Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

After Xu Luomin explained the current situation, Wang Qiuyun spoke, "After discussions with the Political Commissar, the Chief of Staff, and I, we believe that if we allow the Japanese to continue advancing at their current pace, our space for maneuver will be severely compressed. Worse still, it will cause significant damage to our base area. The Japanese military's current operational objectives are clear: to heavily control the main transportation lines and rebuild fortifications along them. To stop the Japanese, the column has decided to organize a decisive annihilation campaign with the Cha'nan and Cha'dong detachments. We aim to annihilate at least one Japanese battalion."

After becoming the commander of the North China Front Army, Ningji Okamura continued to implement the fortress tactics.

Want to build bunkers on a large scale in North China.

However, the Japanese casualties during the Hundred Regiments Campaign were heavy. Furthermore, the Japanese army had been engaged in constant combat and casualties for a year, so their bunker-building tactics were not very successful. Especially in the Chahar region, the Japanese army was unable to control those key strongholds. Due to insufficient manpower, they even lost many county towns, let alone other areas. Without control over these key locations, building bunkers was impossible.

But this time, Ningji Okamura planned to carry out the mopping-up and construction of the fort at the same time.

Although the Eighth Route Army devised numerous tactics for breaching the bunkers, many of which proved highly effective, they were also at a significant disadvantage. They had a large number of captured infantry guns, but many units were short of ammunition.

The same goes for mortars. The Hundred Regiments Campaign fired so many shells that all units are now seriously short of them. If the Japanese had too many bunkers, it would have had a significant impact on the Eighth Route Army.

The Eighth Column has the advantage in Chahar, but still does not want too many bunkers to appear in the base area.

Because there were so many forts, the Eighth Route Army's deployment was severely restricted. Any movement by the main force would be detected by the Japanese troops in those forts. What was the greatest strength of the Red Army, the Eighth Route Army, and later the People's Liberation Army?

It's mobile warfare.

Mobility is the magic weapon of the Red Army, the Eighth Route Army and the People's Liberation Army.

However, the Japanese army's bunker tactics restricted the Eighth Route Army's mobility.

After Wang Qiuyun finished speaking, Xu Luomin wrote on the map, "The column has decided that the Chanan Detachment will launch a heavy attack on Kangzhuang Station. After the Japanese army occupied Kangzhuang Station, they began to rebuild their stronghold here. This is the core stronghold of the Japanese army in this area. If we launch a heavy attack here, the surrounding Japanese troops will definitely send reinforcements. At that time, the Chadong Detachment can select one of these reinforcements and annihilate it."

When the Japanese Army's 215th Regiment raided the Chadong base, Kangzhuang Station was one of the most important locations.

Currently, the 215st Battalion of the th Regiment is stationed here.

Started to restore Kangzhuang Station.

"Can the Chadong Detachment gather its troops?"

Wang Qiuyun asked Zhang Dahu.

During the Japanese raids, it was common for the headquarters to lose contact with the troops below because the Eighth Route Army had limited communication facilities and not every unit was equipped with a radio.

During a war, many troops will fight on their own.

Gathering the troops was not an easy task. The Japanese army was currently pressing in, with the 215th and 244th Regiments entering the Chadong Detachment. Although one battalion of the 215th Regiment was annihilated by the Chadong Detachment, the Japanese still had five battalions with over troops.

At this time, the Eighth Route Army generally adopted a dispersed breakout approach.

Many people, when reading the history of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, wonder why the Eighth Route Army failed to coordinate well despite the numerous loopholes in the Japanese army. If the Eighth Route Army had coordinated well, they would have been able to exploit the loopholes in the Japanese army and inflict heavy damage on them.

In fact, it is because the message is difficult to convey.

The communication conditions are too poor.

During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the abilities of generals were actually tested the most.

Because some people are born to fight. They are very sensitive to the battlefield and can judge how to move and fight even when there is no intelligence.

Zhang Dahu said, "The First and Second Special Agent Regiments, the Cavalry Regiment, and the Guerrilla Detachment are all currently scattered across the country, making it difficult to notify them immediately. However, we can notify the 26th and New First Regiments. Together with the Guard Regiment, we should be able to gather around people."

