Traveling through the sword to engage in military industry.

Chapter 224: Operation No. Arrives Early

Just as Ren Zhong was making great preparations, the Japanese raiders suddenly and without warning descended upon the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei base area in the winter of 1943.

And this time it was even more violent than the time and space when Ren Zhong was there.

Although the Jin-Cha-Ji base area had made great progress, the Japanese still had a huge advantage. This time they had made sufficient preparations and caused great damage to the Jin-Cha-Ji base area.

The Japanese's Operation No. 1 plan was launched ahead of schedule under the flapping of Ren Zhong's butterfly wings. As the forerunner of Operation No. 1, it was intended to clear up public security in the areas around Beijing and Tianjin in North China and ensure that the basic base of the North China base would serve as a logistical fortress in Operation No. 1.

小鬼子华北方面军和关东军在大本营指导下联手制定了作战计划，提前在燕京成立了第6方面军。由大本营下达第6方面军的战斗序列，任命华北方面军司令官冈村小鬼子兼任第6方面军司令官，宫崎周一少将任方面军的参谋长，下辖第11军(第3、13、34、37、58、116师团)、第23军(第22、104师团，独立混成第19、22、23旅团，独立步兵第8、13旅团)、第34军(第39师团，独立混成第17旅团，独立步兵第6、7、11、12旅团，第5、9、10野战补充队)，方面军直辖第11师团、第12师团、第23师团、第26师团、第27师团，组成最为精锐的进攻集群。

In this way, the Japanese formed a unified field combat group of unprecedented scale on the mainland. According to the headquarters' conception, the Japanese attempted to use this field combat group to fully open up the mainland's transportation lines from south to north, and to achieve an absolute defense circle for the Japanese home island from the northeast to the South China Sea.

Compared with historical time and space, this cluster, which was established to penetrate the entire continent's transportation lines, would not be established until half a year later. However, due to the heavy workload, this monster was born ahead of time.

Among them, the 11th Army is in central China, and the 23rd Army is in south China, so they are temporarily not needed in the war situation in North China.

However, the newly formed 34th Army and the 11th, 12th, 23rd, 26th and 27th Divisions directly under the front were all mobilized to attack the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei base area. Together with a large number of puppet army security corps cannon fodder, the total force exceeded 10!
而在原来的历史时空中，华北方面军扫荡晋察冀只是集中第26师团、第62师团、第63师团、第110师团和独立混成第2、3旅团各一部，以及大量伪军保安团，共4万余人。

Not only were there four more elite divisions of the Kwantung Army heading south, but the total strength also more than doubled.

In this way, although the combat effectiveness of the Eighth Route Army's main regiment in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei base area was stronger than in history, there was still a huge gap when facing the well-prepared Japanese devils.

In addition, the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei base area underestimated the Japanese's large-scale mopping-up operation, and the Japanese's plan was kept highly secret. Over a long period of several months, they infiltrated North China in batches at the regiment level for reorganization.

As a result, the Eighth Route Army's underground intelligence personnel and Guosu's intelligence personnel did not have much warning about the gathering of the Japanese 34th Army and its five direct divisions.

Before the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region had time to react, the 100,000-strong army was divided into two groups at the same time and launched a lightning attack, catching the Ji-Central Military Region and the First Division, which were the first to bear the brunt, off guard.

The losses were very heavy. The Jizhong Military Region and the First Division Base were almost lost at the same time within just two or three days.
Fortunately, the base areas had a complete emergency mechanism. When the enemy was unable to defeat them, the main force of the base areas was forced to fight and retreat. The military district of the base areas ordered the main force to disperse in battalion and company formations and escape the encirclement of the Japanese overnight, so that the losses of the main force were still within controllable range.

Even so, the base suffered enormous losses in other areas. The factories that had been developed with great difficulty had to be blown up by themselves, and the local guerrillas and armed work teams took on the task of covering the enemy's retreat and fought many heroic battles. The losses in personnel, materials, infrastructure, etc. in the base were extremely distressing.

Ren Zhong was also a little surprised when he received this unexpected battle briefing. He did not expect the Japanese to come so quickly and so fiercely.

Moreover, the first target of the attack was the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei area.

This feels a bit like a time-space intrusion.

Although Jin-Cha-Ji was also badly hurt in the historical time and space, and the core bases such as the First Division were completely destroyed, that was because their strength was much weaker than in the current time and space. According to Ren Zhong's original idea, if the Japanese followed the mopping-up mode of the original time and space, they would have to give them a "surprise".

Unexpectedly, the Japanese were not idle either, and they did not rush towards the base foolishly.

Instead, they had some real-time intelligence about the growth in the Eighth Route Army's strength and made judgments, which led them to launch such a blitzkrieg.

But think about it, Jin-Cha-Ji was facing the heartland of the North China Front Army, and the Japanese sent many spies and lackeys to get intelligence, both openly and secretly.

The strategic depth of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei base area was not large, and after these spies went around, there was little chance that the main forces of each division under them could keep this information secret. After more than half a year of intelligence collection, even if the Japanese had some mistakes and omissions, they still had a comprehensive grasp of the information.

The military operations carried out by the Japanese based on such latest intelligence were naturally targeted.

Looking at the report in his hand, facing the changes of the Japanese devils, Ren Zhong's limited CPU was a little overwhelmed, as he was already out of sync with the original time and space.

