The Sword of Swords is a Guard for Kong Jie

Chapter 630 Neiji Okamura: I can't afford to lose this face (second update)

At the North China Front Command of the Japanese Army, Ningji Okamura was called back to the headquarters by his subordinates as soon as he lay down on the bed. He saw Major General Ikeda's telegram requesting the withdrawal of troops.

The chief of staff already knew the content of the telegram, and he was taking advantage of Okamura Ningji's time to read the telegram to study the latest status of the mopping up troops.

The situation was very bad. Apart from withdrawing troops and hastily ending the anti-mopping up, he couldn't think of any other way to support the mopping up troops to continue fighting.

Seeing Neiji Okamura put the telegram on the table with a sullen face, he immediately analyzed it to him: "Your Excellency, Commander, we are too careless."

"When the troops stationed in Beiping were equipped with a large number of mortars, they even forgot to add mortars to the mopping up troops. If they had enough mortars to counterattack after being attacked by artillery fire, the mopping up would definitely not be like this. Today I won’t be blown up by the Eighth Route Army to become a homeless dog.”

"This is the responsibility of humble duty. I didn't consider the issue thoroughly before the war. Please punish me, Commander."

Neiji Okamura decisively raised his hand to interrupt the chief of staff's unfinished words: "It is your responsibility, and you can't escape if you want to. But our top priority now is to help the mopping up troops out of the predicament."

"A hasty withdrawal of troops is the worst plan, and it must not be implemented unless it is absolutely necessary."

"We mobilized [-] troops to sweep Mao'er Mountain. If we return in a disastrous defeat, the North China Front Army will lose all face."

"The Eighth Route Army hiding in Mao'er Mountain will also take the opportunity to grow stronger and expand its troops. The difficulty of annihilating them in the future will definitely increase exponentially."

The chief of staff shook his head: "Forgive me for my incompetence. I can't think of any other solution except to increase the number of mortars and increase the strength of the mopping up troops."

"The artillery of the Eighth Route Army is too strong. If the mopping-up troops don't have the advantage of artillery fire, they will suffer another day of bombing."

"The Eighth Route Army is in the dark, and the sweeping forces are in the open. There is no place to hide if you want to hide."

"As long as they have enough artillery shells, they don't need infantry to attack, just bombing with artillery shells can severely damage the mopping up troops, making them completely lose their combat effectiveness."

"At that time, it may be dangerous for them to even withdraw from the mountain. Any accident may lead to the destruction of the entire sweeping force."

Okamura Neiji replied very seriously: "Then send them troops and replenish mortars."

"The sweep must not end in such a hasty way. To withdraw the troops, the sweeping troops should return victorious. At worst, they must take down Mao'er Mountain and destroy the Eighth Route Army's garrison hidden in Mao'er Mountain. They must not return in a disastrous defeat."

The Chief of Staff did not agree with Neiji Okamura's proposal, and shook his head in objection: "Your Excellency, Commander, please think twice."

"The mopping up troops are already all the mobile troops that can be deployed in the Beiping area, and we don't have any troops to deploy to reinforce the mopping up troops."

"Even if we gather enough troops from various garrisons to reinforce the battlefield, it will be a day or two later."

"The Eighth Route Army will definitely use this time to storm and mop up the troops, further consuming their strength and severely injuring them."

"It is very likely that the reinforcements we sent in the past are not enough to make up for the losses of the mopping forces in the past two days."

"As a result, there will be a situation: after the reinforcements are in place, the overall combat effectiveness of the sweeping troops has not increased, and they are still suppressed and beaten by the Eighth Route Army in the mountains."

Neiji Okamura nodded in approval, and at the same time gave up the proposal just now.

But he still didn't want to give the order to withdraw troops. He frowned and thought for another 2 minutes before his eyes lit up and said, "We can use gas bombs..."

"Now that the wind is low, it is the best time to use gas bombs. Let the air force drop some gas bombs on the sweeping troops."

"If both sides use high-explosive bombs, the sweeping forces must be equipped with twice as many mortars if they want to completely suppress the Eighth Route Army artillery."

"But if mopping up troops used gas bombs on the battlefield, the result would be different."

"Gas bombs are much more powerful than high-explosive bombs, and the range of damage is several times larger than that of high-explosive bombs. Three mortars can launch a mortar squadron. It can definitely wipe out the artillery units of the Eighth Route Army, restore defeat, and conquer Mao'er Mountain."

This approach was not considered by the chief of staff.

After thinking about it in my mind, it is really the only way to mop up the troops and break the situation.

As for the possible adverse effects of using gas bombs, the chief of staff did not take them seriously at all.

As long as the mopping up troops successfully wiped out the Eighth Route Army and conquered Mao'er Mountain, they would be able to destroy the corpses and minimize the impact.

Immediately choose to support: "Your Excellency, Commander, you are wise, I will arrange for you now..."

…………

On a hill ten kilometers southeast of Poling, the Japanese and puppet troops who have retreated ten kilometers in a row are repairing here.

The withdrawal request was sent by Major General Ikeda to Neiji Okamura half an hour ago.

He was also very unwilling, but in order to keep the only mobile unit left in the Beiping area, he had to do so.

If the mopping up troops were wiped out in the mountains and Peiping was in danger because of the loss of mobile troops, Major General Ikeda would become a sinner for the entire North China Front Army.

"General, the specific casualties have been counted!" Major Ishii walked up to Ikeda with a serious face and reported.

"The loss is bigger than we thought."

"We lost more than 500 people in the Poling garrison, and nearly [-]% of the soldiers belonged to the imperial army."

