Rise From Eight Hundred

The Japanese Army Headquarters' New Year's Day Offensive came to an end with the end of the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain.

The Japanese North China Front Army and the Third Army spent nearly a month to end this battle comparable to the Battle of Central China. The key is that the loss of personnel and materials is comparable to the Battle of Central China.

As for the Third Army directly under the Japanese Army Headquarters, the Third Division suffered heavy losses in Tongguan, one infantry regiment was almost wiped out, one infantry regiment was completely crippled, and one infantry regiment lost more than half of its troops. Only one infantry regiment was stubbornly stationed in Fenglingdu.

However, the Third Division no longer had the ambition to break through Tongguan City in one fell swoop. Instead, it built a large number of fortifications along Fenglingdu Town, and its artillery regiment's artillery rarely bombarded the Chinese positions in Tongguan City.

Switching from offense to defense, this is the current dilemma of the Third Division, that is, the Chinese side on the opposite side lacks ships, otherwise the Chinese side, which has expanded to one division, one brigade, and one regiment with a strength of 20,000, may not be able to take advantage of the victory of the Zhongtiaoshan defense battle to launch a decent counterattack.

The core Fifth Division of the Japanese Third Army is not much better than the Third Division. The Kunisaki Detachment lost an infantry regiment and an artillery battalion. More than half of the 21st Infantry Brigade of Nakamura Masao was killed or wounded, and the artillery battalion under its jurisdiction even had four 105 heavy artillery bombed. There are only two or three big cats and kittens left in the reserve 21st Infantry Brigade of Yamada Seiichi, and the remaining reserve 9th Infantry Brigade has become the face of the "Steel Army".

At this time, if you want to say that the Fifth Division is going to suppress bandits, it's okay, but if you still imagine the stage when the war started, tens of thousands of people will kill through the defense line of the Chinese army of 300,000, that's completely a fairy tale novel.

Compared with the almost destroyed Japanese Third Army, the commander of the Japanese North China Front Army, Sugimoto, was even more tearful.

Whether it was the 4th Division, the 114th Division, or the three mixed infantry brigades, it would take at least half a year for them to recover after this battle.

The entire North China Front Army deployed nearly 120,000 troops in Zhongtiao Mountain, with 60,000 killed and 30,000 wounded, nearly 40,000 casualties, just like another Battle of Songhu.

However, no matter how badly this wave was fought, the responsibility was at least borne by Itagaki Shiro, who took the blame. For example, on the evening of the 24th, Itagaki Shiro had already sent a telegram to the headquarters resigning as the commander of the Third Army.

Although this was a strategy of retreating to advance, at least there was the courage to take responsibility. Even if Shanshan Yuan and this person did not get along well, he could only admit that this move was really smart, and it was also indirectly relieved of a lot of pressure for himself.

But this does not mean that General Shanshan Yuan is not under great pressure. The Battle of Tongguan and the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain were both commanded by Itagaki Shiro himself, but the sweep of Taihang Mountain in southeastern Shanxi, or the battle that can be called a containment battle, was commanded by the North China Front Command. He, the commander of the front, cannot escape responsibility in any way.

It cannot be said that the 16th Division and the 108th and 109th Divisions did not work hard, but these idiots worked hard! In Shanshan Yuan's opinion, it is better not to work hard.

That's 80,000 troops!

Intelligence shows that the Chinese garrison in Taihang Mountain in southeastern Shanxi was only part of the 80th Army and the Four-Line Regiment because the 17th Division of the Northwest Army was transferred to Zhongtiao Mountain and the main force of the 22nd Army was transferred to Henan Province.

The Tuba and the Four-Line Regiment together had a maximum of 50,000 people. The 80,000 imperial army entered Taihang Mountain with complete crushing power.

According to Shanshan Yuan's estimation, even if the Chinese side took advantage of the geographical terrain, it might not achieve the effect of completely driving them out of Taihang Mountain as expected before the war, but the basic requirement of destroying their supply base could still be achieved!

After all, the army can escape, but the Chinese who have lived in the mountains for generations cannot escape, especially in this cold winter season, without houses, the two major factors of freezing and hunger can kill a large number of Chinese.

But obviously, the performance of the three major divisions directly made General Shanshan Yuan's face swollen.