Now both sides are in a blind fighting state.

All of each other's cards have been reshuffled.

At this time, neither Ren Zhong nor anyone else knew that the Japanese had secretly formed the Sixth Front Army and began to implement a grand strategy from north to south.

However, with the historical information from the original time and space, Ren Zhong was more sensitive than others and smelled something unusual. "Staff Officer Ye, I'm worried that the Japanese's actions this time are not just targeting our base," Ren Zhong thought about the cause and effect carefully, combined with the intelligence of Operation No. 1 obtained from the original time and space, and decided to seriously discuss the current battle situation with Staff Officer Ye.

"Brother Ren, what do you say?" When Staff Officer Ye heard this, he knew there was a new situation.

Staff Officer Ye now has no doubts about Ren Zhong's intelligence capabilities.

"If the Japanese are only targeting our base, I feel that the current strength has exceeded the control capabilities of the Japanese North China Front Army." Ren Zhong analyzed calmly.

"We all know that the North China Front alone cannot organize a 4-man army to attack our base. Now, based on the intelligence we already know, four elite divisions of the Kwantung Army have participated in the attack, which means that the Japanese's battle is no longer within the scope of the North China Front."

"If our organization's speculation is correct, the Japanese are already launching a major campaign against our front battlefield, and the current attack on the Jin-Cha-Ji base is just a prelude."

"The real purpose of the Japanese is to completely open up the mainland transportation line from north to south! On the one hand, it solves the problem of north-south material transportation and makes up for the huge pressure on maritime transportation; on the other hand, it ensures the safety of the Japanese island and provides so-called strategic guarantees on the mainland, so that the Allied strategic bombers cannot take off from the mainland to bomb their island."

Ren Zhong marked out the strategic intentions and key points of the Japanese's original Operation No. 1 in time and space on the map he had spent time drawing. When Staff Officer Ye saw it, he couldn't help but tremble in his heart.

This is a grand plan spanning the entire continent.

Although Ren Zhong did not draw the Japanese troop assignments in Operation No. 1, it would be too horrifying, and Ren Zhong did not dare to reveal the plot recklessly.

But just looking at the scope of the entire battle, Staff Officer Ye felt a little overwhelmed.

"Brother Ren, have you confirmed the news?" asked Staff Officer Ye. This matter was too big and it concerned the fate of the country. Staff Officer Ye had no choice but to be cautious.

"We have determined that it is very likely." Although Ren Zhong was not sure, his attitude was very clear. "I think we should go all out to collect intelligence on the Japanese troop movements. Now the North China region has been basically confirmed. This is the Japanese northern attack group. Next, we will confirm the Japanese movements in Central and South China. If the information is correct, the Japanese Central China Attack Group and the South China Attack Group will have some preparations."

"We have determined that in North China, the Jin-Cha-Ji base area is only the first wave of the Japanese attack. Next, the Japanese are very likely to launch the Central Henan Campaign against the First War Zone."

According to the process of Operation No. 1 launched by the Japanese in historical time and space, Ren Zhong increasingly felt that the Japanese's current actions were very similar.

"Brother Ren, this matter is of great importance. I will report it immediately when I return and coordinate with all parties to collect relevant intelligence. If the intelligence confirms what you said, how should we respond?" Staff Officer Ye asked modestly.

Ren Zhong was silent for a while.

Now the Eighth Route Army has not even prepared the basic conditions for a steel torrent.

The original idea of ​​destroying the main force of the Japanese in North China in one fell swoop during the battle was obviously not feasible. Tank production had just exploded. There were more than 40 tanks in the border area, but the three bases in Shanxi had not yet produced even tanks. Moreover, they were separated by hundreds of miles and the journey was difficult.

There is no chance of concentrating this.

Therefore, the easiest to mobilize now are the tens of thousands of troops under Chen Brigade.

Ren Zhong calculated and according to his understanding, the Taiyue Chen Brigade had undergone a new round of expansion and reorganization, and now had 10 Type A regiments, 15 Type B regiments, and 24 Type C regiments. It was definitely the most powerful force of the Eighth Route Army and was stronger than the garrison corps in the border areas.

Together with Taihang's 5 Type A regiments, 10 Type B regiments and 25 Type C regiments, the Taihang Group moved its center of gravity southward to suppress the Taihang Taiyue base. Brigade Chen drew out 25 Type A and Type B regiments, totaling 5 troops, to cooperate with more than 10 Type C regiments to ensure the supply of logistics and supplies.

When the main force of the Japanese army crossed the Yellow River and launched the Campaign of Central Henan, perhaps we could launch a campaign on the north bank of the Yellow River, reoccupy the entire Central Hebei Plain, assist the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei region in regaining its base area, and cut off the Japanese army's logistics and transportation lines in one fell swoop.

Completely block the baggage supply of the Japanese heavy troops.

You must know that most of the Japanese's logistical supplies need to come from the Northeast. If the entire Ji Zhong Plain is controlled and their logistics are cut off on the north bank of the Yellow River, the Japanese's heavy troops heading south will be caught in a dilemma. The Japanese without logistical support will not be as unstoppable as in history and will not be able to destroy the First War Zone directly.

Maybe we can turn the Japanese's Operation No. 1 into a bad one.

Second update, long-term recommendation and monthly vote requested!
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(End of this chapter)