[Anti-Japanese Iron Blood King] Chapter 833: The Great Change (Ask for Subscription!) , ask for a monthly pass, ask for everything! ）

In addition to the above measures, Lao Chiang also formulated a clear line of relations between the various arms of the armed forces and improved the operational policy of each branch of the armed forces. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

The core of this is the integration of the existing national combat readiness resources, the active purchase of advanced weapons and equipment, the development of special operations forces, and the formation of a large number of German armament divisions. At the same time, we should vigorously develop the armed forces directly under the central government and introduce foreign training models. It is equipped with 70 divisions of the Central Army, 40 of which are formed with Whampoa cadets as officers and German instructors for training.

The other is the unification of the weapon system, which is very important, and at that time there were various armed guns in various places. For example, the Gui system is British equipment, the Yunnan army is French-style equipment, and the Northeast Army is Japanese-style equipment. The guns and ammunition produced by the arsenals in various places are also varied, which brings great inconvenience to the supply of the front.

Therefore, the Nationalist Government decided to unify the standards of several weapons with the highest rate of use and the most widespread use in wartime, especially the standards of rifles, machine guns, mortars, etc. Actively expand the output of the military industry and improve the quality of the military industry. Actively imitate advanced foreign weapons and equipment. For example, in terms of light and heavy machine guns, German and Czech equipment were copied, and after the start of the war, Japanese grenadiers were copied.

The most important thing is that the Nationalist Government actively implements the strategy of exchanging space for time, accumulating small victories into big victories, and implementing a protracted war strategy. On the eve of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Jiang Baili published his "On National Defense", and the strategy toward Japan expounded in his "On National Defense" and other works can be summed up in three ways.

First, China is not afraid of swallowing up Japan, but is afraid of encroachment, so it should not retreat step by step against Japan, but should take the initiative to carry out an all-out war of resistance against Japan, turning the rear of the Japanese army into the front, so that it will have no time to digest the occupied areas, so that Japan will not be able to use the occupied areas to increase its combat strength.

Second, it took the initiative to attack the Japanese army in Shanghai and forced the main offensive route of the Japanese army to change from the north-south route of northeast-north-central China-south China to the east-west route along the Yangtze River, so as to make full use of the advantages of the mountains and lakes and marshes along the river and offset the advantages of the Japanese army in weapons training.

Third, we will trade space for time, engage in a protracted war, and drag Japan down through the consumption of time. The specific method was to drag the Japanese army into the second ridge of China's geography, that is, the junction of Hunan and Sichuan, and engage in a decisive battle with the Japanese army.

In fact, although Jiang Baili died early in 1938, the development of the Sino-Japanese war proceeded exactly according to his expectations, reflecting his accurate grasp of the strength and strategic situation of the two countries. In an article published shortly before his death, he put forward even more eloquently the guiding principle of China's future strategy toward Japan -- "Win or lose, just make peace with it!" ”

After the start of the all-out war of resistance, there was a very large gap in strength between China and Japan. Economically, industrially, in 1937, Japan's industrial output value was $6 billion, while China's was $1.36 billion; Japan's steel output was more than 6 million tons, while China's was more than 500,000 tons; Japan had the world's leading military manufacturing industry, and China could only manufacture basic guns and small-caliber artillery.

In terms of troops: In mid-1937, the Japanese army had an army of 600,000 troops and a trained reserve force of more than 1.6 million. China has an army of 2 million and a reserve of 500,000. Although the difference in strength is not large, the number of armor and artillery per division of the Japanese army is much greater than ****. The Japanese navy has 200 large ships, while the Chinese have only 66; The Japanese army and navy have 2,625 combat aircraft, while China has only 305 combat aircraft.

In view of the huge gap between China and Japan in terms of military and national strength, as well as China's characteristics of great depth and large population, the Nationalist Government formulated a strategic policy of exchanging space for time and accumulating small victories into big victories. Exchanging space for time means taking advantage of China's vast territory to wage a protracted war against the enemy and waiting for a change in international and domestic opportunities. Accumulating small victories into big victories means that in each battle, the enemy is gradually eliminated, the enemy is consumed, and the qualitative change is completed with quantitative changes.

