Even in the high-level Japanese military intelligence transmitted through the "Dongwen Academy" system, the Japanese military headquarters also ordered Okamura Yasuji in a serious and irrefutable tone to make good use of the reinforcements, "recover the ground, connect the north and the south, and prove the value of the army to the sky."

Therefore, the Japanese army had a real and urgent need to recapture Dezhou and open up the Jinpu Road, whether from a political, economic or military perspective. To this end, the 101st Division prepared a feast for the two Japanese divisions.

The Japanese army's primary objective on this mission was undoubtedly Dezhou. The two southern divisions had never fought against the Eighth Route Army before and were unfamiliar with its strength and combat style. Even if the North China Front Army issued repeated warnings, they would likely have suffered from the misperception that "hearing is deceptive, seeing is believing." Therefore, the 101st Army did not intend to defend Dezhou to the death. It would have been unwise to confront an enemy force just over a hundred kilometers from Quancheng, whose morale was high and eager for a showdown.

After that, the two divisions of Japanese troops, after occupying Dezhou, would certainly want to continue to move north and west to open up the northern section of the Jinpu Road and the Shide Railway.

In order to ensure the smooth operation of the railway and to maintain the hard-earned victory, the Japanese army would certainly

Divide the troops to guard along the railway and disperse the forces on their own.

At that point, the Japanese would no longer be able to maneuver along the railway line, and their forces would no longer be concentrated. They would be like carrying a burden or wearing shackles, making it easier for our army to defeat them one by one at a relatively low cost. Alternatively, our army could employ the traditional "encircle and attack reinforcements" tactic, laying siege to a key Japanese node. While the Japanese were withdrawing troops, we would focus on destroying their reinforcements, ultimately draining the Japanese of their remaining manpower, reducing the two divisions to mere skeletons, and ultimately annihilating them.

Compared to the covert nature of "conspiracies," this tactic leaned more towards "overt schemes." Led by the Central Committee, the 101st Division and Nie Fupian, along with several military sub-districts from the base areas, formed the frontline command for the "Three Attacks on Dezhou." After lengthy planning and repeated research, they ultimately concluded that the Japanese army could not resist such a temptation: by then, the Eighth Route Army in Shandong Province would have added two divisions to its record books.

In fact, the situation was exactly as the 101st and the Central Committee had predicted. The Japanese army played out this scenario almost exactly. In early September 1941, the self-satisfied 22nd and 66th Divisions marched out of Quancheng and crossed the Old Yellow River. At the same time, the Kwantung Army's 14th Division in Tianjin split south and began to attack Tangguantun Station, where our outpost was stationed. At this time, they had already entered our army's surveillance range.

Now, the long area from Quancheng across the Old Yellow River all the way north to Tangguantun south of Tianjin is controlled by our army. In addition, with the interception of wired telegraphs and telephones and the deciphering of wireless telegrams, the movements of the Japanese army are completely transparent to our army.

On their respective offensive lines, the Japanese field artillery opened fire, firing ping-pong rounds at our positions, and then launched an attack; our troops offered token resistance, then evacuated their positions during the night, abandoning their outposts. The next day, the Japanese advanced to take up positions, reporting on the destruction of so many Communist troops as they continued their march forward.

In this way, a regiment of the 14th Division in the north moved all the way south, and after some effort, occupied Qing County, which our army had voluntarily abandoned; while the 22nd and 66th Divisions in the south progressed faster. They attacked and advanced continuously within a week, and after experiencing "unparalleled hard fighting but our army suffered few losses and defeated countless communist troops", they successfully occupied Dezhou.

Then, the 22nd and 66th Divisions began to hold an entry ceremony in Dezhou City, which was deserted, with no roast chickens, no door panels, no valuable property, and even no cats or dogs. They counted the troops, divided the tasks, and prepared to continue advancing northward and westward to open up the Shide Railway and the Jinpu Road.

