With Major General Sakamoto, who was parachuted in by Okabe, the commander-in-chief of the North China side, that is, as both commander and supervisor, although Commander Nanata and others were very reluctant, they could only cooperate with the deployment of a large number of materials and troops to form this southbound force.

Before leaving, Nanata repeatedly told Sakamoto: "Everything obeys the command of my headquarters, we must always pay attention to the movements of the Eighth Route Army, and when the army advances along the way, all directions will send troops to guard, and the warning range must be maintained at least ten kilometers."

to avoid being ambushed by the Eighth Route Army!

Once you encounter an ambush by the Eighth Route Army, you must quickly determine which unit the enemy is, and pay special attention to whether there is a team wearing steel helmets and combat boots.

If there is such a team, do not hesitate to retreat immediately, keeping that in mind! ”

However, it is said that this Major General Sakamoto, when the Sino-Japanese War just broke out, did make great military achievements on the front-line battlefield.

However, he has always been mainly responsible for the front line and the Central Army, the Jin Sui Army, and the Eighth Route Army in the occupied area, but there are not many confrontations.

Therefore, Major General Sakamoto was not impressed by the toughness of the Eighth Route Army.

Regarding Commander Nanata's instructions, he felt that His Excellency the Commander was a bit alarmist, but it was just a group of eight roads!

I don't know what the reason is, whether it's because there are no more capable people available under him, Okamoto actually sent a general like him who still despises the Eighth Route Army this time.

Perhaps the reason is simple.

What Okamoto valued most was Major General Sakamoto's absolute loyalty to him.

In contrast, those Japanese generals who had extensive combat experience with the Eighth Route Army in the occupied areas were often more thoughtful, and it was easy for them to be subdued and disobey Okabe's orders.

Really......

Because Okabe had high hopes for this army, he even used this team as an important bargaining chip for himself to turn the tables, as long as he could solve the crisis in Baoding in one fell swoop, he would definitely be able to free up his hands to reinforce the Shandong battlefield, and maybe the whole game of chess would be revitalized.

So he personally commanded, and even through the commander-in-chief of the Chinese dispatch army, Junroku Hatata, urgently urged the unit to move south quickly.

The loyal Sakamoto naturally did not say anything, and according to the command of Okabe, he led the troops to advance quickly.

On the other hand, Commander Nanata originally maintained the command of the troops led by Sakamoto at all times, until he received the news through the henchmen of the troops that Major General Sakamoto had led the troops to advance rapidly under the orders of the commander-in-chief of Okabe, and directly abandoned the original plan of carefully advancing according to the plan.

Commander Nanata, who was worried that the rapid advance would easily fall into the trap of the Eighth Route Army, immediately contacted the Iinuma Mori troops, and sure enough, he found that the offensive of the Eighth Route Army in Baoding had weakened.

He immediately sensed that there was a deception.

What does this mean that the offensive of the troops of the Eighth Route Army attacking Baoding has weakened?

This shows that there must be a transfer of the main force in the Eighth Road, and the transfer of this main force is likely to be aimed at Sakamoto's reinforcements.

Commander Nanata, who made a quick decision, immediately ordered Sakamoto to retreat and reconnoiter the situation.

Now it's okay, the orders of the commanders on both sides are in opposite directions.

One allowed himself to advance quickly, and the other allowed himself to retreat immediately, holding his ground.

Under the toss of this advance and retreat, Saka himself was numb.

At this time, it is time to talk about the issue of loyalty, as a descendant of Okabe, Sakamoto naturally chooses to obey Okabe's command.

But at this time, how could the old devil Okabe, who was far away in Beiping, know the situation that Sakamoto was facing, and he was still bent on the rapid reinforcement of the southbound detachment, which could relieve the crisis of Baoding in one fell swoop!

In this way, Sakamoto led the troops and fell step by step into the large encirclement of the main force left behind by Jinchaji and the Yanbei detachment.

After the battle was fully unfolded, Sakamoto's team was beaten to the ground and suffered heavy casualties, and finally fled in disarray, and only then did they withdraw part of it.

It was only at this time that Sakamoto suddenly realized why His Excellency Commander Nanata had repeatedly asked him.

It's a pity that it's too late.

In this way, Sakamoto failed to reinforce in the direction of Baoding as planned, but was unfavorable and lost his troops.

Even Major General Sakamoto was killed in the indiscriminate artillery.

was so angry that Nanata and the others scolded Okabe for being a pig-headed commander.

After the battle of the southbound detachment, almost all the troops were wiped out, and only part of the team escaped.

Zhangjiakou, a steel fortress heavily guarded by the Japanese army, was extremely empty at this time due to the transfer of a large number of troops.

