Comrade, Your Ingredients Are Too Complicated

Thirteen kilometers north of Datong, the joint command post of the 26th Division and the Cavalry Group.

"Two generals, the front line has reported."

"So far, the enemy's outermost defenses in Datong have been completely destroyed by the mountain and field artillery regiments."

"The 11th Independent Infantry Regiment and the 71st Tank Regiment are continuing to attack from the west and north. According to the current progress, it will take us two days to approach the city wall."

After speaking, the communications staff immediately lowered his head and stood at attention, fearing that any action would anger the two lieutenant generals in front of him.

After patiently listening to the battle report, Yano Otosaburo first moved to the sand table and pulled out several small red flags symbolizing the Eighth Route Army according to the information just obtained.

Then, the old devil pretended to speak casually: "Yoshi, it seems that the warriors are very energetic, and the overall progress is pretty good." "What about the casualties? Why didn't you report it just now? Don't worry, I will never vent my anger on you." Attacking Datong, where the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region has been stationed for a long time, the casualties will definitely not be small. All the senior officials of the Mongolian Army were mentally prepared for this at the beginning of the decision-making. That's why Shigetaro Amakasu proposed to transfer Li Shouxin and De Wang's troops from the rear. All this is to consume the ammunition of the Eighth Route Army and reduce the casualties of their own side as much as possible. "Casualties." Facing the question of his own lieutenant general, the reaction of the communications staff was obviously a little unnatural. He adjusted his expression and replied with a desperate look:

"As of 11 o'clock tonight, the 26th Division has suffered 3,100 casualties, including 1,927 deaths."

"The loss of heavy weapons is relatively light, and the Eighth Route Army did not find our artillery positions. But due to the air raid, a Type 91 105mm howitzer was completely scrapped."

As soon as these words came out, Yano Otosaburo's old face suddenly swelled red, and the whole person entered a red-hot state.

Although the old devil had prepared himself psychologically before the action, the current casualty figures were still beyond his expectations.

It was only two days before the start of the war, and one-fifth of his division had evaporated. If the battle continued like this, wouldn't it be necessary to annihilate the entire army to capture Datong?

The casualties of the friendly forces made Nishihara Issaku a little nervous.

Compared with the 26th Division, which combined infantry and artillery, the organization of the cavalry group was not naturally suitable for siege, otherwise his troops would not have dealt with the flank positions.

Although the old Japanese strictly prohibited the armored forces from going too deep before the war, no one knew what was going on until the specific report came out.

The communications staff officer did not remain silent for too long. Soon he opened the folder and continued to report:

"The situation of the cavalry group is better. In two days, only 1,700 casualties were suffered, including 632 warriors who died in battle."

"In the armored forces, the loss of tanks was very small. Only seven Type 95 light tanks were destroyed by the enemy. However, the situation of various types of armored vehicles is not optimistic, and the loss has exceeded half."

Hearing this, Nishihara Isaku reluctantly breathed a sigh of relief.

Armored vehicles are indeed difficult to replenish, but the foundation of the cavalry group is light tanks and medium tanks. As long as the tanks can be kept, their combat effectiveness will not drop too much.

After digesting the battle report, the two Japanese lieutenant generals were bitter.

"Hey, it seems that there is basically no way to win with only two divisions and six divisions of the Imperial Army."

"Lieutenant Colonel Iguchi, go send a telegram now to ask where our support troops are and whether they can reach Shanxi Province within a day."

"Hi!"

Hearing the order from his lieutenant general, the communications staff breathed a sigh of relief and then trotted out of the command post.

Okamura Yasuji, who was supervising the army in Fengzhen, naturally knew how difficult it was to attack Datong.

Now it is only the outer stage of the battle, and the strength of a regiment will be consumed every day. Who knows how many people will die in the street fighting after the city wall is blown down.

After all, basic light weapons have always been the advantage of the Eighth Route Army. One infantry squad is equipped with a barrel, a light machine gun, two submachine guns and several rifles.

Their ammunition is even more amazing. Even if the ugly people come, they have to knock one before leaving.

Some particularly wealthy main forces are even equipped with 50 or 60 mm mortars.

On the other hand, the Type 38 rifle, the Type 11 light machine gun and the Type 89 grenade launcher are still the same for thousands of years, and the firepower is more than one level lower.

If this kind of equipment is used in street fighting, it is estimated that the Type A division will be pressed to the ground.

In order to prevent the North China Front Army from having a life-threatening Osaka Division, Okamura Yasuji specially transferred the 110th Division, the 7th Independent Mixed Brigade and the 15th Independent Mixed Brigade to reinforce.

In this way, a situation of 100,000 people fighting a city can be formed.

······

After the communications staff left, Yano Otosaburo found that his colleague was still in a daze. He followed his gaze and found that Nishihara Issaku was studying the map of Datong County.

"Nishihara-kun, you are worried about the street fighting, right?"

"Street fighting can indeed drag the battle into a stalemate, but the city of Datong is not very modernized, and almost 99% of the buildings are brick and stone structures."

"This means that it is difficult for the enemy to take advantage of the complex environment in the city. If we have enough people, we may even become the dominant party."

As someone who has been stationed in Datong for three years, Yano Otosaburo can pat his chest and say that he knows every corner of the city.

In the old devil's view, the houses in the county cannot block the direct fire of 75mm mountain and field artillery, not to mention that the cavalry group has a path-opening weapon like a tank.

As if he could see that his colleagues still had concerns, Yano Otonzaburo said confidently:

"You can rest assured that I will come up with a battle plan that satisfies everyone within two days."

"Besides, the general who is best at defending the city in the Republic of China army was defeated by you and me. No matter how powerful the Eighth Route Army named Nie is, is it possible that he is better at defending than the Seventh Route Army?"

"Show off the momentum of the Taiyuan Battle and let us join hands to conquer the city in front of us."

The colleagues in front of him were so confident that Nishihara Issaku was too embarrassed to refute.

From his perspective, the Eighth Route Army must also be aware of the above situation. I am not a fool. Since I can build a large group of fortifications outside the city, I will definitely strengthen the defense system inside the city.

As long as there are buildings to rely on, there is a high probability that our side will be in trouble.

When he thought that infantrymen might appear from the roof at any time carrying a rocket launcher, and then kill his precious Type 97 medium tank with one shot, Nishihara Issaku felt that his future was gloomy.

After a while, the old devil shook his head, changed the subject and said:

"After two days of fighting, did your division encounter any artillery positions of the Eighth Route Army?"

This artillery is not an artillery regiment composed of Miss 75, but the large-caliber mortar mentioned by the independent mixed second brigade.

In the current stage of positional warfare, the Eighth Route Army's mortars caused heavy casualties to the Japanese offensive troops. After all, these things were somewhat invincible in the trenches.

Moreover, the defenders' artillery shells are really abundant. Every time they take action, they fire at full speed to cover an area, almost lifting the Type 92 infantry cannon to fire.

"That's not true. I guess the enemy wants to save it for a critical moment."

"I have ordered each regiment to report the enemy's large-caliber mortar immediately as soon as it is discovered. That terrible thing must be nipped in the cradle."

When mentioning the 120 mm mortar, Otonzaburo Yano specifically emphasized his tone.

In the next half hour, the two discussed the follow-up combat plan in depth and proposed more suitable options in many details.

In order to allow the troops who were fighting continuously to adjust their status, they canceled today's night attack plan and asked all ministries to reinforce existing positions in place.