At the headquarters of the Japanese North China Front in Peiping, Ningji Okamura waited from early morning until nine o'clock in the morning when he finally received the exact news about the Eighth Route Army outside the city.
"Beiping Guerrilla Detachment...how come I have never heard of this unit?" Neji Okamura asked after hearing the report.
The chief of staff then added: "Could this be a force deliberately fabricated by the Eighth Route Army to confuse us..."
"Even though I know the enemy situation around Peiping very well, I still know the general situation."
"According to my understanding, there are only a few Eighth Route Army guerrillas around Beiping... They really wanted to establish a base around Beiping before and sent a lot of troops, but they were nipped in the bud by us and it was difficult for them to become a big success."
"Commander, I don't think the Peiping guerrilla detachment mentioned in the report exists."
"Within the Eighth Route Army, detachments are organized at the brigade level, with at least three regiments."
"With such a large force, no matter how concealed the march is, it is impossible to send three regiments quietly around Peiping. This must be a bluff by the Eighth Route Army to confuse us."
The deputy chief of staff shook his head and objected: "But do they need to use the non-existent troops to bluff?"
"The three regiments of the Pacification Army garrisoned in Peiping are different from other Imperial Association Army. The officers are basically from military schools. They are well-trained and well-equipped. Each regiment has nearly 2,000 people and is also equipped with specialized mortars.
The company has a very strong combat effectiveness."
"This group of Eighth Route Army troops captured Tongxian County in just one night and annihilated the two main regiments of the Appeasement Army. Their combat effectiveness is no worse than that of the guerrilla detachment. Is it necessary for them to confuse us with a non-existent unit designation?"
"this……"
The chief of staff wanted to refute the deputy's words, but racked his brains and couldn't find a reason to refute.
Okamura Neiji suddenly answered: "The Eighth Route Army that occupied Tongxian County is indeed very strong. There is no need to bluff with us. But they may randomly make up a non-existent number to confuse us in order to conceal their true identity."
"But no matter what the purpose of this Eighth Route Army is, as long as we eliminate them in the shortest possible time and prevent them from continuing to run rampant around Peiping, the crisis will be solved."
After saying that, he stared at the chief of staff and ordered: "Immediately organize troops to retake Tong County and eliminate all the Eighth Route Army occupying Tong County."
"The aviation force has aircraft ready to reinforce the battlefield at any time and attack the enemy from the air."
Okamura Neiji was very angry. The chief of staff seemed to have not come out of the horns just now. He frowned and studied the sand table, as if he didn't hear his order and remained motionless.
For him, this was simply a challenge to his authority on the North China Front.
Just as he was about to repeat the order just now, the chief of staff looked away from the sand table, frowned, and replied solemnly: "Your Excellency, Commander, I want to destroy the Eighth Route Army occupying Tong County as soon as possible, but we have no troops available.
"
"We have just deployed five thousand elite troops to reinforce Baoding. They will definitely not be able to come back in a short time. The appeasement army stationed in Tong County has been wiped out again. There are only a few security brigades and a regiment of appeasement army left in Beiping City. This is the last battle in Beiping.
In order to ensure the safety of Peiping, the security forces must not leave the city rashly."
"Even if they can be sent to retake Tong County, there is a high chance that these troops will not be opponents of the Eighth Route Army..."
Okamura Neiji had hundreds of thousands of troops at his disposal, and had so many things to take care of every day that he even forgot about the five thousand troops he had sent to reinforce Baoding. He didn't remember until the chief of staff reminded him, and then he frowned and fell into deep thought.
This so-called Peking guerrilla detachment took advantage of Peiping's lack of military strength to capture Tongxian County. Was it an unintentional move or a deliberate one?
If it was unintentional, there's nothing to worry about.
Although there are no extra troops in Peiping, there are in Tianjin and Fangshan County, which are dozens of kilometers away. From there, troops can be mobilized to counterattack Tong County and the opponent can still be eliminated, but it will take a little longer.
But if this was an intentional act by the Eighth Route Army, then things would be very serious.
Taking advantage of the lack of troops in Peiping, the Eighth Route Army suddenly gathered heavy troops to capture Tongxian County, opening the east gate to attack Peiping.
If the opponent's real purpose is to attack Peiping, they can rush outside the city tonight and threaten Peiping's security with artillery fire.
If their purpose is to take the opportunity to disrupt Beiping and establish a base in Beiping, they will not leave...
The later he sends his troops, the harder it will be to eliminate them, and he might even be able to let them gain a foothold outside Peiping City.
Based on this calculation, I must send troops to retake Tong County as soon as possible, eliminate the opponent, and not give them any chance to threaten the security of Peiping and establish a base here.
After glancing at the sand table, he began to issue orders: "Call the Tianjin garrison immediately and ask them to dispatch a reinforced brigade to march urgently to reinforce Tong County."
"Make another call to the mixed brigade stationed in Fangshan County: "Ask them to dispatch two reinforcement brigades to reinforce Tong County."
"The three brigades joined together to encircle and annihilate all the Eighth Route Army troops that captured Tonghua."
"Sir is wise."
The chief of staff reacted very quickly this time. After hearing this, he loudly accepted the order. Then he looked at Neji Okamura and continued to ask: "Then what should we do while we wait for reinforcements?"
