My Head of the Huaxia Expeditionary Force

Chapter 493 Unsettled domestic battlefield
Calculating the time, the U.S. military had just ended the Battle of Saipan on the Pacific battlefield, and the battle line was approaching the Japanese mainland again. In faraway Europe, the allied forces that had just completed the Normandy landing were advancing towards France like a rainbow.The red army in the east also began to counterattack the East Prussian region of Germany after entering Poland. The entire battlefield of World War II seemed to sound the horn of counterattack at this moment.

Things in Europe were too far away, but the Japanese army in the Pacific made the Americans feel more and more pressure.

Although the success of the island-hopping tactics turned the island chain defense that the Japanese army was proud of into a display, the US military's repeated approach to the mainland also prompted their determination to fight to the end.

The crazy Japanese are preparing to shrink their forces on the Pacific battlefield, intend to establish an absolute defense circle, and fight the Americans to the end with their last ounce of strength.

And one of the small islands, which was originally not so important in strategic position and only 350 kilometers away from the mainland, has now become the focus of defense. nightmare.

Japan’s so-called absolute defense circle generally refers to the main areas occupied by the Japanese army, including the Thousand Islands in the north, the Japanese archipelago, the Philippine Islands, and the Ogasawara Islands, as well as Malay, Indonesia, New Guinea in Southeast Asia, North Korea in Northeast Asia, and Northeast China. and North China.

This range was calculated based on the flight distance of American bombers at that time. Within this range, it was difficult for American long-range bombers to fly densely to the Japanese mainland, and the Japanese archipelago was relatively safe.

But once the Allies break through this so-called "defense circle", there will be no peace in the Japanese archipelago, and the B29 bomber can turn Tokyo into scorched earth, so this is equivalent to the last fig leaf for the Japanese. A woman with no clothes on and still not being teased and humiliated wantonly?
Therefore, the importance of the absolute defense circle is self-evident.In addition, in order to seek a breakthrough point, the Japanese high-level officials have turned their attention to the Chinese mainland again... The military's long-planned "Army One Operation Plan" has officially begun to be implemented.

In order to reverse the unfavorable situation in the Pacific battlefield, the base camp decided to open up the mainland communication line from Northeast China to Vietnam, and at the same time destroy the airports in North China and Central China, so as to prevent the US military from using Huaxia Airport as a springboard to bomb the mainland.Not long ago, in May, the Japanese invaders mobilized 5 troops and cooperated with land, sea and air to implement the "No. 50 Operation Plan."

The fourth battle of Changsha kicked off, and the battle of Henan, Hunan and Guangxi officially started. This time, the Japanese army can be described as the largest attack on the Chinese battlefield since the invasion of China.

Since the offensive was mainly concentrated in Henan, Hunan, and Guangxi, the Japanese wanted to connect the occupied areas of "Puppet Manchukuo, North China, South China, and Southeast Asia" to replace the sea routes blocked by the US military.As a result, the Kwantung Army, the China Continental Dispatch Army, and the Southern Army became a whole and relied on each other.

Some time ago, the Battle of Myitkyina had just ended, and Lao Jiang’s eagerness to transfer the expeditionary force back to the country was out of this consideration. The Japanese army suppressed the border, and wars broke out everywhere. Military reports came one after another. Can he Are you not in a hurry?

Although the [-]th Army and the [-]th Army were allowed to return to the court, the situation of the entire Henan-Xiang-Guangxi campaign was still not optimistic. After all, this battlefield covered half of China.

Since the end of 42, because the Japanese army focused on the Pacific Ocean and Southeast Asia, the encroachment on China has slowed down, and a large number of elites have been transferred to the Pacific Ocean and Southeast Asia battlefields. Domestic high-level officials think that Japan is gradually being dragged down by the United States. With the addition of a few staged victories, most people relaxed their vigilance, thinking that the Japanese were starting to go downhill, but they didn't expect that they would suddenly play a big game, and they couldn't stand it at all.

Not long after the battle, the Japanese army launched an extremely ferocious attack on Changsha. However, due to the victories in the first three battles, the ninth theater was blindly optimistic from top to bottom, and poorly prepared for battle. Yuelu Mountain destroyed the heavy artillery positions of the Kuomintang Army, making the entire battle irreversible. Xue Yue was forced to retreat to Hengyang, and the fourth Changsha defense battle was declared a failure.

Japan assembled 50 troops, 250 aircraft, and built 14 new mixed brigades and 8 field supplementary teams, equipped with thousands of cannons, 10 horses, 15000 cars, and hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles. The purpose of the huge combat force is to hit a hard punch, hit Huaxia hard, and open up the road traffic line connecting Southeast Asia.

The inertia of time is still so huge. Although Hunan and Guangxi have received reinforcements from the two major armies of the Expeditionary Army this time, they still cannot stop the iron hooves of the Japanese artillery and armor.

