The anti-union troops that were originally in the Suidong battlefield rushed south quickly to cooperate with the anti-union in northern Shanxi and carried out a counter-assault on the northeastern region of Shanxi. It effectively alleviated the pressure on the original anti-coalition forces in northern Shanxi, and greatly alleviated the situation of insufficient anti-coalition troops in northern Shanxi. Senior General Okamura Ninji is probably a misjudgment on these two points.

Since the entire battle plan was drawn up by General Okamura himself, and he rushed back to Beiping from Zhangjiakou, he constantly interfered with his command from time to time. The only mobile division in the entire Shanxi battlefield is controlled by him again, so in the face of this difficult chess game in front of him, let him decide how to deal with it himself.

However, after transferring the telegram for help from the well to the iron store, the battle situation was also not very favorable in the direction of Yanmen Pass. Yoshimoto Seichi hesitated for a long time, and secretly gave Lieutenant General Tanaka Kuichi, commander of the 21st Division, and Lieutenant General Iide Tetsuzo, commander of the 32nd Division, respectively orders to break through and retreat south.

As for the troops that have already been divided and encircled, they can rescue as much as they can, and ensuring the safety of the main forces of the division and regiment is the first priority. Now for Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadachi, what he needs to rescue is not just one 32nd Division, but all the two divisions in northern Jin that he can command.

The 32nd Division was taken by surprise, but the overall situation of the battle was not completely corrupted to the point of being out of control. The main two wings of the 21st Division on the front line of Mayi and Zhangzhuang are now struggling to support themselves in the face of the onslaught of a large number of tanks and cavalry of the Anti-United Nations under the cover of a large number of ground-to-air firepower.

The two wings, together with the search, engineer, baggage, and artillery forces, were constantly being eaten by the enemy in a small-scale, shallow-deep roundabout way, and then cut them off and ate them bite by bite. At the same time, the anti-union in front of it adopts the deployment of two-sided extrusion and one-sided firepower suppression. With tanks as the lead, with the cooperation of the infantry, although the progress is not fast, it is squeezing the strength of the 21st Division in one place little by little.

After two days of hard fighting, the whole division has now been reduced to a zone north of Zhangzhuang and between the Sanggan River and the Huangshui River east of Mayi, which is less than five kilometers long from east to west and less than three kilometers wide from north to south. The most important thing is that the old and new Guangwu cities outside Yanmen Pass have been captured by the Anti-Japanese Alliance, and the front and rear of the entire 21st Division have been divided by the enemy, and the 21st Division is now in a situation of being semi-encircled.

The line from Mayi to Zhangzhuang is located at the southern end of the Datong Basin, which is a combination of low mountains, hills and plains, which is extremely suitable for enemy tank combat. Without the two main wings of the 21st Division, as well as the engineer and search wings, which relied on Xinguangwu City behind them, they could only build field fortifications on the spot and counterattack the squeezing tactics of the delayed enemy forces with continuous tactics.

It should be said that the vision of Lieutenant General Kuichi Tanaka, commander of the 21st Division, was still very accurate in his tactical judgment. He knew that once he was squeezed into a ball by the enemy, it was true that the 21st Division could hold its ground in a group. However, it is conducive to the development of the enemy's superiority in firepower, especially the lethality of its artillery and aviation.

Regarding Tanaka Kuichi's war report, Yoshimoto Sadachi still agrees. Under the condition that the enemy had absolute tank superiority, it did not adopt a wide range of detours and interspersed to carry out the final division of the 21st Division. Instead, they adopted a squeeze method that was not suitable for their tank tactics, and there must be some ghost in it.

The Chinese have a saying that when something goes wrong, it is a demon. This is exactly the case with the 21st Division facing the enemy head-on. It is still correct for Kuichi Tanaka to adopt a constant tactical counterattack, to strengthen the squadron formation with anti-tank guns combined with infantry, and to constantly counterattack under the pressure of the enemy forces to curb the speed of the enemy's squeeze.

Especially for the enemy's tank squeezing tactics, the 21st Division was not without a little spare strength to fight back. The 21st Division was equipped with the latest 50-millimeter anti-tank guns imported from Germany by the Reich and the latest among the German troops, which destroyed a large number of enemy tanks.

Coupled with the determination of the imperial soldiers not to be afraid of death, although they were also retreating step by step under the squeeze, they finally maintained the integrity of the main force of the division and regiment. Since it can ensure the integrity of the main force of the division and regiment, and it has not been scattered by a large number of enemy tanks, it shows that it still has a certain counterattack capability. At least the tactical counterattack, there is no problem.

But although I think that the disposal of Lieutenant General Kuichi Tanaka is still relatively appropriate. However, Yoshimoto Sadaichi believes that the current situation is already in a rather unfavorable situation for the 21st Division. In particular, with the loss of Xinguangwu, the supply and rear routes of the entire 21st Division were cut off.

With the enemy's absolute tank superiority, the possibility of an offensive is also unlikely. That would only widen the distance between their own troops and create conditions for the enemy to penetrate. Since the 21st Division was now in a situation where it was impossible to advance or retreat, Yoshimoto Sadaichi thought that it would fight hard with the enemy in front of him and completely wipe out this division.

It is better to let the 21st Division withdraw immediately now, and withdraw to the inner Great Wall to the west through Shuoxian and Yangwankou, so that there can still be a line of vitality. This line is all in the Guanshui Mountainous Area, and the terrain is relatively complicated, so the whole system should be withdrawn. But if it is delayed, then I am afraid that even if the king of heaven is coming, he will not be able to save them.

