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#486 - The Rise of Great Powers: European War: Part 1

August 7, 1944, Dandong section of the Yalu River. Countless soldiers in gray uniforms shouted by the river!

"We have won! We have won! We have driven away the Japanese devils!"

"Long live! Long live! Long live!"

They were cheering for their victory! They excitedly threw their military caps into the sky. In contrast, the wreckage of the railway bridge floated on the river, and the defeated remnants of the Japanese army on the opposite bank looked dispirited.

Ding Wei, already the commander of the Independent 22nd Brigade, sat in a captured Japanese armored vehicle. He leaned out of the turret, raised his binoculars, and carefully observed the figures fleeing in disarray across the Yalu River.

An infinite sense of pride surged in Ding Wei's heart. Since joining the war in Shanxi in 1937, their unit had suffered countless sacrifices, and many comrades had fallen along the way. Finally, the day of victory had arrived, and they had driven the Japanese back with a powerful stance.

At this moment, a shout came from below: "Brigade Commander, a call from the headquarters. It's Commander Chen from the column, calling personally." A hand then handed over a walkie-talkie.

Ding Wei answered the call: "Hello, Commander Chen, this is Ding Wei. My unit has pursued the enemy to Dandong and is now at the Yalu River. All the Japanese along the way have been eliminated. Our losses are minimal, and we have captured more than 2,700 Japanese and puppet troops. Currently, the Japanese have blown up the railway bridge, making it impossible to continue the pursuit for the time being. Please issue further instructions."

The voice of Chen Jidao, commander of the 9th Column, came from the other side: "Very good, I order you to deploy defenses on the spot and mop up the remaining enemies in the vicinity. Also, send some troops to cooperate with the local working groups. Carry out mass work and be sure to protect them. If anyone dares to make trouble, you don't need to report it, just execute them."

"Yes, I guarantee to complete the mission."

Hanging up the phone, Ding Wei looked at the other side of the river. It was North Pyongan Province in Korea, with those fleeing figures in khaki. He said contemptuously: "You're lucky to escape quickly, or I would have thrown you all into the river." Then he ordered: "Communicator, send a message to all units. The 1st Regiment and the artillery regiment will deploy defenses on the spot. The remaining troops will return to Dandong and garrison according to plan. All units should pay attention to thoroughly searching for remnants of the Japanese and puppet troops and prevent them from harming the people. If you encounter local tyrants, bandits, or bandits, disarm them, and suppress any hostile behavior immediately." Not only here, but such scenes were also being staged everywhere along the Sino-Korean border.

The Yalu River was called Zi River in the Han Dynasty. It has been called the Yalu River since the Tang Dynasty, named for its blue-green water, just like a duck's head. The Yalu River originates from the southern foot of Changbai Mountain in Jilin Province, flows through Changbai, Ji'an, Kuandian, Dandong and other places, and flows into the Yellow Sea to the south. It is 795 kilometers long and is the boundary river between China and North Korea.

During this major retreat of the Japanese army, in order to prevent the Eighth Route Army from pursuing into Korea, the Japanese blew up nine large bridges on the Tumen River to the Yalu River, and even confiscated countless merchant ships and fishing boats on both sides of the river. All this was to prevent the Eighth Route Army from entering Korea and to continue to maintain their rule in Korea.

The Japanese army sent nearly 600,000 troops to the Pacific battlefield, fighting fiercely with the American army in Southeast Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands.

The more than 400,000 troops of the North China Expeditionary Army and the Kwantung Army were defeated in just a few months. They were almost driven into the Korean region by the Eighth Route Army. The sudden loss of Manchukuo was something that the Japanese headquarters could not have imagined.

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Lushunkou, the former site of the Kwantung Army Headquarters. General Umezu Yoshijiro, commander of the Kwantung Army, sat in a chair with a look of decadence. The desk was piled with news from the front lines. The remnants of the Kwantung Army's last main force, the 1st Division, the 7th Division, the 9th Division, the 10th Division, and some garrison troops, totaling about 93,000 people, had withdrawn into North Korea. They merged with the remnants of the Korean Army and blew up all the bridges on the Tumen River and the Yalu River.