"On the way to retreat, I was bombarded by two mountain artillery and six infantry artillery of the Eighth Route Army in turn. 118 people were lost. More than [-]% of the soldiers belonged to the imperial army, and the death rate exceeded [-]%."

"We were chased and killed by several Eighth Route Army on the road. In order to prevent the main force of the mopping up force from being bitten by the enemy, we sent two small teams and two companies of the Imperial Association Army to fight in the rear, and lost more than 300 people. More than [-]%."

"A total of 960 people have been lost. Now the two mopping-up troops combined are less than 2000 people. Their morale is low and they are exhausted. There is definitely no way to continue fighting."

"A total of 4000 elites lost more than [-] people before the decisive battle with the Eighth Route Army. What kind of bullshit is this fighting? It's too shameful..." Major General Ikeda drew out his command knife angrily on the spot, and slashed several times at the nearby bushes , while cutting and cursing, his whole face was flushed with anger.

"I have fought for so many years, and I have never been so aggrieved as today."

"One day, I will definitely let the Eighth Route Army in the mountains pay for their blood... No, I will chop them alive with a command knife myself, and I will avenge my shame."

Major Ishii hadn't finished his report yet, seeing the brigade commander's anger was raging, he was afraid of getting burned, so he resolutely swallowed the words that had come to his lips, intending to wait for him to calm down and continue to report.

This wait is 5 minutes.

Perhaps because he was tired of scolding, Major General Ikeda finally regained his senses. Seeing that Major Ikeda hadn't left, he immediately asked, "Is there anything else?"

"Hayi..." Major Ishii answered immediately.

"In addition to our troops, we also lost a lot of weapons and ammunition."

"The troops withdrew from Polingcang Village, and a lot of weapons and ammunition were not taken away in time."

"On the way to retreat, we were also attacked by long-range artillery fire from the Eighth Route Army and intercepted by infantry. Many heavy weapons were thrown by the troops on the way to retreat. In addition to the loss of the artillery squadron in the artillery battle, we only had 12 mortars left to continue fighting."

"Two of the four mountain cannons are left, one of the four infantry cannons is left, and nine heavy machine guns are left..."

"The remaining heavy weapons were either destroyed in the shelling or discarded by the troops on the way of retreat."

"The Poling garrison also lost a lot of ammunition and materials and did not bring it back. At that time, the military situation was urgent. We only exploded less than [-]% of the ammunition, and at least [-]% fell into the hands of the Eighth Route Army."

Major General Ikeda was furious immediately, the mopping up troops became bigger and weaker, but the Eighth Route Army became stronger because of the abundant seizures.

Holding the command knife and the handle tightly with both hands, his veins were exposed, his body was shaking constantly, and he was panting heavily, like a powder keg that might explode at any time, which scared Major Ishii to close his mouth again.

The other people beside him didn't say a word, and even the sound of breathing was much lighter than usual.

"Report..." The operator didn't know what happened here, so he rushed over rashly.

Everyone cast a pity-filled look at him, thinking that he would become the target of the brigade chief to vent his anger.

"Bageyalu, don't you see that we are discussing issues here? Get out..." The situation was exactly as everyone expected, Major General Ikeda instantly turned into a powder keg that was ignited, staring at the operator and yelling.

Surprisingly, the telegraph operator did not take the order to leave, but responded to the brigade commander's almost murderous eyes: "Report to the general, Your Excellency Commander, you have an urgent call, and I want you to call back immediately after reading the telegram."

Hearing the word 'commander', the anger on the brigade commander's face suddenly subsided by more than half.

After all, Major General Ikeda is the commander of the brigade with heavy troops in his hands, no matter how he rises up, he will not let himself lose his mind.

After receiving the telegram with three lines at a glance, he read it in a few seconds, and then handed the UNPROFOR to Shao Zuo Ishii, with a very ugly expression on his face.

"Commander, do you want us to continue fighting?" Major Ishii was also taken aback by the content of the telegram.

Then he ordered the guards on the side: "With the brigade head as the center, a cordon is formed in a radius of [-] meters. No one can approach without the order of the brigade head."

After everyone left, Major Ishii turned his attention to Major General Ikeda: "General, I take your Excellency Commander for granted. Even if the headquarters drops poison gas bombs for us, the sweeping troops cannot be the opponent of the Maoershan Eighth Route Army. "

"The army suffered too many casualties. Among the remaining 2000 people, there are only more than 300 imperial troops who can directly fight on the battlefield. The rest are all artillery, heavy soldiers, and imperial association troops."

"If the Eighth Route Army came here now and continued to attack us with mortars from a long distance, the casualties of the troops would increase by hundreds before dawn."

Major General Ikeda has been thinking about why Neiji Okamura sent such a telegram. In order to take Maoer Mountain, he was willing to use gas bombs. Now he wants to understand.

Looking at Shao Zuo Ishii with a helpless face, he replied: "If we lose the battle and evacuate the mountains in a hurry, not only the mixed brigade will not be able to lose this person, but your Excellency the Commander will also not be able to lose this person."

"The Maoershan Eighth Route Army can now fight against [-] mopping-up troops. If we lose, they will continue to grow and develop. In the future, even if we gather [-] troops, we will not be able to wipe them out."

"The commander wants us to fight again, even if we can't wipe out all of them, we must do heavy damage, so as not to give the Maoershan Eighth Route Army a chance to continue to grow and develop."

"The worst thing is to take down Mao'er Mountain, where the Eighth Route Army is stationed. After taking it, we will save our face."

　The second more [-] words are sent, please order in full, I hope you will support me a lot.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)