Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

But were the Japanese troops in Guanjianao really so powerful that even the Eighth Route Army couldn’t capture them despite their siege?

of course not.

The Japanese army in Guanjianao was just an independent battalion of about 500 people, not as powerful as imagined.

The Battle of Guanjia Nao inflicted heavy casualties on the Eighth Route Army due entirely to the Japanese occupation of advantageous terrain and the excellent defensive positions they had established. Despite their formidable combat capabilities, the Eighth Route Army, including the 129th Division, consistently opposed engaging in offensive engagements. At the time, the Eighth Route Army was best excelled at mountain guerrilla warfare, and had little experience in offensive engagements.

Suddenly, in Guanjianao, a place that is easy to defend but difficult to attack, the attacking Japanese troops suffered heavy casualties.

But what if it is used in a field battle?

If the Japanese troops at Guanjianao were encountered in the wild, the 129th Division only needed to mobilize two main regiments to annihilate this -man independent Japanese battalion within seven or eight hours.

This is why Marshal Liu has always supported guerrilla warfare, mobile warfare, and ambush warfare.

Breaking through the enemy lines has never been the Eighth Route Army’s strong point.

The Eighth Route Army would never engage in a decisive battle with the Japanese unless it was necessary. The same was true for the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Eighth Route Army. Although the Eighth Route Army's weapons and equipment were much better, a large-scale decisive battle would easily attract Japanese aircraft bombing.

It would be better to launch an ambush.

General Liu compiled statistics on the ambushes of the 129th Division. Each ambush by the main force of the 129th Division resulted in a casualty ratio of one to two or one to three. During these ambushes, the Eighth Route Army's disadvantages were masked.

Liuchuan Ti only figured it out now.

Tangshan was a big bait, but the Japanese and puppet troops really didn't dare to give it up. Japan was in urgent need of various supplies, among which coal was one of the most important resources. But where did Japan get its coal?

Most of it was looted from China.

Tangshan is a major coal mining base in Hebei Province. Japan currently plunders six to seven million tons of coal annually from the Kailuan Coal Mine. Besides coal, Japan is also in need of large quantities of cement. Therefore, they seized the Qixin Cement Plant, expanded production, and shipped all the cement produced back to Japan.

In addition to these, Japan also built steel mills, rolling mills, machinery plants, etc. in Tangshan.

It can be said that Tangshan has become an important industrial city of Japan in Hebei.

Therefore, the North China Front Army would never allow Tangshan to fall into the hands of the Eighth Route Army. Unfortunately, all of this was a conspiracy of the Eighth Route Army, or rather, an open conspiracy. The Eighth Route Army knew the importance of Tangshan to Japan, so they used Tangshan as bait to lure the surrounding Japanese and puppet troops.

"General, the Eighth Route Army has begun attacking the county town. They have a lot of artillery."

Minoru Eda was also very anxious.

The 53st Brigade ambushed the Japanese rd Brigade, and the th Brigade headed straight for Jixian County.

Begin the siege.

Before its reorganization as a security division, the 59th Division served as the Japanese Army's th Independent Mixed Brigade, fighting alongside the Pingbei Detachment here. The Pingbei Detachment's combat effectiveness was clear. With its previous strength, it would have been impossible to capture the city.

But this time, the Pingbei Detachment brought cannons from somewhere.

There are even quite a few mountain cannons and field cannons.

Currently, Jixian County, apart from some special forces directly under the division, has only one infantry battalion. Facing the artillery fire of the 9th Brigade, it has no advantage at all. What the 1st Brigade needs is concealment and rapid action.

Therefore, the artillery units of the Hebei-Rehe-Chahar Military Region did not follow the First Brigade.

Instead, it was assigned to the 9th Brigade.

The Eighth Route Army was very cautious in using artillery. They feared bombing by Japanese aircraft, so they deployed their artillery in places where it was difficult for aircraft to detect them. Furthermore, they used extensive camouflage.

They even had to build fake artillery positions to confuse the Japanese army.

In fact, when facing the Eighth Route Army's siege, the entire North China Front Army regretted it. Because they bullied the Eighth Route Army for not having artillery, they did not set up defensive positions in the city. In fact, after entering the era of hot weapons, the most difficult part of attacking a city has never been the city wall.