"Five thousand people are enough."

Five thousand people are enough to ambush a Japanese battalion.

In particular, the 26th Regiment and the New st Regiment are the main force of the Chadong Detachment.

"What about the Chanan Detachment?"

"Commander, Political Commissar, all the troops of our Chanan Detachment can be mobilized."

The Chanan Detachment currently has no combat missions other than the siege of Xuanhua.

Wang Qiuyun said, "Then transfer the 16th, 25th, and 38th Regiments to participate in the attack on Kangzhuang Station.

"Yes."

Seeing that the deployment tasks were almost completed, Wei Hongjun began to speak: "It has been four years since the July 7 Incident. I believe everyone has felt that the combat effectiveness of the new recruits added by the Japanese army is getting worse and worse. Because the casualties of the Japanese army are increasing, the training time for the new recruits of the Japanese army is getting shorter and shorter. In the past year, the North China Front Army has suffered nearly 100,000 casualties in North China, so that many Japanese troops have not had time to add new recruits. For example, the Independent Mixed 2nd Brigade is called a mixed brigade, but in fact, their total strength is only more than 2,000 people. This is because the speed of recruiting new recruits cannot keep up with the speed of their casualties. The current situation of the North China Front Army is that the casualties are too great, and the recruitment of new recruits cannot keep up with the speed of casualties. After the recruitment, there is no time for training before they have to go to the battlefield. As a result, the combat effectiveness of these new recruits is poor, leading to increased casualties. This has become a vicious cycle for the Japanese army.

And once this vicious cycle begins, it will not stop until the Japanese army is defeated. In other words, the situation of the Japanese army will only get worse and worse, and there will be no improvement. "

"From the intelligence we have now, the Japanese army is determined to continue its southward advance, and its troops have entered the Indochina Peninsula. They have already received warnings from Britain and the United States. Based on the current situation, I judge that there will be a conflict between the Japanese army and Britain and the United States sooner or later, and the time will not be too far away. As long as Japan clashes with Britain and the United States, a large part of the Japanese army will be tied up there. At that time, Japan will not be able to continue to increase the strength of the North China Front Army, and the North China Front Army will continue to maintain its current size. This means that as long as we can eliminate more Japanese troops, the North China Front Army's shortage of troops will continue to worsen. Even if new recruits are added, their combat effectiveness will decline."

"Chairman Mao said in his On Protracted War that the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression is a protracted war and will have three stages: the strategic defensive stage, the strategic stalemate stage, and the strategic counterattack stage. We are currently in the strategic stalemate stage, and this stage requires us to continuously eliminate the Japanese army's manpower. The more manpower we consume, the more their strength will decline. Once we have survived this period, our resistance against Japanese aggression will enter the strategic counterattack stage."

"The commander and I are planning to destroy two Japanese battalions in this battle. One is the 215st Battalion of the th Regiment of the Japanese Army in Kangzhuang Station, and the other is to ambush a reinforcement of the Japanese army. As long as we can win this battle, the Japanese army's sweep of the Chadong base will be completely thwarted. At that time, we will have an absolute advantage against the Japanese army in Chahar."

The column decided to fight a major battle in Chadong, which was related to Wei Hongjun's judgment of the situation.

The Pearl Harbor attack was about to happen.

The outbreak of the Pearl Harbor incident was inevitable.

This had nothing to do with the lack of strategic vision among the Japanese military leadership or the fanaticism of the Japanese military. Ever since the Japanese army entered Indochina and began eyeing the Malacca Strait, Britain and the United States had been preparing for a fallout with Japan. Consequently, the United States began to suspend trade with Japan and stopped exporting strategic materials to the country.

Even if the United States hadn't cut off Japan's strategic material exports, a falling out between Japan and the United States would have been inevitable. Because Japan was now deeply mired in the Chinese war, its finances had essentially collapsed. Its gold reserves and foreign exchange reserves had also been depleted, leaving it with no money to continue purchasing strategic materials from the United States.

Without American war supplies, Japan's war machine could not be mobilized. Japan's only option now was to move south and obtain supplies in Southeast Asia. However, Southeast Asia was British and American territory, and Japan's southward move would infringe upon British and American interests.

