Anti-Japanese War: I have unlimited assistance

Beiping.

The heavily guarded Iron Lion Alley.

Japanese North China Front Headquarters.

Looking at all the first-hand information about the Eighth Route Army in his hands, the new commander of the North China Front Army, Lieutenant General Tada Shun, looked solemn.

Although he was promoted from commander of the 3rd Army of the Kwantung Army to commander of the North China Front Army.

He also brought the 12th Division from outside the Great Wall to North China, strengthening the strength of the North China Front Army.

but,

General Sugiyama Hajime, who was removed from his post as commander of the North China Front Army, left him a huge mess in North China.

First of all, the main force of the North China Front Army suffered heavy losses in the last Battle of Taiyuan and the Battle of Northwest Shanxi.

The main force of the entire North China Front Army, consisting of about 20 people, lost more than 7 people in two battles.

This was not the most uncomfortable thing for Tada Shun, after all, the lost troops could be replenished at any time.

What Tada Shun found most difficult was the combat effectiveness of the Eighth Route Army.

According to the assessment of the General Staff, the total losses of the Eighth Route Army in the Taiyuan Campaign and the Northwest Shanxi Campaign did not exceed 1.6 people.

of course,

The North China Front Army Headquarters announced that 10 Eighth Route Army soldiers were wiped out and the North China Front Army lost 1 soldiers.

But this first-hand assessment information immediately made Tada Shun feel like a thorn in his back, a lump in his throat, and a thorn in his heart.

The strength of the Eighth Route Army was beyond his expectations.

Even if he took over the North China Front Army, it would be difficult to change the situation of the Eighth Route Army's powerful firepower.

"Kasahara-kun, what do you think about the strength of the Eighth Route Army?"

Taking a deep breath, Tada Shun regained his expressionless face and looked at Major General Kasahara Yukio, the new chief of staff of the North China Front Army.

After the last defeat of the North China Front Army, Sugiyama Hajime, Yamashita Tomoyuki and Mutō Akira were all dismissed from their posts.

Kasahara Yukio said solemnly, "Commander, the Eighth Route Army's presence has seriously threatened the Locust Army's rule in North China. Moreover, the Eighth Route Army's strength is increasing very rapidly. In just two years, it will be able to compete with our North China Front Army. If it is not restrained, in a year or two at most, the Eighth Route Army will have the strength to devour our North China Front Army."

"If countermeasures are not taken soon, North China will become the domain of the Eight Route Army."

As the chief of staff of the North China Front Army, Yukio Kasahara naturally read all the information about the Eighth Route Army.

Yukio Kasahara said with horror that Li Yunlong of the Eighth Route Army killed 10 locust soldiers and more than a dozen locust army generals in just two years.

"Li Yunlong..."

Tada Shun narrowed his eyes, his gaze filled with a cold murderous intent.

He had heard of this name when he was the commander of the Third Army of the Kwantung Army. This man caused great losses to the Locust Army.

Now, this person has become a serious threat to the North China Front Army.

"Mr. Kasahara, has your staff come up with any tactics to deal with the Eighth Route Army?" Tada Shun asked in a deep voice, suppressing his murderous intent towards Li Yunlong.

He wanted to kill not only Li Yunlong, but all the Eighth Route Army in North China, completely end the security war in North China, and make North China a base for supplying food, minerals and human resources to fraternal countries.

Rather than the burden of transporting troops and combat supplies to North China by our fraternal countries.

Kasahara Yukio was prepared for this and handed over a folder. "Commander, please take a look. I found this while sorting through the materials. Colonel Yamamoto Ikki, Deputy Chief of Staff of the First Army, submitted a cage plan to the headquarters earlier this year to attack the Eighth Route Army base. However, it was rejected by General Sugiyama Hajime. I believe this plan has many advantages."

"Oh?" Tada Shun's expression changed. "Cage Plan?"

Immediately, Tada Shun took the plan and looked at it carefully.

As soon as he opened the folder, Tada Shun's eyes lit up slightly.

The first few pages weren't a battle plan, but an analysis of the war situation in North China. The handwriting was neat and powerful, the ideas were clear and concise, the foresight was rigorous and thorough, and there were both statistical data and situation assessments. Tian Jun nodded frequently with satisfaction as he read through it.

After the battle situation analysis, the specific content of the Cage Plan is introduced:

By building a transportation network with railways as the main body, highways as chains, and bunkers as locks, the Eighth Route Army's anti-Japanese base areas were divided into small pieces, so as to carry out regional mopping-up operations militarily, strengthen the ruling role of the puppet organizations politically, and strictly blockade the anti-Japanese base areas economically.

Specific measures of the ball cage policy include:
First, build a transportation network: using railways as pillars, roads as chains, and bunkers as locks, a network cage was formed, extending from enemy-occupied areas to guerrilla zones and anti-Japanese bases.

Second, building infrastructure: The Japanese army repaired and constructed a large number of railways and roads in North China, built a large number of bunkers and strongholds, and dug rivers and ditches on both sides of the roads to form a blockade line.

Third, blockade and mopping up: through means such as blockade ditches and blockade walls, cut off the internal and external connections of the anti-Japanese base areas, and implement zoned mopping up and encroachment.

Not long after, Tada Shun finished reading the plan, and after a few minutes of thought, he said:

"This battle plan is good, but it still has some shortcomings."

"Yamamoto is still too conservative. On top of this, we must also implement burning, killing, and looting in key areas to create no-man's land and cut off the masses from the Eighth Route Army."

"In addition, we must promote household registration, implement the system of one household being publicly identified, and collective responsibility for the entire household, and establish a self-defense corps for the locust regime to monitor the people."

Yukio Kasahara's expression froze, Tada Shun was indeed ruthless enough.

At the same time, he felt relieved. Now that he had a strategy to deal with the Eighth Route Army, he, as the chief of staff, didn't have to rack his brains thinking about tactics.

Kasahara Yukio added, "The Eighth Route Army's weapons and equipment are top-notch, even better than those of the Locust Army. Ordinary blockade methods like brick and stone bunkers and artillery towers won't work. Concrete bunkers and artillery towers are essential."

"Concrete bunkers and artillery towers are not enough to deal with the main bases of the Eighth Route Army in southeastern Shanxi and northwestern Shanxi. We must build fortresses to trap the Eighth Route Army."

"Whether it's building a fortress or building concrete bunkers and artillery towers, we must have a large amount of strategic materials such as cement and steel. Currently, our North China Front Army does not have so many strategic materials."

"You can apply to the headquarters to mobilize strategic materials from the Kwantung Army." Tada Shun's expression did not fluctuate at all. Although the North China Front Army was poor, the Kwantung Army was rich and had built 17 fortresses in the northeastern border area.

In order to protect the vast territory of North China, the headquarters will inevitably tilt strategic materials towards the North China Front Army.

He pointed to the map and said, "To deal with the Eighth Route Army's southeastern and northwestern Shanxi units, we mainly build fortresses and concrete blockhouses. To deal with the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, we mainly build concrete fortifications. To deal with the Eighth Route Army's secondary military region, we mainly build concrete fortifications, supplemented by brick and stone artillery towers. To deal with the Eighth Route Army guerrillas, building brick and stone artillery towers is sufficient."

"Especially around Taiyuan, a large number of fortifications must be built."

"A fortress must be built in the area around Niangzi Pass and in the area around Yanggao County northwest of Datong to prevent the Eighth Route Army from attacking North China from these two locations in the future."

Kasahara Yukio suddenly lowered his head: "Hi!" (End of this chapter)