In this counterattack operation in the southwest of Shanxi, Chongqing invested a total of three group armies and two armies in the entire Yuncheng battlefield, with a total of nine formed armies plus one division. If we add the artillery and other directly subordinate troops, the total strength reaches 150,000. Even after the 37th Division received reinforcements, it had an absolute advantage in terms of troops.

And after the rearmament, most of the troops, especially the several armies of the Central Army system, were not inferior to the Japanese army in terms of firepower. Even the First Army and the 90th Army, which participated in the war, still have an absolute advantage in terms of infantry firepower alone, if they do not count the increased firepower. It stands to reason that this battle can almost be said to be in hand.

However, in this battle, the cooperation of various troops, especially the troops of the miscellaneous army sequence and the central army sequence, still could not form a tacit understanding. In the course of the attack, each army is basically within the scope of operations designated by the superior, and you fight yours and I fight mine. In terms of troop deployment, it is often a dog on a wolf.

In the middle of the battle, let a few new armies, as well as a badge army with very poor equipment. The two best-equipped and best-trained corps were put aside to watch the battle in the name of reserves. Although several days of attacking operations inflicted great casualties on the Japanese troops in Yuncheng. But the problem has not been solved for a long time, and the root cause lies in this.

In the course of Lieutenant General Yuichiro Nagano's fierce counterattack against the First Army and the Ninetieth Army with a smoke screen. In addition to the disabled New Second Army, several other participating armies were there watching. That is, the flanks of the enemy's counterattack forces were not forced, and the two armies fought in cooperation. He did not take advantage of the opportunity of the enemy army in Yuncheng to go straight to Yuncheng to cut off the enemy's rear road.

One group army and two armies deployed in the First Theater south of Yuncheng simply switched to defense on the spot in the direction of Pinglu and Jiexian. It was only an errand to deal with it, and sent a small force to the north for a tentative expedition. As soon as they encountered the Japanese attack, they immediately retreated. After the First Army and the Ninetieth Army withdrew north across the Fen River, the two armies simply leaned together and formed a turtle formation.

In the direction of Zhangdian, when the 19th Army of the Jin Sui Army was attacked by the Japanese army, a corps of the Central Army deployed in the northwest direction of the army simply retreated 20 miles in the direction of Wanquan and watched the army be defeated. Nor did they send a single soldier to outflank the Japanese army in the direction of Zhangdian, but it was a detachment composed of two infantry brigades.

Similarly, when the Jin Sui army was interspersed with the Japanese army in Taiyuan and Yuncheng, this blocking attack was also half-hearted, and the formation was very large, but it was almost a retreat in the battle. Otherwise, even if these three armies were scarecrows, it would be impossible for the defense line to be continuously broken by the Japanese troops who were smaller than their own in a short period of time.

You must know that although the Jin Sui Army does not have many troops, it has one characteristic, that is, the basic combat structure is quite substantial. All the combat units of the armies, which are not customary to ordinary miscellaneous troops, are reserved for empty salaries, and are the kind of troops that exist only on paper.

Although the Jin Sui army said that its field combat ability was somewhat inferior, it had a considerable advantage in combat, that is, it was extremely good at defensive operations. Under the painstaking rectification of the three armies of the king of Shanxi, although the number of artillery was a little less, the equipment was also excellent.

The three armies, which were at least moderately equipped, had a small total strength but were well formed, and were good at defensive operations themselves, relied on several lines of defense formed by favorable terrain. The Japanese army, which was less powerful than itself, was beaten in a short period of time, and was broken through several lines of defense in a row, which is very revealing.

was originally a winning battle, but because of their own internal intrigues, mutual vigilance and calculations, and even everyone was preserving their strength. was exploited by Lieutenant General Yuichiro Nagano, and not even a single wounded person was evacuated safely. Except for obtaining an empty city and capturing dozens of wounded who had fallen behind, he was almost empty-handed.

This result made the deputy commander of the Eighth Theater who seemed very ambitious, and the commander-in-chief of the former enemy in the southwest of Shanxi Province, who had never been more ambitious than he had ever done at the beginning of the campaign, thought that the sufficient number of troops and the excellent weapons and equipment of the troops participating in this battle were quite embarrassing.

