Canteen System Assistance Notes

The Japanese troops north of Dongguan City bravely pressed their helmets and peered out from their bunkers. The fighting north of Dongguan City wasn't particularly intense; the Communists' flanking attacks weren't numerous, but their mountain artillery fire was still substantial, overwhelming the troops stationed at the Electric Light Company. However, compared to their counterparts south, battling the "evil spirit hell," this area was considered quite "safe."

"What is that?" someone asked.

Those with better eyesight spotted two large aircraft high in the sky, surrounded by fighter jets like black dots. However, no aircraft began to descend for bombing runs or dive for attacks. "Could it be a Communist reconnaissance plane? Or maybe it's one of ours?"

After all, if an airplane wants to threaten individual targets on the ground, it has to lower its altitude to carry out a critical strike, right? they thought.

But soon, a whistling sound came from the sky, and a black speck of light, leaving a trail behind, plunged into the main building of the electric light factory, which was almost as high as the city wall, leaving only a small cloud of smoke. "What?"

Before this thought could even wrap its head around, a massive, earth-shattering explosion erupted, carrying dark blue concrete, steel bars, human bodies, and debris, blasting out from every window and doorway of the light plant. The violent shockwave struck everyone's chest like a sledgehammer, causing the previously tranquil earth to tremble like a cicada's wing, sweeping up a soft, floating cloud of dust like sedge.

The tall main building of the electric light factory slowly collapsed.

“Wow wow wow… cough cough cough…”

The Japanese soldiers who had climbed out of the hiding caves in the city wall were thrown back, and the Communist army destroyed the light factory with a bomb! Such shocking news made their brains completely shut down - because of the Japanese army's strict letter censorship mechanism, the Japanese grassroots soldiers did not even know at this moment that Tokyo had suffered a heavy bombing raid by the Communist army a few months ago. The magnificent scene brought about by the 2-ton bomb directly overloaded their brains, making them stammer and unable to utter a word.

"Bomber! Heavy Bomber!"

Someone was shouting incoherently, but he didn't notice that another guided bomb of the same specifications, with a trail of a different color, aimed itself at the city gate tower in the northern section of Dongguan and slammed down.

After a short delay, all the Japanese soldiers on the city wall felt as if they were rushing into space.

Chapter 610 The battle has entered the third stage

Because of the prolonged duration and scale of this campaign, the Eighth Route Army's air force could no longer rely on accurate intelligence to launch a full-deck, long-distance raid that destroyed a relatively small number of high-value targets. Furthermore, the air force's initial size was relatively small, with much of its forces already deployed to Shandong Province. Consequently, in this Shanxi campaign, the air force essentially played a supporting role.

Even their contribution to air supremacy is not as great as that of the "artificial rain teams" in several bases.

However, the four 2-ton radio-guided bombs carried by the two Halifax planes finally gave the Army's air force a little shock.

With this "my goodness" feeling, the Eighth Route Army's Southern Front Group seized the opportunity and struck while the iron was hot. After two days and one night of street fighting, they finally planted red flags all over Pingyang City. At the last moment, the Japanese 41st Division Command, unable to break out from any direction, "calmly" burned the documents and the military flag, then all members took up their guns and launched a "Banzai Charge."

The division commander, Lieutenant General Shimizu Noriki, was particularly resolute. He personally charged the "Valentine" tanks entering the city, carrying a blasting tube, intending to take the tank with him and die together. However, the soldiers accompanying the tanks quickly shot this "noisy Japanese soldier" into a sieve. The crew, who were reloading the coaxial machine guns, simply added a 40mm high-explosive round, further reducing the sieve to fragments.

Finally, because there was no evidence to confirm the outcome of the battle, our army could only temporarily declare Admiral Shimizu "missing".

The Pingyang Campaign was basically declared over. Under the command of Liu Mingzhao, the entire battle, although full of classic Soviet-style violence, also had a kind of Chinese meticulousness. The "precise squandering of violence" was fully reflected in Liu Mingzhao in this time and space, which made the Eighth Route Army full of confidence and the enemy terrified.

