Only then did Neji Okamura realize that he had been tricked by the Eighth Route Army.
He said to Kono Shinta: "If the Eighth Route Army had already planned the strategy of parachute landing at Yanmen Pass, does that mean... they had already guessed that our army would attack Longxi Airport?"
Shinta Kono nodded slowly. In fact, there was no need to ask. The Eighth Route Army must have known about it from the beginning.
If the Eighth Route Army did not know Okamura Neiji's plan and the airborne troops were dispatched in a hurry, it would not have been possible so quickly...
It takes more than an hour for C47 to take off from Liyuan to Yanmen Pass, and it only takes more than an hour for the empire to launch an attack.
In other words, the Eighth Route Army's C47s had already taken off when the empire launched a full-scale counterattack.
On the other hand, the guerrillas of the Eighth Route Army are still well prepared... The guerrillas need to be contacted at least a few hours in advance, right? It also takes time for the guerrillas to prepare, right?
If even the guerrillas have been arranged, it means that the Eighth Route Army fought a well-prepared battle.
In turn, it means that what Okamura Neji thought was a clever strategy actually fell into the trap set by the Eighth Route Army once again.
"Your Excellency, General!" Kono Shinta advised: "Now, we should let the mechanical troops withdraw and keep the troops in a defensive state to continue to defend the defense line!"
Kono Shinta's idea is very simple, and it is also the idea of a normal person... Now that you have discovered that you have been tricked by the enemy and fallen into the enemy's trap, shouldn't you retreat immediately? Should you continue to infiltrate into the trap?
On the other hand, Yanmen Pass is a choke point for transportation. Since the enemy is paratroopers dropping at Yanmen Pass and the scale is quite large, regardless of whether the imperial army can defend Yanmen Pass, it will be difficult for its traffic to return to normal in a short period of time.
In this case, should we continue to allow the troops of the two divisions on the front line to attack?
As we all know, offensive warfare consumes much more ammunition and supplies than defensive warfare!
Therefore, withdrawing the mechanized troops and going on the defensive should be the only option for the imperial army at this time.
However, Kono Shinta thinks so, but Okamura Neji doesn't think so.
Okamura Neji was silent for a while and said, "Kono-kun, do you think we can still be on the defensive?"
Kono Shinta was stunned and asked: "Why not?"
Okamura Neiji did not answer, but asked again: "The Eighth Route Army, is it possible for our army to go on the defensive?"
Now Kono really understood.
If the Eighth Route Army had been prepared in advance, then it must have been ready for a counterattack at this time and was waiting for the imperial army to retreat.
Therefore, as soon as the imperial army retreats, the Eighth Route Army will come up from behind like an overwhelming force, making it difficult for the imperial army to hold on to its original defense line.
However, Kono Shinta still believed that we should withdraw. He said: "Your Excellency, General, although the Eighth Route Army has more troops than our army, most of them are newly recruited militiamen whose quality is far inferior to our army. If we retreat at this time, we may be able to hold the line of defense...
"
Okamura Neiji interrupted Kono Shinta: "You have forgotten the mechanized troops of the Eighth Route Army. They have not appeared until now. Where do you think they will be?"
These words suddenly woke up Kono Shinta, and he replied with difficulty: "Could it be that... they are planning to penetrate the hinterland of our army?"
Okamura Neiji nodded slightly: "If the Eighth Route Army is prepared, it is unlikely to use mechanized troops to deal with our army's mechanized troops. To be precise, it is unnecessary!"
Kono Shinta has no objection to this, because the best way to deal with mechanized troops has never been mechanized troops, but the infantry trapping the mechanized troops on the road, causing the mechanized troops to lose their mobility and have to fight on foot with the infantry... In this way
Its mechanized equipment will completely lose its meaning and may even become a drag.
Okamura Neiji continued: "If they were not dealing with our mechanized troops and did not appear on the defense line, where do you think they would be? What preparations would they make?"
Kono Shinta was speechless.
The Eighth Route Army has more troops than the Imperial Army, and they are good at night fighting. If at this time several mechanized troops equipped with half-track armored vehicles and repeating rifles launch a surprise attack when the Imperial Army retreats, they will quickly open a gap and penetrate into the hinterland of the Imperial Army...
It is really not easy for the imperial army to hold the defense line.
On the other hand, the imperial army has no room to retreat: the front line is only fifty kilometers away from Yanmen Pass. If they retreat, they will all be crowded near Yanmen Pass. By then, people will be crowded with cars and cars will be unable to unfold. Are they waiting to be captured?
Eighth Route Army rocket fighter bombing?
Okamura Neiji continued: "However, if we can capture Longxi Airport... our transport planes can transport supplies to them, and at the same time achieve the strategic goals we set before! On the other hand, the Eighth Route Army
Even if the airborne troops take Yanmen Pass, how long can they hold it?"
It has to be said that Okamura Neiji grasped the key points of this battle, because the Eighth Route Army, including Wang Xuexin, was also worried about guarding Yanmen Pass.
At this time, Yanmen Pass was already in chaos.
Stationed at Yanmen Pass is Captain Hirao Shinname, with the rank of Shaozuo.
Hirao's new name as captain only has one squadron of troops in his hands. This is because most of his subordinates have been recruited and replenished to other units.
The devils often do this.
This is because the garrison troops do not have much demand for soldiers, such as Yanmen Pass. There are basically no wars in Yanmen Pass. Occasionally, there are some wars where the Japanese command the North China Security Army to resist the harassment of the guerrillas.
The frontline troops on the other side were temporarily unable to replenish their troops due to casualties, so the garrison troops were transferred to the combat troops to increase their strength.
At this time, Hirao Shinami secretly complained that the troops had just been mobilized and the new recruits had not yet had time to be replenished. He only had more than a hundred people under his command, but at this moment he encountered the Eighth Route Army's airborne troops.
Although there are two battalions of more than 500 North China security troops at Yanmen Pass, these security troops are likely to become a time bomb lying around during wartime, because they will surrender to the Eighth Route Army at any time and in turn catch the imperial army by surprise.
Hirao Shinina didn't even dare to let them station the bunkers and gun towers on the highlands on both sides as usual. He immediately transferred the security forces to Guancheng to organize defense.
It goes without saying what the purpose of this was. Hirao Shinna was worried that once these security forces wanted to rebel, they would guard the bunkers and gun towers to provide fire support to the Eighth Route Army. At that time, the Imperial Army would really be attacked on all sides.
On the other hand, Hirao Shinna organized more than 300 soldiers from the transportation brigade and let them garrison bunkers and gun towers... Although they are all automobile soldiers, they are imperial soldiers after all, and they are more reliable than the security forces.
What Hirao didn't expect was that in front of the Eighth Route Army's rocket launchers, there was not much difference between the Japanese's auto soldiers and the security forces.