The 16th Division and the 109th Division faced the main force of the 80th Army, basically 50,000 to 50,000. The offensive in the early stage was relatively smooth. The two major divisions of the Japanese army even broke through three Chinese defense lines. According to the inspection of the clothes of the Chinese dead on the captured positions, the 80th Army was mixed with a large number of militias, many of whom did not even have military uniforms, and their weapons were mainly simple Hanyang-made.

The two major divisions advanced all the way, and they were less than 30 miles away from the headquarters of the 80th Army in the intelligence.

The 109th Division stationed in the counties around Taihang Mountain can be said to be the victim of the 80th Army. The harassment by the 80th Army over the past year can be described as painful. Anami Yui, the then Lieutenant General and Commander of the 109th Division, sent a telegram to the Front Army Command, requesting a general attack on the enemy's 80th Army to prevent its leader from escaping.

Although the strategy formulated by Shanshan Yuan in the early stage was to advance step by step in the southeast of Shanxi, fight if you can, and not force it if you can't, and everything is based on the Zhongtiao Mountain Campaign, and the Army Aviation also fully supports the Zhongtiao Mountain battlefield, but the Japanese Army General who lost two games in a row is now willing to listen to the voices of the commanders on the front line.

Especially this Lieutenant General Anami Yui, who has just been the commander of the 109th Division for less than 3 months, is not an ordinary person. He and Yamamoto are classmates at the Army Officer School. Although he is not as sharp as Yamamoto when he was in the military school, he has an advantage that most Japanese cannot match.

This man has a good figure, long legs, and walks with big steps, which makes him look particularly heroic. In 1929, he served as a military attaché to the Emperor. At that time, the chief military attaché was the famous torpedo warfare master General Suzuki Kantaro, and Anami Yuiji was his follower.

Although he was demoted to the 109th Division, a Type B Division, because he opposed the Emperor's younger brother's presiding over the General Staff Headquarters, but there are probably not more than two hands in the entire Japanese Empire who can still receive such treatment despite angering the Emperor.

Shanshan Yuan may not give face to others, but he must give face to this man. After considering it, he agreed to Anami Yuiji's request, using the entire 16th Division plus an infantry brigade of the 109th Division to contain the main force of the 80th Army from three sides, while another infantry brigade of the 109th Division, led by the surrendered local Chinese, spent 2 days making a big arc in the mountains and headed straight to the headquarters of the 80th Army.

As expected, an unexpected event occurred.

The 80th Army seemed to have expected the Japanese army to do this. In front of a mountain less than 12 miles away from the 80th Army headquarters, the 109th Division encountered a memorable defensive battle.

Even with the support of a squadron of fighter planes from the North China Army Aviation, and the six infantry battalions attacking in turn, the Chinese troops stationed on the hill remained unmoved and defended for four days and three nights.

In this battle, neither side had reinforcements, and they fought hard with a force ratio of 2,500 to 7,500, 1 to 3.

The Japanese side had mountain artillery, infantry artillery and fighter planes to help, and had a complete advantage in firepower, but the Chinese individual soldiers were so strong that the 109th Division looked up to them.

Although the 109th Division was a second-line division, it had been fighting in China for more than a year. Its individual soldiers could basically guarantee 9 rings when shooting at a target more than 200 meters away, which was already very strong.

But the Chinese army could shoot accurately from 300 meters away. They did not even let the opponent get within 50 meters like the traditional 80th Army, and the fire suppression started from 250 meters away.

This also caused the Japanese grenade throwers to not dare to enter the 300-meter range of the Chinese position, greatly reducing the threat to the light and heavy machine gun fire points deployed 400 meters away.

In the words of a surviving infantry captain of the brigade after the war: That is not the tactics of the 80th Army that I am familiar with, but it is more like the Four-Line Regiment.

When this name was mentioned, the middle and low-level officers of the Japanese army present almost shuddered subconsciously.

The Four-Line Regiment was a headache for the generals of the empire, but for these lieutenants, it was a death-like existence.

The Four-Line Regiment had been in Taihang Mountain for a year, and the death rate of those who had fought with them exceeded 60%. If it were not for the front army's proposal to exchange prisoners, they seemed to have no intention of wasting food at all.

Unfortunately, it was found out after the war that the troops that confronted them were not the Four-Line Regiment at all, but they were also a headache for the North China Front Army, the 772th Regiment of the 683rd Brigade.

