Chapter 588 Chief: It really depends on human effort
Okamura Neiji was not as optimistic as the deputy chief of staff. He frowned and reminded: "Bagya Road, how many times have I told you that when facing the Eighth Route Army, you must not underestimate the enemy, and don't be too superstitious about the heavy weapons we are equipped with."
"If they could really defeat the enemy, the Eighth Route Army would not have grown to its current size in North China."
"The Peiping Guerrilla Detachment's second regiment remaining in Fangshan will not severely damage the mopping up troops sent by the mixed brigade."
Although the deputy chief of staff was scolded bloody, he did not dare to say a word in rebuttal.
The commander's prestige in the North China Front is unrivaled. What he says is imperial edict, and if you have any opinions, you can only keep them.
Moreover, the Eighth Route Army became stronger and stronger under the encirclement and suppression by the North China Front Army. This is a fact that no one can deny. Even if the deputy chief of staff wanted to refute, he could not find a reason and could only nod and admit his mistake.
"The commander is right to remind you, it is too careless for a lowly position!"
"I will contact the mixed brigade now and ask them to speed up their march. Even if the Peiping guerrilla detachment discovers them, they will not have time to launch an attack."
Okamura Neiji added: "Although the role of aviation on the battlefield is limited, it is also an important means for us to attack the Eighth Route Army and monitor the Eighth Route Army."
"Send another telegram to the aviation force: ask them to send twice as many planes to monitor the Peiping guerrilla detachment and escort all troops reinforcing Tong County."
As soon as he gave the order, he saw the communications staff running towards him in a hurry: "Sir, Tianjin City Emergency Telegram..."
"The Tianjin Pier was suddenly attacked by the Eighth Route Army's long-distance artillery fire. The oil on the wharf had been destroyed in the artillery fire. In order to avoid greater losses, they hope that Tianjin's reinforcements to Tong County will send half a brigade to return to the wharf immediately to eliminate the activities.
The Eighth Route Army there."
"Those Eighth Route Army must have been sent by the Peiping Guerrilla Detachment..." Neji Okamura made a judgment with a calm face after hearing this.
"What a cunning opponent. After taking Tongxian County, they guessed that we would mobilize troops from Tianjin City to retake Tongxian County. They arranged troops to lurk at Tianjin Wharf in advance to cause sabotage, so that they could not do their best to reinforce Tongxian County."
"What a great plan..."
After sighing with emotion, he stared at the communications staff's order: "Call Tianjin City back immediately and agree that they will dispatch half of the brigade to return to the dock."
"But sir, aren't we being tricked by the Eighth Route Army?" the deputy chief of staff asked with a look of reluctance.
"Then what else can we do?" Neji Okamura felt very uncomfortable and turned his attention to the sand table again, with a look of helplessness on his face.
"I don't want to be led by the Eighth Route Army, but there are too many weapons and ammunition stored at Tianjin Wharf, and its importance is no less important than Tongxian. It is impossible to abandon Tianjin Wharf in order to recapture Tongxian, right?"
"They only mobilized half of the brigade to return to the reinforcement dock, and the main reinforcements are still rushing to Tongxian County."
"Our counterattack force is only missing half a brigade. After the siege begins, let the aviation force throw a few more aerial bombs at the enemy and use firepower to make up for the loss of half a brigade of ground troops."
…………
On the official road more than ten kilometers northeast of Tong County, more than 900 little devils were rushing forward desperately.
They were a mixed group that Neji Okamura had just put together. Two planes circled back and forth above their heads. When they found something suspicious, they lowered their flying altitude, determined the enemy's position close to the ground, and launched a direct attack without giving the opponent any sneak attacks.
Opportunity.
But the little devil still underestimated his opponent's latent ability.
Wearing thatched hats and twigs on their bodies, they burrowed into the bushes. Even the little Japanese infantrymen who stood more than ten meters away could not spot them, let alone the Japanese pilots who were dozens or hundreds of meters above the ground.
A mortar team has five soldiers, three gunners are responsible for transporting mortar parts, and two gunners are responsible for transporting shells.
The five men hid motionless in a patch of grass, with the mortar mounted between them. The muzzle pointed directly at the official road. The barrel was camouflaged with thatch, leaving only a fist-sized muzzle.
From a distance it looks like a thatch stack.
"Tum..."
The mortar wrapped in thatch suddenly erupted into a ball of fire. The shell was wrapped in flames and flew towards the official road in a parabola.
The two sides were too far apart, so the little devils didn't hear the sound of cannon fire, but they knew that there were shells hitting them.
It wasn't until fire splashed and explosions sounded around them that they realized they were under attack.
By this time, the second mortar shell had already flown out of the barrel.
The gunner squatting next to the mortar took action again, followed by firing a third shell, and then dismantled the artillery. One person carried part of the mortar parts and quickly moved around.
Only then did the Japanese escort planes in the sky see the ground troops being attacked.
He quickly lowered his flight altitude in order to find the sneak attacker, and this time was enough for several gunners to move to 40 to 50 meters away.
They did not continue to retreat, but threw themselves on the ground, using thatch and branches as camouflage, and remained motionless.
"Buzz buzz..."
The plane roared past everyone's heads close to the ground, and the huge roar almost deafened everyone's ears.
What surprised the Japanese pilots was that apart from the low thatch and bushes, there was not a single moving figure on the ground, let alone the mortars attacking the mixed group.
