Traveling through the sword to engage in military industry.

Chapter 215: The Japanese Besieged on All Sides
Zezhou devil headquarters.

Okamoto Yasuyuki of the 36th Division was somewhat uneasy.

Although there is no sign that the Eighth Route Army in southeastern Shanxi is going to launch an attack, the enemy in front of them, the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army, is extremely ferocious. With a major war breaking out in most parts of Shanxi, there is no reason for the Eighth Route Army's first-class main force to lie down and sleep.

Although the First Army Headquarters only informed the various divisions and brigades of the latest battle situation and had not yet issued any instructions, Okamoto was undoubtedly the most tormented after receiving the news.

The Taiyue Military Region was facing his 36th Division, whose main force alone exceeded 5 people. For his guard division, which only had three main infantry regiments, the pressure was enormous.

Because there are signs that the troops under the Taiyue Military Region have more than 100 heavy artillery pieces!
This data was compiled based on the information about artillery attacks encountered by the Locust Army during the Luzhou Defense Battle. It is truly a bloody lesson.

"Order, all Lingchuan troops will move forward in an all-round way, concentrate the Lingchuan Gendarmerie Battalion and the 4th Regiment of Jinnan in Gaoping for defense, and at the same time shrink the three-level strongholds in villages and towns, and comprehensively strengthen the security of the transportation strongholds from Gaoping to Zezhou to Jiyuan." After wandering around for more than ten minutes, the Japanese devil Okamoto finally made up his mind.

Concentrate your core forces and make sure your main transportation lines are not lost first.

The guerrillas in Zhongtiao Mountain and Qinshui are now active frequently, which is not a good thing for the locust army.

Lingchuan is isolated and relies on a gendarmerie battalion and a puppet army. If the Taiyue Military Region has any major operation, it will be like a dead end and will not be able to stop the attack of the main force of the Eighth Route Army.

There are 222nd Regiment and an artillery squadron stationed in Gaoping area. Together with the Second Division of the Puppet Army (more than 3000 people), they can rely on the city and hold out for more than a week.

Near Zezhou, there are the 223rd and 224th Regiments and the 36th Mountain Artillery Regiment, plus infantry converted from engineers and supply troops, and the First Division of the puppet army stationed locally. Okamoto feels more or less confident that he can hold on.

But he could only hide and survive. Now he could not think of any other way except to beg Amaterasu for attention and avoid being attacked by the large-scale Eight Route Army.

As one of the top generals, Okamoto knew that the North China Front Command had no good ideas to resolve the crisis.

The attacks in the Luliang Mountains and Wutai Mountains made the Japanese in Shanxi smell an ominous sign, because in the face of such a situation, the First Army in Shanxi actually felt helpless. More than six hours after receiving the news, the First Army Command had not yet come up with a response strategy.

This is a very obvious signal. Since the main force of the Eighth Route Army in Taihang and Taiyue has not moved, now both the Japanese in the First Army Command and the Japanese in the General Staff of the North China Front Army have no idea what the ultimate purpose of this sudden attack by the Eighth Route Army is?
Unlike the previous raids, it was simply about breaking the Japanese blockade.

But this time they directly attacked county towns and other large and medium-sized strongholds, seemingly intending to take over Jin in one fell swoop.

This caused the staffs of the First Army and the North China Front Army to engage in a fierce argument. Some believed that it was absolutely impossible, while others thought that this might be the case with the Eighth Route Army.

As one county town after another was lost, the Japanese First Army finally responded and ordered the Japanese and puppet troops in the strongholds in the two areas to temporarily evacuate and retreat to the transportation strongholds near the Tongpu Line to concentrate their forces to ensure the safety of the Tongpu Line.

In their opinion, the intention of this wave of attacks by the Eighth Route Army could not be figured out for the time being, so they decided to just save their most important things first.

The Eighth Route Army was not able to figure out the movements of the Japanese so quickly, so according to the prior deployment, Luliang and Wutai moved first to see if they could mobilize some reinforcements from the main force of the Taiyuan First Army to reduce some obstacles for the Taiyue Military Region's attack.

However, the main force of the Japanese devils did not move this time, which surprised the Eighth Route Army Headquarters and the Border Region General Staff.

According to the Japanese tradition, they would rescue the enemy in times of trouble. However, this time it was completely abnormal. They allowed the Japanese in the counties to be divided up and eaten. The air force did not move, and the army on the ground did not move. This made things a bit difficult.

However, the headquarters did not stop the plan of the Second Southeast Shanxi Campaign because of the enemy's frequent movements.

According to the planned schedule, on the third day after the launch of the Luliang and Wutai campaigns, a main force of Taihang moved to Quanyang and launched a pacification attack. At the same time, another main force went out of Qipan Mountain to attack Taigu, with the spearhead heading directly for Taiyuan Airport.

This was like stirring up a hornet's nest, and the First Army began to mobilize.

第69师团旗下第59旅团（独立步兵第82，第83，第84，第85大队）及师团山炮大队和骑兵大队紧急出动驰援太谷。

The two infantry regiments of the Japanese in Taiyuan also rushed out urgently, preparing to outflank the main force of the Eighth Route Army leaving Taigu.

There was a regiment of Japanese soldiers defending the airport itself, but because the range of the 107mm fire carried by the main force of the Eighth Route Army was too long, a regiment could not defend against the interspersed attacks of the main force of the Eighth Route Army, and mobile forces had to conduct defensive operations on the periphery.

In this way, the Japanese troops approaching the three brigades were firmly attracted.

