Chapter 223: The Battle Plan for Difficult Birth

The fire in Tokyo burned for three days and three nights, and the War Department was noisy for three days and three nights in the air filled with the smell of meat. It is said that many Japanese people no longer eat meat after three days of fire.

The focus of the Army's controversy was whether to attack or defensive, and it was Mitsu, the commander of the Korean garrison, who advocated the attack, but the problem was that his chief of staff, Kawada, did not say a word at the time of his impassioned speech, which was supposed to be his job. Also without saying a word, and even with a sneer on the corner of his mouth, the chief of staff of the Far East garrison, Ishihara Waner.

The Minister of War Sugimoto is also an attacker, but as the boss, he can't take a stand, and at this time, Sugimoto is facing the dilemma of the collapse of the Konoe Fumiro cabinet, so he doesn't have the heart to express his position on this issue at all. The most moderate boss, Tetsuyama Nagata, and Hideki Tojo, the representative of the radical faction, one is the chief of the General Staff and the other is the deputy minister and director of the Military Affairs Bureau.

In the end, Sugi Sugimoto had to go to the cabinet to attend the Imperial Council, and the quarrel ended after three days of arguing, but the problem was that no result was come up, and Sugi Moto said that he would bring up this topic again at the Imperial Council and leave it to the emperor to decide.

Hirohito's palace was not bombed, not because the Chinese Air Force was soft-hearted, but because the palace had little military value. The impression of the unfortunate Yasukuni Shrine in Fang someone's mind was too bad, so he personally issued a warrant and had to be blown up to the ground. The reason was to mentally destroy Japanese militarism and discourage them. Let the Japanese see clearly, even if Anameasu really exists, it can't cover Japan, a small island country.

All right. Hirohito was indeed hit hard, and the opening remarks before the Imperial Council were as follows: Since the Meiji Emperor opened a new precedent, the empire has never been more humiliated! Shina treachery. The atrocities of sneak attacks have resulted in countless deaths and injuries to our people. For three days, I couldn't sleep all night when I thought about it! The whole empire should go all out to punish the tyranny in order to comfort the hearts of the dead and hurt the people.

Taisho has a bad brain, but Hirohito's brain is fine, and if he says something so brainless, he is looking for someone to be a scapegoat. Anyway, the emperor is irreplaceable. Let's see how this thing is cleaned up. The emperor of Japan is a living god, and the people think so. Of course, God is not wrong, but it is man who is wrong. Protect Hirohito's prestige no matter what!

The idea is good. However, this bombing was a huge blow to the confidence of the entire Japanese people, and was it not blessed by Amaterasu and the living god Emperor? How can Chinese planes fly over and drop bombs, this is not theological!

As soon as Hirohito came, Konoe Fumiro couldn't sit still. Quickly got up and knelt on the ground and said: The minister is incompetent. Thousands of deaths. The others knelt down together, Hirohito couldn't let everyone die together, anyway, that's how it is, just find someone to cut open the stomach with a knife. "Hey! I know that the ministers have done their best, and when the country is in this predicament, they should be united in ....... "After talking about it, that's pretty much what it means anyway. If you want to solve the problem, you have to give the emperor an explanation.

All in all. There must be a scapegoat, and Fumiro Konoe has good luck. Hirohito had no intention of letting him step down, and the tone was that he was shamelessly attacked. Anyway, the newspapers say so, the Chinese Air Force shamelessly attacked Tokyo. As if Japan had not attacked others, Dadonggou during the First Sino-Japanese War, Lushun during the Japanese-Dew War, Japan selectively forgot about it.

In the end, it was up to the Tokyo air defense department to come up with a substitute for the dead, and that was the only way it could be. The next step is to discuss how to fight the war, and we must send troops to retaliate against China, otherwise things will not pass. That's what Hirohito means, and that's what Fumiro Konoe means.

Navy Minister Mitsumasa Yonechi said that the Combined Fleet was working on a plan, and War Minister Sugisugi Moto said that the Army was also making plans to fight a war. For the first time, the two ministers did this, and after the meeting was dismissed, they hurriedly went back and called a meeting of their subordinates.

