Chapter 333: The Battle of Western Liao
On the battlefield of western Liaoning, the collision of these two armies, who coincidentally adopted the same tactics, was destined to be a fierce battle full of passion. And the outcome after this collision can not only determine who has the upper hand in the local theater of Redong and Liaoxi. In some ways, even to a certain extent, it can also affect the direction of the entire battle.
In fact, compared with other battlefields, even if they are temporarily frustrated, they all have room for relaxation. On the battlefield in western Liaoning, no one can afford to lose on either side. Once Lee Myung-bak was defeated, the Eagle Tsu Puphei in western Liaoning not only completely removed the threat to Liaoxi, but also threatened the rear roads of the battlefield between Chanan and Western Manchuria.
He even forcibly entered Rehe to cut off the connection between the two major battlefields of the Anti-Japanese Alliance, the east and west. The supply lines of the entire Western Front are in danger of being cut off. Once the supply lines of the various departments participating in the anti-union war in the northern Jin battlefield are cut off, then even the northern Jin battlefield, which needs to be provided by the northeast, will be in danger of complete collapse at any time.
As for the Kwantung Army, this counterattack on the battlefields of Liaoxi and Redong will be defeated on all fronts. Then what is lost is not only the two major coal mines of Fuxin and Beipiao, but also the entire western Liaoning. What is even more dangerous is that after the Anti-Union enters western Liaoning, it can threaten Jinzhou to the south and cut off the Bac Ninh Railway.
To the east, you can directly penetrate Mukden, cooperate with the Siping frontal battlefield, and completely complete the encirclement of the Kwantung Army on the Siping battlefield. If they were a little more daring, they could even threaten Yingkou. The entire Liaoning battlefield is also in danger of complete disintegration and collapse.
Although at this moment on the battlefield of Liaoxi, the troops invested by both sides are the smallest of all the battlefields. But this small battlefield is in a crucial position in the entire battle. Neither Lee Myung-bak nor the Kwantung Army's Washizu Puphei could afford to lose.
This battle is not fair or unfair for Lee Myung-bak, who has the rank of colonel, or Washitsu, who has the rank of lieutenant general, and it can only be won and not lost. Because if they lose, they will lose not only themselves, but also the entire battle situation on their respective sides.
At the beginning, Yang Zhen put Lee Myung-bak, the deputy commander of the column, on the Rehe battlefield, and it can be said that he had worked hard at this node. Although this guy is very arrogant on the surface, he is bold and not hasty, careful and cautious, and not too hesitant.
Putting Lee Myung-bak in this position, Yang Zhen wanted to use his characteristics to firmly contain the Japanese troops of these two divisions in the western Liaoning battlefield. Even Yang Zhen has always paid great attention to maintaining the integrity of the command of the two veteran commanders of the Advance Army, never interfered with the command of the two veteran commanders, and never mobilized the troops of the Advance Army without authorization.
After the overall situation of the Rehe battlefield had been decided, he changed his previous style and assigned the two brigades that advanced to Rehe and stayed behind under the unified command of Lee Myung-bak, who were responsible for fighting against the Japanese army in western Liaoning. Reaching out to the advance army and taking the initiative to ask for command authority was the only time in this campaign.
However, in this battle, although the objectives are different, but the tactical use is purely similar, the advantages and disadvantages of the two armies are quite obvious, who can finally have the last laugh. That can only depend on the commander of the army on the battlefield, who has a stronger ability to grasp the fighters, and whose actions are more hidden.
In terms of the concealment of his actions, Lee Myung-bak clearly took advantage. Thanks to the Japanese army's forcible return to the Tun and merge households in the Rehe battlefield last year, especially in the Redong Mountains. The entire Nuruerhu Mountains in the north of Jianping are usually uninhabited within a few tens of miles, except for the group tribes.
In this battle, it was the area where the two armies faced each other, and the only few ordinary people had already fled the battlefield. The Anti-Japanese Union mobilized them to evacuate, or simply adopted the method of relocating the group tribes to North Manchuria. The Japanese army simply used bayonets as a means of coercion and forcibly relocated all the people to the western Liaoxi region.
