Taiyuan.

The headquarters of the First Army.

Iwamatsu Yoshio summoned almost all the remaining senior officers of the First Army to a meeting in the war room in the inner city of Taiyuan.

Meantime.

Iwamatsu Yoshio also invited Lieutenant General Matsui Taikuro, commander of the 5th Division, Lieutenant General Hiroshi Nemoto, commander of the 24th Division, and Sadazo Ishiguro, commander of the 28th Division, who were stationed in Taiyuan, to attend the hearing.

The 5th, 24th, and 28th Divisions were not part of the Japanese First Army's battle sequence.

At present, there is only one elite unit of the 41st Division left in the First Army, in addition to the Yamada Wing directly under the First Army, and some remnants and military police.

If there is no 5th, 24th and 28th Divisions to Taiyuan.

This little unit of the First Army has long been eaten by the Eighth Route Army.

The commander of the Fifth Division, Matsui Taikuro, had a gloomy face.

The 5th Division had just won a resounding victory in the battles of Southeast Asia against Malaysia and Singapore, and its morale was high.

The Fifth Division, which was preparing to rest, was immediately transferred to Shanxi by the base camp.

Shanxi is very familiar to the Fifth Division.

When the Sino-Japanese War broke out in 1937, the most elite unit of the main force of the Japanese army attacking Shanxi was the 21st Brigade of the Fifth Division.

Moreover, the Fifth Division fought with the Eighth Route Army at Pingxingguan, and although it suffered a loss, the Fifth Division still did not take the Eighth Route Army seriously.

Even the Anglo-American forces were defeated, and the Fifth Division was still afraid of the dirt eight roads hidden in the ravines?

Although the combat effectiveness of the current Fifth Division has long since disappeared from the Fifth Division of the past, it is not something that the Eighth Route Army can touch.

The Fifth Division is not holding a handle to deal with the Eighth Road?

And then.

The 5th Division was bombed by planes of the Eighth Route Army, losing about 2 infantry brigades.

The arrogant Fifth Division finally realized that it had encountered a hard stubble, and suddenly realized that the combat effectiveness of the Eighth Route Army was much stronger than that of the Anglo-American coalition army.

When he first arrived in Taiyuan, Matsui Taijiuro saw that the First Army was beaten like this, and thought that the First Army was too wasteful.

But after being bombed by the Eighth Route Army, Matsui Taikuro finally realized that he had seriously misjudged the strength of the Eighth Route Army.

After studying the combat records of the North China Front Army and the Eighth Route Army in recent years, the commander of the division, Matsui Taikuro, finally came to a conclusion.

The strength of the Eighth Route Army, unconsciously, has far surpassed that of the North China Front.

Even the 5th Division has the possibility of being eaten.

In the conference room, the officers including Yoshio Iwamatsu and Taikuro Matsui all had solemn faces.

After a long silence, Yoshio Iwamatsu spoke.

"Presumably all of you have already read the clear-code telegram sent by Li Yunlong of the Eighth Route Army, right?"

"That's right!"

"Li Yunlong's department of the Eighth Route Army, in just two years, has shattered the 22 generals of the Locust Army!"

"They are, Lieutenant General Yoshio Shinozuka, Lieutenant General Michiichi Miyano, Lieutenant General Akira Muto, Lieutenant General Kenyoshi Hirata, Lieutenant General Iseki Tsuki, Lieutenant General Kotobu, Major General Mizuki Tsuda, Major General Naotomi Hattori, Major General Toranosuke Koshiyu, Major General Masashi Hirata, Major General Saburo Miura, Major General Ai Ai Yuan, Major General Toshikaze Omura, Major General Shinpei Ito, Major General Yoshio Yasuke, and Major General Yoon Sano."

"Lieutenant General Shigetaro Kazutaro Kazuta, Lieutenant General Nishihara Kazuse, Lieutenant General Adachi Twenty-three, Sakurai Province Third Lieutenant General, Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadaichi, Major General Hironaka Tadao."

