Anti-Japanese War: I have unlimited assistance

Chapter 466: Shanxi Operations Guidance Outline

"Your Excellency, Commander."

The man walked quickly to the grim-faced Sugiyama Motoji and bowed his head, saying:
"Okamura Neiji is reporting to you by order of the headquarters. I was delayed on the way. Please forgive me."

This person was General Okamura Yasuji, commander of the Japanese 11th Army.

"Okamura-kun, you're finally here." General Misugimoto nodded with satisfaction, then introduced, "This is Lieutenant General Yamashita Tomoyuki, Chief of Staff of the North China Front Army, and Lieutenant General Shinozuka, Commander of the First Army."

"Yamashita-kun, Shinozuka-kun, nice to meet you!"

Okamura Neiji immediately saluted the two men.

The moment he saw General Okamura Yasuji, Yoshio Shinozuka's heart sank slightly, and he had a bad premonition.

"Okamura-kun, nice to meet you!"

Yamashita Tomoyuki and Shinozuka Yoshio returned the salute.

Sugiyama Gen said, "Because of the Eighth Route Army's infiltration of the Locust Army's North China Front Army, I didn't notify anyone and sent a plane to pick up Mr. Okamura. It was Mr. Okamura who flew from Wuhan to Peking on his own."

Yamashita Tomoyuki flattered him: "Your Excellency the General is wise, I admire you."

Okamura's visit to North China was such a big deal, but he, the chief of staff of the North China Front Army, was actually unaware of it.

What about the most basic trust between people?

In fact, Yamashita Tomoyuki was unhappy.

But life is like a play, it all depends on your acting skills.

"Okamura-kun, please sit down!"

Sugiyama Motoichi put his hands down, and Okamura Neiji sat on the side seat. A guard brought him a cup of freshly brewed Longjing tea.

Okamura Ningji picked up the teacup and took a sip: "Good tea."

Sugiyama Gen said, "If Okamura-kun likes it, I'll give you a few pounds later."

"Well then," said Okamura Neiji, "thank you, General. You invited me to Peking, but it wasn't just for tea, was it?"

"Yes."

Sugiyama nodded. "I asked Okamura-kun to come to Peking to deal with the Eighth Route Army in northwest Shanxi. Okamura-kun should have heard about the heavy losses suffered by the 14th Division, right?"

"I heard about it." Okamura Neiji nodded. "It's hard to imagine that the Eighth Route Army in the remote northwest of Shanxi Province could be so powerful. Even a first-class unit like the 14th Division was severely damaged."

Those who are not able to plan for the overall situation are not able to plan for a specific area. Although Okamura Yasuji was always in central China, he also kept an eye on the situation in other war zones.

Okamura was shocked by the complete annihilation of the Imperial Guards Mixed Brigade and the heavy damage suffered by the 14th Division by the Eighth Route Army.

Isn't that Tubalu?

Is this combat capability stronger than that of the National Government Army?

Shinozuka Yoshio angrily said: "The Eighth Route Army received assistance. It should be the Soviet Union that provided them with heavy artillery, tanks and ammunition. The Kwantung Army should have attacked and eliminated the Soviet army in the Far East, so that the Eighth Route Army would lose the channel for assistance!"

Okamura narrowed his eyes slightly, a guess forming in his mind, but still needing confirmation: "So, the General invited me to North China to lead his troops in an attack on the Tubalu in northwestern Shanxi?"

Yoshio Shinozuka and Tomoyuki Yamashita on the side looked at Sugiyama Hajime.

If Okamura were to take command, then the troops of the First Army, the Guards Division, the Heavy Artillery Brigade and the North China Front Army would all be under Okamura's command.

"I heard from Commander Hata Shunroku of the Expeditionary Force that Mr. Okamura has just come up with a strategic plan for dealing with China's Fifth and Ninth War Zones?"

Sugiyama was a shrewd man and did not directly answer Okamura's question.

"Yes," Okamura nodded, not denying it. "After the Battle of Wuhan, although the Locust Army captured Wuhan, they didn't achieve their strategic goal of forcing the Nationalist government to surrender. The Battle of Wuhan cost a lot of soldiers and supplies, so it's not advisable to launch another large-scale offensive in a short period of time. However, once the holy war begins, it must not be stopped. So I've been thinking about how to achieve the greatest results at the lowest cost."

"Oh?" Sugiyama Moto was very interested. "I'd like to hear more about it."

Okamura Yasuji glanced at Shinozuka Yoshio and Yamashita Tomoyuki.

"Shinozuka-kun and Yamashita-kun are both reliable," said Sugiyama Gen.

Shinozuka and Yamashita were unhappy, but their expressions did not change at all.

Okamura Yasuji nodded and then said, "The core idea of ​​my research is that a fortress is most easily breached from within. By using various means, including political, military, and spies, we can incite the miscellaneous troops to revolt, isolate the Central Army, which is mainly composed of the young members of the Whampoa Military Academy, and then annihilate the Central Army."

“The gist of the plan is.”

"First, with respect to the enemy forces in the Fifth War Zone, the focus will be on instigating rebellion by the troops in Guangxi and Sichuan, thereby bringing about the collapse of the entire war zone. Secondly, we will influence the Central Army and its affiliated armies within that war zone, and we must also seize every opportunity to carry out our work."