At this time, the Japanese army had already deployed garrisons in every train station and important town from Quancheng to Dezhou, dispersing its forces.

Very good, very good. Standing in the forward command post near Ningjin, the 101st watched the staff officers gradually advance the small flags representing the Japanese troops, listened to the reports and summaries from the various bases and reconnaissance units, and began to prepare for the next move. Now, the Japanese troops had begun advancing towards their designated ambush sites and battlefields. They were unknowingly marching towards certain death, still dreaming of achieving their campaign objectives and opening up the Jinpu Road and Shide Railway...

But at this moment, the most unexpected situation happened.

"Have the 22nd and 66th Divisions' vanguards halted their advance? Have all the troops at the various strongholds begun to gather? They've stopped going to the countryside and clearing out the enemy forces.

"The 14th Division isn't attacking either? What a joke!"

The encrypted radio waves were decoded into readable binary code by an automatic radio station, and then transferred to a long strip of paper tape using the stored Chinese character library. 101 frowned, clutching the latest telegram, and double-checked it.

Did our army's plan of luring the enemy deep into our territory go awry? Or did our strategic intentions get leaked? Why did the Japanese stop mid-strike?

Countless possibilities flashed through 101's mind. The current situation was like the Japanese in a do-or-die soccer match, breaking through the siege of the center forward, wingers, and defenders, and with only the goalkeeper left, suddenly choosing to kick the ball back into their own half. Could it be that the Japanese had discovered that we had fifty axemen lurking behind the goal, ready to leap from the stands at any moment, with a goal as the signal, to decapitate the attacking forward, or even the entire soccer team?

This is impossible. Could it be that the Japanese don't want to open up the Jinpu Road and Shide Railway? 101 carefully thought about every detail of the entire operation process, but still couldn't find any possible loopholes.

If the Japanese army didn't try to get into our pocket, two fully equipped and high-spirited divisions wouldn't be so easy to take down...

"Chief Lin, new information."

Finally, a message relayed back through the intelligence department seemed to finally dispel the confusing atmosphere. The staff officer tore a roll of paper from the thermal transfer machine and handed it to the battle's frontline commander, Lin Husan, and political commissar Luo Shenzhen.

The telegram was very short, so short that it only contained one sentence:

"Ningji Okamura arrived in Quancheng at 2:16 this afternoon."

Chapter 514: The Showa Version of Saving People and Losing Land

(Update)

If you keep the land but lose the people, both the people and the land will be lost; if you keep the people but lose the land, both the people and the land will be kept.

This was a brilliant summary of the PLA's strategy during the Liberation War, when the Kuomintang reactionary army, with its overwhelming superiority, tore up the peace agreement and launched a massive attack on the base areas. The Chairman gave this insightful summary: Losing the base areas that had been painstakingly built would naturally be a huge loss; but if the PLA had simply gone head-to-head with the Kuomintang army and defended the base areas in order to "fight for every inch of land," the outcome of the battle for the destiny of the Chinese people would have been completely different.

Naturally, Okamura Neiji could not think of this level.

But this commander, who was outstanding in terms of his ability among the Japanese, still grasped a clue: Now, what the North China Front Army lacked most was troops, that is, enough "red paper soldiers" - only with enough troops could the security of the occupied areas be guaranteed; only with enough troops could the smooth flow of transportation lines be guaranteed; and only with enough troops could the last shaky balance against the Communist Army be maintained.

Therefore, now Okamura Yasuji consciously or unconsciously attaches importance to retaining the vitality of the Japanese army.

Secondly, although Ozaki Shotaro, the head of the intelligence department of the North China Front Army, informed our army through normal Japanese military intelligence exchanges that the headquarters had given Okamura Yasuji the order to "open up the Jinpu Road", Okamura, as a subordinate of the Japanese headquarters, was theoretically required to obey this order which had sufficient reasons in terms of strategy, tactics and politics.

