[Anti-Japanese Iron Blood King] Chapter 443: The Second Battle of Wuhan Begins (Ask for subscriptions, ask for monthly passes, ask for everything!) ）

Emperor Hirohito was also quite helpless about the disagreement between the base camp and the cabinet government. On one side, he wanted to fight, but on the other hand, he said that he had no money to fight, so he had no choice but to convene a royal meeting.

Although there were differences, they were quickly resolved, and the base camp and the cabinet government had their own considerations and reasons. However, they all know one truth: for the Japanese side, the attack on Wuhan is not just a military issue, but a key political issue related to whether or not the Chinese incident can be comprehensively resolved.

In the words of Seishiro Itagaki, who is currently the Minister of War of the Japanese Army, "For the Japanese government, the Wuhan Raiders are particularly important. Because if the government of China loses, they will lose North China, East China, Shanghai, and Nanjing, and they will also lose the provinces of the Central Plains, the three towns of Wuhan, and the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. In this way, the Nationalist Government would be forced to move to the lofty mountains of Sichuan and become a local government. ”

In this case, the Empire of Japan could have sought out a faction or warlord figure in the country to establish a national government to replace the Nationalist government in the southwest, such as Yan Xishan in Shanxi or Wang Jingwei, who had always been pro-Japanese, and they would certainly be happy to cooperate with the Empire. In this case, peace or no peace, the life of the Chiang government in China will not be easy. ”

"In addition, from the military general, once Wuhan is conquered, the government of China will not only face a political crisis, but also a military dilemma. After all, North China, East China, South China, and the Central Plains were all lost, and the Chiang government was left with only the impoverished northwest and the isolated southwest. Therefore, surrender is a matter of time and inevitable! ”

In addition to these, Itagaki Seishiro analyzed the probability of victory or defeat in this battle from the comparison of the strength of the two sides and the battlefield situation, and came to the conclusion that the Japanese army would win.

It is normal for the top brass of the Japanese military to have such thoughts, after all, they have experience in this. Since the end of the 19th century, when the great powers of various countries, including Japan, repeatedly invaded China's territory, the Qing government in China still carried out a certain amount of resistance, but as the armies of the great powers approached the prosperous cities and capitals of China, the Qing government would stop resisting and repeatedly demanded that the war be defeated and negotiate peace, and then cede land and pay reparations to end the war.

Therefore, the base camp of the Japanese army took it for granted that as long as the Japanese army captured several large cities and strategic points in China in one fell swoop, the ****** regime, which had an already unstable foundation, would follow the example of the Qing government to stop resisting and propose peace, so that the Japanese government could decently end this war, which it did not want to expand, on the premise of obtaining certain benefits.

I have to say that although Seishiro Itagaki is a soldier, his eloquence does make many politicians feel ashamed. Under the instigation and persuasion of his incorruptible tongue, the top level of the government, including Konoe Fumiro and others, finally wavered. Soon, under the clap of Emperor Hirohito, the Japanese army base camp decided to conduct the second Wuhan Raider.

The battle plan for attacking Wuhan had been made long ago, and it was almost a copy of the first Battle of Wuhan. The Japanese army planned to send troops from Central China to capture Hankou along the Yangtze River with the main force and destroy the enemy as much as possible. Before the North China Front began its offensive with a dispatch army in Central China, it captured the areas of southern Shanxi and northern Henan to contain the first and second theaters of China.

On the basis of the above decision, the Chief of Staff of the Japanese Army issued Order No. 179 on June 7: "The Central China Dispatch Army should take advantage of the results of the Nanchang operation and cooperate with the navy to occupy the Pengze, Hukou, and Jiujiang lines." The key to ensuring stability in the area occupied by the North China Front was to make the remnants of the enemy as obedient as possible, and to sweep away the enemy's main forces when it was impossible, especially the enemy in the Zhongtiao Mountains of China. In addition, in response to the dispatch of troops from Central China to fight in Hankou, he studied and prepared to advance to Zhengzhou with a force to contain the enemy's operations. ”

The order was soon issued to the Chinese battlefield, and after receiving the order, the commander of the Japanese Central China Dispatch Army, General Shunroku Hata, actively dispatched troops and dispatched generals, and immediately launched the second Wuhan Raid.

In order to win this battle, the Central China Dispatch Army mobilized a total of 14 divisions and an aviation regiment, and also mobilized a considerable navy to participate in the war. General Toshiroku Hata first ordered the main four divisions of the main force of the Second Army of Lieutenant General Toshironomiya to assemble near southern Anhui and southern Henan one after another; The 11th Army of Lieutenant General Okamura Ninji gathered troops near Pengze and Hukou with the backbone of five divisions.

