Rebirth: I am in Jin-Cha-Ji

Xu Luomin drew the siege routes of each army on the map.

Because Xuanhua is already an isolated city.

Originally, the Japanese army had many strongholds and bunkers around Xuanhua, defending the county seat. However, those strongholds and bunkers were all taken out by the Eighth Route Army, so now Xuanhua is left with nothing but the isolated county seat.

Therefore, there is no need to attack other cities together, and it is also necessary to remove the enemy positions outside the city.

After hearing the battle plan, Guo Lin became even more dissatisfied. How could the 16th Regiment lead the attack while the 18th Regiment couldn't even secure a single assist? The 16th and 25th Regiments, while formidable, were units trained after the 26th Regiment's formation.

在八纵16团和17团是第一批编练的主力团部队，之后是18团和19团，第三批编练部队是冀东部队34团和35团，一直到第四批编练的主力团才是25团和26团。

But now, the 25th and 26th Regiments have both received assists, but the 18th Regiment has received nothing.

But having just been reprimanded by Wei Hongjun, he could only suppress his temper.

"Old Wang, tell me the list of commanders of the siege force."

Wei Hongjun called Wang Qiuyun next to him.

After the meeting, Wang Qiuyun didn't pay much attention to the proceedings, but rather looked at the map. After all, this was the first time they had stormed a county town with over a thousand Japanese and puppet troops, so Wang Qiuyun wanted to take a closer look.

Wei Hongjun called him, and Wang Qiuyun came to his senses. He said, "For this siege, the Political Commissar, Deputy Commander Xu, and I will form a command center and take full command of the siege. Comrade Zheng Weishan will serve as the commander-in-chief of the siege at the South Gate, and Comrade Zhang Dahu will serve as the commander-in-chief of the siege at the North Gate. Comrade Zhang Zihua will serve as the commander-in-chief of the main attack, Comrade Li Wanfu will serve as the deputy commander-in-chief of the main attack and the commander-in-chief of the front line, and Comrade Li Yong will serve as the commander-in-chief of the artillery. I want to emphasize here that the reason for the main attack and assisting forces is that the 16th Regiment is equipped with the best weapons. The artillery units of the column and the artillery units of the Cha'nan Detachment are all assigned to the 16th Regiment. However, this does not mean that the 16th Regiment is the only one that can enter Xuanhua. The 25th and 26th Regiments, if anyone is capable of entering Xuanhua first, don't hesitate. The Political Commissar and I have discussed that whichever of the 16th, 25th, or 26th Regiments can enter Xuanhua first, the column will request the military region to award them the title of 'Xuanhua Hero Regiment.'"

"Yes."

No one wants to fall behind.

The 16th Regiment has always been the top regiment of the th Column, and other troops may not necessarily accept it.

The 16th and 18th Regiments, because they had been awarded the designations the longest, had always been very arrogant in the column sequence. However, some other regiments did not think that their combat effectiveness was inferior to that of the 16th and 18th Regiments.

This is true for both the 25th and 26th Regiments.

They had all fought in major, arduous, and challenging battles, and all considered themselves capable fighters. The 25th Regiment, formerly an independent regiment formed by the merger of the Column's New 16nd Regiment and the Guards Regiment, served as the column's mobile force, ambushing the Japanese Army's 18th Independent Mixed Brigade and achieving remarkable military success. Later, it was affiliated with the Cha'nan Detachment, becoming a key regiment alongside the 26th and th Regiments. The th Regiment, even more so, was the primary force of the Cha'dong Detachment.

How could they possibly accept the 16th Regiment?

Now I finally have the chance.

Although the 16th Regiment was the main attacking force, the 25th and 26th Regiments were unwilling to fall behind.

The commander of the 37th Regiment, Tian Jingmin, stood up and said, "Commander, Political Commissar, what should our 37th Regiment do?"

"General Reserve: If the 16th, 25th, and 26th Regiments' attacks fail, the 37th Regiment will step up."

"Yes."

Originally, the 37th Regiment was in the th Column and was a unit with strong offensive capabilities.

However, Cao Cui, the former commander of the 37th Regiment, had been transferred to the Chabei Detachment, and Tian Jingmin had only been in charge of the 37th Regiment for about a month. Therefore, Wang Qiuyun and Wei Hongjun assigned the 37th Regiment to serve as the general reserve.

"The troops have five days to prepare. On February 2nd, the troops will launch the siege on time. Everyone go back and prepare. Comrades Guo Lin and Guo Yonghuai will stay for a while."

Wei Hongjun asked everyone to disperse and prepare themselves.

However, the 18th Regiment's commander, Guo Lin, and political commissar, Guo Yonghuai, remained behind to discuss the matter specifically with them. Wang Qiuyun and Xu Luomin had already left, but they were still discussing the battle plan. They were now considering not only the siege of Xuanhua but also the siege of Huaian. Wang Qiuyun and Xu Luomin had even begun considering the sieges of Zhangjiakou and Jining.

