In the direction of Niangziguan, there seem to be tens of thousands of miscellaneous troops, but the troops are in chaos and poorly equipped, and there is no general with enough prestige and courage to command them. As a result, the defense troops at Niangziguan are fighting independently, and they are each in their own way.
Although I was afraid, I didn't fight much. Niangziguan was conquered by the Japanese army.
As soon as Niangzi Pass was lost, the east gate of Shanxi was opened, and the eastern front of the Xinkou battlefield was directly exposed to the Japanese attack.
At this time, the Battle of Xinkou also entered its most intense state. Although the Chinese army made heavy sacrifices, it still struggled to persevere. The Japanese army was not much better. Not only did they suffer more than 20,000 casualties, but their logistics supply lines were also disrupted.
Our Eighth Route Army attacked everywhere and was intercepted, to the point of embarrassment of calling for airdrops of supplies.
But just when the two sides reached the critical moment of competing for their wills, news came that Niangzi Pass had been breached by another group of Japanese troops, which caused a sudden change in the situation on the west entrance battlefield. The largest combat group of the Chinese army in the north was in danger of being surrounded by the Japanese army, so Marshal Yan
We can only order the entire army to retreat.
The Chinese army, which had been struggling to support itself with just one breath, suddenly suffered a sharp drop in morale. In addition, there was no good organization and unified command during the retreat, and the retreat turned into a rout. Under the pursuit of Japanese aircraft and tank troops,
The casualties were even more heavy.
The troops who were originally planning to hold on in Taiyuan fled one after another. As a result, Taiyuan City, which Marshal Yan expected to be able to hold for a period of time, was breached by the Japanese army in just three days. Even most of the equipment in the Taiyuan Arsenal did not have time to be transferred and were all captured by the Japanese army.
The largest battle of Taiyuan in northern China ended in failure.
Although we caused more than 20,000 casualties to the Japanese army, we also paid the price of nearly 150,000 casualties. Especially when the retreat turned into a rout, not only the casualties were heavy, but also the courage of the troops was shattered.
Gone.
The Battle of Taiyuan caused nearly 100,000 veterans of the Jinsui Army to suffer casualties, causing its overall combat effectiveness to plummet. In the following eight years of the War of Resistance, it could only shrink to a corner, and there was no record of large-scale battles with the Japanese army.
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It can be said that the failure of the Taiyuan battle destroyed the spirit of Marshal Yan and the Jin army under his command. After all, it was mainly because the elite veterans who constituted the backbone of an army lost most of them.
The foundation of an army was shaken.
Marshal Yan's command errors led to the Jinsui Army, the most elite army in northern China at that time, gradually withdrawing from the stage of history. However, the command errors of the principal in front of Zhou Wen almost ruined the entire most elite army in China at that time.
The Battle of Songhu was originally a clever strategic plan on the part of China, which was to attract the focus of the Japanese from the flat north of China to the south with its undulating mountains and criss-crossing water networks.
However, due to the lack of coordination among the various units, the battle command and deployment were often improper. There was no structure when attacking, and there was no depth when defending. It was entirely dependent on the bravery of the anti-Japanese soldiers to fight the Japanese with their flesh and blood, resulting in
Our heavy casualties were due to command and tactics reasons, as well as the limitations of China's current situation at the time, so we don't need to be overly harsh.
However, what was originally just a battle to attract the main force of the Japanese army turned into a decisive battle in which China almost concentrated the most elite troops in the country and the 200,000 elite Japanese army, land, sea and air. This strategy went a bit wrong.
First of all, Shanghai is a coastal city. In a decisive battle with the Japanese army here, the Japanese army can give full play to its sea and air superiority, while our army almost entirely relies on the army to fight. This is a typical use of one's own shortcomings to defeat the enemy's strengths, which is a taboo for military strategists.
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From the perspective of later generations, it means that he was trapped in the predicament of asymmetric warfare, and he took the initiative to join in. Wouldn't it make the little devil smile?
Moreover, Shanghai is bounded by the Yangtze River Estuary on the left and Hangzhou Bay on the right, forming a "convex border". The Japanese army could give full play to its absolutely superior navy and air force and land on the Yangtze River and Hangzhou Bay on both sides of Shanghai to implement a strategic encirclement.
Geographically speaking, Shanghai is simply not a suitable place for the Chinese army to engage in a decisive battle.
Secondly, since Shanghai was an international metropolis at that time, the Western powers had concessions in Shanghai and many interests in China. They were certainly not willing to see Shanghai reduced to ruins, and they would naturally obstruct and obstruct the Chinese army's initiative to provoke a war in Shanghai.
protest.
At that time, the Republic of China was weak and did not dare to offend these Western powers. As a result, I was restrained in using my troops and did not dare to cross the concession. There were even protests from the Western powers, which caused my best opportunity to attack to be delayed, thus allowing the Japanese army to gain valuable
Breathing situation.
From the perspective of international support, these Western powers only care about their own interests and do not care about the life or death of the Chinese people. Instead of intervening in the Japanese invasion of China, they obstructed our country from launching an attack on the Japanese in Shanghai, and even proposed to establish a military base in Shanghai.
For an undefended city.
Judging from the situation at that time, Renhe was not with me either.
Thirdly, since the overall strategy of the country's war of resistance has been determined to be a protracted war, taking into account the strength of the Japanese army and the gap in national power between our country and Japan, we must use our troops prudently on the battlefield. While attacking the enemy, we must also
Next, try to preserve our effective forces for a long-term war of resistance.
But Principal, you actually mobilized all the elites from all over the country to Shanghai for a decisive battle with the Japanese army at the beginning of the war. What does this mean? When is the time for the decisive battle?
Therefore, we did not occupy the time.
The weather, the right location, the right people, all of them have not been taken advantage of. You still fight for nothing. Isn't this a stupid move?
Moreover, during the Battle of Songhu, the principal not only made huge mistakes in strategic thinking, but also made many mistakes in tactical layout.
First of all, it would be a big failure to gather all the heavy troops on the Songhu front line.
You must know that the closer you get to the Yangtze River Estuary, the greater the advantage of the Japanese navy and air force. Not only the flight distance of the aircraft is short, the take-off frequency increases, but many battlefields are within the range of the large-caliber naval guns of the Japanese warships, and our army has
The lack of countermeasures completely exposed our dense troops to the heavy firepower of the Japanese army.
Many of China's elite troops did not even see the Japanese army, and most of them were lost.
The most tragic example is that the 60,000 officers and soldiers of the 21st Group Army, composed of the most elite Guangxi Army, were caught in a fire net composed of Japanese bombs and artillery shells. They suffered almost all casualties in just seven days.
You must know that the 21st Group Army has concentrated the strength of six divisions of the most elite 7th Army and 48th Army in the Guangxi Army. Especially the 7th Army once won the title of "Iron Army" during the Northern Expedition. Looking at the whole country,
