manynovel #240 - North China in chaos
#240 - North China in chaos
"Nani? In one night, two divisions were lost on the southern front, and the remaining troops were cut off, making it difficult to advance or retreat? On the northern front, the command headquarters was destroyed, Kanbe Naosaburo was seriously injured, and almost all the officers were killed, with casualties exceeding 5,000?"
Okamura, the little devil, spat blood and fainted upon receiving the battle report!
The responsibility was too great, so great that Okamura couldn't bear it. In his anxiety, he felt a sweetness in his throat and coughed up blood! His eyes went dark, and he lost consciousness.
Such a disastrous defeat was unprecedented since the founding of the Empire!
There was simply no second instance.
Even the Nomonhan Incident against the Big Bear long ago wasn't this tragic.
Under Okamura's command, the most devastating defeat in the history of the Locust Army was directly created.
"General Okamura, General Okamura..."
Amidst a series of shouts, Okamura, the little devil, vaguely regained consciousness.
The headquarters was terrified.
Now that the North China Front Army and the Sixth Area Army were merged, Okamura was the absolute core of the entire headquarters. If he fell, no one in the headquarters, whether general or colonel, could be responsible for making any decisions.
They could only let the front lines save themselves.
"Your Excellency, the Southern Route Army is requesting tactical guidance and an order for a free retreat.
In the grasslands, the Northern Route Army has been taken over by Lieutenant General Inoue Sadayo, commander of the 14th Division, who has assumed command of the Outer Mongolia Attack Group and ordered the army to retreat to Xinghe for reorganization.
The Southern Route Army is currently under the command of Lieutenant General Sano Tadayoshi, commander of the 34th Army, who is ordering the 17th Independent Mixed Brigade and the 5th, 7th, 10th, and 12th Independent Infantry Brigades to hold their ground and await reinforcements," the operations staff officer, Colonel Noda, reported tremulously.
"Relay this news to the Imperial General Headquarters, order the Northern Route Army to retreat to Tianjin, the Central Route Army to retreat to Shijiazhuang to await orders, and grant the Southern Route Army a free retreat!" Okamura said after dozens of seconds of silence, issuing the last order of his professional military career.
For the little devils, this meant handing over the Jin region.
However, under the current circumstances, Okamura had to consider what would happen next.
The strength of the Eighth Route Army had far exceeded the worst-case scenario imagined by the Independent Staff Office. Regardless of how the Eighth Route Army managed to devour two divisions of the Locust Army in one night, it already meant that division-level attack groups faced extreme danger in the Jin region.
Given the Eighth Route Army's speed of movement, after striking the Southern Route Army, if they moved north, calculating the speed of the Central Route Army, they might encounter the westward-bound Central Route Army in the Quanyang area!
The strength of the Central Route Army was not stronger than the Southern Route Army. Thinking this way, the Central Route Army's attack on Quanyang would fall right into the Eighth Route Army's trap.
In the final flash of clarity before death, Okamura seemed to understand the Eighth Route Army's plan: first the south, then the north, eating the Southern Route Army, then the Central Route Army, then sweeping through the Jin region and continuing north to take down the Northern Route Army, which was fiercely fighting on the grasslands.
If that were the case, neither the North China Front nor the Kwantung Army could withstand such a huge loss.
Now was not the time to consider the Jin region.
It was time to consider the safety of the entire game in North China and Northeast China.
Okamura was terrified by the thought.
If the Central Route Army and the Northern Route Army were truly defeated as the Eighth Route Army planned,
then at least in North China, the Locust Army would no longer be able to stand its ground.
There were no stronger main force clusters in the North China Front than the Southern Route Army and the Central Route Army.
Unless they concentrated their forces and retreated to Tianjin.
In that case, the North China that the Locust Army had painstakingly built would completely collapse.
This was a loss that the Locust Army could not afford to bear.
Therefore, Okamura simply conceded defeat, taking the responsibility of a defeated general upon himself, leaving a seed for the next commander of the North China Front.
"The little devils are going to retreat completely?" The Eighth Route Army headquarters was somewhat surprised after receiving the Little Devils' communications information deciphered by the Dawn Research Institute.
Chen Brigade's great victory on the southern front had already shocked the Eighth Route Army headquarters and the Border Region Staff Department, but Ren Chong seemed somewhat calm. After all, he had personally built Chen Brigade's military industrial system and knew the progress of Chen Brigade's equipment like the back of his hand. The M3 modified tanks were also the first to be formed by Chen Brigade and the Border Region.
In addition, the unique narrow flat ground of Jiang County was perfect for the tanks to exert their advantages.
Chen Jie's tank battalion, under such night attack conditions, was no less effective than a division, ruthlessly crushing all the Little Devils' combat troops!
To avoid being wiped out by the 107 fire coverage, after losing more than half of his troops in the first bombardment, the old devil Takamori dispersed his artillery, and now he had no power to counterattack against the tank attack.
The two elite sharp knife companies of the 771st Regiment and the 772nd Regiment had been following behind the tanks, eliminating many suicide attacks by Little Devils acting as commandoes.
This ensured that of the thirty-odd tanks, only a dozen or so were disabled due to mechanical failures during the entire night's battle, and the remaining twenty or so tanks almost played the entire field, ravaging all the Little Devil clusters within a dozen kilometers of Jiang County.
This is how the miraculous battle of annihilating two divisions of the Little Devils in one night was achieved.
Of course, this was also related to Li Yunlong's investment of more than 20,000 troops of various types under his command, more than 10,000 troops of the New First Regiment, and nearly 50,000 troops of the main force units such as the 771st Regiment and the 772nd Regiment into this narrow battlefield.
The Little Devils on the southern front had actually collapsed. It was right for them to break through at all costs.
But now the Central Route Army and the Northern Route Army also want to retreat. This is a bit incomprehensible.
"We can't keep the Central Route Army. The Little Devils' divisions and brigades are too closely connected. We don't have tank units in this area and can't launch a fatal blow against the Little Devils," the chief of staff pointed to the map.
"As for the Northern Route Army, I don't know if the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region can withstand the impact of these remnants. In addition, the Little Devils may also go north to meet them. It is possible that the troops of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region cutting off the Little Devils' Northern Route Army will be attacked from both sides. I suggest not blocking the retreat, biting the Little Devils' rearguard fiercely, and then taking the opportunity to liberate the area from Zhangbei to Xuanhua.
Then go all out to eat all the Little Devils on the southern front. I think instead of injuring his ten fingers, it is better to break one of his fingers severely!"
The chief of staff suggested.
There are still 5 brigades of Little Devils trapped in the mountainous area between Yuanqu and Jiang County on the southern front. If the operation is done well, these 20,000 Little Devils can be eaten in one bite again. This is equivalent to annihilating 2 full-strength divisions and 5 brigades of the Little Devils, which can be called the greatest victory since the War of Resistance.
Even if you don't seek fame, such a huge achievement is enough to shock the brigade commander and their 386 Brigade.
The title of the world's first brigade alone is no longer enough to satisfy such a huge victory. At least now you can make the name of the Taiyue Military Region's world's first elite brigade.
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