tzu's art of war is cloudy, not thinking about victory, thinking about defeat first, only when he has a firm foothold, can he attack without distractions, otherwise the enemy may collapse with a counter-assault.

Seeing that the Eighth Route Army was rushing to repair the fortifications, and the distance was getting closer and closer, Inoue Sadawei became more and more anxious.

"Why didn't the 9th Flying Squadron send attack planes and fighters to attack the Eighth Route Army?" Inoue said angrily, "When will the reinforcements arrive in Anhua County?" ”

Several staff officers were speechless.

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