Anti-Japanese War: I have unlimited assistance

Chapter 104: Our Great Japanese Locust Army will never be ambushed.

Fumisaburo Kawagishi also hurriedly led his troops to Taiyuan.

but.

The vanguard of the 20th Division, consisting of seven or eight hundred people, was attacked shortly after leaving Xiyang.

They only marched less than 10 kilometers the whole day, which made the old Japanese soldier Kawaishi Fumisaburo alert.

The Fifth Division's supply unit was ambushed at Pingxingguan because of complacency and suffered heavy losses.

Judging from the map, this section of Guangyang Highway has a dangerous terrain, with earth slopes on both sides of the highway, overlooking the surrounding area.

Moreover, the attack on the vanguard indicated that the enemy was active in that area and the enemy situation was unclear, so Kawagishi Fumisaburo ordered the main force of the 20th Division to rest in Xiyang for a day.

As to whether it is possible to pass through Guangyang Highway safely, this requires professional judgment from the General Staff.

Colonel Hisazo Kitamura, Chief of Staff of the 20th Division, bowed his head and said, "Your Excellency, the General Staff believes that the troops can safely pass through the Guangyang Highway."

The 40th Brigade Commander, Yamashita Tomoyuki, was shrewd and expressionless. "Kimura-kun, what is the basis for your General Staff's assessment of the safety of the Guangyang Highway?"

Colonel Kimura Hisashi said.

"General Yamashita, the General Staff has three points of evidence."

"First, the vanguard of the 39th Regiment was not ambushed by the Chinese army, but was only harassed."

"This shows that the Chinese army is not strong in numbers and is just a small guerrilla force, not a threat."

"Secondly, intelligence indicates that the main force of the Chinese Army in Taiyuan is fleeing south. They are afraid that our Locust Army's 20th Division will cut off their retreat, so they are sending a small force to harass them and slow down the 20th Division's advance."

"Third, today the aviation force has dispatched reconnaissance aircraft to conduct reconnaissance near the Guangyang Highway, but no main Chinese army forces have been found."

"Furthermore, there are no major Chinese military forces in the Guangyang Highway area."

"Therefore, the General Staff determined that the 20th Division of the Great Japanese Locust Army could not have been ambushed on the Guangyang Highway."

Colonel Hisazo Kamura spoke with confidence and conviction.

In his opinion, the Japanese 20th Division was a genuine Type A division with strong combat effectiveness.

The entire 20th Division is marching. Who would dare to ambush an entire division? Do they think they want to die?
However, the old devil Yamashita Fengwen remained cautious: "Even if your staff's analysis is reasonable, according to some intelligence, the main force of the Chinese 18th Army has already reached the southeastern part of Shanxi. This is a force that is good at guerrilla warfare. The two ambushes of the Locust Army in Qigen Village, as well as the defeats of the Locust Army at Pingxingguan and Wangdongbao, were caused by this Chinese army."

"And that night when my 20th Division attacked Yangquan, the enemy that attacked my 20th Division's field artillery position was also a regiment from this unit."

When this was mentioned, Kawaishi Fumisaburo's face became a little gloomy.

It was a disgrace that the field artillery position was ambushed right under the nose of the entire division.

Seeing Kawagishi Fumisaburo's expression, Yamashita Tomoyuki cursed himself inwardly, thinking that he was really talking about something that was irrelevant.

"Your Excellency, Division Commander."

Yamashita Fengwen quickly explained:

"What I mean is that this Chinese army is extremely insidious, cunning, and audacious. Our 20th Division must be cautious when passing through the Guangyang Highway."

Kawagishi Fumisaburo nodded.

Yamashita Tomoyuki was his capable subordinate and had a strong background, so he naturally would not care about such a small matter.

Even though Yamashita Tomoyuki was involved in the behind-the-scenes planning of the "February 20 Incident", he was not punished. Instead, he was transferred to the 40th Division to serve as the commander of the th Brigade.

"General Yamashita, you're too kind," said Colonel Kishura. "I admit that this Chinese Eighth Route Army is indeed formidable in guerrilla warfare."

"But according to intelligence, the Eighth Route Army, with the exception of a few relatively well-equipped units, is generally poorly equipped and short on ammunition."

"The battles of Pingxingguan and Qigeng Village were mostly hand-to-hand combat. The Eighth Route Army would never dare to engage the Locust Army head-on."

"You said it yourself, Mr. Kitamura," Yamashita Tomoyuki said coldly, "The Eighth Route Army doesn't dare to engage the Locust Army head-on, but they dare to ambush the Locust Army, and they are hard to defend against."

"But the Eighth Route Army only dared to attack small units of the Locust Army and ambush the baggage train."

Colonel Kimura Hisashi said:

"The Eighth Route Army would never dare to ambush the entire 20th Division. Perhaps by the time our 20th Division had marched from Yangquan to Xiyang, the Eighth Route Army would have been frightened and fled 100 kilometers away."

Colonel Hisazo Kamura's words caused a burst of laughter from the regiment commanders and Japanese combat staff.

In just a few days, the Japanese 20th Division captured eastern Shanxi. Except for the surprise attack on the field artillery positions, it was almost invincible.

Such an impressive record naturally made Colonel Hisazo Kamura and other Japanese soldiers arrogant and conceited.

Yamashita Fengwen continued coldly, "There's an old Chinese saying, 'A boat sails safer than a boat'.' When passing through the Guangyang Highway, you must be extremely careful."

"I agree with Major General Yamashita," said Takagi Yoshito, commander of the 39th Brigade. "It's always better to be cautious."

"Stop arguing," Kawagishi Fumisaburo snorted coldly, adding, "Everyone has a point. We need to guard against the Eighth Route Army's harassment and ambushes, but we shouldn't take them too seriously."

