Faced with the shortage of reinforcements, the situation of the war is becoming increasingly embarrassing. The 64th and 22nd Divisions, which were still fighting on the front line, were almost hungry from guns to men. In particular, the situation of the 64th Division is already extremely dangerous, and if it can no longer get rid of the bite of the surrounding enemy forces, it will be completely annihilated.

Uchiyama Eitaro was almost at a loss except for constantly giving orders to retreat. But at the moment, he really doesn't know, according to the current situation. When the latest promised reinforcements from the base camp arrive, what kind of situation will the entire Jizhong battlefield be.

No, it should be said that under the attack of the enemy's huge tanks, how many troops can the several divisions and regiments participating in the battle at the moment be withdrawn? Lieutenant General Uchiyama Eitaro, who was already poor in donkey skills, looked at the map in front of him with several blue arrows that were moving south faster and faster, and couldn't help but feel a deep sadness in his heart.

In a plain area like Jizhong, there is no permanent fortification to rely on. His limited armored forces were out early, and he could only rely on infantry to fight, under the condition that he did not have an absolute advantage in strength and firepower. A battle with an enemy tank cluster may have been doomed a long time ago.

Faced with the 64th Division's telegram for help almost every hour, Uchiyama Eitaro, who was already unable to muster even a large group of troops in his hands at this moment, the only thing he could do was to desperately order the 64th Division to break through to the south at all costs. The 22nd Division was ordered to abandon all the original battle plans and immediately withdraw to the border area between Hebei and Shandong.

At the same time, he ordered the engineers left behind by the 64th Division on the south bank of the Hutuo River to find ways to erect a pontoon bridge over the Hutuo River at all costs to open up the retreat of the 64th Division. A reinforced division was ordered to march to the designated place with all its might, rushed to Xian County to block the enemy's troops who had crossed the river, and covered the sappers to build bridges. As for the rest, at least until the arrival of the new reinforcements promised by the base camp, there is really no way to do it.

But his opponent is obviously unlikely to leave him with much time. With Yang Zhen's style, if this fighter can't be grasped, he won't be Yang Zhen. Since Chongqing has taken the initiative to share some of the pressure of Japanese reinforcements for itself, what are they waiting for?

Yang Zhen gave Du Kaishan a death order, and within 48 hours at the latest, the encirclement and annihilation of the remnants of the 64th Division must be completed. On the Cangzhou battlefield, the encirclement of the 22nd Division should be completed within 12 hours. With the exception of the Cangzhou battlefield, all participating troops in the central front must cross the Hutuo River by 5 January and advance the entire front southward to the Hebei-Shandong border area.

The Western Cluster under the command of Chen Hanzhang of the Western Front was ordered to stop the original repair plan after receiving reinforcements, and to clamp down on the Zhengtai Railway with the main force. At the same time, with a part of the troops, it will cooperate with the troops of the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region as soon as possible to control the Pinghan line from Xingtai to Shimen, and completely cut off the passage for the Japanese army to reinforce the battlefield in central Hebei in the next step.

In the outer battlefield of Tianjin, Yang Zhen also changed his previous focus on siege. Command the troops participating in the battle. Taking advantage of the fact that the Bohai Bay had been completely frozen, the large Japanese ships had withdrawn to Qingdao one after another, and the remaining small ships stationed in Tianjin had small caliber and small artillery, and posed little threat to the besieging forces.

Concentrate all the forces to launch the Tianjin Campaign, and under the cover of the air force, completely seize Tianjin and clamp down on the port of Tanggu. Completely cut off, the Japanese army was the last stronghold on the entire Pingjin line, taking Tianjin, the largest industrial and commercial city in North China, and locking the Japanese army from peeking into the sea in North China again.

