In this battle, Yang Zhen gave his opponent a high evaluation. And his latest opponent also gave him the same high praise after the war. After this battle, in the heart of Okamura Ningji, who still suffered defeat in the end, Yang Zhen's status has risen to the number one enemy of the Japanese army on the Chinese battlefield.

After this battle, the North China Front lost almost all the areas under the jurisdiction of the Mongolian garrison, as well as the strategic town of Datong in northern Shanxi. Its combat range retreated to the north to the line of Jundu Mountain and Sanggan River, and retreated to the south of Shuoxian in Shanxi. Guisui, Baotou, Suidong and the entire Chahar region were lost.

However, the North China Front fought hard, and finally held the gateway of the North China Great Plain and the Eastern Hebei Plain, plus most of the areas south of Shuo County in northern Shanxi and east of the Tongpu line, so that the Anti-Japanese Union was not able to enter Pingjin in the end. and eliminated the threat of the Anti-Union from the west, to the North China Plain.

And in this battle of Tongguò, General Okamura Ningji, who had personally commanded Zhangjiakou, also had a real understanding of the confrontation alliance. He once privately commented with Lieutenant General Anda 23 that this army was a rare and tough opponent of the Imperial Army, and the Kwantung Army had lost unjustly before.

Okamura Ninji believes that whether it was Tsarist Russia during the Russo-Japanese War, the Chongqing Army that was currently fighting against the Japanese army in the interior of China, or the troops of the United States, Britain, Australia and other countries encountered in the Pacific theater. This army is slightly immature, except for large-scale armored cluster assaults.

On the battlefield, whether it is tightly organized, or the ingenuity of strategy and tactics, and the determination to not fear death, it far surpasses the other opponents that the Japanese army is currently fighting. Its ground-to-air firepower and infantry artillery firepower coordination, as well as infantry and tank coordination, even surpassed the Imperial Army.

Even in terms of the tactical use and organization of armored cluster assaults, it is still somewhat immature, but the use of tanks is also above that of the Imperial Army. Instead of assigning tanks to divisions separately, as the Reichsians did, they adopted the same approach as the Germans did in organizing them into independent combat units for centralized use. And this tactic is exactly the tactic that the Japanese army feared the most because of its relatively low mechanization and relatively low mobility dependence on railways.

Admiral Okamura Ninji thinks that if the empire does not want to concentrate all the forces it can muster before it is really strong, it will completely destroy this army on the battlefield and destroy their so-called base areas. Once they are allowed to really grow, it will pose a fatal threat to the Empire's strategy in China, and the Empire will suffer a heavy defeat on the battlefield of China.

If it is allowed to develop, it will be lost not only Manchuria, the main industrial base of the empire, but also North China, which is the supply base of grain, cotton and oil, and Pingjin, which is strategically important. Even the current results of the Empire's five years of bloody battles on the battlefield of China may be destroyed at the hands of this army.

The most important thing is that from the appearance of British tanks on the battlefield, coupled with the previous American-made aircraft, Okamura Ninji has been quite keenly aware that the Anti-Japanese Union and the United States and Britain have reached a strategic alliance in the Far East and the Pacific War. If the Americans provide them with large-scale military assistance, then they may be able to strengthen their strength even more in a short period of time.

Okamura Ninji knew very well that compared with the Chongqing side, which was tactically rigid and its army was weak, this army, which was far above it in both tactics and strategy, would receive a large amount of assistance from the United States and Britain. Then they will grow up in the shortest possible time, and then the battlefield of China, which was originally less stressed, will undergo a huge turnaround.

After this battle, this General Okamura Ninji became the general who advocated the formation of an independent tank division and a large-scale expansion of tank units among all the generals of the Japanese army. It is also the general who most strongly demanded that the Japanese army develop new tanks, increase the number of Type 90 field guns with anti-tank capabilities, and develop new high-power anti-tank guns.

It's just a pity that Okamura Ninji's report has attracted great attention in the Japanese army base camp. But Japan, which has a mouth too wide and does not have such a good appetite. It is simply not capable of satisfying Okamura Ninji's requirements for the development of new tanks, the formation of new tank divisions, and the increase in the number of anti-tank guns of the Japanese army invading China.

However, under the threat of tanks from the Anti-United Nations, the Japanese base camp eventually increased the establishment of the North China Front's new type of anti-tank guns. It also reopened the production line of the Type 90 field artillery that had been closed, and added three Type 90 field artillery wings to the North China Front.

As for the Japanese army's development and production of new tanks that can compete with the United Nations, the Type 3 tanks equipped with 50-millimeter anti-tank guns obtained from Germany, and the Type 4 tanks with new 75-millimeter guns, it was still a matter of four or four years after the Anti-Japanese Federation entered the customs in a big way.

These two types of tanks did bring a lot of trouble to the Anti-United Nations on the battlefield, and the first batch of American-made M-4 tanks received by the Anti-United Nations suffered a lot of losses when they fought against the Type 3 and Type 4 tanks. As for the British tanks and the M three light tanks, the number of losses was even greater.

The Japanese army's priority to use these two new tanks on the Chinese battlefield also prompted the Americans to increase tank assistance from the United Nations. The original main force of assistance, the M-3 tank, was gradually replaced by the M-4 Sherman medium tank. The total amount has also increased significantly compared to the previous half-dead amount of aid.

However, what the Anti-United Nations really confronted these two tanks, especially the Type 4 tanks equipped with 75-mm guns, were the German-made No. 4 tanks and T-34 tanks with long barrels. In particular, the 75-mm No. 4 tank, equipped with a long barrel, became the killer of the new tanks of the Japanese army.

