The Japanese attack on Ceylon was determined to succeed.

In terms of the navy, Rear Admiral Jizaburo Ozawa of Japan's Southern Fleet led two battleships, two light aircraft carriers, four heavy cruisers, more than 10 destroyers, and more than 10 submarines as the main combat strength. The number of auxiliary vessels and troop carriers is in the number of fifty or sixty units.

Although this force is far inferior to the strength of the Japanese Navy in the direction of Midway, looking at the Indian Ocean at this time, it is already a giant existence.

For the occupation of Ceylon, the Japanese army used more powerful forces. For an island of just over 60,000 square kilometers, the Japanese army used three divisions of land forces. One of the first-class divisions - the Guards Division. One second-class division - the 21st Division. A small division - independently mixed into the 21st Brigade Regiment.

At the beginning, the Japanese army occupied Malaya and only mobilized three or four divisions, and the Japanese army in Burma only had four divisions. In order to occupy Ceylon, the Japanese army actually used three divisions, which shows the importance attached to it within the Japanese army.

Opinions on Ceylon's strategy are very divided within Japan.

The core reason for this is that the Raiders of Ceylon actually do not have much benefit to Japan.

If we say that the overseas supply lines of the Chinese army are cut off, now that we have occupied Burma, it can be regarded as basically cut off.

If it is to occupy a larger territory, then it is more profitable to attack from Burma and take out the British and thus occupy India.

However, on a global scale, this move is significant.

The capture of Ceylon would dethrone the British army's economic and military power in India. The Japanese army did not attack the Indian continent, and it was difficult for British forces in India to be transmitted to the European or African battlefields.

Not only that, but one of the routes that the United States aided the Soviet Union was from the Indian Ocean, into the Persian Gulf, and then transported by train to the Soviet Union. Japanese troops occupy Ceylon. It will be able to deter this foreign aid channel that aided the Soviet Union.

There are many benefits, but if you analyze them carefully, there are actually no benefits for Japan. Although Ceylon has a large rubber production, but in Southeast Asia occupied by Japan, there is a lot of rubber production, enough for small Japan to use, of course, whether it can be transported back to the Japanese mainland, it depends on luck, the submarines of the Maritime Resistance Army and the submarines of the United States Army are cruising in the sea like wolves, and the main target is the merchant ships.

If it is to ensure the supply of Japanese troops in Burma. Although it makes sense, the Japanese 15th Front in Burma has already begun to plan for the construction of the Thai-Burma Railway. The Japanese army captured so many ghost animals in the South Seas, which came in handy.

It should be said that the Japanese army attacked Ceylon. The main reason was the Japanese Navy's resentment against the Naval Resistance Army.

Although the Japanese Navy stated that it would not take any of Ceylon's interests, at the end of June. The Japanese Navy, however, received a hint of unexpected benefits.

In the Battle of Midway, Japan lost five large and medium-sized aircraft carriers. Historically. The Japanese army also had two large and medium-sized aircraft carriers during this period. That is, the aircraft carriers Shozuru and Zuizuru of the Fifth Air Force led by Rear Admiral Tadaichi Hara. Due to the change of history, only one aircraft carrier Zuihe remains, and it is still being repaired due to the damage it was suffered by the US military in the Battle of the Coral Sea.

The aircraft carriers that the Japanese Navy can use are all light aircraft carriers or modified aircraft carriers. There are only five of them, Flying Eagles. The Falcon, Longxiang, Ruifeng and the aircraft carrier Fengxiang directly under the United Fleet.

For light aircraft carriers, the combat effectiveness of two aircraft carriers is not as good as that of a large and medium-sized aircraft carrier. And due to the slow speed, it is difficult to meet the requirements of naval warfare. To put it simply, if you can't beat it, you won't even have a chance to escape except for hard work.

Of course, Japan is also building large aircraft carriers, such as the Taiho, which is a regular aircraft carrier that Japan is building. But aircraft carriers are not created by blowing, it takes time.

There was a serious lack of capital aircraft carriers, so Yamamoto turned his attention to Germany. In the thirties, Germany and Japan had close military contacts. Germany had no experience in building aircraft carriers, so it defected to Japan. Yamamoto Isoroku served as the captain of the aircraft carrier Akagi, and he is most familiar with the aircraft carrier Akagi. Therefore, the aircraft carrier Akagi was recommended to the Germans, and later it was a drawing sent to Germany by Yamamoto Isoroku's confidant, Kuroshima Kameto.

The Germans absorbed the technology of the aircraft carrier Akagi, built: "Graf. Led Zeppelin. However, due to the contradictions between the navy and air force, Germany has not been able to equip this aircraft carrier with aircraft. Although 95 percent of the construction of Germany's first and only aircraft carrier had been completed before the outbreak of the European War in '39, by '42, it was still floating in the harbor like scrap metal, and it was useless.