This fear was particularly evident in the minds of Lieutenant General Yoshio Shinozuka, the commander of the First Army, and Major General Nishi Daijo, the chief of staff: "The fall of Pingyang, the fortress of impenetrable resistance, solemnly declared to them one thing: in the face of the incomparably evil, terrifying and violent "violent Chinese Communist Army" on the southern front, it seemed that there was nothing left.

After the 41st Division sent the telegram of suicide, the Japanese 65th Division (formerly the 16th Independent Mixed Division), which had only one regiment left, cleverly left a battalion to cover the rear and turned north. At that time, the Eighth Route Army was busy encircling and annihilating the remnants of the 41st Division and had no time to pull out a main force to encircle the 65th Division. Therefore, during this back and forth, the 65th Division headquarters and the last regiment were able to maintain contact with the local troops and retreated to Shuque Valley in a relatively neat manner.

The 36th Division, originally scheduled to break through the pass and rush out of Hengling Pass to join the friendly forces, made an even more decisive decision. After receiving a small number of remnants of the 41st Division that had crossed the mountain, they began to gather troops from Hengling Pass and Jincheng. They even ignored the 35th Division that was trapped in the Changzhi area and quickly turned east, evacuating the Zhongtiao Mountains.

At this point, there was no force capable of resisting the Eighth Route Army on the southern front. As long as they crawled through the Shuque Valley along the railway's land base, the Communist Army would enter the First Army's last residence: the Jinzhong Basin, and launch a final attack on Jinyang City.

But at this moment, in the entire Jinzhong Basin, apart from the First Army Command's direct guard battalion, only the 58th Division (formerly the 9th Independent Mixed Division) was able to move.

This force not only has to take on the task of defending Jinyang City, but also has to rescue and

We have to deal with friendly forces in the north and south, and help to open up the Zhengtai Line. We are unable to cope with it and are unable to do anything else.

What to do? What to do? What to do?

Is the First Army really going to admit defeat and change its campaign objective to "strive to retain as many troops as possible and safely evacuate outside of Shanxi Province"?

After receiving the retreat and battle plan submitted by First Army Commander Yoshio Shinozuka, Okamura Yasuji, who had always advocated for preserving the Japanese army's manpower, unexpectedly rejected it. "No! We must firmly believe in victory and fight to the bitter end, even with all our might."

What gave Okamura Yasuji confidence was the current situation of the entire Shanxi Province campaign.

Although the situation on the southern front had collapsed, the Communist Army was still over 260 kilometers away from Jinyang City. Half of this distance was through the narrow "Shuque Valley" at the junction of the Jinnan Valley and the Jinzhong Basin.

But the Communist Army was still human, after all. Even though they possessed mecha units and an air force, their primary force was still infantry, relying on their legs to march, and it was impossible for them to violate the laws of physics. Even if the Communist Army wanted to replicate the forced marches they had experienced during the anti-terrorism campaign, they would not be able to threaten the fortified city of Jinyang.

Okamura Yasuji and Iimura Joi calculated that if they sacrificed the 65th Division and the filler civilian laborers from the Peninsula, ordered it to use up its remaining strength, deployed its last two battalions along Huozhou and Lingshi, disrupted transportation and cut off the railway along the way, they would be able to hold off the Communist Army in Shuque Valley for at least six days. Once the Communist Army entered the Jinzhong Basin, it would take at least several more days to restore transportation, reorganize the troops, and transport heavy weapons before they could achieve a breakthrough on Jinyang City.

In other words, it would take at least 10 days for the Communist army to advance from the southern front.

More importantly, in northern Shanxi Province, the 67th Division (formerly the 18th Independent Mixed Division) actually stopped the Communist Army's terrifying mecha unit!

This incident was almost beyond Okamura's expectations. After further understanding of the situation, he learned that the commander of the 67th Division, Tsutsumi Fuyoshitsu (surname Tsutsumi), who had been retained in office, had ordered the troops to rely on Xinkou for defense and built three mutually protective defense lines. With the 2nd Regiment as the main defense and the 1st Regiment in reserve, they carried out a difficult but effective defense.

This practical general who rose from the grassroots level was truly capable. Not only did he order his troops to harass the Communists, forcing them to deploy into attack formation early, he also dared to deploy his valuable search wing at night to launch a night raid on the Communists.