Instead, it relies on the city walls and the densely packed defensive fortifications built outside and inside the city.

This is the most difficult part of attacking a city.

You don’t even know how many open and hidden forts there are outside the city walls.

This is modern urban defense warfare.

Unfortunately, the North China Front Army had always been too superstitious about the role of the city wall. When the Eighth Route Army began to use different siege methods, and even when the Eighth Route Army had more artillery, the defensive power of the city wall was almost zero.

"How's it going over there on the wall?"

"General, the Eighth Route Army has mountain and field artillery. Our city walls are no match for their bombardment.

"Then what do you mean?"

"General, let's retreat."

"Where to retreat?"

"Sanhe, we will retreat towards Sanhe. Then we will cross Sanhe and enter Peking.

Yanagawa Tei looked at the map and asked slowly, "Are you sure we can shake off the Eighth Route Army?"

"General, as long as we move quickly, we will definitely be able to shake off the pursuit of the Eighth Route Army. Besides, this is our only chance. We still have a chance now. If we are any later, we will lose it completely."

Minoru Eda was really anxious.

No one expected that the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Eighth Route Army would suddenly seem to have opened up its Ren and Du meridians.

Combat effectiveness increased rapidly.

Jiang Tianmin couldn't help cursing the Mongolian Army in his heart. If the Mongolian Army hadn't been so cowardly, they would have lost such an important city as Zhangjiakou to the Eighth Route Army.

Otherwise, how could the strength of the Jin-Cha-Yi Eighth Route Army increase so quickly?

That is to say, from the moment they lost Zhangjiakou, the entire North China Front Army was in an absolutely passive state.

Yanagawa Tei nodded slightly.

Then he said, "You go down and make preparations. I need to think about it myself."

"General,

"Go ahead and prepare for evacuation. But don't let the troops get confused. If they get confused, we won't be able to evacuate."

"Yes."

Watching Minoru Eda leave, Tei Yanagawa began to touch the sword in his hand.

He had never believed that this war was wrong. He had never doubted whether Japan would win the war, because winning was a sure thing. But now Yanagawa Tei began to doubt whether this war could be won.

At the beginning, the Japanese army advanced all the way, and Yanagawa Tei believed that victory was at hand.

But now?

He wasn't sure. In fact, Yanagawa Tei had already begun to lose faith in this war, as he saw no hope of victory. For a war fanatic like Yanagawa Tei, losing faith in the war meant losing hope in life.

He took off his general's uniform.

He took off his shirt, wiped the saber in his hand, raised the saber high, and stabbed himself in the abdomen. The huge pain made Yanagawa more awake.

At this moment, he suddenly felt that this war was bound to fail.

Look at the speed at which the Eighth Route Army expanded.

This is the Chinese attitude towards this war. The so-called "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" was not supported by the Chinese. How to conquer a country like China and how to tame the Chinese people had always been a major concern for Japan and the Japanese military. But it was clear that Japan could not do it.

Even I have lost confidence in this war, what about the other Japanese troops?

Gradually, Yanagawa Tei felt more and more painful and sleepy.

Thinking of his hometown and his family, Yanagawa Tei, who had never regretted participating in the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Belt" war, suddenly felt a tinge of regret. Was this war meaningful? Was there any point in committing suicide for such a battle?

Slowly, more and more blood flowed, and Yanagawa Tei's vitality slowly faded away.

In the end, Yanagawa Tei ended his sinful life.

When Eda Minoru, who had deployed the troops to retreat, arrived at the headquarters, he saw a cold corpse. Looking at Yanagawa Tsutomu's body, Eda Minoru's expression changed rapidly.

He sensed that the war was changing.

Not only were the newly recruited soldiers unwilling to fight, but even Lieutenant General Yanagawa Tei had lost confidence. Eda Minoru was instantly overwhelmed with thoughts: could the Empire really continue this battle?

Chapter 501: Ningji Okamura's Dismissal

A series of battles.

In less than two weeks, the newly established Ji-Re-Cha Military Region and the Yi-Re-Liao Military Region joined forces to engage in a series of battles in Yidong and Rehe. Using Tangshan as bait, the Ji-Re-Cha Military Region deployed its 20st, 15th, and th Brigades, along with the st, nd, rd, and th Special Forces Regiments, the New rd Regiment, the Independent th Regiment, and some local forces, totaling nearly regiments. The Ji-Re-Liao Military Region deployed its th and th Brigades, the Independent st and nd Brigades, and some local forces, totaling approximately regiments.

