Glorious Mission 1937

Beiping. Cuiming Village.

While discussing whether to go to war with the United States, Britain and other countries in the Japanese imperial palace, in Cuimingzhuang on the outskirts of Beiping, the new commander of the North China Front Army, General Ningji Okamura, also called his subordinates here for the first time after taking office. General Assembly.

Cuimingzhuang is a high-end guest house built in the eastern outskirts of Beiping after the Japanese army captured Beiping. The external structure and materials, as well as the interior decoration are all luxurious. It was mainly used by the Japanese army to entertain senior military officers and important guests of the front army. Now it has been turned into a temporary conference room by Neiji Okamura.

Cuimingzhuang is a three-storey building with a green glazed tile roof combining Chinese and Western styles, facing east from west.The main building has three floors in the middle, and the buildings on both sides are two stories high. Now the large conference room on the second floor of the main building will gather stars, and all senior officers of the North China Front Army's divisions and above have been summoned here.

The reason why Neiji Okamura called all the senior officers together was not only to meet all the senior officers of the North China Front Army, but more importantly, to have a good talk with these generals. Why the Kwantung Army's strategic group has been defeated repeatedly, not to mention the loss of soldiers and generals, and the loss of cities and territories has become a shame for the Imperial Army.

The atmosphere in the conference room was very warm. All the senior officers present knew the name of General Okamura, even those who had never seen it had heard of it. As the most famous senior officer in Japan, Neiji Okamura was indeed not in vain. , so many people are looking forward to the arrival of Ningji Okamura.

Seeing that almost all the staff had arrived, Ningji Okamura tapped the conference table lightly, and then said: "Since everyone is here, the meeting will start now. Let me introduce myself first, Ningji Okamura , General of the Imperial Japanese Army, was appointed as the commander of the North China Front Army in January Showa 16, fully responsible for the war in North China, please take care of me!"

"Hay!" Everyone said in unison.

Neiji Okamura nodded with satisfaction and continued: "This time, gathering all of you together, in addition to meeting and getting to know you, more importantly, we are going to analyze with you why the North China Front Army has been repeatedly defeated by the army. In the hands of the Chinese army, it has even lost about half of the occupied area. Now we can talk about it."

"Iijima-kun. You have been in North China for several years. Tell me about your thoughts?" Okamura Ningji asked by name.

No.12 Army Commander Iijima Sadagu did not dare to be negligent, and immediately got up and replied: "Your Excellency, Commander, I believe that there are internal and external reasons for the repeated defeat of the Imperial Japanese Army by the Chinese. The internal reason is that the imperial army expanded too fast. This led to a rapid decline in the quality of soldiers. Thinking about the beginning of the China Incident, the troops sent by the Empire to fight in China were not elites, and any soldier was a veteran who had served for many years. Non-commissioned officers also accounted for a huge proportion, so Only then can the imperial army win repeated victories in battles against the Chinese."

"But now, due to the exhaustion of the war, a large number of veterans have died in battle. In addition, due to the need for troop expansion, veterans from various armies have been transferred away, and the new recruits are some untrained recruits. Maybe the recruits passed You can become a veteran in one battle, but in fact, many recruits will not be able to survive the next battle. Of course, the situation is the same for grassroots officers. A large number of experienced grassroots officers died in battle, which is also the reason for the decline in the combat effectiveness of the Imperial Army!"

Seeing Iijima Sadagu stop, Okamura Ningji asked with interest: "What is the external cause Iijima-kun mentioned?"

"Your Excellency, Commander, let's talk about the external cause after a while. In addition to the decline in the quality of the soldiers, the internal cause is also the lack of weapons and other combat materials. Due to the successive years of war in the empire, the domestic economy has deteriorated. The most direct manifestation is the domestic imperial power. The shrinking of the army and the reduction of technical arms. When the China Incident just happened, each division of the empire had two infantry brigades under its jurisdiction. In addition, there were not many cavalry, artillery, engineering, and chariot soldiers. Look again Now, taking the imperial army in North China as an example, there are basically no four-unit divisions, and the rest are third-level divisions with three units."

Speaking of which, Sadagu Iijima suddenly got up, went to the window of the conference room, pointed to the guards patrolling outside and said, "Besides, the main troops of the empire are still using the Meiji 38-style rifles and the Taisho 11-year (crooked) rifles. Handle) machine gun, needless to say the [-]-type rifle, although the design accuracy is good, but because the caliber is too small, the lethality is very limited.”

"In addition, the survivability and adaptability of the Taisho 11th light machine gun on the battlefield are extremely poor. Three years ago, it could barely be used in the army, but now the weapons and equipment of various troops in China are developing rapidly, especially the main enemy of our Northern China Front Army. In the eighth war zone of China, their soldiers are now equipped with a Mauser K98 rifle and a light machine gun with extremely powerful firepower. Turned into a disadvantage!"

