Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

But even if we can't fight, it's still an army.

There is no other way.

Cao Changchen was already frowning.

Of course he understood what Umezu Mijiro meant.

But this wasn't the answer he wanted. The Eighth Route Army was becoming increasingly powerful, having already captured Zhangjiakou and Baoding, and now they were eyeing Tangshan. Facing such an Eighth Route Army force, forming an independent security force was pointless.

Maybe if the Eighth Route Army fired a few shots, these people would scatter.

"Okay, I'll leave this matter to you. I can approve the formation of five independent guard corps by the Defense Force in advance, and you can start forming them now. If your Defense Force feels that the number of people is insufficient, you can expand the Manchurian Defense Force. Build a few more brigades of the Manchurian Defense Force and send them to Rehe and Jidong. In any case, this time we must cooperate with the North China Front Army to protect Tangshan."

"Yes."

After Kusaba Tatsu left the Kwantung Army Headquarters, his face became very ugly.

Five independent garrisons? A few more brigades of the Manchurian National Defense Army?

"Commander, what should we do now?"

"Chengde, Kuancheng, and Zunhua will each dispatch a garrison battalion. The Iron Stone Corps will dispatch its infantry and cavalry brigades, as well as the 5th and 6th Brigades of the Manchurian National Defense Army, all of which will be dispatched to reinforce Tangshan and encircle and suppress the Eighth Route Army troops stationed there. While these troops are being dispatched south, the rest of the 9th Garrison Corps, the rest of the Iron Stone Corps, and the police battalion will be on high alert to guard against an attack by the Eighth Route Army in Rehe.

Caochang Chenyi had no choice but to send troops south.

But he was still worried about withdrawing so many troops. Although he had been sending troops to Rehe continuously during this period, and had finally controlled the worsening situation in Rehe, the group tribe they had worked hard to build for several years was completely destroyed by the Eighth Route Army.

As a result, the rural areas of Rehe are currently dominated by the Eighth Route Army.

It was precisely to solve this problem that Caochang Chenyi was originally planning to carry out a large-scale cleanup.

But now the plan has fallen through.

He also had to guard against the Eighth Route Army troops causing trouble in Rehe.

"Yes."

As the Japanese and puppet troops in Rehe also began to move out, the entire Japanese and puppet army around Tangshan began to move out. Deng Guo, who had been paying attention to the movements of the Japanese and puppet troops, was overjoyed when he received the intelligence of the Japanese and puppet troops' deployment.

Because as long as the Japanese and puppet troops take action, the plan will be half successful.

In fact, there are not many troops in Tangshan.

The troops currently stationed in the mountainous area north of Tangshan are the 1st Independent Brigade, led personally by Zhang Caifang, deputy commander and chief of staff of the Jiluyu Military Region.

Except for the Independent 1st Brigade, all of them are local troops and militia forces in the Jidong region.

The Eighth Route Army has been in eastern Hebei for many years and has a very good foundation there.

Mobilize these people to bluff and scare the Japanese troops in Tangshan City.

The real main force, the 11th Brigade and the 2nd Independent Brigade, were both in hiding and waiting for orders. The 11th Brigade was led by Brigade Commander Bao Shen, and the 2nd Independent Brigade was led by Deng Guo himself.

Deng Guo wants to analyze which unit should be attacked.

Chapter 497 Chaos

If the Japanese and puppet troops do not move, the Eighth Route Army troops will not be able to move either.

After all, the Japanese and puppet troops were hiding in cities and important transportation arteries.

The Japanese army is currently short of manpower, but that doesn't mean it has no combat effectiveness. Because of the shortage of manpower, the Japanese and puppet troops are currently short of manpower and are unable to move out, so they can only retreat.

After the Japanese and puppet troops retreated into retreat, it became more difficult to eliminate them.

After all, not all Eighth Route Army units were capable of formidable offensives, nor were they equipped with heavy firepower. Therefore, after retreating, the Eighth Route Army could only continue to establish bases in towns and villages. However, once the Japanese and puppet troops began to move out of their entrenched cities, the situation was completely different. Destroying the Japanese and puppet troops in a field battle was much easier than in a fortified position.

Deng Guo had just taken office as the commander of the Jireliao Military Region when he made such a big move.

Deng Guo's command of the army to attack Tangshan was too sudden, catching all the Japanese troops off guard. Because in recent years, the Japanese and puppet troops had been fighting against the Jidong Eighth Route Army, and the troops under the Jidong Eighth Route Army had been fighting independently.

Each regiment was responsible for the bases of several counties and developed independently.

There has never been such a thing as gathering a large force to attack a city.

So they were very panicked for a moment.

Therefore, after the Jidong Eighth Route Army troops accompanied the attack on Tangshan, the supporting Japanese and puppet troops did not have a unified strategy. In the past, if the Japanese and puppet troops wanted to sweep the Eighth Route Army base, they would make a detailed plan.

