"Trash...what are the 47th Division doing? Why did it collapse so quickly?"
The commander of the Sixth Division, Kanda Masane, jumped up on the spot after receiving the telegram from Okamura Neiji.
According to the original combat plan of the Japanese army, the Japanese army placed the 6th Division in the center, while the 47th Division and the 108th Division launched attacks on Liantai County from the left and right wings respectively.
The advantage of this is to use the superior force to fight against the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army and the Liantai Militia, compressing their activity space, until they are forced to retreat around Liantai County, and finally use it.
As long as the Liantai Militia and the 129th Division can be pinned to Liantai County and prevent them from escaping, Okamura Neji can surround them with an absolutely superior force and eventually eat them all.
In the eyes of Okamura Neiji and a group of Japanese generals, as long as they can achieve this strategic intention, it will be worth it no matter how much sacrifice they make.
But this originally seemingly perfect plan had flaws.
No one expected that the opponent would actually defeat a fully-manned second-class division with an armored force and more than 10,000 men in less than three days, catching the Japanese army by surprise.
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At this time, the first thought that came to Okamura Neji's mind was that he must not lose the 47th Division, otherwise he would end up like his predecessor Tada Shun and return home in disgrace in a disgraceful way.
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"Your Excellency, Division Commander, the issue now is not to hold the 47th Division responsible for the defeat, but how to respond to them.
According to the intelligence, the commander of the Osako Tosada Division was injured by a Chinese plane. Now we don’t know whether he is alive or dead. It would be better for us to send people to find him quickly and send him to Taiyuan for treatment?”
"Taiyuan..."
Kanda Masane snorted softly, his tone seeming to express some dissatisfaction.
However, he also knew that now was not the time to get emotional. After thinking deeply, he immediately said to his chief of staff: "Shimono-kun, you immediately order Saburo Koshizawa and ask him to lead the cavalry regiment to search and advance as quickly as possible. We must find Osako."
The commander of Tongzhen Division brought him back safely, and then found a way to send him to Taiyuan to ask the commander of Gangcun to send someone for treatment."
When talking about "Commander Okamura", Kanda Masane specially emphasized his tone, and almost ten people could hear the deep resentment.
As the chief of staff of Kanda Masane, Shimono Kazuhiro certainly knew that his division commander was actually very dissatisfied with Okamura Neji.
The reason why Kanda Masane was dissatisfied was that he believed that the most important task of the North China Front Army at present should be to complete the sweep as soon as possible and wipe out all the Eighth Route Army in North China, or at the worst, severely damage its main force.
Instead of mobilizing one-third of the main force to come to Liantai County to fight with a local militia group like they are doing now.
Kanda Masakune believed that although the Liantai vigilante group was hateful, it would not be a pity for Gao Hongming to die ten thousand times.
However, the Liantai militia group was limited in scale, and when it was exhausted, it only operated in Liantai and other surrounding areas.
The Eighth Route Army was different. This team only had more than 20,000 people in 1937, but in just five years, the team expanded like a snowball by nearly 30 times.
The area of activity also extends from Shanxi Province to the entire North China region, and the number of people is as high as more than 500,000. The Hundred Regiment War that just ended last year caused the North China Front Army to be devastated.
Commander Tada Shun had to return home sadly because of this.
In view of this, any rational commander should regard the Eighth Route Army as his main opponent.
But Ningci of Gangang Village was on the good side. He had already launched a major raid, but he transferred the Sixth Division, the most elite unit, to Shanxi to provoke Gao Hongming and his Liantai militia.
It's better now. In more than two months, not only did the Sixth Division not get any meat, but they also had several teeth chipped out.
More than a month since the war began, several regiments of the Sixth Division and the 108th Division have suffered heavy losses, and the losses have been quite serious.
Not only did Okamura Neiji not restrain himself at all, but he mobilized the 47th Division and two mixed brigades to join this flesh and blood mill. He really couldn't understand, is a Liantai vigilante group more important than the entire sweep plan?
It's just that he is dissatisfied. Neji Okamura's order has come down and he can only obey it.
He waved to Shimo Yihuo.
"Shimono-kun, come here and take a look... the current situation is very delicate for us.
Although the Chinese have fewer troops than us, they have air superiority, so we must be careful.
Look, this is Huanglian Mountain. The terrain is dangerous and easy to defend but difficult to attack. The most important thing is that there is a small river here.
With this small river, it will be difficult for Chinese chariots to come over..."
While Kanda Masane and Shimono Ikho were discussing countermeasures, the Liantai Militia Group located on the right side of the display and responsible for dealing with the Japanese 108th Division encountered some troubles.
Since the Liantai Militia is the best-equipped unit in the coalition, and it is facing a second-class division like the 108th Division, both Gao Hongming and Commander Liu are relatively confident about the right wing.
But it is precisely the right wing that reassures them the most that is running into problems today.
The person responsible for commanding the right wing is Wu Chengfeng, deputy commander of the Liantai Militia Regiment and commander of the 1st Battalion. He leads a total of six battalions, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 8th and 9th, with a total of more than 5,000 troops. They rely on the semi-permanent fortifications built some time ago and provide
It caused great damage to the attacking 108th Division.
But just today, the 108th Division, which had been attacking them for several days, suddenly stopped attacking. The reconnaissance posts in front reported that the Japanese troops on the opposite side suddenly lost sight of them.
This also made Wu Chengfeng feel very strange at first, although a bad thought came to his mind. Could it be that the 108th Division turned around and joined the 6th Division to join forces to deal with the New 1st Brigade located in the middle of the defense line.
Wu Chengfeng couldn't help being startled when he thought of this possibility.
He immediately sent the Ninth Battalion, which had been acting as a reserve force, to move forward. Unexpectedly, the Ninth Battalion encountered a Japanese cavalry regiment just a few kilometers ahead.
The Ninth Battalion was caught off guard and had an encounter with the Japanese cavalry. More than a thousand cavalry rushed towards the Ninth Battalion ferociously.
Everyone knows that a decisive battle between infantry and cavalry on undefended flat ground is a recipe for death. Battalion Commander Lei Xianghe had no choice but to lead the ninth battalion to retreat while fighting. After an hour of hard fighting, they finally got rid of the Japanese army.
However, after counting the number of people, it was found that more than a hundred brothers had been lost, and a class of brothers had also become separated from the army. Lei Xianghe, who had never suffered such a heavy loss, was so angry that he cursed.
The troops that had an encounter with the 9th Battalion were none other than the cavalry regiment of the 108th Division.
Wu Chengfeng guessed correctly. The 108th Division, which had been fighting vigorously with them, had indeed stopped this senseless attack and prepared to retreat on the order of Neji Okamura.
However, the commander of his division, Torajiro Iwai, was cautious. He estimated that after he retreated, the Liantai militia on the opposite side would definitely send troops to investigate, so he ordered his subordinate 108th Cavalry Regiment to ambush.
It turned out just as he expected, the 108th Cavalry Regiment caught the Ninth Battalion by surprise.