Two consecutive bad news reached the regiment headquarters. No matter how reluctant Kawaguchi was, he had to accept the fact that the reinforcements had an accident and he fell into the guerrilla brigade's plan to encircle the point for reinforcements.
He walked quickly to the sand table and analyzed while looking at it: "The guerrilla brigade successfully captured the stone fort stronghold and wiped out all the reinforcements we sent."
"If the military operation they inspired continues, their next attack target will probably be Fangshan County, where we are located."
"Pass my order: the county will be under martial law immediately..."
"All troops are ready for battle."
"The city defense troops immediately entered the position to prevent the Eighth Route Army from sneaking into the defense line under the cover of night."
"There are only more than 2,000 garrison troops left in the city. If they all go to the top of the city, only 500 people can be allocated in each direction. But we obviously cannot arrange that many troops to fight on the city wall."
"The wing headquarters must leave one or two squadrons of troops for maneuver, protection of the arsenal, and martial law in the city... troops are also needed."
"So we can arrange at most 350 people to fight on the city wall in each direction of the county. There is certainly no way to ensure that the entire city defense is flawless, so we must be very cautious and not give the Eighth Route Army any opportunity to take advantage of."
"All intelligence agencies are mobilized to find the main force of the Eighth Route Army that ambushed our reinforcements."
"All the reconnaissance troops were also sent out to search for the main force of the guerrilla brigade and keep an eye on them."
"If their next target is us, report it to the wing headquarters immediately."
After saying that, he hurried back to the office.
The defense line garrison was specially set up to target the Peking Guerrilla Brigade of the Eighth Route Army. Its purpose was to block the Railway Guerrilla Brigade in the mountains. If there was a chance, it would be best to eliminate them.
As a result, not only did he not block the guerrilla brigade in the mountains, nor did he eliminate them, but he also fell into their trap and lost a large brigade and a regiment of the Imperial Alliance Army.
This resulted in a serious shortage of troops stationed in Fangshan.
If the railway guerrilla brigade takes advantage of the situation and gathers heavy troops to besiege Fangshan County, the possibility of losing Fangshan is very high.
Faced with this accident, no matter how brave Kawaguchi Colonel was, he would not dare to hide it anymore.
Because once an accident occurs in Fangshan County.
The Eighth Route Army's railway guerrilla brigade can march straight in and fight to the outside of Beiping, directly threatening the security of Beiping.
By then, even if you have ten heads, you won't be able to chop them off.
…………
Headquarters of the Japanese North China Front in Peiping.
Okamura Neji is in a very good mood.
As time passed, the situation in the North China War seemed to have returned to a situation favorable to the North China Front.
The Yizhong Eighth Route Army has suffered heavy casualties in successive battles. It is recruiting troops to replenish blood in the base area and will not launch any external military operations in the short term.
Although the North China Front Army is also replenishing blood, because it has the support of the entire empire, the North China Front Army can replenish blood much faster than the Eighth Route Army in the Wing.
In more than half a month, the North China Front will receive its largest batch of additional troops.
With their addition, the North China Front Army can be resurrected with full health.
The Eighth Route Army in Yizhong became the weakest in combat effectiveness due to the recruitment of a large number of untrained recruits.
The North China Front took advantage of the situation and seized the opportunity to attack the Yizhong Eighth Route Army. Even if they could not completely annihilate them, they would severely damage the Yizhong Eighth Route Army and compress their living space.
These good news made Okamura Neji sleep very peacefully at night. No matter what he did in the past few days, he had a smile from the bottom of his heart, which showed how good he was.
At four o'clock in the morning, except for a few operational staff officers at Noda's front army headquarters, they still yawned and continued to work. Everyone, including Okamura Neji, fell asleep.
In the telecommunications room next to the war room, the radio signal light was flashing rapidly.
The operator wore headphones, tapped the transmitter button with one hand, and held a pencil in the other hand to record the telegram codes he received.
After five minutes, he put down the headphones and quickly translated the message he received according to the code book.
Halfway through the translation, the operator's face had completely darkened. While translating the rest of the message, he shouted toward the door: "Sir..."
"Urgent call from Fangshan Garrison Headquarters..."
"The Peking Guerrilla Brigade of the Eighth Route Army hiding in the mountains was dispatched..."
"The Xiashibao stronghold blocking the guerrilla brigade was breached. The reinforcements sent by the Fangshan garrison to the Xiashibao stronghold were ambushed and the entire army was destroyed6"
"The guerrilla brigade may launch an attack on Fangshan County at any time and request reinforcements."
The communications staff officer came after hearing the news. After reading the telegram, he knew how big the matter was. He immediately found the deputy chief of staff on duty. The deputy chief of staff took a quick glance and rushed to Okamura Neji's room.
"Pa bang bang..."
The dull knock on the door soon reached Neji Okamura's ears. When he opened his eyes, he heard the deputy chief of staff standing at the door and shouting: "Your Excellency, Commander... The headquarters has received an emergency that requires you to handle it immediately..."
Okamura Neiji did not take the emergency situation mentioned by Deputy Chief of Staff Yangkou seriously.
Currently, no large-scale military action has broken out in North China. Even if there is an emergency, it will have little impact.
But you still have to get up when you need to get up.
Opening the door, he yawned and asked, "Why are you so anxious? Can't you wait until dawn to deal with it?"
"It was such a dream that was ruined by you."
"Commander, please calm down..." the deputy chief of staff comforted and reported.
"The contents of the telegram are extremely urgent and must be dealt with immediately."
"Report from the Fangshan garrison: The Peiping guerrilla brigade that was blocked by us in the mountains suddenly dispatched. It took only a few hours to capture the Xiashibao stronghold and completely wiped out more than 2,000 reinforcements sent by the Fangshan garrison to Xiashibao."
"Colonel Kawaguchi is worried that the next target of the guerrilla brigade will be Fangshan County. After the Fangshan garrison lost more than 2,000 reinforcements, the total force has been reduced sharply to more than 2,000 people. It is very likely that they will not be able to defend Fangshan County. So I sent a special telegram.
Asking for help.”
"I hope the headquarters can dispatch a brigade to reinforce Fangshan County."
"Idiot..." Okamura Neji couldn't help but cursed after reading the battle report.
"With so many garrison troops, they couldn't even hold back a small guerrilla brigade, and they turned back on us, losing more than 2,000 elite troops. The North China Front Army was completely disgraced by them."
The chief of staff came after hearing the news and was very angry after reading the telegram.
But anger is still anger, and business must be done.
When he walked to the war room, he proposed to Neji Okamura: "Your Excellency, Commander..."
"Fangshan County is the gateway that blocks the Eighth Route Army's Beiping Guerrilla Brigade from advancing eastward and threatening Beiping's security. It must be in our hands."
"The guerrilla brigade has the strength to fight on two fronts, and they killed more than 2,000 of our elite troops. It shows that they really have the strength to capture Fangshan County. We have to guard against this."
"I suggest that a reinforced brigade be immediately transferred from the Peking garrison to reinforce Fangshan."
"Considering that the Eighth Route Army's Peking Guerrilla Brigade has a cavalry company, send two more cavalry squadrons to them to keep them west of Fangshan forever and not threaten the security of Peiping."