They need to gain more experience from these sieges and select troops from these sieges to form a mobile corps.

Looking at Guo Lin's unhappy face, Wei Hongjun said with a smile: "Why, you don't accept my criticism just now?"

"There is no commissar."

Guo Lin dared to do this to Xu Luomin, but he did not dare to turn his back on Wei Hongjun.

Not to mention Wei Hongjun's position in the 8th Column, even the miracles he created in the 8th Column cannot be underestimated.

Guo Yonghuai, who was standing beside him, immediately said, "Political Commissar, I will make a self-criticism. Actually, the regimental commander was just too anxious just now. As you know, our 18th Regiment has been the column's top-ranking main force since its establishment. Everyone knows that the column has two main forces: the 16th and 18th Regiments. Whenever the column engaged in any major or arduous battle, our 18th Regiment was always at the forefront. Suddenly, our 18th Regiment was only responsible for cutting off traffic between Zhangjiakou and Xuanhua, so the regimental commander was confused for a moment."

Guo Yonghuai immediately reviewed his mistakes.

But every sentence was an excuse for Guo Lin.

Wei Hongjun smiled.

Guo Yonghuai was transferred from a local cadre into the army and initially served as a political officer. Looking back, he did a pretty good job as a political officer.

"Even if you're still upset, you can still raise your opinions later. What do you want to do by embarrassing Deputy Commander Xu right there while he's reading out his orders?"

"Political Commissar, I didn't mean to embarrass Deputy Commander Xu?"

Guo Lin immediately shook his head.

Wei Hongjun's tone softened, and he said, "I won't pursue this matter. If there's a next time, you can come to the column and receive training. The Chanan Cadre School is short of teachers, so you can come and teach."

"Yes."

"The reason the column placed your 18th Regiment between Zhangjiakou and Xuanhua is because we trust you. Troops stationed here are easily attacked from both sides by the Japanese army. You must not only block the reinforcements from Zhangjiakou, but also prevent the Japanese and puppet troops in Xuanhua from escaping. This is a heavy task. If the Japanese army breaks through, not only will the Xuanhua campaign be anticlimactic, but it will also increase the difficulty of our future attack on Zhangjiakou. Among all the current troops, the column trusts your 18th Regiment the most. Moreover, your 18th Regiment has been operating here all year round and is familiar with the area."

Although Wei Hongjun criticized Guo Lin, he finally appeased Guo Lin.

Because the 18th Regiment is indeed the main force of the column.

Guo Lin was a highly qualified Eighth Route Army general, a highly skilled military officer. Formerly a political officer, he had consistently performed well since transitioning to military service. Guo Lin and the 18th Regiment would be of great use in the future, so they needed to be appeased.

"You need to look further ahead. This Xuanhua Campaign is only the first step in our 18th Column's counterattack in Chahar. There will be another Zhangjiakou Campaign in the future. The bigger the battle, the more it requires the unity of all units and the obedience of all units to orders. If you want the 18th Regiment to continue fighting guerrilla warfare, then I will give you enough power. If your th Regiment also wants to fight big battles in the future and become the column's true number one main force, obedience to orders and follow commands is the first principle."

"Political Commissar, don't worry. Our 18th Regiment will firmly hold our ground. We will not allow a single soldier from Zhangjiakou to interfere with the Xuanhua Campaign, nor will we allow a single Japanese or puppet soldier from Xuanhua to escape."

Guo Lin immediately expressed his position to Wei Hongjun.

Because Wei Hongjun hinted to Guo Lin that the 18th Regiment would definitely have a chance when fighting Zhangjiakou in the future.

"The column leaders and I trust the 18th Regiment."

Chapter 400 Japanese Army Action

Yan'an, the Eighth Route Army headquarters, and all the Eighth Route Army's military regions were making preparations.

Welcome the next raid by the Japanese and puppet troops.

So all the military regions are very busy.

Likewise, the Japanese military underwent adjustments after entering 1942. The outbreak of the Pacific War had a significant impact on the North China Front Army. With the 21st and 33rd Divisions moving south, the North China Front Army, after Okamura Neiji took command, lost the two divisions it had finally added due to insufficient manpower. To compensate for the current shortage, the North China Front Army began to make organizational adjustments.

The 110th Division was restructured from a two-brigades, four-regiment division to a three-regiment division. The 110rd Infantry Brigade headquarters was reorganized into the 133th Division's Infantry Regiment headquarters, with the 110th, 110th, and 139rd Infantry Regiments under its command. Adding to the new 163th Division were field artillery, engineers, heavy troop regiments, a cavalry battalion, a division communications corps, an ordnance service corps, and a field hospital, totaling approximately 110 men.

