The battle started twenty days after Kono Shinta prepared.
The reason why we chose to start the fight at this time was not because Shinta Kono thought he was ready.
In fact, Kono Shinta believed that the imperial army at this time was still far from fighting a real "blitzkrieg".
But Shinta Kono had to fight again.
This is because Shinta Kono learned from intelligence that the Eighth Route Army seemed to have noticed some rumors, such as that its headquarters had been moved, and the three stores had deployed additional troops and built additional fortifications.
If this continues, the Eighth Route Army may have fewer and fewer weaknesses and its offensive will become more and more difficult.
Therefore, Shinta Kono could only launch an attack without being prepared.
The battle first started with a ground attack.
This was somewhat beyond Okamura Neji's expectation.
Because Okamura Neji thinks...
"Kono-kun, if your 'blitzkrieg' is based on air supremacy, then shouldn't we start with the fight for air supremacy?"
This idea is normal.
Since everything is based on air supremacy, we should first test whether the Imperial Air Force can successfully seize air supremacy.
If possible, then proceed to the next step.
If not, there is no need to waste ammunition and soldiers' lives on the attack.
Kono Shinta replied: "General, I just hope that the Eighth Route Army can treat this attack as an ordinary ground attack. And if we start by fighting for air superiority..."
Then Okamura Neji understood.
This is indeed the offensive habit of the imperial army, especially the attack against the Eighth Route Army. It almost never starts with a fight for air supremacy but a ground attack.
If this time the attack starts with a fight for air supremacy, what will the Eighth Route Army think?
Based on Okamura Neiji's understanding of the Eighth Route Army over the years, he clearly knew that the senior generals of the Eighth Route Army were not just "stupid soldiers" who knew nothing as ordinary people imagined. They also had an international perspective and paid attention to the international battlefield.
In this case, they were afraid that they would immediately think of Hans' "blitzkrieg". Wouldn't that expose their own tactics from the beginning?
Thinking of this, Okamura Neji felt a little ashamed.
I didn't expect that a strategist who has been on the battlefield like me is not as thoughtful as a little-known military expert. He is indeed a talent sent by Hans!
Just when Okamura Neji was sighing, the battle on the front line had already begun.
Several heavy artillery regiments violently bombarded the Yuncheng defense line of the Eighth Route Army. At the same time, the Japanese and puppet troops, a total of more than 100,000 people, launched an attack on the Eighth Route Army's defense line.
The "defense line" here refers to not only the Yuncheng defense line, but also the Luliang Mountain and Zhongtiao Mountain defense lines of the Eighth Route Army.
Of course, the main attack direction is the Yuncheng defense line, this is obvious.
The attacks at the Luliang Mountain Defense Line and the Zhongtiao Mountain Defense Line merely held back the Eighth Route Army's strength so that it could not return for reinforcements.
Kono Shinta thinks this way: If the Eighth Route Army troops want to defend the three defense lines of Luliang Mountain, Zhongtiao Mountain and Yuncheng that stretch for hundreds of kilometers, they will have to invest a lot of troops even if they only defend with the minimum number of troops. Only in this way,
They were unable to concentrate more troops in Yuncheng. When the mechanized troops of the imperial army penetrated deep into its hinterland, they did not have the troops to pursue and intercept them.
However, Kono Shinta didn't know much about the puppet army.
The reason why the puppet army is a puppet army is because they are greedy for life and afraid of death.
Since you are greedy for life and afraid of death, how can you fight against the Eighth Route Army?
If you are unwilling to fight against the Eighth Route Army, how can you hold back the Eighth Route Army's strength?
Especially when the Eighth Route Army defeated the Japanese in several air battles, leading many puppet soldiers to believe that the end of the Japanese was coming... At this time, if there were still puppet soldiers fighting against the Eighth Route Army, it would be a mistake.
Therefore, the puppet army even formed a certain tacit understanding with the Eighth Route Army when attacking the Luliang Mountain defense line.
(The Eighth Route Army mainly defends the Luliang Mountain defense line. The Eighth Route Army is stationed mostly in the western half of the Zhongtiao Mountain defense line after Yuncheng. The eastern half is still under the control of the Japanese).
When the puppet troops had to attack the Eighth Route Army's defense line under the supervision of the Japanese officers, they would shout before launching the attack: "Listen, Eighth Route Army, we are about to attack. Those who know how to surrender should quickly surrender! We will treat the prisoners preferentially!"
This shouting obviously sounded fine and seemed to be an attempt to persuade him to surrender, but the Japanese officer didn't think anything of it.
But if you think about it in detail...
How can anyone on the battlefield shout to the enemy before attacking? Doesn't that mean informing the enemy to prepare?
Then, when the puppet troops launched an attack, they fired guns into the air and shouted to kill.
Of course, this "shooting in the air" is relatively secretive.
"Firing a gun into the sky" is not difficult to do. As long as you don't fire the gun vertically into the sky, it will be too obvious and easily detected by the Japanese. The puppet soldiers only need to raise the muzzle of the gun slightly, and it will look like it is pointing towards
The target fired the shot, but it was actually several heights higher than the target.
The Eighth Route Army was also very cooperative.
Because the Eighth Route Army knew that if they didn't play a trick with the puppet army to fool the Japanese, the next time the puppet army would have to desperately attack the Eighth Route Army's defense line in order to survive, which would be of no benefit to anyone.
Therefore, the Eighth Route Army would pretend to be "broken" and "scattered" under the "attack" of the puppet army... In fact, the Eighth Route Army withdrew to the second line of defense.
Then it was the Eighth Route Army's turn to shout: "Listen, brothers and sisters of the puppet army, we are about to attack, come out and surrender! The Eighth Route Army treats prisoners preferentially!"
Then he fired two shots into the air with "bang bang" and then charged towards the puppet defense line while shouting to kill.
The puppet troops must cooperate.
Because he also knew that if he didn't cooperate now, the Eighth Route Army would really take action next time, and the puppet army would be left with nothing to eat.
So the puppet soldiers fired a few symbolic shots, then turned around and ran away regardless, leaving the Japanese officers standing there waving the bastard box and shouting, but it was of no avail.
In the meantime, if some Japanese officers dare to shoot and kill the fleeing puppet soldiers... it will be tragic. Most of the Japanese soldiers will be "touched" secretly by the puppet soldiers, such as secretly throwing a grenade at the feet of the Japanese soldiers when passing by.
side.
In this chaotic situation, who can find out who threw a grenade?
I want to say that it was thrown by the Eighth Route Army from dozens of meters away, or that it was a shell from the Eighth Route Army's 50-gun cannon. Who has the means to verify it?
Therefore, the Japanese officers actually did not dare to go too far.
If these Japanese army officers were veterans, they would know this trick and would accompany the puppet soldiers to put on a show... We all just want to survive, so why should we be serious?
Even if you are true to yourself, what will you get?
Being tricked by the puppet army?
Or be killed by the Eighth Route Army?
Instead, if you work hard at your acting, your superiors will reward you if they see you perform "vividly"!