Chapter 174 Commander Liu misplaced the trust of the 48th Independent Brigade

Night falls, to the north of Taiyuan in Shanxi Province, outside Xinxian County.

In the headquarters of the independent mixed fourth brigade, Major General Mitake Tsuda, commander of the brigade, quickly received the combat order from the headquarters of the First Army.

Yoshio Shinozuka's meaning is very obvious. The independent mixed fourth brigade must quickly open up the connection between Recovery and Taiyuan.

In this way, if the Zhengtai Railway needs reinforcements in the later stage, they can quickly rush to the Taiyuan Railway for reinforcements at any time.

As for Chu Yunfei's 48th Independent Brigade who took the initiative to attack, Yoshio Shinozuka planned to temporarily divert them and conduct containment operations.

"The brigade commander Ge Dong, according to the war situation report sent by the army headquarters, the Jinsui Army present in Zhuangmo Town, Baizi Mountain, and Wohu Mountain is very strong."

"Their total strength exceeds 3,000 people, with a large number of mountain artillery to assist in combat, and their overall weapons and equipment are very sophisticated."

"Now they are stationed at the front line of Zhuangmo Town, completely blocking the Tongpu Railway, cutting off their connection with the independent mixed ninth brigade in too far away areas."

"They want to ask the Shanxi-Sui Army to launch an attack there. I'm afraid they will need a large number of troops, and they have the advantage of the terrain."

"The battle there will probably be a tough battle, and their troops will need to pay a certain amount of casualties."

"So he suggested quickly recruiting nearby Royal Association Army, security forces and other troops to assist them in fighting, thereby reducing their own casualties and losses."

At 8:30 in the morning, the brigade's Lieutenant Colonel and Chief of Staff quickly came to Mitake Tsuda.

He made a direct analysis based on the current battlefield situation.

The overall weapons and equipment of the Jinsui Army are relatively strong, and they have always been good at defense.

What's more, the troops of the 48th Independent Brigade are several levels higher than the ordinary Jinsui Army. They currently occupy the commanding heights.

The Yue army wanted to quickly capture the frontline position in Zhuangmo Town, but it would be difficult and might even result in unacceptable casualties.

The Lieutenant General and Chief of Staff proposed to use the puppet troops as cannon fodder to consume the Jinsui Army's ammunition and force them to expose their firepower deployment in advance.

With those puppet troops assisting in the battle, their casualties would definitely be reduced a lot.

"The frontline position in Panmo Town is indeed very strong. The Jin-Sui army was able to take over the enemy in a short period of time, which fully demonstrates their strength."

"Looking at it this way, the 48th Independent Brigade is indeed worthy of its reputation. If they are punished, they will not fight easily."

"But no matter what, they all want to regain control of the front-line positions in Cuozhuangmo Town, otherwise it will affect the war situation in the entire Jin Province."

Mitake Tsuda stood in front of the map with a thoughtful expression on his face.

There is no problem with the deployment and arrangement of the frontline fortifications in Zhuangmo Town. The puppet troops have been holding on for more than 500 months.

It's not an impregnable place, but it's definitely a solid fortress.

The Eighth Route Army once launched attacks there, but they never achieved anything.

Chen Ziyun prepared the 11th Regiment to take over there easily, which made Mitake Tsuda cautious.

Especially now that the Jinsui Army has more than 3,000 troops deployed there for defense, it will be very difficult for the Moon Army to recapture it.

The Fourth Independent Mixed Brigade currently has five independent field brigades, directly under which are engineers, cavalry, artillery, and baggage brigades.

With a strength of more than 8,000, they need to cope with various situations.

Not to mention the Shanxi-Sui Army troops in Qicun Town and Hesuo Town on the west side of Xin County, they need to send a certain number of troops for defense.

At the same time, the Xin County area also requires a certain number of troops to be left in the east for defense, which means that the actual troops they can mobilize will not be too large.

Those troops stormed the front-line positions in Zhuangmo Town, and Tsuda Mitake felt that there was not much chance of victory.

What's more, as the Lieutenant Colonel and Chief of Staff said, if there are large casualties and losses, even if the Eastern position is taken, the gain will not be worth the loss.

I want to know whether the independent mixed fourth brigade is the only mobile combat unit currently controlled by the First Army. They will likely have many combat missions in the future.

"I really didn't expect that those Jinsui Army troops would have such terrifying combat effectiveness."

"They have an absolute advantage, but it feels like there is nothing you can do against them."

"I want to know that with such a large number of troops, they could easily mispay 20,000 to 30,000 Jin-Sui Army troops."

"It's really unacceptable that there would be such a change in such a short period of time."

"Chu Yunfei, Chen Ziyun, what kind of magic do they have that can make such a big change in the Jinsui Army of the 48th Independent Brigade?"

Tsuda Mitake looked at the map and thought for a long time, and said with a solemn face.

Before arriving in Jin Province, the First Army Headquarters had already reported the situation of the 48th Independent Brigade.

Is Mitake Tsuda aware of the existence of Chu Yunfei and Chen Ziyun?

Before the official battle, he felt that his troops could easily win.