At this time, the 772nd Regiment not only had many veterans, but also was well-equipped. The three infantry battalions were all equipped with pure German equipment. What was even more troublesome for the Japanese army was that they also had a company of 4 150-caliber mortars and 9 82-caliber mortars.

The Japanese army bombarded the mountains with mountain artillery, and the other side bombarded the Japanese infantry with two types of mortars whose range was not as good as the Type 41 mountain artillery.

The mountain offensive and defensive battle was almost comparable to the battle of Jiulong Mountain. The headquarters of the 80th Army Group was clearly within reach, but 7,000 Japanese troops were blocked in front of the mountain and could not advance an inch.

What's more terrible is that as time went on, an infantry brigade of the 80th Army Group located in northwest Shanxi disappeared, which made the Japanese army that had already penetrated into southeast Shanxi extremely worried.

The 80th Army Group had long been playing by the rules. An infantry brigade was no longer an infantry brigade in the traditional sense. If such a large army suddenly appeared behind the large army, it would not be a good sign.

Sure enough, Shan Shanyuan's worries came true. The regular troops of the 80th Army Group appeared on several important traffic routes.

Once they completed the blockade, the baggage convoy could not enter the mountains, and the food and drink of the 80,000-strong army became a problem.

In desperation, the 16th Division had to withdraw an infantry regiment to return to the division to protect its rear wing. The 109th Division also drew an infantry battalion to deploy along the way. Shan Shanyuan still felt that it was not safe enough, so he ordered the 108th Division, which was the slowest in advancing, to also draw an infantry regiment to assist it in defending the rear traffic line.

This withdrawal of troops was not a big deal. The Chinese actually had a backup plan. An infantry regiment of at least 3,000 people suddenly appeared on the flank of the 109th Division, which was attacking the high ground.

When the reconnaissance plane detected this situation from the air, not to mention Anan Weiji was panicking, even General Shanshan Yuan, who was far away in Pingbei City, felt his head buzzing.

Who said that the 80th Army in southeastern Shanxi, including the group of peasant soldiers who had not received any military training, only had 50,000 people?

So, under the strict order of General Shanshan Yuan to retreat, the Japanese troops threw away a large amount of baggage and even pushed several damaged infantry guns and mountain guns into the ravine at lightning speed, buried all the dead on the spot, and carried the wounded to evacuate lightly under the cover of night.

How fierce and fast the previous attack was, how fast it ran.

It cannot be said that Shanshan Yuan is now timid, but the Japanese North China Front Army, which has become a frightened bird, can no longer bear the destruction of a brigade-level unit.

The Japanese army ran fast this time, otherwise they would have lost a lot of heads.

Because, in the "infantry regiment" wearing gray uniforms and carrying rifles and machine guns, no more than 50 people can really shoot.

And the "regiment commander" leading the team is actually a lieutenant general of the army.

In fact, the 80th Army Group had already given its all. In order to resist the attack of the two divisions of the Japanese army, the 80th Army Group had already sent the guard regiment to protect the army headquarters to the battlefield. Among the "50,000 troops" fighting against the 50,000 Japanese troops, nearly 30,000 were armed brigades from various counties and towns and militias developed in various villages in the past year.

At this time, in addition to civilian staff and generals, the 80th Army Group Headquarters had only a 50-man guard platoon for protection. Let alone a brigade of the Japanese army, even an infantry squadron would be unstoppable.

The reason why the 772nd Regiment was able to appear there was that Brigade Commander Cheng was decisive enough. It was he who withstood the pressure from the headquarters and took the brigade staff and the guard battalion to take over, and also pulled out the 772nd Regiment to defend the army headquarters.

Just a little bit short of achieving the reputation of Anan Weiji who adopted the large roundabout tactics.

It can only be said that Anan Weiji's long legs have used up his luck, just like when he had become the commander of the 11th Army in time and space and led an army of 100,000 with great ambitions, he ran into Hengyang, the Hengyang that had 80,000 Chinese soldiers defending.

100,000 vs. 80,000, 47 days of hard fighting in exchange for a completely destroyed small town and nearly 60,000 casualties, and the so-called "Battle of Stalingrad" in the East!

That's fine, the reason why the Japanese generals almost vomited three liters of blood after the war was that they were scared away by a group of farmers.