"If the Eighth Route Army splits its forces and leaves Tong County and takes the initiative to attack our checkpoints and outposts outside the city, even if the reinforcements reach Tong County in time, it will be difficult to gather them together and annihilate them."
Okamura Neiji has hundreds of thousands of troops at his disposal, and deals with countless difficult things every day. This small problem is not a problem for him.
After glancing at the sand table, he made a decision: "Although the remaining troops in Beiping City cannot move, there are still many troops scattered outside the city. If they are gathered together and mixed together, they will still be a very powerful military force."
"Order, immediately transfer two reinforced squadrons from the airport, and then transfer two squadrons from surrounding strongholds to temporarily form a reinforced brigade. Under the cover of the aviation force, surround Tongxian County, block the Eighth Route Army in the city, and wait until all reinforcements are in place.
Gather them together and annihilate them."
"Although a strengthened brigade may not be a match for the Eighth Route Army in Tongxian County, it will certainly have no problem surrounding Tongxian County under the cover of aviation."
…………
At the Japanese brigade headquarters in Fangshan County, the brigade commander never received a single piece of good news from the time the mopping up troops were defeated at the Zhoukou stronghold.
First, during the search process, the troops were attacked by long-distance artillery fire from the Eighth Route Army, resulting in heavy casualties.
After the troops entered the mountains, under the cover of terrain and trees, the role of aviation became smaller and smaller. The Eighth Route Army's long-distance artillery attacks on the mopping up troops directly turned into close-range fire attacks, and the casualties of the troops also increased sharply.
After deducting the soldiers used to carry the wounded, the number of soldiers still able to fight in the mopping up force has dropped sharply to less than 2,000.
If we continue to fight like this, not only will the mopping up troops have no chance of finding the main force of the Eighth Route Army, but they will be beaten to the point of losing their combat effectiveness by the Eighth Route Army's harassing troops.
Just as he was frowning and thinking about ways to break the situation, the telegraph operator he least expected to see rushed into the war room again.
"Have any troops been attacked by long-distance artillery fire from the Eighth Route Army again and suffered heavy losses? Are you asking the brigade headquarters for reinforcements?" the brigade leader asked helplessly.
Seeing the radio operator shaking his head, the brigade commander suddenly became anxious and quickly asked: "Did the Eighth Route Army come up with some new tricks? The mopping up troops were caught off guard and suffered heavy losses."
The operator shook his head again, fearing that the brigade commander would say something shocking again, so he quickly spoke: "The telegram was sent from the North China Front Army Headquarters, not the mopping up troops."
"The headquarters requires us to immediately assemble two reinforced brigades and rush to Tongxian County as quickly as possible. After joining the reinforcements from Tianjin, we can encircle and annihilate the Eighth Route Army occupying Tongxian County and relieve the siege of Peiping."
"Nani... Tong County was occupied by the Eighth Route Army... How is this possible? It is the last gateway due east of Beiping. There are more than 4,000 troops stationed there. If we lose it, the enemy can take over Tong County and threaten the security of Beiping. Such a big
Why don’t I know what happened?”
The operator continued to report: "The telegram said that Tong County was captured by the Eighth Route Army in the middle of the night last night."
"The two main regiments of the Pacification Army stationed in Tong County were completely destroyed, and this Eighth Route Army was also called the Peking Guerrilla Detachment."
"Bagh Ya Road, how could this happen?" The brigade leader started to panic a little.
The Peiping guerrilla detachment first appeared in Fangshan and killed more than a thousand of them, forcing them to abandon their stronghold outside the city.
In order to save face, he waited until the troops killed some Eighth Route Army troops before reporting the battle damage, so he did not report the accident to the headquarters.
Now this Eighth Route Army not only was not eliminated by himself, but instead moved to the east of Beiping City, annihilated all the quasi-army in the county in one night, and captured the east gate of the attack on Beiping... This is too crazy.
If I had reported the Peking guerrilla detachment to Peking earlier and asked the Tongxian garrison to strengthen their alert in advance, maybe they would not have been wiped out by the Eighth Route Army and Tongxian would not have fallen into the hands of the enemy.
After such an analysis, he turned out to be the culprit responsible for the current predicament in Beiping.
If Neji Okamura knew about this, he would definitely not be able to keep the position under his butt.
It's okay not to report it. If the Peiping guerrillas make such a big noise around Peiping, the headquarters will definitely investigate it thoroughly. The information about their first appearance in Fangshan County will appear in front of Okamura Neji sooner or later.
Rather than being found out by the headquarters, it is better to report it yourself and be lenient if you confess.
Besides, there is a mixed brigade stationed in Fangshan County, minus the three brigades that reinforce Baoding, and there are still two large brigades and some garrison teams.
If the troops do not suffer any battle losses, two reinforced brigades can be assembled immediately to reinforce Tonghua.
As a result, the Peiping guerrilla detachment wiped out one of its reinforced brigade as soon as it took action, and now it used mobile warfare to destroy half of its own infantry brigade.
Now if he is asked to assemble an infantry brigade, the Tong County quasi-army will not be able to mobilize it.
Besides, Fangshan County still has a regiment of Peiping Guerrilla Detachment. If all the troops are removed, this unit will definitely come out of the darkness to cause trouble and affect the stability of Fangshan County.
After much thought, he decided to admit his mistake to Okamura Neiji first, and then find a way to refuse the order to mobilize troops. No matter what, he must first eliminate the Eighth Route Army in the area.