Which troops are involved in the mopping-up and which troops are involved in the blockade.

But this time, the situation was sudden, so their reinforcements were somewhat disorderly. The order from the North China Front Army and the Kwantung Army Defense Force was simple: the surrounding Japanese and puppet troops must go to reinforce.

There can be no problems in Tangshan.

This is the opportunity.

With so many reinforcements, there is no unified reinforcement plan and no unified leadership organization, which will lead to many loopholes in the reinforcement.

When the Japanese and puppet troops from all sides were dispatched, the first to be dispatched was the 10th Brigade currently in Rehe. Cheng Shihua was waiting for this opportunity.

Some time ago, the continuous influx of Japanese and puppet troops into Rehe from the Northeast put a lot of pressure on Cheng Shihua.

In just two months, in addition to the Ninth Garrison, there were also the Iron Stone Unit, the Fifth and Sixth Brigades of the Puppet Manchukuo Army, and ten police battalions. Nearly 30000 Japanese and puppet troops entered Rehe, which would have been a huge pressure for anyone.

The First and Tenth Brigades joined forces and finally broke through the situation in Rehe. However, a large number of Japanese and puppet troops entered, causing the situation in Rehe to deteriorate again. However, the large number of Japanese and puppet troops entering Rehe put Cheng Shihua in a difficult position.

It just so happens that this time I was given the opportunity.

He kept an eye on the movements of the Japanese and puppet troops. As soon as they moved, Cheng Shihua would attack immediately.

Cheng Shihua was already a senior general in the Red Army during the Red Army era, commanding thousands of troops. He understood concealment and mobile warfare better than anyone else. Cheng Shihua's colleague was the 5th Brigade of the Puppet Manchukuo Army, which had just entered Rehe.

This is a force of about 3000 people.

The weapons and equipment are OK.

More importantly, the Fifth Brigade of the Manchukuo Army was among the Japanese and puppet troops that were sent to reinforce Tangshan. The Fifth Brigade of the Manchukuo Army had departed from Chengde during this southward advance. Its left wing was flanked by a garrison battalion from Zunhua, its right wing by a garrison battalion from Kuancheng, and another garrison battalion that had also departed from Chengde.

However, the Fifth Brigade of the Puppet Manchukuo set off the earliest.

Even so, judging from the arrangements of the Japanese and puppet troops, the Fifth Brigade of the Puppet Manchukuo belonged to the middle route.

This position is relatively safe for the Fifth Brigade of the Puppet Manchukuo.

But for Cheng Shihua, this was actually a good opportunity. The troops had fought many battles in this place before and were very familiar with the situation. Cheng Shihua was also very brave and directly penetrated into the middle.

The Eighth Route Army has achieved very good results here during this period.

Rehe is a mountainous region. Therefore, roads in Rehe are generally built along major rivers. Cheng Shihua led his 10,000-man force through mountain roads, using highways at night, and unknowingly arrived at the Fifth Brigade of the Puppet Manchukuo.

1942 9 Month 7 Day.

The first battle of the Rehe-Jidong War broke out in the Xi'an Gou area south of the Luan River.

Two hours.

Cheng Shihua led the 10th Brigade to cleanly and efficiently deal with the 5th Brigade of the puppet Manchukuo.

It’s really neat and tidy.

There were no setbacks. Even the cleanup took only two hours. The Fifth Manchukuo Brigade, after encountering the Tenth Brigade's surprise attack, didn't even attempt a proper counterattack. They simply charged in. The 3000-man force suffered fewer than 600 casualties before collapsing.

The 11th Brigade's deployment immediately made the Japanese and puppet troops in Rehe nervous. After annihilating the th Brigade of the Puppet Manchukuo, the th Regiment, disguised as the main force, continued eastward, successively annihilating the various puppet security forces that the Japanese and puppet troops had re-established in this area during this period.

The troops charged directly towards the Sixth Brigade of the Puppet Manchukuo, making an appearance of annihilating the Sixth Brigade of the Puppet Manchukuo.

The Sixth Brigade of the Puppet Manchukuo retreated in terror. After all, they knew their own strength. Ten years had passed since the September 18th Incident, and the newly formed Puppet Manchukuo Army, like the North China Security Army, was composed of conscripts. Both the Puppet Manchukuo Army and the North China Security Army enacted so-called "National Defense Laws," assigning conscription based on household registration. However, those men were far from truly willing to serve, and therefore had no desire to fight.

How can such a force be combat-effective?

Upon hearing that the Fifth Brigade of the Puppet Manchukuo was annihilated, the Sixth Brigade was of course terrified.