It can only be said that it is not a good thing to have a spy system that is too perfect. The Japanese spies who sneaked into southeastern Shanxi obtained important information at the celebration banquet of the 80th Army.

The "infantry regiment" that unexpectedly appeared on the flank of the 109th Division, except for 50 real guns, the rest were all fake.

The "soldiers" were farmers from the mountain villages around the 80th Army. In order to make up the number and scare away the Japanese, even a 50-year-old man was sent.

The rifles were all wooden guns used in daily training. Even those broken things were not as lethal as a red tassel gun.

The leader of the team was even more fake. He was directly led by the deputy chief of staff of the 80th Army. He also proposed the pure scare tactics.

With this bunch of "scum", let alone the 3,000 combat-capable soldiers in the infantry brigade, even if there were 300, it is estimated that they could kill seven in and seven out.

Unfortunately, the 772nd Regiment hurt them first, and the 511th Division, which may have returned, made the Japanese generals uneasy. The thousands of people who suddenly appeared became the last straw that broke the camel's back, and directly made Shanshan Yuan become Sima Yi who was scared away by Zhuge Liang's song.

If the 16th Division and the 109th Division can only be regarded as returning without success at most, the loss of thousands of casualties after fighting for nearly 10 days is just a small matter compared with the Zhongtiao Mountain, which can be completely ignored.

The unlucky child of the 108th Division is really annoying.

In view of the reputation of the Four-Line Regiment, Shanshan Yuan made a special deployment this time, and the 108th Division had more than 20,000 people to deal with the Four-Line Regiment.

No matter how powerful the Four-Line Regiment is, it is just an infantry regiment. More than 20,000 people can pile them up to death. The new Lieutenant General Sakai Naotsugu of the 108th Division even made a bold statement that the Four-Line Regiment must be destroyed this time.

Naotsugu Sakai was also a well-known warrior in the Japanese Army. He was only a colonel before the war started, and was promoted to the major general of the 19th Infantry Brigade of the 16th Division at the beginning of last year. During the battle, he was not only brave against the enemy, but also cruel and ruthless to Chinese civilians. During the battle in Jiangnan, he repeatedly implemented the "burn, kill and loot" policy against the Chinese anti-Japanese base areas, which effectively hit the Chinese anti-Japanese enthusiasm in Jiangnan.

Naotsugu Sakai therefore caught the attention of the then commander of the Central China Expeditionary Army, and the prince had a great influence in the army. It happened that the 108th Division's Xia Xiongyuan resigned, and as a result, he actually violated the convention and jumped two levels in one year and was promoted to lieutenant general of the army.

This time was his first expedition as an army officer, and he naturally planned to avenge the 108th Division.

However, this new lieutenant general of the army did not know what the 108th Division had experienced in the past year. It had been pressed to the ground and rubbed by the Four-line Regiment without stopping.

Just because he was a "newborn calf" and was not afraid, it did not mean that the entire 108th Division was not afraid. The speed of the two infantry brigades' advance was so slow that it was outrageous.

The 4th Regiment did not confront them head-on, but divided into several small groups to harass and delay them. The 16th Division and the 109th Division were fighting fiercely, and they were still 30 kilometers away from the scheduled target, Dakouzidong Town.

At this speed, the Chinese New Year would be over.

The angry Lieutenant General Sakai even scolded and urged the two major general brigade commanders, and only then did he urge the two infantry brigades to move a little faster.

This speed was not a big deal. Because a leading infantry regiment was less than 10 miles away from the main force, it was swept by the 4th Regiment's concentrated firepower. The appearance of more than 4,000 troops almost made Lieutenant General Sakai squint with joy.

Finally, the main force of the 4th Regiment was caught. Two infantry regiments quickly pressed forward, and another infantry regiment accelerated and rushed towards Dakouzidong Town.

More than 10,000 people against 4,000, they can win even if they just think about it. It is estimated that only Lieutenant General Sakai in the entire 108th Division has such confidence.

This time, the truth is really not in the hands of a few people.

Lieutenant General Sakai was beaten so hard that he doubted his life!

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PS: It's the first day of the month, I'm asking for votes, thank you brothers for your support, as long as you vote today, tomorrow you will see how the 108th Division is beaten, if you don't vote, Fengyue's brain will be confused and she might make a tearful plot, anyway, Fengyue has already had a plan, it seems that Tudou and Lao Suanpan and others have not come out for a long time.