Objectively speaking, Okamura Neji's plan is indeed feasible.
Because over the years, the Japanese had repeatedly carried out encirclement and suppression campaigns against the Eighth Route Army in Luliang Mountain, but with little success, the Japanese adopted the "step by step" tactic to devour the Eighth Route Army's activity space.
To put it simply, they sent troops deep into the Luliang Mountains to occupy strategic positions in an attempt to break the Eighth Route Army's guerrilla tactics. In some places, the Japanese even built a line of defense.
This did have a certain effect. The Japanese controlled part of the Luliang Mountains.
The problem is that implementing this tactic consumes a lot of troops... In the plains, it only needs a bunker, a gun tower, and a barbed wire fence to hold the place for only a few hundred meters. In the mountains, it may be to go down the mountain and then up the mountain, tossing several kilometers.
It is possible that even a dozen gun towers cannot be defended.
Now, in order to free up some troops to fight against Datong when Neiji Okamura is short of troops, he has no choice but to give up the gains he has made over the years... withdraw his troops from the mountains and build a defense line on the plains.
In this way, the same line of defense can still block the Eighth Route Army, but it can save a lot of troops.
The 110th Division was quickly prepared and they withdrew from the mountains the next day.
They do not need to consider the issue of follow-up defense lines. Other troops will use bayonets to force the Chinese people to build fortifications and bunkers.
The mission of the 110th Division is to reach Datong City as quickly as possible and capture it.
The 110th Division is code-named "Heron" and its commander is Yoshitaro Hayashi.
At this time, Lin Fangtaro was still injured... When he was encircling the Eighth Route Army in Luliang Mountain, he thought he had killed a guerrilla captain whom he had been chasing for a long time. He was overjoyed and went to check the "body" himself.
Who would have thought that the "corpse" was not dead and fired the grenade at the last moment.
If the staff hadn't knocked Yoshitaro Hayashi down in time, the division commander of the 110th Division would have been replaced by someone else.
However, even so, Lin Fangtaro's arm was still scratched by shrapnel, which forced him to wrap his left hand with a bandage and hang it around his neck.
Lin Fangtaro, who was eager to withdraw from Luliang Mountain, breathed a long sigh of relief and said to himself: "Finally we have come out!"
During the years he fought in the Luliang Mountains, the mountains were simply a nightmare for Lin Fangtaro.
Because what he learned and trained in military school was not mountain warfare, and his long-term combat experience was not mountain warfare.
This made Lin Fangtaro very uncomfortable, but because of orders from his superiors, he had to lead his men to deal with the Eighth Route Army in the mountains.
Now, I can finally get out of the mountainous area and return to the regular combat that I am good at.
When Lin Fangtaro received this order, he was so happy that he took out a small folding fan and did a dance, even though his left hand was still unable to move.
However, he was stunned when he received another telegram: "Our target is Datong?"
"Yes!" said the staff officer: "A mechanized unit of the Eighth Route Army has reached Datong. Our task is to take it back!"
"I know this!" Lin Fangtaro replied calmly.
The news of the Eighth Route Army's attack on Datong had already spread throughout the army. As a division commander, how could he not know about it.
Seeing Lin Fangtaro's expression was different, the staff officer asked strangely: "Your Majesty, Major General, the Eighth Route Army has only one independent regiment in Datong, and we have dealt with Li Yunlong before. He may be fighting in mountain warfare or guerrilla warfare."
Some skills, but fighting regular battles in the plains..."
"What do you know!" Lin Fangtaro interrupted the staff officer: "What I am worried about is not Li Yunlong, but the person behind Li Yunlong!"
"That person behind you?" The staff officer looked at Lin Fangtaro in confusion.
"Have you ever heard of Little Northeast?" Lin Fangtaro asked.
"Of course!" the staff officer replied. There are not many Japanese who have never heard of the nickname Xiao Dongbei.
"Who do you think is commanding this Eighth Route Army battle?"
"Could it be..." The staff officer said with a somewhat uncertain look, "Could it be Xiaobei?"
Wang Xuexin's command of this battle is a military secret... This was the response measure taken by Liyuan Airport specifically in response to Wang Xuexin's assassination last time.
All the transfers made by Wang Xuexin were orders issued by Zhang Zongping in the name of the headquarters, so most people, including the Eighth Route Army, thought it was a battle organized by the headquarters.
"Of course it's him!" Lin Fangtaro said: "Although there is no intelligence to prove that he is commanding the operation, but... the cooperation of mechanized troops, 'blitzkrieg', and aviation forces, within a few days, our army had no time to react.
After winning Datong, do you think anyone else can do it?"
The staff officer nodded with deep understanding.
He didn't think deeply about it before, but now that Lin Fangtaro said this, he felt that it was probably Xiao Dongbei who was actually commanding.
Because no one in the Eighth Route Army knew these advanced tactics better than Xiao Dongbei.
That guy, it is said that he even taught Takachan Na's aviation tactics.
I really don’t know where it came from, such a terrifying existence!
"Your Excellency, Major General, now..." The staff officer looked at Lin Fangtaro, who was dancing and dancing just now, but now his brows were furrowed.
Seeing this, the staff officer found some sweet words to comfort him and said: "Your Majesty, Major General, the Eighth Route Army only has one regiment of about 3,000 people, and our army has a full division. After all, taking Datong is not a big problem, right?"
"
"Takamura-kun!" Hayashi Yoshitaro replied: "The point is that we don't have air supremacy, understand? We are going to fight a battle without air supremacy!"
These words immediately choked the staff officer.
Having no air superiority is indeed a very thorny problem. Where will the artillery be deployed? Bombing outside the city?
I'm afraid it will be blown up by the Eighth Route Army's fighter planes in less than two seconds!
I'm afraid the tanks are useless. Not to mention that the Eighth Route Army has more advanced tanks. Their aircraft can prevent the tanks from reaching Datong City!
If you can't use artillery or chariots to siege a city, should you use infantry to charge? Use infantry to charge against their city walls, tanks, and half-tracks?
That is almost courting death!
After thinking for a while, Lin Fangtaro said: "We can only fight at night. Only then will their air superiority be unable to be used!"
The staff officer nodded, this seemed to be a solution.
Just as the staff officer was about to turn around and give the order, Lin Fangtaro stopped him again.
"Find some radio signal jammers immediately!" Lin Fangtaro ordered: "Deploy them outside Datong City, the more the better!"
"yes!"
Looking at the back of the staff member leaving, Lin Fangtaro narrowed his eyes quite proudly: "If Datong cannot contact Xiaodongbei, this matter will be much easier to handle!"