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Chapter 436 Plan ahead!

"Oh? What is the solution?"

Yoshio Iwamatsu asked.

The 36th Division suffered about 1000 casualties this time, which is nothing compared to the tens of thousands of First Army casualties during Shinozuka Yoshio's period.

However, some problems remain problems forever if they are not resolved.

In response to the guerrilla tactics of the Eighth Route Army, Commander Tada Jun came up with a cage tactic to counter it, but ultimately fell short.

Now the Eighth Route Army invented and used tunnel tactics, which caused a lot of trouble for the First Army.

If countermeasures cannot be found, then more soldiers will fall under this kind of tunnel tactics in the future, and the public security warfare in Shanxi and even North China will be greatly affected.

Kazuki Yamamoto said:
"No matter how clever a tactic is, it has its advantages and disadvantages."

"It's not difficult to crack the tunnel tactics. You just need to find a way to shorten the attack distance of the imperial infantry."

A group of devil officers are still thinking about Kazuki Yamamoto's words.

Kuribayashi Tadamichi guessed Kazuki Yamamoto's meaning, and tentatively said, "Yamamoto-kun means to dig forward with earthwork?"

"Yes!" Kazuki Yamamoto didn't pretend to be profound, and said directly: "Major General Miyazaki's tactics of bombarding with cannons while infantry charging, if the enemy's firepower is not strong, it is a good idea."

If the enemy's firepower is not strong, artillery fire can suppress the enemy's firepower, and there is a high probability that infantry will be able to rush into the position and start hand-to-hand combat.

Kazuki Yamamoto continued: "Look at the sand table. From the attack position of the 222rd Infantry Battalion of the 3nd Regiment to the front position of the Eighth Route Army, it is more than 400 meters. That is to say, the impact of the soldiers of the Imperial Army after the artillery fired The distance is more than 400 meters long, and the soldiers of the Imperial Army have become living targets for the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army in this open land.”

"As long as the trenches are dug to the position of 30 meters from the front position of the Eight Routes, the attack distance will be shortened."

"The artillery of the imperial army bombarded the positions of the Eight Route Army."

"If the Eighth Route Army does not enter the tunnel, it will suffer heavy losses."

"If the Eighth Route Army enters the tunnel, as soon as the artillery is over, the soldiers of the imperial army will press on it. Before the Eighth Route Army can come out of the tunnel in time, the position will be occupied by the imperial army."

"Then, the imperial army will be able to suppress the Eight Route Army and fight in the tunnel."

Yoshio Iwamatsu's eyes lit up slightly, and he thought about this method carefully.

The troops of the Japanese army generally have engineers, and divisions have special engineering units.

In addition to clearing mines, engineers also have tasks such as opening roads when encountering mountains and building bridges when encountering water. Naturally, soil work is also a specialty of the engineering troops.

The head of the 41st Division Qingshui Jiji pointed to the sand table and questioned: "However, the Eighth Route will not watch the engineers of the Imperial Army doing soil work under their noses. The engineers in the industry launched shelling, and the eight roads are equipped with 105mm howitzers, and the trenches dug by the engineers may not be able to withstand the 105mm shells."

It's like a sand table game.

A group of devil officers looked at the sand table.

They seemed to see that in front of the positive slope position of the Eighth Route Army, Japanese engineers were digging hard into the soil.

But suddenly there was a sharp whistling sound in the sky, and the shells fell in pieces, some of them fell into the excavated trenches.

After several rounds of artillery attacks at the level of the two mountain artillery regiments, the trenches excavated by the earthworks were blown to pieces, and the engineers who were doing the earthworks suffered heavy casualties.

It is difficult for reinforced concrete fortifications to defend against 105mm howitzers, let alone pure trench fortifications.

Kazuki Yamamoto replied: "This requires the cooperation of the aviation force. Fighters and bombers are used to suppress or even destroy the artillery positions of the Eighth Route Army. If there are only a small number of mortars in the anti-slope positions, the threat to the engineers is limited."