Even now, Umezu Yoshijiro still felt like he was dreaming. At the beginning of the new year, the Eighth Route Army in Shanxi began to counterattack, and the Eighth Route Army in various places showed signs of change. Not only him, but also Yoshimoto Zhenyi, commander of the 1st Army, and Okabe Naozaburo, commander of the North China Army, did not take it seriously at first. In the past few years, the Eighth Route Army and the Japanese army often engaged in such repeated tug-of-war, and they entangled in this way for about a month.

Gradually, the Eighth Route Army had completed the final deployment and launched a full-scale counterattack. Almost overnight, more than 40 county towns were lost. A large number of Japanese troops were annihilated on the way to support, and when the 1st Army reacted, nearly half of its troops had been wiped out by the Eighth Route Army.

The remaining troops were also divided into several relatively isolated cities, holding on for support. In just four days, the 1st Army had lost its ability to fight back and could only watch as the Eighth Route Army concentrated its superior forces to eliminate its remnants one by one.

Yoshimoto Sadaichi's 1st Army in North China originally had nearly 100,000 troops. The garrison of nearly 50,000 people in more than 40 county towns and hundreds of large and small strongholds was gone. Even several airports were attacked and paralyzed at the same time. He didn't even know how many troops the Eighth Route Army had sent, so he had to ask the North China Area Army and the neighboring Mongolian Garrison Army for help.

However, the 4th Division of the Japanese Army stationed in Datong, the closest to Datong, refused to go to rescue due to unclear enemy situation. (Datong was placed under the jurisdiction of the Mongolian Garrison Army in 1942, and the 4th Division also joined its ranks.) Its subordinate regiments even secretly sent envoys to contact the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, expressing their willingness to continue to live in peace.

Okabe Naozaburo was anxious about this and prepared to mobilize troops for a large-scale reinforcement. However, the Eighth Route Army headquarters issued an order to the Jin, Ji, Lu, Yu, Re, and Liao military regions. Be sure to send troops to actively and proactively launch attacks to contain the enemy. Originally, everyone thought this was another sabotage war like the "Hundred Regiments Offensive," but a small accident happened. Originally, an independent battalion reorganized from local militias directly occupied a county town when attacking. The nearby friendly troops were not happy about this. Why can you take a county town, but I can't? Then several county towns were taken down, and when other troops saw it, they were all involved, so let's go too. As a result, this bloomed everywhere, and a large number of towns were recovered by the Eighth Route Army. This reflected the decline of the Japanese army at this time from another side. Taking this opportunity, the Eighth Route Army headquarters issued an order for a full-scale counterattack. Occupy all county towns and towns except for major cities, and isolate the garrisons in the cities.

On February 14, the Eighth Route Army independently attacked and entered Taiyuan, the capital of the province. Yoshimoto Zhenyi, commander of the 1st Army of the Japanese invaders, committed suicide by seppuku in the headquarters. Hori Moriichi, chief of staff of the 1st Army, was bombed to death at the Zhenyuanmen city gate, and Ikegami Kenkichi, commander of the Independent Mixed 9th Brigade, was killed by our army in street fighting. The various units formed by the former 129th Division played a powerful combat role in this battle. The Independent Mobile Brigade, reorganized from the Independent Regiment of Li Yunlong's unit, broke through Zhenyuanmen and was the first to enter the city. The liberation of Taiyuan City represented the destruction of the 1st Army of the Japanese invaders.

The heavy troops that were liberated from Jin divided into three routes and steadily pressed towards the Japanese army in North China. One route went north and launched an attack on the Mongolian Garrison Army in cooperation with the Jin-Sui Military Region. The other two routes launched a fierce offensive eastward in a pincer attack, breaking the stalemate in central and southern Hebei. One route eliminated all the Japanese garrisons along the way and liberated cities. By May, the Japanese North China Area Army had been compressed to the line from Beijing and Tianjin to Shanhaiguan, and the Japanese only retained control of the Jinpu Railway line.

Our army's troops are constantly growing in the flames of war. After preliminary reorganization, they have reached 1.3 million people. They are initially divided into four field armies: the Northwest Group, the Northern Group, the Northeast Group, and the North China Group.

In late May, the Northern Group and the Northeast Group officially bypassed Mongolia and Rehe and attacked into Manchuria.

In the same month, the Mongolian Garrison Army stationed in Zhangjiakou and Chengde was wiped out, and the Eighth Route Army approached Siping.

