Bright Sword: Construction starts from southeastern Shanxi

On the morning of the 6th, the commander of the First Army in Taiyuan, Naosaburo Okabe, received news that Pingyao, Qixian, Jiexiu and Xiaoyi had been captured by the Eighth Route Army.

After learning about this, Okabe Naosaburo let out a long sigh.

Zeng Jiwen's troops in southeastern Shanxi finally took action against the locust army in Taiyuan.

Before, Okabe Naosaburo had once thought that Zeng Jiwen's focus this time was on the southern Hebei region. After he received the news that the county town in the south was captured by the Eighth Route Army, he suddenly understood.

Zeng Jiwen was still trying to relieve the Eighth Route Army from the siege in Beiyue District.

After thinking it through, Naosaburo Okabe had the idea of ​​giving up the city in the south, but after thinking for a while, he felt that he could not give up.

If Zeng Jiwen's troops, after seeing that the locust army had not provided support, had taken over Fenyang, Wenshui, Jiaocheng and other places along Jiexiu and Xiaoyi, wouldn't the war have eventually spread to Taiyuan?

Therefore, the 5th Independent Mixed Brigade in Jinzhong was immediately ordered to move south to provide support, while the 3rd Independent Mixed Brigade was on standby to support the 5th Independent Mixed Brigade at any time.

At the same time, all parties received news that the North China Front Army had suffered a defeat at the beginning of its autumn mopping-up campaign.

The North China Front Army had lost several regiments before it even started its sweep of the Eighth Route Army in the Beiyue area.

The Pinghan Railway was cut off by the 389th Division of Southeast Shanxi. I also heard that the 14th Division is now basically crippled, with only a large number of auxiliary troops, and the field troops have basically been lost.

When the news came out, the whole of China was in an uproar. This was a Type A division of the Japanese Army. The last time the Japanese Army suffered heavy losses was in the Battle of Xuzhou. Commander Zhang almost destroyed the Kunizaki Detachment, which was composed of two regiments under the Fifth Division.

The Battle of Wuhan is now being fought with great difficulty. The disgraceful state of the North China Front Army is undoubtedly a shot in the arm for the frontline officers and soldiers who are still fighting hard relying on the three towns.

Especially in the past few days, the officers and soldiers on the front line were wondering why the Japanese offensive on the northern line had become slow in recent days.

It turned out that the Pinghan Railway in the north was cut off by Zeng Jiwen's 389th Division.

Now the supplies for the Japanese troops on the northern front have to rely on transportation from other directions.

After learning the news, the Southern Expeditionary Army immediately urged the North China Front Army to open up the Pinghan Railway immediately and absolutely not affect the battle in the south.

At this time, the Southern Expeditionary Force felt a little overwhelmed by the huge amount of supplies consumed in the several months of fighting.

At the same time, since landing in Guangzhou Bay, the great powers have begun to change their attitude towards them.

The headquarters also sent a rebuke telegram, scolding Sugiyama Gen harshly.

Sugiyama Hajime was solely responsible for the losses of the 14th Division.

As for Kenji Doihara, due to his previous combat suggestions and the importance he attached to the 389th Division in southeastern Shanxi, after being discovered by the masters in the headquarters, he was somewhat unexpectedly only reprimanded and allowed to make meritorious contributions while serving his sentence.

This made Sugiyama Gen, who received the reprimanding telegram, extremely dissatisfied, and he also began to hate Kenji Doihara.

But no matter how dissatisfied you are, it will not help.

He just urged the locust army in Beiyue District to speed up the sweep and then withdraw the troops.

Sugiyama Gen thought that it would not be an easy task for the Fifth Division to recapture Anyang, plus a cavalry brigade. It was impossible for the Fifth Division to follow the 14th Division's rear.

If Itagaki Seishirō could hear Sugiyama Hajime's inner monologue, he would probably start scolding him directly.

Yes, if it were the Fifth Division from last year, they would definitely be able to take it back.

Now the 5th Division, after the previous battle with the 389th Division, lost two artillery battalions, a cavalry regiment, and several battalions of locust troops. Then in the Battle of Xuzhou, the Kunizaki Detachment was almost wiped out.

He had just filled the personnel gap in his division, and now he was asked to attack Zeng Jiwen's troops head-on. This would only reduce the combat effectiveness of his division back to its original state.