Then Iijima Sadagu said: "The important external reason why the Northern China's imperial army has been hit hard repeatedly is that the enemy is too strong. There are 4 main enemies of the Northern China Front Army. The first part is the Eighth War Zone of China, and the second part is China. The second war zone, the third part is the first war zone of China, and the last part is China's Tuba Road. Among the four enemies, the China's Eighth War Zone is the strongest, and the China's Tuba Road is the most difficult to deal with. As for Yan Xishan's second battle Although there are a lot of troops in the area and Wei Lihuang's first theater, the threat to the Imperial Japanese Army is the smallest."

"According to the information obtained by the intelligence department of the Imperial Army, the development of the Eighth War Zone of China in recent years has far exceeded our imagination. It is conservatively estimated that the strength of this China's army has reached at least 100 million, of which 90 are for the army, and the air force and navy are 5. [-]. The large number of troops is one aspect, and more importantly, this Chinese army is not only complete in army, sea and air force, but also has almost all the arms of major countries in the world, and its weapons and equipment are also very advanced. It has completely overwhelmed the flying troops of the Imperial Army, which means that the Northern China Imperial Army has lost its air supremacy!"

"In addition, the China Tuba Road is also very difficult to deal with. Although their combat effectiveness is not very strong, they are like maggots attached to the bone. Once the medicine is over, they grow rapidly. Although the imperial army has repeatedly encircled and suppressed them, the effect is very limited. So far , Tuba Road has already controlled a large part of the security area of ​​the imperial army, it is like a sharp knife piercing the heart of the imperial army, it is very dangerous."

"It can be seen from this that the enemy facing the front army is so powerful. Although the humble officials are very reluctant to admit it, some things are facts. Even if we don't want to admit it, they still exist objectively. Under the ebb and flow, the Chinese people The strength in the Northern China region has already surpassed that of the imperial army, which means that the imperial army was defeated not because of improper command, but because of the difference in actual combat strength between the two sides."

Neiji Okamura asked with a half-smile: "According to Iijima-kun, the defeat was not the fault of the imperial army, nor was it caused by the commander's command error, but because the Chinese were too powerful?"

"Your Excellency, Commander, there are also mistakes in command, but they are not the main reason for the failure. Perhaps the imperial army did underestimate the enemy at the beginning, but as so many troops were eliminated by the establishment and so many generals were eliminated The captives were shot and killed. In the process of fighting the Chinese army, especially when facing the troops of the Eighth War Zone of China, the imperial army dared not neglect and went all out, but the absolute gap still made the Japanese Imperial Army's counterattack become Struggling in vain!" Iijima Sadagu said loudly.

Neiji Okamura smiled and said: "I have an analysis by His Excellency Naozaburo Kobebe, the former Chief of Staff of the Front Army, which Mr. Kobe specially left for me, the newly appointed commander of the North China Front Army. Mr. Gangbu thinks Apart from what Iijima-kun just said, the reason why the imperial army has repeatedly fought and failed repeatedly against the Chinese army in North China is that there are several reasons. It is too long, and the force is very limited."

"As a result, the military deployment of the highly dispersed Front Army has always been very loose. According to Mr. Gangbu's calculations, before the Showa 15th year, the Northern China Front Army had an average of only 3 people per 2 square kilometers. Due to the lack of precise and regular goals, often It becomes a static defense. If the imperial army does not take the initiative to attack, China will rarely attack. At first glance, it seems that there is no problem, as if a non-aggression treaty has been concluded. But don’t forget that this is China, and the two sides coexisted. However, the Chinese army is working secretly among the common people to enrich its strength, and when the time is right, it can turn to attack in one fell swoop."

"In addition, the military discipline of the imperial army is really bad, which has left a bad influence on the people of China, such as cruelty, tyranny, and bloodthirsty. I am extremely dissatisfied, the existence of those scum will only discredit the Imperial Japanese Army, and it will only make the Chinese people hate us even more, and they will be more willing to assist the Chinese Tuba Road against us."

Neiji Okamura hadn't finished his words when Heitaro Kimura, the head of the No.30 Second Division, got up and said loudly: "Your Excellency, those Chinese people are very cunning, they are all troublemakers, and they should all Die, die!"

"Baga, Mr. Kimura, I know all about your performance in this battle of Jinan. To be honest, I am very disappointed. As a commander of the Great Japanese Empire, and a lieutenant general commander, a real soldier, Your Excellency actually took You only blackmailed Chen Feng's troops with the common people, and you lost all the face of the Imperial Japanese Army and the Japanese Empire!"

"Those Chinese people are certainly very cunning, but without those cunning Chinese farmers, who do we collect food and supplies from, and how can our army fight without food. The imperial army wants long-term peace and stability, not looting and then retreating. So we must create a good law and order environment for the Chinese people, so that it will be much easier to deal with the Tuba Road." Neiji Okamura said angrily.

As a soldier, despite being hostile to the Chinese, Okamura Neiji still believes that soldiers should have military integrity, and is extremely dissatisfied with Kimura Heutaro's violent and bloodthirsty words and deeds. (To be continued..)