Helpless, Umezu Yoshijiro transferred all the soldiers defending against the Soviet army in the north to deal with the Eighth Route Army. To his surprise, he originally thought that the powerful Kwantung Army was so vulnerable under the powerful offensive of the Eighth Route Army.

Even the veteran divisions such as the 1st, 7th, 9th, and 10th divisions were defeated one after another, suffering heavy losses. Not to mention the other troops, Manchuria was completely lost in less than three months.

It was not until the fall of Shenyang and Changchun that he realized that the general situation was over. He led a part of the people south to Lushun, and at the same time ordered the remnants still resisting in the east and north to immediately retreat to the Korean region.

In this way, Umezu Yoshijiro led about 8,000 Japanese garrison troops, carrying a large number of Japanese and puppet officials, including Puyi, the emperor of Manchukuo. They retreated south to Kanto Prefecture, which is now the Dalian area.

Accompanying them was Xing Shilian, the puppet Manchukuo Minister of Military Affairs, leading more than 70,000 puppet Manchukuo Defense Forces. Moreover, on the way, they merged with four detachments of the railway guard team, about 6,000 people, and later there were more than 3,500 garrison troops from the Lushun and Dalian Garrison Area. When they arrived in Jinzhou, this team had expanded to 90,000 people.

What he never expected was that on the second day after arriving in Jinzhou, a mutiny occurred in the puppet Manchukuo Defense Forces. Countless soldiers poured into all parts of the city. They looted all the banks and important warehouses and forcibly took over the port. Caught off guard, even the Japanese navy was disarmed by them.

Umezu Yoshijiro could only lead less than 10,000 Japanese troops to retreat to one place, and he did not dare to suppress them at all.

It turned out that these puppet Manchukuo government officials had already begun to collude secretly when the Japanese army was showing signs of defeat. They had been dogs for the Japanese for so many years and knew their virtues well. At the last moment, they would definitely be abandoned. Under the pressure of survival, this group of people began to plot. They had already inquired that many of the generals on the Eighth Route Army's side were anti-Japanese soldiers who had been persecuted by them in the past. Their hands were covered with blood over the years. Thinking of Yang Jingyu's fate, even if they surrendered, they would definitely not have a good end.

But continuing to follow the Japanese was also a dead end. So they planned this mutiny, the purpose of which was to seize ships in Lushun Port. Going south to join the National Government Army was the only way for these people to have a chance of survival.

In order to prevent the adverse effects of a firefight with the Japanese army, both sides remained surprisingly calm and no further conflicts occurred. Xing Shilian's plan went incredibly smoothly. After they robbed the Japanese of a large amount of wealth, they activated all available ships. In the end, about 50,000 puppet Manchukuo officers, soldiers, and government officials' families left by boat. The remaining people were really reluctant to leave their homeland and believed that they had no irreconcilable hatred with the Eighth Route Army. After sharing a portion of the wealth, they chose to surrender to the Eighth Route Army.

Umezu Yoshijiro had no choice. Even those who remained were not something he could deal with with his strength. In the end, he could only lead the remnants to Lushunkou. Accompanying them were also local Japanese expatriates, who were afraid of being retaliated against by the puppet army. The puppet army had been oppressed by the Japanese for so many years, and who knew what terrible things they would do?

The former site of the Kwantung Army Headquarters, Umezu Yoshijiro will welcome his last moment here! He has no other choice, the pursuing Eighth Route Army is almost here, and the entire Lushunkou can't even find a small fishing boat.

Despair permeates everywhere here. These people have no idea how the Eighth Route Army will deal with them? Many people have committed suicide in despair.

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At the same time, outside Jinzhou City. Three mighty troops are advancing towards here and will soon meet here victoriously. Among them, the ones coming from the east are Li Yunlong and Kong Jie, two of the former Iron Triangle of Northwest Shanxi. In order to cut off the Japanese army's escape route to the east, they detoured from Liaoyang and Benxi, while Ding Wei stayed behind to continue pursuing the enemy to Dandong.

Waiting for them outside the city is naturally the mechanized training brigade. They have been following the Japanese and puppet troops unhurriedly, maintaining enough pressure to prevent them from fleeing in all directions.