Historically, Japan also made demands to Germany for the Germans to resell or transfer the aircraft carrier to Japan. However, the Germans sent the Japanese on the grounds that they would still use it in the future, and until the end of the war, the Germans did not put the aircraft carrier to use.

But now it was different, and after the Japanese launched the Ceylon offensive, a group of German strategists immediately saw the benefits.

It should be said that this action of the Japanese army did not benefit them at all, but whether it was the impact on Britain or the Soviet Union, it was all about helping the Germans.

Therefore, the transaction between the two parties is relatively pleasant. The Germans agreed, put: "Graf. The aircraft carrier "Zeppelin" was sent to Japan. The condition was that the Japanese army must hold Ceylon, at least not until the end of a campaign that the Germans were now preparing for.

In fact, at this time the Germans were preparing for a campaign, the famous Battle of Stalingrad.

This battle, which is considered to be a turning point in World War II, is not known to have changed due to the change in history, and it is not known for the time being.

History has a powerful self-healing power. In the Battle of Midway, the U.S. military lost one more aircraft carrier, and gained another one from the Naval Resistance Army.

The Japanese suffered greater losses in the Battle of Ceylon, the Battle of the Coral Sea, and the Battle of Midway than in history, but after obtaining a German aircraft carrier, the number of aircraft carriers would be the same as at this time in history.

It's a wonderful change.

But whether it's the USS Pacific that the United States gets or what Japan is about to get: "Graff. Led Zeppelin. It will take time to be combat-ready, and Japan does not know if it will be able to get this aircraft carrier from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean at this time.

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Lieutenant General Takuma Nishimura, the supreme commander of the Japanese Army against the occupation forces in Ceylon. Nishimura Takuma also served as the commander of the Japanese Guards Division.

The supreme commander of the Japanese Southern Army was General Terauchi Shouichi, who had several front armies under his command, according to the Japanese military system. Under the front armies were armies, each of which had two to five divisions under its jurisdiction.

From December 8 of the 41st year to the beginning of June. With a loss of only 30,000 or 40,000 men, the Japanese army occupied the vast land of Nanyang. So far, the Japanese Army has conquered every offensive and has not suffered a single battle-level defeat.

However, after the occupation of the South Seas, the Japanese discovered a problem. There are not enough troops.

Little Japan has too much appetite and occupies too much territory.

When the Japanese attacked, the troops seemed to be sufficient, but once they dispersed, they realized that they were important everywhere. Whether it's Indochina. Thailand, Malaya, Sumatra, Philippines, Java. New Britain, and a whole bunch of islands in the South Seas. Troops must be stationed everywhere.

The Japanese Army's original intention was to occupy Nanyang. He returned to the northeast of China and looked for the Soviet Union. But at this moment, they found that it was unrealistic to return to the Northeast, and not only could they not transfer troops back to the Northeast, but they also had to continue to transfer troops from the Chinese battlefield to the South Seas.

The strength was already tight, due to the requirements of the Japanese navy. The offensive of Port Moresby and the offensive of Ceylon were launched.

Therefore, General Terauchi Shouichi had no choice but to speed up the transfer of troops, and the first to be replenished was in the direction of Burma. After months of fierce fighting, the strength of the Japanese army in Burma was simply not enough to maintain an offensive posture with only four divisions.

And the battle in the direction of Port Moresby. It was white-hot from the beginning. With no way to retreat, Admiral MacArthur of the U.S. Army broke out with unprecedented tenacity, constantly increasing troops to Moresby.

Originally, the Japanese army arranged a division and a detachment (at the wing level), and after a few days of fighting, it was discovered that although this amount of troops did not suffer in front of the American army, it was absolutely impossible to drive MacArthur's army into the sea.

Therefore, we had to increase our troops again.

As for Ceylon's strategy, General Terauchi Shouichi also calculated the cost.

The Guards Division, this is the first-rate unit in the Japanese army, not to mention the combat effectiveness, just the name is loud enough. The Emperor's Guards are very glamorous on the brain.

21st Division. Although it was not a first-class division of the Japanese army (ranked before 20), it was the first batch of field divisions formed by the Japanese army after the full-scale war of aggression against China, when the first batch was only expanded by only five divisions. Its combat effectiveness should not be underestimated, such as the 23rd Division in Nomenkan and the Soviet Union's hundreds of thousands of troops. Although this division was almost completely wiped out by the Soviet Union, the combat effectiveness of the first batch of field divisions can also be seen from the battle situation.

