books44 Chapter 183
Chapter 183
"According to what they said before, the Kunisaki Detachment suffered more than half its casualties in the Battle of Xuzhou. However, based on what the Special Operations Battalion observed after infiltrating, I'm afraid the number is far higher."
As the two looked at the summarized news, they were all surprised.
"How come the Fifth Division suffered such heavy losses? The new recruits are almost filling up the entire field regiment."
Zhou Shi was somewhat surprised by the numbers on the summary document.
It turned out that the document recorded the approximate equipment and personnel situation of the Fifth Division that retreated to Zhengding for rest and recuperation. According to the eyewitness summary of the special operations brigade's many days of lurking, basically half of the Japanese troops in the 41st and 42nd Regiments of the Fifth Division were currently undergoing training.
Meanwhile, the 11th and 21st Regiments also had a small number of Japanese troops training. The artillery regiment only maintained 18 field guns, while the other battalions had a full complement of infantry artillery.
After hearing Zhou Shi's words, Zeng Jiwen replied, "It's not hard to guess. Last year, we destroyed two of his artillery battalions in Taigu. At the same time, the 781st Regiment fought against three regiments for 15 hours, and the entire regiment suffered more than half casualties. I don't believe that the three regiments of the Fifth Division didn't suffer any losses."
"Especially in positional warfare. The 781st Regiment captured a large number of light and heavy machine guns in Taigu. It's not that their equipment is poor, so it would be strange if they didn't suffer two battalions of casualties."
"Plus, they were quickly deployed to the Xuzhou battlefield, and with so many artillery pieces missing, I'm afraid the Kunisaki Detachment was destroyed, but they just didn't report it."
Zeng Jiwen's guess was correct. Ever since the Fifth Division's clash with the 781st Regiment in Taigu last year, the cavalry regiment had been decimated by Wu Lin's command. Then, during the siege the next day, the casualties soared by a whole battalion. Later, during the pursuit, the 781st Regiment continued to slash its forces.
The artillery pieces and two squadrons of the last two artillery battalions were surrounded by three regiments. In addition, the losses were always reported as half of the combat losses, which directly led to the fact that their personnel and equipment had not been fully replenished when they set off for the Xuzhou battlefield.
During the battle in Linyi, the Kunisaki Detachment suffered heavy casualties due to the lack of siege artillery, and suffered even heavier casualties at the hands of General Zhang than in the original time and space.
It can be said that the 41st and 42nd Regiments of the Kunizaki Detachment were basically destroyed, and the casualty rate was not at all only 60% as stated in the Japanese military report.
There was no other way, so Itagaki Seishirō could only entrust the troops to draw personnel from the reserves of the various divisions of the First Army to replenish the troops secretly and slowly.
At the same time, take advantage of the rest period to train and restore combat effectiveness.
However, unexpectedly, this scene was caught by the special operations team during their covert reconnaissance.
Looking at the summarized information, Wang Zhuo's eyes suddenly lit up.
"Old Zeng, this can definitely be targeted. It all depends on whether Sugiyama Yuan wants southern Hebei or central Hebei."
After listening to the chief of staff's words, Zhou Xi nodded.
"That's right. The intelligence on the 108th Division is the same as what was sent by the General Headquarters. The reserve troops have been mobilized twice. We can also be old ladies for once."
"I just don't know where the 108th Division will go."
After listening to Zhou Xi's words, Zeng Jiwen recalled the large-scale mopping-up operation in the original time and space. The Japanese army mobilized heavy troops, and the Independent Mixed Brigade No. 4 in Yangquan also participated in this mopping-up operation.
During this time and space, the 389th Division had already recovered southeastern Shanxi and was also active in southern Hebei.
So if the North China Front Army wanted to carry out a large-scale sweep of Shanxi, Chahar and Hebei, the troops in Yangquan would definitely participate in the encirclement. I just don’t know which troops would replace the independent mixed brigade in Yangquan.
As it stands, there is a high probability that the 108th Division will replace the 4th Independent Mixed Brigade to guard the Shotai Line.
After all, the 14th Division was resting in the Handan area at that time, and only the 5th or 108th Division could guard the Zhengtai Line.