Although the troops were short of a battalion, after a few days, he had actually blocked the Communist Army firmly at the front line, making it difficult for them to advance.

However, this did not mean that the 67th Division was in good shape. After the setback, the Communist Army's attacks, although not very active, still hit the Japanese positions in Xinkou. Over the next few days, the three regiments of the 67th Division (minus the first regiment) suffered increasing losses and had to be repeatedly rotated and reduced in size to maintain command.

The division commander, Di Bujiagui, also reported: The Communist army had wiped out his battalion that did not escape back, as well as the remnants of the 52nd Division (formerly the 3rd Independent Mixed Division) at Fanzhi Pass the day before yesterday. When the Communist army fighting there moves south, they will probably launch another attack.

Although the Communist army has struggled to launch attacks recently, they have been bombarded with artillery fire day and night. Our positions have collapsed, our weapons have been lost, and our units are seriously short of personnel. The 67th Division's telegram was remarkably restrained: "Though the officers and men of each unit have a deep heart and a lifelong ambition to serve their country, if this continues, we may have reached our limit! Whether to fight or stay, I request the headquarters' instructions."

"Telegram to the First Army: The 67th Division cannot retreat for the time being."

As a front-level campaign action plan, Okamura Yasuji had the right to "micro-manage" and adjust it to realize his own strategic vision.

Frankly, he was quite dissatisfied with Shinozuka Yoshio's somewhat desperate mentality. After losing the southern barrier, the battle report he submitted was to abandon the desperate 67th Division, and then the First Army Command led the 58th Division (formerly the 9th Independent Mixed Division) to strike eastward, join the reinforcements on both sides, break through the Shotai Line, and escape.

If the breakout failed, they would retreat into Jinyang City, encircling the Japanese and the troops for a final stand, killing as many Communist troops as possible, and then await rescue or a "death as brilliant as cherry blossoms." The text is filled with decadence and passivity.

But even in an unfavorable situation, there are always some things that can be done. In the eyes of a gambler, desperate situations sometimes even contain the hope of a comeback.

Okamura Yasuji had always believed this: even if the First Army's plan to pack up and flee succeeded, how many troops would escape the encirclement? Could they possibly have one or two divisions? In the end, they probably wouldn't even be able to fill a brigade. In that case, what was the point of preserving his manpower? Hadn't he previously "let it go" and demanded that the First Army leave Shanxi Province entirely just to preserve those divisions and regiments? Without them, what was the point of keeping the First Army?

So, the Imperial Army had nothing to lose anyway. Why not make a move that broke the mold and went beyond common sense? That way, they could survive a desperate situation, or even achieve a stunning comeback!

With the fire burning in his heart, Okamura Yasuji called his staff together and explained some of his opinions and views. The staff then formulated their views into a feasible plan and formed a "Combat Order No. XXXX" - Now, the 28th Division that landed on Jieshi Island had finally dealt with the problems of missing railways, attacks on stations, and mines on the tracks along the way, and arrived at Shimen Railway Station basically intact with its regular and reinforced armed forces.

And in the next step, he will be able to obtain additional reinforcements.

Furthermore, the 58th Division defending Jinyang should be transferred north to reinforce it, cooperating with the 67th Division to strengthen the defenses and resist the Communists at Xinkou. Okamura and his staff emphasized, "Tell Shinozuka-kun not to worry about the defenses of Jinyang! They're all fortified, and even if we send overseas Chinese there, they'll have no problem holding off the Communists in a short period of time. Especially since they've been training for a week, they should have no problem holding off the Communists in a short period of time."

He ignored the slight struggle in the staff officer's eyes and continued:

"After receiving reinforcements from the 28th Division, the 110th Division immediately deployed its forces to coordinate with the 28th Division's westward attack along the Shotai Line. They told Hanuma-kun (110th Division Commander) and Ishiguro Masaki (28th Division Commander) that the attack would not be easy and that they must exert their utmost efforts.

"Finally," he set his sights on Xinxiang. As if with disgust, Okamura Neiji avoided looking at Changzhi, which was not far away on the map. "Tell the retreating 36th Division to cancel their rest and board the train immediately! Prepare to participate in the attack!" The battle entered its final phase.