There was silence in the war room.

The strength of the new regiment of the Eighth Route Army is simply terrifying, and it can be called a killer of imperial generals.

Every Japanese general who went to Shanxi and even North China was afraid of being beheaded by the new regiment of the Eighth Route Army.

Matsui Taikuro, Hiroshi Nemoto, and Ishiguro Sadazo were even more scared for a while.

If they hadn't arrived in Shanxi with the main force of the five divisions, but arrived in Taiyuan by plane, I am afraid that even the ashes would have been raised by the Eighth Route Army now.

After Iwamatsu Yoshio finished speaking, the faces of the officers of the devil became more and more ugly.

After a pause, Iwamatsu continued:

"The commander of the North China Front, General Okamura Ningji, is preparing to gather troops next month to attack the central Hebei bandit area."

"I am worried that the Eighth Route Army in Shanxi will take this opportunity to attack Taiyuan, so I summoned all the gentlemen to discuss countermeasures."

"The strength of the Eighth Route Army, I think you have a deep understanding of it, so I won't repeat it here."

"In a word, once the Eighth Route Army gathers the main force to attack Taiyuan, we will be at risk of being wiped out."

"For the defense of Taiyuan, if you have any suggestions and opinions, everyone can speak freely."

You look at me, and I look at you, but for a time no one spoke.

"Matsui-kun, what do you think?"

Iwamatsu Yoshio looked at Matsui Taikuro, the only commander of the First Division present.

Matsui Taijiulang said in a deep voice: "The Eighth Route Army has large-caliber heavy howitzers, and the permanent fortifications ordered by Iwamatsu Jun to build are probably not able to stop the large-caliber heavy howitzers of the Eighth Route Army." ”

"What Matsui-kun said is very true." Qing Shui Qing, the commander of the 41st Division, deeply agreed, "The firepower of the Eighth Route Army is so strong, not to mention the civil fortifications built by our four divisions, even the reinforced concrete permanent fortifications cannot stop the large-caliber heavy artillery of the Eighth Route Army, not to mention that the Eighth Route Army has now obtained air supremacy, and we must change the current defensive thinking." ”

At this time, Qing Shui was also panicked.

At the peak of the strength of the First Army, there were the 33rd Division, the 36th Division, the 37th Division, the 2nd Guards Division and the 41st Division, as well as several mixed brigades, with a total strength of nearly 100,000.

However, those divisions were wiped out, and the division commander was killed.

Only the 41st Division and one of his division commanders, Lieutenant General, remained.

Judging from the current situation, he, the commander of the 41st Division, Lieutenant General, is also in danger.

Once the Eighth Route Army took advantage of the efforts of the North China Front to sweep the central Hebei region to attack Taiyuan...

"Of course it has to change."

It was the Chief of Staff of the First Army who spoke, Masato Hanaya, in a fierce tone:

"To deal with the Eighth Route Army, I suggest that we make use of our strengths and avoid our weaknesses, since the field battle is not the opponent of the Eighth Route Army, all the troops should retreat into Taiyuan City to fight street battles."

"The locust army has 75,000 people, and if the Eighth Route Army wants to occupy Taiyuan, it will have to pay at least 75,000 people!"

"No way!"

Masao Miyazaki was the first to stand up against:

"If all the locusts are withdrawn into Taiyuan City, and the Eighth Route Army surrounds it without fighting, after three months, the locust army's food will be exhausted."

"After all the locust armies in the city starve to death, the Eighth Route Army can occupy Taiyuan without a single shot."

"Impossible." "There are still Chinese people in Taiyuan City, and the Eighth Route Army claims to be the people's army, and it will not watch these ordinary people starve to death." ”

"This is just the propaganda slogan of the Eighth Route Army." Masao Miyazaki said, "What if the Eighth Route Army surrounds and does not fight?" And Taiyuan City can't hold so many locust troops, when the planes and heavy artillery of the Eighth Route Army bombard Taiyuan City, what should the locust army do? ”

"Miyazaki-kun, what do you say?" Hua Guzheng's face turned cold and asked rhetorically.

