Glorious Mission 1937

In order to achieve this operational policy, the national army mainly carried out a large number of large-scale battles, such as the Battle of Songhu. In this battle, the Japanese army invested 10 troops in 28 divisions, and China invested 70 divisions. Although the equipment is poor, most of the soldiers are desperate. Killing the enemy, more than 4 Japanese soldiers were killed and wounded in this battle, which shattered the dream of Japanese imperialism for a quick victory.It effectively resolved the Japanese army's strategy of subjugating China in March. Although Shanghai was lost in the end and Nanjing was lost immediately, it also caused the Japanese army to fall into a war of attrition on the front of thousands of kilometers in North China and Central China. Agency transfer.

In order to prevent the Japanese army from invading the West, he and the Communist Party jointly organized the Taiyuan Battle.This battle started in August 3 and ended in November with Yan Xishan as the commander-in-chief of the Nationalist Government's second war zone.This battle effectively echoed the Battle of Songhu. The Japanese army suffered nearly [-] casualties, consumed the Japanese army's combat power, and blocked the Japanese army's plan to fight south along Pinghan.

In order to prevent the Japanese North China Army from going south along the Jinpu Railway and joining the Central China Japanese Army, the Nationalist Government organized the Xuzhou Battle under the command of Li Zongren, commander of the Fifth Theater.In this battle, the national army mobilized 60 troops and achieved a great victory in Taierzhuang, which once again dealt a blow to the arrogance of the Japanese army.The battle lasted for 4 months, which won precious time for the Nationalist government, which had just moved its capital to Chongqing, to organize the defense of the Wuhan area.

Through several battles, the national government initially realized the strategic goal of exchanging space for time. However, the Japanese army was forced to change its strategy towards China because of its long front line, scattered troops, and serious consumption of strategic materials.The implementation is mainly to win over and divide the pro-Japanese factions such as Wang Jingwei within the national government, and establish a puppet regime.A strategy against China supplemented by military offensive.

The fourth step is the last step, and it is also a step that Lao Jiang has always insisted on and has never wavered. This step is to actively seek international help and join the anti-fascist war alliance to gain the support of major powers.Lao Jiang's political vision is so brilliant that he is very clear that although Japan is one of the best big countries in Asia, it is only a second-rate hooligan country in the world. Compared with a real big country, Japan is far behind. Interested parties, the United States, Britain, France and other countries do not want Japan to rise, so Japan must conflict with these countries in the process of rising.So Lao Jiang planned to hug his thigh a long time ago.

In the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, the national government clearly advocated to form a united front with Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union, and mainly hoped to unite the United States in the war of resistance.After the Japanese army provoked the Sino-Japanese incident.The Nationalist Government appealed to the League of Nations many times in accordance with the "Nine-Power Pact", hoping that the Western powers would come forward to mediate the situation.Whether it was the mediation of the League of Nations after the September [-]th Incident or the subsequent intervention of various countries to urge the Sino-Japanese peace talks, this is a strong proof that Chiang hopes that Western powers will actively seek international help.

However, to the dismay of the national government.Great powers such as the United Kingdom, the United States, and France have sharp conflicts with Germany, Japan, and Italy.But in order to ease the internal crisis of the country.And the idea of ​​relying on Germany, Japan and Italy to suppress the Soviet Union has adopted a policy of appeasement.Britain even signed the "China Customs Agreement" with Japan, which handed over China's customs in the Japanese-occupied area to Japan.At this time, the United States maintained friendly trade relations with China and Japan at the same time, and at the same time supported and condoned Japan's invasion of China.

Until not long ago, Japan issued the "Basic National Policy Outline", which clearly defined southward as the main direction of aggression.Strengthen the alliance with Germany and Italy, hoping to annex the colonies of European and American powers in the Pacific Ocean. In August of the same year, Japan coerced Britain to withdraw from Shanghai and forced the Netherlands to agree to supply oil to him...

Germany has already faced the enemy in Europe, and only the United Kingdom relies on the English Channel to resist tenaciously.This series of events made the United States believe that its own interests have been seriously threatened.In order to resist the global expansion of fascist countries, the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives passed the "Lend-Lease Act".The bill authorizes the president to provide weapons, materials, food and other military supplies to countries whose defense is considered to be of great significance to the security of the United States in the form of sale, exchange, transfer or lease, thus opening the prelude to the comprehensive US aid to China. [

This time, the United States promised to immediately provide emergency loans to the Nationalist government. In Lao Jiang's view, this was a great practice of his four-step strategy. He believed that his entire anti-Japanese strategy was correct, and he was somewhat complacent.

At the same time, President Roosevelt of the United States personally called Lao Jiang and agreed with Chennault, an American flight instructor serving in the Chinese Air Force, to recruit retired pilots from the United States to form the American Air Force Volunteer Army to China.

In fact, as early as the beginning of July 1937, Chennault, a retired American flight captain, arrived in China to assist Song Meiling, then head of the Air Force, to inspect the Air Force. A few days later, the Sino-Japanese War broke out. Chennault trained the Chinese Kuomintang Air Force according to the standards of the US military. He also actively assisted the Chinese Kuomintang Air Force to fight against Japan, and personally flew the plane into the battle. Under the pressure of Japanese diplomacy, Chennault's activities gradually became private.

Not long ago, President Roosevelt called Chennault, saying that the U.S. government could support him secretly, and in the name of private organizations, he would spend a lot of money to recruit U.S. military pilots and mechanics to join the war as civilians.At the same time, the U.S. government can retire a group of pilots in advance and go directly to China to participate in the war.

The decision of the United States made Lao Jiang very happy. Although the Air Force of the Nationalist Government has added a batch of Iraqi series fighters eliminated by Chen Feng's troops after receiving funding from Chen Feng's department, the entire Chinese Air Force now has 4 flying brigades with 384 aircraft warplane.

However, since the technology of the Japanese Zero fighter has matured, and this new fighter has reached mass production, no less than 300 fighters have been deployed in Central China alone. Therefore, every time the Chinese Air Force confronts the Zero fighter, it suffers a lot of losses.Although Le Yiqin and others deliberately developed a tactic to use the Yi-16 fighter jets to jointly deal with the Japanese Zero fighter jets, the Japanese Air Force still has an absolute advantage in central China.

Air supremacy is not a new term for countries in the world at this time. The famous Italian military scientist Duhet has elaborated on the importance of air supremacy in his many books. His works on air supremacy in his life mainly include 4 volumes, "Supremacy of the Air", which comprehensively expounded its theoretical views, was revised in 1921, "Possible Appearance of Future Wars" published in 1928 emphasized the role of new weapons in future operations, and the polemical work "A Brief Restatement" was published in 1929. ", "The War of 1930xx", which described the possible appearance of the future European war, was published in 19. In 1937, these four works were co-edited and published in Rome under the name "Air Command".The book comprehensively expounds the basic viewpoints of his theory of air supremacy, and is the foundational work of the bourgeois air force military theory. It has been widely spread and has been quite influential so far.

The core of Douhet's theory is the victory of the air force.He believes that after the air force has seized air supremacy, it can attack the enemy's national center and economic center and win the war alone.Although his theories exaggerate the role of the air force, such as: continuous air strikes will quickly disintegrate people's hearts and fighting spirit, negate the idea of ​​local air supremacy and the use of air defense, etc.However, it was revolutionary and advanced at the time, and was supported by some military strategists in the West, which had a great impact.It is reflected in the "blitzkrieg" theory of fascist Germany, the theory and practice of the bombing aviation combat use of the United States, Britain and other bourgeois countries.

Especially it has a great influence on Germany, which is close at hand. The blitzkrieg used by Germany in World War II has a strong Douhei color in it.

As Du Hei's theory has been recognized worldwide, the importance of air supremacy has also been valued by countries all over the world. Although Lao Jiang is not a strategist or a qualified tactical commander, he is the leader of a country and the commander of an army. , he was still very keen to discover the importance of air supremacy.

Therefore, in November 1928, the Ministry of Military and Political Affairs of the Nanjing National Government established the Aviation Administration to take charge of the construction of the Air Force. In 11, the organizational structure of the Aviation Administration gradually improved.The Aviation Administration has a Director and a Deputy Director each. The Department has a Counselor's Office, a Military Affairs Section, an Aviation Affairs Section, and a Management Section, each with a section chief.The Aviation Administration has jurisdiction over the Air Force, Aircraft Stations, Aircraft Repair Plants and the Central Aviation School.

In 1935, the Aviation Administration was renamed the Aviation Committee, which was directly under the Military Commission and was in charge of administrative and operational matters of the Air Force.Sub-offices and sections within the Aviation Committee, and a political department was added.Subsequently, the national government purchased a large number of aircraft from the United States, and at the same time incorporated the original Northeast Air Force and Guangdong Air Force. The air force was strengthened, and the brigade was determined as its basic organizational system. There are 3 or 3 pilots; the brigade has 3 brigade captain, the team has 4 captain, and the detachment has 1 sub-captain; and it is equipped with mechanical and administrative personnel.Before the Anti-Japanese War, the national government built 1 flying brigades.

In order to strengthen the construction and security of the air force airport, five special service brigades were set up, and each brigade governed three regiments.And set up two aviation engineering regiments, the Air Force Communications Team and the Automobile Transport Unit.The air force officer system is also divided into three grades and nine levels, but the civil service system is stricter than that of the army. Air force officers have to use flight time, skills, and military exploits as the basis for promotion; It is lower than the army, such as the commander-in-chief of the air force is only designated as a lieutenant general, and the captain is only designated as a colonel or lieutenant colonel.

Even though the national government attached great importance to the development of the air force, the huge gap in national strength between China and Japan still made the Chinese air force unable to compete with the Japanese air force.As of August 1937, 8, the Japanese Army Air Force had approximately 14 aircraft, and the Japanese Naval Air Force had approximately 1480 aircraft.Japan has a relatively solid industrial foundation and is able to produce various types of aircraft and technical equipment, which can be replenished in a timely manner after combat losses. (to be continued...)