Therefore, the 101st Army naturally planned the actions of the Eighth Route Army in Shandong Province in this battle according to this "enemy battle goal" which was almost impossible to make a mistake.

But... even if Okamura didn't open the Jinpu Road, what could you do to him, Imperial Headquarters? Not just a dishonorable discharge, but a demotion and transfer? Or perhaps a reprimand and military execution?

Yes, these actions can be taken, but if Okamura leaves, who will come to fill the hole of the North China Expeditionary Force?

So now the Eighth Route Army in Shandong Province is in an awkward situation, as if they have prepared a large table of dishes and are waiting for customers to come and eat, but the customers turn into an international fast food brand halfway and spend 50 yuan on Crazy Thursday.

This meant that, to the Japanese headquarters, Okamura Yasuji was like a powerful local warlord, or a daimyo or general. Luo Shenzhen finally broke the awkward atmosphere in the headquarters. "The Japanese army relies on him to control North China. Without him, there's really no one else to take over. If he gets upset and collapses on his bed, the headquarters can't hit him or scold him, and they have to coax him."

"This Okamura Yasuji is worthy of being a man who's been to Europe and eaten bread and butter," Chief of Staff Li Tianyou complained. "When it comes to fighting, he's incredibly cunning."

He ate his buttered bread, and we ate our Yimeng pancakes—" 101 glanced at the map, "Send a message to all units, don't wait for the Japs to ambush you, take the initiative and attack, and capture as many as you can!"

"You're not just disobeying orders, idiots! You're committing suicide!"

Previously, the 2nd and 66th Divisions (formerly the 17th Independent Mixed Division) had rejected the request of the 12th Army in Quancheng to detach troops to assist in the defense of Shandong Province, and also rejected Okamura Yasuji's order to "keep the troops in place after retaking Dezhou," on the grounds that "our unit was ordered by the headquarters to support the North China Front Army in retaking the Jinpu Railway Line. Subsequent command should wait until our unit's organization is transferred before being decided." Instead, they attacked the northern line of the Jinpu Railway and the Shide Railway on their own.

In short, these two reinforcements from Central China "went alone".

However, Okamura Neiji was also experienced. He immediately bypassed the 12th Army and sent a strongly worded telegram to the two divisions. Then he boarded a plane and flew directly to Quancheng.

As soon as he got off the plane at Zhangzhuang Airport in the western suburbs, Okamura Neiji went straight to the command center in Quancheng, scolded the two division commanders, Katsumi Ota and Masanori Hasegawa, and then personally took over the command with his staff and arranged the retreat of the two troops.

"If we hadn't moved in time, the Communist army would have surrounded and wiped you out!"

As expected, not long after the Japanese army began to retreat, groups of communist troops suddenly began to appear around villages and roads that had seemed safe.

Apparently, they had been lurking for a long time. They caught up with two divisions of troops and pursued them relentlessly.

They defeated a battalion of the 22nd Division that was responsible for the rear guard, and surrounded and annihilated a squadron of the 66th Division that did not like to use radios and relied on messengers for communication. As a result, the two commanders were caught by Okamura and scolded.

However, because Okamura's micro-management came in time and was crucial, the two divisions had not suffered decisive losses. After retreating all the way back to Dezhou,

The Japanese army's defense depth was greatly shortened, but its defense density also increased rapidly.

Nearly two divisions of troops were already deployed along the railway line from Quancheng to Dezhou. The density of Japanese troops was so high, and their defenses were so fortified, that it became difficult for our troops to easily penetrate the Japanese-occupied area.

--—-——--

"I told you, headquarters wants victory, but there are many kinds of victory! Is victory only achieved by building a railway line as wide as two horses' buttocks?" "Hey! Commander! I was being reckless!"

The two division commanders' previous high morale had long since vanished, and now, like the trainees, they could only bow their heads and endure the lecture. This was not only because the person standing before them was the highest commander of the North China Front Army, a senior veteran of the Japanese Army.

