Faced with Okamura Neiji's questioning, although the injured lieutenant was very flustered, he still had the courage to report.
"I don't even know where the Eighth Route Army that attacked us got a large number of tanks from, but we were indeed attacked by the Eighth Route Army's tank troops..."
"Where are the artillery?" Okamura Neiji continued to ask...
"Don't you still have an artillery brigade with mountain artillery? Why don't you organize artillery to counterattack."
"The mountain artillery is extremely powerful, and its frontal direct fire can completely destroy tanks and armored vehicles..."
The lieutenant reported with a sad face: "They are gone..."
"The Eighth Route Army tank troops were bombed before they appeared..."
"Did it explode?" Okamura Neji didn't react for a moment, he frowned and asked with confusion on his face.
"How could it be blown up? Could it be that the Eighth Route Army that attacked you was equipped with heavy artillery..."
"Even if the Eighth Route Army is equipped with heavy artillery, the mountain field artillery you are equipped with is not simple. Why don't you launch a counterattack?"
The lieutenant quickly explained: "We also want to fight back, but the enemy attacking us is in the sky, and we can't even fight back...
"Heaven..." Okamura Neji became more and more confused as he listened.
The lieutenant explained again: "We encountered dozens of aircraft during the march. We originally thought they were sent by the aviation force to pick us up, but it turned out that these aircraft attacked us directly from the sky."
"Our artillery brigade and tank troops were heavily attacked by aircraft and were directly blown into scrap metal by the aircraft."
"As soon as the enemy's bombing ended, more than 40 tanks and armored vehicles attacked us head-on."
"Without the cover of heavy artillery and tanks, the infantry also suffered heavy casualties in the air strikes. Facing the steel torrent composed of tanks, we didn't even have a chance to resist, and could only be passively beaten."
"At that time, the radio station equipped by the army was destroyed, and there was no way to broadcast the battle situation."
"The captain asked us to divide our forces to break out. Whoever breaks out should rush to Peking immediately and report to the headquarters that the returning reinforcements were jointly attacked by the enemy's aviation and tank troops, and the entire army was destroyed..."
Okamura Neji finally figured it out, and then his face turned pale.
The troops returning to Peking Airport were his only hope to destroy the planes at the airport and the supplies at the dock. Now that hope was gone, it meant that he could only watch the Eighth Route Army park the aviation aircraft at the airport and the weapons and ammunition stored by the front army at the Tianjin dock.
The material data is your own.
The deputy chief of staff also realized the seriousness of the problem and gathered around the sand table to think about solutions. He hoped to demolish the east wall to repair the west wall, improvise a force to reinforce Tianjin Wharf and Peking Airport, and destroy the supplies and aircraft there.
If all those aircraft and supplies really fall into the hands of the Eighth Route Army, the overall strength of the Eighth Route Army will increase a lot.
After the Eighth Route Army's combat effectiveness became stronger, the last injured would definitely be the North China Front Army scattered throughout North China.
This is a vicious cycle, which must be cut off at all costs, otherwise the situation of the North China Front Army will surely become increasingly dangerous.
"Your Excellency Commander..."
The deputy chief of staff seemed to have thought of something, and Okamura Neji immediately reminded him in despair.
"The Eighth Route Army wants to take possession of the supplies, weapons and ammunition we have hoarded at the Tianjin dock, and must send them out of the Pingjin area. This is a very large transportation operation. With the Eighth Route Army's transportation capacity, it may not be completed in three days.
.”
"Can we mobilize troops from other places to support Pingjin and intercept the Eighth Route Army transporting these supplies, weapons and ammunition? Maybe we can get back some of the loot and kill the Eighth Route Army involved in the transportation."
"From Tianjin Pier all the way south to the Eighth Route Army base area, the entire road is more than 100 kilometers long. The Eighth Route Army transport teams are scattered along the entire road, and it is easy for us to defeat them individually..."
Okamura Neji also turned his attention to this road. After thinking about it carefully, he replied: "According to the reports we have received so far, the total strength of the Eighth Route Army attacking Tianjin Pier and Peking Airport is less than 4,000. The troops heading north are
The Eighth Route Army in Yizhong has about 4,000 men, and together with the Peking Guerrilla Brigade, which was severely damaged by the Chief of Staff, the enemy's total strength is less than 10,000."
"The road used by the Eighth Route Army to transport its loot south was one hundred kilometers long. No matter how heavy the artillery and tanks were, the Eighth Route Army only had ten thousand soldiers. On average, one hundred Eighth Route Army soldiers would be responsible for a one-kilometer-long road section."
"Excluding the troops staying at Peiping Airport and Tianjin Wharf, even a two-kilometer-long road may not be able to be divided into one company."
"If you think about it this way, the entire road is indeed full of loopholes."
"As long as our troops find the right opportunity, even if there are only two infantry squadrons, they can hit with one hit, kill a certain Eighth Route Army scattered along the highway, cut off the highway, and seize back the materials, weapons and ammunition captured by the Eighth Route Army."
Okamura Neiji became more and more excited as he talked. He picked up his baton, pointed at the county towns and strongholds along the highway that were still controlled by the imperial army, and began to give orders: "Momentulate troops immediately."
"Let them approach the highway immediately in groups, raid the Eighth Route Army scattered along the highway, and seize back the supplies, weapons and ammunition stolen by the Eighth Route Army. If they can't take it away, blow it up. If we can't get it, the Eighth Route Army won't get it either.
I can imagine it.”
"We really can't gather that many troops, so we will operate as half a brigade."
"But we cannot put all our hopes of retrieving or destroying supplies on these troops."
"If we underestimate the strength of the Eighth Route Army in the Ping-Tianjin area, the troops we mobilized from various strongholds and counties will not only be unable to retrieve supplies, weapons and ammunition, but they may also lose our wives and troops, and we will be trapped."
"Contact the Navy immediately..."
"Let them find a way to dispatch a squadron from other battlefields to immediately support the Tianjin dock, and use naval guns to destroy the supplies, weapons and ammunition we have hoarded at the dock from the sea."
"The Eighth Route Army only has an army and no navy..."
"As long as the naval fleet arrives on time and does not dock at the dock, the Eighth Route Army that captured the Tianjin dock will be unable to do anything to them, and will only be passively beaten by naval gunfire."
…………
In Tianjin Wharf Materials Warehouse, Huang Yu is counting the gains from his trip.
More generous than imagined.
Perhaps it was because the North China Front lost troops and generals in the large-scale sweep of Yi Zhong some time ago. In order to supplement the losses of the North China Front and allow them to regain their combat effectiveness, Japan actually sent the weapons and ammunition needed for the troops in advance before the replacement troops were in place.
Tianjin Pier.
Among them, the ones that made Huang Yu jealous the most were the various heavy artillery with a caliber exceeding one hundred millimeters.
After deducting the forty artillery pieces that have been equipped by the troops, there are still more than a hundred in the warehouse. A whole artillery regiment can be formed with just large-caliber howitzers.