In order to accomplish this operational policy, the Kuomintang mainly carried out a large number of large-scale battles in front of them, such as the Battle of Songhu, in which the Japanese army invested 280,000 troops in 10 divisions, and China invested 70 divisions.

Although the loss of Shanghai and then Nanjing was finally lost, it also plunged the Japanese army into a war of attrition on thousands of kilometers of fronts in North and Central China, and the Nationalist Government took the opportunity to complete the transfer of enterprises and state organs.

In order to prevent the Japanese army from attacking the west, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party jointly organized the Battle of Taiyuan. The battle, with Yan Xishan as the commander of the Second Theater of the Nationalist Government, began in August 1937 and ended in November. The battle effectively echoed the Battle of Songhu, in which the Japanese suffered nearly 30,000 casualties, which consumed the Japanese army's combat strength and blocked the Japanese army's plan to fight south along Pinghan.

In order to prevent the Japanese North China Army from moving south along the Tianjin-Pudong Railway to join the Japanese army in Central China, the Nationalist Government organized the Battle of Xuzhou under the command of Li Zongren, commander of the Fifth Theater of Operations. In this battle, the Nationalist Government mobilized 600,000 troops and achieved a great victory in Taierzhuang, which once again dealt a blow to the arrogance of the Japanese army. The battle lasted four months, and it bought valuable 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 Nationalist Government initially achieved the strategic goal of exchanging space for time, but the Japanese army was forced to change its strategy toward China because the battle line was too long, its forces were scattered, and its strategic materials were seriously depleted. It pursued a strategy toward China that focused on winning over and dividing Wang Chingwei and other pro-Japanese factions within the Nationalist Government and establishing a puppet regime, supplemented by military offensives.

The fourth step is the last step, and it is also the one that Lao Chiang 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 Chiang's political vision is clever here, he knows very well that although Japan is one of the best countries in Asia, but in the international arena it is only a second-rate country, compared with the real power Japan is still far behind, as a vested interest, the United States, Britain, France and other countries do not want Japan to rise, so Japan is necessary to conflict with these countries in the process of rising, so a long time ago Lao Chiang planned to hug his thighs.

At the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War, the Nationalist Government clearly advocated forming a united front with Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union, and mainly hoped to unite with the United States to resist the war. After the Japanese army provoked the Sino-Japanese incident, the Nationalist Government repeatedly reported to the League of Nations 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 18 Incident or the intervention of various countries after the September 18 Incident to urge Sino-Japanese peace talks, this is a strong proof that Lao Chiang hoped that Western powers would intervene and actively seek international help.

However, to the dismay of the Nationalist Government. Great powers such as Britain, the United States, and France have sharp contradictions with Germany, Japan, and Italy. However, a policy of appeasement was adopted in order to alleviate the internal crisis in the country and to suppress the Soviet Union by relying on Germany, Japan and Italy. Britain even signed the "China Customs Agreement" with Japan, transferring Chinese customs in Japanese-occupied areas to Japan. At the same time, the United States maintained friendly trade relations with China and Japan, and at the same time openly and covertly supported and connived at Japan's invasion of China.

It was not until after the outbreak of the European theater of World War II that Germany's invincibility in Europe stimulated the Americans. The Americans could see that now only Britain relied on stubborn resistance in the English Channel, and the result was likely to end in defeat.

As a result, the United States believes that its own interests have been seriously threatened, and in order to resist the global expansion of fascist countries, the US Senate and House of Representatives are trying to find a way to deal with it, and showing goodwill to the Chinese government is one of the means.

This was mainly due to the heroic performance of the Chinese people in the war that lasted for more than a year, and when the Japanese army had just invaded China, no country was optimistic about China, including some Chinese people, believing that if China did not submit to Japan, the country's demise was just around the corner. As a matter of fact, the Japanese government also thinks the same way, and even arrogantly shouts the slogan of destroying China in three months.

But the result was that the Chinese survived, breaking the myth of the invincibility of the Japanese army with the blood of millions of people, revealing its weak nature, and allowing China to win the recognition of European and American countries, so that around the Battle of Changsha, a great change is taking shape. (To be continued.) )