Just now, the commander of the North China Front had brought news: Because of similar "independent" actions as the 22nd and 66th Divisions, arbitrarily expanding their offensive range while advancing south from Tianjin, a battalion of the Kwantung Army's 14th Division had been surrounded and annihilated by the Communist Army north of Qingxian County. Commander Okamura had telegraphed the 14th Division's commander, His Excellency Kita Seiichi, for his rash advance, and had sent him back to Kwantung Army headquarters to serve as an adjunct.

Not to mention that the 22nd and 6th Divisions have been assigned to support the North China Front Army, but even Division Commander Kita Seiichi, who also has close ties with the North China Army, has been treated in this way. If he hadn't been a supporter of the opposing forces, he would probably have been thrown into the reserves!

What's more important is that the headquarters still allows Lord Okamura to do this!

Division Commanders Ota and Hasegawa were deeply shocked. In all their years in the army, they had never seen such decisive action backed by such a "power".

"Reckless? Your recklessness has already caused the loss of over a thousand troops and the loss of two battalion artillery pieces." Okamura did not burst into rage, but continued in a cold and flat voice, "You in Central China may not know that these two guns will be turned to point at our frontline troops within three days.

"Oh no, the Communist army in Lu Province no longer treats the 92mm rifles like treasures. They will hand them over to the guerrilla forces below them, and eventually send the Imperial-produced shells back to us intact—for example, to the heads of the supply troops."

"I'm truly sorry, Commander!" Ota Katsumi, commander of the 22nd Division, who had lost a large artillery unit, lowered his head deeply into a right-angled bow. After a long pause, he dared to slowly raise it. "Excuse me, Commander Okamura, how should our army conduct its operations from now on?"

"The war situation in North China is completely different from that in Central and South China. You must abandon old ideas and learn new tactics." "Hi, Commander, please give me some advice."

Okamura Yasuji glanced at Arimi Seizo, who was directing the two divisional staff officers to rearrange their headquarters, then turned his head to the map of North China on the wall. He turned his back, arms folded behind his back. "I'll have Colonel Tokunaga Kanosuke, a senior staff officer, stay here to coordinate the details of the operation," he said. "My suggestion:

First of all, when you two divisions attack again, you must use two battalions.

Mutual assistance; or a single brigade can be deployed under the cover of field artillery units - this is the premise."

"Understood." However, if the two battalions and the field artillery unit can only operate under mutual protection, our army's movements will be less flexible, and the area we can control will be greatly reduced. "Hasegawa Masanori found a way out for himself," he said. "But this way, the troops will no longer be easily attacked."

Okamura Neiji glanced at the division commander who was still talking about "control range" and said nothing. After all, they had previously fought in the Demon City, and their experience fighting the Communist Army was not as good as the 22nd Division in Qiantang, Zhejiang Province. He continued to ask Ota Katsumi:

"Mr. Ota, I'd like to ask you something. Is there any record of your 2nd Battalion, 85th Infantry Regiment, being attacked by field artillery during the enemy attack?" "Commander Okamura, yes, it was the sudden field artillery attack that disrupted our formation and enabled the Communists' surprise attack to succeed."

"Then the main force of the three divisions of Lin Hu in Lu Province is near us."

Okamura pointed to an area marked on the map where the 85th Infantry Regiment had been attacked: "They must still be nearby."

They are watching our army."

"So..…"

"The Communist army came and went in North China like the wind, moving freely and swiftly, and it was not easy to catch them."

Okamura said, "Even if we did capture them, our army would often let them escape due to lack of manpower, or even be surrounded by them. The Communist army could often exploit their manpower to gain a local advantage on the battlefield. The Imperial Army had strength but was unable to use it, so it was forced to retreat with resentment."

"So I often wonder why this is happening." The bald commander of the Japanese army in North China turned around and glanced at the faces of the people in front of him.

