Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

In different situations, the two sides have different anti-sweep modes.

"I came here this time to ask for your help."

"Old leader, what are you talking about? Our Eighth Column is just a division. There's no such thing as asking for help or not.

Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun waved their hands immediately.

The two were former subordinates of Yang Quanwu, who had led them during the Red Army era. Furthermore, the 115th Column's predecessor was the st Division, so they shared the same origins. Both evolved from the st Red Army Division and the th Division's Independent Regiment.

Although the 11th Column has now been separated from the 12st Division and the th and th Military Sub-districts of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Region have been established.

But it still has not completely broken away from the scope of a partition.

Most of the current leading cadres of the Eighth Column came from the Independent Regiment of the 115th Division. It can be said that no matter how the Eighth Column is divided, its relationship with the First Division is inseparable.

"How is the ammunition reserve of your Eighth Column?"

"Not bad. We fought a lot of big battles this time and used up a lot of bullets. But we also captured a lot of trophies, so we didn't use much of our stockpiled ammunition. Did the troops in Division 1 use a lot of bullets?"

"Ah."

Yang Quanwu nodded.

He sighed and said, "This time, more than 30 Japanese and puppet troops swept through our Yixi base. The troops suffered heavy casualties and consumed a lot of ammunition. Most of the rounds of ammunition I took from you last time have been used up. Now my ammunition reserves are less than . Combined with the ammunition reserves of the various units below, it is barely enough to fight a counter-mopping-up campaign. This time, our troops' captured limited spoils. The Japanese now know that our troops rely on captured spoils to replenish their forces, so the Japanese and puppet troops have become more and more sophisticated in their control of ammunition, making it increasingly difficult to capture them."

The counter-mopping-up operation in the first division was very difficult.

But compared to history, it's far better. During the Hundred Regiments Campaign, the main force of the First Division fought many tough battles, leaving many units severely weakened. Most importantly, they were running out of ammunition. Even at the very end of the Hundred Regiments Campaign, the troops were running low on bullets. Faced with retaliatory raids by the Japanese, the First Division's counterattacks were already struggling.

But before the First Division troops could breathe a sigh of relief, just two months later in 1941, the Japanese army launched a spring sweep, resulting in heavy casualties for the troops.

It's because I have no bullets.

Without ammunition, weapons became mere firewood. After the Hundred Regiments Campaign and the 1941 mopping-up campaign, the First Division of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Frontier was severely weakened. Its main regiments, like the First and Third Regiments, were no longer able to fight major battles. The troops didn't regain their strength until late 1943. Unfortunately, in 1944, when the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei base area was reorganized into four major military regions, Yang Quanwu left his familiar home to assume command of the shattered Hebei-Central Military Region.

But this time and space were different. Before the Hundred Regiments Campaign, the First Division had already stockpiled ammunition. In particular, they had traded with the North China Security Army, exchanging a large amount of ammunition from the puppet army.

As a result, although the troops of the First Division fought many tough battles during the Hundred Regiments Campaign, they still had ample ammunition reserves until the Japanese army launched a retaliatory sweep. The combat effectiveness of the troops of the First Division was very strong.

As long as they have enough ammunition, they will be the first-class main force in the Eighth Route Army.

After the Hundred Regiments Campaign ended, Yang Quanwu worried about a Japanese raid. He therefore exchanged another 30 rounds of ammunition from the Eighth Column. During this massive Japanese raid, the First Division's troops had no shortage of ammunition. As a result, each unit performed exceptionally well in the counter-raid, annihilating a large number of Japanese and puppet troops.

The Japanese army's withdrawal from the First Division's base was rather hasty. Furthermore, the 21st and 33rd Divisions moved southward, leaving the North China Front Army, significantly weakening the North China Front Army's control over Hebei. As a result, the First Division's base area actually expanded significantly after the counter-mopping-up operation.

Yang Quanwu is a leader with a strong sense of crisis.

He needed to consider the next phase of the battle. The First Division currently possessed tens of thousands of main forces, but Yang Quanwu's ammunition reserves were severely insufficient. So he approached the Eighth Column. If any division in the Jin-Cha-Yi Military Region had ammunition reserves, it would undoubtedly be the Eighth Column.

"Old leader, we will give the First Division 30 rounds of ammunition."

Wei Hongjun thought about it and told the amount of ammunition that the 8th Column could bear.

"Do you have enough ammunition?"

"There won't be any problems in the short term. Old leader, did our Red Army ever dig tunnels and blow down city walls when attacking cities?

"Yes. You joined the main force late, so you didn't participate in some battles. As you know, the Red Army lacked heavy weapons at the time, and even less siege weapons. Attacking a city was extremely difficult, especially by force. So, the troops came up with a plan to attack the city. They dug tunnels all the way to the bottom of the city walls. Then they buried a large amount of explosives underneath, using the explosives to collapse the walls or blow a hole in them."

Yang Quanwu is about the same age as Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun.

But the qualifications are completely different.

When Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun were still fighting with the main force in the Red Guards, Yang Quanwu had already joined the Red Fourth Army and became a Party member. Therefore, he also participated in many battles of the main force.