Coupled with the fiasco of the southbound detachment, it dealt a great blow to the morale of the Japanese army, and the remaining troops stationed in Zhangjiakou were all panicked and worried about the surprise attack of the Eighth Route Army.

Commander Nanata was helpless, and on the one hand, he scolded Okabe, the pig's head, as usual, and on the other hand, he ordered Kameda, the commander of the Zhangjiakou garrison, to gather the last mobile troops and hold all the core fortress fortifications.

Due to the emptiness of troops, the outer defense line did not even have extra troops to defend, and Nanata had no choice but to give up.

In this way, the devil watched himself being surrounded by the Jinchaji troops of the Eighth Route Army and the 35th Army Corps, and he was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot.

……

In the headquarters of the Jinchaji Military Region of the Eighth Route Army.

The generals discussed the battle plan of how to capture Zhangjiakou next.

If we follow the traditional style of play, combined with the current situation, due to the collapse of the southbound detachment reinforced by Zhangjiakou in the direction of Baoding, at this moment, the defensive strength of the Japanese army stationed in Zhangjiakou is already extremely empty.

In the case of absolute superiority in troops, even if Zhangjiakou is a steel fortress, it may not be impossible to attack.

But the generals of the Eighth Route Army obviously have a higher level of wisdom.

Captain Song said: "It's not easy to fight a tough battle, especially a steel fortress like Zhangjiakou, even if our troops have improved a lot of equipment over the years, it is difficult to force a breakthrough of the devil's fortifications."

I suggest that we still follow the wisdom of our ancestors, surround the three and lack one, give the devils hope of escaping, do not force the devils to a dead end, and avoid the sacrifice of our troops. ”

This suggestion was immediately supported by Mr. Nie and Commander Yang and his party.

Therefore, according to the plan, the troops were dispatched one after another to form an encirclement of Zhangjiakou in three directions.

It only left a retreat for the Japanese defenders to retreat in the direction of Miyun.

"It's just that Qitian, an old devil, can he be willing to give up Zhangjiakou like this?"

"You must know that the little devil has spent a lot of effort in Zhangjiakou over the years, and a large number of enterprises and military bases, once evacuated, all their previous efforts have been lost."

In this regard, Commander Yang said with a smile: "These are not worth mentioning in the face of saving lives.

In my opinion, we should also further increase the deterrence, and put all our heavy artillery units on all sides, really put them out, and some of them should be fake.

That's the advice that Kong Jie left for us, but I've heard that there is a ghost named Shi Dahu in his team, and he has engaged in a strategic camouflage bureau, ranging from the camouflage of guns and artillery to the size of aircraft and tanks.

I even heard that this kid also proposed a shocking plan to build a fake Yan'an and confuse the Japanese Air Force to strike.

We have to learn this trick well, there are three or five fake cannons mixed in the ten real cannons, and the little devil can't see it.

It just so happened that the Type 96 heavy cannon that Lao Kong and they seized from the devil has not been pulled away, and it has not been pulled out to make a bright appearance, and it will also give us a long majestic, scaring and scaring the devil. ”

Everyone agreed.

After the order was given, the soldiers quickly moved into action.

The news was quickly transmitted to the command of the Japanese army in Zhangjiakou.

It was learned that the troops of the Eighth Route Army besieging the city had a large number of heavy artillery.

The devil commander Kameda was also completely panicked, and hurriedly reported the enemy situation to Commander Nanata, who was sitting in the rear.

The reconnaissance troops of the Japanese army have also ascertained that the Eighth Route Army has besieged Zhangjiakou in three directions, but left a retreat in the direction of Miyun.

Knowing that there was still a way to retreat, the Japanese troops stationed in the city, including the troops of the Imperial Allied Army, basically did not have much intention of fighting to the death.

Who wants to be sent to death if they can live?

In fact, it's not just these grassroots officers.

Even the old devils such as Nanata and Kameda also had the idea of evacuating in their hearts after learning that there was a retreat deliberately left by the Eighth Route Army.

Commander Nanata is not stupid, he is surrounded by the Eighth Route Army when his troops are empty, and if he fights to the death, he will only be more auspicious.

At present, there are no extra troops to reinforce Zhangjiakou, even if Zhangjiakou is a fortress, it is difficult to defend it with a large number of heavy artillery at hand.

If you don't evacuate, you may really anger the Eighth Road, and then the Steel Fortress will become a graveyard with wings that cannot be escaped.

Balu deliberately lacks one for three, this is a yang scheme, that is, to lay a way for the little devil to live, to see whether you devils want to die or live, this obviously made Commander Qitian's heart moved.

He's going to live!