"First, all Chinese are, in most cases, communists, or potential communists. Their reluctance to cooperate with the Imperial Army, or their pretending to cooperate while secretly tipping off the Communists, is a deeply despicable act.

"Secondly, the Communists are often able to easily determine the Imperial Army's intentions, finding things like cities and transportation routes to force the Imperial Army to move. We, however, are like Zhuge Liang's army in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, waiting for the Imperial Army to arrive." Therefore, we might as well start solving these two problems now. Our army does not need to rush to open the Jinpu Road and Shide Road now - this is exactly what the Communists are looking for.

Okamura Neiji's eyes grew grim. "Let's start from the border of Dezhou. We have enough troops here. We might as well force the Communists to come here, where we can wait for them to tire themselves out." "For example, we could find a village first."

Chapter 515: The Logic of War Criminals

In a battle, apart from the actual fighting, the struggle for the initiative in the "temple planning" phase will often have a significant impact on the progress of the battle.

By this point in the third assault on Dezhou, the first round of engagements had concluded. The 101st had come up empty-handed, while the Japanese promptly cut their losses, resulting in a combined northern and southern front, though they had lost over 2,000 men. As the defenses of Dezhou and along the Quancheng-Dezhou railway strengthened to the point where the Eighth Route Army could no longer easily penetrate, the battle entered a period of stalemate. Both the 101st and Okamura Yasuji attempted to seize the initiative through a series of actions.

The 101st and the Central Committee's assessment of the war situation were consistent: the Japanese army could not just abandon the Shide Railway and the Jinpu Road, and would definitely find a way to attack;

Once an attack is needed, the troops will inevitably be dispersed, the battle line will be stretched, and there will be gaps.

隙。

In the short term, due to the limitations of the Japanese army's southward strategy, the Kwantung Army, the China Expeditionary Army, and even the mainland could not send any large-scale mobile forces to

The current four divisions are almost all the reinforcements that Okamura can get:

Then, our army can naturally use the enemy's known battle objectives to fully mobilize the enemy and seek opportunities to annihilate them in an organized manner.

The situation was even clearer for General Okamura Yasuji.

Although his unexpected move had caused the 101st's first shot to miss, even if the headquarters could not hold him responsible for not opening the Jinpu Road, he had to act to avoid completely losing the initiative on the battlefield. If he continued to defend... Okamura knew that delaying would be extremely disadvantageous to himself and the North China Army.

The Communist army, previously armed with only millet and rifles, has become a uniformly armed field army, fully equipped with mountain and field artillery. Guerrilla units, previously unable to produce even a third of their rifles, now have indirect fire artillery and machine guns. With the Jinpu Railway now severed, the Eighth Route Army in Shandong Province will be able to communicate directly with the Communist forces in Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Suiyuan. Perhaps within a month, they too will have heavy howitzers and explosive bombers!

After much deliberation, he finally came up with a solution. Soon, the spirit of this order was conveyed along with his "personal visit to the front line".

1941年9月的某天,在22和66师团(前独混17)缩回德州两个礼拜之后,终于有一支日军开出了城市。他们没有带着日军下乡常见的加强小队和必备的大正步兵炮,反而是将师团所属的75野炮拽了出来。

They left Dezhou City and headed north to the last railway station that the Japanese could control.

"What? Suzhuang Village in Jing County was bombarded? What are the casualties? What about the Japanese army's follow-up attacks?"

Chief of Staff Li Tianyou took off his headphones and looked seriously at the roll of telegrams handed to him by the staff officer. "Why did these little Japanese go to Jingxian? 75mm field guns? Why is there so much noise?"

The bombardment killed approximately five people, injured 12, destroyed several houses, and killed livestock. The Japanese army did not launch a follow-up attack, simply firing artillery across the South Canal—and then practically fled. The Jingxian guerrilla column, enraged, attempted to cross the river in pursuit, but was repelled and pursued by the Japanese guards, resulting in heavy casualties.