Yang Quanwu was familiar with the history of the Red Fourth Army and the combat history of the Central Red Army. He introduced some examples of the Red Army's sieges to Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun.

Then he asked doubtfully, "Why are you asking this?"

Wei Hongjun looked at the map and said, "Old leader, look at the situation in Chahar. Currently, there are only about 26 Japanese troops entrenched in Zhangjiakou, Huaian, Xuanhua, Wanquan, and other places. The 13th Regiment of the 1500th Division of the Japanese Army in Jining has only about people. Therefore, our next plan is to concentrate our forces to eat these pieces of meat. However, if a siege is launched, all kinds of problems will arise. So we want to understand all possible methods.

"You are very ambitious."

Yang Quanwu was shocked at first. After all, although the Eighth Route Army had captured many counties since crossing the Yellow River, it had never conquered any real big cities.

Zhangjiakou certainly cannot compare to Beijing, Tianjin, Baoding, Shijiazhuang, or cities like Taiyuan and Datong in Shanxi. But Zhangjiakou is also a regional center city, the central city of Chahar.

If Zhangjiakou is captured, there will be no substantial benefits.

Just like the Japanese army's supplies in Zhangjiakou, especially military supplies. There is also a more important benefit, that is, political benefits.

How big the impact will be.

However, looking at the map, Yang Quanwu nodded.

Zhangjiakou is in a very delicate situation now.

The Japanese army only had a few thousand troops in Zhangjiakou, Huaian, Xuanhua, and other places. And all around them were Eighth Route Army troops. With adequate preparation, it wasn't necessarily impossible to capture Zhangjiakou.

Once the Eighth Column really captured Zhangjiakou, the entire Chahar would be under the control of the Eighth Column. In this way, the various bases of the Eighth Column could be connected into one, and the Eighth Column would also have a stable rear area.

More importantly, once the 8th Column captures Zhangjiakou, the Pingsui Road will be completely cut off.

"If you can capture Zhangjiakou, the Japanese army will have to cancel the designation of the Mongolian Garrison. However, you cannot act blindly. If you really want to attack the city, you must be fully prepared. Don't forget the lessons of our Central Red Army.

"Yes."

"Look, I took your 30 rounds of ammunition, but I can't take them for nothing. I'll ask for you and see if I can find any engineers who have carried out tunnel digging and blasting operations before. If I find any, I'll transfer them to your th Column. If you really want to use this method, you must have a professional engineering team. Digging tunnels under the city walls is not so easy to do."

"Thank you, old leader."

Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun were very happy.

Quickly thank Yang Quanwu.

Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun were currently considering capturing Huaian and Xuanhua, leaving Zhangjiakou isolated. However, while the Japanese forces in Huaian and Xuanhua were small, they still numbered around 500 men. Taking them would be difficult.

It would be a good thing if we could get help from an experienced engineering team.

"Also, winter is coming soon. Our first division will provide you with some cotton cloth."

Yang Quanwu has always liked to have a give-and-take approach when doing things.

Having taken 30 rounds of ammunition from the Eighth Column, Yang Quanwu must have given the same thing to the Eighth Column. Previously, Yang Quanwu had used a well-trained teaching brigade to exchange for ammunition, but during this period, the First Division suffered heavy casualties, including casualties among grassroots cadres. So, this time, Yang Quanwu chose a different approach.

The First Division was a relatively wealthy military division in Jin-Cha-Ji.

In comparison, Chahar was poor, truly poor. The food the troops in Chahar ate was poor because the land was poor. The best crop they could grow was corn, with little room for wheat.

So Yang Quanwu planned to allocate some cotton cloth to the Eighth Column.

"Oh, old leader. If you could give us some cotton cloth, it would help us solve a big problem.

Chapter 387 Reorganization of the Chabei Detachment

The current Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, while a unified one, suffers from poor communications. Consequently, communication between the region and its subordinate military sub-districts, and between the sub-districts themselves, is rare in peacetime, and even sporadic in wartime. Consequently, each sub-district operates largely independently, wielding considerable power.

In the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, the military sub-districts under it are the real lords.

The leaders of a military sub-district are basically the top officials of the Party, government, and military of the sub-district. They can manage all matters of the sub-district.

The military region will not interfere in many matters.

Not to mention the second-level military sub-districts, even the individual regiments under them wielded considerable power within their own defense zones. This was due to the unique nature of the War of Resistance and the poor communication conditions. Some orders, once issued by a military sub-district, would take days to reach the regiments of the subordinate military sub-districts.

If they are imposed too many rules and regulations by their superiors, they will lose the initiative on the battlefield.

Therefore, the various military sub-districts in the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region currently have limited coordination, with each sub-district acting independently. Even during wartime, cooperation between the sub-districts is extremely limited.

Just like when the Japanese army swept through a certain military sub-district, the other military sub-districts were limited in their actions. The shortage of manpower in the North China Front Army began to appear in 1938, but the Eighth Route Army units were unable to make good use of this advantage.

It's because there is too little cooperation between each other.

This is due to both poor communications and the fact that each military sub-district has its own interests.