On the army's side, Shanshan Yuan opened his mouth and said to the people below: "Your Majesty's will, the army must give an explanation to the people." ”

After this meaning came out, the faces of the cautious faction were ugly, and the radical Tojo Hideki waved his fist excitedly and made a generous statement: "The imperial warriors will definitely break through the defense line of the tyrannical branch,......。 "If you don't have nutrition, everyone will say, the key is that you can't do it. In parallel history, Tojo was also the main mouthpiece of the northward advance, but he only became honest after Nomenkan called Zhukov to beat him severely. At this time, Nagata Tetsuyama couldn't help but speak, and he couldn't let Tojo, a fool, take the initiative to speak: "War is not an overnight thing, in the long run, the empire should work hard to digest the resources of the South Seas and replenish its military strength before fighting." His Majesty's will has been decreed, and as a soldier, you can't disobey. As far as the actual military strength of the two countries is concerned, it is advisable to choose the direction of attack in Korea, while the Far East is mainly on defense. ”

After everyone turned their eyes on Mitsu, Mitsu did not speak, but turned his eyes on Lieutenant General Kawada, the chief of staff who had been silent. At this time, Kawada was in a state of deep thought. After feeling the silence around him, he shook his head abruptly and said, "Don't look at me, I don't have anything to do." The best thing to do now is to wait for the navy to come up with a result, otherwise the army will have to go on the defensive. ”

"Kawada-kun, why are you talking about frustration?" Hideki Tojo was anxious, and Kawada Wei, who was regarded as his own person, actually sang the opposite. Kawada said solemnly: "The art of war, soldiers, and the major affairs of the country are also ,......。 The pattern of modern warfare has changed radically, and the German team has demonstrated this in Europe. Excuse me, how many mechanized forces are there in the Empire? Our army is equipped with medium tanks of no more than ten tons, how can they compare with the huge number of tanks weighing dozens of tons by the Chinese? May I ask you, once it enters the Northeast Plain of China, how can our army resist the onslaught of China's mechanized troops? Let me ask you again, can the 70mm infantry gun equipped by the army penetrate the armor of the Great Wall of China Type IV tank? How many anti-tank weapons do we have? You can't let a soldier use his flesh and blood against a tank, right? As a soldier, I have to think about the future of the empire realistically. ”

Nagata Tieshan nodded with satisfaction, and he guessed that Kawada would not agree to attack, so he threw out the offensive theory of the Korean garrison. Really. Kawada came out and said something he didn't fit to say.

"Northeast China is one of China's heavy industry bases, can we consider using planes to take off from North Korea to bomb Shenyang?" Ishihara made a fairly reliable opinion. He couldn't bear to watch Kawada fight alone.

"No, the army must take the initiative to attack, this is what His Majesty means." Shanshan Yuancai didn't care so much, and directly said it to death. In this regard, Mizu immediately took over and said: "I understand the lowly position, so let the staff make a battle plan." The implication is that even if the General Staff of the base camp did not have a combat order, the North Korean army decided to go it alone.

Kawada was afraid to speak. Silently took off the saber, put it on the stage, bowed his head and said, "That's it." I asked to resign from the post of chief of staff of the DPRK Army, and I hope that I can join the army, even if I am an ordinary soldier. ”

Shanshan Yuan said: "Kawada-kun, don't do this. The empire needs your talent. Anyway, please help Mizu-kun. ”

Kawada said, "Your Excellency, the terrain in northern Korea is very suitable for defense, and the Chinese's mechanized troops cannot be used, and the Korean army can use a small number of troops to contain the large forces of the Chinese by taking advantage of the favorable terrain." After the navy annihilated the main forces of the Chinese navy, the army could land in the south of China, where the water network was crisscrossed, which was not suitable for the movement of Chinese mechanized troops. China has a long coastline. Our army can land somewhere at will, so the squadron must be fortified everywhere. This would have been the best choice for dialogue combat. Since His Majesty insisted, Your Excellency also insisted, and he had no choice but to obey. ”

How else to say that Kawada is afraid of popularity, and he always makes the truth clear when he speaks. Nagata Tieshan sighed secretly in his heart, it is difficult to find such an understanding person, and he is responsible for the behavior of those fools. There are still too few people in the Japanese Army who understand.

"Then I'll leave it to Kawada-kun." Mitsu didn't have any opinion, but bowed to Kawada. The genius of the Japanese Army is unanimously recognized, and the brain of the Japanese Army can have him as the chief of staff, which is something that many commanders envy.