After the withdrawal of the 37th Division, after the loss of Zhangdian, the Jin Sui army, which was retreating north of Xia County, was suddenly extremely brave and immediately moved south quickly to seize the entire southern Jin. Although the territory of Yuncheng is still controlled by the Central Army. However, all the key points around Yuncheng were seized by the Jin Sui army in the second war zone. Only a passage from Yuncheng to Yongji was left for the Central Army to retreat.

The hand in the World War Zone made this guy even more annoyed and angry. In order to vent the anger in his heart, and even more so to shirk his responsibility, he directly sued Chongqing for the situation in the World War Zone. The troops who accused the cooperative troops in the second war zone were not only slow to move in the entire combat operation, but also deliberately conserved their strength during the operation, and even collapsed at the slightest touch, and sat back and watched the Japanese army's onslaught on the Central Army.

Not only did it fail to intercept the retreating forces of the Japanese army, but it also allowed it to run hundreds of kilometers in the hinterland of the Second War Zone in southwest Shanxi Province to reinforce Yuncheng to defend the enemy. There was a group army and two armies in the sky above the Jinnan battlefield, plus two artillery regiments, which not only sat back and watched the Japanese army withdraw, but even took the initiative to get out of the way of the Japanese army's eastward retreat route. The operation was not fully successful, and the theater of the second war should bear the main responsibility.

And the commander of the Second World War Zone, who has the same thoughts as him, where will he be good? Similarly, in order to get rid of responsibility, and even more so to return to Yuncheng, he also sued him in Chongqing. Accusing him of holding a few elite troops in his hands, but ignoring the entire battlefield situation, retreating at the critical moment of the Japanese counterattack, and sitting back and watching the friendly forces be wiped out. Not only is there a suspicion of preserving strength, but also a suspicion of conniving with the enemy.

The two accused each other, and this verbal lawsuit was fought from the beginning of April 44 to the end of April 44 and was not cleared. The first person in Chongqing naturally would not deal with the protégé who was the first confidant in control of the northwest. But for the king of Shanxi in a short period of time, he was helpless, and finally got into trouble.

However, the experience and lessons exposed by this battle are still not carefully summed up. In addition to blaming each other and shirking responsibility, or even looking for scapegoats. No one thinks about changing the problems that have been exposed, or has no ability to change them.

And the first person in Chongqing who is extremely proficient in the art of checks and balances and the art of power. However, it was not as promised at the beginning, it will have the benefit of pond salt, and face Fenglingdu in the south, and cross Fenglingdu is Tongguan, the gateway to Henan-Shaanxi, and contain the throat of Shanxi, Shaanxi and Henan provinces, and Yuncheng, which is extremely important in strategic position, and return it to the commander of the Second War Zone.

Let his first protégé select a corps of the Central Army from among the armies participating in the war to stay in Yuncheng. At the same time, in order to appease the commander of the Second World War Zone, he reclassified the Zhongtiao Mountains to the Second War Zone with a stroke of his pen. Using the poor Zhongtiao Mountain Area to replace the rich and strategically important Yuncheng, he played quite beautifully.

As for the Zhongtiao Mountains, under the current situation that all the Japanese troops in Shanxi have retreated, the strategic location has long been different from what it used to be. The Zhongtiao Mountains, which can't even be self-sufficient in food, should give him a headache in the World War II zone. Anyway, Yuncheng is already in hand, and you don't have to think about it if you want to take it back.

Of course, the lawsuit is a matter of the future, but now the 37th Division, which has escaped alive, seems to be disgusted with the face of the deputy commander of the Eighth Theater. After arriving in Hengqu, he did not continue to retreat eastward, and according to his prediction, he directly withdrew to northern Henan for rectification.

According to the latest order of the front army, in order to cope with the operation in eastern Henan, it suddenly crossed the Yellow River east of Hengqu and crushed an army in charge of river defense in the first theater of operations in that direction. Ignoring the resistance of the Chinese troops along the way, they forcibly attacked Luoyang, where the headquarters of the First Theater was located, along the south bank of the Yellow River, and successively seized the two county towns of Shengchi and Xin'an.