As a result of poor communications, the Japanese army would have already been sweeping through other military divisions for a day or two before they could even get word. By the time the orders from those divisions reached the regiments below, it would be another while longer. Opportunities were fleeting, and delays like this made coordination impossible.

Another thing is that everyone has their own interests and their own little calculations.

However, this situation was detrimental to the development of the entire base area and the anti-Japanese war. This is why the reorganization of several military districts occurred in 44. However, the First Division and the Eighth Column share a common origin, and Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun are both former subordinates of Yang Quanwu. Therefore, currently, there is frequent cooperation between the First Division, the 11th Military District, and the 12th Military District.

Whether in peacetime or during counter-mopping-up operations, the cooperation between these three military sub-districts is very close.

That didn't happen.

This time, the Eighth Column provided 30 rounds of ammunition, and the First Division provided a batch of cotton cloth. This batch of cotton cloth could almost meet one-third of the Eighth Column's needs. The two sides truly complemented each other's strengths.

The 8th Column fought several ambushes and completely wiped out the enemy within the encirclement, resulting in a rich supply of spoils. Furthermore, the 8th Column already had ample ammunition reserves, making it one of the best in the Eighth Route Army. However, the 8th Column was poor, and supplies like cloth were scarce.

And one district has money.

The base area of ​​the First Division even expanded to the edge of the base areas of East Hebei and Central Hebei. Therefore, the First Division had abundant supplies.

This time, the First Division used the supplies in its hands to exchange for bullets from the Eighth Column, and both sides benefited.

After finishing up the work with the First Division, Wei Hongjun and Wang Qiuyun discussed the affairs of the Chabei Detachment. The Chabei Detachment had suffered a heavy blow this time, and the Column should provide more support to the Chabei Detachment.

Of course, another major reason is that the importance of the Chabei Detachment has increased a lot.

The Chabei Detachment now controls four county towns, as well as the towns and villages to the north and west of Zhangjiakou. The population of the base area is approaching 500,000.

"Old Wei, my idea is to get the Chabei Detachment back to full strength as quickly as possible. Especially the Sixth and Seventh Independent Regiments. We can't let them recover slowly. If we wait for them to recover on their own, it will take more than half a year. That's too long, and we can't wait. We'll still need the Chabei Detachment when we capture Huaian."

Wei Hongjun nodded.

Now that the 8th Column has such a great advantage in Chahar, it certainly needs to make a concerted effort.

Since we want to make a concerted effort, we must support the Chabei Detachment in regaining its strength. Therefore, Wei Hongjun said, "This time, the New Fourth, New Sixth, Sixth Independent, and Seventh Independent Regiments have all suffered heavy losses, with heavy casualties among the officers and soldiers. What do you think about merging these four units? The New Fourth and Seventh Independent Regiments can be merged to form the Seventh Independent Regiment, and the New Sixth and Sixth Independent Regiments can be merged to form the Sixth Independent Regiment."

"good idea."

Wang Qiuyun nodded repeatedly.

This is a good idea.

The Sixth and Seventh Independent Regiments were heavily staffed with veterans, as they were the mainstays of the Chabei Detachment. Many of these soldiers came from guerrilla warfare in the Chabei region. While their offensive capabilities were limited, they were veterans of years of combat. The Chabei Detachment's problem was that, having long fought guerrilla warfare in small units, they were unaccustomed to large-scale operations. Their commanders had no experience with large-scale operations, and neither did their lower-level commanders. Precisely because of this lack of experience, they performed poorly in offensive operations, suffering heavy casualties. Meanwhile, the New Fourth and New Sixth Regiments, while largely comprised of new recruits, boasted highly qualified commanders, both in their companies and platoons. After all, these were grassroots cadres trained by Yang Quanwu's Second Training Battalion, established in the First Division, and the Eighth Column's Training Battalion.

Before joining the training brigade, they were already grassroots commanders in the army. Some of them, along with some veterans with good performance, had combat experience and had studied at the training brigade. It could be said that if the Sixth and Seventh Independent Regiments could be merged with the New Fourth and New Sixth Regiments, it would be beneficial for both sides.

Once reorganized in this way, the Sixth and Seventh Independent Regiments will be able to immediately return to their size of more than two people.

As long as the two forces can be integrated as quickly as possible, the combat effectiveness of the forces can be restored. And once the integration is complete, the combat effectiveness will be even stronger than before.

"Huang Yanjun will continue to command the 6th Independent Regiment, and Shi Mangui will be the commander of the 7th Independent Regiment. After Zhang Shan is discharged from the hospital, he will come to the column headquarters for some training. What position do you think Cao should take on when he is transferred to the Chabei Detachment?"

The commander of the 7th Independent Regiment, Zhao Junyou, was killed, and the commander of the 6th New Regiment, Zhang Shan, was seriously injured.

Therefore, Wang Qiuyun arranged for Shi Mangui, the commander of the New Fourth Regiment, to take over as the commander of the Independent Seventh Regiment. As for Zhang Shan, who had been fighting in the front lines for many years, returning to the column headquarters to study for a period of time after being injured was also a good thing for his future.