Faced with the increasingly subtle changes in the situation, the Japanese base camp, which had lost patience, simply made a decision for the two strategic groups. The eastern part of Hebei was completely divided into the defense area of the Kwantung Army, and the defense lines of the two sides were divided by the Arrow River. The west belongs to the North China Front, and the east belongs to the Kwantung Army.

The base camp means that the heavy equipment I should give you has already been given to you. Don't get entangled with each other here to determine the direction of the enemy's main attack. Aren't you all fighting with each other in order to shorten the line of defense and save troops? Well, I'll divide the war zone for you. Each of you is responsible for a strategic direction, and no one is going to talk about it.

However, in addition to these heavy equipment and armored units, the base camp clearly informed the commander of the Kwantung Army, General Umezu Mijiro, and the commander of the North China Front, General Okamura Ninji, the two active generals of the Japanese Army. You are already in the base camp doing everything you can, as for the ground infantry reinforcements, now there is no one.

After the direction of the enemy's main attack is determined, the base camp will be comprehensively considered according to the development of the overall battle situation, but now the base camp has no troops to adjust. The new divisions that are being formed in the mainland cannot be transferred to Chinese mainland for the time being. Including the Kwantung Army, it is now impossible for the base camp to replenish the infantry.

However, the director of army education who was sent to coordinate the coordination between the two strategic groups of the Japanese army was quite dissatisfied with the performance of the Kwantung Army and the North China Front this time. The enemy has not launched any offensive yet, it is only a bluff. Before they could do anything, they all shouted that the wolf was coming.

In particular, the North China Front does not have any information to prove that the enemy's main attack direction will be North China, and they actually judged that the enemy's main attack direction would be themselves based on only some intelligence and clues. Didn't he, Senior General Okamura Ninji, know that the Empire's military strength had now been used to the extreme?

What displeased the director of education the most was that both sides thought about defense, and almost no one thought about offense. When did the Imperial Army become so frightened in the face of the enemy? Attacking, and only attacking is a tradition that the Imperial Army has always adhered to. It's good now, desperately asking for equipment and reinforcements, but only thinking about defense.

In fact, this roar of the director of education has wronged General Okamura Ninji. Compared with the frightened heart of being beaten, now bent on sticking to the territory of Nanman, and for the Kwantung Army, which has long been dead to the north to recover the "lost territory", Okamura Ninji, who is bent on the shame of last year's defeat, wants to attack.

However, the forces in his hands are still a little weak to attack under the situation that the Northeast Anti-Japanese Federation may enter North China at any time. In particular, this army is equipped with a large number of tanks and heavy artillery, as well as a large number of aviation units, and its equipment and training are second to none among all Chinese armies.

Okamura Ninji believed that if an attack was launched to the north, not only would the cooperation of the Kwantung Army be required, but the strength of the North China Front would be at least doubled. Moreover, it is necessary to dispatch a large number of tanks, heavy artillery, and planes to cooperate with the operation in order to have any hope of success. Otherwise, unless the Kwantung Army can hold back the main force of the Northeast Communist Army, the existing strength of the North China Front Army can only protect itself at best.

Unfortunately, neither the Japanese base camp nor the Chinese troops could reinforce him in a short period of time. Therefore, Okamura Ningji had some inflated ambitions, which could only be temporarily suppressed in his heart, and he mainly took a defensive position in the North China battlefield. With the current number of troops, he didn't want to take this risk for the time being.

However, the Japanese base camp promised Okamura Ninji that as long as the 11th Army completed the task of sweeping the Dongting Lake Plain. The base camp will draw some reinforcements from other directions of the Dispatch Army to the North China Front. Although the three old divisions and regiments of the 13th and 13th divisions cannot be transferred, the base camp can consider transferring the troops of the 116th Division and some detachments to the North China Front.

However, this premise is that the base camp will not make this consideration until the Changde operation planned by the 11th Army is completed and the grain-producing area of the Dongting Lake Plain is completely seized. Before the 11th Army completed the operation, the base camp would not consider transferring any troops from the southern part of China to reinforce the North China Front.

It is necessary for the imperial state policy to stabilize the Dongting Lake Plain in northern Hunan Province, completely eliminate the strength of the government army in China around the Dongting Lake Plain, control this important land of fish and rice, and ensure the needs of grain and crops. At the same time, if Changde can be controlled, an important advance base for attacking Chongqing from the south of the Yangtze River will be obtained.

This is what the Empire needs to do, and it is also a necessary means for the Empire to reduce the cost of war and feed the war with war. Therefore, if reinforcements are to be mobilized from southern China, they must wait until after the Battle of Changde. Before the Battle of Changde, reinforcements were drawn from the south of China, and he Okamura Ninji didn't think about it.

At the same time, the base camp also strongly refused Okamura Ningji to shrink the defense line of the First Army, and withdrew the 37th Division, which had always been stationed in Yuncheng and had become a lone army at this time, to the southeast of Jin. Together with the 36th Division stationed in Changzhi, it served as the general reserve of the North China Battlefield. The First Army abandoned all areas of control in southern Jinnan, and the whole army was reduced to the vicinity of Taiyuan and along the Zhengtai Railway.

From the point of view of the base camp, the 37th Division was stationed in Yuncheng, which reflected the embodiment of the offensive of the Imperial Army against the government forces in China. The 37th Division was not withdrawn, not for military reasons, but for attitude reasons. The refusal of the base camp gave Okamura Ningji a headache.

