On the other hand, the Japanese army was in a hurry.

For the little devils, Datong and Zhangjiakou, which were the base camps, were captured by the Eighth Route Army, which was already a shame for the Japanese Empire.

And this shame will become more and more heavy as time prolongs, as Datong and Zhangjiakou continue to be controlled by the Eighth Route Army.

Although the Japanese did need ample time to mobilize troops, including heavy artillery units for the offensive battles, to deal with the steel barrier of Datong and Zhangjiakou.

However, after analysis, the Japanese command also believed that with the extension of time, the defensive deployment of the Eighth Route Army in Datong and Zhangjiakou would definitely become more solid.

This is very detrimental to the next battle of the empire.

Some Japanese officers even proposed that they should concentrate their forces to launch a strong attack on Datong and Zhangjiakou in the shortest possible time, and that the Eighth Route Army should never be given enough time to prepare and defend.

The head of the devil's secret agency, Tu Feiyuan, is secretly investigating relevant information under the guise of negotiating with the Eighth Route Army in exchange for the remains of imperial soldiers.

His intelligence agents soon discovered that the Eighth Route did not seem to have any intention of diverting the people of Datong and Zhangjiakou.

On the contrary, it is still constantly pumping troops to Datong and Zhangjiakou.

In addition, a large number of soldiers and ordinary people are helping to build fortifications, and there is a great posture to strengthen the defense and defend Datong and Zhangjiakou.

This makes the soil fat round and dark not good.

In fact, for the high-ranking Japanese military leaders, Tu Feiyuan, because the military value of Datong and Zhangjiakou is extremely high and the geographical location is important, it is natural that they cannot be lost.

But in their hearts, they hoped that the Eighth Route Army could take the initiative to abandon these cities, just like they abandoned Jinmen and Taiyuan before.

In this way, both sides avoided a decisive battle and were happy.

In the final analysis, the continuous defeat in the hands of the Eighth Route Army in the operations behind enemy lines over the years has caused the Japanese army to lose all its spirit.

Even Naosaburo Okabe, who was the commander-in-chief of the Japanese North China Front, no longer had the luxury of hoping these days that he could wipe out the base areas of the Eighth Route Army and eliminate the living forces of the Eighth Route Army.

I only think that I can hold the inherent occupied area, stabilize the law and order in the rear, and wait for the changes in the Pacific theater and the Southeast Asian theater.

Then, Tu Feiyuan secretly probed the news and heard that the Eighth Route Army was preparing to hold a big autumn competition in the Iron Triangle base area, and many troops from the past had gathered, including the main force of the Eighth Route Army's Iron Triangle Field Group Army, as well as various troops from various base areas.

Realizing the importance of this information, she immediately passed the news back.

On the side of the General Headquarters of the Japanese Army's Chinese Dispatch Army, a group of old devils believed after analysis that no matter whether this matter was a trap deliberately set by the Eighth Route Army, the battles around Datong and Zhangjiakou were imperative!

If the Eighth Route really took it lightly and held a big contest in the Iron Triangle base area, this would be an excellent opportunity to launch an offensive in one fell swoop while Datong and Zhangjiakou were empty.

After the deliberation of the commanders of the devils, such as Junroku Hata, Naosaburo Okabe, and Yoshio Iwamatsu, the Japanese General Staff finally decided to make the following operational arrangements:

In this operation, because Datong and Zhangjiakou are both located in North China, and most of the combat areas are basically in Shanxi, the Japanese First Army stationed in Shanxi is still the main force of the operation.

After the First Army was specially replenished this time, the troops were fully equipped, and the third, fourth, ninth, and sixteenth mixed brigades were fully formed; The 36th Division was returned to Licheng, the 41st Division was returned to Linfen, the 37th Division was returned to Yuncheng, the 114th Division was built in Xiangyuan, and the 69th Division was in Taiyuan.

The 26th Division of the Chaishan Division of the Mongolian Army retreated to Lao County, north of Taiyuan.

The reinforcements included Harada's 35th Division, Ito's 101st Division, and Matsuura's 106th Division, which were assembled in the Taiyuan area, of which the strategic reserve Guancun Sixth Division was stationed in Changzhi (the May Day Sweep was almost completely wiped out and replenished, and its vitality was greatly damaged, so it could only be used as a reserve, and it was also ready to go to the Pacific Ocean).

These combat units, with the assistance of reinforced heavy artillery brigades and independent tank wings, will take the lead in the attack.

The troops went north through Xinkou out of Laoxian County, hit Shuozhou, and approached Datong.

The main force of the Mongolian army converged with the first division in Yanqing County and launched an attack on the periphery of Zhangjiakou, and the special force of the Kwantung Army, the Niudao Manchu Division, "was supplemented and strengthened in the defense of Huangyadong of the Eighth Route Army, and the reorganized full formation of troops" attacked from Baoding through Yi County and launched a pincer offensive.

The 27th Division in Tianjin assisted, the Shijiazhuang Iinuma Guard Division was responsible for maintaining the rear road, the 14th Division and the 13th Division were mobile reserves, and the 3rd Division was on standby as a strategic reserve.