Seeing this, the Japanese and puppet troops, originally heading to reinforce Tangshan, prepared to encircle and annihilate the 11th Brigade. Naturally, they were targeting the 11th Regiment, which was currently accompanying the 37th Brigade. However, Cheng Shihua, leading the main force of the th Brigade, made a detour and suddenly appeared a hundred miles away, ambushing the th Infantry Brigade, part of Caochang Chen's heavily forged Iron Stone Force, also known as the Iron Heart Force.

The Iron Stone Troops are divided into "Iron Heart Troops", "Iron Blood Troops", "Iron Man Troops", "Iron Tiger Troops", "Iron Wheel Troops" and so on.

The Iron Heart Unit was the Iron Stone Unit's infantry brigade, the Iron Blood Unit was its cavalry brigade, and the Iron Man Unit was its independent infantry battalion, formed from Koreans who defected to the Japanese. The Iron Tiger Unit was its tank convoy, and the Iron Wheel Unit was its heavy cavalry battalion.

Different troops have different names.

Cheng Shihua ambushed the 37th Regiment.

Cao Changchen had high hopes for the Iron Stone Troops, so he gave them very good equipment.

This unit was reorganized from the 4000st Division of the Manchurian National Defense Army and consisted of more than 8 men. It was equipped with 8 flat-fire cannons, 18 light mortars, 108 heavy machine guns, 108 light machine guns, and grenade launchers.

The number of light and heavy machine guns is greater than that of the Japanese regiment of the Guard Division.

Sure, their weapons and equipment were impressive, a source of bragging rights, but their combat effectiveness was truly poor. Even a third of the Iron Stone Troops were Japanese, recruited from expatriates in Northeast China. Historically, the Iron Stone Troops, gathering over 4000 men, surrounded a company of the Yidong Eighth Route Army. After a day and night of fighting, they were unable to defeat the Eighth Route Army troops stationed in the village. Ultimately, unable to continue, they had no choice but to withdraw.

It can be seen that the combat effectiveness of the Japanese farmers who were recruited to cultivate the land in China was not much different from that of the recruits recruited by the Eighth Route Army. It was just that their weapons and equipment were good, but their combat effectiveness was really poor. This time was no different.

They had never expected to encounter a large force of the Eighth Route Army. It was because the 11th Regiment was so well camouflaged that everyone thought the main force of the th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army was a hundred miles away. Who could have imagined that they would suddenly encounter the main force of the th Brigade?

The weapons and equipment of the 10th Brigade are quite good.

Besides, they had just ambushed and annihilated the Fifth Brigade of the Puppet Manchukuo Army, and they had even more light and heavy machine guns and grenade launchers. Under the sudden attack, the so-called Iron Stone Force Infantry Regiment, which Caochang Chen had focused on building, was annihilated in four hours.

This was the first battle of the Iron Stone Force after its establishment.

An entire infantry regiment was wiped out in a blur. After the annihilation of the 37th Regiment, the 37th Brigade's weapons and equipment were instantly improved. After all, the weapons and equipment of the th Regiment of the Iron Stone Force were really good.

Look at so many light and heavy machine guns, Zheng Danjian.

The 37th Brigade suddenly took action in Rehe, directly disrupting the plan of the Japanese and puppet troops to reinforce Tangshan in the south. After all, the 7000th Brigade fought continuously for three days and won two consecutive victories, annihilating the th Brigade of the puppet Manchukuo and the th Regiment of the Tieshi Force, and annihilating more than puppet troops in total.

Caused a sensation in Rehe.

Now, no one in Rehe dared to send troops south. The 10th Brigade was too threatening, and the Japanese and puppet troops in Rehe began to gather and encircle and destroy the 10th Brigade. Suzuki Seiichi, captain of the 9th Garrison, was adjusting his plan.

But before they were ready, the independent brigade from Zunhua was ambushed.

Bao Shen was a talented general.

After Deng Guo formulated the plan this time, he gave sufficient autonomy to the various units involved in the operation, especially the brigade-level units. Their orders were simple: to find opportunities to fight and specifically annihilate the effective forces of the Japanese and puppet troops.

As for how to fight, Deng Guo did not care. Because the overall strategy had been formulated by Deng Guo, as for how the subordinate troops could expand the results of the battle, it was up to them to do so.

Bao Shen was originally going to wipe out the surrounding Japanese and puppet troops, but Bao Shen's genius led him to suddenly enter the area west of Luan River to search for the target without much intelligence.

Finally decided to ambush the Japanese independent battalion.

This was Bao Shen's first time commanding so many troops and ambushing so many Japanese troops. Although this independent Japanese battalion only had about 500 men, plus the 300 or so local security forces accompanying him, the total number of Japanese and puppet troops was 800.

But Bao Shen is very confident.

Bao Shen only had the 14th Regiment at the time, and at that time the 14th Regiment had only more than a thousand people. But he still used the terrain to ambush a Japanese cavalry squadron and wiped out the enemy. Now Bao Shen has four regiments, and his 14th Regiment has more than 3000 people.