"Tomorrow the troops will march along the Guangyang Highway as planned. The vanguard will send out scouts to conduct reconnaissance."

"Also, the aviation unit simultaneously dispatched reconnaissance aircraft to conduct reconnaissance of the Guangyang Highway."

"Within three days, our 20th Division must reach the Jinzhong and Taigu areas."

"The credit for capturing Taiyuan and destroying the main force of the Chinese Army's Second War Zone must not be given to the Fifth Division!" Although the 20th Division's combat effectiveness was far inferior to that of the Steel Army's 5th Division, only one brigade of the 5th Division was sent in this battle, and the troops led by the 5th Division fought very poorly in the offensive campaign at Xinkou.

So Kawaishi Fumisaburo also wanted to claim the credit.

Military merit is an important indicator for the promotion of Japanese Army Lieutenant General to General. If the performance in this battle is excellent, he may even be awarded the credit for capturing Taiyuan and destroying the main force of China's Second War Zone.

Perhaps he would have the opportunity to be promoted to the rank of imperial general, become the commander of a frontier army, become a frontier governor of China, and reach the pinnacle of his life.

"Hi."

A group of Japanese major generals and colonels suddenly lowered their heads, filled with murderous intent.

……

That night.

The main regiments and basic regiments of the Eighth Route Army have already entered the designated positions.

Guangyang belongs to Zhanshang Town. It is a village with less than 200 households. The village is surrounded by mountains with high mountains, dense forests and dangerous terrain.

The road from Zhanshang to Yuci passes by the village. Due to years of disrepair and mountain torrents, the road is severely damaged, which is not conducive to the mobile operations of the enemy's mechanized forces.

The hillsides on both sides of the road were covered with bushes, making it convenient for our troops to hide and set up ambushes.

However, the troops did not enter the ambush position immediately, but prepared to wait for the enemy to enter the ambush circle before entering the position.

Although the 115th Division dispatched a small force to harass the Japanese, it delayed their advance and made them dare not march rashly on the Guangyang Highway.

But the Japanese will certainly be wary and will most likely send out scouts to patrol and scout both sides of the road.

A large-scale ambush like this is extremely complicated to deploy and execute, and is a major project.

Large-scale ambushes test the intelligence systems and commanders of both sides.

Early the next morning, the Japanese reconnaissance plane flew over Guangyang Highway to conduct reconnaissance.

The soldiers hid very well and the Japanese reconnaissance plane pilot did not notice anything unusual.

The Eighth Route Army commanders and soldiers have mastered the guerrilla ambush tactics to perfection.

The Japanese reconnaissance plane pilots and observers quickly conveyed the situation to the Japanese 20th Division troops on the ground.

At around 7 o'clock in the morning, the main force of the 40th Regiment of the 39th Brigade of the Japanese Army, the cavalry regiment and part of the artillery units, totaling about 4000 people, set out from Xiyang County under the leadership of Yamashita Tomoyuki and marched towards Songta Town.

A dozen Japanese reconnaissance cavalrymen from the 40th Brigade advanced while firing indiscriminately at both sides of the road.

The Japanese reconnaissance cavalry did not follow Kawagishi Fumisaburo's order to advance on alert and search.

It’s not that the Japanese reconnaissance cavalry were careless, but the road was very long and the terrain was dangerous, and ambushes could be set up in most places. If they couldn’t conduct careful reconnaissance, the marching speed would be unimaginably slow. If they had to scout and search everywhere before moving forward, they could only march a maximum of 10 kilometers a day.

If the Japanese reconnaissance cavalry were to scout everywhere one by one, they would be busy forever.

So we could only conduct fire reconnaissance, firing a few shots at some dirt slopes and grass piles to see if there was any movement. If there was no movement, we would just move forward.

Of course, we will carefully identify them every now and then.

That is, every time a certain distance is passed, the earth slopes and grass piles on both sides of one of the roads are carefully inspected.

This is actually a random inspection, which ensures both efficiency and safety. There is absolutely no problem with the procedure. The quality of the Japanese reconnaissance cavalry of the 20th Division is actually quite good.

It’s a pity that this time the 20th Division encountered an expert in guerrilla warfare, and a top expert at that.

A T0-level existence in guerrilla warfare.

The Japanese reconnaissance cavalry passed by quickly, and then the cavalry regiment of the 20th Division came over in a mighty force.

The Japanese cavalry, infantry and artillery continued to advance, and occasionally fighter jets and reconnaissance planes circled in the sky to provide escort.

At around 1 p.m., the Japanese troops of the 40th Brigade had marched to the designated ambush area of ​​the five main regiments.

but.

The five main regiments of the Eighth Route Army continued to strengthen their concealment and remained hidden.

Soon, the main force of the Japanese 40th Brigade marched to the Guangyang area, joined yesterday's vanguard troops, and continued to move towards Songta.

"The enemy's vanguard cavalry has passed."

"The Japanese infantry has passed Guangyang."

"The Japs' artillery unit has also passed by."

Pieces of news about the Japanese invaders reached Li Yunlong's temporary command center.

Li Yunlong remained calm and unfazed, replying each time, "Be careful to hide."

at the same time.

The Japanese 20th Division's supply corps, the 20th Division's command headquarters, and its direct-affiliated troops have arrived at Zhanshang Town. After having lunch in Zhanshang Town, nearly 2000 Japanese soldiers continued to march in the opposite direction to Songta Town. The Japanese supply troops, division headquarters and direct-affiliated troops gradually entered the ambush area set up by the Eighth Route Army!

……

(Seeking monthly tickets and recommendation tickets!)
(End of this chapter)