The fall of HLD meant that the connection between Fengtian and the North China Front Army was completely cut off. If the Japanese wanted to get reinforcements from the North China Front Army, they had to break through the Eighth Route Army's defense line.
But this is almost impossible.
This is not only due to the special problems of transportation inside and outside the pass. Even if the North China Front Army can leave the pass and organize a large force to attack the Eighth Route Army's defense line, the Eighth Route Army has air supremacy. The artillery also has an absolute advantage because of the artillery detection radar, and the tank cannot compare.
The Eighth Route Army...how could the Japanese break through the Eighth Route Army's defense line?
This is equivalent to going back to trench warfare during World War I.
Theoretically speaking, trench warfare is obsolete, and the theory of trench warfare is no longer practical.
However, the reason why trench warfare is "outdated" and "impractical" is entirely due to the rapid development of fighter planes, tanks, and artillery. Together, they can easily tear apart the enemy's defense lines and advance deep into the enemy at high speed.
But if these aspects were completely suppressed, the Japanese would have no choice but to use a sea of people to charge towards the Eighth Route Army's defense lines...the result would be the trench warfare of World War I.
However, World War I proved with bloody facts that in the era of machine guns and artillery, trenches could not be breached by a sea of people, as long as the enemy's bullets and shells were enough!
This has nothing to do with the quality of the soldiers, because all the Eighth Route Army needs to do is hide in the trenches and shoot. In this case, the difference between recruits and veterans is not very big, and the recruits can also temper the veterans.
Therefore, the Eighth Route Army used its elite troops to launch an attack on the Japanese, and then used its recruits to follow behind and build trenches to reinforce the defense line.
The Eighth Route Army was even well-supplied.
On the one hand, this comes from the supplies captured by the Japanese, and on the other hand, it is the welcome and support of the Eighth Route Army from the local people... This is one of the benefits of the Eighth Route Army's return to the Northeast. Although the people in the Northeast are not rich, they help the Eighth Route Army transport supplies or build structures.
The fortification work is still possible.
As a result, in just a few days, the Eighth Route Army's defense lines were everywhere in western Fengtian from Nuruerhu Mountain to the HLD seaside. And there was more than one layer of defense lines. Some important transportation hubs were blocked by several layers of defense lines. The local people also
Organize militiamen and actively join the defense line.
As a result, reinforcements to the west of Fengtian were cut off, leaving only reinforcements from the Kwantung Army to the east.
The Japanese Lieutenant General Shizue Sasaki was stationed at Fengtian. When he heard that HLD had fallen, he immediately asked Umezu Yoshijiro for help:
"Your Excellency General!" Sasaki Shizue said in the telegram: "I have reason to believe that the Eighth Route Army will adopt the tactic of 'surrounding without attacking' to attack Fengtian. If Fengtian does not have enough supplies and is surrounded, I am afraid it will be in danger!"
In fact, there was more than just "danger". At this time, Lieutenant General Sasaki had almost seen the fall of Fengtian.
Originally, Lieutenant General Sasaki was very confident in holding Fengtian. The four divisions had nearly 100,000 men. According to intelligence, the total strength of the Eighth Route Army was only 100,000 men.
If calculated based on the ratio of offense to defense, the Eighth Route Army would have to have at least twice as many troops as the Imperial Army to capture Fengtian. This does not take into account the quality gap between the Eighth Route Army and Imperial soldiers.
So, why did the Eighth Route Army attack Fengtian?
Ridiculous!
Prior to this, Sasaki Shizue said to his subordinates more than once:
"Gentlemen, this is our battle to establish our power. Whether we can become the glory of the empire depends on this battle!"
"This is a great gift from the Eighth Route Army. Please don't let down the Eighth Route Army!"
…
In the eyes of Sasaki Shizue, the Eighth Route Army's attack on Fengtian was tantamount to death. Don't they know that Fengtian has two arsenals of the empire, and there are almost endless bullets and artillery shells here?
However, after the Eighth Route Army captured HLD, Sasaki Shizue immediately understood what the Eighth Route Army was going to do: "The first step is to cut off the connection between our army and the North China Front Army, and the second step is to surround Fengtian. They don't even need to attack the city, they just need to wait.
We are in civil unrest!”
"Your Excellency, Lieutenant General!" the staff officer asked, "But we have an arsenal..."
"Are arsenals useful?" Sasaki Shizue asked, "Can arsenals produce food?"
Shizue Sasaki saw clearly that the focus now was not bullets or cannonballs, but food.
Once Fengtian is completely surrounded and transportation lines are blocked, it will not be long before they will face a shortage of food.
This does not mean that the imperial soldiers will starve to death, and the Eighth Route Army has no intention of starving the imperial troops to death.
But how will people who lack food react?
If they realized that they would starve to death, would they sit back and wait to die?
You must know that there are more than one million people in Fengtian, and there are more than 700,000 people in the city alone. If there is a "rebellion", can the imperial army withstand it?
Especially the Eighth Route Army troops outside the city!
At that time, it will not be the 100,000 Imperial Army against the 100,000 Eighth Route Army, but the 100,000 Imperial Army against the 100,000 Eighth Route Army plus more than one million Fengtian civilians!
Sasaki Shizue could almost see the moment when Fengtian City suffered from "internal and external troubles".
(Note: According to the data released by the Puppet Manchuria, the population of Fengtian City was more than 1.135 million in 1940)
At this time, Sasaki Shizue became anxious. He hurriedly asked for help from Umezu Yoshijiro: "General, please ensure the food transportation line to Fengtian!"
When Umezu Yoshijiro saw this request, he responded without hesitation: "Sasaki-kun, we are facing an army of millions of bears. You are facing only a hundred thousand Eighth Route Army troops, but you still need me to transport food to you.
Aren’t you transporting food to our army?”
What Yoshijiro Umezu said is correct. Logically speaking, food should be transported from the inside to the outside border.
The reason is that the interior can produce grain and have reserves, but the border is only for fighting. Only the fortress has no space to produce grain and there are no people to exploit.
But the problem is... Now inside Fengtian, the large area of land outside the city that produces its output has been thrown into the Eighth Route Army camp along with the people like a prairie fire. The merchants, landlords, etc. in Fengtian City, their enjoyment is outside the city.
For supply, although there are reserves, that is not the point.
The point is that ordinary people have no reserves. As long as ordinary people are trapped for a few weeks without being able to get food from outside the city, they are likely to run out of food.
And it was impossible for the imperial army and landowners to distribute the stored grain to the people.
What will happen if this continues?
The more Shizue Sasaki thought about it, the more frightened he became. For the first time, he discovered that war was not just about fighting, but more importantly about management and operation.
But it seemed that it was too late for him to realize this now.
The Eighth Route Army did what he thought. They did not attack Fengtian directly, but occupied it first... to be more precise, they liberated the small towns around Fengtian, especially controlling Fengtian's external transportation lines.