With only such a pitiful anti-tank weapon in his hand, facing a cluster of hundreds of enemy tanks, how could he not let Lieutenant General Uchiyama Eitaro feel a thorn in his back and restless? Especially in the entire Baoding battlefield at present, almost all the Japanese troops maintain an offensive formation, that is, they cannot build anti-tank trenches, nor can they rely on natural blocking positions such as large rivers.

The current Lieutenant General Uchiyama Eitaro finally understood why the enemy stopped the offensive line at Baoding on the west road and the river on the middle road when the enemy still had the ability to continue attacking. It is to avoid the Hutuo River, which has a relatively large water flow, and its relatively dense tributaries west of Anping.

The Jizhong battlefield is indeed the best natural position for large-scale tank operations. However, to the west of Anping, from Wangdu to the south of Boye, it is the confluence of the Hutuo River and its main tributaries. Compared with the Cao River and the Tang River in the north of Baoding, the rivers in this area far exceed the two rivers around Baoding in terms of volume and density.

The enemy set up the battlefield on the line from Baoding, Gaoyang, and Hejian to Cangzhou, avoiding not only the Hutuo River, which has the largest amount of water, but also the dense tributaries of the Hutuo River south of Qingfengdian. On the battlefield it chose, although there are two large river systems, the Zhulong River and the Ziya River in the lower reaches of the Hutuo River. However, the density of the water network cannot be compared with that west of Anping.

Moreover, although the Ziya River and the Zhulong River divided the enemy's overall defense, they were not connected to each other, which also limited the frontal width of the enemy's attack and increased the difficulty of roundabout operations. However, it also allowed the Japanese army to choose a relatively narrow line for its offensive line, which was conducive to giving full play to its advantages in firepower.

At the same time, the enemy will stop the offensive on this line, and it can get the cooperation of its so-called Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region on the western front, and the cooperation of its so-called Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region on the Cangzhou line on the eastern front. In addition, it deepened the depth of the Japanese army's own rear, and created a favorable fighter plane for the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region, which was active behind it, to carry out a large number of sabotage actions in its own rear.

The most important thing is that the terrain of this area, which lacks large natural rivers, plays to the advantage of its armored clusters. On a battlefield where there is a lack of large rivers and a flat river, the assault power of the armored cluster can be imagined. The enemy's stop at the end line of the attack was not due to the brain-dead staff officers of the front, but to the fact that the enemy's logistical supplies were too long to support and had to stop the offensive.

As for this so-called salient on the Baoding battlefield, it is not that the enemy army is incapable of leveling it. Rather, it is a trap that it consciously leaves for itself on the Western Front when it is interspersed with large-scale armored clusters, and it can even be said to be a bait to guide its own reinforcements. In order to distract the pressure of the entire battlefield between the rivers before the main force of the enemy army moved south.

Not only did they let the strength of their five wings, but they could only honestly attack in the direction designated by the enemy. In the entire battlefield west of the Zhulong River, they can only fight according to the battlefield chosen by the enemy. Even when fighting in the entire Jizhong region, the entire deployment could only be carried out in accordance with the enemy's train of thought.

Although he was born as an artilleryman, he was a rising star among the Japanese generals. Lieutenant General Eitaro Uchiyama sensed that he was already preparing to fight back. He quickly saw the terrain he was in, and the threats and disadvantages brought to the entire reinforcement operation under his command.

Despite some hesitation, Lieutenant General Uchiyama Eitaro repeatedly sent a telegram to Okamura Ninji, asking the divisions currently engaged in Jizhong to retreat as much as possible to the south bank of the Hutuo River before the enemy counterattacked on a large scale. In order to save a little more vitality until new reinforcements arrive and have enough strength to deal with the enemy army heading south.

However, Senior General Okamura Ninji did not give any reply to his suggestion. Lieutenant General Uchiyama Eitaro's worries, Okamura Ninji is not unrecognizable. But it was precisely because he saw it too clearly that Okamura Ninji had no way to give this order. Even Senior General Okamura Ninji believes that instead of giving the order to shrink and retreat, it is necessary to intensify the pace of the offensive at the moment.

Okamura believed that once the enemy retreated to the south bank of the Hutuo River now, the impact of the enemy's tanks would be much higher than now. And no matter how strong the Japanese army's marching ability is, it can't outrun the tanks on this kind of flat terrain. Rather than being eaten by the enemy in the pursuit, it is better to stick together with the enemy as much as possible.

Use the impact of the Japanese attack to complete the division of the enemy's defense system. This makes the enemy's tank tactics a bogeyer in use, and mitigates the tank impact that divisions may face. Moreover, in the opinion of General Okamura, as long as the enemy infantry can be eliminated, no matter how many tanks are left in the enemy army, it will not make a difference.

Therefore, Okamura did not give any reply to Uchiyama Eitaro's request to shrink his forces, disengage from the enemy, and retreat to the south bank of the Hutuo River for defense in the shortest possible time. His request is only two words offense, and if it can be summed up in one sentence, then it is offense, offense, offense.

Whether Okamura Ninji's attack can achieve the effect he wants, at least the current Uchiyama Eitaro does not see. However, at the same time that his request was denied, the counterattack of the Anti-Japanese Federation on the entire Jizhong battlefield had begun to secretly begin to prepare.

In addition to the fact that the troops used the night to secretly move to the intended starting point of the attack. Units are also seizing the time to replenish ammunition and speed up the repair of battle-damaged equipment, especially tanks and half-track armored vehicles. After Chen Hanzhang transferred the two armored division support battalions, most of the maintenance personnel made every effort to repair them, and by the time the campaign was launched, the equipment damaged in the battle had been replenished to a certain extent.