"Second, as for the enemies in the Ninth War Zone, we can use conciliatory methods on the Sichuan Army and the guerrilla forces, and actively carry out strategic propaganda to other armies, so as to guide them to lose their will to fight and surrender or flee..." After Okamura Yasuji finished speaking, Sugiyama Gen raised his hands and applauded, followed by Yamashita Tomoyuki and Shinozuka Yoshio.

Although the two old Japanese were not impressed by Okamura, they both admitted that compared with those imperial officers who only knew how to attack, Okamura Neiji's research results were still of good perspective.

There's something, but not much.

"Mr. Okamura deserves to be called a tactical master." Sugiyama Moto praised.

"Your Excellency the General, thank you for your kind words." Okamura Neiji was secretly pleased, but that was the end of it. He could not reveal the specific task assignments of the 11th Army to Sugiyama Gen.

Sugiyama then revealed his true purpose: "Okamura-kun, I invited you to come to North China this time mainly to ask you to study how to deal with the Tubalu in northwest Shanxi."

Now Okamura Yasuji is still in charge of the Japanese 11th Army with more than troops.

It's okay for him to come to North China for a short period of time, but it's obviously not okay for him to lead troops and fight in North China for a long time.

Unless Okamura Yasuji leads the 11th Army to North China to deal with the Eighth Route Army.

But the headquarters would definitely not agree. There were still hundreds of thousands of national troops in central China, and Okamura needed to lead his troops to deal with them.

Okamura Neiji thought for a moment and said, "Yes, but first I need to understand the strength and equipment of the Eighth Route Army in northwest Shanxi. I also need to read the battle reports of all the battles between the First Army and the Eighth Route Army. In addition, I have to fly to northwest Shanxi to observe the terrain myself."

Although studying strategies and tactics to deal with the enemy is very stressful and brain-consuming, it makes Okamura feel excited and happy.

He received a strict military education since childhood and was determined to become a Japanese samurai and soldier with supreme honor, to make great achievements for the country and to expand the territory of the Great Japanese Empire.

"No problem." Sugiyama nodded happily. "The North China Front Army can meet all of Okamura-kun's requirements."

Yamashita Tomoyuki and Shinozuka Yoshio breathed a sigh of relief.

Since the commander invited Okamura not to take charge, the commander of the attack on northwest Shanxi can only be chosen from among the two of them.

A week later, still at the Japanese North China Front Headquarters.

With dark circles under his eyes, Okamura Yasuji handed a "Shanxi Combat Guidance Outline" to Sugiyama Gen.

"So fast?" Sugiyama Gen was surprised and happy.

What is surprising is Okamura Neiji's work efficiency.

The good news is that Okamura Yasuji not only formulated a guiding outline for attacking the Eighth Route Army in northwestern Shanxi, but also made plans for implementing political and military strategies against the Jinsui Army in western Shanxi and the Central Army in southern Shanxi.

Okamura smiled bitterly: "There are still a lot of things waiting for me to deal with at the 11th Army Headquarters, so I have to work overtime."

"Thank you for your hard work, Okamura-kun." Sugiyama Gen said, "I will report Okamura-kun's work to the headquarters and Tianhuang truthfully."

"Thank you very much, General." Okamura Neiji looked happy.

It was no secret that Sugiyama Hajime was on the shortlist for Army Minister.

As long as Sugiyama Gen can say a few good words for him in front of Tianhuang, all the hard work these days will be worth it.

In Okamura Yasuji's view, only by being promoted to general can he display his true talents.

Sugiyama Gen opened the folder and started reading it, and soon he finished reading it.

The central purpose of this "Outline of Guidance for Shanxi Operations" was to try to destroy the Central Army in Zhongtiao Mountain in a short period of time by first infiltration and then surprise attack.

Using various means, including political, military, and dispatching spies, to incite the Jinsui Army to revolt;
To deal with the general Eighth Route Army bases, they used siege, blockade and economic plunder to compress the Eighth Route Army's main bases, implemented the policy of "cleansing the countryside, encroaching on and sweeping away", and at the same time implemented the "three alls" policy of "burn all, kill all and rob all".

To deal with the two major Eighth Route Army bases in northwest and southeast Shanxi, concentrate the main forces and supplies to encircle and attack them, destroy their main forces and implement the "Three Alls" policy;

If the attack fails, methods such as dropping poison gas bombs from the air can be used to kill a large number of people in northwestern and southeastern Shanxi, thereby reducing the war potential of these two regions.

"Yoshi!"

Sugiyama Gen's eyes lit up, and he immediately had an idea of ​​how to deal with the Chinese army in Shanxi.

"I think it's a bit conservative for them to call Mr. Okamura a master of tactics. He should be called a master of both strategy and tactics." Sugiyama Moto said with a satisfied smile.

Although it was somewhat embarrassing for the commander of the North China Front Army to ask the commander of the 11th Army of the Central China Front Army to guide strategy and tactics.

But Sugiyama Gen was forced into a corner. He himself had average abilities and was promoted to general in the North China Front Army based on his seniority. His teammates, Shinozuka Yoshio and Yamashita Tomoyuki, were even worse than pigs, so he had to ask Okamura for help.

"Your Excellency, General, are too kind," said Neiji Okamura modestly. "How dare I, in front of you, General, call myself a master of both strategy and tactics?"

Sugiyama then asked, "Mr. Okamura, do you have any suggestions on how to eliminate the main forces of the Eighth Route Army in southeastern and northwestern Shanxi?"

(End of this chapter)