Konoe Fumima and Tojo Hideki had a big fight at the imperial meeting, and the conservatives and radicals who supported them also started to quarrel. It was Sugiyama Gen who saw signs of anger in Hirohito behind the screen and quickly raised his wooden hammer.
He knocked hard and called the attendants on the side to pull the two away.
After some further quarrels, everyone finally reached an agreement and formulated a decision called "Key Points for the Implementation of Imperial National Policy".
This decision made the following decisions on southern policy:
1. In order to achieve self-preservation and self-defense, while the empire is determined to fight against the United States without hesitation, it plans to complete the war preparations with the September decree as the goal;
2. While the Empire is carrying out the preceding paragraph, it will try its best to adopt various diplomatic means towards the United States and Britain and strive to implement the Empire's requirements;
3. After the diplomatic negotiations in the preceding paragraph, if our requirements have not been met by early October, we will immediately make up our mind to go to war with the United States.
In the same month, the Battle of Kiev ended.
In this battle, recognized as the largest encirclement battle in history, almost the entire Southwest Front of the Soviet Red Army was surrounded and annihilated by the Germans.
In this battle, the Soviet army suffered 193,200 casualties, and 665,000 were captured by the Germans. The Germans paid a price of 132,000 casualties.
This battle also shocked the entire world. Generals from various countries have reviewed this battle, hoping to find lessons from the Soviet Union's tragic defeat.
Shanxi has already become extremely cold in December, and the heavy snowfall for two consecutive days has turned the entire land white.
In the hall of the Liantai Militia Headquarters located in the western suburbs of Liantai County, dozens of officers were gathered around a large sand table, listening to the speech of an Eighth Route Army officer in uniform.
If there are future military enthusiasts here, they will definitely be surprised when they see the people present, because the people present can be said to be full of generals, including major generals, lieutenant generals and even generals.
Among them are the newly appointed commander of the First World War Zone Jiang Dingwen, chief of staff Guo Jiqiao, commander of the Second World War Zone Yan Xishan, commander of the Sixth Group Army Sun Chu, left deputy chief of staff of the Eighth Route Army, Commander Liu of the 129th Division, political commissar Ping, Li Yunlong, Ding Wei, Kong
Jie and other officers were present.
It stands to reason that it is almost impossible for so many senior generals to appear in the small headquarters of the Liantai Militia at the same time, but such a thing happened. If future generations of military enthusiasts saw this scene, their eyes would probably bulge.
come out.
In fact, the reason why so many senior generals gathered here is very simple. They came here to buy things from Gao Hongming.
At this time, it was the most difficult period of the Anti-Japanese War. All the armed forces in China were in a state of shortage of guns and ammunition, food and medical supplies.
And who in Shanxi and even North China doesn't know that the head of the Liantai Militia Group, Gao, is a man with great hands and eyes. Whether it is food, medicine, ammunition, or even aircraft and artillery, he can get it. If you want any supplies, just ask him.
That's right.
And the most important thing is that this place can be said to be the safest place in the whole of Shanxi. If there is a place in the whole of Shanxi that the Japanese are most afraid of, it is Liantai County.
Although there is only one Liantai militia stationed in Liantai County so far, both the Japanese and the Central Army know that it is impossible to even think about attacking Liantai County without more than two divisions. Even so, they must be prepared to collapse a group.
Be prepared with your mouth and heart.
And the most important thing is that our tall leader not only has a complete range of goods, but also is very trustworthy. He will sell it to you if he says it will be sold to you, and will never regret it halfway. If there are difficulties in transportation, as long as he pays a little more transportation fee, he can
Sending someone to deliver the items to your doorstep can be said to be the real deal.
What... is the road in Shanxi difficult?
It doesn't matter, as long as you build a runway in front of your home, our team leader Gao can help you use a transport plane to transport it there.
Captain Gao is so trustworthy that even people from Chongqing come all the way to buy things.
And this time it was a coincidence that this year's winter was extremely cold and there was an extreme shortage of supplies everywhere. Therefore, the Central Army, the Shanxi-Sui Army, and the Eighth Route Army all set their sights on Gao Hongming, the man known as the largest local rich man in Shanxi.
In order to show their importance, Yan Laoxi and Jiang Dingwen personally led the team this time. When they arrived here, they found that even the left deputy chief of staff of the Eighth Route Army was here... Well... it was lively now.
Since they are all soldiers, it is rare for so many people to get together to talk about military affairs. It happened that not long after the Battle of Kiev, everyone couldn't help but talk about this battle, which is known as the largest defensive battle in the history of the world.
Since it was a chat, disputes were inevitable. Many people began to discuss the cause, process, and gains and losses of the battle. After talking about it, many people started to quarrel. For a while, the entire combat hall was like a vegetable market.
So lively.
In the end, Yan Xishan, Jiang Dingwen and Deputy Chief of Staff Zuo, who had the highest status, realized that this was not possible. Due to their status, they naturally could not leave the situation directly, otherwise it would not be called a dispute but a quarrel, so they pulled Gao Hongming out.
Our tall regimental commander was also unambiguous and immediately sent people to carry the sand table to the battle hall. Everyone was shocked when they saw the 3*6 large sand table of the Battle of Kiev placed in the middle.
Brother...you have done special research on this.
The most impatient Li Yunlong relied on his old relationship with Gao Hongming to grab the baton and said first: "The Battle of Kiev was a typical encirclement war in which fewer troops defeated more troops. 500,000 German troops faced 850,000 Soviet troops. In terms of strength and scale,
Look, the Soviet army has far more aircraft, tanks, and artillery than the German army. No matter how you look at it, it should be an asymmetrical battle. But the final result ended in a disastrous defeat for the Soviet army. I wonder if you, sir, can you explain?
I, a country bumpkin, wonder why this battle ended like this?"
Everyone was silent for a while, and then a voice rang out: "I think the main reason why the Soviet army was defeated this time was because the Soviet army was slow to move and the high-level combat will was not unified.
For example, as early as July, the Soviet army showed signs of defeat.
Zhukov, then Chief of General Staff, suggested that Stalin abandon Kiev and withdraw the Southwest Front to the other side of the Dnieper River to avoid being encircled by the German army, and then use all his strength to defend Moscow.
However, this proposal was decisively rejected by Stalin. For this reason, he also dismissed Zhukov from his post as Chief of General Staff and became the commander of the reserve front.
On September 11, Marshal Budyonny, the commander-in-chief of the Soviet Army's southwest direction, sensed the danger and once again requested Stalin to withdraw eastward.
The answer he got was that Kiev could not be abandoned or any bridges could be abandoned without the approval of the Supreme Command. Then Stalin thought that Budyonny was passively avoiding the war and dismissed him from his post. He was replaced by Marshal of the Soviet Union as Commander-in-Chief of the Western Front and Commander of the Western Front.
Timoshenko took over his command.
It is said in the art of war that it is taboo to change generals before a battle. How can a country's commander be undefeated if he acts so recklessly?"