Devil's Army

After saving Jinghai County, Wu Lang left the majority of his troops outside Jinghai County, and he and the brigade's special service battalion moved into the headquarters of the Third Regiment of Jinghai County.

Tonight, Wulang convened a meeting of cadres at the battalion level and above.

At the meeting, Wu Lang pointed out that Jinghai County is an important hub connecting North China and an important passage for the Japanese army to continue to move south. The devils will never give up easily, and asked everyone what plans they had.

The commander of the 37th Regiment of the 657th Division spoke first, advocating for perseverance. Nearly three quarters of the soldiers of his regiment were buried in Jinghai County.

The commander of the Third Regiment of the First Army objected to this and asked:

"The Japanese currently have air superiority and their artillery has an absolute advantage. In addition, the Japanese army in North China already has more than 200,000 troops. How can we hold on to Jinghai County?"

"We can conduct guerrilla warfare in Jinghai County and its outskirts."

"To fight guerrilla warfare, you need a stable rear to provide you with logistical support. Otherwise, if you have no people, no food, and no ammunition, how can you fight guerrilla warfare? In this Jinghai defense battle, how many people are left in your battalion of more than 800 people outside Jinghai County?" The third regiment commander asked in return.

When the commander of the 657th Regiment heard the commander of the third regiment mention the first battalion, he sat back silently.

In the Jinghai defense war, his battalion was responsible for guerrilla warfare between Tianjin and Jinghai County. The casualties were the heaviest. After the war, the number of soldiers returning to the battalion was less than 30, including the wounded. If his to men fought guerrilla warfare again against a strong enemy, how many would survive?

Seeing that the leader of the 657th Regiment remained silent and no longer aggressive, the third leader also sat back quietly.

Then everyone had a heated discussion. The commander of the second battalion of the 657th Regiment advocated holding on, while the commander of the third battalion of the 657th Regiment suggested retreating. Most officers of the nd Brigade suggested retreating.

The final decision fell on the Second Brigade Commander Wu Lang. Wu Lang asked everyone:

"If you had a large yellow croaker on you, would you give it to your child for safekeeping?"

"No!" everyone said in unison.

"why?"

"Because a child can't keep the big yellow croaker. Any adult can snatch it away."

"Yes, Jinghai County is now the big yellow croaker. We only have 7,000 to 8,000 soldiers left. If the Japanese can send tens of thousands of people here, with their overwhelming air force and artillery, how many days can we hold out?"

Everyone nodded in agreement, and Wu Langran continued:

"I think we should now transport the important and inconveniently transported materials to Baoding, where the 29th Army has retreated. Leave a regiment of troops in Jinghai County. If the Japanese come in small numbers, we will wait for an opportunity to destroy them. If the Japanese army approaches in large numbers, this regiment will also retreat to Baoding."

Everyone agreed with Wu Lang's arrangement and went downstairs to make preparations.

Since the First Anti-Japanese Army was well-trained, well-equipped, and had strong combat effectiveness, the head of the 657th Regiment could not contact his superiors. He sought the opinions of his subordinate officers and hoped to be incorporated into the First Anti-Japanese Army in the Northeast.

Considering that the 657th Regiment had fought side by side with the 657rd Regiment, and the deputy commander of the 657rd Regiment was injured and hospitalized in the battle of Dongbian Village in Jinghai County, Wu Lang assigned the remaining members of the th Regiment to the three battalions of the rd Regiment of the nd Brigade, and the commander of the th Regiment served as the deputy commander of the rd Regiment of the nd Brigade.

At seven o'clock the next morning, Wu Lang left behind the Third Regiment, which had the deepest feelings for Jinghai County, and the Air Force and five Golden Eagle IIs also stayed behind to garrison Jinghai County.

The other troops withdrew to Baoding first, taking with them the nine Type 96 150mm howitzers captured from the Japanese, the four 150mm howitzers of the Third Regiment, and ten truckloads of food and ammunition intercepted from the Japanese on the way.

As soon as Sada Saburo, who had retreated to Liangwangzhuang, returned to Liangwangzhuang, he was afraid that the Chinese army would follow and attack, so he immediately arranged defenses. He also reported to Commander Katsuki Seiji that he was attacked by a force with Japanese weapons in Jinghai County. The enemy had a brigade.

Commander Kiyoshi Kozuki has deduced from the various strange phenomena that have occurred in the North China battlefield recently that the devil troops have already joined the battle in North China. However, he is busy with other things at hand and decided to postpone sending heavy troops to occupy Jinghai County for a few days.

On August 8, the Japanese "North China Front Army" was formally organized. The commander of the front army was General Terauchi Hisaichi, and the chief of staff was Major General Okabe Naosaburo. The headquarters was stationed in Tianjin, with a force of more than 31.

In order to achieve the goal of north-south confrontation, eliminate the main Chinese defenders within three months and occupy the entire Chinese territory, Shounai Shouyi ordered the North China Front Army to continue to attack southward in two routes.

The occupation of Jinghai County was mentioned on the desk of Katsuki Seiji of the First Army of the North China Front Army.

The next day, the 20th Division of the Japanese Army, led by Lieutenant General Kawagishi Fumisaburo, marched towards Jinghai County with murderous intent.

Before the Japanese 20th Division attacked Jinghai County, Japanese planes had already flown over Jinghai County and once again launched a massive bombing campaign against the city.

Jinghai County, which had not yet recovered, was once again engulfed in flames.

The Japanese 77th Division was originally a Type A division stationed in Korea. The division had four infantry regiments, namely the 78th, 79th, 80th and th, and four regiments of artillery, engineers, cavalry and logistics, with a total strength of people.

The commander of the Third Regiment learned from the reconnaissance of the Golden Eagle No. 2 that the Japanese had sent a large number of troops to Jinghai County, and immediately ordered his troops to withdraw to Baoding.