"What a good fight..." the deputy commander said with emotion as he watched.
After reading the telegram twice, he handed the telegram to the chief of staff, who had long been impatient. Then he strode to the table, found the Yizhong combat map, and said with a serious face.
"After this battle, Okamura Neji will not be able to launch a third major sweep within half a year."
"The Yizhong base area will usher in at least half a year of recovery and rapid development."
"When Okamura Neiji wants to sweep the Yi Zhong base again, he will find that the Yi Zhong Eighth Route Army at that time is truly a behemoth, and it is not something he can easily move if he wants to."
The chief of staff was very happy when he first read the telegram, but once he read it he couldn't laugh anymore.
Deputy Commander-in-Chief Qiang introduced: "Kong Jie and Li Yunlong indeed destroyed a lot of Kwantung Army, but they themselves also paid a huge price."
"Including reinforcements, the total number of participating troops in the ten regiments is nearly 20,000."
"After this battle, the 20,000 people were directly reduced to more than 8,000 people, more than half of which were lost. On average, each regiment had less than 1,000 people left."
"Minus the artillery, cavalry, and heavy equipment..."
"There are only six to seven hundred troops that can really fight."
"It will be difficult for them to regain their strength even if they are given three or four months."
"If Okamura Neiji launches a fierce attack and deploys troops from other places to continue sweeping the Yizhong base and fight Li Yunlong to the end, their remaining troops will definitely not be able to hold on for long."
It’s not like the deputy commander-in-chief didn’t see the casualties of the troops.
The reason why he didn't mention it was because he believed that the Yizhong Eighth Route Army could make up for the battle damage in a short period of time and restore the combat effectiveness of the troops as soon as possible.
As for whether Okamura Neiji will be ruthless and mobilize troops to sweep the Yizhong base area again.
Other Eighth Route Army troops operating in North China were not vegetarians either.
After Okamura Neiji seconded 50,000 elite Kwantung Army troops to go south, the deputy commander-in-chief had been preventing them from harming other base areas in North China after they finished fighting in the wing.
During this period, other base areas have been reminded to be on alert, collect supplies, equip ammunition, and be prepared for counter-mopping up at any time.
Now that 50,000 elite Kwantung Army troops have been severely damaged by the Eighth Route Army in the Wing, they are unable to threaten the other Eighth Route Army in North China.
However, the materials and ammunition prepared in each base area cannot be wasted.
The deputy commander-in-chief planned to take advantage of the fact that Okamura Neiji was in a hurry to finish the sweep of the wing and had no time to take into account the opportunities in other battlefields, so that other base areas could take the initiative to attack and take another piece of meat from the North China Front, further exacerbating Okamura Neiji's losses.
As a result, even if Okamura Neji wanted to mobilize troops to sweep the Yizhong base area, he would have no troops available.
He waved his hand, expressed his thoughts directly to the chief of staff, and then gave the order.
"Reply the telegram to Kong Jie and the others immediately."
"The good news has been received, requiring them to immediately replenish the battle losses and restore combat effectiveness as soon as possible."
"The five main regiments in the reinforcement wing will return as soon as possible."
"The ministries in North China will launch a large-scale counterattack in the near future. They do not need to participate in the war, but at least they still need to be prepared."
"Send another encrypted telegram to Kong Jie."
"After this battle, the North China Front Army will be in a state of shortage of troops for a long time to come. The troops in the Pingjin and Tianjin areas will also become less and less. Their northward raid can start planning..."
Only the deputy commander-in-chief and the chief of staff knew about this operation in the entire headquarters.
No one knows better than them the huge benefits and influence that a successful operation may bring to the Eighth Route Army.
Seeing that the deputy commander-in-chief spoke with confidence, he seemed to be full of confidence in this operation. The chief of staff's eyes also lit up, and he said with expectation: "If this raid really comes true, the Japanese North China Front Army will be completely defeated by our Eighth Route Army."
If you suppress it, you will never recover from it and will never get up again."
…………
At the temporary headquarters of the Eighth Route Army in Yizhong, Chief of Staff Liu Sen was reporting the battlefield gains to everyone with a smile on his face.
"Comrades, after statistics, our army captured a total of 12 large-caliber heavy artillery, 19 field guns, 28 mountain guns, 14 infantry guns, 116 mortars, and 8 rapid-fire guns... in total during this counter-mopping operation.
197 artillery pieces of various calibers.”
"The armored platoon of the Shunping Garrison Regiment also collected four tanks that could be put into battle immediately and six intact armored vehicles from various battlefields."
"Although the remaining tanks and armored vehicles were destroyed, after evaluation: at least 12 tanks can be repaired and continued to be used."
"Many of the destroyed heavy artillery, mountain field artillery, mortars, and rapid-fire artillery can be repaired."
"We also seized 109 heavy machine guns, 376 light machine guns, and more than 12,000 rifles."
"The remaining rifle machine guns were all destroyed in the battle. The total number exceeds 4,000. It will definitely be no problem to repair 30 to 40% of them..."
It took Liu Sen a full ten minutes to read through the statistical list in his hand.
More than a dozen regiment leaders and political commissars were all overjoyed when they heard this, and silently calculated in their hearts how much equipment and ammunition they could share.
As the temporary commander-in-chief, Kong Jie stepped forward without hesitation: "Comrades..."
"We were able to severely inflict heavy losses on the elite Kwantung Army and eliminate more than 20,000 Kwantung Army troops in this large-scale sweep. This was inseparable from every comrade here, especially the troops who were ordered to reinforce our base areas in the wing."
"To express my gratitude, I discussed with Commander Li and decided to give each main regiment of the reinforcements six mountain field guns, two infantry guns, twelve mortars, twelve heavy machine guns, and thirty-six
Light machine guns, fifteen hundred rifles."
"The remaining weapons and equipment are left to supplement the participating troops in the wing."
"I don't know if everyone is satisfied..."
"Satisfied...must be satisfied..." Li Zhi, leader of the 26th Regiment, stood up from his chair.
He stared at Kong Jie with bright eyes and said: "Coupled with winning the victory in the Yi Zhong base area to replenish our equipment and ammunition, I can set up an artillery company directly under the regiment when I return..."
"No, if the infantry artillery in the regiment is also added, it will be no problem to establish an artillery battalion directly under the regiment."
"All mortars are equipped to the battalion, and a mortar company directly under the battalion is established."
"Heavy machine guns and grenade launchers were transferred to the company, and a fire platoon was established directly under the company."
"Each infantry platoon can also set up a machine gun squad, equipped with two light machine guns."
"The total strength of the army can be expanded to at least three to four thousand men, which is more firepower than a brigade of many troops."
"If this doesn't satisfy you, then you are too greedy."
"Captain Kong, when will you distribute these equipment to me?"
"The base area cannot be without troops for a long time... I want to return to the base area as soon as possible to recruit new soldiers, expand the troops, and restore strength."
Kong Jie replied with a smile: "After the meeting, everyone can go get the equipment..."
"As long as you have the ability to support the ammunition, you can take away as much as you want..."
Li Yunlong's heart was bleeding as he watched several leaders of the reinforcements and the political commissar leave the conference room with glowing faces.
His idea was to equip each regiment with two battalions and one artillery company. However, with a wave of his hand, Kong Jie not only provided twice as many rifle machine guns, but also provided each regiment with a mountain artillery battery.
A total of thirty mountain field guns and fifteen infantry guns were gone in the blink of an eye. Li Yunlong was lying if he said he was not heartbroken.
I had a special quarrel with Kong Jie because of this. I felt that Kong Jie was too stupid and shouldn't be so generous.
