Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

Deng Guo was very excited.

He had just taken over as commander of the Jireliao Military Region and he fought such a beautiful battle.

Prove your strength to everyone.

"Old leader, what are your ideas for the next step?"

Wei Hongjun asked Deng Guo.

Wei Hongjun never thought that the anti-Japanese war was the responsibility of a certain military region.

When the 8th Column was in existence, it had always cooperated with the 1st Division. Now that it has been changed to the Ji-Re-Cha Military Region, it must of course cooperate with the Ji-Re-Liaoning Military Region. After all, both are the military regions closest to the Northeast.

We must work together.

Deng Guo laughed loudly. "What ideas could I have right now? I only have one: to spark another major uprising in eastern Hebei. Back then, teachers, students, workers, farmers, merchants, police, and even puppet troops participated in the Jidong uprising. The spectacular Jidong uprising was the best proof of the people's support for the War of Resistance. Right now, Jidong is experiencing a period of weakness in the Japanese and puppet forces. What we need to do is establish grassroots political power in every county, township, and village in Jidong, making Jidong our strongest base. I said at the time that we would meet in Jixian. So, you will quickly establish a strong base west of Jixian. East of Jixian, we will establish a base in the Jireliao Military Region. We can both complete this quickly and then build strength to advance towards Rehe. Rehe is a mountainous region, with all its cities built along several important rivers. For us, the Eighth Route Army, the mountains provide excellent cover. Just as the Japanese invaded Rehe from the northeast, so too can we advance from Rehe into the northeast."

"Old leader, I think we can be more radical."

"Oh, tell me." Deng Guo has never underestimated Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun.

After all, these two men took a disbanded company and, within five years, forged the formidable Eighth Column. The Eighth Column eventually split, creating two second-level military regions. This was something even the most powerful division of the Jin-Cha-Ji region hadn't managed.

How could Deng Guo underestimate these two people?

Without any ability, how could they have annihilated all the troops stationed in Mongolia and finally captured Zhangjiakou. As a result of capturing Zhangjiakou, the combat effectiveness of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei troops directly increased to a higher level.

It can be said that the rapid development of the Eighth Route Army in Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei in 1942 was inseparable from the large amount of supplies seized after the capture of Zhangjiakou.

"Just like what you said, old leader, Rehe is a mountainous place. There are mountains everywhere, nothing but mountains. The Japanese and puppet troops in Rehe are not strong enough now, so they can only hide in the city. This is the time for our troops to show their strength. Instead of wasting so many troops here, we might as well throw them into Rehe and let them boldly develop the Rehe base. Our troops from the Hebei-Rehe-Chahar Military Region will go to Chifeng to develop the northern part of Rehe. The Hebei-Rehe-Liaoning Military Region will send troops to develop the southern part of Rehe with Chengde as the center. Let's develop together in the northeast direction. We only need to leave one brigade of troops here to deal with it.

"We fought a big battle this time, and all the troops suffered many casualties. Isn't this the time to rest and recuperate?"

"Old leader, for these troops, being in Rehe is also a time for rest and recuperation. This time, both our families have seized so many weapons and ammunition, which can upgrade our local troops to the main force. Then, we can form some more local troops and increase the size of our two forces."

This time everyone made a fortune.

Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun directly annihilated the 59th Division's headquarters, and all the 59th Division's military supplies fell into the hands of the Ji-Re-Cha Military Region. The troops of the Ji-Re-Liaoning Military Region seized more, after all, they had annihilated so many puppet troops.

To utilize so many troops, of course, the local forces must be upgraded to the main force. Now that the bases of both factions have expanded significantly, and their populations have increased significantly, this is a good opportunity to quickly organize local forces and establish a local militia.

Deng Guo smiled and said, "You are more ambitious than me. But what you said makes sense. We will build a base while developing towards Rehe."

Both parties are very relaxed.

Because the situation in eastern Hebei is very good now.

Without the suppression of the Japanese and puppet troops, the Ji-Re-Liao Military Region could boldly develop in eastern Hebei. Now the Yi-Re-Cha Military Region and the Ji-Re-Liao Military Region simply regretted their lack of cadres. They even transferred a large number of cadres from the army to establish bases in the countryside.

Now is a great time.

However, this war caused outrage in Japan.

The Japanese military was certainly in a bad mood. They had suffered repeated defeats in the Pacific, including the June defeat at Midway and the ongoing Guadalcanal campaign.

Whether it is naval warfare, aircraft confrontation, or ground combat, the Japanese army is currently at an absolute disadvantage.

Guadalcanal is important.

