Zhangjiakou City was finally broken, the 6th Field Division and the 7th Field Division and the Japanese 5th Division, 10th Division, and 26th Division took the initiative to withdraw from Zhangjiakou after three days of street fighting in Zhangjiakou City, and on March 19, 1940, Zhangjiakou City was occupied by the Japanese army again, and the Zhangjiakou offensive and defensive battle ended.

At the same time that Xu Shiyou's headquarters withdrew from Zhangjiakou, the headquarters of the Japanese North China Front could not wait to announce to the outside world that after more than a month of hard fighting, the imperial army finally annihilated more than 100,000 people from the five infantry divisions of Han Yunhua's headquarters in China, recovered Zhangjiakou, an important town in North China, and completely lifted the threat of Han Yunhua's headquarters to the Pingjin region.

In a very short period of time, the war report of the North China Front spread throughout the country, and both Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist Government and other forces believed that this was the first major defeat of Han Yunhua's troops since they formed the army, and for a time the anti-Japanese atmosphere in the country was very solemn. The Wang puppet regime, on the other hand, seized the opportunity to vigorously advocate their so-called "curve to save the country" heresy and sensationalism and demagoguery.

Although there were constant congratulatory telegrams from the outside, under the organization of the Beiping puppet regime, the city of Beiping was full of lanterns to celebrate the major victories of the imperial army. However, the North China Front Army Headquarters was a different scene, and instead of the slightest festivity, the entire headquarters presented a miserable, desolate, solemn and dignified atmosphere, which was very depressing.

Headquarters, conference room.

General Tada Jun said with a gloomy face: "Gentlemen, after a month and a half of hard fighting, the front army finally took back Zhangjiakou from Han Yunhua's subordinates, but this does not mean that our Imperial Japanese Army has won in this battle. You have seen the battle report of this battle, but let me tell you the truth, the achievements of our front army to the outside world are all false, because we and we have not eliminated so many Chinese troops. Now let Gangcun-kun tell you about the true results of this attack on the Zhangjiakou Imperial Army, please Gangcun-kun"

"Hai," Okamura said respectfully.

"Ladies and gentlemen, since February 5, the front army has launched a comprehensive attack on the Eighth Route Army in northern Hebei, northwest Hebei and in the middle of Hebei where Han Yunhua's department is entrenched, and in this battle, our front army has killed and wounded more than 40,000 people of the Eighth Route Army, of which Han Yunhua's elite is as high as more than 30,000 people, according to reliable intelligence, Han Yunhua's two elite infantry divisions have suffered more than half of the casualties and have lost their combat effectiveness. However, the casualties of the Front Army were also extremely heavy, with the 5th Division suffering 22,235 casualties, accounting for 79 of the total strength, of which 7,689 were killed. The casualties of the 38th Division were 10,098, accounting for 86 of the total strength, of which 6,111 were killed. The total number of casualties of the 33rd Division was 13,678, the death toll was 61,238, the number of prisoners was 4,356, and the number of missing was 2,123. Therefore, in this battle, the Imperial Army lost 120,000 troops, of which the Imperial Army lost more than 50,000 soldiers, and the number of dead and captured exceeded 30,000, so from the tactical level, the battle of the Front Army was a fiasco, and as for the strategic level, the victory or defeat was also unpredictable" Okamura Ninji said slowly, he needed to give all the senior officers present a time to digest.

Although he had only been in North China for less than a month, Okamura Ninji had a certain understanding of these high-ranking officers of the North China Front. Okamura Ninji strongly felt that the Japanese officers in North China were vaguely divided into two extremes in terms of understanding Han Yunhua's department, and some imperial army officers still did not have a clear understanding of Han Yunhua's department, and their understanding of Han Yunhua's department was only superficial, and when others lost the battle, they would not think that the fighting power of the people was strong, but that the commander of the imperial army was incompetent. …,

The other kind of people have a sense of fear of Han Yunhua's department, because of the strangeness and strength shown by Han Yunhua's department, these officers of the independent mixed brigade and the third division are very frightened of Han Yunhua's department. Such troops were very popular in the battle sequence of the North China Front, and even several infantry divisions with strong combat effectiveness publicly stated that their divisions could not and did not want to encounter the main force of Han Yunhua's division in battle. And this time, Han Yunhua's subordinates pulled out their teeth and knocked out the 33rd Division of Lieutenant General Gampa Shigetaro, which intensified the fear of such people.

