Due to the slight shortage of troops, Yang Zhen carefully considered and reported to the central government for approval. The Korean Independent Division, which was being reorganized, was incorporated into the Western Group for operations. Although this independent Korean division always participated in the battle on the Eastern Front during the first phase of the battle, it did not undertake the main combat mission.

And relying on a large number of Korean-inhabited areas on the Eastern Front, a large number of troops were replenished in a short period of time. It is also the first unit to complete the replenishment of all the participating troops after the end of the first phase of the battle. Moreover, on the basis of new recruits, with Yang Zhen's approval, the unit was also expanded.

At present, the division has been expanded from three regiments to two brigades and five regiments. The actual strength of the army has reached the standard of two divisions. Although it was not equipped with automatic rifles and general-purpose machine guns, the entire division was equipped with Japanese-made light and heavy weapons. The division has field artillery battalions and heavy mortar battalions, the brigade has mountain artillery battalions and heavy mortar batteries, and the regiment has infantry artillery companies and rapid-fire artillery companies.

Each battalion had six Type 92 heavy machine guns, four Type 97 90-mm mortars, and two rocket launchers. Each infantry squad had a Type 99 light machine gun, two submachine guns and a grenadier canister, and the whole army was equipped with Type 99 rifles. Although the equipment is not as good as the main division of the Anti-Japanese Union, it is not much worse.

At the beginning of the large-scale rearmament of the whole army, this division was not equipped with the standard equipment of the Anti-United Nations, but the configuration of a full set of Japanese-style light divisions. This is because in consideration of the fact that under considerable circumstances, this division often has to independently enter the Japanese-occupied areas of Korea to conduct harassment operations, or to enter Korea to conduct guerrilla operations, so the weaponry and ammunition are as common as possible with the Japanese troops.

Moreover, after the completion of the first phase of the battle this year, the Anti-Japanese Union used a large number of captured new Japanese weapons to reequip the division's light weapons. The whole division was all captured in the first phase of the battle, and the Japanese Type 99 light machine guns and Type 99 rifles were captured.

Compared with the original, the firepower has not been greatly enhanced. However, the performance of the weapons and equipment is much better than the 38 rifles and crooked handles originally equipped by the division. However, Yang Zhen of the division has always been built according to the standard of a lightly armed division, so the artillery firepower of the division has not increased.

However, the number of mortars suitable for mountain warfare has increased, and the artillery directly under the division has increased the number of divisional heavy mortars equipped with 18 Japanese-style 150-mm mortars. In addition, an anti-tank battalion of 12 two-pounder guns was added to the artillery directly under the division.

The division is currently the only lightly armed division of the Anti-Japanese Union, and the only full-time mechanic. The combat effectiveness is not weak, and it can be listed as the main division of the second class of the Anti-United Nations. Especially since it has been fighting in the eastern mountains since its formation, the division is especially good at mountain operations. At present, there are no cadres of other nationalities in the division, and all the people from top to bottom are Koreans, and the centripetal force within the unit is also extremely strong.

Considering that the territory of Rehe is mostly mountainous, the focus of this battle is in the west, plus some political considerations. Therefore, Yang Zhen transferred the division with the largest number and establishment among all the troops of the Anti-Japanese Federation to the Rehe battlefield to enhance the strength of the Rehe battlefield.

It's just that no one knows what Yang Zhen, the No. 1 in the whole army, thinks, and this division has actually reached the establishment and strength of an army now. However, on the list of the Anti-Japanese Federation, it always appears with the number of the division. It was not changed to the real Korean Independence Army because of the expansion of the troops, and the number was also changed to the Korean Independent Division.

In this operation, except for the four divisions left by the headquarters to be deployed around Harbin as a general reserve, almost all of the Anti-Japanese Union and the Advance Army were dispatched. In addition to the new units that are still being formed due to lack of equipment, the aviation, armored troops, artillery and other technical arms of the Anti-Japanese Union have also been put into the front line to participate in the war.