The 21st Division did not have a bad record on the domestic battlefield in China, and in the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain, one division defeated seven or eight divisions of the Chinese army.

Moreover, this division also spent more than a year in Indochina, adapting to the hot South Sea climate.

Therefore, the 21st Division was not a second-rate unit within the Japanese army, but an absolute first-class main force. In terms of combat effectiveness, it is actually no worse than the Guards Division. Compared with the four divisions of the Japanese army attacking Burma, the combat effectiveness is probably higher.

In Japan's Southern Army, the 21st Division has always been a subordinate unit and is the reserve of the entire Southern Army. Historically, until the surrender of Japan, except for a few sorties, it was always held as a fist by Terauchi Shouichi and stationed in Indochina as a general reserve.

There was also a small division attacking Ceylon - the 21st Separate Mixed Brigade. In the Japanese army, independent mixed brigades are also independent field units like divisions. and separate brigades and regiments that serve as guards in the occupied territories, and mixed brigades are not at all a level of troops. In particular, the 21st Independent Mixed Brigade Regiment is a completely field formation. Compared to the well-known security division, the combat effectiveness is much stronger.

The history of the 21st Independent Mixed Brigade is longer than that of the 21st Division, and after the 77 Incident, this unit was assigned to the 5th Division to participate in a series of battles in which the Japanese attacked Shanxi, the more famous Battle of Yikou and the Battle of Pingxingguan, which were all fought as the main force. During the five-year war, this unit suffered several heavy losses, and its combat effectiveness at this time was difficult to compare with the initial stage of the invasion of China. However, the Japanese Army is now expanding rapidly, and the combat effectiveness of all divisions and regiments has seriously declined, so the 21st Brigade is still a unit with strong combat effectiveness.

However, although the Japanese army attacking Ceylon had three divisions, there were actually only two divisions, the 21st Division and the 21st Brigade Regiment.

The reason is that if the Guards Division is used to attack Ceylon, not to mention that Lieutenant General Nishimura Takuma will not dare, even General Terauchi Shouichi will not take out the Emperor's guards for consumption.

The Guards Division, bearing this name, was destined to allow only victory, not defeat. For example, in the battle against Malaya, the 25th Army, which also belonged to the 25th Army, fought under the command of Yamashita Bongbun. However, the 5th and 18th Divisions fought hard battles and occupied Malaya with heavy losses, but these two divisions did not enjoy the honor of occupying Singapore, and the Guards Division only attacked and captured Singapore when the victory was certain.

Lieutenant General Nishimura Takuma commanded the battle in Ceylon, and although he did not get the title of a corps commander, he was actually the commander of a single army.

For this battle, Nishimura Takuma is still very confident, and if he takes Ceylon, he will not be far from being among the senior generals of the Japanese army, at least he can justifiably serve as the commander of an army.

Nishimura Takuma arranged for most of the Guards Division to remain in Singapore, with the 3rd Wing moving forward to occupy the Andaman Islands. It seems to be to ensure the safety of the supply routes of the Japanese army in the Andaman Sea, but in fact it is a gesture.

Geographically, the Andaman Sea archipelago is indeed a circle with the Malayan Peninsula, firmly guarding the Andaman Sea and the Indian Ocean outlet from the Strait of Malacca.

But in essence, the natural conditions of the Andaman Islands are harsh, and their specialty is special - cannibals. The mountains and forests are dense, and there is no production, and it is difficult to even build an airfield. Relying on the army to hold the Andaman Sea is simply a joke. The Andaman Islands are an intermittent island chain, unless the Japanese army is willing to invest a lot of money, otherwise there are gaps everywhere, not to mention submarines, even warships can easily enter the Andaman Sea.

In fact, the 21st Division and the 21st Brigade were the main forces in this attack on Ceylon. This is not only the arrangement of Nishimura Takama, but also the arrangement of General Shouichi Terauchi.

Although Nishimura Takuma's direct subordinate troops Guards Division will not fight, Nishimura Takuma's command will not have any obstacles. Nishimura Takuma served as the brigade commander of the 21st Independent Mixed Brigade before he was promoted to the commander of the Guards Division. The brigade commander, Yamaguchi Chestnut Flower, served as a wing commander in the Japanese Fifth Division, and fought under the command of Nishimura Takuma during the occupation of Indochina.

The commander of the 21st Division, Lieutenant General Tanaka Kuichi, once served as a wing commander in the 5th Division, and also had a long relationship with Nishimura Takuma.

Being able to serve as the commander-in-chief of the Ceylon campaign, Lieutenant General Nishimura Takuma actually benefited from this. After all, the commanders of these two divisions were relatively easy to accept the command of Nishimura Takuma. (To be continued......)