Han Yunhua didn't know that he had risen to the level of the demon king in the hearts of the Japanese army, and when the North China Front held a military meeting, Han Yunhua also held a military meeting at the level of division commander of the Inner Mongolia Military Region in Jining.

Han Yunhua was not very satisfied with this anti-sweeping operation, mainly because he seriously underestimated the combat effectiveness of the Japanese army, and due to insufficient preparation, the 6th and 7th Field Divisions and the 5th Field Division stationed in the vicinity of Wei County suffered extremely serious losses, so Han Yunhua made a profound self-examination at the beginning of the meeting.

"Comrades, we have achieved phased results in this anti-sweeping campaign, in this anti-sweeping campaign, our army annihilated an entire division of the Japanese army, disabled four infantry divisions and a tank division of the Japanese army, and killed and wounded more than 122,000 Japanese puppet troops, of which the Japanese accounted for a little more than one-half. At the same time, our army also captured nearly 20,000 puppet soldiers and more than 4,500 devils. However, due to my personal mistakes, I seriously underestimated the combat effectiveness of the Japanese army, underestimated the accuracy of the Japanese commander, and underestimated the command level of Okamura Ninji, so our army suffered heavy losses in this battle. Our army lost as many as 31,213 soldiers in this battle, of which 8,766 were killed, and the casualty rate of the three divisions of Li Dayong, Xu Shiyou, and He Guangyu was as high as 50. As soon as the voice turned, Han Yunhua suddenly raised his voice by more than one syllable, and said loudly: "Comrades, but our losses are still very worthwhile, although we lost tactically, no matter how many Japanese soldiers we killed and wounded, but the military goal of the Japanese army to occupy Zhangjiakou has been achieved, so in terms of tactics, we did lose, but in terms of strategy, our army has won the strategic initiative." According to reliable intelligence, the Japanese army seems to have a big operation, since last month it has secretly transferred troops from North China and Central China, just two days ago the Japanese elite 14th Division has been on board and left North China, the specific itinerary is unknown, and the Japanese 110th, 109th, 114th Division has also begun to assemble in the Beiping area, the Japanese army assembled in the port of Tianjin has been as high as more than 100,000 people, so I personally think that the Japanese army will not provoke a big war in North China in the short term, their target should be other places outside China, Therefore, the battle of annihilating more than 100,000 Japanese puppet troops this time is of great significance. ”

As soon as Han Yunhua's words fell, Luo Ronghuan, who had a deep knowledge of strategic layout, gasped and asked in disbelief: "Commander, are you saying that the little devil is preparing to start a war against the Soviet Union?" ”

"Not necessarily, but it is not impossible" Although it is true that Japan did not go to war with the Soviet Union in history, but turned south to attack the forces of the United States, the world power at the time, and Britain and France in Southeast Asia. But now history has changed too much, even Hitler in Germany was affected by this and launched an attack on the British and French rout in Dunkirk two days in advance, although the British engine plan was very detailed and feasible, but only from the port of Dunkirk to withdraw about 150,000 British and French troops, only less than half of the historical strength. The Soviet Union, on the other hand, ended the Great Purge ahead of schedule, and many veterans and commanders were preserved, and the senior generals in the army were better preserved than in history. At the same time, the Soviet Union also had a certain degree of preparedness for Hitler's plan to attack the Soviet Union, and World War II was no longer the World War II that Han Yunhua was familiar with, so he was not sure that the Japanese army would go north and south Han Yunhua. …,

"It would be bad if the Japanese army went north, Germany seemed to be ready to attack the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union did not seem to be very well prepared, if Japan and Germany besieged the Soviet Union on both sides, the situation of the Soviet Union would be dangerous, should we remind the Soviet Union" Luo Ronghuan said.

