ebookland Chapter 883 Analysis of the Battle Situation
Chapter 883 Analysis of the Battle Situation
Li Shaoyi's troops started a new round of attacks in the form of regiments and battalions. The Japanese army did not take it seriously at the beginning. Some people even thought that the people of the 72nd Army were timid. In the past, they fought us head-on and fought their way into our army. Although there were many casualties, it was also normal combat.
But the situation has completely changed in the past two days. The 72nd Army's troops took the initiative to attack, but never fought hard battles. They only took a bite in the marginal areas, or retreated immediately when they found that our large troops were beginning to gather. This is not like the way of the 72nd Army at all. Even ordinary regular troops do not do things this way. Instead, many bandits do things this way.
"Have you figured out anything?"
Looking at the ever-increasing casualty figures, Commander Terauchi in the Japanese North China Front Command was almost having heartburn. Something must have changed, but they hadn't found it yet.
At the beginning, no one, including the commander, cared about the 72nd Army's change in fighting style, but now this is no longer possible. We have not lost a single position, but we have lost nearly 9,000 troops in one day.
After asking around, we found out that there were no large-scale battles at all. They were just in contact and then separated. However, when we took an inventory of the soldiers, we found that there were suddenly one or two hundred more bodies.
Two hundred extra corpses in one place is just a drop in the bucket for the North China Front Army, but with so many places on the entire battlefield, if all the corpses are added up and sent to the headquarters, it is not a small number, so the commander-in-chief ordered all the on-duty combat staff to study and see what the 72nd Army's tactics are.
"Commander, if I'm not mistaken, this is exactly the same tactic they used in Luosha. They don't care about the gains and losses of a city or a place. They use the 72nd Army's high mobility and powerful firepower to launch surprise attacks on our army. Each combat mission only involves a few hundred soldiers..."
Chief of Staff Yamamoto had a good ability to summarize. After combining the information reported from various places, he discussed it with several combat staff officers and quickly figured out Li Shaoyi's combat style.
"Bageya Road..."
Commander Terauchi slammed the table angrily. In fact, he had had such an idea in his mind for a long time, but he had not organized it into words. Now that Chief of Staff Yamamoto had organized it, he wanted to chop Li Shaoyi to death with a single blow. This was like hitting the Japanese's soft spot.
At the same time, he also admired Li Shaoyi's strategic command very much. At the beginning of the war, neither side had a firm foothold in Tianjin, but Li Shaoyi and his men had the advantage of geographical location, so they dared to fight a decisive battle with the Japanese army, and the Japanese army did not gain any advantage at that time.
Now that Japanese troops have arrived in Tianjin in large numbers, and too many Japanese troops have gathered everywhere, Li Shaoyi's advantage is gone. If he continues to use the previous combat method, even with the protection of the Air Force, the 72nd Army will suffer more casualties than it does now.
So they changed their fighting methods. If you want to advance, they will retreat. If you want to stay where you are, they will launch a surprise attack. And they use the strategy of hit and run. All personnel rely on jeeps and armored vehicles. No one will run on the ground. You Japanese soldiers are different. Only about 5% of you ride in cars. And when the enemy flees, do you dare to chase them?
Originally there were only five or six hundred casualties. If you lead your men to chase them forward, this number will most likely double. Once it comes to this point, some things will be hard to say. A reorganized infantry regiment may be destroyed on the same day.
"You have done a good job in identifying the problem, but now you need to not only identify the problem but also tell us how to solve it. I hope you already have a solution."
After hearing the commander's words, the combat staff present felt very pressured. You know, the combat style of the 72nd Army had bullied the Russians in the north, and when fighting in Russian territory, it also caused heavy losses to the Russians.
"Commander, I've analyzed it in detail. The 72nd Army's attacks on us are primarily relying on their transport equipment. Therefore, we need to dig extensive trenches outside our camp to block their transport equipment. Special personnel will be assigned to calculate the width and depth of the trenches..."
Chief of Staff Yamamoto originally wanted to bury mines, but the problem was that he didn't have many mines. The most important thing was to bury mines. This thing was a reverse killer. Once the place where the mines were buried was not recorded clearly, our own people would also be reimbursed. In the future, we were going to occupy the entire Tianjin City. As a result, such a large piece of land was full of mines. Are you occupying a piece of ruins?
What's more, the 72nd Army's mine clearance technology is not bad. Each infantry company has engineers. Unless you lay mines on a large scale, you won't be able to stop those guys if you only lay mines on the main traffic routes.
Earthmoving work?
This word appeared in Commander Terauchi's mind. This method cannot be said to be impossible, but it should be the dumbest one. If it is according to what Chief of Staff Yamamoto said, then hundreds of thousands of Japanese soldiers will probably do this specifically.
"Is there no other way?"
It is obvious that the commander is not satisfied with this stupid idea. The empire spends so much money and food every year to support you, but it doesn't want you to come up with ideas that even the ordinary people know about.
"I am incompetent."
Led by Chief of Staff Yamamoto, all the staff officers bowed in unison, indicating that they could not think of any other solution except this one.
"If that's the case, then order each unit to select a group of strong soldiers and immediately begin digging trenches around each unit, preferably within 500 meters of the barracks. Don't let them get too close. If they get too close, their firepower will cause great damage to our barracks."
Commander Terauchi knew very well that no matter whether it was an armored vehicle or a tank, as long as it was within 500 meters of the military camp, it didn't matter whether it rushed in or not, especially that deadly armored vehicle, with its 40mm and 25mm cannons, which were much more powerful than heavy machine guns.
According to statistics from some Japanese troops, 35% of the casualties were caused by the small artillery on armored vehicles. These guns were originally used to shoot down aircraft, but now they were laid flat and used specifically to attack infantry. It was like using a cannon to shoot down a mosquito. Naturally, the casualties also soared...