In fact, the Japs' combat plan was far from simple.
However, we must first introduce the Japanese adjustments. Shortly after Xu Rui and others returned to China, in order to integrate the armed forces in various Chinese battlefields in order to achieve the highest efficiency with the lowest allocation of resources, the Japanese base camp decided to transfer all of China's
More than one million Japanese troops were organized into the Chinese Condemnation Army.
This is no different from the original history.
However, the selection of the commander-in-chief of the Chinese Condemnation Army has changed. Historically, the first commander-in-chief of the Chinese Condemnation Army was Nishio Hisao, but in this time and space, Nishio Hisao has long been pissed to death by Xu Rui.
, naturally it is impossible to climb out of the grave to serve as the commander-in-chief of the Chinese Condemnation Army, and now he has become Shun Tada.
The composition of the Chinese Condemnation Army is basically the same as in the original history. It consists of the North China Front Army, the First Army, the Twelfth Army, the Thirteenth Army, the Twenty-first Army and the Third Flying Regiment!
The commander of the North China Front was Anan Weiji, who had just been transferred from China.
Anami Weiji was reused because of his outstanding performance in the Tokyo Plague.
By the way, the plague in Tokyo was finally controlled by the Japanese. Except for the six core districts, there was no concentrated outbreak in the dozen or so peripheral districts, nor did it spread to the periphery of Tokyo. However, even so, it still caused great harm to Japan.
In addition to the deaths of more than one million people, the economic losses were inestimable.
But to say that this plague has shaken Japan's national foundation is a bit exaggerated.
Let’s get back to the topic, Anan Weiji, an old devil, doesn’t have a very bright mind, but he has a very tough character and is very bellicose. The motto he believes in is: Only offense is the best defense!
Although the Sino-Japanese war has entered a stalemate stage, the Japanese army is not only mired in the Chinese battlefield, but also inextricably locked up with the Soviet Red Army in the Far East. In addition, Tokyo has just suffered a major plague, which has caused great damage to the national power.
People's livelihood is in decline. Under such circumstances, the Japanese government really cannot support offensive operations at the strategic level.
After all, Anan Weiji had also been the deputy chief of the army, so of course he knew this situation.
But Anami Weiji did not give up because of this. We can't fight offensive operations at the strategic level, but we can always do it at the tactical level, right?
Therefore, not long after he took office, and even in spite of the firm opposition of Yukio Tatehara, Chief of Staff of the North China Front, he directly bypassed the staff and instructed the Chief of Operations Section Keijiro Kanemitsu who followed him to formulate a machete plan.
We are going to eradicate Fu Zuoyi's tribe first, then go around the Hexi Corridor and then pass through Qinghai to go behind Chuankang!
It must be admitted that Keijiro Kanemitsu, who was entrusted with the important task by Anami Yuki, is still of some standard. Let alone other things, at least this little devil must have read the history of China's Yuan Dynasty, because the so-called scimitar plan he drafted and the route he chose
, exactly the same as the route taken by the Mongolian cavalry to destroy the Southern Song Dynasty.
Although this attack route is long and the logistics supply line is very easy to be attacked or even cut off by the enemy, there are two sides to everything. If there are disadvantages, there must be advantages. The advantage of taking this route is that you can avoid the heavy troops of the National Army.
The frontal defense line of the garrison will not encounter much resistance along the way.
Of course, this scimitar plan is definitely a strategic battle plan, so Anan Wei has never thought about realizing this plan at once. What he wants to do now is to realize the first step of it, to eradicate Fu Zuoyi in the Hetao area. This
In this offensive battle, the real target of the Japanese army was Fu Zuoyi.
As the old saying goes, there are three things a new official should do when he takes office. It can be said that Anand Weiji attached great importance to the offensive he launched after he became the commander of the North China Condemnation Army. He even sent his best confidant to the Condemnation Army Headquarters.
The section chief of the combat section, Kanemitsu Keijiro, was also sent to Taiyuan, Shanxi Province, to supervise the battle.
…
At this time, Kanemitsu Keijiro was at the headquarters of the First Army in Taiyuan.
In just two months, Kanemitsu Keijiro has been promoted from a small lieutenant to the rank of major. However, such a rank is still small in front of First Army Commander Yoshiki Ando and Chief of Staff Nobuchi Kushibuchi.
Therefore, even though they knew that Kanemitsu Keijiro was Anami Yuki's confidant, the two of them did not pay much attention to the little devil.
Kushiyuan Xuan immediately raised the question: "Jin Guangjun, since the target of this combat operation is Fu Zuoyi, why did you gather heavy troops on the line from Luliang to Yuncheng?" After a pause, he said sarcastically, "Jin Guangjun
Don’t you want to invade the east and invade the west, cross the Yellow River to the west and occupy Yan’an?”
"Of course not." Kanemitsu Keijiro said, "Through these two years of fighting, General, you should be very clear that the combat effectiveness of the Communist Eighth Route Army is actually far superior to the National Army. The Communist Party not only has heavy troops stationed on the west bank of the Yellow River, but also has a large number of troops on the east bank.
guerrilla activities, so it is not easy to cross the Yellow River westward."
After a pause, Kanemitsu Keijiro continued: "If we force the crossing, we will definitely suffer heavy losses!"