And the 1st, 3rd, and 4th Flying Regiments of the Air Regiment of Vice Admiral Tokugawa Yoshitoshi were used as the backbone to carry out large-scale bombing of the Chinese naval fleet on the Yangtze River waterway in Wuhan. The remaining five divisions were assigned to the garrison of Shanghai, Nanjing, Anqing, and other occupations.

In this way, the Japanese army's troops (sea, land and air) for a direct attack on Wuhan reached more than 350,000 people, plus a considerable number of puppet troops, its strength reached the first in all major battles.

In addition to the huge number of troops, the Japanese army obviously made a bloody investment this time, and all the 186 large and small ships of the main force of the Third Fleet of its naval combined fleet, except for a few large ships that could not enter the Yangtze River waterway, all the rest entered the Yangtze River waterway to cooperate with the army operations, and the marines alone were more than 9,000 people, which was quite large.

In addition, in order not to miss a beat, the Japanese army base camp deliberately strengthened the weapons and equipment on the Wuhan battlefield, adding hundreds of artillery pieces of various types, an unprecedented 960 tanks and armored vehicles, and hundreds of combat aircraft.

You must know that although the Japanese army has indeed achieved considerable results in the frontal battlefield and has also caused the Nationalist Government to lose its armor, it is far inferior to the all-pervasive military control bureau of the Nationalist Government in terms of espionage.

After learning that the Japanese army was actively deploying troops and attempting to attack Wuhan. The Nationalist Government's high command immediately made a decision and immediately dispatched troops to line up with each other.

In order to prevent the Japanese army from seizing Wuhan, the Nationalist Government High Command planned to mobilize 8 group armies, 10 army corps, and a number of units directly under the theater, with a total of 57 divisions and a navy and air force to participate in the war, with a total strength of about 600,000 troops. In addition, it is also planned to mobilize the reserve units of eight group armies to assemble in Changsha, the rear of Wuhan, as the second-line troops for the Battle of Wuhan.

In this way, the Nationalist Government decided to invest 1.2 million troops from 16 group armies in this general battle, which was completely unacceptable, and it was a battle to the death with the Japanese army in the Wuhan area.

However, both Lao Chiang and other factions in the country understood that although the Nationalist Government had an advantage in terms of troops, it was extremely difficult to win this battle because it was inferior in terms of weapons and equipment, and only had a small number of artillery, aircraft, warships, and armored vehicles.

On June 11, after receiving a report from the Central China Dispatch Army, the Japanese base camp finally issued Order No. 250 to capture Hankou.

On the same day and night, the main force of the Second Army of the Central China Dispatch Army started from Lu'an and attacked and advanced in the direction of Gushi, Huangchuan, Luoshan, and Xinyang. Its main force, the 13th Division, was attacking and advancing in the direction of Yejiaji, Xindian, Songbu, and Xiaogan.

The main force of the 6th Division of the 11th Army began to attack and advance from Huangmei to Guangji, Gaoshanpu, Xishui, Bahe, Huangpi, and Hankou on June 12. In addition, the 15th Division, the Ninth Division, and the 24th Division, which belonged to the 11th Army, marched west along the Yangtze River in three ways, attempting to seize Pengze, Hukou, Jiujiang and other places.

At the same time, the units of the North China Front were also frequently mobilized, and not only did the main force of the 12th Army stationed in Shandong quietly move south to southern Anhui, but the First Army stationed in Shanxi, which had never made any major moves, also took rare action and completed the assembly in the southern Jinnan area in a very short period of time.

When the news reached Jining, Ma Zheng immediately ordered all troops to prepare and wait for the order to attack at any time.

In fact, for Ma Zheng, it doesn't matter if he can't make a move now, it is best to accumulate strength when the Japanese army has no time to take care of anything else this time, and wait for the Japanese army and the national government to fight before acting, and reap the benefits of the fisherman.

But Ma Zheng did not dare to do this when it came to practical problems, mainly because he really did not have confidence in the response plan of the Nationalist Government. After reading the information mobilized by the Nationalist Government, Ma Zheng's only feeling was that the Ninth Theater of the Nationalist Government had not learned the lesson of the last time at all, and if they followed their strategic deployment, the probability of defeat was as high as more than 80%, so he had to act early to create pressure on the Japanese army. (To be continued.) )