The battle went smoothly, and the Eighth Route Army advanced 80 kilometers to Chaoyang City in two days.
Chaoyang City is too important to the Eighth Route Army. It is more than 100 kilometers away from Chifeng, more than 200 kilometers away from Fengtian, and more than 100 kilometers away from HLD. They are all within the "Pull 5" combat radius.
within the range.
After the Eighth Route Army captures Chaoyang City, just move "Pull 5" to this position. To the north, it can protect the Eighth Route Army's transportation and supply lines. To the south, it can guard the channel for the Japanese North China Front Army to reinforce Fengtian. To the east, it can provide air support for the troops attacking Fengtian.
, can be said to be an excellent front-line base.
Wang Xuexin originally thought that the Japanese would at least block him in Chaoyang City, but the Japanese still retreated after a little resistance as before.
The reason why the Japanese retreated was the lack of troops... This is what the Japanese told the puppet army. Telling the puppet army was actually telling the Eighth Route Army.
This reason is barely justified, because as mentioned before, the principle of "offense is greater than defense", the Eighth Route Army is the offensive side at this time, and if the Japanese want to deploy heavy troops to defend Chaoyang, it may mean that Fengtian's defensive forces are insufficient.
Therefore, in order to ensure that Fengtian has enough troops, the Japanese can only make a choice between Fengtian and Chaoyang.
Obviously, the Japanese chose Fengtian over Chaoyang.
But Wang Xuexin knew that this was just a facade. The real intention of the Japanese was to surround the Eighth Route Army in Chaoyang City. There were four Japanese divisions in Fengtian, and the North China Front quietly assembled two more divisions in Chengde, with a total strength of six divisions.
The group has about 110,000 people.
This force already exceeded the Eighth Route Army's troops in Chifeng, so the Japanese certainly had the confidence to bring the Eighth Route Army in to encircle and annihilate them.
What's more, Naosaburo Okabe also had a BF109 equipped with an anti-tank gun. He was waiting for the moment when the Eighth Route Army was defeated.
The chief of staff is still a little worried about this strength comparison.
He looked at the map and said: "110,000 troops, not including the puppet troops. If this were the case before, these troops would be at least worth our 4 to 50,000 troops!"
What this means is that if it were in the past, if the 100,000 main force of the Eighth Route Army moved forward, they would definitely be surrounded by the Japanese. That would almost be a victory for the Japanese.
"Today is different from the past!" the commander sighed: "Even if our army's current combat effectiveness cannot be one-to-one with the Japanese, it can still be two-to-one!"
The chief of staff was a little strange: "Chief, if we calculate it as two to one, then the enemy's combat effectiveness is not more than twice that of our army? Then can we still capture Fengtian?"
The leader chuckled: "That's why our air superiority is important. We also have artillery, tanks, and missiles. All of them are indispensable. As long as one of them is counterattacked by the enemy, it is very likely that the success will be in vain!"
What the chief said was the key to this battle. The reason why the Eighth Route Army dared to attack Fengtian with a force of 100,000 troops of varying quality was because of its overwhelming advantages in these aspects.
If there is a problem with one of them, it is likely to fall one after another like dominoes, causing the entire army to collapse.
Naosaburo Okabe also understood this, so he dared to bet with the Eighth Route Army.
Wang Xuexin also understands this, so he strives to do it steadily every time he takes a step forward.
That’s why some people say that the bigger the battle, the less outstanding it will be. Because big battles focus on strength, a small tactical victory achieved through small strategies is not enough to change the outcome of the battle, so both sides do not need to use tricks or have very few.
It's a trick.
For example, when the Eighth Route Army attacked Fengtian, the intentions of both the enemy and ourselves were very clear: the Japanese knew that the Eighth Route Army was going to attack Fengtian, and the Eighth Route Army also knew that the Japanese were luring the enemy deeper.
But the two sides still moved forward step by step, as if they were stepping into each other's trap, but they seemed to be neither.
Wang Xuexin is most concerned about whether supplies can keep up.
Although Mao Xiong would help transport supplies, the railway was only built to Duolun County at this time. From Duolun County onwards, the Eighth Route Army had to transport the supplies themselves.
As the Eighth Route Army continues to advance, this supply line is getting longer and longer, and transportation is becoming more and more difficult. In addition, the west of the Daxingan Mountains is sparsely populated... The population outside the Pass is mainly concentrated in the east of the Daxingan Mountains, and the west is vast and sparsely populated.
It was difficult to find labor, so transportation almost entirely depended on the Eighth Route Army itself.
Fortunately, the Eighth Route Army has air superiority, so there is no problem with the transportation line for the time being.
The reason why I say "temporarily" is because the Japanese have concentrated several squadrons of fighter planes at Chengde Airport. Those fighter planes can take off at any time to bomb the Eighth Route Army's transportation lines and even cross Lunurhu Mountain to bomb the Eighth Route Army's hinterland.
The Eighth Route Army's "La-5" equipped with new air-to-air missiles can indeed defeat the Japanese fighters, but the location of Chengde Airport is very good. The Eighth Route Army's hinterland and supply lines almost circle around it, so it can attack many places at any time.
If the Eighth Route Army wanted to defend itself, it would have to deploy a large number of fighter planes around it.
Therefore, Wang Xuexin was considering whether it was necessary to use TV-guided missiles to blow up the Chengde Airport first.
But Wang Xuexin was also worried that such an explosion would resolve the "misunderstanding" between the Japs and the puppet troops, and in turn make the Japs and the puppet troops more united?
This made Wang Xuexin feel embarrassed. In the end, he decided that unless it was absolutely necessary, he should at least wait until the attack on Fengtian started before bombing Chengde Airport.
At this moment, Zhang Zongping came in with a telegram and said: "Commander, I'm sure, the Japanese really intend to use fighter planes to deal with our tanks!"
Wang Xuexin took a look at the telegram and found out that it was the intelligence personnel who had seen the Japanese's new BF109.
The new BF109 was not stationed in Fengtian because there were too many people in Fengtian. It was deployed at a temporary airport dozens of kilometers away from Fengtian, and it was deployed secretly at night.
Needless to say why it is deployed at night, of course it is to prevent others from seeing its weird appearance and thus exposing the strategic target... The PK75 anti-tank gun is installed on the belly of the BF109, and it looks just right when viewed from the ground
A 75MM anti-tank gun can be seen below the fighter plane.
Its size is not small, so it can be easily observed with a little light.
However, even if the Japs were so secretive, their true appearance would eventually be seen by the puppet troops... Everything the Japs do in the Northeast cannot be separated from the puppet troops, such as building a temporary airport. It is impossible for the Japs to do it themselves, right?
There are logistical supplies, etc., all done by the puppet army's organized personnel.
Since it was done by the puppet army, it is impossible to completely exclude the puppet army from the "secret".
At this time, there were a large number of puppet troops who were "physically in Cao's camp but at heart in Han", so the Eighth Route Army was able to obtain this information.