Except for a small number of ordinary people who fled to the deep mountainous areas, the Nuruer Tiger Mountain Area, which is already a small population, has now become a large and large blank. Although this situation has had a considerable impact on the supply of both sides. However, it has undoubtedly brought a certain amount of convenience to the troop movement of the enemy and us, at least there is no need to worry about the news of troop movement leaking out.
Although the Japanese army's policy of returning to the cantonment and merging households brought great trouble to the operations of the advance army in Rehe last year. However, a large number of local puppet regimes in the countryside were abolished because of the merger of households, which also brought certain troubles to their own intelligence work. The scope of activities of the spy organization established by it has shrunk very seriously.
After all, those spies also have to eat, and once the range of activities exceeds a certain distance from the group tribe, they will not be able to maintain their activities for a long time. And no one is a fool, in such a clean mountainous area that has been cleaned up, a common man suddenly appears, I am afraid that he will be regarded as a spy at the first time.
After the Japanese army sent a large number of plainclothes spies to try to penetrate deep behind the defense line of the Anti-United Nations, but after they all went and did not return, they could only learn from the Anti-United Nations and send a large number of reconnaissance troops to obtain the required information. However, this was not very efficient, and it could not meet the needs of the Japanese army's intelligence. In particular, when the number of troops is reduced, it is even more impossible to meet the timeliness and accuracy of information.
The blockade policy adopted by the Kwantung Army in Rehe last year did not expect that this year, on the contrary, it would lock up its own hands and feet. I gave a 50% discount to my intelligence system. The small number of anti-United Nations reconnaissance troops that have penetrated deep into this area can indeed be untenable because they cannot be supplied, but they also tie their hands and feet in disguise.
But at the moment, the large amount of no-man's land it has created in the north of Jianping has brought considerable convenience to Lee's operation. He can calmly mobilize troops and pass through the no-man's land created by the Japanese army to reach the designated deployment site, without worrying about his whereabouts being targeted by Japanese spies and leaking secrets.
At the same time, it was accompanied by the advance army commanded by Lee Myung-bak, and he was himself a master of covert marching operations in the mountains. This kind of action in the confrontation zone between the two armies, interspersed with the enemy's back, can be said to be practice makes perfect, and several classic ambush battles of the year were fought in this way. Lee Myung-bak paid close attention to the strength of the advance army, and handed over the ambush and defense of the north to the Anti-Japanese Union.
The task of interspersing the depth of the enemy army and setting up a mobile ambush was entrusted to the two brigades of the advance army. He wanted to take advantage of the advance army's own advantages to do something deep in the Japanese defense line to disrupt the enemy's deployment and create fighters for the anti-coalition operations in the north. Lee Myung-bak's deployment can be said to have brought into play the greatest advantages of two units with different formations.
In order to concentrate their forces to prepare for this attack, the Japanese army continued to shrink in the local area, which also gave Lee Myung-bak a great opportunity to take advantage of. In fact, in the final stage of preparation for the campaign, in order to concentrate his troops, Washijin had actually abandoned the entire Jianping area, and most of the strongholds except for the two key points of Jianping County and Sidaoyingzi Mountain, which were mutually reinforcing.
By the time the two armies launched an offensive, most of the rest of the places had formed a gap in troops, except for the periphery of the key points of the confrontation between the two armies. In the opinion of Washitsu Leadping, as long as these two points are taken and controlled, even if the mountainous area on the first line of Jianping is temporarily abandoned, in exchange for Xinhui County, which threatens the bridgehead of the entire Redong and Xing'an regions, it is also suitable for the Japanese army.
In addition, although the Nuruer Tiger Mountain area has become a confrontation zone between the Anti-Japanese Federation and the Japanese army. However, the Japanese army itself focuses on the defense area, which is still the front line of Ye Baishou and Chaoyang. At the forefront of the entire mountainous defense line is centered on Jianping County, and in the northeast direction, it is connected with the north ticket with the Sidaoyingzi Mountain as the turning line, and to the south it is connected with Ye Baishou in a straight line, forming a defense system that seems to be a right triangle.
In the west, Ye Baishou, Jianping County and Sidaoyingzi Mountain became a straight line, becoming a side of this triangular defensive posture. Its overall defensive posture unfolds along the eastern foothills of Nurul Tiger Mountain. The county seat of Jianping is located at a central point at the bottom of this triangle, and it seems that the strategic position is extremely important in the overall defensive posture of the Japanese army in Nurul Tiger Mountain.
However, the Japanese army had limited strength, and the focus of defense was on the line from Fuxin to Beipiao. In the Nuruer Hushan Theater, the focus of defense was on the three points of Sidaoyingzi Mountain, Ye Baishou, and Beipiao. Although the county town of Jianping, located in the middle of the bottom of this triangle, is important, it does not have many defensive forces in the mountainous areas on both wings.
The original intention of Eagle Tsu Lead Ping to make such a deployment was that once the county town of Jianping was in danger, the troops on both flanks could be quickly reinforced at any time. And if he wants to use a roundabout tactic to intersperse with the anti-alliance, whether he is acting from either direction on both flanks, he will be attacked from both sides.
This deployment was made by Lieutenant General Washizu Leadpei, after painstakingly studying the tactics of resistance to the United Nations. It was painstakingly pondered under the situation that the strength of only two divisions was somewhat stretched to the forefront, and that it was also necessary to focus on ensuring the safety of the front-line of Fuxin, Zhangwu, and Beipiao. It stands to reason that there should be no big problem with Lieutenant General Washizu's deployment.
However, the strength of the troops was not enough to defend such a large area, and Lieutenant General Washizu could only adopt a combination of point and area deployment. This side of him is placed in the depth of Ye Baishou and Chaoyang, Chaoyang and Beipiao along the Jincheng Railway. The overall deployment of troops still adopts the characteristics of more emphasis on the rear behind.
As for the county seat and more than 10 kilometers north of the mountain, the county seat of Jianping in the area controlled by the Anti-Japanese Federation is formed with the four Yingzi mountains in the northeast to form two point-like deployments that can be alternately covered. In this direction, Lieutenant General Washizu Leadhei, at first, mainly hoped to lead the area from point to point, and in the case of unsustainable troops, to ensure the safety of the depth as much as possible.
However, in order to launch an offensive, he also transferred most of the troops deployed between Jianping and Ye Baishou and Chaoyang behind Sidao Yingzi Mountain. Behind the original Jianping County, the original surface between Ye Baishou and Chaoyang has also become a point. The entire line of defense left a large number of defensive gaps that Lee Myung-bak could exploit.
As long as he has a fairly timely grasp and understanding of the actions of the United Nations, that is to say, he must have a fast grasp of the enemy's situation, and he can also deal with the enemy's infiltration attacks in a timely manner. As long as the reaction speed is timely, a lot of troops can be saved.
In terms of tactics, it is not a problem to take control of a mobile force in hand and to strike at the rear of the attack. As soon as the enemy moves his own deployment, he naturally opens up a gap that he can use to counterattack, and this is an appropriate means to defend a vast area with limited forces when his troops are insufficient.
However, the premise of this deployment is to judge and grasp the enemy's deployment and actions, and we must be as accurate as possible. Without this premise, his deployment is equivalent to sticking to the two points of Jianping County and Sidaoyingzi Mountain, and completely abandoning the forefront of the confrontation area.
As a result, last year, the Kwantung Army returned to the tun and merged the households in the Redong area, and after the arrival of Lieutenant General Washizu Leadhei, they strengthened law and order in the area under their control, that is, they completely returned to the tun and merged the households again. However, he limited his eyes and ears to the surroundings of the group tribe, but weakened his intelligence gathering ability in disguise. Under the limited information provided by the reconnaissance and alert forces dispatched, this undoubtedly cast a shadow on the counterattack organized by Washizu Leadpei.