kingnovel Chapter 1254 Brilliant Victory
Chapter 1254 Brilliant Victory
Jiaodong Fourth Army Headquarters
Colonel Mori's side was just a small microcosm, while Ma Leizi's side summarized most of the guerrillas' achievements, which can be described as quite impressive.
Currently, there are more than 70 guerrilla groups active in the entire northern Jiangsu region, and even more in the southern Shandong region, totaling at least 160 groups. There are also more than 50 groups in the central Shandong region. Each of these guerrilla groups has a size between 10 and 90 people.
As originally planned, each guerrilla unit operated within its own designated area. If they encountered a major enemy, the guerrillas could contact each other. If the encirclement and suppression became too intense, they could also escape to the territory of neighboring guerrilla units. In short, it was quite flexible; you could decide on all the tactics yourself. We only had one requirement: you could do anything that would displease the Japanese.
"Reporting to the commander, the air force reports that the guerrillas received 55 tons more supplies today than yesterday."
As Ma Leizi was reviewing the reports of battle results from various guerrilla units, his operations staff brought in another set of data. "Our guerrillas don't find their own food and drink; everything is airdropped by the air force."
The Japanese haven't figured out this pattern yet, so our current approach is fine. Once they do, our airdrops might not be so easy. Of course, there are vast mountainous areas in this region where the Japanese aren't present, so we can just find other places.
However, when airdropping supplies to other locations, even if you see the drop point very close from the air, the people below might have to run for an entire day to collect the supplies. This requires pilots to be extremely meticulous during airdrops; even a small mistake on your part could cause your colleagues below to run themselves ragged.
They were already quite exhausted, both physically and mentally, from fighting the Japanese, especially since they were operating in enemy territory. If they were to have to worry about airdrops as well, they would probably be furious.
How are the Japanese aircraft doing?
Besides worrying about Japanese ground forces attacking our airdrop sites, Ma Leizi was most concerned about Japanese aircraft intercepting our transport planes. Our transport planes were escorted by dedicated fighter jets, but even so, if a transport plane encountered fighter jets, it wouldn't stand a chance.
"Most of our airdropped supplies were carried out at specific times. As long as the Japanese didn't get our intelligence, even if they spotted our planes, it wouldn't be easy for them to find us even if they took off from the airport at the last minute. This was mainly because our planes had better performance and could outrun the Japanese in terms of speed and range."
The operations staff officer stated confidently that if they couldn't surpass the Japanese in terms of technology, their airdrop would likely encounter a series of problems. Currently, it takes the Japanese at least 10 minutes from spotting their planes to taking off. As for getting to the battlefield, that's hard to say, since our planes are constantly flying around.
"Send a telegram to the intelligence bureau and ask them to check the Japanese construction plans for new airports in northern Jiangsu and southern Shandong recently. If the Japanese don't have such plans, have them keep an eye out. If they do have such plans, have them tell us the construction sites."
Ma Leizi thought for a moment. Although he had guerrillas in the area, intelligence gathering should be left to professionals. It's not that our people are bad at intelligence gathering, but they are not professional enough in this area. They might even expose themselves if they do something. So it's better to let them focus on fighting.
Leave the professional tasks to the professionals. Our entire 72nd Army Group has a very large intelligence department, especially in the area of the Japanese East China Command. While we can't say our people are everywhere, gathering this much information shouldn't be a problem.
"Commander, are you planning to attack their base?"
The operations staff quickly anticipated what Ma Leizi was planning to do.
"The reason why the Japanese planes can't catch up with us now is because their takeoff points are too far from our airdrop locations. They will soon realize this and will soon build airports in various places. Although we have destroyed the original airports, they also have the ability to build new ones. We can't let them finish building airports in this area; we have to make their airports useful from the south."
Ma Leizi walked to the front of the map. If there's an airport in this area, chasing our planes would be quite easy. But if they're taking off from Pujiang or Nanjing, then we have nothing to worry about. By the time you arrive, we'll have already finished our airdrops and returned.
The Japanese planes did try to catch up, but once they entered the Jiaodong Peninsula, anti-aircraft guns were practically everywhere. If you have the capability, we welcome you to come. The Japanese weren't stupid either. Previously, 12 planes had come charging in aggressively, but only 3 managed to escape. The rest were either shot down by our fighters or by our air defense regiments.
The Fourth Army was originally supposed to defend two provinces, but now it's only defending this peninsula region. If we continue to let the Japanese fly freely in our skies, then we've truly failed in our duty. From Ma Lei Zi down, everyone will probably have to write a self-criticism.
The operations staff nodded and quickly sent a telegram to the intelligence bureau. At the beginning of this month, the intelligence department was upgraded to the intelligence bureau, and the personnel were divided into different sections, each with different functions and regions. The intelligence department also underwent a comprehensive growth.
Ma Leizi has always disapproved of the intelligence department's budget; these people spend far too much money. So now that it's time to use you, I won't hold back. This is also your job. You've been saying the entire Yangtze River Delta is under your control, so let's see how you actually manage it.
"How are the preparations going for the 2nd Division? Have they made their infiltration?"
Ma Leizi also thought of an important problem: the Second Division of the Fourth Army was to carry out an infiltration order to advance directly from the peninsula into central Henan.
Currently, the Central Plains region is still in our hands, and Li Shaoyi has also ordered them to send an infantry division to fight in the central Henan region.
With such a massive army, there's really no other explanation besides a forced incursion.