Han Yunhua looked at Luo Ronghuan, and then said very seriously: "Comrades, what I say next is only my personal opinion, but I will only talk about this point of view with you, the senior cadres of the division commanders and ministers, so you don't want to make a record, even if someone asks me afterwards, I won't admit it." ”

Seeing that Han Yunhua said so seriously, Luo Ronghuan and the others were all stunned for a while, and they all sat up straight and listened carefully to what Han Yunhua wanted to say.

Han Yunhua didn't ask everyone to wait long, he quickly organized the language and said loudly: "Comrades, as a Communist Party member, I think the most basic quality of the Communist Party is to seek truth from facts, and a qualified Communist Party member must have this essence, otherwise he will not be a qualified Communist Party member. In my personal opinion, there are actually two factions in our party at present, one is the Soviet faction, and the characteristic of this faction is that the vast majority of cadres have studied in the Soviet Union, and the political concept implemented is to build a Soviet power like the Soviet Union. The other faction is the localist faction headed by Chairman Mao and others, and the political philosophy of the localist faction is to realize the independence and reunification of the country, and the struggle within the party still exists at this point. However, I think that both the Soviet faction and the local faction should make one point of view, that is, we are all Chinese, and the Chinese should be in the interests of China and the entire Chinese nation, so for now, the most urgent and urgent thing for the Chinese nation is to realize national independence and reunification as soon as possible and drive the Japanese invaders out of China. In order to achieve this goal, we can ignore the life and death of our personal life and death, and even we can do whatever it takes, so I hope everyone will remember that you are Chinese, and secondly, you are Communist Party members and senior cadres of the Eighth Route Army, so think about whether what you are doing is beneficial to the country and the nation before doing things. ”

For Han Yunhua's words just now, it can be described as shocking, if this is heard by some people in the party, then Han Yunhua's end will be miserable, which is an obvious threat of political tendencies.

"What the commander said makes sense, but how to say that we are all believers in Marxism-Leninism, so don't either" Han Yunhua, the chief of staff of the left, interrupted him before he finished speaking, Han Yunhua said very seriously: "Comrades, communism has no borders, but communists have nationality, and we communists are members of the Communist Party of China, not the Comintern. As for what the political commissar just said about revealing the news to the Soviet Union, I don't think it's necessary, the war potential of the Soviet Union is not something we can imagine, even if Germany and Japan are caught between the east and the west, they may not be able to do anything to the Soviet Union, and besides, Japan may not really go north, and in my personal opinion, Japan is more likely to go south, so for the time being, we should not talk about this matter with the Soviet Union. What we have to do now is to immediately train those recruit divisions, and at the same time, we must also complete the cadres of those recruit divisions. Han Yunhua didn't say anything when he was halfway through, he knew that some things were enough to say a little, but it was not good to explain. With the intelligence and consciousness of these people, there is no need to say it so thoroughly, anyway, this kind of thing is understandable to everyone.

Luo Ronghuan's strategic level is not inferior to Han Yunhua, after Han Yunhua finished speaking, Luo Ronghuan did not speak immediately, but picked up a military map on the side and looked at it, and after a while raised his head and said: "The trend of the Japanese army going south and north is not too clear, but according to the intelligence of the Japanese army before, the Japanese navy has now begun to frequently operate in Taiwan and North Korea, and it seems that the number of ships has increased significantly." Although the Soviet Union is also a military power today, the Soviet Union's navy is comparable to Japan, and the Black Sea Fleet, the main fleet of the Soviet Union, is now spying on Germany, and there is no time to look eastward, so the Japanese Navy is a well-deserved giant in the entire East Asian seas, and the only one that can compete with the Japanese Navy is the Pacific Fleet of the United States, so I judge that the Japanese army must have mobilized so many naval ships to deal with the United States. Therefore, it is very likely that Japan will seize Southeast Asia, which is an important place for economic resources that year. ”…,