A column in eastern Hebei, plus four regiments of the main force of the eastern Hebei Army division, concentrated their forces to attack the front line of Tangshan and Qinhuangdao. Containing the Kwantung Army's forces in eastern Hebei, it was unable to reinforce the Tianjin battlefield and cut off the Bac Ninh Railway. Outflank and defend the flank of the Tianjin battlefield and disintegrate the Japanese puppet army in eastern Hebei.

This time, Yang Zhen changed his previous reluctance to attack Tianjin, and finally ordered the launch of the Tianjin Offensive Battle. It's not that he is willing to distract his energy and forces at this time. It was because of the great efforts of the Tianjin underground party that they tried their best to pass on a piece of information when the Japanese army had already closed the city.

After the siege of Tianjin, in order to ensure its own food supply. The Japanese army adopted the method of killing the people and raising the army, and the grain stocks of all the residents of Tianjin City had been completely collected by the Japanese army. The vast majority of all the residents in Tianjin, except for a few big traitors, including some wealthy families, are close to running out of food.

If the situation of the siege of Tianjin cannot be changed in a short period of time, the residents of the entire city will starve to death due to lack of food, and the situation will be unimaginable. The Tianjin underground party hoped that the Anti-Japanese Federation would be able to attack the city as soon as possible and rescue the hundreds of thousands of Chinese people in the city.

In order to be able to send this information out, after the underground secret radio station was destroyed by the special high section of the Japanese military police in Tianjin. The underground party in Tianjin activated the puppet army lurking, and a very important figure, risking the destruction of the entire Tianjin underground party, sent the information out. Along with this piece of information, there is also the general distribution of the Japanese army's fortifications in the city.

It's just that the Japanese army doesn't trust the Chinese, even those traitors. The underground party in Tianjin could only try to figure out the part of the fortifications built by the Japanese army in Tianjin. Some of the core fortifications could not be identified because the Japanese army was too tightly controlled. This map of the Japanese army's city fortifications is at most a semi-finished product.

Moreover, after the entire Pingjin Campaign, especially when the Anti-Japanese Union took most of the outer areas of Tianjin. The Japanese army tightly sealed off the traffic inside and outside Tianjin, and Chinese were not allowed to enter or leave Tianjin, and intensified the search of secret radio stations in Tianjin. Even the radio stations of the puppet military and government organs were confiscated.

The scouts of the Anti-Japanese Federation could not enter the city even if they tried their best. Almost all of the underground party radio stations in the city were destroyed. Even the radio stations lurking in the puppet government offices and the puppet army were unable to send any information because they were controlled by the Japanese army. The front-line troops of the Anti-Japanese Union did not have a lot of knowledge of the situation in Tianjin. This is also the main reason why Yang Zhen did not move Tianjin for a long time after taking Beiping City.

In addition to the fact that the Japanese army in Tianjin is very strong, and at the same time, before the freeze, the warships with a tonnage below the destroyer can go directly from Beitang to the Tianjin River Port to fully support the Tianjin defenders. It is because the deployment of the city defense fortifications in Tianjin has never been clear.

And the current Tianjin is different from the new Beijing in the past. Last year's Xinjing, when the Anti-Union attacked the city, was already an empty city. The vast majority of the Chinese were moved to South Manchuria by the Kwantung Army, which wanted to cut off the replenishment of the anti-coalition soldiers. No matter what tactics the Anti-League adopts, it can be unleashed.

At present, Tianjin is the largest industrial and commercial city in North China. Although the total population is not as good as that of Beiping, there is not much difference. There are still hundreds of thousands of Chinese in the city, as well as dozens of factories, large and small. Pull a hair and move the whole body, this battle is not easy to fight. In the absence of detailed information on the deployment of fortifications in the city, the siege of the city was a rat trap.

But after receiving the information transmitted by the Tianjin underground party, Yang Zhen knew that unless he let go of the encirclement of Tianjin, he would have to fight this tough battle whether he wanted it or not. The lives and safety of hundreds of thousands of Chinese people in the city must be preserved, and this is my responsibility as a Chinese soldier.

Tianjin City must not only be fought, but also taken in the shortest possible time. But considering Tianjin, the largest industrial and commercial city in North China, the large number of factories in the city and the safety of hundreds of thousands of people. At the same time as Yang Zhen issued the attack order, he also added an order that it was strictly forbidden to use artillery of more than 100 mm caliber in the city.

In residential areas and factory areas, it is strictly forbidden to use all artillery except recoilless guns and rocket launchers. It is necessary to ensure as much as possible that the largest industrial and commercial city in North China, a large number of factories in the city, will be completely returned to the embrace of the Chinese. If possible, the main force of the Japanese army should be annihilated outside the city as much as possible.

received an order from Yang Zhen and was responsible for commanding Tao Jingfei on the Tianjin battlefield. Taking advantage of the situation that had been gradually cleared of the periphery of Tianjin, the forces of the five divisions were concentrated. Under the cover of a heavy artillery regiment reinforced by the headquarters, as well as tank units, a general assault on the city of Tianjin was launched.

However, the Japanese army that held on to Tianjin desperately resisted by relying on the strong fortifications built over the years. Every time the attacking force took a step forward, it was met with a frantic counterattack by the Japanese army. Although most of the Japanese troops on the periphery had been cleared, in the face of the stubborn resistance of the Japanese army, the attack and operation were still extremely difficult.

Compared with the extremely hard fighting on the Tianjin battlefield, the battle on the Jizhong battlefield was not smooth. Although Du Kaishan had already compressed the remnants of the 64th Division to the line of the Hutuo River. In the midst of encirclement, pursuit, and interception, the strength of the 64th Division was weakened as much as possible. However, the remnants of the 64th Division, relying on the inertia and tenacity unique to the Japanese army, were still desperately resisting.

Originally, Du Kaishan was prepared to trap it on the bank of the Hutuo River, and adopted the main siege. The remnants of the 64th Division of the Japanese Army, although they escaped their own encirclement. However, judging from the confessions of the captured Japanese prisoners of war, as well as the corpses of the Japanese soldiers killed in the battle and the abandoned materials, the rest of the division was already short of food and ammunition.

On average, each person can only issue 20 rounds of ammunition per day and can only eat one meal. Medicine and other supplies were scarce, and the wounded soldiers were left without even bandages. All logistical supplies have been cut off. Even in the Hejian battlefield, most of the time it was necessary to draw out some troops to go down to collect food, which means that only by looting can the minimum supply of the battle be barely maintained.

This was the case in the Hejian battlefield, which had a much larger range of activities, and now it was besieged in a small area on the north bank of the Hutuo River, which was the size of a palm and did not even have a large village, and the Japanese army had nowhere to grab it even if they wanted to. Du Kaishan believed that the only remaining strength of the 64th Division was actually on the verge of collapse. Although there is no shortage of water guarding the river, how many days can they hold out without food?

As long as you trap them for a few days, you don't have to beat them to starvation. This will take a little longer, but you will be able to minimize casualties and ammunition consumption. At present, although the entire Jizhong battlefield relies on the rich Jizhong Plain, there is no need to transfer grain from the northeast thousands of miles away.

But in the whole of Jizhong, the only supply that can be solved is food. The rest of the ammunition and fuel still need to be transferred to the northeast. Headquarters and No. 1, investing such a large-scale armored force in the Jizhong battlefield, the daily fuel required is an astronomical amount. If consumption can be reduced as much as possible, it will be of great benefit to alleviate the logistical pressure.

At least some of the ammo can be saved and used on other battlefields. Therefore, Du Kaishan's original plan was to trap the remnants of the 64th Division on the north bank of the Hutuo River, which was more suitable. As long as the route of the Japanese army's breakthrough is blocked and the route of the Japanese army on the south bank of the Hutuo River is cut off, the remaining strength of the 64th Division will not cause any big storms.