In Okamura's view, the situation in Shanxi has gotten out of control. Placing a 37th Division on the front line of Yuncheng in isolation basically had no effect except for showing its strength to the Eighth and First Theaters of China. Moreover, the surrounding 37th Division, which was surrounded by the government army and the communist army, was in a situation of being alone and deep.

Once the Northeast Communist Army moved south, the North China Front concentrated its forces to deal with the Northeast Communist Army and was unable to look westward. Then the situation will be very unfavorable for this lone outstanding 37th Division. Once the government of China has made up its mind to uproot this stronghold, which threatens the safety of railway transportation on the Longhai Road, it will be very dangerous for the 37th Division, which is surrounded by government forces on three sides.

However, the attitude of the base camp was unusually resolute, not only the 37th Division had to stay in Yuncheng, but even the 36th Division had to maintain control over the southeast of Jin. Of course, except along the Baijin Railway, this 36th Division has now been unable to take a single step. But for the base camp, this is a problem.

Even Yuncheng, which had become a lone army, refused to give up, and Okamura Ninji could not believe that the base camp would agree to him to abandon the whole of Shanxi, hand over Shanxi to the Shina government, and use Shanxi as a piece of fat to provoke the Chinese to fight a civil war among themselves, so that the Japanese army could become the fisherman's plan to fight for the end in the sandpipe.

The base camp does not give additional troops, although knowing the offensive posture of the opponent, it must have entered the final stage of preparation. However, Okamura Ningji, who was slightly short of troops, could only honestly focus on defensive operations. However, considering the tank tactics used by the Anti-Japanese Federation in the 42nd year, Okamura Ninji also concentrated all the tank troops and deployed them on the second line.

As the first crab eater in the Japanese army to organize a tank cluster attack, Okamura Ninji did this for a reason. Use infantry to consume the assault power of the Northeast Communist Army little by little, and wait until its attack power drops to a certain level. Stick to the two key points of Beiping and Tianjin, and let go of the frontal defense line.

After the Northeast Communist Army penetrated deep into the Jizhong Plain, causing a disconnect between the front and back, it organized a tank cluster to launch a full-front counterattack. As long as the tanks invested by the Northeast Communist Army are eliminated, it will be easy to leave the infantry that has been weakened to a certain extent. Therefore, Okamura Ninji transferred the base camp to his armored units, and all of them were placed in the depth south of the Pingjin railway line.

The Japanese army is desperately preparing to meet the attack of the Anti-Japanese Union. On the other side of them, with the arrival of the last quarter of the fourth or third year, the forces of the Anti-United Nations are also secretly mobilized. Both sides are doing their best to prepare for this battle. With the mobilization of various quarters one after another, the dark clouds of a major war over North China have begun to coalesce.

In addition to the intensive preparations for the Northeast Battlefield, the 17 infantry divisions, two armored divisions, two armored brigades, and six independent tank regiments, as well as the first, third, and fifth cavalry brigades directly under the North China Theater, were also secretly transferred to the Guannai on a large scale, but under extremely strict secrecy.

At the same time as these troops, four rocket artillery regiments, 11 heavy artillery regiments, and combat planes scheduled to be used in the North China battlefield all arrived at Chanan and Renan, as well as various secret field airfields in northern Shanxi. Two electronic jamming planes were also stationed at Zhangjiakou Airport at the end of October.

Considering the problem of range, the fighters transferred to the direction of Kannai to fight were all P-40 fighters. The ground support aircraft are all British-made Blenheim light bombers, as well as some B-25 bombers. By the second half of the fourth and third quarters, although the assistance provided by the Americans was second-rate, it was much more abundant in quantity.

Therefore, the anti-United Nations air force can now fully meet the needs of two-front operations. In order to ensure the success of this battle, Yang Zhen deployed the deployment of aviation troops. With the exception of the forces for rear air defense, the rest of the aviation was dispatched. Even in order to ensure the aerial bombs needed for ground support, especially napalm, Yang Zhen suspended the bombing of Japan.

As the troops began to secretly enter the customs, the transfer of a large number of materials needed for the operation had been completed in advance. In Zhangjiakou and Chengde alone, more than 50,000 tons of oil and millions of catties of grain have been stored. Millions of shells from body-barreled artillery of various calibers were transferred.

However, they are basically located in the entire Pingbei and Chanan regions of mountainous terrain, and in the Yanshan Mountains here, there are not many terrains suitable for the movement of armored troops. Since ancient times, the Yanshan Mountains have been a barrier for the Central Plains to resist the southward movement of the northern nomads, but now it has also become a trench for the Japanese army to resist the southward movement of the anti-United Nations armored forces.

It is also necessary to conceal their whereabouts as much as possible, and the roads available for passage are extremely limited. The movement of such a large number of troops has caused great headaches for the commanders of several troops. This is not the time when only one armored division crossed Yinshan during the Battle of '42. The size of the troops attacking from the mountains this time was more than ten times that of the last time.

With the addition of a large number of wheeled vehicles and heavy artillery, it is really not an easy thing for such a huge mechanized cluster to climb over the Yanshan Mountain Range, which is known for its steepness. What's more, in the process of the troops' march, it is necessary to keep it as secret as possible. When marching, try to choose at night as much as possible. This will undoubtedly pose additional challenges to the troops' advance to the designated locations.

The steep Yanshan Mountain Range, as well as the limited passes on the stretching Great Wall, Gubeikou and Badaling, the two gateways of Beiping in both directions, have also become the only passages that can be passed. Fortunately, with the cooperation of the troops in the Pingxi base area of the Jin-Cha-Ji Army, which has been active here for a long time, it has made all the troops spend a lot of effort to move such a large-scale armored unit in place.