The Jin area's small Japanese soldiers were stretched to the limit and had no extra mobile forces to send out reinforcements. Under such circumstances, the brigade commander really started to act. After two days and one night of movement, the independent regiment, the new third regiment, and the new fourth regiment went south out of Qinshui and swept away the small Japanese strongholds near Yangcheng like lightning, surrounding the Yangcheng small Japanese soldiers and leaving them no room for escape.

After 4 hours of shelling, the insiders in the city instigated the Third Regiment of the Puppet Army to rebel and opened a city gate. The Independent Regiment rushed into the city like a tide and wiped out the Japanese gendarmerie battalion and the special forces team in less than 6 hours!

Kong Jie's New Second Regiment left Zhongtiao Mountain, cleared the Japanese stronghold ten kilometers east of Zezhou, and controlled the exit to the southeast.

The main force of the New 16st Regiment appeared to the west of Gaoping. Around Gaoping, the 17th, 18th, 20th and th Type B Regiments surrounded Gaoping tightly.

旅长亲自率领第20团、第25团、第38团、第54团、第55团、第56团和炮兵团越过高平围住了泽州，同独立团等前期先到的4个主力团，把泽州的小鬼子围得水泄不通，根本没有围三缺一的说法。

The 59th Regiment occupied Lingchuan where the Japanese retreated from, and guarded the Baijing of the eight paths of Taihang Mountain that the Japanese used to come from the east.

Overnight, the situation in southeastern Shanxi changed!
The brigade commander staged a modern version of an ambush for Okamoto.

The two main forces, 771st and 772nd Regiments, have been waiting to be deployed, and now no one knows where the brigade commander has hidden them.

"Baga, the main goal of the Eighth Route Army is southern Shanxi. They were clearly not satisfied with taking Luzhou before, and the goal of launching a large-scale attack this time is still southern Shanxi!"

At the First Army's General Staff, Kusunokichi roared to the entire staff, "We can't sit idly by and watch Okamoto-kun's 36th Division shattered. This is not just a problem in southern Shanxi. Once the 36th Division is shattered, we will no longer be able to stop the Eighth Route Army's attack on the entire Shanxi region!"

"Gentlemen, if the 36th Division can't stop the attack of the Eighth Route Army, how can the Locust Army in Quanyang, Fengling, or even Taiyuan stop the Eighth Route Army?"

"This is the worst situation. We must request the North China Front Army or even the headquarters to launch a comprehensive rescue for the 36th Division and take this opportunity to counterattack the main force of the Eighth Route Army. Maybe we can even reverse the unfavorable situation in the entire Shanxi area."

"If we let Mr. Okamoto hold out for more than a month, our North China Front Army will be able to gather more than four divisions to attack Shanxi and achieve a breakthrough in the center. This is our only chance to turn the tables."

There was madness in Hideyoshi Kusunoki's eyes, he was actually gambling heavily.

This is a common practice of the Japanese. When fate reaches a crossroads, they like to gamble to put the last nail in their coffin.

According to the current manpower available to the North China Front Army, they might be able to gather four divisions if they tried their best, for example, by assembling the 4th, 26rd, 63th and 110th Divisions of the Front Army.

But in this way, the enemy's defense in North China will become riddled with holes. The 26th Division is in Yunzhong, and has to face the pressure from northwest Shanxi and the risk of the Saibei Military Region moving south from Jiuyuan. The 110th Division is in Shimen, which is also a key node for controlling the activities of the main forces of Taihang and Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei. The 35th Division defends Bianliang and has to face the Guofu I War Zone.

Only the 63rd Division served as the mobile force in Peiping to prevent the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei troops from launching a surprise attack on Peiping and Tianjin, so it was considered to be slightly more mobile.

What Kusunokichi Hideyoshi did was to take a crazy gamble, betting that after these troops were withdrawn, the Eighth Route Army in other places would not be able to attack.

"Hideyoshi, you are playing with fire." Iwamatsu Yoshio shook his head and rejected Kusunokichi Hideyoshi's suggestion. "In North China, we don't have the ability to withdraw four divisions to rescue the 4th Division. Otherwise, if Zezhou is a trick of the Eighth Route Army to lure the tiger away from the mountain, then our North China will even be at risk of collapse."

"Without the 26th Division in Yunzhong, the defense is so empty that the Eighth Route Army only needs to send out three or five main regiments to defeat our garrison garrison in one fell swoop. Their current heavy weapons have greatly reduced the power of the city's defense. Our city walls can't stop the 107 rockets in the hands of the Eighth Route Army."

"Once Yunzhong is lost, our northern barrier of Taiyuan will be lost, and then northern Shanxi will collapse completely. Luliang and Wutai are already in very bad shape. If the 26th Division leaves, I think northern Shanxi will be completely lost within a month."

Yoshio Iwamatsu was much calmer than Hideyoshi Kusuyama.

Even if you put yourself in their shoes and regard this as a conspiracy, it would be terrifying if you think about it carefully.

Hideyoshi Kusuyama looked at the map and was frightened by what Yoshio Iwamatsu said and broke out in a cold sweat!
"But are we just going to sit back and watch the 36th Division perish?" Kusunokichi Hideyoshi said dejectedly.

"Of course not! We must strongly advise Commander Gangcun of the North China Front Army that this is the critical moment to request the Kwantung Army to move south! As long as the Kwantung Army mobilizes four divisions to move south, everything will be solved!" Iwamatsu Yoshio slammed the table.

First update.

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(End of this chapter)