Chapter 611 The Second Battle of Xinkou

Okamura Neiji's idea can be summed up simply:

没有麾下7个师团约摸15万人兵力的第一军，又有什么其他的意义?跑出1个师团多点儿部队(36师团+58师团一部)）并丢掉晋省，和丢光了第一军全部兵力再丢掉晋省又有什么区别呢?

Moreover, even if he could retreat, he would have to retreat in an orderly manner in front of the enemy... Okamura did not intend to challenge something that would give all famous generals a headache.

According to the best plan, during the final 7-10 days before the Communist troops on the southern front crossed the Shuque Valley and arrived at the gates of Jinyang City, he should be able to utilize the "tear down the east wall to repair the west wall" method, withdrawing the 58th Division (formerly the 9th Independent Mixed Division) from Jinyang City's defense force to reinforce Xinkou, and together with the 67th Division (formerly the 18th Independent Mixed Division) to hold back the Communist army, use the military police, garrisons, and a large number of Japanese expatriates to fill the Jinyang City fortifications, and then use the 36th Division + 28th Division + part of the 110th Division as a reinforcement card to penetrate the Zhengtai Line with an absolute advantage in manpower, and then engage the northward-moving Communist troops in a decisive battle at the gates of Jinyang City.

Okamura is no longer confident that "the Imperial Army will win this battle", but this may be the only option with a chance of victory.

After that, if they can be successfully killed and repelled, the Communist Army should choose to retreat to the easily defensible Shuque Valley - in this way, the Imperial Army can at least hold the Jinzhong Basin for a short time. Even if it wants to retreat, it will have enough time to complete the deployment, embezzle supplies, destroy equipment, etc.

As for further ahead... Sorry, why think so far ahead?

However, even such a slim and even somewhat humble hope is, to a certain extent, illusory and untouchable.

From Front Commander Okamura Yasuji to Chief of Staff Ando Nijuzo, and down to the First Army, no one had ever carefully considered, or perhaps they had subconsciously overlooked, why the "Communist Army Mecha Unit," which had once soared hundreds of miles in a single day and breached two division-level units, could be stopped by a mere Xinkou and the 67th Division?

Soon after the Pingyang Campaign came to an end, the Eighth Route Army began a new action.

The Eighth Route Army on the southern front quickly adjusted its forward and backward deployments. Units that had sustained heavy losses in the offensive began to rest and recuperate, while the reserve forces, which had suffered less damage, began to overtake the front lines and attack the remnants of the 65th Division (formerly the 16th Independent Mixed Group) defending Shuque Valley. Under Okamura's new orders, the 65th Division was forced to leave behind the remnants of its last two battalions to delay the Eighth Route Army's advance while the divisional headquarters retreated northward.

The guerrillas in the Shuque Valley region performed effectively. While they were unable to capture Lingshi and Huozhou, which were held by battalion-level Japanese troops, they effectively disrupted the Japanese's efforts to destroy the roads along the route. With only two battalions, the Japanese were forced to operate in small groups, covering the engineers' explosives and blasting operations, and were often attacked and surrounded. Ultimately, the Japanese were only able to destroy the railway stations in the two county towns and the nearby railway and highway.

And the northern line.......

The Communist troops on the northern front finally launched a real attack.

Commander Yang Jisheng of the Northern Front Group was undoubtedly a master of acting. Perhaps this unit, with its strong Anti-Japanese United Army heritage, was exceptionally adept at disguising its intentions. Previously, this ability to conceal their tactical and operational intentions had aided them in their repeated engagements with Japanese and puppet troops in the forests. Now, this exquisite acting skill successfully concealed the entire Northern Front Group's campaign progress.

In the previous week's attack, Yang Jisheng actually didn't use his full strength at all.

All the artillery preparations, formation deployments, and climbing attacks were all feints, the purpose of which was to cooperate with the offensive of the southern cluster - after all, the combined news of the fall of Pingyang and the breakthrough at Xinkou would quickly break through the Japanese army's last bit of luck, causing the entire First Army to completely lose hope and start a reckless escape mode.

If the Japanese army really did this, combined with the reinforcements from the Shimen front, they might be able to escape with a large number of troops. Therefore, after discussion, the Front Committee unanimously decided that they must find a way to make the Japanese army feel that they could still win.