In the words of Yang Zhen at the pre-war meeting of senior cadres, this was a battle to smash the pot and sell iron. If the war is won, the Anti-Japanese Federation will be able to obtain sufficient manpower and material support from the Guannai and truly get rid of the current situation of fighting alone. If you defeat it, I'm afraid there will be no more retreat. Therefore, this operation can only succeed and not fail.

The order of the time of the campaign was to start the northeast first, then the southern front, and the western front to be launched last. The Northeast Battlefield and the Southern Front were the first to start, attracting the main attention of the Japanese army from Chadong. Twenty-four hours after the battle of the northeast and southern fronts, the Chadong front launched an attack on all fronts.

The operational goal of the central line and the West Manchurian zone was to completely eliminate the salient of the Japanese army in Xinjing and compress the Japanese army to the line of Siping Street with a pincer offensive. and captured the entire province of Rehe, creating a stable rear for the entire western battlefield of this battle, and threatening the Bac Ninh Railway, the main artery of the Japanese army.

In the capture of Xinjing this time, Yang Zhen made a great determination to carry the big burden of Xinjing's population of hundreds of thousands. The threat to this salient against the overall defensive posture of the central front of the United Nations is too great, and it is also too close to Harbin, an important town in North Manchuria. This protrusion has a great deal of restraint on the situation of the middle line.

Compared with the middle line, Yang Zhen did not plan to go too deep on the eastern front. The attack cut-off line of the eastern front is on the line of Xi'an, Dongfeng, Jinchuan, and Linjiang, and the offensive cut-off line of the central front is on the line from Lishu to Xi'an. The overall objective of the offensive in the northeast was to further compress the area under the control of the Kwantung Army, expand the space of the base area, and seize as much as possible the grain-producing areas of the Songliao Plain.

At the same time, it was unable to reinforce the North China Front of the Japanese Army to the west. At least for now, Yang Zhen has no plans to go deep into South Manchuria. Because this will face a two-sided attack by the Kwantung Army and the North Korean Army, the pressure on the eastern defense of the United Nations is somewhat too great.

Therefore, Yang Zhen still decided to set the stop line of the attack at the handover of Fengtian and Jilin. And there is a reason why the stop line is here. Here you can threaten the steel, chemical and other important industrial towns of South Manchuria, Anshan, Benxi Lake, Miyahara and Fushun at any time.

On the southern front, the operation in the southern direction of Chanan was mainly to contain the Japanese army on the line from Zhangjiakou to Pingjin, and it was unable to advance westward to reinforce the Japanese-Mongolian Xinjiang garrison. and seize the line from the mountains of Dama to Yanshan, and the troops who launched an offensive at Rehe in the east, and use the terrain to form an overall defense line to ensure the smooth progress of the westward campaign.

All the forces of the air force participated in the battle, except for the combat units that remained in the base areas to serve as air defense missions. In addition to supporting ground operations, the focus was on air raids on the Japanese army's deep areas, mainly Jinpu, Dongpu, Bac Ninh, the southern line of the Zhongchang Railway, and the Pingbao Railway.

According to Yang Zhen's request, all units were to start marching to the area where the offensive was launched starting on 13 March. Except for the troops of the Western Front and the Southern Front, which arrived at the combat area before the early morning of the 19th because of the distance, the rest of the troops had to arrive at the combat area before the evening of the 18th, and the final preparations for the operation had to be completed before sunset on the 19th. In the early morning of the 20th, all offensive forces were to be fully deployed.

In order to ensure the concealment of the troops' advances, the routes of the various units must be strictly in accordance with the routes selected by the headquarters. In particular, the various units on the Western Front adopted the method of marching forward one by one with regiments as the formation and then assembling in the operational areas. The planned roundabout interspersed troops were set up at the junction of the West Uzhumuqin Banner and the Abaga Banner at a certain distance from the front line.

This is because the troops that are scheduled to be interspersed with large depth and detours, except for the cavalry, are all motorized and mechanized troops, and they are extremely mobile. According to the plan, the time for this roundabout interspersed force to attack was within 24 hours of the start of the entire front of the Western Front.

