This is one of the reasons why Umezu Yoshijiro never cared much about the war at the rear against the Eighth Route Army.
It’s not that Umezu Yoshijiro didn’t know that a fire in the backyard would put the imperial army into a passive position, nor that he didn’t know how important Port Arthur and the shipyard were to the empire. Even the two arsenals in Fengtian were not something the empire could lose... If these two arsenals were destroyed,
If it falls into the hands of the Eighth Route Army or is blown up by the Eighth Route Army, the Kwantung Army's ammunition supply will soon be reduced by half.
There was only one reason why Umezu Yoshijiro was so relieved, and that was that the Empire had poisonous gas bombs and the Eighth Route Army had almost no anti-gas equipment.
Therefore, even if the chaos in the rear becomes uncontrollable and the Eighth Route Army gains the upper hand, it can only be solved with poison gas bombs. It just depends on how many poison gas bombs are needed.
Umezu Yoshijiro's decision to attack the Eighth Route Army in Donggang was also considered:
The other side of Donggang faces the sea, and the Eighth Route Army's defense line ends here.
One problem with using gas bombs is that the imperial army itself cannot advance quickly after using gas bombs... Although the troops can be equipped with gas masks and take sealing measures, such as wrapping them tightly with gloves and clothing.
But this is just a small number of troops following the poison gas into the enemy's position to seize the defense line. It is impossible for the advancement of large troops to ignore the poison gas.
So there may be a problem: as soon as the imperial army fired poison gas bombs, the Eighth Route Army retreated after suffering casualties. When the imperial army advanced forward after the poison gas dissipated, they found that the Eighth Route Army had already built another line of defense.
Since the Eighth Route Army had the advantage of artillery, tanks and even air superiority, the imperial army could only continue to push forward with the help of poison gas bombs.
Not to mention that there are not that many poison gas bombs, even if there are enough, the speed of this advancement is too slow to surround the enemy, let alone defeat the enemy.
Therefore, Umezu Yoshijiro mobilized the imperial river defense troops to participate in the battle of Donggang.
The Jiang Defense Force is not affiliated with the Navy. In fact, it is more under the command of the Military Police Brigade, which means it cooperates with the Military Police Brigade for public security maintenance and patrols.
The main equipment of the Guizijiang Defense Force is the 25-ton inland river gunboat...the name comes from its displacement of 25 tons, and it mostly performs tasks in inland rivers (it can also perform tasks in offshore waters).
This was specially developed by the Japanese for the dense water network in southern China, so most of them were sent to the south, and only twenty ships were left in the northeast for patrolling.
Umezu Yoshijiro gathered this gunboat force to coordinate the ground force's attack.
His idea was this: the ground troops fired poison gas bombs, and when the Eighth Route Army retreated in panic, the gunboat troops would bypass the poison gas area from the offshore to pursue the Eighth Route Army and disrupt its rhythm. If necessary, the infantry could be sent ashore to pursue it.
(Note: Each 25-ton river gunboat can carry 20 fully armed soldiers. Due to its small tonnage and shallow water, it can dock at almost any location to launch a surprise attack, and its combat method is very flexible)
Facts have proved that Umezu Yoshijiro's style of play is effective.
The Eighth Route Army was caught off guard by this Japanese tactic, especially after being hit by gas bombs and suffering heavy casualties. After retreating, they were surprised to find that there were pursuers everywhere in front and behind.
At this time, the Eighth Route Army did not know that these pursuers had landed from the flanking gunboats, and thought that the Japanese had crossed the poisonous gas area so quickly to catch up. As a result, they retreated more than ten kilometers until they reached the second line of defense before stopping.
But when we reached the second line of defense, we were still worried because everyone was not sure whether the Japanese would continue to use gas bombs.
How should you defend yourself if a poison gas bomb is fired?
At this moment, Wang Xuexin's order came down: "Hold the defense line until dark!"
The leader of the Long March Regiment was a tough veteran. He knew that if we could withdraw like this, the flanks of the entire defense line would be exposed to the Japanese, and it would be a matter of time before the entire army collapsed.
Therefore, the leader of the Long March regiment gritted his teeth and ordered: "Organize a defense and do not retreat without orders! Even if you die, you must stop the Japanese here!"
The political commissar asked worriedly: "Commander, the Japanese used poison gas bombs, so stay on guard..."
This is actually not a question of bravery or lack of courage, but a question of whether it is necessary... If there is no way to deal with gas bombs but you still force yourself to stay in the position, it will be a waste of sacrificing the lives of the soldiers, and in the end the defense line will still be unable to be defended.
live.
Therefore, if we compare the two, it is better to retreat than not to retreat, because retreating at least preserves the vitality to continue fighting the Japanese. Although we can still resist the Japanese gas bombs, we can still hold the Japanese back!
And if you just stay in place, you will lose even this little bit of vitality and you won't be able to contain the enemy!
This is what the political commissar meant. He said: "Commander, we have to defend, but we can't insist on it! We have to find a way!"
When the leader of the Long March regiment was reminded by the political commissar, he realized that he was blindly following the order and almost made a big mistake... Wang Xuexin's order was to "hold the line of defense" rather than letting the troops defend the line. If the soldiers insisted on holding the line of defense, they would all be under poison gas bombs.
Even if they are sacrificed, can the defense line still be defended?
Therefore, the key is to be able to hold on.
If you can't hold on, it's better to retreat. It's better to resist the order yourself than to sacrifice the lives of the soldiers in vain!
The leader of the Long March regiment spread out the map, looked at it, pointed to a high ground and said, "I think we should go to the high ground to defend!"
"Is it windy on the high ground?" the political commissar asked.
"Yes!" said the leader of the Long March: "The wind can minimize the damage of poison gas bombs as much as possible. In addition, more importantly..."
As he spoke, the leader of the Long March Regiment pointed to the map and said: "We deployed our troops on the reverse slope. The enemy does not know the location of our army, and his poison gas bombs can only be fired at random. But our army... is firing poison gas bombs at the enemy."
Then launch a counterattack!"
"Counter charge?" The political commissar was startled by the regimental leader's words: "The Japanese have a division with nearly 20,000 people, and we only have two regiments..."
"Only in this way is it possible to hold on!" said the leader of the Long March Regiment: "Retreating is not possible, as this will give up the position to the Japanese. It is also impossible to stay in place, as you will be killed by poison gas bombs. Then the only way is to counterattack, and take advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness to kill
Go among them and hang with them, and see how they use gas bombs!"
The political commissar was stunned for a while before nodding. It seemed that this was the only way to hold on to the defense line.
A murderous intent flashed in the eyes of the leader of the Long March Regiment, and he said: "As long as our army's artillery fire is properly coordinated and provides fire cover for our infantry's charge, then we will fight hand-to-hand with the Japanese with bayonets, and we will compete to see who is more ruthless!"
"In addition!" Then the leader of the Long March regiment added: "All soldiers must make necessary preparations for poison prevention, such as covering their faces with rags!"