Liu Yuan was sitting in his armored command vehicle reading a book, but this time he was reading "Dream of the Red Chamber." It has to be said that the charm of Chinese classical literature lies in the fact that your feelings may be different every time you read it. (Mainly because I don't understand Õ_Õ)

Speaking of which, the current training team has been expanded into a training brigade, which is also the only mechanized infantry brigade in the entire army: it has three tank battalions, 222 improved "Panther" II tanks (this type of tank was not actually put into formal use in the original timeline, the tank blueprints came from another parallel world in "The Man in the High Castle". And it was manufactured by Liu Yuan in the system workshop, with only 300 vehicles.); three armored infantry battalions, each mechanized infantry battalion with 650 people, under the jurisdiction of 3 mechanized infantry companies, 1 120mm self-propelled howitzer company, 1 35mm self-propelled anti-aircraft gun platoon (30 people), 1 battalion headquarters (30 people). The self-propelled anti-aircraft guns carry 35mm twin-barreled anti-aircraft guns, which can provide air cover for the infantry battalion while moving. The entire anti-aircraft gun platoon has 4 self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, 1 artillery observation vehicle, and the mechanized infantry battalion has a certain air defense capability. There is also 1 155mm howitzer company, 1 130mm rocket artillery company, 1 logistics support company, 1 special service company, 1 reconnaissance company, 1 repair company, 1 engineering company, 1 communications company, 1 medical company, 1 chemical defense company, 1 pontoon bridge company, 1 brigade headquarters (60 people) has 630 various armored vehicles, including self-propelled artillery, tank destroyers, rocket artillery vehicles, transport trucks and motorcycles. It even has an independent air detachment, equipped with five light rotorcraft. There are a total of nine battalion-level units, with a total of more than 6,400 people. Its high degree of mechanization and combat power far exceeds the armored divisions of the US and German armies.

"Report!" A voice came from outside the car, Liu Yuan opened the car door and walked down and asked: "Speak! What's the matter?"

The communicator said: "Report to the chief instructor, the Independent 11th Brigade and the Independent 25th Brigade are approaching us. Brigade Commander Li and Brigade Commander Kong have both called to inquire about the next action plan. In addition, this is a brief report on the progress of the brother units forwarded by the headquarters."

At that moment, a communications soldier ran over and shouted, "Report! Reporting to the chief instructor, some people have come from the city, saying they were sent by the puppet army in the city to surrender."

Liu Yuan smiled. Under the gradual pressure of our army's powerful military strength, it was normal for the puppet army to be unable to withstand the pressure and come to surrender. This could save a lot of time and avoid unnecessary casualties. "Send a telegram to Lao Li and Lao Kong. Let them come over immediately and see what this puppet army envoy has to say."

Before long, the two of them rode over on horseback. As soon as he dismounted, Li Yunlong said to Liu Yuan, "Xiao Yuan, what's the matter? You had to have us come over in person."

Liu Yuan said with a smile, "I invited you here to watch a good show."

Soon, the puppet army envoy was brought over. He looked at the surrounding situation and knelt on the ground with a thud. He shouted, "Eighth Route Army grandfathers, spare my life! Those real traitors have already run away, and now the rest are forced to make a living. I really represent the tens of thousands of brothers in the city who have come to surrender."

Kong Jie pulled him up and said, "Get up quickly, we Eighth Route Army don't do this."

"Thank you, sir!" This puppet soldier, named Bi Laonian, was terrified. Like pouring beans out of a bamboo tube, he told everything he knew.

It turned out that since last year, due to the tight situation on the Pacific battlefield, the Japanese army had transferred a large number of troops to the south. The Kwantung Army was understaffed, so they had to expand the Manchukuo National Defense Force. They even began to forcibly recruit young men into the army. Some rickshaw pullers and porters in the cities were also dragged into the puppet army. The officers above the company level in these troops were all Japanese, and at its peak, it was close to 200,000 people.

But since June of this year, the Eighth Route Army suddenly marched into the Northeast. The once invincible Kwantung Army was beaten and fled in panic. Then, the government officials of Manchukuo began to collude secretly, led by Xing Shilian and Zhang Jinghui. Jin Mingshi, Yu Jingtao, Lu Yuanshan, Ruan Zhenduo, Yan Chuanrong, Yu Jingyuan, and Huang Fujun, several key ministers, were also involved.

Although most of their power was in the hands of the Japanese vice ministers, the people who worked for the Japanese were all Dragon Country people. With the connections they had built, they completely bypassed the Japanese surveillance.