For the sake of secrecy, this force will arrive in the territory of the West Uzhumuqin Banner and the Abaga Banner on the 19th. At present, however, the most difficult thing is how to transport such a large-scale mobilization of troops and equipment to the designated assembly area in West Manchuria under strict secrecy.

In particular, the roundabout troops, although they are cavalry mechanized clusters, but at such a long distance from North Manchuria to West Manchuria, it is impossible to rely on mechanized marching. In this way, the mechanical wear and tear on the tank will be considerable, and the troops will also be extremely tired. It is better to take the railway transportation in the base area and get off at the nearest area to the front line......

Materials and ammunition are easy to conceal, but it is difficult to completely conceal hundreds of tanks and a large number of cars and heavy artillery. If the troops choose to march from Tongliao to the designated assembly area, then they need to enter the Sitao line after arriving at Taonan via the Taoang Railway, and enter Tongliao in the west at Shuangliao.

However, the Sitao Line is the line of the Dongliao River east of Shuangliao, which is the confrontation zone between the Anti-Japanese Union and the Kwantung Army after the end of the previous stage of the battle. With the Japanese military telescope, you can clearly see the railway transportation in Shuangliao on the west bank of the Dongliao River. Once these tanks are detected by the Japanese army moving westward, it will be quite unfavorable to the suddenness of the roundabout operation.

In order to ensure that a large number of tanks and vehicles of the 1st and 5th Armored Divisions arrived at the assembly area of the West Uzhumuqin Banner as secretly as possible. Yang Zhen personally held the map and measured it little by little. In the end, all the participating troops on the Western Front were decided, and the heavy equipment was not transported by the Sitao Line, but by the Tao-A Railway. Get off at the Hizagar Banner Station. By mechanized and motorized march, they arrived at the assembly area of the West Uzhumu Banner.

Although the transportation capacity of the Tao-A railway is still relatively poor compared with the Sitao railway. During last year's battle, the damage to the railway was also severe. It was the most severely damaged railway line in the Anti-Union base area after the seizure, and almost all the bridges and tunnels were blown up.

Although a large number of repairs have been carried out, many of the routes have only been temporarily repaired, and most of the repaired bridges are still temporarily built with timber. The tunnel was only cleared and the battle-damaged rails replaced. The battle-damaged tunnels could not be reinforced due to insufficient technical capabilities.

At the time, the Ministry of Military Communications did not consider using the railway to transport troops except for relying on the railway to transport food and some supplies. It is because of this railway line that the road conditions so far are not ideal. On this railway line, trains are not only limited in capacity, but can only travel at a constant speed.

Transporting such a large number of troops and heavy equipment, together with a large amount of ammunition and supplies, was a heavy burden on the railway. But this route is better than concealment, much higher than taking the Sitao Railway. After careful consideration, Yang Zhen still decided to use this railway transportation to transport back to the troops.

The 1st Armored Brigade and the three independent tank battalions, which launched the attack from the front, were transported by the Sitao Line by means of rapid passage at night. This method was adopted in order to draw the attention of the Japanese army to the 1st Armored Brigade. And for the interspersed actions of the roundabout troops, the greatest suddenness of the creation zào.

In this way, the troops transferred through the Guò Sitao railway could attract the attention of part of the Japanese army, and partly ensure the suddenness of the movement of the troops in the flanks and detours. With the close distance between the Taonan to Shuangliao section of the Sitao Railway and the Japanese front-line positions, such a large-scale railway transportation is difficult to ensure that it will not be detected by the Japanese army even if it is secretly transported at night.

The 1st Armored Brigade was used to attract the attention of the Japanese army, and all the attention of the Japanese army was drawn to the Sitao railway line. The transportation of troops from the 1st and 5th Armored Divisions, which ensured the transportation of troops on the flanks of the 1st and 5th Divisions via the Tao'an Railway, could be regarded as another kind of strategic cover operation.