"To deal with the powerful Eighth Route Army, we must have air supremacy, even if we don't have air supremacy, we must have air power."

It was Lieutenant General Yukio Kasawara, chief of staff of the Kwantung Army, who spoke.

In just three years, the chief of staff of the Kwantung Army has changed three.

Among them, Miyano Michiichi was blasted by the Sword Brigade in Baoding, North China, and was blown up like Zhang Zuolin on a local plane.

The next chief of staff of the Kwantung Army, Yoshimoto Sadachi, was killed by the Eighth Route Army on his way to the First Army in Shanxi as commander.

His first two chiefs of staff were both killed in North China, and it is impossible to say that Yukio Kasahara is not afraid.

Yukio Kasahara warned himself that he would never set foot in North China until he had killed the Eighth Route Army.

"Several air raids by the Eighth Route Army have destroyed most of the airfields and arsenals of our Kwantung Army, how can we still have air supremacy?"

It was Lieutenant General Toshishi Kinoshita, commander of the Kwantung Army Air Force, who spoke.

Toshitoshi Kinoshita was the commander of the 3rd Flying Group of the Japanese Army Air Force that bombed Yamashiro.

Due to the deployment of the Japanese naval and army aviation units in central China, they were defeated by the air force units of the Eighth Route Army.

Toshinori Kinoshita led the remnants of the 3rd Group to be replenished into the Kwantung Army and changed to the 3rd Flying Division.

And Kinoshita Toshita, the old devil, was also promoted to become the commander of the Kwantung Army Aviation, but his military rank was still lieutenant general.

Almost all of the senior generals in the field of Japanese army aviation are non-aviation majors, and they are typical laymen leading insiders, and Kinoshita Toshi is one of them.

In the face of the attack of the strategic bombers of the Eighth Route Army, apart from ordering several flight divisions to escape, Kinoshita Toshi almost did not come up with any countermeasures, allowing the strategic bombers of the Eighth Route Army to wreak havoc on the Japanese airfields and arsenals in Manchuria.

Yukio Kasahara said that let the Kwantung military have air supremacy, and Kinoshita wanted to laugh.

At present, the Eighth Route Army has a complete air force system.

The pilots of the Eighth Route Army are highly skilled, the fighters have excellent performance, and they have advanced radars, if they hadn't given the order to escape quickly, several flight divisions of the Kwantung Army would have been defeated a long time ago, and they still want to have air supremacy?

Do you think I don't want the locust army to have air supremacy?

"This is a matter for your air force."

Seeing that Kinoshita's attitude was not very good, Yukio Kasawara was not to be outdone:

"Kinoshita-kun, who do you ask me?"

"Where is the aviation unit in Manchuria now?"

Kinoshita Min snorted coldly: "I don't even have pilots and planes, and I, the aviation commander, are just decorations."

Although there were still some pilots and planes in Manchuria, there were not many of them and they were all in a state of concealment, and they did not dare to show their heads easily, for fear of being discovered by the planes of the Eighth Route Army.

During this period, reconnaissance planes and strategic bombers of the Eighth Route Army were dispatched to Manchuria almost every day to conduct reconnaissance.

And the Kwantung Army was helpless.

Umezu Mijiro frowned and looked at Kinoshita: "Kinoshita-kun, air support is very important to the ground forces of the Locust Army, after the start of the No. 1 operation plan, your aviation unit must have at least 200 fighters and 300 bombers to take off to fight and give air support to the ground troops."

"Your Excellency, General."

Kinoshita Toshita's expression was bitter:

"The number of fighters, bombers, and pilots is what our air force can get at present."

"The difficult thing is how to build an airport, ammunition depot and oil depot under the powerful intelligence network of the Eighth Route Army."

"Even if we can build airfields, ammunition depots, and oil depots, it will be difficult for our fighters and bombers to evade the radar of the Eighth Route Army..."

In order to provide more ideal air support to the ground forces, the airfield should be as close to the battlefield as possible.

For example, during the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain, the Japanese army's Yuncheng Airport, which was only a few dozen kilometers away from Zhongtiao Mountain. and Yangmingbao Airport, which is 50 kilometers away from Xinkou.

"Yaga!"

Watching Kinoshita Toshita pour bitter water, Umezu Mijiro was furious:

"It's only your aviation unit that is in trouble

Is there no difficulty for our infantry?"

"If Kinoshita-kun is not qualified for the post of commander of the Kwantung Army Air Force, then resign from the post of Prime Minister and Sky Locust yourself, and send another capable officer to the Kwantung Army, and our Kwantung Army will not accept waste!"

Umezu Mijiro also knew that Kinoshita Toshitoshi was a layman, but the other party was appointed by the base camp, and he did not have immunity.