Although Hengyang is the city with the longest persistence, due to ammunition consumption and soldier casualties, logistics supplies cannot be delivered to the front line in time, making it difficult for the Hengyang defenders to maintain the defense line. The Japanese army rushed into the city several times to start more brutal street battles with the defenders .

However, because the Japanese army is bound to win Hengyang, in addition to the offensive end, there are also a large number of reinforcement troops on the periphery. The [-]th Army that came to support was still a step behind. It was blocked by the Japanese army and could not enter the battlefield at all. There are tens of thousands of people in the Tenth Army.

Song Xilian's headquarters phone was about to explode. Lao Jiang urged him, Xue Yue urged him, and Fang Xianjue, who was surrounded in Hengyang, kept urging him, but if he couldn't get in, he couldn't get in.

It was thought that after the troops were equipped with some American weapons, they would be able to form an advantage over the Japanese army, but the actual results were not satisfactory.

Compared with the troops stationed in India, the Western Yunnan Expeditionary Force lags far behind in combat effectiveness and equipment quantity. To put it bluntly, the former is only slightly better than the domestic first-line troops. Compared with the Japanese, it really does not have much advantage. It is even more impossible to achieve more enemies with fewer enemies like the Indian Army and the 88th Army.

During the long Changheng battle, the Chinese and American air forces fully supported the ground operations and once cut off the Japanese army's logistics supply line, but it was difficult to make up for the overall disadvantage of the Kuomintang army and the evil results caused by wrong command.

The Hengyang defense battle lasted more than two months and killed more than 2 Japanese soldiers and injured nearly 6 people. It broke the original plan of the Japanese base camp to open the Hunan-Guangxi line to Yunnan and Burma within 7 days.The Hengyang garrison sacrificed more than 1 people, and in the end only less than a thousand people survived.

The people of Hengyang sacrificed more than 3000 people just to transport ammunition for the excavation work, and the thousand-year-old city was razed to the ground.The anti-Japanese soldiers and the people of Hengyang paid a heavy price.

In the end, there were no reinforcements outside and a group of senior generals including Fang Xianjue, the supreme commander of the garrison and the commander of the Tenth Army, surrendered to the Japanese army on the condition of saving the wounded soldiers.

Since the half year of the war, the situation in the Chinese battlefield has taken a turn for the worse. Until October, most of the land in Henan, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and other provinces had been lost. The casualties of the troops exceeded 10. Destroyed one after another, Huaxia suffered heavy losses.

The domestic defeat seems to be due to the lack of assistance from the allies, and the delay on the Western Front, but in fact the biggest reason is that the Kuomintang army has a very serious shortage of troops. In name, it has 130 million troops, but in fact it is the largest. There are no more than 100 million people, and there are many internal factions fighting each other.

When the Japanese invaded in Central China, the units stationed in the First War Zone in Henan took the lead in fighting, but the Fifth and Ninth War Zones did not launch a large-scale attack on the Japanese army for a long time, which prevented the Japanese army from sending reinforcements to the First War Zone.

Similarly, when the fourth and ninth theaters were attacked, the other theaters also failed to respond effectively, let alone massive reinforcements.Let me ask, can they win such a cooperative battle?
Wherever the Japanese army went, they brutally burned, killed and looted. Hundreds of thousands of refugees were displaced during the war. Hundreds of people died of disease, cold and starvation every day.

However, the Nationalist Party did not fully retreat. Several major theaters were still preparing for war in an attempt to counterattack, and non-governmental organizations in various places were also doing their best to fight against the Japanese invaders.

Fortunately, the expeditionary force opened up the Yunnan-Myanmar Highway half a year in advance. This lifeline of China began to transport a large amount of supplies to the country. Compared with the original time and space, at least the military losses were not so high, and more counterattack forces were retained.

At this time, the commander of the 88th Army drove straight in, defeated the Japanese defenders such as Mandalay and Meiktila one after another, captured a large amount of land, and wiped out more than [-] enemies.At last, he gave Baldy Jiang a shot in the arm who was devastated.

The bald head is worthy of being an excellent politician. He immediately began to publicize the impressive achievements of the New 88th Army of the Expeditionary Army to stabilize people's morale, as if to say: Look, although we failed to resist the Japanese attack this time, We were pressed on the ground and rubbed hard, but the expeditionary force also severely injured the Japanese in Burma. Although we were in pain, we were beaten up like little devils, and they didn't feel well. So as long as we persist in fighting and fight back, we will definitely be able to win...

At the same time, the bald head also gave a series of awards and commendations to all the officers and soldiers of the 88th Army. Anyway, the old routine of sealing up officials and making wishes, completely forgot that he was scolding Liao for his wolfish ambitions in Chongqing two months ago...

(End of this chapter)