"Chief of Staff, order Deputy Commander Luo to stay on standby. The reconnaissance company will follow behind the Lichuan Regiment and keep an eye on their every move." Li Hao stared at the map and began to issue orders.
"Send a telegram to First Battalion Commander He Jun to clear the country in advance and keep an eye on all Japanese and puppet troops entering Hunyuan territory."
"If the Japanese army really goes to attack Datong, the Shanxi-Sui army on the edge of the garrison base area will definitely bear the brunt and be the first to be attacked by the Japanese and puppet troops."
"The first battalion must be prepared to respond. All anti-Japanese soldiers who have been evacuated from Datong to our base area will be concentrated in the base area and take good care of them."
"When the time comes, if they are willing to return to the Jinsui Army, we will let them go; if they are not willing, we will mobilize them to join our Eighth Route Army."
"Chief of Staff, please contact the political commissar immediately and transfer local troops from the county brigade and district squadron to supplement the main force."
"The second battalion, the third battalion, the independent battalion, and the special agent battalion have all been supplemented to 500 people."
"Because we lost a lot of heavy equipment in this counter-mopping operation, the arsenal can only carry out repairs at present and cannot produce it. This means that many heavy weapons will be lost if they are gone."
"In order to ensure the combat effectiveness of the troops, when heavy weapons are insufficient, we must use good steel on the blade to form a fist, so that it can be punched with strength."
"So I decided to reduce the heavy firepower of the main force."
"The artillery company under the main force battalion is compressed into an artillery platoon, equipped with two heavy mortars and two direct-fire artillery. The guard company is compressed into a guard platoon, and the total strength is reduced to 500 people. In this way, each main force battalion only needs to supplement two
More than a hundred local troops can form a full strength."
"The fire platoon under the main force company is compressed into a fire squad, equipped with a light mortar and a heavy machine gun."
"The fire squad under the main platoon is compressed into a fire team, equipped with two light machine guns."
"As for the grenades, because there are fewer and fewer grenades captured on the battlefield, the limited ammunition can no longer meet the large-scale equipment use of the troops, so all the grenade launchers equipped by the infantry platoon have been cancelled, and each infantry company has been equipped with two.
Directly strengthen the fire squad and concentrate the limited ammunition for use.
"After the main force is fully established, the vacancies in the county brigade and district squadron will be filled by recruiting people from the guerrillas."
"As for the shortage of guerrillas, in order not to affect production in the base areas and reduce the pressure on the people in the base areas, the size of the guerrillas in each village can no longer expand without restrictions as before."
"The base area must be established based on the population of each village. Fifty ordinary people should be allocated to one semi-off-the-job guerrilla."
"This time after recruiting people from the guerrillas to replenish local troops, all guerrillas in each village will follow this ratio. If there are more members, they will be reduced, and if there are fewer members, new soldiers will be recruited."
Chief of Staff Hong Linfeng was anxious.
According to the regimental commander's request just now, the troops should be reduced. The main troops, local troops, and guerrillas in the base areas should all be reduced by at least one-third.
As a military commander, everyone hopes to have bigger and more troops under his command, and Hong Linfeng is no exception.
However, the regiment commander in front of him not only did not expand the army, but also reduced the number of troops. This was something he could not figure out anyway.
Yes, the garrison regiment is indeed under great pressure to expand its troops and has many problems, especially heavy weapons, which are seriously insufficient.
But there is no solution to this problem.
If it were in the past, the regiment commander would have first built up the troops and trained more gunners and machine gunners. He would rather wait for people for equipment than wait for equipment for people.
Hong Linfeng had too many questions and confusions in his heart. He stared at Li Hao and asked, "Captain, why?"
Li Hao has trouble speaking.
As a time traveler, he knows better than anyone else the Hundred Regiments War that the Eighth Route Army will fight next, as well as the various difficulties it will face after the Hundred Regiments War.
Severe drought, tight blockade by Japanese and puppet troops...
The combination of these factors forced the Eighth Route Army to refine its troops and streamline administration on a large scale in the base area to become self-sufficient and have adequate food and clothing...