Qing Shui said politely: "As we all know, the anti-aircraft firepower of the Xinyi Regiment is very strong, and I am afraid that the air force will suffer a lot of losses."

In the Battle of Taiyuan, the entire third flying group suffered heavy losses, and even the few Kwantung Army flying battles that came to support suffered heavy losses.

The aviation unit of the North China Front Army has not recovered its vitality until now.

The devil aviation soldiers were a little frightened by the beating.

"If you want to occupy the enemy's position, how can you not lose some price."

Kazuki Yamamoto said:

"Although the Imperial Army lost more than 110 aircraft in the Taiyuan Battle, the Xinyi Regiment's artillery and anti-aircraft firepower also suffered heavy losses."

"There is a high probability that the air force will be able to find or even destroy the artillery positions of the Eight Routes."

"Even if it can't be destroyed, it can still scare the Eighth Route Army from firing artillery to expose the position of the army, so that the engineers can operate smoothly."

After finishing speaking, Yamamoto narrowed his eyes and flashed a sharp light.

Hua Guzheng asked: "Yamamoto-kun, why didn't you send out fighter jets and bombers to blow up the tunnel directly?"

"Has your Excellency the Chief of Staff considered it?" Kazuki Yamamoto said, "How many tons of aerial bombs are needed to blow up such a tunnel?"

"I'm afraid it will cost dozens of tons." Hua Gu was thinking.

"This is just a conservative estimate." Kazuki Yamamoto said, "The empire is poor in resources, and aerial bombs are even more strategic resources. If you capture a mountain and drop dozens or hundreds of tons of aerial bombs, how many mountains are there in Shanxi?"

Hua Guzheng didn't refute anymore, because Kazuki Yamamoto told the truth, and the Japanese army really couldn't afford this expendable local tyrant's style of play.

Yoshio Iwamatsu nodded, his expression slightly relaxed:
"Yamamoto-kun is indeed worthy of having studied in Germany. This is a good countermeasure."

This tactic has its limitations. The soil work also requires the cooperation of aviation. Without aviation to suppress and destroy enemy artillery positions, it is difficult to implement this tactic.

Then, Yoshio Iwamatsu looked at Tadao Kuribayashi and asked, "Kuribayashi-kun, I heard that you are very interested in this tunnel tactic, do you think of a solution?"

"Report to General!"

Kuribayashi Nakamichi said frankly: "I haven't thought of a good way to crack the tunnel tactics yet."

Yoshio Iwamatsu was a little disappointed immediately. Tadamichi Kuribayashi has been studying this tunnel tactic these days, and he thought he had researched something.

As a result, nothing was researched.

This is actually not to blame Kuribayashi Tadao. Until the 21st century, countries in the world did not have any good ways to crack tunnel warfare.

Some military experts even said that tunnel warfare is an unsolvable subject.

Seeing Yoshio Iwamatsu's disappointed expression, Tadao Kuribayashi said: "I am indeed studying tunnel tactics, but the direction of my research may not be the same as the general imagined."

"Oh?" Yoshio Iwamatsu said in surprise, "What is the direction of Kuribayashi-kun's research?"

Kuribayashi Tadamichi said: "What I'm studying is how to use tunnel tactics. Since I can't find a better way to crack it, why not use it."

Join if you can't beat, this is Kuribayashi Chumichi's idea.

Next, Tadamichi Kuribayashi boldly speculated that the Sino-Japanese War would last two to three years at most, and the Japanese army would probably turn on the defensive in the North China battlefield.

The Eighth Route Army is likely to switch from defensive to offensive, and the Japanese army can use this tunnel tactic.

As the advance base of the Eighth Route Army to attack the North China Plain, Shanxi will definitely be the first to be attacked by the Eighth Route Army, and then there will be another Taiyuan battle.