However, now, a battle in Zhuangmo Town made Mitake Tsuda realize that that army was not simple.

"Brigade Commander Ge Dong, judging from the current situation, the two regiments of the Independent 48th Brigade can fight separately."

"One regiment's troops are deployed on the front line of Zhuangmo Town, and one regiment's troops are deployed on the front line of Hesuo Town and Qicun Town."

"Looking at each other, the Jinsui Army in Zhuangmo Town is relatively strong, while the regiment in the north seems to be a bit weak."

"They once attacked the 11th Independent Field Brigade in the hilly area, but were easily repelled and suffered casualties."

"Based on this situation, can they change their combat ideas, mobilize them, and then strike quickly."

"Even if they cannot be completely annihilated, with the current strength of his brigade, they can still be completely defeated."

After the Lieutenant Colonel and Chief of Staff thought for a moment, he directly put forward operational suggestions.

His intention was very clear, he wanted to assemble an independent mixed force into the fourth brigade and take the initiative to mobilize the 358 regiments in the villages and towns, and Hesuo Town to carry out encirclement and annihilation operations.

After analyzing the combat situation, the little devils came to the conclusion that the combat effectiveness of the 358th Regiment was far inferior to that of the 11th Reserve Regiment.

The Lieutenant Colonel and Chief of Staff wanted to attract reinforcements from the 11th Reserve Regiment through an encirclement and annihilation operation against the 358th Regiment.

I asked Chen Ziyun to prepare the 11th Regiment to leave the high ground of Zhuangmo Town and lose the terrain advantage. Then the Yue army can completely rely on field battles and mobile warfare to attack them.

The 48th Independent Brigade has more than 7,000 troops, and the 4th Independent Mixed Brigade has more than 8,000 troops.

Moreover, they are currently reinforced by eight artillery pieces directly under the army, and their overall strength is very strong.

As long as he is willing to fight for the offensive, the Lieutenant Colonel and Chief of Staff believe that the advantage will lie entirely in his own legs.

Mitake Tsuda started in 1937 and is now the commander of the Major General Brigade.

Although he is murderous and very cruel, that does not mean he is capable.

After realizing that the 11th reserve regiment deployed on the front line in Zhuangmo Town was not easy to fight, Mitake Tsuda thought for a long time but could not come up with a specific plan.

On the contrary, the Lieutenant Colonel and Chief of Staff thought for a while and came up with a good combat suggestion.

In reality, wherever you are in Buchang, it is inevitable that there will be some sophisticated people.

There are still big problems in the little Japanese army.

For example, Tojo, who is waiting for the soldiers, will he be able to control the core power of Juecuo in the later stage.

As for the 20th Division, which was almost annihilated by Wei Junru in southern Shanxi, its division commander Kawagishi Bunzaburo had almost no command ability.

The 20th Division fought in Jin Province and could not rely entirely on the command of Chief of Staff Kimura Jiuzang.

Mitake Tsuda can be said to be a reckless man, but his commanding ability is not very strong.

After listening to the combat suggestions from Lieutenant Colonel and Chief of Staff, Mitake Tsuda immediately agreed to come east without any hesitation.

Immediately afterwards, combat deployment began at the Lunar Army Brigade Headquarters.

They planned to send out the main force, and divided into two groups to attack the villages and towns, and launched a counterattack in Hesuo Town.

The 11th and 12th Independent Field Battalions, equipped with four Type 94 mountain artillery pieces, attacked villages and towns to counterattack.

The 13th Independent Field Brigade, a cavalry unit, equipped with four Type 94 mountain guns, joined Suo Town to launch a counterattack.

The 14th and 15th Independent Field Battalions, equipped with eight 38-type field guns and eight Liao-made artillery pieces, serve directly as reserve units.

The engineering corps and baggage corps stayed outside Xin County and were responsible for the security of Xin County.

Tsuda Mitake's independent mixed fourth brigade originally planned to sweep and annihilate Chu Yunfei's and Li Yunlong's troops, so they received artillery reinforcements.

There are eight Liao-made artillery pieces, including the Liao-made Type 14 77MM field gun and the Liao-made Type 14 100MM howitzer.

There are four pieces of each of those two types of artillery, and they are both considered to be the pinnacle of artillery made in Foliao.

Of course, although they are said to be produced by Fengtian Arsenal, they are actually completely imported from abroad and assembled in Fengtian Arsenal.

Even if it is assembled in the arsenal, relevant foreign technical personnel will provide guidance.

Strictly speaking, it is not an artillery piece produced in Liaoning.

Is it precisely because of this that the correlation between the two artillery pieces is comparable to that of quality?

Did the little Japanese Lieutenant Colonel and Chief of Staff that time intend to use the artillery advantage to inflict heavy damage on Chen Ziyun's troops?

The reserve team it formed was specially designed to prepare for the 11th Regiment.

They requested to gather the main force of the brigade to take the initiative and launch a combat attack against the 358th Regiment.

The 11th Reserve Regiment was asked to come over for support. Two field brigades were equipped with sixteen artillery pieces, and they were directly intercepted and attacked.

The eight field guns of the independent mixed fourth brigade artillery team were all incorporated into the reserve team that time.
To be continued...