"Then I just don't understand." Kushiyuan Xuanyi said teasingly, "Since we are not planning to cross the Yellow River west to capture Yan'an, why are we still massing heavy troops on the line from Luliang to Yuncheng?"
Kanemitsu Keijiro said in a deep voice: "There are two purposes, to contain the Communist Party, and at the same time to paralyze Fu Zuoyi."
After a pause at this point, Kanemitsu Keijiro turned to Ando Yoshiki and said: "Your Excellency, Commander, you have been deployed from Guangzhou to Shanxi for more than half a year. I must have heard of a saying?"
Ando Jili frowned and said, "Jin Guangjun, tell me what you have to say."
"Hai." Kanemitsu Keijiro paused and said solemnly, "Fu Zuoyi's army is called Qilu and a half by Yan Xishan, implying that he has close ties with the CCP. In fact, there are indeed a large number of soldiers in Fu Zuoyi's army.
Communist Party members are still in office, and the two companies have already communicated with each other at the intelligence level."
"Of course I know this." Andojili said impatiently, "So what?"
Kanemitsu Keijiro said solemnly: "The Communist Party is not the Kuomintang. They will not inflict trouble on their allies at critical moments. Therefore, if the imperial army gathers heavy troops to attack Fu Zuoyi's headquarters, the Communist Party will definitely fight to the rescue. Not only the entire Shanxi Eighth Route Army guerrillas
They will come out in full force and launch a crazy attack on the Imperial Army's logistics line. The Eighth Route Army's river defense troops stationed on the west bank of the Yellow River are also very likely to go north to reinforce the Hetao. In this way, the Imperial Army will fall into a three-front battle dilemma."
Andojiri frowned and said, "Since it's just for containment, it seems there's no need to assemble so many troops, right?"
"Your Excellency, Commander!" Kanemitsu Keijiro said solemnly, "Judging from the performance of the Communist Party's Eighth Route Army, their commanders should all have very high tactical vision. If the First Army does not gather enough troops on the west bank of the Yellow River, only
I’m afraid it will be difficult to deceive the top leaders of the CCP in Yan’an, in which case the whole plan will be aborted.”
After a pause, Kanemitsu Keijiro continued: "Your Excellency, Commander, Your Excellency Anan attaches great importance to this stage of combat operations, and this stage of combat operations will directly determine the success or failure of the entire Scimitar Plan. Therefore, it is still
Commander, please cooperate with us fully, I beg you for everything!"
After finishing speaking, Kanemitsu Kejiro paused again.
Kanemitsu Keijiro knew that he could not convince Ando Yoshiki with his soft words, so he had no choice but to move out the boss behind him, Anami Yoshiki. Anami Yoshiki was not only the new commander of the North China Front, but also the chief of staff of the Imperial Army.
As a close associate of Prince Inumiya Zaihito and Army Chief Juichi Terauchi, Ando Yoshiki must also be wary of him.
At that moment, Ando Jili said in a deep voice: "Jin Guangjun, please tell Lord Anan that our First Army will strictly implement the orders of the front army and dispatch at least two divisions to the front line of the Yellow River to strive to capture the Communist Eighth Route Army and the
The attention of Fu Zuoyi's troops was attracted, creating an opportunity for the Mongolian army to completely annihilate Fu Zuoyi's troops."
"Hai." Kanemitsu Kejiro said solemnly, "Thank you very much, Commander, for your cooperation."
…
At the same time, at the headquarters of the 35th Army in Wuyuan.
Fu Zuoyi was convening a meeting of his major military officers. The theme of the meeting was the abnormal movements of the Japanese army.
After the main officers attending the meeting had arrived, Fu Zuoyi said: "There is news from Baotou that the cavalry group of the Japanese Army in Mongolia has completed its assembly. It seems that there will be a large-scale combat operation. In addition, according to the information provided by Yan'an, the Japanese Army in Shanxi has also
Frequent transfers are made to Luliang, Linfen and Yuncheng."
After a pause, Fu Zuoyi continued: "There are various signs that the Japanese army is afraid of attacking the Communist Party in Yan'an. If nothing unexpected happens, the breakthrough point chosen by the Japanese army should be on the line from Luliang to Yuncheng. The cavalry group stationed in Mongolia is also
It is possible that they crossed the Yellow River from near Jiuyuan and went south, flanking the Communist Eighth Route Army behind them."
It has to be said that Fu Zuoyi's judgment was fundamentally biased.
However, this cannot be blamed on Fu Zuoyi, because he lacks sufficient intelligence support. Although the CCP can collect a large amount of information on the mobilization of Japanese troops through the power of the masses, it does not know much about the movements of high-level Japanese troops. As for the strength of the Military Command Bureau, it is not at all
It cannot cover such remote areas.
It is precisely because of this that Fu Zuoyi made a serious misjudgment.
As soon as he finished speaking, Ye Qijie, the deputy commander of the 35th Army, immediately said: "Military seat, our Northern Route Army was able to gain a foothold in Hetao so quickly, and the political work was carried out so well, especially with the common people.
The Communist Party has helped us a lot to have such a harmonious relationship. Now that the Communist Party is in trouble, we must help them no matter what."
"You don't need to say that." Fu Zuoyi snorted. He still has a good impression of the Communist Party, and he still has a bottom line that he sticks to, that is, he will never do anything that is not good for the country or the nation.
, unlike Yan Xishan, who only has interests in his eyes, and even colludes with the Japanese for personal gain.