The Japanese army's situation in the Pacific battlefield would be even worse if they lost Guadalcanal.

So things are really troublesome at the base camp.

The headquarters thinks that the Chinese battlefield is slightly better.

China could provide more supplies to the Japanese army. However, the North China Front Army was currently suffering defeat after defeat, and this time it suffered another major defeat in Jidong and Rehe.

The deteriorating situation in North China began to directly affect the situation of the Japanese army in China.

The base camp couldn't help it.

After becoming commander of the North China Front Army, Okamura Neiji's only victory was the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain. Beyond that, the North China Front Army performed poorly, constantly asking for troops from the headquarters.

Nothing could be done.

The headquarters finally decided to call Ningji Okamura back.

Okamura Yasuji, who served as the commander-in-chief of the China Expeditionary Army throughout history, stepped down in November 1942.

Chapter 502: The Japanese Army's Big Move

The ambitious General Okamura Neiji resigned from his position as commander of the North China Front Army in disgrace.

Of course, Ningji Okamura still has a lot of connections in the Japanese military.

So he was held accountable and returned to China. But it didn't mean he was court-martialed, but he was left to the General Staff for a while.

The Imperial Headquarters then appointed Okabe Naozaburo, who had previously served as Chief of Staff of the North China Front Army and Commander of the Mongolian Army, as Commander of the North China Front Army. In fact, Okabe Naozaburo had been transferred back to Mongolia due to the poor performance of the Mongolian Army. However, his career after returning was not good, first serving in the General Staff Headquarters and later as Military Counselor and President of the Army University.

He was even promoted from lieutenant general to general.

When General Okamura Yasuji was dismissed from his post, the Imperial Headquarters sent Naosaburo Okabe to serve as the commander of the North China Front Army.

He was sent here because he was familiar with North China and the Eighth Route Army. However, after learning that he would be the commander of the North China Front Army, Okabe Naozaburo himself was in a bad mood. He actually didn't want to come to North China at all. When he was the commander of the army stationed in Mongolia, he was attacked by Fu Zuoyi's troops and the Eighth Column, the First Division, and the Daqingshan Detachment, and finally left in disgrace.

At that time he knew that the Eighth Route Army was not the Anti-Japanese United Army that the Japanese army had previously wiped out in Northeast China.

The rise of the Eighth Route Army could not be suppressed.

What's more, the situation in North China is now worse than when he was the commander of the troops stationed in Mongolia.

The Eighth Route Army even captured major cities like Zhangjiakou and Baoding. Eighth Route Army troops were now capable of mustering tens of thousands of troops, and it was not uncommon for them to wipe out thousands of Japanese and puppet troops at once. This would have been a national sensation a few years ago, but now it has become commonplace.

And then there are those puppet troops. Puppet troops are constantly defecting to the Eighth Route Army. These phenomena clearly show that the current situation in North China is really bad.

Otherwise, those puppet troops would not have "defected" in an organized manner.

Going to North China at this time was not a good idea. But he could not refuse the order from the headquarters. So he had no choice but to come to Beijing. However, after arriving in Beijing, he found that the situation was even worse than he thought.

The mighty North China Front Army is now just an empty shell.

Some divisions had been completely destroyed, while others, though fully staffed, had few men at all. Still others, though seemingly insignificant, suffered heavy casualties. The lower brigades had only two or three hundred men.

As for the puppet regimes that Japan had established in North China over the past few years, they were almost completely wiped out by the Eighth Route Army. Today, many towns and villages in North China no longer have the regimes established by the Japanese army, and have become the territory of the Eighth Route Army.

This is a very dangerous thing.

Japan currently lacks the resources to support its troops in China. Therefore, most of the Japanese troops' food and drink must be directly seized from China. However, now that the Japanese army is being forced by the Eighth Route Army, they can only retreat to major cities and important transportation routes. Without a complete traitorous puppet regime outside to support them, where can they get their food? Without food, how can these troops eat?

Okabe Naozaburo really wanted to leave Peking right now and return to Japan. He had thought the situation in North China was bad, otherwise, with Okamura Neiji's connections in the Japanese military, he wouldn't have been dismissed. But he hadn't expected this to happen. He wasn't a god, and the situation in the North China Front was so dire, how could he possibly save the situation?

But now that I'm in Peking, I still have to work.

Therefore, he immediately reported his idea to the headquarters. The Japanese headquarters did not want North China to completely fall into the territory of the Eighth Route Army. Therefore, they tried their best to meet Okabe Naosaburo's request.

According to Naosaburo Okabe's adjustment plan, the Japanese army began to adjust the organization of the North China Front Army.