For Li Hao's decision just now, the lack of heavy weapons in the garrison was just an excuse. The real reason was to deal with the Hundred Regiment War and this dilemma in advance.
Concentrating all local troops and guerrillas can indeed restore the troops to full strength, reaching the pre-war status of more than 6,000 people.
But in this way, the proportion of new recruits in the army will be too high, and the combat effectiveness will definitely be greatly affected, which will ultimately affect the performance of the garrison in the Hundred Regiment War.
In the second and third stages of the Hundred Regiment War, the army may suffer heavy losses from the Japanese's revenge raids because of too many recruits, and the gains outweigh the losses.
Compress the establishment, add a small number of local troops to the main force, and have one veteran lead one new recruit.
Not only will it not affect the overall combat effectiveness of the army, but it will also allow local troops to integrate into the main force in a short period of time and form combat effectiveness.
In this case, the problems caused by large-scale expansion of the army will no longer exist.
Thinking again about the elite troops and streamlined administration after the Hundred Regiments War, Li Hao would not expand his troops on a large scale.
Otherwise, when the time comes, all the efforts to recruit new recruits will be put back to improving troops and simplifying administration, and the work will be in vain. Not to mention, the cadres in the army will still be confused, and the recruits will not understand why they were dismissed from the army.
Facing Hong Linfeng's gaze, he did not explain, but decisively ordered: "There is no reason, just execute the order, and you will know when the time comes."
At the Japanese division headquarters in Laiyuan City, dozens of staff guards were busy packing information and documents in preparation for transfer.
Now that it had been decided to attack Datong, it was definitely more suitable for the division headquarters than Laiyuan City, so the division commander decided on the spot to move the headquarters there.
"Chief of Staff, has the call back from the Front Army Headquarters not arrived yet?" the division commander raised his head and asked.
Although they decided to go to Datong, Laiyuan and Lingqiu, which the division had paid a huge price to win, could not just give up in vain.
An hour ago, the division commander sent a telegram to the front army headquarters that the troops would turn to attack Datong, and also asked the headquarters to send troops to take over Laiyuan.
The division commander believed that even if the commander was dissatisfied with his arbitrary decision, he would still agree to his decision in the end.
The countless coal mines in Datong are also urgently needed by the empire, and their role is no less important than eliminating the garrison itself.
"Sir, there's an urgent call from the front army headquarters!" the communications staff officer suddenly rushed in and interrupted.
The chief of staff took the telegram and glanced at it with a smile on his face.
"Division commander, the front army agrees with our suggestion."
"A mixed brigade of the Imperial Army is on its way over. We can retreat as soon as they arrive."
"In addition, the headquarters requires us to leave a heavy artillery brigade, a tank squadron, and a cavalry brigade to cooperate with the mixed brigade to defend Laiyuan, Lingqiu, Hunyuan and other counties."
"After the troops captured Datong, they, together with the mixed brigade, continued to raid the garrison, encroached on their base area, and finally eliminated them."
"Yo Xi!" the division commander ordered with satisfaction: "Just do what the headquarters telegram said."
"The main force launched a surprise attack in the same city. The division headquarters waited for the mixed brigade to arrive and rushed over."
At the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, the deputy chief of staff rushed in with excitement: "Boss, good news, has the garrison won the battle?"
"The little devil has retreated?" The deputy commander's face did not show a smile, but a hint of worry flashed across his face.
"Didn't retreat?" the deputy chief of staff replied, shaking his head.
The deputy commander's frown immediately relaxed. As long as the Japanese troops attacking the garrison did not retreat, the Eighth Route Army's subsequent strategic counterattack would not be affected.
But he soon showed a puzzled expression: "Since the Japs have not retreated, the battle is not over yet. The garrison is so confident that it has won."
The deputy chief of staff quickly replied: "The little devil has been killed by the garrison regiment in the past few days. Another main force regiment was killed. After he couldn't take advantage of the garrison regiment, he directly changed the attack target and went to Datong."
"In addition, in order to defend the counties they had just occupied, such as Laiyuan and Lingqiu, the Japanese army deployed a mixed brigade from all over North China to deal with the garrison. Now our pressure for a major counterattack is even less."
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