In order to seize the origin of raw materials and establish sea transportation lines, the Japanese nation has paid several generations of hard work, in order to achieve the smooth flow of the sea "blood transfusion line", and even did not hesitate to launch a crazy external expansion, and Japan has gained great benefits in many wars in modern times, so all strata of Japan are committed to waging war.
Emperor Hirohito eventually set his sights on the sword-faced Hideki Tojo, a military politician who rarely speaks at meetings, but always walks the talk.
With regard to the proposal put forward by Major General Sanada Junichiro, chief of operations of the General Staff Headquarters, and Hattori Takushiro Osa, chief of the Operations Division of the War Department of the Ministry of the Army, the so-called opening up of the mainland communication line was also secretly weighed by Hideki Tojo himself, saying that the speed of the United States' recovery was too fast, so fast that Japan was a little caught off guard, and it could even be said that the speed at which the Japanese army sank US ships and shot down US planes was far less fast than the US military replenished, and once Japan lost its naval supremacy in the Pacific, it would be a terrible disaster.
Having lost sea supremacy, the land lines of communication are even more important Hideki Tojo understood the so-called continental line of communication stated by Major General Sanada Junichiro, chief of operations of the General Staff Headquarters, and he owed himself to Emperor Hirohito: "Your Majesty, this important mainland line of communication is to enter the country of Mongolia and Manchukuo through Korea, connect the railway from North China and Central China to Wuhan that has been occupied by our army, and then continue to extend the two railway lines of Pinghan and Hunan and Gui, and connect from Guangxi to Yunnan and Vietnam and Burma.
In order to minimize the loss of sea transportation lines and maintain the continuous import of strategic materials such as oil, steel, coal, grain, cotton, non-ferrous metals, and timber, which are crucial to the current war, to the Japanese mainland. ” Emperor Hirohito nodded slightly, pushed his glasses and thought for a moment, and then said loudly: "Then what kind of concept or plan does the army have for opening up land lines of communication?"
Hideki Tojo glanced at the army generals who had focused all their eyes on him, and said very categorically: "I believe that opening up the mainland communication line will also be the wish of all the generals of the empire, and please leave it to Shunroku Hatata, commander-in-chief of the Chinese Dispatch Army."
As the commander-in-chief of the Chinese Dispatch Army, Shunroku Hata was 65 years old at the time, and his average stature did not show much aging, but his complexion was ruddy and his expression was peaceful, not like most imperial generals, with a murderous aura overflowing between his eyebrows, but more like a civilian official, which may be related to his perennial mission to Germany and Sweden and several years as the director of education in the cabinet.
As the commander-in-chief of the Chinese Dispatch Army, Shunroku Hata can be said to have committed many crimes, and his hands were full of the 15th squadron, and he continued to occupy Luoyang, attracting the squadrons to be troops from China's 9th and 6th theaters, all of which were elite units of the Central Army.
In order to ensure the victory of the overall strategy, Shunroku Hata, commander-in-chief of the Chinese Dispatch Army, transferred four additional divisions to the 11th Army, which had already commanded five divisions: soldiers and chariot units, with a total strength of more than 230,000 troops, which was an unprecedented precedent in the command authority of an army commander in the history of the Japanese army.
The first thing Shimaguan Takeji did after his arrival was to study the historical materials of the Hunan operation, and he found that in the first three Hunan operations, the squadron could not effectively reinforce its besieged troops, especially the third Changsha battle, if it were not for the imperial team, it would not have been possible to achieve the so-called victory.
Although the two sides of this battle are characterized as an encounter, Shimaguan Takeji believes that this is a premeditated attack by both sides, and the only highlight in this battle is that the squadron's First Mechanized Army has such an amazing mobility ability, so Shimaguan Takeji believes that this battle plan should take into account all the more unfavorable factors.
On the Chinese side, Japan's plan to occupy India and join Germany in the Middle East was temporarily shelved due to the second dispatch of the Chinese Expeditionary Force to Burma.
Although the Japanese army's Indian strategy was stranded, because of the allied resistance, especially the interspersed counteroffensive of the new 38th Division of the Chinese army in India, which finally joined the battle circle, and the diversion operation launched by the new 22 in the river Conn Valley, the Battle of Imphal launched by it did not achieve its previous strategic purpose, occupying LinkedIn Parr.
Although the main strategic goal of the Japanese army was not achieved, it unexpectedly occupied Kohima, a strategic point of almost equal strategic significance to Imphal, and the Japanese army entrenched in Kohima soon turned it into a bridgehead to attack India, in order to realize the grand idea of opening up the Middle East and dividing the world, the Japanese army began to send a large number of materials and armaments to Kohima through Burma, and brewed a second Indian strategy.
On the Allied side, the British naturally couldn't stand it when the Japanese army pierced the wooden thorns deep into the body, so the British shouted on the one hand that the Chinese expeditionary force should continue to attack Burma and should not stay on the Burmese border, and on the other hand, asked China to increase the number of troops stationed in India, because through the Battle of Imphal, the British were surprised to find that the military quality and fighting will of the Chinese army were far stronger than the British Australian troops and the British and Indian troops, especially when the war situation was extremely difficult, the Chinese side had realized the strategy of the Japanese.
If you want to fight a decisive battle with it, you must first occupy the Guadalcanal Islands, put the Japanese army within the combat radius of land-based bombers, and force the Japanese army to engage in a decisive battle at sea with you.
The Japanese army has obviously also realized the strategic intentions of the US Navy, while constantly weakening the US Pacific Fleet piecemeal, the Japanese army began to draw troops from the Kwantung Army sequence several times, and by January 8, 1944, the US Marine Corps had changed from the first Marine Division at the time of landing to three divisions, and the Australian 17th Infantry Brigade and the 23rd Infantry Brigade that retreated from Southeast Asia to the Pacific Ocean to return to Australia were all invested in Kuah Island, although the Allies invested a lot of vital forces, But in the face of Kuah Island, the Japanese soldiers who were short and camouflaged with leaves on their backs could not take advantage of them at all.
To be continued: