Glorious Mission 1937

The news of the signing of the non-aggression pact between Su and Germany reached Guisui, and Chen Feng was quite surprised.Although this was as early as he expected, he did not expect it to be so early. Historically, the Soviet-German treaty was signed much later than this. The most important thing is that after the Soviet-German treaty was signed, Germany immediately launched a full-scale attack on Poland. , and destroyed Poland in a very short period of time.

Now that the Soviet-German non-aggression pact is signed ahead of schedule, does it mean that Germany will attack Poland in advance, and whether World War II will break out in advance.Out of concern for the situation in Europe and the world, Chen Feng ordered the troops on the front line to temporarily stop attacking. Except for some cavalry troops from the Mongolian rescue who remained in the eastern grasslands, the large troops immediately returned to Xilinhot.

With the signing of the Soviet-German non-aggression pact and the large-scale military mobilization of the Soviet Union, the Japanese side also took active actions. On June 1939, 6, Dongxiang’s ambassador to the Soviet Union asked the Soviet Union for a ceasefire at the Nomenkan.

On July 7, Japanese ambassador to the Soviet Union Togo and Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov signed an armistice agreement, and the two countries stopped all actual military operations when the armistice agreement was signed.

Regarding the sudden truce between the Soviet Union and Japan, although Chen Feng was well prepared, he still lodged a righteous protest to the Soviet side, and accused the Soviet Union of being a naked betrayal of their allies.

The performance of Chen Feng's troops in the war was seen by the Soviet side, especially after Zhukov visited the Suicha provinces and submitted documents of what he had seen and heard in the Northern Serbia to the Kremlin. The perception of Chen Feng's troops has undergone a huge change, in Stalin's eyes.Although Chen Feng's headquarters is not a separate country, it has the qualifications to talk with the Soviet Union on an equal footing.

Therefore, the Soviet side attached great importance to the protest raised by Chen Feng's subordinates.Major General Ivan, as Stalin's special ambassador, went to Guisui to hold talks with Chen Feng. As a result, the Soviet Union had to fulfill all the promises made to Chen Feng's troops before the war, including 5 tons of oil and oil and gas resources in Siberia. An additional 300 Li-2 transport planes should be provided to Chen Feng's headquarters, and some warships should be delivered in advance to the naval officers and soldiers trained in the Soviet Union.

At this point, China and Japan have temporarily retreated, ending all military conflicts on the front line.It is slavery.The Japanese army lost a complete infantry division and a heavy artillery brigade assigned to the 12th Division on the eastern grasslands. 4 generals died in battle.More importantly, in this battle, the pro-Japanese Mengde King and Li Shouxin became prisoners of Chen Feng's troops, and the Japanese army suddenly lost the most important spokesperson on the Saibei grassland.

In addition, the Eighth Division also lost more than 5 people in this battle.The losses of the Japanese army in the battle in the Nuomenkan area were even more astonishing.According to incomplete statistics.The number of casualties should be more than 10. Based on the battle during this period, the Japanese army lost about [-] soldiers.This does not include the losses of the puppet army.

For this reason, General Ueda, the commander of the Kwantung Army, was dismissed from the base camp as the first responsible person, and Lieutenant General Komatsuhara, the head of the No. 20 Third Division, was also transferred back to China and put into limbo.

This battle also made the Japanese fully realize how much they weigh. Although they are no longer Japan in the Meiji period, the Soviets are not standing still.Their national power has grown rapidly, and it can be said that they have become the undisputed strongest country in Asia.But the Soviets developed faster than them, and the strength of the Soviet army was far beyond what they could compare. When Soviet tanks flooded the sky, the ridiculous Bushido spirit of the Japanese did not bring miracles, but only Greater casualties.

However, the Japanese army did not only fail and die. In Shanxi, the Japanese army performed very well. In less than a month of fighting, the Japanese army not only recaptured Taiyuan, but also advanced to the Yanmen Pass and Ningwu Pass. The line even captured most of central Shanxi, and part of the troops went deep into Luliang and Changzhi. If Fu Zuoyi's No.30 Fifth Army hadn't resisted desperately, I am afraid that Shanxi would have been divided into two by the Japanese army.

Due to his outstanding performance, on July 7, the base camp issued an order to order General Umezu Yoshijiro, the commander of the First Army of the North China Front Army in Shanxi, to take over as the commander of the Kwantung Army, and he will take office immediately.At the same time, Lieutenant General Yoshio Shinozuka, head of the Tenth Division, took over the vacancy left by Yoshijiro Umezu as commander of the First Army.

The first thing Shinozuka Yoshio did after he took office was to shrink his troops. The war in the north of China has ended, and he already knew that the empire suffered an unprecedented fiasco this time. This kind of fiasco is not only a military failure, but also a huge confidence In order to prevent the Chinese army from taking this opportunity to launch a counterattack, Lieutenant General Shinozuka Yoshio ordered the troops to immediately shrink their troops.

In addition, unlike other Japanese generals, Yoshio Shinozuka was very interested in the new special operations. He summoned Kazuki Yamamoto many times for talks, and appointed Kazuki Yamamoto as the first army to form a team specially used for mountain operations. special forces.

