si-mexico Chapter 1233 Arranging the Evacuation
Chapter 1233 Arranging the Evacuation
Soldiers are duty-bound to obey orders. If everything were based on the soldiers' will, then the command and staff would become useless, as everything would be done according to the soldiers' wishes. In the end, this army might slowly disappear.
Zhang Haiguang glanced back at the headquarters, and could only helplessly get into his jeep to go back and arrange for one-quarter of his men to stay behind, while the rest would retreat to the eastern Shandong region.
According to Li Shaoyi's plan, the ports in the Jiaodong region must still be held. As for the inland areas of eastern Shandong, it's not that we can't hold them, but the cost of holding them would be too high. Moreover, the Japanese have now clearly defined their operational objective: to continue fighting the Fourth Army at the cost of eight or nine divisions.
According to the previous battle plan, the Japanese suffered heavy losses in this area, with casualties exceeding 80,000. If we could abandon this area, we could use the Fourth Army to cut off the Japanese-occupied territory, preventing them from traveling north and south. Unfortunately, the Japanese also knew the importance of this strategy, so even after losing four divisions, they still wanted to open up the Jinpu Railway in this area.
Li Shaoyi and his chief of staff discussed the matter via telegram. They decided that if that was the case, they should take the initiative to retreat and allow the Japanese to open up the Jinpu Railway, thus putting a large area of land in their hands. While this was temporarily disadvantageous to them, the Japanese would need to expend considerable manpower to occupy such a vast area, making it impossible for them to maintain simultaneous advances of all divisions as they were currently doing.
At that time, the Japanese forces were dispersed, which brought our guerrilla units stationed in various locations into play. We could concentrate our forces from different counties to strike the Japanese in a specific county, and air support could be provided at any time. That was truly our era; we could wipe out a battalion one day and encircle a regiment the next. Although the fighting wasn't as exhilarating as it is now, with proper planning and our superior equipment, we could inflict greater damage on the Japanese while minimizing casualties.
The chief of staff had been considering the situation for some time. Rather than engaging the Japanese head-on and decimating our elite Fourth Army, it would be better to take a more circuitous route and give them a taste of their strength while they were at their peak. Of course, during the retreat, a scorched-earth policy would be implemented, leaving nothing for the Japanese.
After they occupied the area, they found that almost all the occupied territories were empty shells. The civilians who were supposed to leave had left, and the various industries that were supposed to be taken away had also left. What was left were just some traitors and useless, dilapidated villages. The Japanese could not even get back the military expenses they had spent on occupying the area.
All industrial and mining enterprises in the area were to be taken away if possible, and destroyed if not. This was an order issued by the Fourth Army headquarters, and the local people cooperated fully. After all, the Fourth Army was using trucks to transport us eastward; were we supposed to stay here and let the Japanese wreak havoc?
In addition, the Fourth Army leveraged its superior air force capabilities to transport over 70,000 people from southern Shandong to the north. After all, the north had more land and fewer people, and each person would be allocated 30 mu (approximately 2 hectares) of land. Trusting the 72nd Group Army, many local residents volunteered, and many experienced their first airplane ride in their lives.
For these people, it's actually incredibly worthwhile. Back in their hometowns, although they had family members, there wasn't much land, and most people were tenant farmers who couldn't even feed themselves properly in their old age. But things are different in the north. They not only provide housing but also all sorts of farming tools, and each person is allocated 30 mu (approximately 2 hectares) of land.
Of course, the land in the north is different from the land back home, and the yield per mu is relatively low. But the good thing is that all 30 mu of land is yours. You only need to pay 1/4 of the grain as public grain, and there are no taxes or anything else.
For these proletarian peasants, going there would make them small landlords. The rich peasants in their village only had a few dozen acres of land, but if a family of several people went, they could instantly have more than a hundred acres. Moreover, if a family had more than a hundred acres of land, the local government would also give them two prisoners of war, and all they had to do was whip them to work every day.
It would be a lie to say they weren't tempted by such a good opportunity. However, most people were thinking that it wasn't far from their hometowns, and they could return home when the fighting ended. After all, many believed that people are less valuable away from home, so only a little over 7 people were mobilized. But that's still quite good.
Pujiang Street
The loudspeaker continuously broadcasted the announcer's voice, proclaiming their victories on the northern battlefield. They claimed to have defeated the 4th Army, the 72nd Army Group, and captured 15 county towns in a single day. Many felt apprehensive at this Japanese boast, but those who truly knew the situation wore a mocking smile.
You used to be unable to even penetrate a single county, but now you've managed to occupy 15. If the Fourth Army hadn't retreated, you probably wouldn't have been able to mark so many on the map. And are you even occupying counties? Most of them are already ruins.
Even if there were any useful ones left, the Fourth Army's demolition teams blew them all up in the end. Furthermore, after you occupied the county seat, the entire county was hit by massive explosions. In these 15 county seats, nearly 3000 Japanese soldiers were killed. Why didn't you report this?
It must be said that this was a major victory for the Japanese army against the 72nd Army. Besides vigorous radio broadcasts, major newspapers also publicized the event. Of course, their propaganda lacked something: there were no photographs. They verbally claimed to have captured at least 5 soldiers of the Fourth Army, but there wasn't a single picture.
A few years ago, if you had spread this propaganda, many people probably would have believed it. But these days, people aren't crazy; isn't this just deceiving them? If you really captured 5 people, wouldn't the war correspondent have taken photos? Was his photography skill poor, or was his camera broken?
The 72nd Group Army claimed to have captured numerous of your men, providing photos of helmets, people, and even a pile of weapons. Why can't you produce those now? Is it true or false?