Next, the North China Front Army formed the 110th, 108rd, and 140th Divisions, three two-brigade security brigades, with the 59th, 63th, and 69th Independent Mixed Brigades as its core units. They also added the 59th Regiment of the 63th Infantry Brigade, another brigade within the 69th Division, and the th Independent Mixed Brigade transferred from Shandong. Because the th, th, and th Independent Mixed Brigades were currently deployed around Beijing, the newly formed th, rd, and th Divisions were also located near the capital.

Originally, Okamura Neiji only wanted to expand three divisions with the 35000th Independent Mixed Brigade, the 20000th Independent Mixed Brigade, and the th Independent Mixed Brigade. This would turn the three mixed brigades into three divisions, greatly increasing the strength of the North China Front Army. However, these three brigades had suffered heavy casualties in previous mopping-up operations and were seriously understaffed. To expand the three divisions, a large number of new recruits would be needed in a short period of time. As a result, the newly established divisions would basically have no combat effectiveness and would be unable to fight. After all, the total number of people in these three brigades was only about , but the three newly established divisions would have to be nearly . How could the troops fight with more than new recruits?

The North China region, in particular, is not stable at all.

The North China Front Army was ready to go to war at any time. If a unit had so many new recruits, it would be no match for the Eighth Route Army on the battlefield.

所以才把110师团抽出来的140联队和在山东的独立混成第十旅团合并起来，组建了59师团、63师团、69师团。就算是加了110师团的140联队和独立混成第十旅团，这三个师团也需要补充15000人左右的新兵。

The number of people increased, but the combat effectiveness did not improve much.

The North China Front Army reorganized the 62nd Division using the 129th Independent Mixed Brigade stationed on the Zhengtai Road and the 129th Independent Mixed Brigade stationed on Shandong as its core. The th Independent Mixed Brigade suffered a devastating blow during the Hundred Regiments Campaign, with several of its battalions completely annihilated. After finally replenishing its forces, it suffered heavy casualties again during the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain and the battles between the th Division and the th Division. The Japanese were severely under-strength in the Jinzhong region, and the Zhengtai Road was frequently cut off by the th Division. With the Pingsui Road now under the control of the Eighth Route Army, the North China Front Army could not afford to lose control of the Zhengtai Road.

Therefore, the North China Front Army transferred the 129th Independent Mixed Brigade from Shandong. During the Hundred Regiments Campaign, troops from Shanxi, Hebei, Suiyuan, and Chahar all participated, but the Shandong Eighth Route Army made little move. Although some Japanese strongholds were attacked, the scale was very limited. Coupled with the growing strength of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Eighth Route Army and the strong combat effectiveness of the 21th Division, the North China Front Army began to relax its control over Shandong and deployed more troops to Shanxi and Hebei. During the Zhongtiaoshan Campaign last year, the st Division had already been transferred from Shandong and Anhui. This time, the th Independent Mixed Brigade and the th Independent Mixed Brigade were also transferred from Shandong.

With less than 2000 men remaining from the 6000th Independent Mixed Brigade and only about 62 from the 5000th Independent Mixed Brigade, the Japanese Army needed nearly 62 new recruits to form the 62nd Division. The newly formed 129nd Division, with its headquarters stationed in Yuci, Shanxi, was tasked with protecting the Zhengtai Road and participating in the sweep of the th Division's base.

Too many Shandong troops were withdrawn, resulting in Shandong currently having only the 32nd Division, the 10th Independent Mixed Brigade, and the th Independent Mixed Brigade, totaling just over troops. However, unlike Hebei and Shanxi, Shandong currently has puppet troops. Furthermore, the majority of these puppet troops are fully surrendered Nationalist units, making them far more powerful than the North China Security Forces.

Many of these puppet troops are taking advantage of both sides.

They obeyed the Japanese army on one hand and Chongqing on the other. They were puppet troops, but not entirely puppet troops.

Just like Sun Liangcheng, who directly told the Japanese army that he would only attack the Eighth Route Army and not the Nationalist Army. The Japanese army was also troubled by the growing strength of the Eighth Route Army, so they strongly supported Sun Liangcheng's troops who could take advantage of both sides. Many Nationalist Army troops that surrendered in an organized manner were in this situation.

Only attack Yan'an, not Chongqing.

In addition to the Eighth Route Army, Shandong also had over 100,000 Nationalist troops. The friction between the two sides was severe, and the Eighth Route Army had to deal not only with the Japanese and puppet troops but also with the Nationalist friction troops. Therefore, the survival status of the Eighth Route Army in Shandong was also very poor. However, the loss of one division and two independent mixed brigades suddenly increased the room for maneuver for the Eighth Route Army in Shandong.

Ningji Okamura was also very nervous when he saw that he was withdrawing troops from Shandong.

