"Division commander, think twice..." the chief of staff suddenly interrupted.
"If we don't send scouts outside the city and the troops are trapped in Gu'an, our troops will become blind and deaf. What if the Eighth Route Army suddenly attacks us outside the city?"
Nagata snorted coldly at first, and then said arrogantly: "I wish they could come over and attack Gu'an..."
"One of the important reasons why we stayed in Gu'an and did not directly attack the Eighth Route Army's Yizhong base area is that the ammunition baggage carried by the troops was not enough to support us in launching a large-scale raid."
"But if we rely on Gu'an County to fight a decisive battle with the Yizhong Eighth Route Army, the ammunition and baggage we carry will be enough to destroy them and fight a big battle with them here."
"At that time, we will be able to destroy the Eighth Route Army in Yizhong by ourselves and take all the credit alone..."
"As for the Eighth Route Army catching us off guard?"
"You overestimate the combat effectiveness of the Eighth Route Army and underestimate the strength of the aviation force..."
"The aviation units operating in our skies are from the Kwantung Army... they are not aviation units under the North China Front Army. They will definitely cooperate with our actions wholeheartedly and will not have any small tricks!"
"Just leave the battlefield to them..."
"Not even a single soldier of the Eighth Route Army in Yi Zhong can even think of quietly sneaking outside Gu'an City to attack us..."
…………
Headquarters of the Japanese North China Front in Peiping.
Lieutenant General Yamamoto, the division commander who commanded the 80,000 Kwantung Army, was standing in front of the huge combat sandbox and pointing in high spirits.
The commander of the North China Front, Okamura Neiji, stood next to him more like a deputy and personally introduced the real situation of the Eighth Route Army in the Wing to Lieutenant General Yamamoto, with a very ugly expression.
In terms of position, Okamura Neiji surpassed Lieutenant General Yamamoto by several blocks.
In terms of military rank, Okamura Neji is also a whole level higher than Lieutenant General Yamamoto.
Don’t underestimate this level.
In the highly hierarchical Japanese army, the higher the rank, the harder it is to be promoted.
After reaching the level of lieutenant general division commander, it is considered good to have one out of ten lieutenant generals promoted to general. More than 90% of division commanders will stop at the rank of lieutenant general.
There was such a huge gap between the two sides, but Okamura Neji had to commit himself to Lieutenant General Yamamoto as his deputy, which made him feel unspeakably aggrieved.
But for the future of the North China Front, he decided to endure the humiliation and serve as his deputy.
As long as the Kwantung Army's reinforcements go south to help him kill the Eighth Route Army in the Yizhong and solve the serious problem of the North China Front Army... let alone a deputy, even if he is allowed to go down and become a soldier, it will be fine.
"Yamamoto-kun..."
Seeing that Lieutenant General Yamamoto's face was filled with the arrogance of the Kwantung Army from beginning to end, he completely ignored the introduction of the North China Front Army's Deputy Chief of Staff about the Eighth Route Army in the Wing. Okamura Neiji was afraid that he would suffer the loss of underestimating the enemy on the battlefield, so he hurriedly
remind.
"The Yi Zhong Eighth Route Army is indeed different from other Eighth Route Army we have encountered..."
"The other Eighth Route Army has poor equipment and lacks ammunition. We have a lot of experience in encircling and suppressing them..."
"But the Yizhong Eighth Route Army is well-equipped and has sufficient ammunition. Even its fighting methods are different from other Eighth Route armies... They often fight positional battles with us on the battlefield, head-on..."
"They even like to engage in positional warfare with us on some battlefields. They use their heavy artillery and tanks to consume a large amount of our troops, and even directly fight to annihilate us..."
"Although the Kwantung Army is well-equipped... but if the troops are divided to sweep away the Eighth Route Army in the Yizhong... any reinforced division in the support force going south will not be a match for the Eighth Route Army in the Yizhong..."
Lieutenant General Yamamoto always felt that Okamura Neji was a defeated general, and he looked down on him from the bottom of his heart.
He also believes that the most important reason for Okamura Neji to exaggerate others' ambitions and destroy his own prestige in front of him is to get rid of the guilt of his repeated defeats to the Eighth Route Army in Yizhong...
With these thoughts, Lieutenant General Yamamoto did not take Okamura Neji's reminder seriously, but replied with an arrogant expression: "Commander Okamura, please rest assured..."
"The fundamental reason why our Kwantung Army is so powerful is not that the troops are well-equipped, but that the troops are well-trained and have very strong combat effectiveness."
"Even if the equipment level of the Yizhong Eighth Route Army far exceeds that of one of our main divisions, its combat effectiveness is not as good as our main division..."
"Just take a look..."
"As long as all the ammunition supplies sent by the Kwantung Army Headquarters are in place, I will definitely command three divisions to sweep across the Eighth Route Army's base area in the center of the wing and completely annihilate the North China Front Army's most serious threat..."
"As for you worrying about underestimating the enemy..."
"I admit that I am indeed arrogant, but I am confident that I can kill the Eighth Route Army in Yizhong..."
Okamura Neji saw that Lieutenant General Yamamoto did not listen to his words. Just when he was about to give a few more reminders, Lieutenant General Yamamoto's deputy suddenly came over from the telecommunications room.
"Division Commander..."
"The Air Wing just sent an urgent call..."
"They found signs of Eighth Route Army activities around our three divisions..."
"The opponents dispersed their activities in squads and platoons. When they saw the aircraft sent by the aviation wing, they dispersed and concealed themselves. As a result, the aircraft sent by the aviation wing were unable to carry out air strikes against them..."
Upon hearing the news, Lieutenant General Yamamoto only frowned, and his expression returned to calm. He stared at Gu'an County on the sand table and asked: "How many Eighth Route Army are there in total?"
"There should be no more than one regiment of the Eighth Route Army operating around each main division. No heavy weapons were seen..."
The expression on Lieutenant General Yamamoto's face became calmer and calmer, and he said with a nonchalant expression: "Then there is nothing to worry about..."
"Let the three divisions shrink their troops and don't send out scouts rashly..."
"The Eighth Route Army is best at sneak attacks...probably they want to take advantage of us scouts and knock out our eyes."
After saying that, he continued to ask the chief of staff: "How did the three divisions respond to this matter? What are their opinions?"
The chief of staff flattered him and said: "I have the same idea as your hero..."
"Especially Nagata Chu..."
"All the troops have been reduced to Gu'an City, and no one is allowed to leave the city..."
"Lieutenant General Nagata also stated in the telegram that if the Yizhong Eighth Route Army really dares to attack Gu'an County, he would not mind fighting a decisive battle with the enemy in Gu'an County..."
"Yoshi..." Lieutenant General Yamamoto laughed after hearing this.
"Nagata-kun's idea is very good. I will immediately send a copy of Nagata-kun's reply to the other two divisions... If the Yizhong Eighth Route Army really dares to take the initiative to go out... it will save us the trouble of raiding their base..."
"We no longer need the ammunition supplies sent to us by the Kwantung Army headquarters..."
"Wait a minute..." Okamura Neji interrupted at an inappropriate time.
Based on his knowledge of the Eighth Route Army in Yizhong, the sudden appearance of a large number of Eighth Route Army troops around the three divisions of the Kwantung Army must have hidden a deeper conspiracy, and it was definitely not as simple as Lieutenant General Yamamoto imagined.