This was not an easy task. The troops had to attack reasonably and "retreat" reasonably. Under the coordination of General Peng, Yang Jisheng and Nie Yunzhen began to transform into the "God of Gamblers" and "King of Gamblers" and jointly adjusted the situation in the "gambling game" on the battlefield of Shanxi Province.

For a time, the unstoppable Eighth Route Army disappeared and turned into a fire monkey that could only shout "artillery support". Once it was found that the artillery bombardment was not effective,

The remaining firepower of the Japanese army was strong, and they would be beaten to a pulp and flee in panic.

Abandon the attack without any armor.

The Japanese soldiers of the 67th Division contemptuously called these people "Comintern's young masters' soldiers", mocking them for being completely incompetent without artillery, and also bringing bad tempers to the Communist army. However, the artillery of these young masters' soldiers was really fierce!

They fought during the day, at night, during breaks, even while eating and fishing. 7.5mm mountain guns were enough, but 12mm and 15mm heavy howitzers kept coming like "half a knife of charcoal" (a free gift). After a few days, the frontline positions in Xinkou were almost completely shaved off, and the trenches and anti-artillery holes involved were filled with loose soil. Once they were unlucky and left the protection of the pits and reverse slopes,

Small groups of people would be bombarded with artillery fire, and many new recruits even crawled

He was hiding from the artillery fire and suffered internal bleeding, and died painfully in the dressing room.

The few times the artillery counterattacked, it was ended by long-range Communist artillery suppression. Communist observation planes were always hovering over the positions, and if they saw any signs of artillery fire, they would call in artillery fire within 10 minutes. After several such incidents, the division's mountain artillery regiment suffered heavy losses and almost dared not open fire.

No wonder the cavalry group was defeated like this before, they were blown to death by artillery!

Many veterans secretly congratulated themselves on the Communist infantry's weakness and the fact that most of their tank units had been reassigned to the south, allowing them to hold out until now. Meanwhile, many new recruits shuddered in fear, then gradually became numb, unable to utter a single word: the troops could hold out, but if they continued, they would likely be killed by artillery fire!

But finally, the situation seemed to be improving.

The Communist offensive began to weaken, as if the artillery shells they were transporting by train were running out. The 1st Army finally sent new reinforcements to replace them! The Japanese soldiers of the 67th Division finally got a break.

He was angry. He heard from his superiors that as long as he could hold on for another day, he could be transferred to Jinyang City for rest.

Bathed in the continuous sound of artillery fire, the old Japanese soldiers hiding in the hiding cave began to smoke, and the new recruits shamelessly lit the cigarettes for the old soldiers, and then coughed and took a few puffs themselves - the road behind the position was the key target of the Communist Army's artillery blockade,

The division's supply troops were no longer able to operate during the day, and could only form manpower transport teams at night, dodging artillery fire to deliver supplies to the officers and soldiers on the front lines. Therefore, cigarettes on the battlefield had become a very precious luxury.

But why did the artillery fire last so long today? Did the Communists bring in new shells? Firing so early in the morning, they're not letting anyone sleep...

It had been nearly an hour, and the artillery fire showed no sign of stopping. The smiles on the faces of several veterans gradually faded. Someone shooed the new recruits out of the dugout, brushed away the loose dust from the ground, and then put his ear close to the ground to carefully analyze it.

"Oh no! Oh no! It's a tank!"

Into the ears that were buzzing with artillery fire came the distinctive sound of steel friction from tank tracks, creaking, as if crushing everyone's heart.

The main force of the Communist Army's tanks is not here, but the opposing mechanized corps still has tanks. In the past few days, although the number of times is not large, every time the Communist Army's tanks are deployed, the Japanese army always has to pay a heavy price before they can defeat them.

repel

There are two wreckages of Russian tanks parked in front of the position. In that attack, at least 70 Imperial Army soldiers became military gods in order to destroy these two steel demons.

"What are you still standing there for? Go and bundle up the explosive tubes! Do you still expect those guns to help you take down the tanks?"

