Regrettably, this idea of the Japanese military was strongly resisted by the actual commander of the Chinese dispatch army.

The so-called authorities are obsessed, and once they are caught in the war, it is very difficult to keep a cool head.

These ambitious soldiers, including Okamura Ninji, who was once known for his sanity, had long since been carried away by the war.

They believe that after four years of fighting, although the casualties are not light, the national army still maintains considerable combat effectiveness. The existing strength of the Japanese army can only be guaranteed to be slightly stronger than that of the national army, and it only has a certain advantage, but it does not have an overwhelming advantage, and it should continue to increase its troops in large numbers.

If the Japanese army reduces its strength at this time, it is tantamount to ceding the initiative on the battlefield to the national army.

With a mere 400,000 Japanese troops, how can they confront the 4 million national army. If the Japanese army really withdrew to 400,000 troops, it would definitely suffer a devastating defeat and finally withdraw from China in a humiliating defeat.

Therefore, several high-ranking generals, including the commander of the 11th Army, Okamura Ninji, the commander-in-chief of the Chinese Dispatch Army, Nishio Toshizo, and the chief of the general staff, Itagaki Seishiro, all believed that they could not withdraw their troops, but should continue to increase their troops.

Okamura even wrote on December 10, 1939, analyzing the situation: ...... A protracted war would do more harm than good to the Japanese Empire, and small-scale operations and luring activities would not solve the Chinese problem, and only a large-scale offensive could have any hope of solving the Chinese problem.

Due to the resistance of these feudal lords, the plan for the withdrawal of troops was ultimately abandoned.

The commander of the Japanese army this time was not Okamura Ninji.

At the end of 1939, because Okamura Ninji repeatedly asked the Japanese military headquarters to increase the number of troops, he continued to expand the war of aggression against China, and his words were arrogant, and he was disgusted by the military leadership.

Subsequently, Okamura Ninji was recalled to Japan in early 1940 and served as a military senator for a year, which was actually sitting on a cold bench and punishing him for not keeping his mouth shut.

It was not until 1941, due to the outbreak of the Pacific War, that Okamura Ninji was reactivated, promoted to general, and served as commander-in-chief of the North China Front.

He succeeded Okamura Ninji as Lieutenant General Kazuichiro Sonobe.

Kazuichiro Sonobe and Okamura Ninji are classmates of the same class of the Army Non-commissioned Officer School, and their fame is no less than that of Okamura, and they are quite capable soldiers. Kazuichiro Sonobe was born in Kumamoto City, a city where the people were strong, and the hometown of the 6th Division, one of the most effective in the Japanese army.

He was a professional soldier who studied at the Kumamoto Army Local Infant School, the Central Infant School, and graduated from the 16th class of the Army Military Academy in October 1904.

After serving in the Japanese army for many years, he entered the Japanese Army University, a senior military academy of the Japanese army, and graduated with honors with honors, and won the honor of the 25th saber group of the Army University.

The so-called saber group is a name given to the top six graduates of each army university in Japan before World War II, and it is named after the six people who were able to receive the sabers given by the emperor. Generally speaking, as long as he enters the saber group, this person will definitely soar in the future, and there are no less than 100 people from the saber group in the top ranks of the Japanese army.

The more famous ones are Yamashita Fumifumi (Army University 28th), Nishio Toshizo (Army University 22nd) (Commander of the Guards Division, Commander of the Chinese Dispatch Army, who was arrested on suspicion of being a Class A war criminal, Shunroku Hatake (Army University 22) (Marshal, former commander-in-chief of the Japanese army invading China, commanded the Battle of Yuxianggui, Class A war criminal), Matsui Ishine (Army University 19) (Class A war criminal, one of the first perpetrators of the Nanjing Massacre), Umezu Mijiro (Army University 23) (Class A war criminal, Chief of Staff, signed the " Ho-Mei Agreement", the 14th Commander of the Kwantung Army) and so on.

Kazuichiro Sonobe worked hard in the Japanese army for more than 20 years, and finally took the position of brigade commander in 1932 with the rank of major general. In April 1936, he was promoted to lieutenant general and served as the commander of the 7th Division of the Kwantung Army stationed in Qiqihar.

After Okamura Ninji was transferred this time, he was promoted to commander-in-chief of the 11th Army.

This guy Kazuichiro Sonobe is a very capable person, and his ability is clearly reflected in this battle of Zaoyi.

Before the war, Kazuichiro Sonobe had carefully discussed with his staff how to fight the battle, and in their opinion, there was nothing wrong with the Battle of Suizao organized by Okamura Ninji before. The reason for the failure was that Okamura Ningji trusted the combat effectiveness of the cavalry brigade too much, and did not expect that the cavalry could not touch Sun Lianzhong's infantry, resulting in the encirclement not being formed, and Tang Enbo's 31st Army calmly retreated. After the defeat of the Japanese army, they were exhausted and encountered a counterattack by the national army, and suffered heavy casualties.

Kazuichiro Sonobe believes that this battle can only use the method of his old classmate Okamura Ninji, that is, to use a large-scale encirclement operation in the Suizao area to eat up the main force of the Fifth Theater, especially the elite 31st Group Army of the Central Army, and severely damage the living forces of the Fifth Theater.

In order to avoid making the previous mistake, Sonobe and Ichiro did not use the cavalry brigade as an outflanking force this time, but used infantry. However, the infantry marched slowly, and in order to make up for this shortcoming, Sonobe Kazuichiro had the outflanked infantry lightly equipped, and some heavy artillery that was not easy to carry was not taken away, and at the same time a large number of tanks were assigned to these assault troops as an assault force.