Of course, if one more division is added, no, even if it is a brigade of reinforcements, relying on the enemy in front of the enemy mainly relying on tanks and cavalry to attack in turn, but the poor situation of few infantry, is not completely hopeless. Judging from the battle reports sent by the 21 st Division, the 50 mm German-made antitank guns equipped with this division are still completely capable of destroying the enemy's latest tanks.

However, there were really no reinforcements, so the urgent need for delay now was to ensure that these two divisions could safely withdraw to the Great Wall. If these two divisions are lost again, then from the line of the Inner Great Wall to the city of Taiyuan, he will have no troops to defend. If the enemy army takes the opportunity to go south and storm Taiyuan again, then he, the commander of the First Army, will either move or die in Taiyuan.

Yoshimoto Sadachi knew very well that once the enemy army took advantage of the momentum of the great victory, the whole army went south. The intensity of this operation is not like the last time it was a surprise attack that was like taking advantage of the fire. Last time, the enemy adopted a posture of besieging but not attacking the headquarters of the First Army, and this time it was not so lucky.

Even if the enemy army does not attack Taiyuan City, if the Xinkou line north of Taiyuan City is lost, and only half of his territory is left, then his position as the commander of the First Army will be completed. The most important thing now is to keep these two divisions, and as for that damn plan of General Okamura, to hell with it.

One wrong step, one wrong step. Originally, it was thought that the 32nd Division would be able to attract all the enemy's tank troops. But he didn't expect that the willpower of the enemy commander far exceeded his own judgment. Rather sit back and watch the Ruyuekou line be quickly broken through, the 32nd Division has already advanced to the county seat of Yingxian, but only part of the troops have been mobilized, but they have bluffed to reinforce the Shanyin line. But he controlled all the latest tanks in his own hands.

A large amount of artillery fire was also concentrated, and a fire net was deployed in the plain area between Mayi and Zhangzhuang to wait for the attack of the 21st Division. The attack of the 21st Division was equivalent to stupidly sending itself into the circle of fire. In the plains, the result of the infantry fighting tanks and cavalry can be understood by fools.

Not only the commander of the 21st Division, Lieutenant General Tanaka Kuichi, made a mistake in judging the number of enemy tanks. Even himself, as well as the general Okamura in Beiping, also made a mistake in judgment. Thinking that the enemy was reinforcing the corresponding county, the main tank forces were dispatched.

The number of remaining tanks of the enemy army on the front line of Yanmen Pass, and the large number of anti-tank guns equipped with the 21st Division were sufficient to deal with it. But no one thought that the enemy's reinforcement of Yingxian was just a bluff. Even when Yingxian County was already surrounded by the 32nd Division, and the shape was in danger, he actually controlled the real main force in his hands.

Not only did it give the commanders of the two divisions in front of them a false impression that their troops were extremely empty, but they also dared to penetrate directly into Yanmen Pass and seize the old and new Guangwu under the condition that the straight-line distance between Zhangzhuang and Yanmen Pass was limited, thus cutting off the connection between Yanmen Pass and the main force of the 21 st Division in front.

Yoshimoto Sadachi can be sure that the treacherous and cunning supreme commander of the Anti-Union is not in northern Jin. Although it is not yet known who his opponent is, Lieutenant General Yoshimoto believes that this commander is not as cunning as their supreme commander in the current situation. But endurance and willpower are not below it.

The commander of the 10th Division in Yingxian County was even more treacherous, and the troops of the 32nd Division attacking the city had already reached his headquarters, but they still placed the main force in the mountainous area northwest of Yingxian County to hide and wait, and they would definitely not move until the best time. As a high-ranking officer, he would rather take his own risk than attack at the best time, and he has the courage and perseverance.

Not to mention the armies of other countries, there is simply no way to find such a senior commander who dares to risk his own command. Even in the Imperial Army, which has always been known for its tenacity, all the officers above the rank of major general together absolutely do not have this kind of courage and willpower.

In this battle in the north of Jin, although General Okamura calculated skillfully, but he was not a dummy, but he coincidentally encountered such an extremely difficult situation on the three battlefields, and his willpower and tenacity were better than the opponents of the Imperial Army, and it could be regarded as his General Okamura's bad luck.

And from the perspective of the Anti-Japanese Alliance's appearance on the battlefield in northern Jin during this time, as the former chief of staff of the Kwantung Army, the current commander of the First Army of the North China Front. Once as the chief of staff of the largest strategic unit of the Japanese Army, and once as the supreme commander of a military-level combat unit equivalent to the ancient Chinese feudal officials, he fought against the Anti-Japanese Federation on two different battlefields.

But Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadachi, who had a blue nose and swollen face, could only say that whether it was the Kwantung Army in the past or the current North China Front Army, he was not unjustly defeated. Judging such a branch with a fixed mind is cunning, but it is extremely fierce and bold. With a spicy, resolute, tenacious, and even changeable tactical style, there should not be a sense of surprise when losing a battle.

Now for the North China Front, the biggest problem now is how to contain the enemy's offensive, that is to say, how to end the battle as much as possible with a less embarrassing ending and a loss that the base camp can accept. Instead of continuing into this meat grinder-like battlefield, in the throw of any division, even a brigade or a wing.

Now it is necessary to keep these two divisions and regiments, that is, to protect the Shanxi-controlled zhì area south of the Inner Great Wall. If both divisions are lost, what is the use of putting the 15th Division into the battlefield now? It's just to sell two, and then send a partner, and also to take half of his first army's control area.

Facing such an opponent who is cunning, especially determined, and has absolute superiority in firepower. Lieutenant General Sadamichi Yoshimoto believes that the most important thing now is to keep these two divisions without reinforcements. Otherwise, don't count on it for now. Such an order, which went against the intentions of Senior General Okamura, could only be issued secretly by Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadachi. Use the special password given by the two divisions themselves before participating in the war.