"Hey."

was scolded for being a waste, Kinoshita Min's face was ugly, so he had to take over the task head-on:

"Your Excellency General, the Air Force guarantees to complete the mission, and I, Toshitoshi Kinoshita, am by no means a waste!"

"I don't want slogans." Umezu Mijiro snorted coldly, "I just want the result, if your aviation unit can't fight during the No. 1 battle plan, then you can disembowel yourself."

In the face of the increasingly powerful air force of the Eighth Route Army, the No. 1 operation plan would have been disastrous for the Japanese army without air support.

The Eighth Route Army had formidable fighters, as well as light, medium, and heavy bombers that could adapt to a variety of air support.

According to intelligence.

Umezu Mijiro also knew that the Eighth Route Army had set up an aviation school, and Li Yunlong was the honorary president of the Eighth Route Aviation School, and vigorously recruited young intellectuals.

Although Japanese spies and agents were sent to try to infiltrate the Eighth Route Army's aviation school and sabotage, they all failed.

So.

The Japanese army still did not know where the aviation school equipment of the Eighth Route Army was placed and what the scale of flight cadets was.

That's why Umezu Mijiro attaches so much importance to air support, and if there is air support, the chances of winning this No. 1 battle plan will be even greater.

"Hey." Kinoshita Min bowed his head suddenly.

"Kasahara-kun, Ikeda-kun, starting today, your staff will begin to formulate an offensive plan."

After a moment's pause, Umezu Mijiro's gaze turned to the chief of staff, Lieutenant General Yukio Kasawara, and the deputy chief of staff, Major General Junhisa Ikeda.

"Hey." Yukio Kasahara bowed his head, "The offensive idea of this No. 1 operation, please show your Excellency the general."

As with the new regiment, the General Staff was responsible for drawing up the battle plan, but the idea of the offensive needed to be provided by Umezu Mijiro.

In the event of a failure in the operational plan drawn up by the General Staff, then the General Staff cannot afford to take this responsibility either.

"This attack of our Kwantung Army is mainly divided into four routes!"

Umezu Mijiro got up, walked to the wall, pointed to the map on the wall, and said:

"The first way to Chengde, attack Zhangjiakou, after capturing Zhangjiakou, and then according to the battle situation, decide whether to attack in the direction of Beiping or Datong!"

"The second route starts from Shanhaiguan and attacks Beiping, Tianjin, and Hebei Province, and annihilates the Eighth Route Army in North China!"

"The third and fourth routes are by sea, and the locust army landed from Longkou in Huangxian County, Lu Province, and Qingdao, captured Linyi and Jinan, and then attacked north to flank the Eighth Route Army in North China!"

As soon as Umezu Mijiro finished speaking, Deputy Chief of Staff Junhisa Ikeda said, "Your Excellency the General is wise, and I admire him!"

"The last time Li Yunlong attacked North China, he also used a pincer offensive, but Li Yunlong only had two pincers."

"But Your Excellency Commander's plan is enough for four pincers, and this battle will be won!"

On both sides of the conference table, the faces of some commanders and division commanders also showed just the right amount of admiration.

However, there are also two sober-minded devil officers, whose faces are still tense, and they are obviously not optimistic about the No. 1 battle plan.

Facing the admiring eyes of a group of devil officers, Umezu Mijiro's face did not show a smug look.

For this battle, he didn't have much confidence, because the equipment of the Eighth Route Army was really good.

The soldiers of the Eighth Route Army had a strong will to fight, did not lose to the Japanese soldiers, and the quality of individual soldiers was also strong.

The commanders of the Eighth Route Army almost all survived from the battlefield, from soldiers to grassroots officers to high-level officers, the Eighth Route Army will use their brains to fight.

But!

As the commander of the Kwantung Army, even if you no longer have confidence in your heart, you must show confidence and high morale in front of others

and must not show discouragement.

Otherwise, the morale of the entire attacking force will soon collapse.

Thinking of this, Umezu Mijiro's face pretended to show a confident expression: "This is just the four pincers of our Kwantung Army, in Central China, there are also the Dispatch Army, the 11th Army, the South China Front, and at least 600,000 troops drawn from Southeast Asia and the mainland, which will attack North China from Central China and encircle and annihilate the Eighth Route Army together with our Kwantung Army."

Hearing this battle plan, the eyes of most of the devil officers suddenly became fanatical.

Although the base camp gave the Kwantung Army and the dispatch army two months to complete the preparations.

However, two months is certainly not enough, and the transfer of troops and combat materials will take about three months to complete.

However, most of the war supplies were mobilized from the mainland, and hundreds of thousands of troops had to be mobilized.

Although there are more than 1 million devils in China, most of them are located in the vast occupied areas.

Although the Japanese army judged that *** would not flank the Japanese army with the Eighth Route Army, once all the devils in these occupied areas were withdrawn, *** would definitely take advantage of the situation to recover these areas.

The Kwantung Army was to leave hundreds of thousands of troops to defend against the Soviet army in the Far East.

The Devil's Dispatch Army and the South China Front Army should also leave a considerable part of their troops to guard against a counterattack in the southwest region.

In the slogan of "victory" from the devil officer, Umezu Mijiro sat back on the main seat with a confident and satisfied expression.

"Shanhaiguan and Chengde are the necessary places for infantry to enter the pass, and they must not be lost."

Umezu Mijiro glanced at the officers, and his tone was cold.

"Hey!"

The devils suddenly bowed their heads.

……

The devils are making battle plans and mobilizing war materials at the same time.

The Eighth Route Army is also formulating operational plans and preparing war materials.

"Captain!"

The communications staff officer walked in with a telegram in his hand and reported to Li Yunlong:

"Just now, Chu Yunfei, the captain of the independent brigade, sent a telegram asking you to fight."

"Fight?" Li Yunlong was staring at the map, and when he heard the voice, he raised his head and asked, "What kind of battle, please?"

"You'd better see for yourself."

The communications staff officer handed the telegram in his hand with both hands, saluted, and turned to leave.

Li Yunlong took the telegram and read it.

In the puzzled eyes of Zhao Gang, Wang Dehou, Xing Zhiguo and others, Li Yunlong smiled slightly:

"Chu Yunfei, this kid is worthy of the fifth phase of Huangpu, he guessed that our regimental headquarters was going to attack Shanhaiguan and Chengde recently, so he specially sent a telegram to ask for battle, and shouted the slogan 'Use me in the first battle, use me to win'."

Now there are more than 30,000 people in the new independent brigade under Chu Yunfei, all of whom are equipped with American equipment.

Although Chu Yunfei's rank was demoted to the deputy commander of the new regiment, he lived the days of a military commander, and he was also the day of an ace commander of the United States.

And this also made Chu Yunfei extremely glad to take the olive branch thrown by Li Yunlong and join the new group.

Otherwise, he is still a small regiment commander of the Jin Sui Army, blowing a northwest wind in Luliang Mountain or a certain place in northern Shaanxi.

Now that the new regiment of independent brigades is strong and strong, Chu Yunfei naturally wants to show his strength and contribute his own strength to independence, democracy and freedom.

Since the shrinkage of the army, the independent brigade has not had the opportunity to recruit more veterans.

"Take the initiative to fight, that's good!"

Zhao Gang praised when he heard this:

"Chu Yunfei's ideological consciousness is quite high, and he is happy when he hears the battle, it seems that Chu Yunfei has bid farewell to his *** style both in behavior and thought."

Li Yunlong put down the telegram and looked at Wang Dehou: "Chief of Staff, can the independent brigade be arranged to go to the battlefield in this battle?"

"Captain, this is a bit difficult."

Wang Dehou then said:

"At present, the troops attacking Chengde and Shanhaiguan have been determined, and the combat effectiveness of the independent brigade..."

combat effectiveness of the independent brigade,

It is certainly not as strong as the combat effectiveness of the main heavy battalions of the new regiment.

"Show me your battle plan." Li Yunlong said.

The current battle plan is still in the formulation stage for the time being, and the combat mission has not yet been assigned to the troops, so there is no problem in changing it.

Wang Dehou was mainly worried that the combat effectiveness of the independent brigade was not very strong at present and it would not be able to complete its combat mission.

"Yes!"

Wang Dehou then took the battle plan drawn up by the General Staff and handed it to Li Yunlong.

Li Yunlong opened the battle plan and looked at it, and this battle plan was formulated under his thinking.

According to Li Yunlong's instructions, in the direction of Shanhaiguan, the General Staff deployed four heavy battalions and six heavy artillery battalions on the front, with a total strength of about 60,000 troops.

Then use transport ships to land 4 heavy battalions from the rear of Shanhaiguan, one to attack Huludao, and the other to cut off the back of the 4th Army of the devils in Shanhaiguan.

In the direction of Chengde, the General Staff deployed 6 heavy battalions, paratrooper battalions and 4 heavy artillery battalions to compress the devils of the First Army into Chengde City.

After reading the troop arrangement, Zhao Gang said, "Considering the equipment and combat effectiveness of the Independent Brigade, we can use the Independent Brigade to surround the devils in Chengde."

"Although the devils of the First Army have four divisions, they have been wiped out by us more than 10,000 people, and the total strength is still about 50,000."

"In addition, the devils are all cowering in the city of Chengde, and the independent brigade only needs to build a defensive position outside the city to prevent the devils from breaking through."

"With the strength of the Independent Brigade, this strategic goal can be fully achieved."

"Although the equipment of the Independent Brigade is not as good as the heavy battalions of our new regiment, compared to the equipment of the devils, the equipment level and firepower of the Independent Brigade are much stronger."

"If the tactics are properly deployed, these more than 30,000 people in the independent brigade can completely hold down the devil's first army."

Li Yunlong said: "Lao Zhao's words make sense, but if you want to improve your combat effectiveness and accumulate combat experience, the best way is to actually fight."

"Considering that the Independent Brigade has no experience in fighting in large corps."

"In this way, the independent brigade will be arranged to the front of Shanhaiguan for this attack, as the main attack force, and the 6 heavy artillery battalions will be under the command of Chu Yunfei, and the rest of the heavy battalions will be used as reserves."

"When the battle at Shanhaiguan is over, the battle on Chengde's side is almost over."

"Before the start of the Devil's No. 1 battle plan, the independent brigade that has completed its rest will be transferred to the devils outside Chengde City to surround the First Army."

"Hehe, Chengde's devil first army, this is a big piece of fat meat, it depends on whether Chu Yunfei, this kid, can eat it."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Good guys, not only have the combat missions of the Independent Brigade been arranged this time, but also the next combat mission of the Independent Brigade.

Wang Dehou took note of this in his mind, and prepared to ask the staff officer to revise the combat plan later.

"That's right, Captain."

Wang Dehou seemed to think of something and asked:

"In this battle, the devil is very likely to land on the coast of Lu Province, which force do we send to Lu Province?"

Li Yunlong looked at the map of Lu Province on the table.

"Where are the devils likely to land?" Li Yunlong asked.

Wang Dehou: "Yantai, Weihai, Qingdao and Rizhao are all likely to land in these places, but I think the devils are most likely to land in Longkou and Qingdao in Huanglong."

As he spoke, Wang Dehou pointed to the locations of Longkou and Qingdao on the map.

"Why?" Li Yunlong frowned.

On land, the Eighth Route Army could occupy Chengde and Shanhaiguan and seize the initiative on the battlefield.

But when the devils landed from the sea, the Eighth Route Army was relatively passive, because there were many places along the coast where they could land, and they didn't know where the devils would land from.

Wang Dehou said: "In early September 1914, the Japanese army landed at Huanglonglongkou; In January 1938, the Japanese army landed in Laoshan, Qingdao, and the devils were in these two positions

If I were a devil, I would land at the same time at these two locations and attack Jinan in two ways."

Zhao Gang said: "These suitable locations for landing should have defensive positions, if we strengthen the defensive positions, can we block the landing of devils?"

"It's hard!" Xing Zhiguo said, "According to the experience of the original Battle of Songhu, the firepower of the devil's battleship is very strong, even if a fortress is built on the beachhead, it cannot withstand the devil's 300 mm large-caliber shells, and it is said that the main gun caliber of the devil's Yamato battleship is 460 mm."

"Then put the devil ashore." Wang Dehou's tone was fierce, "Then send planes to sink the devil's warships and transport ships, and then drive all the landed devils into the sea to feed the sharks."

Xing Zhiguo said: "Then it is better to send planes to bomb the devil's transport ship and fleet when the devil lands, and sink the devil and the devil's ship together."

"It's not impossible." Wang Dehou said, "This is also a solution."

Li Yunlong asked, "What if the devil lands at night?"

Wang Dehou and Xing Zhiguo were silent, the devil knew that the fighters of the Eighth Route Army were very strong, and there were guided ground-penetrating bombs, so there was a high probability that they would land at night.

And the most important thing is that it is not known where the devils have landed.

Zhao Gang suddenly said, "There is another way."

Li Yunlong looked at Zhao Gang: "What way?"

"Don't we have an aircraft carrier fleet led by the Yunlong?"

With a smile, Zhao Gang said, "Although our Eighth Route Army's aircraft carrier fleet has not yet fully formed its combat effectiveness, and it is not suitable to go head-to-head with the devil's Pacific Fleet at this time, but is it not easy to deal with the devil's transport ships and frigates?"

Li Yunlong's eyes lit up slightly.

After the last ocean-going combat training and the training in the past few months, the combat effectiveness of the aircraft carrier fleet has been further improved than before.

……

(Book friend group, everyone is welcome to chat, blow water and urge changes, and future chapters will be posted in the group if they fail to pass the review.) ）