"Well, political commissar, Tada Jun will not dare to provoke our army at all in a short period of time, so there are four things we need to do at present, the first is to step up the repair and training of the troops. The second is to step up the infiltration of the puppet army. The third is to expand the construction of Baotou industrial base and expand production capacity. The last thing is to continue to form new units and to expand the size and number of troops. ”

"The first three items are nothing, but I don't think it's necessary to form a new recruit unit, because now our military region has more than 500,000 troops, including more than 200,000 recruits, and these 200,000 recruits have seriously affected the combat effectiveness of the military region, and besides, there are still more than 100,000 troops who still have no weapons and equipment, is it necessary to expand the establishment of the army and form new soldiers?" Luo Ronghuan said.

Zuo Quan also spoke: "Yes, Commander, the strength of the military region is already very strong now, and no matter how many new troops there are, it will not improve the combat effectiveness of the troops, so I also think that there is no need for the military region to expand now." ”

Han Yunhua thought for a while and said: "Although what you said is very reasonable, but you have not looked into the distance, and now the Japanese army does not come to trouble us, which is tantamount to acquiescing in our strength, so this is the time for our army to vigorously develop." In addition, out of strategic considerations, the time is ripe for us to completely solve the problem of northern China, and as far as the Japanese troops currently stationed in North China are concerned, as long as our army does not absolutely be able to drive all of them south of the Yangtze River with 200,000 troops, and if the Japanese army's plan to move south or north is implemented, then it will certainly draw troops from the Chinese battlefield, and as long as our army exerts its strength, there will be no problem at all in completely destroying the North China Front. Therefore, our army must immediately seize the time to develop the strength of the troops and train more new troops. ”

"How many new troops is the commander going to recruit?" Yang Ruihua opened his mouth and said that as the logistics minister of the military region, Yang Ruihua was not concerned about how many troops were formed and how many battles were won, but how many troops his logistics warehouse could support.

Han Yunhua said: "Now our army has a total of twenty infantry divisions and four cavalry divisions, and there are two artillery brigades. Therefore, the field troops are sufficient for the time being, but the local garrison troops have all been evacuated, and now I am preparing to form another 20 garrison brigades, each with an authorized strength of 5,000 soldiers, and each brigade has two infantry regiments of 1,800 men and a guard battalion, a cavalry battalion, an engineer battalion, and a baggage battalion. These garrison brigades do not need to go to the battlefield, or they do not need to go to the battlefield for the time being, their task is to stay in the rear. Moreover, these 20 or so garrison brigades have to reclaim the land by themselves, and they will have enough food and clothing by themselves, and the military region will take care of the rest except for the necessary weapons and ammunition when it has already begun, and the rest will be solved by the garrison brigades themselves. ”

Hearing Han Yunhua say this, the big guy had the bottom in his heart, it turned out that the commander did not want 100,000 soldiers who went to the battlefield, but 100,000 organized militia to watch the family. It is not uncommon for troops to cultivate land and land reclamation in the Eighth Route Army, but it is the only one in the Inner Mongolia Military Region, so Luo Ronghuan and others think that what Han Yunhua wants is not a field army, but a militia that can resist the Japanese army or prevent the Japanese army from infiltrating the rear during the special period, so they all agreed to Han Yunhua's expansion plan, and Han Yunhua did not say anything about it.

Tada Jun and Okamura Ningji in Beiping didn't expect that Han Yunhua was still expanding their armaments at this time, and they didn't know that Han Yunhua had now begun to formulate a battle plan to deal with the Japanese army in North China.......