Six strongholds on the sand table have been attacked or lost contact, and each stronghold has more than two squadrons of troops stationed there.
What's more important is that directly opposite these strongholds, a regiment of the Eighth Route Army is training.
At the beginning, the troops stationed in these strongholds sent telegrams more than once to request battle. They wanted to take advantage of the fact that the Eighth Route Army's foothold was not stable, the proportion of new recruits was too high, and the troops had not yet formed combat effectiveness. By taking the initiative to launch an attack, even if they could not be eliminated, they could be severely damaged.
At that time, I also had this idea, and even sent a telegram to Okamura Neiji in Peiping to invite war. As a result, he yelled at me, telling me not to underestimate the enemy.
Even if the Eighth Route Army they faced was only 30% veterans, they should not be underestimated.
If the troops attack rashly, the battlefield between the two sides will be located in the Eighth Route Army base area, and the terrain advantage will be in the hands of the Eighth Route Army. Coupled with their artillery superiority, the chance of victory is not great.
Lieutenant General Suzuki was a division commander who was transferred from other battlefields in North China. He had only heard about the powerful achievements of the Eighth Route Army in the Yizhong Army in the past, but had never actually fought against them.
Still thinking about the Yizhong Eighth Route Army with conventional thinking, he didn't pay much attention to Okamura Neiji's reminder, and even scorned it a little. He felt that Okamura Neiji was scared of being beaten by the Yizhong Eighth Route Army, and his expression changed when he heard it.
He didn't take Okamura Neji's reminder very seriously.
As a result, the new recruits of the Eighth Route Army who were confronting the blockade garrison told him with a loud slap: Older people are still hotter!
Okamura Neiji is worthy of being the commander who fought against the Yizhong Eighth Route Army twice. He really knows the Yizhong Eighth Route Army better than he does.
The Eighth Route Army that was confronting the blockade garrison seemed to have the majority of new recruits and was still training and had no combat effectiveness. In fact, this was all an illusion.
Not only did the Eighth Route Army possess considerable combat effectiveness, they also had the ability to proactively provoke wars, attack the blockade, and attempt to seize six of their strongholds.
At this time, the chief of staff who had gone to give the reinforcement order happened to return to Lieutenant General Suzuki. Seeing that his face was getting heavier and heavier, and his eyes became red and red, like a powder keg that might explode at any time, he hesitated for a while.
Then I faced the scalp reminder.
"Division Commander..."
"Your Excellency, Commander, attaches great importance to our blockade surrounding the Eighth Route Army in the wing..."
"Now that the blockade is under attack, the six strongholds under attack may be breached by the Eighth Route Army at any time..."
"Do you think you should report this accident to the headquarters..."
Lieutenant General Suzuki cursed angrily: "Are you waiting to be scolded after reporting it?"
"Your Excellency, the Commander, just told us to be on guard and not to underestimate the Eighth Route Army in Yizhong. Even if they are still training, we must not relax in any way."
"It turns out we didn't take these reminders seriously."
"The Eighth Route Army in Yizhong will launch an attack on the blockade. By then, a person who has neglected his duty will definitely not be able to escape the responsibility."
The chief of staff also knew the punishment he might face, but he did not dare to conceal the military situation. He could only leave this problem to Lieutenant General Suzuki to solve, and answered with a worried look: "What should we do?"
"If the six strongholds are not defended and the blockade is breached, your commander will know about it sooner or later."
"At that time, we will not only be charged with dereliction of duty, but we may also be charged with concealing military information... Please consider it carefully, division commander."
Lieutenant General Suzuki shook his head and ordered: "Don't report it yet..."
"Although I don't know what the Yizhong Eighth Route Army relies on to attack the blockade, it is an indisputable fact that they have a high proportion of new recruits and the troops have not yet formed combat effectiveness."
While talking, he found a few telegrams that the headquarters had just received, waved them in front of his subordinates, and then continued to analyze: "The rescue telegrams we received all have one thing in common."
“The Eighth Route Army attacking the blockade carried a large number of mountain artillery and mortars.
"The stronghold was attacked by heavy artillery fire from the Eighth Route Army and suffered heavy losses. There is no word on how strong the combat effectiveness of the Eighth Route Army's attacking troops was."
"It means that the Eighth Route Army's offensive troops did not pose much of a threat to the garrison at the stronghold, or that until now, the Eighth Route Army infantry has not participated in the battle, and artillery has been attacking the stronghold."
"The role of artillery fire in re-attacking battles is irreplaceable, but it does not mean that artillery fire is invincible in battle."
"Without the cooperation of infantry, no matter how powerful the artillery is, it will be impossible to capture our stronghold and break through the blockade."
"Taking a step back, even if the several strongholds that were attacked suffered heavy losses under the powerful artillery fire of the Eighth Route Army, the infantry took the opportunity to capture the strongholds."
"As long as our reinforcements arrive in time, and the Eighth Route Army infantry does not have much combat effectiveness, we can still regain the stronghold from the Eighth Route Army and rebuild the blockade."
"Do not worry……"
"When the reinforcements arrive on the battlefield and the garrison troops at the strongholds engage the Eighth Route Army infantry to determine whether their combat effectiveness is really as poor as we judged, it will not be too late to report it to the front army headquarters."
…………
Time flies by.
What puzzled Lieutenant General Suzuki was that, except for a few telegrams received half an hour ago, there was no movement from the headquarters radio station for more than half an hour.
The chief of staff always felt that something big was going on at the blockade, and immediately asked the radio operators to proactively contact several strongholds that were under attack.
As a result, everyone in the headquarters was shocked.
All six strongholds that were attacked were cut off from contact. No matter how the radio operator called them, there was no response.
After actively contacting the reinforcements, except for the four reinforcements that responded, the battlefield was less than half an hour away, and the remaining two reinforcements were also missing.
More importantly, judging from the time, the two missing reinforcements should have already arrived on the battlefield.
There were thousands of reinforcements on each route, half of them were Japanese and half were puppet troops.
Even if they were attacked by the Eighth Route Army after reaching the battlefield and had an accident, they would not even have the chance to send a telegram for help.
One accident after another casts a shadow over everyone in the headquarters.
He also became confused about his understanding of the Eighth Route Army in Yizhong.
If the proportion of their veterans is really less than 30%, and the rest are all new recruits who have just touched the gun, no matter how powerful the artillery fire is, it is impossible to break through the six strongholds of the blockade at the same time in just one hour. The Imperial Army has wiped out three
More than a thousand people.
The trump cards of the Yizhong Eighth Route Army in daring to attack the blockade must be far beyond everyone's imagination, and may even directly subvert everyone's understanding of the Yizhong Eighth Route Army.
These are the inner thoughts of the chief of staff. Since there is no evidence to support his judgment yet, the chief of staff can only keep these thoughts deep in his heart.
Although Lieutenant General Suzuki did not speak during the whole process, his increasingly solemn expression showed that he was also aware that the war situation was deteriorating, but he was too embarrassed to reject his analysis just now, so he slapped himself in the face and could only hold on.