Japan is in such a dilemma today.

If they didn't move south, they wouldn't have the money to buy more supplies, and without supplies, they couldn't continue the war. However, to obtain supplies, they had no choice but to move south, obtaining them from Southeast Asia. But if Japan moved south, it would inevitably fall out with Britain and the United States. Since the Japanese army entered Indochina, the United States had warned Japan several times to stop its southward advance.

Therefore, the Pearl Harbor incident was the total outbreak of the conflict between the United States and Japan.

At this point, the outbreak of the Pearl Harbor incident was beyond human control.

Once Pearl Harbor broke out, the Japanese army mobilized a large number of troops to Southeast Asia and the Pacific. This wasn't just from Japan; the Kwantung Army, the North China Front Army, and the South China Front Army would also mobilize significant forces. While this period was also the Eighth Route Army's most difficult time, the Japanese army's strength in China also began to decline significantly during this period. This was because after Japan mobilized many divisions from China, some of the mixed brigades left behind were expanded into new divisions.

The transferred divisions have stronger combat effectiveness.

The subsequent expansion of the division based on the mixed brigade saw a rapid increase in the proportion of new recruits. After all, the mixed brigade was a unit of around 5,000 men, while the expanded three-command division had over 10,000 men. A large number of new recruits were needed to complete the expansion.

Therefore, the combat effectiveness of these newly expanded divisions is not as good as that of the transferred divisions.

In other words, the North China Front's strength will decline in the future. Although the North China Front maintains a force of approximately 200,000, its combat effectiveness is not as high as before. Furthermore, because the Pacific War and Southeast Asia have tied up too much of the Japanese army's manpower and energy, the Japanese army's troop strength in China will not increase in the next few years. The Japanese army will continue to lack sufficient troops on the Chinese battlefield. After a year of attacks, the North China Front has seen an increasing proportion of new recruits, which has directly hindered its combat effectiveness.

you could put it that way.

The current situation of the North China Front Army is that the more casualties it suffers, the more new recruits it has, and the lower its combat effectiveness. As combat effectiveness declines, casualties in battle increase, and the number of new recruits increases. This has become a vicious cycle that the North China Front Army cannot resolve.

Therefore, the more Japanese troops we kill in the current situation, the greater the blow to the North China Front Army.

It was precisely for this reason that Wei Hongjun decided to fight this battle. It would be better to cut off one finger than to injure ten. If they completely destroyed a Japanese battalion, it would be difficult for the Japanese to recover. If they were to recruit new soldiers, their combat effectiveness would decline significantly.

1941 9 Month 28 Day.

The Eighth Column is really very strong in the Chahar area.

Currently, over 80% of the county towns surrounding Zhangjiakou are controlled by the 8th Column, not to mention the rural areas. The Mongolian garrison is currently severely undermanned, and the grassroots puppet regimes they previously established in the Chahar region were destroyed by the 8th Column. Currently, over 90% of the towns and villages in Chahar are under the control of the 8th Column. Furthermore, the Eighth Route Army is very skilled in establishing bases. They don't just take control of anything, they consider it a base.

The Eighth Route Army had a local government in its base area and also established a bunch of other institutions.

Such as the Women's Rescue Association, the Youth Rescue Association, the Anti-Japanese Children's Corps, etc.

These institutions were very wary of outsiders. It could be said that the base area built by the Eighth Route Army was like a fortress. It was not easy for the Japanese army to extract intelligence from the base area.

This is the people's war of the Eighth Route Army.

Mobilize all the people in the base area to monitor those outsiders.

This time too.

The Chanan Detachment mobilized the 16th, 25th, and 38th Regiments, three units totaling men. Together with the heavy weapons units supported by the column, this time the force totaled over men. To achieve concealment, the troops employed a strategy of hiding during the day and moving at night.

As a result, this massive troop movement went completely unnoticed by the Japanese. The 8th Column had squeezed the troops stationed in Mongolia into a small area around Zhangjiakou. Besides Zhangjiakou, the Japanese controlled the counties of Xuanhua and Huaian. All other counties and rural areas were under the control of the Eighth Route Army. Even Eighth Route Army guerrillas were operating outside Zhangjiakou, right under the nose of the Mongolian garrison headquarters.

