The communications staff officer ran back and forth between the war room and the telecommunications room, constantly delivering the latest battle reports from the North China front to the war staff officers.
Several combat staff members gathered around the sand table and marked the contents of the telegram on the sand table in as much detail as possible, so that Umezu Umejiro could more intuitively see the latest battle situation on the Yichu battlefield.
The chief of staff stood aside to check for leaks and fill in the gaps, introducing the battle situation that Umezu Umejiro had not seen at any time, or answering some military questions that Umezu Umejiro suddenly asked.
Umezu Umejiro looked at the sand table twice, his brows furrowed deeper as he looked, and then he asked with a puzzled expression: "Are you sure that our mopping up troops went 30 kilometers deep into the Eighth Route Army base in Yizhong without fighting their main force...
"
The chief of staff read the contents of the telegram twice before replying: "The humble position is confirmed..."
"In addition to going 30 kilometers deep into the Eighth Route Army's base area...our mopping up troops also recaptured three county towns from the Eighth Route Army..."
"According to the report of the Kwantung Army who participated in the sweep: the Eighth Route Army defending the county town fled after hearing the news, with no intention of fighting them..."
Hearing this, Umezu Umejiro's frowned brows not only did not relax, but frowned deeper and deeper. He shook his head and replied: "It's too abnormal..."
"In the battle of Gu'an, they only used a few thousand men to severely damage one of our main divisions... It shows that the Eighth Route Army in Yinzhong is very powerful in combat, and is good at seizing opportunities. It likes to take the initiative, and it is not like an army that likes to be a tortoise...
"
"But it's been two days since the big sweep began, and they still have no intention of fighting with us... Don't you think this is abnormal?"
After saying that, he stared at the chief of staff and asked: "What does Neji Okamura of the North China Front think..."
"Although the Kwantung Army we sent in this battle is not under his command, it is still helping them..."
"As the host, he must provide us with accurate information and opinions..."
The chief of staff hesitated and replied: "He said the Eighth Route Army was probably planning a big operation..."
"He said that one of the most common tactics used by the Eighth Route Army in counter-mopping up operations was to cut off one of its fingers rather than injuring ten of them..."
Umezu Umejiro immediately shook his head: "This is impossible..."
"Each of our mopping up troops has a main division!"
"Considering that the Yizhong Eighth Route Army had the experience of severely damaging one of our main divisions in one night, these six main divisions were not completely dispersed, but were placed two by two next to each other."
"No matter if any main division is besieged, the other division can reach the battlefield within two hours..."
"Even if the total strength of the expanded Yizhong Eighth Route Army has exceeded 30,000, it still doesn't have the strength to eat up two of our main divisions in one go..."
"Your Excellency, Commander, there is an urgent call from the battlefield in the wing..." The communications staff rushed into the war room again. Compared with before, his facial expression at this moment was obviously more anxious.
The chief of staff also realized that something was wrong. He took the telegram and glanced at it. His brows soon furrowed. He handed the telegram to the combat staff and asked them to mark the contents of the telegram on the map while introducing it to Umezu Umejiro.
"Your Excellency Commander..."
"The Eighth Route Army in Yi Zhong is dispatched..."
"A main force group relies on tunnel fortifications and ground fortifications to directly block our middle route mopping up troops..."
"Our soldiers don't understand tunnel warfare..."
"He rushed in blindly during the battle and was killed by the Yizhong Eighth Route Army hiding in the tunnel..."
"Including the losses during the attack, the total number of casualties is one main regiment...more than 2,400 soldiers died in battle alone..."
"Nani..."
Umezu Umejiro immediately showed a dumbfounded and shocked expression on his face, staring at the firefight point on the sand table and muttering to himself.
"The terrain here is not complicated, and it is relatively unsuitable for blocking. The Eighth Route Army actually blocked us head-on than here, and even killed one of our main regiments... How is this possible..."
The chief of staff was also shocked, but the fact was that it could only be explained based on the contents of the telegram: "The battle report said that the Eighth Route Army used tunnel fortifications on a large scale to stop us..."
"The Kwantung Army never fought in tunnels before participating in the war, so it suffered a big loss..."
"Tunnel battle?"
Umezu Umejiro reacted quickly, but the questions in his mind were not completely solved.
He had served as the commander of the North China Front, so he must have heard of and understood tunnel warfare.
But in his understanding, tunnel warfare was a tactical strategy devised by the Eighth Route Army guerrillas to deal with the regular Imperial Army when they were short of guns and ammunition. However, they were all used to fight guerrillas. He had never heard of tunnels.
Fortifications can be used to fight large-scale positional warfare.
The chief of staff had never been in the North China Front. He had only seen the words "tunnel fortifications" in telegrams before, but had never actually seen them. When the commander asked him, he was confused and didn't know how to explain it.
He shook his head and replied: "I don't know the specific situation..."
"Why don't you humble yourself and send a telegram to Commander Okamura to ask... He must know more about tunnel warfare than we do..."
Just as Umezu Umejiro was about to nod, another communications staff officer hurried into the war room: "Your Excellency, Commander..."
"An urgent call to sweep the troops from the right side of the battlefield in the center of the wing..."
"One of their main units was blasted by the Eighth Route Army and suffered heavy losses!"
"Explosion, what does this mean?" Umezu Umejiro was confused by this word.
Because these two words rarely appear on the frontal battlefield, and they are basically used by engineers and soldiers.
And now the Yizhong Eighth Route Army has severely damaged a regiment of the Kwantung Army through blasting... How did they do it...
Umezu Umejiro couldn't understand.
The chief of staff was also full of questions. He quickly took the telegram and browsed it, and then a strange expression full of doubts appeared on his face.
Because he had been fighting for so many years and this was the first time he encountered such an attack.
Immediately report to Umezu Umejiro: "Your Excellency, Commander..."
"The telegram said that the Eighth Route Army reached the ground of our military station through the tunnel... buried a large number of explosives and suddenly detonated..."
"More than 2,000 elite Kwantung Army members were killed in the explosion... and more than 500 people were injured... An entire fully-equipped infantry regiment was destroyed by the explosion..."
"Why is it authentic again..."
Umezu Umejiro's eyes widened, as if he had heard a big joke, and he asked with a look of disbelief on his face.
But when I think about it seriously, I feel that this style of play is not impossible to achieve.
As long as the tunnel is long enough and the Eighth Route Army digs the tunnel in advance at the location selected by the troops, the Eighth Route Army can indeed bury hundreds or even thousands of high explosives at the feet of the mopping up troops through the tunnel...
If explosives were suddenly detonated at night, not to mention running for their lives, many soldiers might not even have a chance to open their eyes and would be blown into pieces!
