After the intelligence chief left, the chief of staff waved everyone else in the war room out and walked to Okamura Neiji: "Your Excellency, Commander..."
"I don't believe that the more than 10,000 elite reinforcements sent south will have an accident in just a few hours..."
"But we have to prepare for the worst..."
"What if they really..."
"The command must prepare countermeasures in advance..."
"Avoid being caught off guard by the enemy!"
Okamura Neiji nodded, then turned his attention to the Tianjin Pier on the sand table, and asked seriously: "How long will it take for the second batch of recruits promised to us in the country to be in place, and how many people are there in total?"
The chief of staff is responsible for the training and distribution of new recruits in the front army. He knows this problem well and answered immediately: "It will take another month..."
"In order to increase the strength of the North China Front as soon as possible!"
"This time we have a total of 10,000 troops replenished domestically... including 7,000 new recruits and 3,000 elite veterans drawn from the remaining divisions in the country..."
"Initiate the old with the new, and after replenishing equipment, you can immediately form two independent mixed brigades!"
"One month..."
These three words answered by the chief of staff made Neji Okamura breathe a sigh of relief, and then said happily.
"It's still too late..."
"With these two independent mixed brigades, and if we let the Imperial Association Army form two more security brigades, we can not only make up for all the losses of the reinforcements going south, but also create an additional independent mixed brigade..."
"At that time, we will have more troops to encircle the Eighth Route Army in Yizhong and prevent them from expanding outward..."
"What about the month before the new recruits arrive?" the chief of staff asked with a frown!
Okamura Neiji snorted and asked: "If the reinforcements going south really have an accident in Xiong County and are completely wiped out by the Eighth Route Army in the Wing..."
"Do you think the Yizhong Eighth Route Army still has the strength to expand outwards in a short period of time?"
The chief of staff slapped his head and said, "Is this really what happened?"
"They are now destroying our attacking troops in the base area. Although the tunnels played a huge role in the battle, allowing them to end the battle at a very small cost, the casualties of one or two thousand people are definitely unavoidable."
"After all, our attacking troops are not vegetarians!"
"The offensive and defensive battle in Baoding was more intense than we imagined."
"I thought it would be over in three days, but the Baoding garrison persisted for nearly two days in order to go south to reinforce the troops. This shows how fierce the fighting in the city was."
"The independent brigade's casualties in attacking Baoding will definitely not be much smaller."
"Coupled with the fact that Baoding city defenses are very strong, I judge that the Eighth Route Army suffered at least 5,000 casualties in the battle of Baoding."
"Although the Battle of Xiongxian went faster than we expected, the total casualties of the Eighth Route Army in the siege battle have been ascertained by the intelligence department. They were more than 4,000 and close to 5,000."
"We have more than 10,000 reinforcements going south. If an accident occurs during the attack on Xiongxian, the Eighth Route Army's casualties will not be much smaller than ours."
"Because the Eighth Route Army, which is detached from the base area to reinforce Xiong County, cannot carry heavy weapons."
"And our reinforcements going south not only have an organic heavy artillery brigade, an organic tank brigade, but also a large number of mountain field artillery and mortar units."
"Even if the two sides fought a head-to-head bloody battle around Xiong County, the casualties of the Eighth Route Army would not be known."
"I believe this number must be more than 6,000 people."
"The Eighth Route Army's casualties in just ten days exceeded 17,000."
"Although a large proportion of them are injured and can return to the team after recovery, it will take time."
"This means that the current Yizhong Eighth Route Army still has at most 10,000 people who can continue to fight."
"Excluding artillery and other technical arms, it would be good to have 7,000 infantrymen who can actually go on the battlefield."
"This small number of troops can only be used to defend the base area, and there will certainly not be any excess troops to expand outward."
"Even if the Yizhong Eighth Route Army recruits new soldiers to expand its troops in their base area, it will not be able to form combat effectiveness in a month."
"At that time, domestic reinforcements arrived just in time."
"We are not worried even if the Yizhong Eighth Route Army regains some strength."
Seeing that the chief of staff understood what he was thinking, Okamura Neiji directly ordered: "Having said that, we still cannot relax our investigation of the Eighth Route Army in the wing..."
"They are too cunning and impossible to guard against. No one can guarantee that they will do something surprising that we didn't expect during this period."
"At the same time, let the Imperial Alliance Army immediately expand its two-person security brigade."
"Use all the officers they have trained, and then transfer some veterans from the existing Imperial Alliance Army in the Ping-Tianjin area to expand two security brigades in the shortest possible time. Once the troops supporting us from home arrive, we will go to the wing and continue the execution.
The task of containing the Eighth Route Army in Yi Zhong."
…………
The Eighth Route Army Headquarters in Yizhong, Xiongxian City.
Kong Jie walked in with a smile on his face and a very good mood.
The main force of the Japanese and puppet troops' southward reinforcements had been eliminated, and the brigade commander, Major General Biancheng, was killed by a mortar.
Although there were still more than a thousand remnant soldiers scattered on the battlefield, they were no longer in harm's way. Facing the Eighth Route Army that was chasing them, they had to either flee for their lives and leave Xiong County, or be taken prisoner or killed.
This was an unplanned surprise.
I thought that the Yizhong Eighth Route Army could capture Xiongxian and Baoding, and annihilating the troops stationed in both places would be the greatest victory.
As for the reinforcement troops sent south by Okamura Neji.
In the original battle plan of the division, it was only necessary to arrange one or two main regiments to contain them in turn.
Unexpectedly, Huang Yu was so picky that he forced him to find a fighter plane that could wipe out them all.
"Xiao Huang... The Japanese and puppet troops have finished sending reinforcements south..." Kong Jie said with a smile on his face when he saw Huang Yu.
"Without this Japanese and puppet army, our attack on Tianjin Pier will definitely be smoother..."
Huang Yu was also very happy, but when he thought of the huge casualties of the troops left behind in Xiongxian County, he couldn't laugh anymore. He frowned and replied: "It's still too risky."
"Xiong County was almost captured by the Japanese and puppet troops."
"If we hadn't prepared a large number of thunder cannons in advance, the troops left behind in the city would not have been able to hold on until the reinforcements arrived."
"Two main regiments, more than 3,000 soldiers, only less than 1,000 people can continue to fight."
"More than 2,500 soldiers died in Xiongxian City."
"Commander..."
"During the battle, I underestimated the determination of the Japanese and puppet troops to send reinforcements south to attack Xiongxian County. As a result, the troops were insufficiently prepared and had insufficient heavy firepower. The troops left behind in the city suffered heavy casualties in the battle...I must bear the main responsibility..."
Kong Jie thought very clearly about this.
Although the heavy casualties of the troops made him heartbroken, as an excellent commander, he must remain rational at all times.
After taking a deep breath, he replied: "If the troops left behind are fully prepared in the city and equipped with a large number of heavy weapons, they can easily block the frontal offensive troops of the Japanese and puppet troops and prevent them from seeing the hope of conquering Xiong County. The little Japanese will not stay in Xiong County."