Junroku Hatata, who has made up his mind, has an unquestionable order:

"After the battle is completely started, let the Korean Imperial Cooperative Army, the Kwantung Expedition Team, and the North China Public Security Army these hardcore armed forces fight the vanguard, I don't care whether you are coerced or lured, I want to see these Imperial Cooperative Army holding wrecker explosives bags, under the cover of artillery fire to launch a fierce attack!

In order to achieve this combat effect, before the various Imperial troops were officially engaged in battle, they had to form a special wartime supervision group to supervise these Imperial Allied Army units to fight wholeheartedly for the Empire.

After attracting the attention of the Eighth Route Army with the vanguard of the Imperial Allied Army.

Then the elite troops of the empire equipped with Type 100 submachine guns, Type 4 semi-automatic rifles, Type 4 shoulder-fired guns (the devil's version of bazookas), Type 97 flamethrowers, Type 99 rifles, and Type 99 light machine guns took the opportunity to carry out a strong attack.

With the assistance of heavy artillery troops, even if the fortifications of the Eighth Route are really made of reinforced concrete, we will completely blow it up and smash it, and destroy it all with the Eighth Road inside.

Datong made the first move, then Yanqing County also moved, and finally the troops of Yi County did it again.

Once the battle starts, the three parties go all out and cooperate with each other! ”

"Ladies and gentlemen, this battle is even related to the final fate of the empire on the battlefield in China, I hope you can put aside your previous suspicions, work together and cooperate closely for the glory of the empire and the survival of the nation!"

Junroku Hatata's words were particularly heavy.

As for the Japanese army's flying units, Junroku Hahata said:

"After a period of adaptation and recuperation, the original losses of the Imperial Air Force have been largely replenished.

After the start of this battle, our imperial air base will have an additional large aircraft group formation into operation.

In addition, the headquarters of the Chinese Dispatch Army has decided to send the Third Aviation Division to fully cooperate with the air force in North China, and the commander of the Central Aviation Division will personally go to Beiping to direct the operation, and the main force of the unit will send two flying teams to join the operation.

After the air force of each airport in North China is temporarily strengthened and supplemented, it can assemble a supernumerary flight team, and the Kwantung Army can support a flight team; In addition, Central China, South China, and Northeast China have dispatched various types of heavy bombers to form a strategic bombing team.

A total of 4 teams of fighters and bombers formed a joint air force, which was used to strangle the aviation units of the Eighth Route Army.

There are nearly 400 aircraft of various types combined, and as for the external claim, it can be said that our empire has 1,000 aircraft, which are used to completely eliminate the Eighth Road. ”

Of course, don't listen to Tian Junliu's bragging, in fact, even the so-called nearly 400 fighters have a lot of water.

After excluding the old models, it is estimated that there are more than 200 fighters that can be dispatched normally, plus the lack of fuel supply, the devil does not have the confidence at all, regardless of fuel consumption, and has been put into fighter combat for a long time.

According to the deployment finally decided after discussions between Junroku Hahata and Naosaburo Okabe:

After the Japanese army broke through the defense of the mountainous area in the north of Yixian and the defense in the south of Zhangjiakou, the Japanese army would send the 14th Division of the mobile force to launch a surprise attack on the Huaxiao Battalion, and then intersperse it with Yangyuan, cutting through the railway line in the direction of Zhangjiakou and Datong, completely cutting off the main mobile route of the Eighth Route Army.

Then Datong sent troops to bypass Xinkou at the same time and go to Shuozhou County to copy the rear road of the Eighth Route Army. ”

To this end, Hatatake Junroku issued a special order: to upgrade the Morita cavalry group to a chariot division, responsible for the assistance of the Kwantung Army troops, from the Mengdong area to the direction of Houhe, if all goes well, put into reserve, attack in the direction of Guisui, and plan for the operation in the direction of Zhangjiakou and Datong.

In this regard, Hatara Junliu is full of confidence:

In this way, the troops advancing in multiple directions at the same time can form a huge encirclement, encompassing the main force of the Eighth Route in one go.

The 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army, including the damned 35th Route Army of the National Army, was all wiped out by him! ”

"Isn't the damn Eighth Route Army always saying that the winner or loser on the chessboard is not on the chessboard?

Now that the various units of the Imperial Army are unprecedentedly united, united from top to bottom, and several parties are joining forces, I want to see how the Eighth Route will deal with our army's attack this time. ”

In addition, the cunning Junroku Hata also made some special preparations before the war.

For example, let the devil wounded soldiers disguise themselves as the first batch of troops to evacuate.

The remaining troops carried out a punch-card attack, on the one hand, to test the degree of coordination and cooperation of the Eighth Route Army's infantry artillery, on the other hand, to test the reaction time of the Eighth Route Army's counter-artillery position, and at the same time, to calculate the accuracy of the Eighth Route Army's artillery strike through the landing point of the shells.