Not only did they obtain a large amount of supplies from the logistics warehouses of the First War Zone in these two counties, but they also solved the dilemma of insufficient supplies in a short period of time. It also cut off the Longhai railway between Luoyang and Tongguan, as well as the connection between the First War Zone and Shaanxi. It directly threatens the security of the entire northwest rear area, as well as the depth of several group armies that are currently fighting fiercely with the Japanese army on the east bank of the new Yellow River.

Its vanguard had already reached Luoyang, where the headquarters of the commander of the First Theater was located, and had defeated two regiments of the 15th Army garrisoning Luoyang, and captured Bishan, an important barrier on its outskirts. Although it is located on the front line and there is only one natural danger of the Yellow River with the Japanese-occupied area, Luoyang City, which has been singing and dancing for many years, has closed four gates, chickens and dogs jumping, and even three shocks a day.

In order to respond to the battlefield in eastern Henan, Lieutenant General Yuichiro Nagano suddenly came to surround Wei and save Zhao, which played an immediate role. The commander of the First Theater who was not mentally prepared for the Japanese army to forcibly cross the Yellow River at this time and go deep into the hinterland of the First War Zone was directly defeated.

I never thought that the Japanese army would suddenly come from the north bank of the Yellow River at this time. And as soon as he came, he was the commander of the theater who strengthened the strength of the division and regiment. After receiving a report that the Japanese army had crossed the Yellow River and was fighting all the way to Luoyang on the Longhai Line, and that its small force had even reached the edge of Luoyang, he immediately panicked.

On the one hand, it constantly grabbed all the surrounding troops to block it, and constantly demanded that a group army currently deployed south of Yuncheng immediately cross the Yellow River and return to its formation. On the one hand, he constantly gave orders to his deputy, demanding that several group armies that had crossed the New Yellow River immediately return for reinforcements.

This old man, who was a little panicked, even directly deducted the 35th Army and the Provisional Third Army, which were originally transferred from the rear and were originally the second echelon of the Hedong Battlefield, and had not yet had time to cross the New Yellow River to participate in the war, as well as two cavalry brigades, were quickly transferred back from Xuchang to strengthen the front line in Luoyang. At the same time, he constantly urged a group army that had been transferred to Yuncheng to immediately withdraw and reinforce the Longhai Road operation. He also gave a death order to the Fourth Army, which had crossed the New Yellow River and participated in the battle, requiring the army to return within three days.

This panicked old man's action completely disrupted the original combat system in the First War Zone. In addition, the Japanese army under the personal command of Yoshimoto Sadachi, who had already withdrawn to northern Henan, only after three days of rest and internal adjustment of troops, quickly moved south from Anyang along the Pinghan Railway. As a result, the troops in the First Theater attacking east of the New Yellow River suddenly turned into a situation of being attacked by the enemy on their backs.

Once Luoyang was not defended under the rapid offensive of the 37th Division, the Japanese army of the division advanced eastward along the Longhai Railway. The rear of the troops attacking Hedong in the entire First War Zone will be completely disintegrated. When the time comes, let alone the recovery of eastern Henan, even the most elite troops in the First War Zone will be surrounded around Kaifeng.

Therefore, holding the line from Luoyang to Zhengzhou has become the key in this battle. But at this time, the elite of the First War Zone had been exhausted, and the remaining troops were also in southern Henan and central Henan. Whether the troops of the several miscellaneous armies deployed along Longhai Road can resist the attack of this super master regiment before the reinforcements arrive, the commander of the theater really does not have that foundation in his heart.

Fortunately, the former deputy commander of the Eighth Theater who was transferred to the First War Zone was indeed quite powerful. After arriving in Luoyang, despite the opposition of the warzone commander who was frightened. He did not defend the city, but commanded his own starting unit, the 35th Army, plus the provisional Third Army, two of his descendants, and the 37th Division, which was rushing towards Luoyang, and started an offensive battle.