Ribayashi Tadamichi proposed to build a large number of tunnels in the mountains around Taiyuan, such as Wohu Mountain and Tianlong Mountain, to resist the offensive of the Eighth Route Army.

However, Kuribayashi Tadamichi's idea was unanimously refuted by almost all the officers present except Kazuki Yamamoto.

Kazuki Yamamoto was silent, he was pessimistic about the entire Sino-Japanese war.

And Yoshio Iwamatsu only gave a few words of encouragement, and didn't take Kuribayashi Tadao's words too seriously, thinking that Kuribayashi Tadao was nothing but worrying.

Even though the Eighth Route Army had made some achievements in North China, except for the Shanxi battlefield, the overall situation was still under the control of the Japanese army.

In the Shanxi battlefield, only Northwest Shanxi and Southeast Shanxi can pose a slight threat to the First Army.

Yoshio Yanmatsu said murderously: "This time the Eighth Route's attack on Taiyuan has attracted further attention from the base camp. When the base camp increases its troops and mobilizes supplies, it will inevitably carry out an unprecedented large-scale raid on the Eighth Route. The imperial army will spare no expense. Eliminate the Eight Routes."

But considering that many large-scale raids in the past few years failed to eliminate the Eighth Route Army, and instead suffered heavy losses in soldiers and supplies, this raid may not be able to do so.

He changed the subject and said again:

"However... Kuribayashi-kun's words are also reasonable, we must plan ahead."

"I will apply to mobilize reinforced concrete to build permanent fortifications around Taiyuan and build tunnels to strengthen Taiyuan's defense."

Within a few months, the Japanese army was able to build thousands of artillery towers and strongholds around the roads and railways in North China.

Moreover, traffic on the Tongpu Railway and the Zhengtai Railway can be restored within a few months after the Hundred Regiments War.

The devil's construction ability is naturally not to be underestimated.

Yoshio Iwamatsu was also afraid of following in Yoshio Shinozuka's footsteps.

It took the Eighth Route Army only three days to break through Taiyuan, and the battle ended so quickly that even if the First Army had a total strength of 10, or even the Second Army and the Mongolian Army Corps dispatched troops, there was no time to rescue them.

Before this, it is estimated that no one could have imagined that the Eighth Route Army would take Taiyuan in three days.

If Yoshio Shinozuka had built more fortifications in Taiyuan and could have kept Taiyuan for half a month or even a month, the result might have been different.

Yoshio Iwamatsu knows very well that when dealing with Eight Routes, one must not look at them with common sense.

While killing Ba Lu completely and completely, at the same time, we must not take it lightly, and we must prevent Ba Lu from jumping up and biting you.

If the biting is not a vital point, it's okay to say, but if the Eighth Route Army attacks the black tiger's heart again like this Taiyuan battle, it will be very bad.

……

three days later.

Zhaojiayu Village, Xinyi Regiment Headquarters.

Li Yunlong is staring at the map research.

Since the battle of Dagu Town, the 36th Division has not attacked again, but has played the trick of blocking the cage again.

On the outskirts of the base area, the common people were driven to build ditches, bunkers and gun towers.

Ordinary gun towers and strongholds naturally cannot block the new group.

Therefore, the devils built reinforced concrete bunkers and gun towers this time.

If this kind of bunker and turret can be made the same as the Maginot Line, it can even block the attack of howitzers.

But with the resources of the devils, it is impossible to build all of them into that kind of big bunker, and it is considered very good to be able to withstand the attack of the 75mm mountain cannon.

Staring at the map, Li Yunlong sneered: "When the expansion of labor and management's troops is completed, it may not be certain who will block who."

The guard Huang Erhu hurried in and reported: "Report to the commander, the pilots and battalion-level officers escorted by the Spike Squadron have arrived!"

Li Yunlong looked slightly happy: "Haha, looking forward to the stars and looking forward to the moon, they are finally here!"

(End of this chapter)