The failure of the Battle of Nomenkan greatly stimulated the Japanese, and at the same time caused the Japanese high-level leaders to have different views on the future development strategy of the Japanese army. No violation of the treaty, but there must be a war between them. Japan should continue to increase its troops to Manchuria, and is ready to join forces with Germany to attack the Soviet Union at any time.

However, more high-level Japanese officials disagreed with going north to fight, because according to the combat effectiveness of the Soviet army in the Nomenkan World War I, the current weapons and equipment and the quality of the soldiers of the Imperial Japanese Army are not sure of victory. If you want to defeat such an enemy, The Empire of Japan must go all out.But now the center of gravity of the empire is in China, and it is impossible to defeat the Chinese government in a short period of time and concentrate on dealing with the Soviet Union.

More importantly, Japan's domestic economy is on the verge of collapse. The protracted war has dragged down the Japanese economy. Before the July 77th Incident, Japan's total economic volume reached 283 billion U.S. dollars, making it the sixth largest economic power in the world.Before the 6th Incident, there were only 77 fully equipped divisions in Japan, with less than 4 people, and even with the navy, there were less than 20 people. The annual military expenditure was not large.

However, with the continuous escalation of the war, the Japanese army continued to expand. So far, there are more than 100 reorganized divisions and dozens of mixed brigades across the country, and the total force has expanded to 200 million.The cost of the war skyrocketed, reaching an astronomical figure of 5000 billion yen, the balance of national debt increased from 1930 billion yen in 62 to the current 660 billion yen, and the entire economy was on the verge of collapse.

According to the statistics made by the Ministry of the Interior, if the war situation in China cannot be resolved within two years, Japan will collapse without fighting due to economic problems. At that time, domestic prices will soar and the currency will depreciate, and the army will lack supplies and supplies needed for combat. Ordnance and ammunition.Therefore, the empire must find a way to solve the China issue as soon as possible, or open up another channel to obtain war resources.

The report of the Ministry of Internal Affairs surprised the Japanese high-level officials. The powerful Japanese Empire in their hearts was so vulnerable. They thought that they would be able to completely occupy China if they fought like this. It is said that as long as the Chinese people persist for another two or three years, the Empire of Japan must take the initiative to withdraw its troops, otherwise the entire country will face an even greater crisis.

Surprised, the Japanese high-level officials also realized the seriousness of the matter. The current Japanese Prime Minister Kiichiro Hiranuma suddenly thought of the former Prime Minister Konoe Fumma's strategy towards China, and felt that it was necessary to learn from it, so he personally visited Konoe Fumma.

After several talks, Kiichiro Hiranuma came up with an outline for solving China's problems, proposing a strategy of dividing and ruling by using China to control China. The requirement is to form a new pro-Japanese Chinese government in the occupied area with the support of the Great Japanese Empire. In order to achieve the purpose of dividing the resistance forces of China and reducing the military pressure of the Japanese Empire.

This plan was quickly passed at the imperial meeting. At this time, Wang Jingwei and others were negotiating with the Japanese government in Japan, hoping to form a new national government with the support of Japan. Seishiro and his Japanese spy Takeo Imai were not very active.

Itagaki Seishiro is a war madman, especially when he served as the head of the fifth division in the North China Front Army, he achieved very good results, especially created a miracle of over 30 infantry divisions in China with the strength of one division. Therefore, Itagaki Seishiro looked down on the Chinese from the bottom of his heart, including pro-Japanese factions like Wang Jingwei.And they don't want to hand over the results of the battle to Wang Jingwei under such circumstances. What he wants is to let the Japanese army digest the occupied area by themselves, and then completely turn the place occupied by the Imperial Japanese Army into Japanese territory. Like Kanto Prefecture, instead of entrusting the support of a Chinese regime.

After Itagaki Seishiro became the Minister of the Japanese Army, he had two generals under his command, one was Kagesa Shakiaki and the other was Takeo Imai.The two men have very different views on Chinese politicians' inducing surrender.Kagezuo Zhenzhao took the line of supporting Wang Jingwei; but Takeo Imai wanted to negotiate peace with Chiang Kai-shek directly.Imai Takeo believes that since the Qing Dynasty, all wars or disputes between China and Japan have been resolved by China's "reserve and compromise". Occupy China.Now Japan's blow to China is the biggest in history, and the crisis China is facing is also the biggest. If you don't take this opportunity to completely occupy and digest it, Japan may never have such an opportunity again.

Therefore, from the very beginning, the negotiations between Takeo Imai and others and Wang Jingwei and others were not very serious. Itagaki Seishiro even ridiculed Wang Jingwei as soon as they met: "I thought that to establish a new and powerful central government in China, we must win over Chongqing. You must be quite sure of that, and it would be an honor to hear about it."

However, with Kiichiro Hiranuma's strategy of using China to control China, the Japanese side suddenly became enthusiastic about the negotiation. Wang Jingwei and others received extremely high treatment in Japan, and the two sides quickly reached a consensus on the content of the negotiation. (To be continued..)