Show the sword, start from the guerrillas

Shimen City is a hub city where two transportation lines meet. It was originally guarded by a special division. Now that the special division has gone to the south, an independent infantry brigade has been left.

Pay attention, it is an independent infantry brigade, not a mixed brigade! The mixed brigade at least has a mountain artillery battalion, an independent search team and a transport team, but the infantry brigade only has an infantry battalion.

It can be said that the current strength of the devils, especially the strength in Shimen, has been dispersed and compressed to the extreme! Even if this independent infantry brigade was transferred from the Kwantung Army, it is difficult to control the situation in the Shimen area! If it were not for the tens of thousands of puppet troops brought from the puppet Manchukuo and the puppet troops recruited locally, the devils would have collapsed long ago!

Now, the battle around Shimen has begun, and the troops from the Beiyue District in the north have also begun to attack the city, which made Okabe Naozaburo not know how to respond for a while, and he could only blame Gangcun for taking the troops away. Okabe Naozaburo was still blaming Gangcun in his mind, and another piece of bad news reached his ears, which made his resentment towards Gangcun rise to a new level.

"Report, the latest telegram received, the Eighth Route Army's Taiyue area troops suddenly moved westward, attacked the two county towns of Huozhou and Hongdong, and also destroyed the railway line! The Eighth Route Army has a large number of people, and there are even more ordinary people participating. The number of people is boundless, at least 8 people are in action..."

"Report, many cities in Jiaodong, southern Shandong, western Shandong, and the inland areas of the peninsula have been attacked by the Eighth Route Army! Zhangqiu County has been occupied by the Eighth Route Army, and armed forces from the Eighth Route Army are testing attacks in Licheng, Shanghe, Laiwu and other places!"

"Report, the Daoqing Railway was attacked by the Eighth Route Army. Three stations have been destroyed by the Eighth Route Army. The railway has been destroyed for 2.5 kilometers..."

"Report, the Eighth Route Army in the Jidong area suddenly attacked our garrison bases. They reported that 5 bases had lost contact and 8 bases were under siege..."

As the news came in one after another, Naozaburo Okabe kept scribbling on the map of North China with his drawing pen... Two hours had passed when there was no more report. For two hours, Naozaburo Okabe did not respond to any of the intelligence, but stared at the map of North China, staring blankly at the densely packed new battle sites on it.

"Commander, what should we...what should we do? How should we respond?" At this time, a Japanese officer asked.

"Response? How to respond? We only have so many troops, and there are not enough to fill any gaps! The only conventional weapons that can turn the tide of the war are bombers. There are also unconventional weapons such as poison gas bombs, but the bombers have been deployed to the southern battlefield. What can we do with only the planes at Taiyuan Airport and Yuncheng Airport? The Eighth Route Army is not dead. They will run away when they see the bombers."

"But if the bombers leave, the Eighth Route Army will come back! We can also use poison gas, but the poison gas has been sent to the battlefield in South China, and there are very few that can be mobilized in North China! Moreover, the use of poison gas bombs requires a special chemical unit, which is an extremely professional technical unit. But the reality is that such an excellent technical unit has been transferred away..."

Okabe Naozaburo's mind was groggy, and he had no good solution to the many problems. However, as the supreme commander of the North China Front Army, he still needed to dispatch tens of thousands of troops stationed in China. After thinking for half an hour, Okabe Naozaburo finally gave an order: "All radio stations, re-contact the cities where the battle took place, I need to get the latest situation!"

The Japanese signalmen acted quickly. After a while of ticking communication, the latest intelligence was delivered: Laiyuan and Wutai in Beiyue District were still fighting, Huozhou County in Taiyue District had fallen, and the defenders of Hongdong were still fighting, but the Eighth Route Army had already entered the city. The Eighth Route Army outside the city was also not idle and was destroying the railway line.

The county towns in Jiaodong and Luzhong were still there, but the garrison troops were seriously damaged, and urban street fighting was taking place in several county towns. The excited Eighth Route Army suddenly retreated, and the Eighth Route Army in Pingxi returned to the mountains after destroying the railway and road network and destroying 5 strongholds. The Eighth Route Army had retreated on the Daoqing Railway because of the counterattack of its own troops, but the damaged railway could not be restored for a while.

Of course, there is also the direction of Shimen! The Eighth Route Army has occupied the two county towns of Yuanshi and Zanhuang. Gaoyi City is in danger. The Eighth Route Army has already fought to the outskirts of the city defense headquarters and is about to fall.

In addition, there was a new situation. In the direction of Wu'an, the main force of the Eighth Route Army was found and was preparing to attack the city...

The situation was complicated, but Naosaburo Okabe finally made up his mind and said to his staff, "The Eighth Route Army is coming with great momentum, which is very disadvantageous for us! The biggest disadvantage is that our forces are too dispersed! Therefore, I have decided to order all the counties in North China that are still under control to immediately withdraw all the troops outside!"

"These troops include the garrisons in the surrounding strongholds, the Imperial Army, the detective team, etc.! When you withdraw your troops, take away the food from the wealthy families in the nearby strongholds. If you encounter resistance, kill them without mercy!"

"When evacuating, burn the strongholds, blow up the artillery towers and bunkers, and don't let the Eighth Route Army use these facilities to besiege the county town! In addition, when withdrawing, try to destroy the villages you encounter along the way, burn them if you can, and kill if you can! But be careful not to let the Eighth Route Army set an ambush! In addition, for the county towns where troops are currently stationed, immediately drive 80% of the residents out of the city and don't let them take anything away!"

"After driving out the residents, keep the remaining people in a fixed area as hostages, and concentrate the city's resources to ensure that they are distributed in limited quantities! Tell them that this is a long-term task, and that they only need to defend the county town in one or two months! Remember, when driving out the city's residents, do not kill them, just drive them away!"

"Regarding the direction of Shimen, since there is no new situation, it means there is still time! Mobilize the troops from Xinji, Shenze... these counties on the east side of Shimen, and concentrate them all into Shimen! Move quickly, do not stop, do not burn houses, etc. Their goal is to quickly reinforce Shimen and increase Shimen's defense force! Oh, right, Shimen City, implement the resident evacuation plan..."

Okabe Naosaburo's orders were written down one by one and then sent to many Japanese-occupied cities in North China via radio waves. After all the telegrams were sent, the new chief of staff of the front army asked a question on the desk: "Mr. Okabe, why didn't you kill the residents when you drove them out?" (End of this chapter)