The troops stationed in Mongolia even worried about the safety of Zhangjiakou.

Under such circumstances, the troops stationed in Mongolia were really powerless to do anything about the deployment of the Eighth Column.

Not much information was obtained.

至于目前扫荡察东根据地的36师团的224联队和33师团的215联队，33师团是为了中条山战役从华中方面军调过来的，36师团是一直驻扎在河南豫北一带的。这两支部队对于察哈尔这边更是不熟悉。

As a result, the Japanese army did not discover this until the troops of the Chanan Detachment began to attack the strongholds around Kangzhuang Station.

There are just a few more troops stationed at Kangzhuang Station now.

But it is still a ruin.

During the Hundred Regiments Campaign, all important facilities here were bombed. Over the next year, local residents carried off everything they had. It wasn't until a month ago that the Japanese army reoccupied Kangzhuang.

It is not easy to rebuild the station in such ruins.

The Japanese began constructing bunkers and rebuilding the station. However, due to the short time available, many projects were only half-finished. However, the Chanan Detachment was different. For this attack, they brought in all their infantry and artillery.

The Japanese army was caught off guard.

The Eighth Route Army's combat effectiveness was inferior to that of the Japanese, not only due to inferior training but also due to inferior weapons and equipment. But this battle was different. The Chanan Detachment mobilized the main force regiments of the Eighth Column, all of which were veterans with hundreds of battles.

Very rich combat experience.

We have also fought many big, tough and fierce battles.

The 33rd Division participated in the Battle of Zhongtiaoshan and suffered heavy casualties, so a large number of new soldiers were recruited. As a result, many of the new recruits in the 33th Regiment of the 215rd Division had less combat experience than the Eighth Route Army troops, and many had been in the army for less than six months.

And in terms of weapons and equipment, the Chanan Detachment's equipment this time is really not bad.

Because of the support of the column, the unit's heavy weapons, such as infantry guns, flat-fire guns, mortars, grenade launchers, and heavy machine guns, were no less numerous than those of the 215st Battalion of the th Regiment. More importantly, the Chanan Detachment was well prepared for battle.

Chapter 384 Take the initiative

The Japanese troops were completely unprepared.

Apart from building a few strongholds and bunkers at Kangzhuang Station, the various defense measures were not complete.

The difference in numbers is even greater.

The three main regiments of the Chanan Detachment, plus the heavy weapons units supporting the column, totaled over 10,000 men. The Japanese army at Kangzhuang Station consisted of only a battalion of around 1,000 men. Furthermore, these 1,000 Japanese troops were not all stationed at Kangzhuang Station. They were dispersed among several strongholds surrounding the station, defending it.

Therefore, after being raided by the Chanan Detachment, the strongholds around Kangzhuang Station were quickly defeated.

Those strongholds had at most a squadron of Japanese soldiers, and some had only a small team of Japanese soldiers, with at most some puppet troops. When such strongholds faced the bombardment of the Chanan Detachment's infantry artillery, how could they possibly withstand so many Eighth Route Army troops?

In less than half a day, the Chanan Detachment successively captured six strongholds around Kangzhuang Station, annihilating more than 500 Japanese troops. Together with the puppet troops, the number of annihilated troops exceeded 1,000. The Japanese army was caught off guard, just like the Hundred Regiments Campaign.

The Japanese army never expected that so many troops would raid Kangzhuang Station.

The Japanese used strongholds and bunkers to divide the Eighth Route Army base, dealing a heavy blow to the Eighth Route Army base. However, these strongholds and bunkers caused the Japanese army to disperse its forces and lack mobile forces. After all, each stronghold and bunker required troops to be stationed.

If a county had a large group of Japanese soldiers, all gathered in the county seat, then with the current strength of the Eighth Route Army, even mobilizing three or four regiments might not be able to capture the county seat. However, the Japanese army had many strongholds and bunkers here, so the troops would be very dispersed. It would appear that there were Japanese troops everywhere, but in fact, the number of troops was small.

This is currently the case around Kangzhuang Station.