Even for the completely destroyed tanks, the maintenance personnel of the Anti-United Nations did not give up. The complete parts that could be disassembled were fully utilized, and a batch of equipment was restored as best they could. Even used the Japanese battle-damaged tanks that were once all over the banks of the Cao River to piece together a company, a type of tank that could be used, and a batch of self-propelled guns modified in the field.

And just when Lieutenant General Uchiyama Eitaro, who was unwilling to fall into a passive beating, was ready to make his request to Okamura Ninji again. The all-out counterattack on the Western Front of the Anti-Japanese Union has taken the lead in kicking off the Baoding battlefield. The target of the first wave of attacks was the five wings of the Japanese army on the battlefield of Baoding.

According to Yang Zhen's deployment, the troops participating in the battle took the tank cluster as the lead and constantly launched attacks on the rear and flanks of the Japanese army. In particular, the interspersed with the 1st Armored Division simply ignored a wing attacking from Wanxian to Mancheng. Instead, they bypassed the flank of this wing, forced the Tang River west of Wanxian, and directly killed Qingfengdian, a strategic point behind the Japanese army.

Qingfengdian is located along the Pinghan Railway, at the junction of Dingxian, Wangdu and Tangxian counties, and its strategic location is extremely important. Once the Anti-Japanese Union seized Qingfengdian, it was equivalent to completely closing the rear road of the Japanese army on the Baoding battlefield and completing the encirclement of the five wings of the Japanese army on the Baoding battlefield.

Although Lieutenant General Uchiyama Eitaro ignored Okamura Ninji's request to devote all his forces to a strategic counterattack, he left two infantry brigades on the Seifudian line. And in a short time, a large number of fortifications were built. But it does not mean that these two infantry brigades will hold on to the front line of Qingfengdian for too long under the combined impact of the infantry tank of the Anti-United Nations.

After receiving a cluster of anti-United tank infantry, bypass the front line of the county, and let yourself penetrate in depth. As well as the appearance of a large number of anti-union mechanized armor clusters on the flanks, which are attacking on their left flank. And has already cut off the report of the connection between the Baoding battlefield and the Gaoyang front. Lieutenant General Eitaro Uchiyama almost didn't mention it in one breath.

The target of the anti-union attack behind him is there, and the ability of Eitaro Uchiyama to close his eyes knows that the target is there. And once Qingfengdian is lost, what kind of fate will these troops on the Baoding battlefield face, he can judge without guessing.

Lieutenant General Uchiyama Eitarō's first reaction after receiving the report was that the enemy's interspersed operations in the depths of Baoding must be contained. Even if it is at all costs, it is necessary to keep the Seifuki store. He couldn't just throw these five field wings carefully selected from the 11th Army on the battlefield in Baoding.

For Uchiyama Eitaro, who has always been resolute, he set about immediately stopping the attack without even consulting General Okamura Ninji. Order a wing between Baoding and Gaoyang to contain the enemy's onslaught on the battlefield of Baoding at all costs.

Two and a half wings of the front were ordered to immediately disengage from contact with the enemy, alternately cover and retreat as quickly as possible. Ordered the six infantry brigades on the battlefield of Gaoyang to launch a counter-charge against the enemy forces between Baoding and Gaoyang with all their might. In the shortest possible time, the connection with the Baoding battlefield will be reopened.

As for attacking the wing in front of the city, it was necessary to get rid of the entanglement of the anti-coalition forces in front of it with all its might, and the turn must be completed within four hours. Attack from west to east, disperse the enemy's forces, and cover the two and a half wings in front. Uchiyama Eitaro's order to this wing was that even if the wing was completely destroyed, it would arrive at the Caoheji line within twelve hours.

At the same time, he clearly knew that Baoding could not be defended at all, and he did not want to far exceed the opponent he had faced in terms of firepower and equipment. The surrounding terrain is far worse than Yichang, which was located in the mountains of western Hubei back then, and Uchiyama Eitaro repeated his mistakes in Yichang back then.

The order given to each wing commander was that after the evacuation was completed, the troops would abandon the entire line of Baoding and withdraw to Dingxian. The troops should not make any stop in Baoding, let alone try to hold on to Baoding. The line of termination of the retreat of the various wings, as well as the establishment of a new defensive line, was on the line of Quyang, Dingxian, and Anguo.

After giving a series of orders, Uchiyama Eitaro directly asked for a phone call to the defenders of Seifuden. He was extremely resolute and ordered the two infantry brigades of the Qingfengdian garrison to hold on to the Qingfengdian front line for at least three days, so as to give the main force on the Baoding battlefield enough time to retreat.

Lieutenant General Eitaro Uchiyama's wish is good, but the reality is far from being as simple as he expected. If he had started to act as soon as he had made up his mind to retreat, the deployment of the anti-coalition counteroffensive at that time had not yet been finalized, although it was almost impossible to retreat in one piece. But he still has a chance to keep some of his troops, at least not in such a short period of time.

It's just that the disagreements and disputes with General Okamura Ninji have delayed him too much. By the time he gave the order, the two and a half wings of the Japanese army around the Baoding battlefield had been entangled by the two regiments that Chen Hanzhang launched a counter-assault at the same time. The wing on the western front was also entangled in the front line of Wucun in front of the city by a regiment under Chen Hanzhang.

Several wings of the Japanese army that participated in the entire Baoding battlefield were either unable to carry out or could not carry out the order of Lieutenant General Eitaro Uchiyama to retreat. If you want to get rid of the entanglement of face-to-face resistance, is it that simple? Uchiyama Eitaro's opponent on the battlefield in Baoding, how could he get rid of it if he wanted to?