I am helping

Chapter 790 Heavy Casualties!

Taiyuan.

Japanese First Army Command.

"Report to Your Excellency, the Eighth Route Army attacking Xiaodian Town has retreated!"

Masao Miyazaki, deputy chief of staff of the First Army, walked quickly into the office with a saber in his hand, and bowed his head to report to Commander Yoshio Iwamatsu.

Masao Miyazaki's face was blackened by the smoke from the shells.

He has not closed his eyes for three days and three nights, and his brows are deeply tired, but he is still holding on.

Yoshio Yanmatsu was not much better, his eyes were bloodshot. The Eighth Route Army's attack on Taiyuan brought him a lot of pressure.

The age of the two old devils is close to sixty, they are no longer young boys, and their energy has not kept up.

But the two old devils are battle-tested after all, and they exercise regularly.

If it were an ordinary person, he would have fallen down long ago.

"Oh?"

"The Eighth Route Army retreated?"

Yoshio Iwamatsu's expression changed, and at the same time he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Hi!"

Masao Miyazaki bowed his head:

"The defense line of Xiaodian town blocked the attack of the Eighth Route Army. The thickened reinforced concrete bunkers and gun towers you ordered to build have played a role."

"The Eighth Route Army used 105mm and 150mm howitzers to attack, but they did not penetrate the defenses of these permanent fortifications."

Yoshio Iwamatsu showed a smug look on his face: "Yoxi!"

Fortunately, he had the foresight. When he took office as the commander of the First Army last year, he already guessed that the Eighth Route Army would attack Taiyuan sooner or later.

Therefore, Yoshio Iwamatsu applied for materials such as steel bars and cement from the North China Front Army, and built these permanent fortifications around Taiyuan.

otherwise.

I am afraid that with the artillery firepower of the Eighth Route Army, it has already reached the city of Taiyuan.

Cement at that time was still called cement, and military cement was different from civilian cement. Generally, the hardness of military cement after hardening was much greater than that of civilian cement.

But soon, Yoshio Iwamatsu's face gradually became gloomy.

In this battle, although the First Army was not completely wiped out, more than half of it had been lost, including the Zhengtai Railway, the lifeline of the First Army, and important military towns such as Shouyang and Yangquan.

What was even more disastrous was that the 33rd Division and the 37th Division were wiped out by the Eighth Route Army.

Lieutenant General Sakurai Shozo, head of the 33rd Division, and Lieutenant General Anda 37, head of the 23th Division, both died.

Since the Japanese army invaded China, there has never been a precedent for an entire division of the Japanese army being wiped out by the Chinese army.

But this time, two second-line divisions were completely wiped out, and both lieutenant generals were loyal to the locust, which was a very explosive existence in the entire history of the Japanese army.

Also.

The 14th Brigade and the 18th Brigade were also defeated, leaving only the 41st Division and the Yamada Regiment, the Taiyuan Garrison, and other troops of the First Army.

In addition to the 1st Cavalry Brigade belonging to the Mongolian Army, there are now less than 3 troops left in the First Army.

Seeing that the situation was not good, many locust alliances had already fled.

This made Yoshio Iwamatsu very uncomfortable.

Why is my first army injured?
In this battle, the First Army lost more than half, and a large area of ​​land was lost. Someone must be responsible for this.

Make sense.

This battle was commanded by Neiji Okamura remotely and controlled the overall situation, but Yoshio Iwamatsu felt that he would be regarded as a backer.

If he was just dismissed, Yoshio Iwamatsu would still be able to accept it, but if he was ordered to have a caesarean section to apologize, it would be very difficult.

He glanced at Masao Miyazaki, thinking in his heart, should he pretend to commit seppuku in front of his cronies, just to put on a show.

The next sentence of the Chief of Staff Hanagu Masa made Iwamatsu Yoshio's face even more ugly.

"Your Excellency, Commander, according to the information exchanged by the garrison in Mongolia, the main force of the Eighth Route Army attacking the 1st Division of Datong and the garrison in Mongolia is equipped with large-caliber heavy artillery with a caliber of not less than 200 mm and a scale of not less than 20."

"In terms of power, it does not lose to the 240mm howitzers and cannons of the Locust Army."

Masao Miyazaki also said: "And, Your Excellency, Commander, the Eighth Route Army has fired no less than 40 shells on the Taigu and Xiaodianzhen defense lines."

"From this point of view, the Eighth Route Army has enough shells..."

On the first day, the Eighth Route Army dropped 1 shells on the Taigu defense line.

On the second, third, and fourth days, no less than 10 shells were airdropped every day.

For those large transport planes, each transport plane can land 10 tons of airdrops. In addition to artillery shells, there are also various caliber bullets and canned goods.

Densely covered the entire sky.

And every time the airdrop is carried out in front of the devil.

Every time the supplies were air-dropped, the corners of the Eighth Route Army's commanders and fighters almost grinned to the ears, while the devils were so envious in the distance that their saliva almost flowed down.

Not as powerful as the 240mm mortar of the locust army?

Sufficient shells?
A deep sense of powerlessness rose from the bottom of Yoshio Iwamatsu's heart.

Can those permanent fortifications withstand the large-caliber heavy artillery of the Eighth Route Army?Yoshio Iwamatsu didn't know what to do.

The main reason is that he didn't have a 240mm mortar in his hand, so he couldn't try it.

Tired, destroy it.

After a pause, Yoshio Iwamatsu looked at Kazuki Yamamoto:
"Yamamoto-kun, your intelligence department still hasn't found out the source of the weapons and ammunition of the Eighth Route Army? Still haven't found out who is Chen Feng?"

The Eighth Route Army can have its current strength and record, annihilating more than half of the First Army, defeating and severely injuring the main force of the Mongolian Army.