The staff officer's statement plunged the front command into silence. What was this little devil doing? "Report to the commander! Situation report of the Jidong Military Sub-district!"

Another staff officer reported, "This morning, the 14th Division of the Kwantung Army stationed in Tianjin escorted a large-caliber heavy artillery piece from the Kwantung Army's Peking Special Heavy Artillery Regiment along the railway to Guzhi, northeast of Tangshan. The artillery positions previously established by the Japanese army three kilometers north of Guzhi have been placed under martial law, prohibiting all Chinese from approaching."

It is judged that the Japanese army is likely to deploy this large-caliber, super-heavy artillery here, repeating the bombardment of the masses in Liujiadian Village west of Miyun a few days ago. They are indiscriminately bombarding our base villages with artillery, spreading terror and luring our army into a decisive battle with them!"

Oh shit!

Everyone present cursed.

Just a few days ago, the Japanese army used their 305mm heavy artillery, known as the "Special 24cm Howitzer", to fire at the artillery positions west of Miyun Station, which were about ten kilometers away.

Liujiadian Village, across several mountains, suddenly opened fire. Because the guerrillas were not able to disperse in time,

Before they could figure out what the Japanese had been doing by tamping the earth in the wild, and considering that Liujiadian Village was holding a market where villagers from all over the place were exchanging what they had, a 305mm shell landed on the edge of the crowd without warning, killing nearly forty people instantly and injuring over a hundred.

The people present immediately screamed and fled in all directions. Although the Miyun guerrillas of the Jidong Military Sub-district immediately evacuated, a few minutes later, the second and third shells still landed in Liujiadian Village. Although the artillery fire was poorly aimed and only razed a few houses to the ground, it also killed and injured several more people in the panicked crowd, and many were injured by falls and trampled during the escape.

Afterwards, although a district squadron operating near Miyun wanted to sneak into Miyun under the cover of night to destroy the harmful artillery, they were discovered by the Japanese army when crossing the cordon, and were immediately besieged and suffered heavy losses. By the time the main local force of the Jidong base rushed over, the artillery had already been dealt with, and the people and the artillery had fled back to the city along the railway.

This group of Japanese devils actually started to play tricks on the Eighth Route Army.

"Can our army now gather forces without being discovered and calmly attack a village or town within a 'control overlap zone'? No. The Communist Army has spies everywhere.

They will definitely be able to discover us in advance and prepare in advance.

"So can our army gather its forces and march in full force, leaving the Communists with no chance to exploit? No, because the Communists will know they are outmatched and will fortify their positions and evacuate their forces in advance. Even if our army reaches its destination, it can only sweep through a few buildings, which is meaningless."

"And even if this were possible, massing a large army would be inefficient and costly. Our army would need at least seven or ten days to sweep through a village or town, wouldn't it? North China is vast, and how many villages and towns are there, and how many people are there? And how many villages and towns could our army cover without leaving the railway for more than 20 kilometers?

"If we fight like this, our army will be completely passive and will be led around by the Communist army."

Facing Lieutenant General Morioka Takashi across the table, Okamura Yasuji smiled as he explained his tactics. He hadn't smiled in a long time. Ever since the disastrous defeat in Suiyuan, when the troops stationed in Mongolia were nearly annihilated, the old bald man had been terribly gloomy. His occasional moods were always a mixture of anger, seriousness, and fear. He had never been as relaxed as he was today.

"I believe that Commander Kita will eventually understand my painstaking efforts, Morioka-kun." "Hi, Lord Okamura."

Lieutenant General Morioka Takashi nodded in agreement. He was currently the head of the North China Liaison Department of the Asia Development Board. His predecessor was Kita Seiichi, who had been kicked back to the eastern part of the Kwantung Army by Okamura. Today's reception was to serve as an "explanation and reassurance," a moment for General Okamura to explain the situation to himself and the people behind him. He had to not only act as a sounding board, but also understand ventriloquism and ask the right questions.

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