At the end of November 1938, Toshiichi Terauchi was transferred back to Japan, and at the same time, former War Minister General Sugiyama Moto, who had just recovered from appendicitis surgery, took over as commander of the North China Dispatch Army.Sugiyama Moto, a Japanese army general, was the first person in the army aviation.An active planner and participant in the launch of the all-out war of aggression against China and the Pacific War, when he was studying at the military academy in his early years, he was nicknamed Fool Yuan because of his honest face, and he was extremely stoic and stubborn in character.Sugiyama Moto's concept of Japanese imperialism was deeply rooted, and he actively invaded China in the face of the war of aggression against China, and after Japan surrendered, he committed suicide with his wife at the same time.This old devil was also one of the culprits in launching the war of aggression against China, and on July 7, 1937, the Lugou Bridge Incident broke out.As Minister of War, Sugiyama strongly advocated increasing the number of troops stationed in China and expanding the scale of the war, and he strongly retorted to Ishihara Wanji, who did not expand: "The so-called non-expansion is only to avoid a full-scale war, not to ignore the prestige of the Imperial Army." ”He promised Emperor Showa that the China Incident would be resolved in three months.On 11 July, the Ministry of War and the relevant departments of the General Staff Headquarters were instructed to jointly draw up an agreement on operations in North China and to propose to the cabinet a plan for increasing troops in North China; on 18 July, Prime Minister Fumihiro Konoe convened a "five-phase meeting."
Sugiyama Motoli, who was the land minister, advocated the increase of troops in North China, and on the evening of 23 July, he personally issued a mobilization order to the 5th, 6th, and 10th divisions in the interior.200,000 troops and 50,000 horses were added to North China.On August 15, the Japanese government issued a declaration of war against China drafted by Sugiyama Moto, and a full-scale war of aggression against China was put into practice.It is such a fanatical militarist, naturally will not delay the country's major affairs because of physical reasons, especially the North China dispatch army has just lost in the sweep, it is the time when the army's morale is unstable, at this critical moment, if there is no commander in the army, it will undoubtedly make the army's morale more turbulent, so after receiving the appointment, this old devil hurried to China to take up his post regardless of the fact that his body has not yet recovered.At the beginning of December, after several days of hasty preparations.Sugiyama mounted a ship bound for China, landed in Tianjin, and arrived in Beiping on December 10.The Japanese troops stationed in Peiping held a grand welcome ceremony to welcome their new commander, His Excellency, but the flowers and applause did not make Sugiyama feel a little happy.At this time, what Sugiyama was thinking about was how to return to Japan as soon as possible and return to the center to regain power.At this time, Sugiyama had just gotten off the train.Major General Yamashita Fumi, Chief of Staff of the North China Dispatch Army, who was sitting next to Sugiyama Moto, who was rushing to the city by car, said with a respectful face: "Your Excellency Commander.After a tiring journey, we must have been tired, and the humble post has prepared a place for His Excellency the Commander, so we will send His Excellency the Commander back to his residence to rest.It's just that this evening, a welcome banquet has been prepared for His Excellency the Commander, and I hope that His Excellency the Commander will be able to attend. ”Sugiyama Moto, who was sitting where he was distracted at this time, heard Yamashita Fengwen's words, and then reacted, shook his head with a smile and said, "I'm not tired yet."
Let's go directly to the headquarters" "Hai" looked at Sugiyama Moto, who had a simple face, and Yamashita had no choice but to nod and agree, and then ordered to go down and go to the headquarters instead.Without saying a word all the way, the group quickly rushed to the headquarters of the North China Dispatch Army, and Sugiyama Yuan strode into his office and sat down in front of his seat.Stretched out his finger and pointed to a few chairs in the room, and said with a smile: "Gentlemen, please take a seat" "Thank you, Your Excellency Commander" Yamashita Fengfu and the others responded respectfully, and then walked over and sat down in turn.Sugiyama Moto smiled and said, "The contemptible man was trusted by His Majesty the Emperor to serve as the commander of the North China Dispatch Army, but the contemptible person has just arrived in China.I don't know much about some of the specific situations in North China, so in the coming days, I hope that the princes can work together with the contemptible people to manage the North China region. ”"The rank of Hai Bei will work together to serve the Empire and resolutely obey the leadership of His Excellency the Commander."
Yamashita Fengwen and the others stood up and said respectfully."
Yo Xi" Sugiyama nodded with satisfaction, waved his hand and motioned for everyone to sit down, and then continued: "Before I leave.The mission of our North China Dispatch Army was to maintain stability in the occupied North China region, to make efforts to quickly restore law and order in northern Hebei Province, Shandong Province, and western Shanxi Province, and to ensure the safety of the main lines of communication.The contemptible people believed that the only effective way to ensure the security of North China was to resolutely and thoroughly eliminate the Eighth Route Army and other anti-Japanese armed forces active in North China.Although the Imperial Army has basically occupied North China, as long as the Eighth Route Army is not eliminated for a day, the empire will never exercise real rule over this region, so the next task of our North China Army is to carry out law and order rectification operations and resolutely and completely eliminate the Eighth Route Army in North China. ”"Hai," Yamashita Fumimi and others responded respectfully.Sugiyama Yuan nodded, and then said: "I heard that not long ago, the Terauchi-kun and the lords carried out a large-scale law and order rectification operation against the base area of the Eighth Route Army. ”"Hai is just this battle, and the imperial army did not achieve the intended goal, completely eliminating the main force of the Eighth Route Army at the junction of Shanxi, Chahar and Hebei."
Yamashita Fengwen said respectfully."
I have also studied the specific situation of this law and order rectification operation before, and I think that the strategy of the imperial army has not been wrong.But why did my heroic and invincible Imperial Japanese Army fail in this battle?"
Sugiyama said with a smile: "In my opinion, there is only one reason, that is, we don't know enough about this Eighth Route Army, and we don't know enough about North China and the people living in this land.In order to defeat the enemy, you must first understand the enemy. ”"Your Excellency Commander Hai is wise."
Yamashita Fengwen and the others said respectfully."
Haha" Sugiyama Yuan smiled self-deprecatingly and said, "I'm not wise, others think I'm a fool, and call me a fool behind my back." ”Yamashita Fengwen said with a sincere face: "Those people are some despicable villains who have opinions about His Excellency the Commander, so they are so rude, Your Excellency the Commander does not need to be as knowledgeable as this kind of villain. ”"Yo Xi" Sugiyama Yuan smiled and nodded and said: "What Yamashita-kun said is very reasonable, the Dirt Eight Road of Shina is also a group of villains who can only sneak attack, plot, and use conspiracy, but in the face of this cunning enemy, we must resolutely and completely eliminate it."
I heard that there is another very important reason for the failure of this public security and rectification operation, and this reason makes me feel very surprised and surprised. ”aa2705221: