The 42nd Group Army has been fighting in the first theater since the beginning of the war, and when the theater was formed, it has been responsible for the defense of this side. At this time, the retreat of 50 kilometers was deployed, in fact, the establishment was not particularly complete, and the whole army should be about 40,000 people together.

The defensive pressure on their side is actually not particularly great. In front of the 42nd Army, there was a small area of desertification, which was very small, but it just covered all the directions of the 42nd Army's defense, and if the Japanese army wanted to attack this side, it had to pass through this desert. And there is no oasis in this desert, the temperature difference between day and night is very large, and the supply must all rely on the rear supply troops, so at the beginning of the war, as long as the 42nd Army can hold for a period of time, the Japanese army must retreat and recuperate, otherwise the whole army is still in a desertified environment, not to mention that the supply consumption is too fast, just the temperature difference between day and night, people will not be able to stand it for a long time.

In front of the desert is a plain with many villages. When the group army retreated, all the villagers here had been evacuated, and all the crops and crops were burned, leaving only a large area of scorched earth, and after the Japanese army came here, there was nothing to get from this land, and even the wells in the village were smashed, and the rivers were dug up, and it was absolutely impossible to recover in a short time.

Although the environment was open and there was plenty of room for the army to deploy, the harsh climate provided a lot of help to the defense of the 42nd Group Army. Coupled with the fact that he now has so many first-tier cities as his backing, no matter how many people come, it will be impossible to break through the defense line in a short time.

The Seventh Army, led by General Wang, was a new force. Soldiers of the Seventh Army could be seen almost everywhere on the previous small-scale battlefields, but such a large group army was scattered and fought, in fact, there was still a large part of the rear forces that had not been deployed. At this time, the whole army was mobilized to defend the northwest oil fields, and of course the whole army was to go into battle. The strength of the Seventh Army, which had reached the defensive line in front of and behind. In total, there are about 70,000 people.

The Third Independent Division, newly assigned to General Wang's command, also has a combat strength of 10,000 people, and together, General Wang's men will have 80,000 troops under his command in this battle.

In this day and age, the opportunity to command a group of 80,000 people in battle is very rare.

The terrain here is complex. Excellent defensive terrain is basically not to be found. General Wang had been studying for several days, and he had no idea where to set up a defensive net to perfectly resist the enemy's attack.

The terrain was complex, and although the march was difficult, there was no room for the two armies to open up their positions, and this was even more evident on the defending side. If you can't put up a defensive net, then you can't intercept the enemy from a certain distance, and it can be said that as soon as the enemy appears, it is basically equivalent to sticking it on your face. This is absolutely fatal for the defenders, as long as they desperately lose a part of their troops and force the attack. Defenders who have no room to maneuver will certainly not be able to withstand it. Once a troop breaks through and penetrates into the defensive circle, the defensive net laid by itself will basically have no effect.

Today's reconnaissance system is no longer comparable to that of tens or hundreds of years ago, and its own ambush is in the eyes of reconnaissance planes, and it is simply impossible to hide. In particular, the surrounding environment is sparsely planted, and all of them are loess and stones, making it even more difficult to hide and ambush this point. General Wang gave up from the beginning.

There are only three places where you can lay a defensive line. First, there is a river 120 kilometers east of your city. There are cliffs on both sides of the river, and the riverbed flows more than 30 meters below the cliffs on both sides, and the army will not be able to cross it at all, and there will not even be a chance to build a bridge.

The only crossing point is 10 kilometres to the north. The terrain here suddenly begins to rise until the riverbed is almost level with the ground. The length of the river is 200 meters, and on the other side there is a waterfall. I've gone farther.

This is a good place to defend. The river is five or six meters deep and about twenty meters wide, which is not wide, but it is not a distance that a person can cross in one step. Building a defensive line on this side of the river would at least buy you a long time.

The second place is a hill forty kilometers west of the river. The terrain around here is relatively open. This mountain is the highest place in the vicinity, covering an area of more than 300 meters horizontally, the highest peak is about 500 meters, the mountain is steep, easy to defend and difficult to attack, even if it is bombed by aircraft, the effect will not be very good.

Occupying this commanding height, the surrounding area of one kilometer can be turned into a forbidden area, and anyone can attack it, and at the same time, a good reconnaissance mechanism can also be established within a radius of 10 kilometers, which can be used as an outpost battle of the general headquarters.

If neither of these points can stop the enemy's attack, then you will only be left with the last defensive circle.

City.

That's right, these cities, which were supposed to be used as logistical support, were designated as defense lines by General Wang.

There is really no way, there is no better place to build a defensive line around. Forcibly distributing the troops will not only disperse the troops, but also put the troops in a face-to-face state with the enemy when fighting, and even white-knuckle combat may occur, which is definitely not a scene that General Wang wants to see. Once the defensive line laid out in front of him is lost, then the two second-tier cities under his command will bear the brunt and become the first target of the Japanese army.

If there is no defense here, then the two cities will fall into the hands of the enemy without any suspense, and then they will have even fewer resources to rely on.

In this case, it is better to directly use these two cities as a line of defense.

The two cities are one south and one north, and the Japanese army is coming from the east, and the two cities will form a horn posture with a straight line distance of 60 kilometers from each other, which is very close, and it will be very fast to support each other. And this is a second-tier city, the city is already quite large, the rear can calmly enter the city to strengthen the defense, the field troops outside can also get a certain amount of supplies and support from here, when the enemy fights, in the city to deploy, one is familiar with the terrain, two to build complete fortifications, even if you put into the city to fight street battles, as a defender, still have the advantage of geographical advantages.

Lindong City to the north is a tourist city in a non-war state, it can be said to be an economic city, and it does not have much strategic value, so there is no military base here, military region command posts and other important military targets, while Yongdan City in the south is a granary, and the military grain reserves have been stored here on weekdays, and Yongdan City has an arsenal specializing in the production of ammunition and artillery shells and other war consumption weapons. In contrast, the strategic value of Yongdan City is higher than that of Lindong City.

However, it is obvious that the Japanese army will not be able to hit this place so quickly, so now it is only necessary to leave enough people in the two cities to maintain the military operation of the cities, and the rest of the people have more important work to do.

Civilians in both cities must be evacuated first. Although this is the first war zone, the mobilization and retreat began early, but after all, this side is relatively backward, and the war has not affected this side on weekdays, so there are still many civilians in the two cities.

Who knew that the battle situation would suddenly become like this, and at this moment, General Wang had to take military control and forcibly evacuate the civilians.

This job is not so easy to do, dozens of citizens need to be evacuated, these people are a big problem, and their property, disputes, order, etc., are some big problems. On the first day of the retreat, the whole city began to be in chaos. For some individuals, families, etc., there is no big problem in retreating, but for some factories, enterprises, etc., the problem will be very, very big. Not only do you need to ensure your personal safety, but you also need to take away the company's internal information, ledgers, secrets, etc. These things are cleaned up, and there are not days and nights that can't be down.

And everyone is also in a hurry to leave the city and go to the safe city in the rear, for a while, the highway is full of traffic jams, people are anxious, and the order has a faint sense of chaos.

Some unscrupulous elements even took advantage of this time to start looting and disrupting order, making the chaos in the city even more chaotic.

However, General Wang was also a decisive commander, and after obtaining the right to control the city, he immediately began to control the military, and he must obey the orders of the army, otherwise the army will have the power to enforce it, and if necessary, he can even confiscate personal property, and only forcibly expel people from the city, and retreat to the rear with the large army.

Of course, if you are willing to cooperate, this situation will not appear lightly.

For some citizens who wanted to disrupt the order of the army and the city, the soldiers were granted the privilege of decision: they could shoot and shoot!

The authorized soldiers had no restrictions on their hands, and when they found those saboteurs, they would not have made a sound warning at all, and directly raised their guns and killed them. It's a time of war, and in troubled times, no one is going to engage in those forms anymore.

Under this coercive control, order began to be restored in a rapid form. The units also began to cooperate with each other, and the process of retreat became more and more smooth, and more and more people were evacuated.

General Wang's side has not been idle.

The river defense line and the high-point defense line are already busy there, trenches, foxholes, barbed wire fences have been everywhere, a row of minefields has also been set up on the opposite side of the river, and a large area above the waterfall in the north has also become a minefield, leaving no passage at all, plus the reconnaissance unit and intelligence system, if you want to bypass and hit the side, basically don't think about it. (To be continued......)