It's a big deal to symbolically resist for a few days, and then run away, as long as the troops are still there, he will still be the commander when he comes back, and the troops are gone, even if the people are fine, it is estimated that they will be punished and sent to the reserves.

Among them, Commander Nanada of Dao Dao can still carry it clearly.

Moreover, the loss of Zhangjiakou this time, resulting in the emptiness of the troops, was entirely due to the destruction of the southbound detachment and the stupid command of His Excellency Commander-in-Chief, Okabe.

Even if he can't carry the blame, he can't carry it on Nanata's head.

Besides, you are a commander with a staff officer promotion in Okabe, and you don't even have a descendant unit, if it weren't for the face of the commander-in-chief of the dispatch army, Junroku Hatata, everyone would have disobeyed the yin and the yin a long time ago.

Thereupon......

The troops of the Eighth Route Army, which was dominated by the Jin-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, encircled the Datong fortress on three sides, and after the battle broke out, the fighting between the two sides "intensified."

The Eighth Route Army bombarded the city with heavy artillery, and the Japanese troops inside the city also returned fire with artillery.

The movement was earth-shattering.

However, there were basically no close encounters between the troops, and the Eighth Route Army did not organize a charge that was inevitable with casualties.

Clear-eyed devil officers can see that the Eighth Route under the city has no intention of attacking the city at any cost, and in the past few days, their artillery counterattack has not had many targets at all, and I am afraid that a few Eighth Roads have not been killed.

But none of them dared to gamble, the order secretly given by the command had already come down, and they only needed to hold on for three days, and they immediately chose to move strategically.

They are not stupid, they still have relatives in their hometowns, and no one is willing to fight to the death.

The two sides are thundering and raining like this, and there is quite a tacit understanding of acting.

One day, two days...... By the third day!

The Ministry of Communications stationed in Zhangjiakou had already called for reinforcements, and had called countless times, but to no avail.

Therefore, at about 5 o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, the remaining Japanese troops stationed in Zhangjiakou quickly blew up some military buildings in the city and destroyed some weapons and materials, and quickly evacuated from the only retreat left for them by the Eighth Route Army.

In this way, almost effortlessly, the officers and men of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region successfully captured Zhangjiakou.

After the news came out, there was an uproar, and the whole of North China was shaken, and the commander of the devil in Beiping, Okabe Brewing, choked and sat on his chair, his face like ashes for a while.

Crashed!

Let him play all down!

Baoding was not saved, and as a result, Zhangjiakou was also put in.

At this time, how much the old devil Okabe misses his senior Okamura Ninji!

He suddenly realized that his senior was amazing, and it had not been long since he came to power, and the entire North China was about to be collapsed by himself.

These Eight Routes are really cunning, at the beginning of his coming to power, he first threw a few sweet dates to him, let him taste the sweetness, starting from taking Xiangyuan, Licheng Five Cities, and then deliberately abandoned some communication lines and county seats, giving him the illusion that the Eighth Route Army was just like this.

Who knew that an autumn offensive of such a scale would be launched in the blink of an eye, and he was caught off guard by the attack.

But his senior Okamura has been able to hold on for so many years, and even built the security in the rear of North China University in an orderly manner.

Is this the gap?

At this point, the dust of the battle in the direction of Zhangjiakou has settled, and although the Japanese army has damaged a lot of enterprises and military bases in Zhangjiakou before evacuating, there are still many remaining.

These were quickly taken over by the Eighth Route Army.

More importantly, the loss of Zhangjiakou was like a sharp thorn stuck in the throat for the Japanese army, and it dealt a great blow to the overall strategic layout of the Japanese army in the whole of North China.

In addition, for the Eighth Route Army, the biggest gain from this trip may be this steel fortress-like Zhangjiakou.

The devil spent a lot of manpower and material resources in Zhangjiakou to build steel-like protection, which was cheaper than the Eighth Route Army.

As Commander Yang, who ascended to the top of the Zhangjiakou City Gate, said:

The little devil bragged that they had built Zhangjiakou into a steel fortress, and even claimed to be their Japanese version of the Huangyadong fortification group.

But if you want me to say, the little devil is still far away!

In fact, the fortifications built by the devils are indeed good, the ideas are exquisite, and the materials are abundant, but this little devil who defended them is so bad that the entire steel fortress has become collapsed.

So, comrades, everyone has seen that this little devil is becoming more and more out of the climate! Hahahaha-"

Then, according to the deployment of the headquarters of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, after taking Zhangjiakou, with the help of the absolute steel fortress-like protection built by the devils in hand, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack, it is operated in Zhangjiakou.

With the help of this steel fortress, the maximum number of Japanese troops can be pinned down with the fewest troops.

……

(End of chapter)