Compared with the No. 4 tank gun, which was specially modified from anti-tank guns, the field gun modified from the Japanese Type 4 tank was significantly inferior in performance. Coupled with the good sighting system of the No. 4 tank, the results of the battle between these two tanks, which are almost the same name, on the battlefield are very different.

And this qiē is not clear to Yang Zhen, who is still fully preparing for the next stage of the battle. When the next morning, Chen Hanzhang brought the battle plan for westward expansion that he had not slept all night in front of him. Yang Zhen read it carefully, but he gave an eight-word evaluation of "more courage, surprisingly insufficient".

In this plan, in addition to the 1st Armored Division and the 1st Armored Brigade that Yang Zhen originally planned to invest, Chen Hanzhang also used two independent armored battalions composed of British-made Matilda infantry tanks. The 1st Armored Brigade reinforced two separate armored battalions, and the two infantry divisions launched the attack from the front.

Encircled and annihilated the 26th Division deployed by the Japanese army in Chadong, and covered the flanks of the attacking troops in the direction of Chanan and Renan. At the same time, it blocked the possible reinforcements of the Japanese reinforcements on the front line of Zhangjiakou, and contained the Japanese reinforcements attacking from the north of Jin. And break through the Japanese defense line from the front, attract the attention of the Japanese army, and ensure the development of the flank detour troops to the depth of the Japanese army.

The 1st Armored Division was concentrated to strengthen two cavalry brigades plus two independent tank battalions, and an all-motorized infantry division was attached to form an armored cavalry group, which carried out a large-scale penetration of the Japanese army along the border between Inner and Inner Mongolia, and adopted the tactics of centripetal assault. The main force deployed behind the Japanese flank in Chadong from the flank, coordinated with the troops that broke through frontally, and completely annihilated the Japanese army in Chadong in one fell swoop.

At the same time, with one force, after breaking through the frontal defense, with one force advanced at full speed to the Guisui line. After arriving in Jining, the troops were divided into two routes, one way with a tank regiment with an infantry regiment and a cavalry brigade to seize Fengzhen, Chahar's right flank front banner to Liangcheng line, blocking the northward passage of the Japanese army in northern Shanxi. Along the way, two independent tank battalions, plus a cavalry brigade, seized Guisui as quickly as possible to complete the strategic intention of the headquarters.

Chen Hanzhang's battle plan is exactly what he told Yang Zhen the day before. It's just that it's quantified and refined, and the strategic considerations are more comprehensive. Chen Hanzhang's focus was still on defeating the 26th Division as quickly as possible and the second-line echelon behind which the Japanese army behind it would definitely be deployed. In Chen Hanzhang's plan, the number of armored troops invested was more than Yang Zhen's original plan.

As for the idea of crossing Yin Mountain, which Chen Hanzhang had originally mentioned, there was no mention of it in this battle plan. Obviously, Chen Hanzhang still has great concerns about whether the armored troops can cross the Yin Mountain. At least on the map, it is difficult to find a road that would allow a large cluster of armor to cross the Yin Mountains.

The Yinshan Mountains lie between the north and south of the entire battlefield, the entire terrain is gentle on the northern slope, complex and steep on the southern slope, and although there are many passes in the north-south direction, this kind of terrain is not guaranteed for tank clusters.

Under this kind of terrain, it is difficult for any commander to make up his mind lightly with a large number of armored clusters across the entire Yin Mountain. In particular, the terrain there is extremely unfamiliar to the Anti-Japanese Union. And the accuracy of this map at the moment is not ideal.

Once the armored cluster is blocked by the mountain when it crosses the Yin Mountain, even if the trip is delayed for a few days, it will be a great disaster for the entire battle. At the same time, the terrain there can be barely driven even by tracked vehicles, but it may be difficult for wheeled vehicles to move.

All the field fuel supply vehicles currently equipped by the Anti-Japanese Federation are all wheeled. At the same time, according to Chen Hanzhang's plan, the infantry assigned to the assault group also all need to rely on motorized advances. As soon as you leave the wheeled vehicle, then it is equivalent to unloading the thighs of the infantry's rapid maneuver.

Therefore, Chen Hanzhang's entire battle plan avoided Yinshan and chose a relatively narrow area at the southern foot of Yinshan, obviously not wanting to take this risk. This is also the reason why Yang Zhen's evaluation is more than bold and surprisingly insufficient. Compared with Yang Zhen's original idea, Chen Hanzhang's entire plan is obviously much more conservative.

As the commander of the armored forces, Chen Hanzhang, who already has a certain understanding of the tactics used by the armored troops, in addition to avoiding the Yinshan Mountain Range, is still a little worried that the rear road of the tank cluster that conducts roundabout interspersed operations will be cut off. Because he knew very well what kind of dire situation his tank cluster would face if he lost supplies.

The fuel trucks accompanying the operation can only meet the consumption of the armored cluster for a short time. However, once the supply line cannot be opened for a long time, then after the fuel is exhausted, there is basically no second possibility for the tank cluster waiting to break through into the depth of the Japanese army except to lose all of them.

In particular, the detour interspersed with armored clusters faced not only the Japanese troops in Chaxi, Suizhong and Suidong, but also the reinforcements of the Japanese First Army in northern Shanxi that could go out of the Great Wall at any time to fight. Although it cannot be said that the surrounding area is surrounded by strong enemies, it is definitely not easy. Once progress is delayed, how long can the oil be carried on? As for the airdrop, Chen Hanzhang obviously didn't want to pin all his hopes on this not very solid supply method.

Once the fuel is exhausted and the rear supply line cannot be opened for a long time, it is not difficult to imagine the consequences that will be encountered by the most elite tank armored group of the anti-coalition armored forces that break into the depth of the Japanese army. These are all issues that he must consider as a campaign commander, and they are also problems that he must avoid as much as possible.