The old soldier cursed. At normal combat distance, 20mm anti-tank guns, 37mm anti-tank guns and even a small number of captured "individual non-reactionary guns" could hardly threaten the Communist tanks covered with "yokan blocks", not to mention these

The thing has been completely destroyed by the Communist army's artillery fire, and only one in ten remains.

Now, under the cover of smoke and fire, the use of three explosive tubes tied together as explosive bombs could effectively destroy the Communist tanks. Several recruits began to cry, and while crying, they took out strips of cloth and tape to tie the explosive tubes together and placed them on the side of the hiding cave ready for use.

But at this moment, a figure fell down at the entrance of the pit. Oh my god! There are still cannons outside!

When several veteran soldiers saw that it was one of their own, they pulled and tugged at him, and hurriedly dragged him into the hiding cave: this was a messenger from the brigade headquarters. At this time, there were several bleeding holes on his body, his face was covered with plaster, and he was coughing and choking on bloody saliva.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry..." he said incoherently.

Several new recruits rushed over with canteens and fed the messenger some water. Accompanied by a more severe cough, the messenger, as if using up his last bit of strength, muttered, "Tank... Tank... South... Rear, quickly go support..."

We knew the tanks were coming! Everyone was extremely anxious, but the unfortunate messenger seemed unable to speak any more. Several veterans tried to use bandages to stop the bleeding. Soon, the messenger fell into a coma, and even the pulse in his neck could not be felt.

"Alas..." someone sighed. Now is not the time to be sentimental. "Get ready for battle..."

On the morning of March 22, 1942, four days after the Pingyang offensive, the 1st Column of the Northwest Field Army of the Eighth Route Army, stationed on the northern front, officially launched a dramatic offensive. This corps-level unit, expanded from the 1st Training Division of the Eighth Route Army, reinforced with 16 Valentine tanks, penetrated three lines of defense and successfully broke through the Japanese positions at Xinkou.

At the same time, the BT tanks in the original organization of the 1st Column were assembled and coordinated with the motorized infantry within the organization to detour 35 kilometers from the river valley basin area west of Xinkou. Within 8 hours, they quickly crossed several guarded villages and towns garrisoned by the Japanese army, attacked and advanced, opened a detour for the entire army, and appeared to the west of Xinzhou as the sun rose.

Immediately afterwards, the 3rd Division of the 1st Column, nicknamed the 3rd Brigade of the Storm, led the Eighth Route Army from the Northwest and Shanxi-Suiyuan regions, fiercely wedged into the rear of the Japanese 67th Division and cut the reinforcements of the Japanese 58th Division in two!

Chapter 612: The Siege of Changzhi

Changzhi is located in the Changzhi Basin in southeastern Shanxi, north of Jincheng and east of Pingyang.

The grain production here is not as high as that in the Fen River Valley, but it is also a relatively flat area in the Taihang Mountains. Relying on the cultivation of millet, it is also one of the key grain producing areas in Shanxi Province; plus it is located in the core of the Taihang base, so the Japanese army has always coveted it.

Therefore, during the February Incident of 1940, Staff Officer Masaru Hanatani, brought by Mr. Seishirō Itagaki, acted alone. Taking advantage of the opportunity when our army was fighting fiercely with the old Jin army, he broke through Jincheng in one fell swoop, drove away the Sichuan army of more than a thousand people, and captured Changzhi.

Because the situation in Shanxi Province was already tense, mobilizing the main force to encircle and annihilate the 35th Division would inevitably trigger the 36th and 41st Divisions, and even the Jincheng garrison, to rush into the Taihang base area for reinforcements, triggering an all-out war in Shanxi Province. Furthermore, the Eighth Route Army's strength two years ago was not as strong as it is today. Therefore, after careful consideration, Liu Mingzhao tailored a "deal plan" for the enemy in Changzhi: a "siege war" based on encirclement and guerrilla warfare.

Then, the siege of Changzhi, which lasted for several years and reached its climax in March 1942, finally began.

After marching alone in February 1941, due to the poor training and armament level of the Sichuan Army, although brave, the Sichuan Army Corps of more than a thousand people was defeated by the 35th Division and was forced to retreat, thus leaving the basically intact Changzhi fortifications to the Japanese army, allowing the Japanese army to gain a foothold in Changzhi.