Chapter 219 Who gave the Japanese the courage? After the battle plan proposed by Ding Wei was approved by Qin Yangming and Li Yunlong, the troops of the three regiments immediately took action. Prepare to launch a feint attack on the Japanese to relieve the pressure on Kong Jie. But plans can never keep up with changes. The three regiments had just made preparations to attack the Japanese, but the Japanese from the Fourth Brigade, under the order of Pinglu Yongfu, took the lead in launching an attack on the Vanguard Regiment and the Independent Regiment. …… Baihuling, headquarters of the 386th Brigade. "This is so strange, what kind of fighting method are these little devils using?" After receiving telegrams from various parties, the brigade commander combined them with telegrams from various regions and looked at the map. For a moment, he could not figure out what the Japanese were trying to do. "Brigade Commander, what's wrong? Are the Japanese doing anything weird again?"
The political commissar who came in looked at the brigade commander's telegrams one by one, while constantly walking back and forth between the sand table and the map, and walked forward curiously to ask. Seeing the political commissar coming, the brigade commander directly handed several telegrams in his hand to the political commissar. "Political Commissar, come and take a look. This is the telegram from the 3rd Regiment of the 1st Column, and this is the telegram from the 771st Regiment. And here is the telegram from the Independent Regiment, the Vanguard Regiment." "The Third Regiment and the 771st Regiment reported that the Ninth and Eleventh Brigades of the Japanese first launched a very fierce attack on their blocking positions. Especially on the Third Regiment's side, the Japanese used a large number of heavy weapons to attack their blocking positions. There was even aircraft support. But for some reason, the Japanese 9th and 11th Brigades slowed down their attack speed at the same time, and their attack intensity was not as urgent as at the beginning. It seems that there is no rush to rescue the 4th Brigade. In addition, something happened with the 4th Brigade. We still haven't figured out why the Japanese Fourth Brigade sent elite troops to attack Kong Jie's New Second Regiment. Now the 4th Brigade launched an attack on the positions of the Vanguard Regiment and the Independent Regiment. And the attack intensity is not low, the artillery is all in motion. Now the Pioneer Regiment and the Independent Regiment have sent messages asking the brigade to investigate and find out what the Japanese are doing. How come he is just like a fool, fighting without any rules or logic?" After the brigade commander handed the telegram to the political commissar, he first briefly explained what happened, and then took out cigarettes and distributed them to the political commissar and other staff officers in the brigade. "Let's take a look at the telegram and analyze what the Japanese are trying to do. Damn it, I’ve been fighting for so many years, but this is the first time I’ve seen an army that has been surrounded and instead of thinking about breaking out, they’re actually thinking about launching an attack. And the troops outside were not in a hurry to rescue. " The brigade commander felt a headache as he recalled the telegrams sent from various regions about the Japanese.
I have absolutely no idea what the Japanese are doing. The Japanese's actions were really unexpected. First, the Japanese Fourth Brigade sent elite troops to launch a fierce attack on the defense line under the charge of Kong Jiexin's Second Regiment, and even dispatched aircraft. The Japanese from the 4th Brigade launched a fierce attack on the New 2nd Regiment. The brigade commander even suspected that the Japanese had hidden something important somewhere in the Shangdang area, and did not have time to destroy or take it away. This forced Yoshio Shinozuka to order the 4th Brigade to re-enter the Shangdang area at the risk of being annihilated in order to destroy or take that thing away. In order to verify this speculation, the brigade commander also sent a special telegram to ask the local armed forces in Shangdang area to conduct an investigation. At the same time, he conducted surprise interrogations on the traitors or Japanese devils captured in the entire Shangdang area, and also tried to find a way to get news from the underground intelligence personnel in Taiyuan city. I wanted to see if the Japanese really had anything important left somewhere in the Shangdang area. However, both the local forces, the personnel in charge of the interrogation, and the intelligence personnel said that there was no relevant intelligence. Then the Vanguard Regiment, the Independent Regiment, and the New 1st Regiment successively sent telegrams to the brigade headquarters to report their battle plans. The three regiments prepared to launch a feint attack on the Japanese Fourth Brigade, using the vanguard regiment as bait to show the enemy their weakness. See if we can attract the Japanese Fourth Brigade to initiate an attack on the Vanguard Regiment. As a result, less than ten minutes had passed before the telegram was sent from the Vanguard Regiment, the Independent Regiment, and the New 1st Regiment informing them of their preparations for the attack. The Vanguard Regiment and the Independent Regiment