All rely on the support channels behind.

If there is no support channel behind that, those mud legs of the Eighth Route Army are still fighting guerrillas in the ravine at this time.

However, now, the fighting edge of the large corps of the Eighth Route Army has begun to show.

I thought it would take a transitional period for the Eighth Route Army to switch from guerrilla warfare to large corps operations.

But judging from this battle, the combat strength of the Eighth Route Army's large corps did not lose to the Locust Army.

Yoshio Iwamatsu estimated that the strategic goal of the Eighth Route Army's next big corps campaign should be to wipe out the First Army.

"Hi!"

Kazuki Yamamoto's tone was bitter:
"Your Excellency, Commander, I have mobilized all the staff of the intelligence department of the First Army, and even applied for reinforcements from General Doi Madokenji, and even used the background of the Imperial Intelligence Department, but I still haven't found out the details of this Chen Feng, nor the enemy. where the military base is located, as if the person did not exist at all."

"The humble official has reason to suspect that the name Chen Feng is not a person's name at all, it may be a place name, an organization name, or a code name."

It has been less than a year since Kazuki Yamamoto was complacent when he was promoted to major general at the beginning, and now he is dejected.

but.

Kazuki Yamamoto still did not give up his dream of revenge for Lieutenant General Yoshio Shinozuka.

Yoshio Shinozuka was kind to him.

If it weren't for Shinozuka Yoshio's support, he would still be just a special agent captain with the rank of lieutenant in the Kwantung Army.

"waste…"

Yoshio Iwamatsu snorted mercilessly.

Chen Feng, Aid Channel, Li Yunlong, Kong Jie, Ding Wei, 129th Division...

These are things that make Yoshio Iwamatsu feel extremely headache.

But after this battle, I am afraid that my title as the commander of the First Army will be slapped.

Even if he was ordered to apologize, it would be better than sitting in the position of the commander of the first army and worrying about it all day long.

Let the next Commander of the [-]st Corps have a headache.

……

Peiping.

Iron Lion Alley.

North China Front Army Command.

"Reporting to Your Excellency, Commander, the Eighth Route Army has announced to the public that more than 6 locust soldiers were killed and injured in this battle, three lieutenant generals of the locust army were killed, and one lieutenant general of the locust army was forced to have a laparotomy..."

The communications staff handed over the information in his hands to Neiji Okamura and reported it.

In the conference hall, all the devils and officers were silent.

The battle lasted less than 10 days, but the scale was not small. The total number of troops invested by both sides was close to 40.

An officer of a headquarters used a scale to calculate the area of ​​the fighting area between the two sides, and it turned out to be thousands of square kilometers.

The 33rd Division stationed in Shouyang County and the 37th Division stationed in Yangquan City were completely wiped out, and the two division heads were broken.

The 14th and 18th Brigades were routed.

Two-thirds of the main force of the garrison in Mongolia suffered casualties. Commander Amakasu Shigetaro and the head of the 3rd Tank Division were shattered by shelling.

And it was real jade fragments, the entire bodies of the two old devils were blasted into fly ash.

The 1st Division lost more than one infantry regiment, and the reinforcements from all walks of life also suffered a lot of casualties.

Okamura Ningci's eyes were gloomy. The casualties of the locust army announced by the Eighth Route Army were similar to the actual situation.

The casualties were heavy!

As for the casualties of the Eighth Route Army, Neiji Okamura was unable to estimate, because it was the Eighth Route Army that won the battle.

Neiji Okamura narrowed his gloomy eyes and looked at the communications staff:

"Immediately announce to the outside world that in this battle, the locust army will face 15 of the Eighth Route Army with 25 soldiers. The locust army will suffer 2.5 casualties and kill more than [-] people from the Eighth Route Army."

The Eighth Route Army has released the battle report to the public.

If the North China Front Army does not issue a battle report, at least half of the Locust Alliance Army will mutiny, and the morale of the entire North China Front Army and even the entire Imperial Army will be severely hit.

"Hi!"

The communications officer suddenly lowered his head, turned and left.

After a pause, Neiji Okamura looked at Moritake Tanabe: "Tanabe-kun, where did we talk just now?"

Tanabe Moritake: "Your Excellency, Commander, we just said that the Eighth Route Army used two new types of weapons in this battle."

"New weapons?" Okamura Ningji's face darkened, "Go on."

Tanabe Shengwu said: "The two new weapons used by the Eighth Route Army this time all appeared on the Datong battlefield. One of the weapons was covered by heavy artillery fire. It was used for the first time outside the North City Gate of Datong. The shelling shattered almost the entire brigade of the locust army, and it was later used in the battle against the main force of the Mongolian army. This weapon is very powerful, and every shell is not inferior to the power of 150mm high-explosive shells. Cover the target area with firepower in a very short period of time. According to the report of the Mongolian Army, the locust army under this powerful weapon has at least one chariot regiment and a semi-infantry regiment. The commander of the Mongolian Army, Gan Kao Lieutenant General Shigetaro and Lieutenant General Issaku Nishihara, head of the 3rd Tank Division, were under the firepower of this new heavy artillery."

"Another new weapon is a large-caliber heavy artillery with a caliber exceeding 200mm, which is as powerful as the 240mm mortar of the Locust Army."

Okamura Ningji's eyes became more and more gloomy.

The emergence of new weapons in the Eighth Route Army was both unexpected and reasonable.

The Japanese army has been beaten regularly, and every once in a while, the Eighth Route Army must appear with powerful weapons.

The problem is that the firepower of the Eighth Route Army is getting stronger and stronger, while the firepower of the Locust Army has been standing still or even retreating.

How is this good?

(End of this chapter)