After the strategy was formulated, the specific tactical plan was almost completed, but at this time, the Japanese military headquarters suddenly issued an order, requiring that Yichang must be occupied in this attack.

This left Sonobe and Ichiro scratching their heads. The purpose of this battle was originally to annihilate the main force of the Fifth Theater and to arrest people, but now why has it become a land grab?

On this point, Sonobe Kazuichiro shared the same thoughts as Okamura Ninji, who believed that occupying more territory was of no value to the Japanese army, and could only increase the burden. At present, due to the large area controlled by the 11th Army, there are 100,000 regular troops and guerrilla troops of the Nationalist Army in the Japanese theater of operations in the rear. The 11th Army was already stretched thin, and its forces could not be effectively mobilized.

The Japanese military department's demand for the occupation of Yichang was nothing more than a political attempt to force the Chiang Kai-shek government to submit by taking control of this gateway westward to Sichuan. At the same time, Yichang can be used as an advance airfield, which is only more than 400 kilometers away from Chongqing, and a large-scale bombing of Chongqing can put pressure on Lao Jiang.

Naturally, from a military point of view, the occupation of Yichang also has a certain significance, so that the water transportation between Sichuan and the Fifth Theater of Operations will be cut off, and in the future, transportation can only rely on the inconvenient land route of Sichuan.

However, Sonobe and Ichiro still don't think there is any point in capturing Yichang.

Capture Yichang to make Chiang Kai-shek surrender? It is obviously impossible, even if Chongqing is occupied.

As for the Japanese high-level belief that the occupation of Yichang might lead to the westward march along the waterway and occupy Sichuan. Kazuichiro Sonobe thinks it's complete nonsense. Yichang used to be the Three Gorges, this difficult water area has been set up by the national army many water barriers, even if there is no defense, it is difficult for the Japanese warships to break through, not to mention that there are many fortifications along the river along the way, it is absolutely impossible to attack Sichuan by water.

And what about attacking by land? It is also unlikely, because without the destruction of the Fifth Theater of Operations, the Japanese army will simply not be able to advance westward. If you force your way west, put a knife on your elongated neck, and once the lone army goes deep and is cut off from the supply line by the Fifth War Zone, it will be a fiasco in the Battle of Taierzhuang. Not to mention the overland route from Yichang to Sichuan, all of which are terrifying mountainous terrain and extremely difficult to cross.

Therefore, Kazuichiro Sonobe was extremely dissatisfied with the idea of occupying Yichang, but as soon as he took office, it was too late to be busy thanking, so how could he dare to go against his superiors.

Sonobe and Ichiro were forced to accept orders and make changes to their previous plans.

It can be seen that the saber group really lives up to its name, and the revised plan of Sonobe and Ichiro this time is extremely ingenious, and it is a beautiful example in military history.

Sonobe Kazuichiro's plan was that the battle would be divided into two phases, the first of which would be to repeat the pattern of the Battle of Suizao, and to encircle the main force of the Fifth Theater on a large scale in the Suizao area, especially to annihilate Tang Enbo's 31st Army. After that, regardless of whether the encirclement was successful or not, it immediately entered the second stage, that is, it suddenly transferred its troops to the south and crossed the river to attack Yichang.

In Sonobe Kazuichiro's view, the Japanese army can currently dispatch 200,000 troops, which has an absolute advantage over the more than 300,000 national troops in the Suizao area.

At that time, the Fifth War Zone was in the Suizao area, and except for Tang Enbo, most of them were miscellaneous troops, and their combat effectiveness was not very strong. The Jiangfang Army stationed in Yichang has three armies under its jurisdiction, all of which are elite of the Central Army and have strong combat effectiveness.

However, the Jiang Defense Army was used to defend Yichang, and Li Zongren had no right to mobilize, and during the Battle of Suizao, the Jiang Defense Army did not move.

Sonobe and Ichiro believe that the key to this battle lies in the Jiangfang Army.

If the Jiang Defense Army does not go north to cross the river to support the operation in the Suizao area, then the difference in strength between the Chinese and Japanese armies will be even greater, and the main force of the Fifth Theater can basically be succeeded in the first stage, but it will be almost impossible to occupy Yichang.

If the Jiang Defense Army goes north to support the Suizao area, then although the first phase is likely to fail, the second phase of the occupation of Yichang will be easy.

In short, no matter how the Jiang Defense Army moved, the Japanese army had a good chance of winning.

On April 10, the Japanese base camp issued an order to the Chinese Dispatch Army to attack Yichang with the 11th Army.

As soon as he heard that Sun Lianzhong had come to visit him in person, Han Xing hurriedly came out to greet him. Seeing Sun Lianzhong, Han Xing hurriedly gave him a military salute and said seriously: "If Commander Sun has anything, just make a phone call and telegram, do you still need to come in person?" ”

Sun Lianzhong also hurriedly gave Han Xing a military salute, and then said: "If I don't come in person, if I burn incense and worship the Buddha, my heart is not sincere and the Buddha is not spiritual." Only when you are sincere can you worship the true Buddha! ”

Han Xing let Sun Lianzhong into his office. Sun Lianzhong glanced at Han Xing's office and shook his head vigorously, a white table, two white benches, and a simple small bed. Sun Lianzhong said: "The dignified commander of the Southern Expeditionary Army lived in such a simple hut, but as soon as he came to Nanyang, he won a big victory in the Nanyang air battle, which really made the eldest brother ashamed!" ”

Han Xing smiled and said teasingly: "I just live in the Jinluan Palace, and the officers and soldiers on the front line want to have no artillery, no planes, and only be beaten by the enemy, so what's the use?" ”