"Did I miss something?" The unbelieving pilot said to himself as he flew the plane towards the ground again, preparing to check it again.
In the end, they still found nothing. They could only shake the wings and tell the ground troops that they had not found the sneak attacker.
…………
At the Japanese North China Front Headquarters in Peiping, the deputy chief of staff was checking the sand table to confirm the latest positions of all reinforcements.
Seeing that Tongxian County had been surrounded by three reinforcements, the corner of his mouth couldn't help but curl up. He felt that he would win the next siege and the Peking Guerrilla Detachment of the Eighth Route Army would definitely lose.
"Sir..." The operator who specially contacted the mixed brigade suddenly put down his earphones and ran towards him.
"The mixed brigade reported that the troops were attacked by long-range artillery fire from the Eighth Route Army on the march, but the aircraft escorting them did not find the attackers."
"They want to dispatch an infantry squadron to eliminate the sneak attackers, otherwise the march will be continuously attacked by the Eighth Route Army's long-range artillery fire. Even if they succeed in reaching Tongxian County, the troops will suffer heavy casualties."
Okamura Ningji issued a fatal order: In order to prevent the Eighth Route Army from defeating the reinforcements one by one, no unit can divide its troops without authorization without orders from the headquarters.
Facing the mixed brigade's request for instructions, the deputy chief of staff was unable to make a decision and hurriedly walked towards Okamura Neji, trying to get him to make up his mind.
"I heard..." Okamura Neiji happened to walk towards him, his face was very ugly, and he frowned and analyzed.
"I knew the Peiping guerrilla detachment would not let the reinforcements reach Tongxian County easily."
"As expected, the mixed brigade was targeted just after it was established. It can be seen that their intelligence collection capabilities are far beyond our imagination, and their intelligence transmission speed is also very fast. We must also pay attention to this."
"As for the mixed brigade's request for instructions, although I know it is a conspiracy of the Eighth Route Army to consume our army's strength, I still have to jump in."
"Compared with the safety of the entire mixed brigade, the loss of one squadron is obviously nothing."
"Call them back immediately: detach an infantry squadron to chase down the Eighth Route Army that sneaked up on them, and provide aviation cover. Even if the entire army is wiped out, the main force of the mixed brigade will be covered to successfully reach Tongxian County."
…………
The Eighth Route Army General Headquarters and Deputy Commander-in-Chief are also paying attention to this battle.
He had just received a piece of information forwarded to the headquarters from the Baoding underground party: The thousands of new recruits that Okamura Neiji had added to the Baoding mixed brigade had all been integrated into the army and were undergoing integration training.
The three regiments of the Imperial Association Army obtained through rotation have also formed combat effectiveness. As expected, the Japanese army will launch a large-scale raid on Yi Zhong at the latest in two days.
Facing the Japanese and puppet troops pressing down on the border, the deputy commander-in-chief was particularly worried about the future and fate of the Duer Regiment. While studying the map, he asked: "Are everyone over there in Kongjie ready? The Japanese army is coming fiercely, with more than 10,000 people taking action.
If they are not fully prepared, they will definitely suffer a big loss. Maybe the base they have worked so hard to establish outside the mountains will be devastated by the enemy, and they will have to go into the mountains in despair to fight guerrillas."
The deputy chief of staff also looked very unhappy. He shook his head and replied: "The Duer Regiment is expanding too fast, taking too big a step, and the Japanese have given them very little preparation time."
"Although we have been training our troops hard these past few days, there are still very few troops who can be drawn out to confront the Japs head-on."
"If the Japanese really plan to start a sweep in two days, the next counter-sweep will definitely be a failure."
The disparity in strength between the two sides is too great.
In the face of absolute strength, any conspiracy will be shattered.
The deputy commander understood this truth better than anyone else and could only sigh.
"It all depends on man."
"Tell Kong Jie, if you can fight, fight. If you really can't win, then withdraw."
"But we can't run away in despair and give the base area we finally built outside the mountains to the little devils for free."
"Even if we retreat, the Japanese and puppet troops will have to pay a huge price. They must not be allowed to easily capture our base."
The deputy chief of staff was just about to go to the telegraph room to send a telegram when he saw the communications staff rushing in with a beaming face. Before he could ask any questions, he happily reported: "Chief, Commander Kong of the Wing has sent a good report..."
"It is said that the Peiping Guerrilla Detachment successfully captured Tong County and wiped out more than 5,000 puppet troops. It is preparing to establish base areas with Tong County and Fangshan County as the center. Please cooperate with the headquarters..."
The deputy commander-in-chief did not forget Huang Yu's raid on Peiping as a Peking guerrilla detachment, but he did not pay much attention to it.
He only brought one reinforced battalion, but Peiping was the headquarters of the Japanese North China Front. Even if five thousand elites were transferred away, the dead camels would still be bigger than horses. Huang Yu wanted to make a breakthrough there, so he forced Gangcun Ningci to transfer
It's not that difficult to send troops back for reinforcements.
After telling the telecommunications room to send telegrams to the Peking guerrilla detachment from time to time every day, he stopped paying attention.
I didn't expect that this commando team with almost no chance of success would make such a big fuss in Peiping. In just a few days, they wiped out 4,000 to 5,000 Japanese puppet troops. They even captured the east gate of Peiping. This is definitely a surprise.
An unexpected surprise that he never expected.
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