immediately sent another telegram saying that the Japanese from the 4th Brigade had launched an offensive against them. Originally, the brigade commander had not yet figured out the purpose and reason behind the Japanese Fourth Brigade's attack on the New Second Regiment. Then we received news that the Japanese Fourth Brigade had launched an attack on the Vanguard Regiment and the Independent Regiment at the same time. This made the brigade commander even more confused. Along with the telegrams sent by the Vanguard Regiment and the Independent Regiment about the Japanese launching an active attack against them. There were also telegrams sent from the 3rd Regiment and the 771st Regiment stating that the intensity of the Japanese attacks had slowed down. The three telegrams completely confused the brigade commander, who had no idea what the Japanese wanted to do. Not only the brigade commander, but even the brigade's chief of operations staff were unable to analyze any useful information from the telegrams. One combat staff officer directly regarded himself as a brave man of Pinglu and conducted sand table exercises with two other staff officers. But no matter how we deduce, we cannot figure out what the Japanese Fourth Brigade is doing. They were clearly surrounded, but not only did they not think about breaking out, they also sent elite troops to launch an attack. It would be fine if they could break through from that side, but the New Second Regiment's direction is not the direction for a breakout at all. If that were the case, then the brigade commander and many combat staff officers would not be able to believe that the Japanese had hidden something important in the Shangdang area. That's why the Japanese Fourth Brigade wanted to enter the Shangdang area at all costs to explain. However, the Japanese Fourth Brigade sent troops to attack the Vanguard Regiment and the Independent Regiment. What does this mean? In theory, when the same unit fights, it should avoid fighting on two or more fronts as much as possible.
Since the Japanese Fourth Brigade chose to attack Kong Jie's new Second Regiment's defense line. Then the other three directions should be based on defense rather than offense. But now the Japanese Fourth Brigade not only did not defend, but instead launched an attack on the Vanguard Regiment and the Independent Regiment. Three-front battle! Not only that, even the other two Japanese brigades slowed down their attack, as if they were waiting for the Japanese Fourth Brigade to break out on its own. "Brigade Commander, the Japanese Fourth Brigade is fighting on three fronts. It seems that the Japanese Fourth Brigade is not planning to break out." The political commissar beside him read the telegram, glanced at the sand table, and then spoke to the brigade commander. The brigade commander listened to what the political commissar said and nodded. "I can see that the posture of the Japanese Fourth Brigade is not to break out, but to continue the attack. But what reason did the Japanese have to continue attacking? He's been surrounded by my four regiments, and he still wants to attack? Who gave the Japanese the courage? If it were me, even if I didn’t take the initiative to break out, I would have to defend Tongshi Town, or maybe there was something somewhere in Shangdang that needed to be destroyed…” "Commander, please take a look at the telegram sent from the Vanguard Regiment." "Hmm? What's wrong? I read the telegram from the Vanguard Group. Is there any problem?" "There's another sentence at the end of the telegram Xiao Qin sent... It was said that the Japanese did not seem to understand the strength of the Eighth Route Army, so they made wrong decisions. " "Huh? Let me take a look." The brigade commander listened to what the political commissar said and took the telegram again with some disbelief. "That's impossible. We have seized so many weapons and ammunition from the Japanese. It's impossible that the Japanese don't know what equipment we have... arsenal!" The brigade commander was originally going to say that most of the Eighth Route Army's current weapons and equipment were captured from the Japanese, and the Japanese could not possibly be unaware of the Eighth Route Army's current strength. But the brigade commander suddenly thought that the weapons and equipment of the vanguard regiment were not only captured from the Japanese. There are also two arsenals discovered by the Vanguard Group! The Japanese might know about the weapons seized from them. However, the Japanese might not be aware of the weapons taken out from the armory. Especially the large amount of ammunition and artillery stored in the two arsenals. The Japanese had no idea of the existence of these equipment. If the Japanese were not aware of the existence of these equipments and the new rifles and grenade launchers produced by the arsenal, they would really misjudge the combat effectiveness of the Eighth Route Army. If the Japanese had misjudged the Eighth Route Army's combat effectiveness, then from this perspective, the confusing operations of the Japanese Fourth Brigade seemed to become clear. "Commander, I got it, I got it, I figured out what's going on!" What the political commissar said not only opened up the brigade commander's mind, but also gave some ideas to a combat staff officer who had played the role of Pinglu Yongfu in a sand table exercise.