The first was the disbanding of the 63rd Division, which had been completely annihilated, and the nearly annihilated 27th Division. The 27th Division was formed shortly after the July 27 Incident and had spent most of its time fighting in Yidong. It was a longtime rival of the Eighth Route Army in Yidong. No one expected its end to be this way, and it was simply disbanded. Of course, the main reason was that the th Division was completely empty.

As for the 63rd Division, it was disbanded just two years after its establishment.

After abolishing these two divisions, the headquarters decided to expand the Independent Mixed 131st Brigade in Youdan into the 132st Division and the Independent Mixed rd Brigade in Zhengtai Road into the nd Division.

The 133th Independent Mixed Brigade in Shandong was expanded into the 134rd Division, and the th Independent Mixed Brigade in Shandong was expanded into the th Division.

And that's not enough.

因为大本营知道，华北方面军新成立的115师团、118师团、131师团、132师团、133师团、134师团，基本上都是新兵组成。

The newly formed troops are now supplemented with real recruits.

Previously, the Japanese army's new recruits were all reservists who had trained for three or four years. The new recruits now are elite recruits who have trained in China for three months. Many new recruits now receive only the most basic military training, with less than a month's training before being sent to China.

The combat effectiveness of these new recruits is far inferior to that of the previous Japanese army.

Moreover, these divisions are not as good as the previously formed 59th, 63rd, and 69th security divisions in many aspects.

Compared with these divisions, the combat effectiveness has declined a lot.

What are the numbers for the entire North China now?

除了早期的26师团、32师团、35师团、36师团、37师团、110师团之外，后建立的59师团、62师团、69师团，以及这些新成立的师团，看起来师团很多。

In fact, the combat effectiveness is getting worse and worse.

Especially the newly established corps are not as strong as the independent mixed brigades two or three years ago.

But Japan itself has no choice.

If we say that after the outbreak of the July 1937 Incident, the Japanese army suffered most casualties on the front lines in 1938 and 1939, then starting in , more Japanese casualties occurred behind enemy lines.

Especially in North China.

Starting from the Hundred Regiments Campaign, the Eighth Route Army's combat scale became increasingly larger.

The Eighth Route Army now frequently concentrated several main regiments with tens of thousands of troops to attack Japanese troops. As a result, more and more Japanese troops were annihilated in an organized manner. Moreover, the Japanese army was currently attacking everywhere and needed troops everywhere.

To stabilize the situation in North China, Imperial Headquarters decided to accept the Kwantung Army's suggestion and add independent guard units to the Japanese military's organization. This time, Imperial Headquarters decided to establish ten independent guard units at once, starting with the First Guard Unit and continuing through the Tenth Guard Unit. The North China Front Army alone was assigned five independent guard units.

The Third Guard, the Fourth Guard, the Fifth Guard, the Sixth Guard, and the Seventh Guard.

Each security team has about 5000 people.

Actually, it’s the Japanese police.

The North China Front Army was short of manpower, so it planned to use independent guards to replace other divisions to garrison the city, so that it could draw on sufficient mobile forces to participate in the mopping-up operation.

这样的结果是，日军在山西第一军下辖37师团、62师团、132师团，驻蒙军下辖26师团、115师团、118师团，河北这边负责冀东、平北一带的是　35师团、59师团，驻扎石家庄的是69师团、110师团，驻扎豫北的是36师团和131师团，在山东的是　32师团、133师团、134师团。

The entire North China Front Army had 15 divisions under its command.

The original plan was to cancel the headquarters of the tank division of the Mongolian Army and send the tank division to northern Henan. Okabe Naosaburo's point was that the Mongolian Army had no use for the tank division. Giving them a tank division would be a waste.

The best tank divisions are still on the North China Plain.

Then there are five independent guards.

The Independent Third Guard was stationed in Peiping, the Independent Fourth Guard was stationed in Shijiazhuang, the Independent Fifth Guard was stationed in Jinan, the Independent Sixth Guard was stationed in Taiyuan, and the Independent Seventh Guard was stationed in Xinxiang.

The same was true for the Kwantung Army.

The unrest in Rehe could not be allowed to continue. Therefore, it was decided to form the 13th Garrison and send it to Rehe. Of course, the so-called 13th Garrison was a force recruited from the villagers of the Japanese reclamation group in Northeast China.

Of course, this is just a compilation adjustment.

The establishment has been given, but where are the people?

The North China Front Army was currently short-staffed. Even the 110th Division had suffered around 3000 casualties during its previous campaigns against the Central Hebei Military Region and Northern Henan. The situation in other divisions was even more dire.