The two military regions dispatched more than 30 regiments to participate in this operation, with a total of more than people involved.

A real big battle.

The Eighth Route Army attacked the reinforcements.

It was not until Deng Guo led the 27nd Independent Brigade of the Ji-Re-Liaoning Military Region to ambush two battalions of the Japanese th Division, and the th Brigade of the Ji-Re-Cha Military Region, with the support of the military region's artillery regiment, captured Ji County that the battle came to a perfect end.

The Japanese and puppet troops suffered heavy casualties during this mobilization.

The 59th Division, with the exception of the 54th Brigade in Tangshan, was completely annihilated. The 27th Division, already suffering from repeated attacks, had less than a regiment of troops left. This time, two battalions of 1300 men were dispatched, but were annihilated by the nd Independent Brigade led by Deng Guo.

So much so that Tianjin became extremely dangerous.

The 41st Garrison Battalion of the 41th Japanese Garrison, which had just arrived in Rehe, was completely wiped out by Bao Shen's 3000th Brigade. After Bao Shen annihilated the st Japanese Garrison Battalion, he forced a -li march and completely wiped out people from ten puppet police battalions that had just arrived in Rehe.

The 10th Brigade was even more maneuverable in Rehe.

First, the 37th Brigade of the Puppet Manchukuo Army was annihilated, and then the th Regiment of the Japanese Iron and Steel Force was annihilated.

Although the other troops did not participate in these major battles, they also attacked from all sides, destroying small-scale Japanese and puppet troops. Even a special agent regiment penetrated and raided the independent search team of the Iron and Stone Division.

The Jin-Cha-Ji troops were now truly capable of large-scale operations. In less than two weeks, they had annihilated over 18000 Japanese and puppet troops. Of course, the puppet troops were the largest, with over 12000 of them destroyed this time.

There are too many benefits to annihilating the puppet army.

Just look at the 37th Regiment.

The annihilation of the 37th Regiment of the Tieshi Force significantly improved the troops' weaponry. The 37th Regiment alone possessed 126 light and heavy machine guns and 108 ammunition magazines. Many Eighth Route Army units, even three or four combined, lacked this level of superior weaponry. Following the annihilation of the 37th Regiment of the Tieshi Force of the puppet Manchukuo Army, the equipment of the troops in the Jire Military Region rapidly improved.

"Old leader, we have won a great victory in this battle."

Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun were both very happy after seeing Deng Guo.

To be honest, Deng Guo has grown a lot now.

In 1938, Deng Guo and Song Shilun were only years old when their detachment supported the Jidong Uprising. Deng Guo and Song Shilun were both responsible for the heavy casualties. However, they were young and inexperienced at the time. The situation in Jidong was complex, and the troops involved were numerous. Given their youth, faced with such a complex situation, mistakes were inevitable.

However, after years of training, Deng Guo is becoming more and more outstanding.

Using Tangshan as bait this time was truly a grand move. Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun had previously only considered making a move in Rehe, never considering Tangshan. Deng Guo had just arrived in eastern Hebei, and he had already used Tangshan as bait, with remarkable success.

"The Jidong region, no, should be considered the entire area from Peking to Tianjin and Tangshan. Currently, Peking has the 35th Division, Tianjin has the remnants of the 27th Division, and Tangshan has the 54th Brigade. It's such a large area, with over thirty or nearly forty counties and a population of six to seven million, but I just mentioned the entire Japanese army. With such a limited force, the Japanese army can only barely hold a few large cities. As for other counties, towns, and rural areas, they simply don't have the strength to control them. The only threat to us right now is the Kwantung Army in the Northeast. But the Kwantung Army can't do whatever it wants.

"There were quite a few Japanese and puppet troops in Rehe before. But this time, we wiped out the 37th Brigade of the Puppet Manchukuo Army, the th Regiment of the Iron Stone Force, the ten puppet police battalions that had just entered Rehe, and the Iron Stone Force's search team. The Kwantung Army had just significantly increased the number of Japanese and puppet troops in Rehe, and now their forces in Rehe are running low again."