As for the side of the First Army, the commander of the First Army stationed in Shanxi, Yoshio Iwamatsu, who inherited Yoshio Shinozuka's will to fight, finally decided:

"The 106th Division and the 26th Division set out from Laoxian County to launch a fierce attack on the headquarters of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army, which was guarding Xinkou.

The 101st Division acted as a reserve - a mechanized division and regiment mixed with armored units from the Central China Dispatch Army, and the division made brilliant achievements in the Nanchang Campaign, which was a very good experimental unit.

The Ishikawa Division of the 3rd Mixed Brigade and the Ikeda Division of the 9th Mixed Brigade, together with the Harada Division of the 35th Division, passed through the Shouyang Mountain Road, bypassed Dai County to the north, and took Yanmen Pass directly, and then left part of the troops to hold Yanmen Pass.

The main force turned around and moved south, directly replacing the county and Yangmingbao airfield, detouring in the direction of Xinkou, and flanking the main force of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army.

It was backed up by the 106th Division.

After the completion of the first phase of the offensive, the main forces of the First Army went forward to attack in the direction of Datong.

The 27th and 69th Divisions attacked Shuo County all the way, and the 101st, 106th, and 35th Divisions attacked Yingxian all the way.

The 6th Division was moved to Taiyuan as a reserve.

If Yixian is broken through Yanmen Pass, the 101st and 35th armored mixed mechanized divisions will be used as spearheads to directly take Datong, the 3rd and 9th mixed brigades to cover the flanks, and the 106th Division will defend Yingxian and the back road of Yanmen Pass.

The heavy artillery brigade of the First Army and the heavy artillery brigade of the Central China Dispatch Army fully cooperated with these two directions.

The air brigade was covered by the 3rd Flight Division. ”

After talking about his deployment, Iwamatsu said to Harada, "Harada-kun, you and I have sincerely cooperated many times in the past year, and Taiyuan City has been besieged several times, all of which have been relieved by Harada-kun's active rescue and the siege has been relieved, and this battle has relied on Harada-kun's surprise attack to open the situation, please!" ”

Harada immediately replied: "Your Excellency Commander doesn't have to be like this, everything is for the glory of the empire, and you will definitely fight to the death to serve the country!" ”

Suddenly, Harada, who seemed to be possessed by a drama spirit, even shouted: "Long live the emperor!" Long live the Great Japanese Empire! Serve the country with sincerity! ”

As soon as his words fell, immediately after Ishikawa and other officers with good connections around him, they shouted slogans together, and the scene was full of blood for a while.

Those who don't know still think that this group of old devils are fighting a just battle to protect their families and defend the country!

Only the old devil Guan Cun, the division commander of the 6th Division of the Japanese Army, who was sitting in the corner, looked at him coldly, and his heart was full of disdain - these beam-jumping clowns also want to make big things? It's just misleading the country and the people!

In particular, when he returned to Shanxi during this time, he secretly visited and found that Harada's troops regarded the Empire's material blockade orders as waste paper, and engaged in almost semi-open trade with the Eighth Route Army.

Guan Cun had even witnessed the caravan of the Eighth Route Army entering the occupied territory of the Empire as if it were no one, and was not hindered at all, and the Imperial officers along the way even helped clear the way.

In the beautiful name, it is called paralyzing the Eighth Route Army, which is simply a big joke in the world!

Including the border area tickets of the Eighth Route Army in circulation in the major occupied areas, and even the money tickets used by the people in the city in their daily life, only the border area tickets are recognized.

Even the officers of the empire seem to have acquiesced to this, and they even secretly hid border tickets and spent them privately.

With these silverfish, where is there any hope for the Empire's holy war?

But Sekimura just sighed after all, and didn't say much, he knew that there were not a few officers like Harada, and over the years, with the gradual decline of the jihad situation, there had been too many imperial officers who gradually went to despair, or even willing to decay, and used this way to paralyze themselves.

With only one Guan Village, it is impossible to reverse the overall situation.

In addition, it is really mocking.

However, Harada, the area that the imperial officers were responsible for, although they traded with the Eighth Route Army almost openly in private, they managed to feed the troops in this way, and even ensured the relative security and stability of the inherent occupation area.

The Eighth Route seems to have reached a relative tacit understanding with these rotten troops.

The two sides basically do not offend each other, and trade is frequent.

On the other hand, the districts under the responsibility of conservative imperial officers like Taguancun, who still had hope for the Empire's holy war, have been in-for-tat confrontation with the Eighth Route Army, so they have been constantly suffering from attacks on law and order stability.

Coupled with the shortage of logistical materials in the empire and the decline in economic benefits, even the soldiers could not even make a military noise.

As a result, the combat effectiveness of the troops has been seriously affected, and there have even been cases in which the soldiers of the Imperial Army cannot even fill their stomachs.

Judging from his political achievements on the surface, he is not as good as Harada.

In this regard, Guan Cun knew very well that the Eighth Route Army was just paralyzing Harada and others, and Harada and other officers were acting inactively, which was tantamount to drinking water to quench their thirst!

It's a pity that Sekimura can't change anything.

(End of chapter)