Masao Miyazaki, an old devil, always refutes his point of view, and Hanaya is not happy.

"I haven't figured it out yet." Masao Miyazaki said, "But your tactics will definitely not work." ”

Hanayamasa: "You..."

The commander of the Fifth Division, Matsui Taijiulang, frowned and said: "Conventional field civil fortifications and reinforced concrete fortifications can't stop the attack of the Eighth Route Army, how about using the kind of fortifications of the Tiger Head Fortress?" ”

Matsui-kun laughed. The corners of Iwamatsu Yoshio's mouth twitched, "The defense capability of the Tiger Head Fortress is indeed super strong, but for such a large-scale military project as the Tiger Head Fortress, the Locust Army cost hundreds of millions, requisitioned more than 100,000 laborers, and it took six years to complete, and the Eighth Route Army is about to attack, and it will definitely be too late to build the fortifications of the Tiger Head Fortress, not to mention that the First Army does not have so many steel bars and cement." ”

"Steel and cement, there are them in Southeast Asia."

Matsui Taikuro said:

"But now it's too late, if this battle of locust army can hold Taiyuan, I hope Iwamatsu Jun will apply to General Okamura Ninji for a large number of steel and cement to build a stronger permanent fortification."

Iwamatsu Yoshio was worried: "Then we have to wait for the locusts army to hold Taiyuan in the fierce attack of the Eighth Route Army." ”

After a pause, Iwamatsu Yoshio looked at Yamamoto Kazuki: "Yamamoto-kun, do you have a good strategy in the face of the attack of the Eighth Route Army?" ”

When the group of devil officers spoke before, Yamamoto Kazuki had been frowning and thinking there, and his brows were slightly relaxed just now, and he seemed to have eyebrows.

"Your Excellency, Commander."

Kazuki Yamamoto's eyes were sharp and his expression was serious:

"For the defense of Taiyuan, relying on civil fortifications, city walls and permanent fortifications alone will definitely not be able to hold Taiyuan, I suggest using tunnels and anti-slope tactics."

Yoshio Iwamatsu was slightly stunned: "Tunnel and anticline tactics? ”

The three old devils, Matsui Taikuro, Hiroshi Nemoto, and Ishiguro Sadazo, looked at each other even more, and they had never heard of this tactic at all.

When Kuribayashi Tadamichi was in Taiyuan, he strongly recommended this tactic.

But Kuribayashi Tadamichi is not a member of the First Army after all, and he is only a major general, and he is soft-spoken.

At that time, Iwamatsu Yoshio did order some First Army troops to dig some tunnels in the mountains around Taiyuan, but he didn't pay much attention to it, and he pressed the treasure on these reinforced concrete permanent fortifications.

However, these reinforced concrete permanent fortifications are now difficult to block the attack of the Eighth Route Army.

Masao Miyazaki explained.

Matsui Taikuro and several lieutenant generals only knew what tunnel and anticline tactics were.

"Since this pit and anticline tactics are so effective." Matsui Taikuro frowned and said, "Why didn't you use it earlier?" Let the locust army lose so many soldiers in vain. ”

Iwamatsu Yoshio nodded and glanced at everyone: "For today's plan, the only way to do this is to adopt the tactics of tunnels and anticlines, and your divisions and regiments are looking for favorable terrain around Taiyuan to quickly build tunnel fortifications." ”

"The remaining forces of the 14th Brigade and the 18th Brigade and the Yamada Wing form the 3rd Mixed Brigade, with Major General Kazuki Yamamoto as the brigade commander and under the direct command of the headquarters."

"Gentlemen, we are about to face the most cruel test."

"His Majesty the Emperor is onboard!"

"His Majesty the Emperor is onboard!" The devil officers shouted in unison, and then walked out.