Hearing the combat staff officer's exclamation, the brigade commander raised his hand and waved. "Tell me, what did you find?" "Brigade Commander, it's like this. I just heard the political commissar say that the Japanese may have misjudged the combat effectiveness of our Eighth Route Army. Then I calculated the combat effectiveness of our Eighth Route Army by half and compared the equipment level with the previous situation. If I were the commander of the Japanese 4th Brigade. Then I knew that the Eighth Route Army surrounding me was at most a group of troops equipped with rifles and one or two mortars or infantry guns. So, facing troops equipped with this kind of equipment, even the Fourth Brigade I led was surrounded by the Eighth Route Army. Then I won’t be afraid, nor will I rush to break out. Because I know that these Eighth Route Army troops nearby and their weapons and equipment can't do anything to me. Instead of wasting time defending Tongshi Town, it is better to take the initiative and attack Shangdang area first. At that time, not only will we be able to make great contributions, but we will also be able to block the retreat of the Eighth Route Army from Linyuan County and Shiquan County. Cooperate with the other two attacking brigades to wipe out the Eighth Route Army in these two counties in one fell swoop. Later, the 4th Brigade launched an attack on the Vanguard Regiment and the Independent Regiment. It should be that Pinglu Yongfu realized that the goal of our Eighth Route Army was to encircle the 4th Brigade and then annihilate it. If Pinglu Yongfu thinks that the strength of the Eighth Route Army is similar to what I said, then it should be me. I will certainly launch an attack on the Vanguard and Independent Regiments. Create the appearance that I was looking for a way to break out so that the Eighth Route Army could mobilize more troops to encircle me. At the same time, the other two brigades were ordered to slow down their attack, allowing the Eighth Route Army more time to mobilize troops to strengthen the encirclement of the Fourth Brigade. Finally, when our Eighth Route Army troops are almost mobilized, the other two brigades and the 4th Brigade will speed up the attack. Taking advantage of the fact that a large number of Eighth Route Army troops were attracted by the Fourth Brigade and were entangled by the Fourth Brigade and could not move easily, they directly gathered the strength of three brigades to eliminate all the nearby Eighth Route Army troops! Brigade Commander, it seems that while we are thinking about how to annihilate the Japanese Fourth Brigade, the Japanese are also thinking about how to annihilate us!" "That makes sense. If that's the case, then all of the Japs' actions can be explained. Humph, do the devils really think our Eighth Route Army is still the Three Guns Eighth Route Army as they call it? " "Okay, since the Japanese have given us time, then we will follow their wishes and let the other troops hurry over. This time, I'm not only going to completely wipe out the Japanese Fourth Brigade, but I'm also going to take a big bite out of the other two brigades! Go and inform the cavalry company of the vanguard regiment that they no longer need to guard the tunnel exit, and ask them to return to the vanguard regiment immediately. Let the vanguard cavalry company make a bigger noise when returning, so that it feels like a huge army of thousands. If you don't know how to do it, then tie some branches to the horses' tails, put a bag of sand on each person, and sprinkle it while running. We must make the Japanese think that we are sending a large number of troops to support the vanguard regiment. Send a telegram to the vanguard regiment, asking it to continue to appear weak to the enemy before the cavalry company returns. Then gradually increase the firepower and pretend that reinforcements are arriving to fool the Japanese.
Let’s see if we can get the Japanese Fourth Brigade to mobilize a large force to attack the Vanguard Regiment. If the Japanese continue to launch tentative attacks, then the vanguard regiment should continue to maintain a tentative defense and not expose its true combat effectiveness. If the Japanese send a large force to attack the vanguard regiment, bite hard on the large force of the Japanese Fourth Brigade. The New 1st Regiment and the Independent Regiment will immediately launch a general attack on the Japanese 4th Brigade! Notify the 1st Column, the 771st Regiment, and the 772nd Regiment. If the Japanese 9th and 11th Brigades launch an attack again, we will try our best to stop them and see if we can delay them. If we can hold the Japanese back, their 4th Brigade will be completely wiped out. Then the remaining troops of the Vanguard Regiment, the New 1st Regiment, and the Independent Regiment will immediately head north and take a piece of meat from the Japanese 9th and 11th Brigades! Go, hurry up and send a message to the Vanguard Regiment, the Independent Regiment, and the New First Regiment." "Yes!" (End of this chapter)