The reinforcement combination sent by Neji Okamura is a little different from usual.
Usually, the Japs fought together with infantry regiments and chariot regiments, such as the battle in Yucun.
But now it is the cavalry regiment, the mountain artillery regiment and the tank regiment that work together.
This is related to the war situation of the Japanese at this time.
As the military situation was urgent, Okamura Neji was worried that Yuncheng would be captured by the Eighth Route Army if he slowed down. At that time, it would be very difficult to recapture Yuncheng, which was full of bunkers and gun towers, especially anti-tank trenches, so he sent these fast soldiers.
of mobile troops.
The speed of the tank group is not satisfactory. Although the top speed of the Type 97 tank is only 38 kilometers per hour, it is still faster than the speed of two legs.
Needless to say, the cavalry can be regarded as a high-speed mobile unit.
The Mountain Artillery Regiment is also a mobile unit that uses cars to drag mountain artillery around. Of course, it is not slow either.
Strictly speaking, mountain artillery units are used for mountainous operations. Field artillery units are used for field operations... The definition of mountain artillery is artillery that is small in weight and can be easily disassembled and transported to the mountains for reassembly. For example, the 92 Infantry Artillery. Field artillery is usually
Difficult to disassemble.
From this aspect, the reinforcements to Yuncheng should be field artillery units rather than mountain artillery units.
The reason is that there are plains around Yuncheng, and there is a greater need for field guns with large caliber and powerful force. Naturally, there is no requirement for the dismantling characteristics of mountain guns.
The problem is that the Japanese usually use field artillery units to fight the stubborn troops and mountain artillery units to fight the Eighth Route Army...The stubborn troops fight the Japanese in frontal battles, while the Eighth Route Army usually fights against the Japanese in the mountainous areas, so this distribution is correct.
Therefore, the Japs in the Yuncheng area mostly had mountain artillery units and few field artillery units. The 75mm field artillery in Yuncheng City was originally shipped to the Yellow River for use in confrontations with the stubborn troops.
Okamura Neiji knew that the Eighth Route Army's strength in the direction of Yuncheng consisted of two divisions and an independent regiment.
He believed that sending such a force to deal with the Eighth Route Army was enough, even though the Eighth Route Army had fifty tanks.
However, this was also due to the lack of Japanese troops. Okamura Neji was worried that demolishing the east wall to repair the west wall would cause loopholes in Luliang Mountain's defense line, which would lead to a bad war.
Otherwise, with such a good opportunity to fight the main force of the Eighth Route Army on the plains, Neji Okamura would of course mobilize a large army to surround him.
However, Okamura Neiji ultimately miscalculated. The mobile troops he sent were far from enough to break through the Eighth Route Army's defense line.
The 7th Tank Regiment is the main tank regiment of the Japanese, and its commander is Colonel Tomijiro.
This tank regiment is a medium combat regiment, mainly equipped with Type 97 medium tanks.
It participated in the Battle of Nomenhan a year ago, and defeated Mao Xiong's armored forces in a local battle when the performance of the tank was at a complete disadvantage. Tomijiro was just a staff officer at the time, and he was injured in that war.
, he recovered from his injury and was transferred to the co-captain position only seven months ago.
It is said that this chariot regiment, which has rich combat experience against the bear, and is quite powerful, should be transferred to Kanto Continent to participate in the Guan special performance... in fact, it is to prepare for the battle against the bear.
But Okamura Neiji used various methods and excuses to keep this unit, such as putting the 7th Tank Regiment at the bottom, and when he wanted to transfer it, he said that it was on a mission or that the train capacity was insufficient, etc. As a result, until
It has not yet been able to make the trip but it is being used to reinforce Yuncheng... This is actually because Okamura Neiji felt the threat from the Eighth Route Army, and he transferred the "Type 1 tanks" from China for the same reason.
At this time, Aritomijiro was looking at the enemy's defense map on the armored vehicle used as a command vehicle.
After looking at it for a while, he threw the defense map aside.
Because he felt that this defense plan was meaningless. It was just a division of the Eighth Route Army's field fortifications.
Such fortifications under his chariot fleet can almost be described as "vulnerable".
You must know that his medium tank regiment is equipped with 52 tanks, of which 31 are Type 97 medium tanks and 21 are Type 95 light tanks... The Japanese are accustomed to mixing the two types of tanks for light combat.
The difference between a tank regiment and a medium tank regiment lies in the different proportions of the two tanks. For example, the Fuzhong tank regiment has one light tank squadron and three medium tank squadrons, but the medium tank squadron is equipped with several squadrons.
A light tank to assist in combat.
This may be due to the Japanese's desire to have sophisticated tactics for every tank and even for every soldier.
Although the Japanese army, navy and army are at odds with each other, they are very similar in this regard.
When the Navy formulates a battle plan, it will be as detailed as what each lifeboat will do... This does not seem to be a problem. It is better to be careful and detailed than to be careless.
But there is an idiom that goes, "Everything must be reversed when it reaches its extreme." War is an uncertain thing. No one can predict what the battlefield they will face will be like or what emergencies will occur.
Therefore, each tactical unit should have sufficient flexibility and adaptability within the larger framework.
If the entire army's battle plan is formulated with life-saving measures in mind and nailed down, the result will be that either the plan cannot be implemented because it is out of touch with reality, or it is forced to be implemented but loses lives and ultimately fails.
The enemy's chariot troops are almost the same.
They hope to use the Type 97 medium tank to deal with the enemy's tanks and the Type 95 to deal with the enemy's infantry, so that they can make full use of resources and avoid the "waste" of the Type 97 against the enemy's infantry.
But how could the ever-changing battlefield develop as the Japanese hoped and planned?
This is only possible against the Chinese army which has no tanks and no anti-tank equipment.
But now it has become impossible because of the emergence of Wang Xuexin.
Tomijiro rubbed his aching right leg. This was an injury he suffered during the battle at Nomonhan. The tank was almost disabled after being penetrated by the enemy. There are still several pieces of shrapnel that have not been removed until now.
However, Tomijiro did not care about this at this time. He believed that this battle was not as simple as it seemed, especially when intelligence showed that the tanks of the Eighth Route Army were still in Yuncheng and there was no organized defense.
It was impossible for the Eighth Route Army not to know about the arrival of the 7th Tank Regiment.
Tomijiro knew that the Eighth Route Army's intelligence network was much more effective than that of the Imperial Army.
Since the Eighth Route Army knew about it, but their tanks continued to attack Yuncheng as if nothing was wrong...does that mean they are confident?
Tomijiro was a little angry. How could these Chinese troops be so confident?
Do they plan to use rocket launchers or rocket launchers to stop the tank troops?
No, not likely!
The accuracy of the rocket launcher is too low and it will not have much effect when used against tanks in action, especially since the Eighth Route Army does not have many artillery shells.
The rocket launcher only has an armor-piercing capability of 20mm and cannot penetrate the frontal armor of the Type 97 Chinese tank equipped with sandbags and shell casings.
So, is it possible that the Eighth Route Army has more than these tanks?
Thinking of Tomijiro, he was shocked and immediately ordered the troops to stop advancing.