"Your Excellency Nagata's construction is still appropriate, although the defense line of the Yalu River is difficult to overcome, but from a military point of view, once our army attacks unfavorably, it will not be too difficult to retreat. The key to the attack on China is how to break through the defense line of the Yalu River of the Chinese, and on this issue, I think the main thing is to concentrate the forces of the army aviation, the only two mechanized divisions of the empire, and all the heavy artillery forces of the empire. In order to echo the offensive plan of the DPRK, the Far East garrison can take a feint, or even launch a small-scale combat strategy to attract the attention of the squadron. Here I would like to make an important point to mention that we should try to communicate with the navy as much as possible, and the route from North Korea to the mainland must be well protected. The navy was asked to lay mines in the waters near Wonsan and Incheon to prevent Chinese from landing from these two places. The most important thing is to ask the navy to increase anti-submarine capabilities, otherwise the Chinese submarines will cut off our army's sea transportation lines, and even if the North Korean army has made gains on the battlefield, it will be interrupted due to poor logistics. …………。 Kawada was afraid to talk eloquently, and none of the words that sounded very reasonable to others were clearly organized, and the comparison and analysis of friend and foe were accurate.

In fact, Kawada has been misleading everyone here with a very strict question, that is, what if the navy loses the war? This problem has been cleverly hidden, and if the navy is defeated, then the only two mechanized divisions and small number of heavy artillery units of Japan concentrated in Korea will all become turtles in the urn. As long as the Chinese navy lands in Tsushima, it will be able to cut off the logistics supply line of the DPRK army, and grain can be collected on the spot, and the arms will have to be reduced and fewer. Kawada, who has absolute confidence in the Chinese Navy, quietly dug a huge hole.

When the time comes, once the navy is defeated, everyone will only think that this is a problem of the navy, and it has nothing to do with the army. The Navy is unlucky, but the Army is happy to see it. The general direction has been set, and the specific details can only be added slowly, and the Admiralty is also having a headache at the meeting.

Of the six aircraft carriers currently in service in the Japanese Navy, two were sunk in the Bay of Bengal, a loss that made the Japanese Navy feel painful. Yamamoto Fifty-six, who had just gotten the news, directly spewed a mouthful of old blood, don't look at the Japanese Navy seems to be strong, and it is too difficult to make up for the loss of two aircraft carriers. Japan is not a tyrant like the US imperialists, and the speed at which it builds aircraft carriers is very fast, and as soon as construction starts, it is not one or two, but seven or eight or even more. With Japan's existing shipbuilding capacity, not to mention the United States, even China cannot compare. As long as China wants, Jiangnan Shipyard can build four docks for aircraft carriers, Qinzhou Shipyard can build two light aircraft carriers at the same time, Zhanjiang Shipyard can build two at the same time, and Qingdao Shipyard can also build two at the same time. That's where the power of steel production comes in, and even if Japan has so many slipways available, there isn't that much steel to build ships.

At present, China has eight aircraft carriers in service, and how can the only four aircraft carriers of the Japanese Navy fight this war, this problem is too much of a headache. There is also an even more troubling problem, which is that the sneak attack plan has actually gone bankrupt, and China has already taken the lead in declaring war. The first choice of the Kuroshima Turtle Man was to concentrate the main force of the Combined Fleet to defeat the Chinese Second Fleet first, and the premise of this plan was to preempt the build-up of Chinese naval forces. The second plan was for the main forces of the Navy to go south and ambush the main forces of the Third and Fourth Fleets of the Chinese Navy. This plan is relatively sound, and the question is how to solve the problem of intelligence. The third option is even rarer, using battleships to hit aircraft carriers. What does that mean? Make a plan to attract the forces of the Chinese Navy with aircraft carriers, don't battleships have a speed advantage? It can create an opportunity to strike at the battleship at night after getting close to the Chinese carrier.

None of the three plans were very reliable, and as commander of the Combined Fleet, Yamamoto could only count on the fact that the Japanese Navy was superior to the Chinese Navy. As for which plan to choose, Yamamoto was also hesitant. Mitsumasa Yonechi, the Minister of the Navy, only gave orders, and the Navy must do its best to come up with a suitable battle plan to fight a battle.

In fact, the most anxious at this time was Mitsumasa Minei, because after the declaration of war between China and Japan, the route of the Taiwan Strait no longer existed. You can only take the route from the Philippine side. The problem is that this route has been frequently attacked by Chinese submarines in the last three days, and an average of five cargo ships have been sunk every day, which can be said to have made the situation worse by the heavy loss of Japan's already not very strong maritime capacity.

The reality in front of us forced the Japanese Navy to take the initiative to fight a battle and defeat the main force of the Chinese Navy before we could talk about anti-submarine issues. Just when the navy was hesitating, news came from the army that our plan was set and that the navy needed to cooperate. Otherwise, the Chinese's submarines are not vegetarian, there are mines or something, isn't the Navy doing this? (To be continued......)