This was because, having witnessed the cunning, strength, and arrogance of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Eighth Route Army, they understood that the Eighth Route Army was a force that could flourish with a little sunshine. Therefore, although the Shandong Eighth Route Army was more docile than the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Eighth Route Army, they could not be taken lightly. Therefore, after consultation with the Central China Front Army, the 17th Division was transferred to Xuzhou. Although it did not enter Shandong, it could be deployed at any time to sweep the southern Shandong region.

After this round of adjustments, the North China Front Army lost six independent mixed brigades and gained four divisions.

The Japanese army's current division organization mainly consists of three types.

The first type is a two-brigades, four-regiment division. These divisions are field divisions, primarily used for large-scale battles. They are often used on the front lines because they have a large number of troops, ranging from 25000 to 28000.

Of course, this type of division has a slightly smaller size.

That means the cavalry regiments were eliminated and only the cavalry battalions were left. This type of division would have around 24000 men.

This type of division is suitable for frontal combat. However, with the changing situation on the Chinese battlefield, there are currently only a few four-command divisions left. Most have been converted to three-command divisions.

Especially in the battlefield behind enemy lines, with the 110th Division being changed to a three-command division, the North China Front no longer had a four-command division. This was because this type of four-command division was completely unsuitable for use in the battlefield behind enemy lines. This was because this type of division had a lot of heavy equipment, with more than pieces of infantry guns, field guns, howitzers, rapid-fire guns, etc., more than grenade launchers, and nearly light and heavy machine guns. In the battlefield behind enemy lines with poor transportation conditions, the speed of movement was slow. Those armed forces in the battlefield behind enemy lines were like the Eighth Route Army, with few people and fast speed, and they could be found in the blink of an eye. Faced with the guerrilla warfare of the Eighth Route Army, these so-called victorious troops on the front battlefields often fell into a state of confusion. Therefore, the Japanese army formed a three-command division to mop up the enemy lines.

This type of division has about 1 people when sweeping the battlefield behind enemy lines.

Their heavy weapons were greatly reduced, and the troops were equipped with more weapons such as mortars and mortar cannons. They were suitable for splitting up and mopping up behind enemy lines. However, when the Japanese army needed to withdraw troops to fight on the front lines, they would add some troops and heavy equipment to these divisions, increasing the number of troops to 14000 to 15000. Historically, the Japanese army drew a large number of such divisions from North China during the Henan, Hunan and Guangxi Campaigns. Although these divisions seem to be security divisions in name, they are just as fierce on the front lines.

The Japanese Army's 4th and 3rd Regiments actually changed their weapons more due to battlefield reasons. It's not that the 4th Regiment is so powerful and the 3rd Regiment is like a stepmother.

However, this three-team division was still somewhat clumsy in facing the guerrilla warfare of the Eighth Route Army.

So the Japanese army also formed another type of armed forces.

That is the Independent Mixed Brigade.

The Japanese army now changed again, beginning to organize security divisions. These divisions were composed of an independent mixed brigade and an infantry brigade. The independent mixed brigade comprised five infantry battalions, while the infantry brigade comprised four infantry battalions, for a total of nine battalions. The infantry brigade's size was also significantly reduced, unlike the field regiment's infantry brigade, which still had regiments within it.

In fact, it is still for the purpose of operating as an infantry battalion.

To put it bluntly, this change in the Japanese army was due to both changes in the battlefield situation and Japan's situation. Although Japan is an industrial country, it ranks last among the world's old industrial countries.

The family is not well off.

So, when the Pacific War broke out, all of the Japanese military's resources began to shift toward the Pacific theater, leaving less and less available for the Chinese forces. The newly established Guard Divisions were not only far inferior in weaponry to the 12th Regimental Division, but also significantly inferior to the rd Regimental Division. The Guard Divisions primarily relied on light weapons. There were no howitzers, very few mountain guns, and a total of only Type infantry guns in the entire Guard Division.

Whether it was the 4th or 3rd Regimental Division, each infantry battalion in the Japanese Army would have several Type 92 infantry guns. However, in the Guard Division, these infantry guns were all contained within the divisional artillery unit. The number of artillery in a Guard Division was even greater than that of an independent mixed brigade.

After a period of adjustment and the addition of tens of thousands of new recruits, the North China Front Army slowly began to take some actions.

The leaders of the Jin-Cha-Ji region had been keeping an eye on the North China Front Army. Some disagreed with Wei Hongjun's assessment, as well as the assessment of the Jin-Cha high-level officials. Therefore, they wanted to see if the North China Front Army was truly planning a large-scale sweep of the Hebei-Central Military Region.

The Japanese army did not make much move.

The North China Front Army began to set up blockhouses along the transportation lines of the First and Third Divisions of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Region.

Anyway, the Japanese army was like this before.