This plan of Naosaburo Okabe was transferred to the Japanese Navy through Tokyo.
Needless to say why it was transferred to the Navy through Tokyo. The Japanese Navy has always looked down on the Army. If it weren't for the fact that the strategic focus at this time has shifted to the Chinese mainland, the Navy would not pay attention to the Army's plan at all, and would even look at it.
A glance at Dalian.
Tokyo takes this matter very seriously.
Because the loss of Dalian was not a trivial matter for the empire, the 700,000 Kwantung Army was surrounded by the Eighth Route Army and lost contact with the mainland. Moreover, the Kwantung Army was unable to recapture Dalian with several counterattacks due to the helplessness of the Eighth Route Army. Instead, it suffered heavy casualties.
If this continues, not to mention that the strategic focus will shift to the Chinese mainland, I am afraid that even the Chinese mainland will not be able to gain a firm foothold.
Therefore, while Tokyo passed on Naosaburo Okabe's plan, it also issued a rigid order to the Navy: "We must cooperate with the North China Front Army and the Kwantung Army to recapture Dalian in a flanking attack from both sides!"
Orders must be obeyed, but how to obey is the navy's own business.
The Japanese Navy did not even look at the intelligence data about the Eighth Route Army given by Naosaburo Okabe, nor did they look at his plans. The Japanese Fleet Commander Koga Mine, who was paying full attention to the Eagle Navy, just glanced at the telegram and forwarded it to
The staff officer said, "Leave it to Inoguchi-kun to complete this matter!"
"Yes!" the staff officer responded and assigned the task to Major General Toshihei Inoguchi.
In Koga Hoichi's eyes, using the navy to deal with the Eighth Route Army was purely about killing mosquitoes with artillery, and there was no need to use any aircraft carriers at all.
As for the Eighth Route Army's use of anti-ship missiles to sink two light cruisers... Koga Mineichi thought that was just because the captain underestimated the enemy.
Koga Mineichi came to a conclusion when discussing this battle: "If our warships were sailing at full speed when they were attacked, would the enemy's anti-ship missiles still have such a high hit rate? Because our warships
It is almost stationary, which allows the enemy to take advantage of it! Missiles like the Eighth Route Army are almost hitting stationary targets! With a speed of only more than 300 kilometers per hour, it is not worth worrying about! "
There is some truth in what Koga Hoichi said. Warships in motion will also take evasive maneuvers in an emergency, so the hit rate of anti-ship missiles will definitely decrease.
However, Koga Mineichi has not thought about another problem. Once a few anti-ship missiles hit a warship, the warship's anti-aircraft firepower will be greatly affected by fire, smoke, chaos, etc., and then they will have to wait to die!
The value of the enemy's anti-ship missiles is completely disproportionate to the value of the imperial warships. Using hundreds of anti-ship missiles to sink a warship is a bloody gain.
However, the person Koga Mine gave the task to, that is, Rear Admiral Toshihei Inoguchi, was no ordinary person. He was the captain of the Japanese battleship "Musashi".
The "Musashi" was originally Koga Mineichi's flagship. Not long ago, it was ambushed by a Hawkmarine submarine when it left Palau. A torpedo hit the bow of the ship below the waterline, causing a large amount of water to enter the ship.
Since there is no maintenance equipment that can match the "Musashi" elsewhere, we can only urgently block the gap and drain the water before driving back to the mainland "Wugang" for repairs.
The reason why Koga Mineichi handed over the task to Inoguchi Toshipei was that he deliberately cultivated Inoguchi Toshipei to give him a chance to "upgrade", and the other reason was that the "Musashi" was nearly completed in the mainland. Koga Mineichi believed that
Sending such a powerful battleship coupled with a few destroyers is enough to deal with the crisis in Dalian.
At that time, Toshihei Inoguchi was looking at the "Musashi" being repaired in Wu Port and felt depressed.
The reason is that the "Musashi" was not only undergoing repairs, but also took this opportunity to undergo modifications: it removed the secondary guns on both sides and changed them all into anti-aircraft guns.
It goes without saying why this change was made. With the large-scale investment in aircraft carriers by both the enemy and ours, whether they are battleships, cruisers, or destroyers, their naval guns are rarely useful in naval battles. Most of them are used to face the enemy.
Fighter bombing, so of course more anti-aircraft firepower is needed.
But Inoguchi Toshipei didn't think so. He complained to his staff more than once: "Those idiots actually changed the secondary batteries to anti-aircraft guns! Are we warships required to carry anti-aircraft guns to deal with enemy aircraft?"
Inoguchi Toshipei is a firm believer in "giant ships and cannons". He believes that naval battles will ultimately involve using cannons to bombard enemy warships. The reason why this has not happened yet is simply because those cowards like Taika do not dare to fight against the imperial fleet.
It's just a head-on confrontation.
It is said that Toshipei Inoguchi did not change his mind until he was sunk along with the "Musashi" in the Battle of Leyte Gulf a few months later. Even the Battle of Leyte Gulf solidified his idea because of the Japanese's
The warship almost successfully broke into the Eagle Fleet and entered the range of the naval guns... Once it entered the range of the naval guns, it would indeed be the world of battleships.
At this moment, Koga Hoichi's telegram was delivered to Inoguchi Minpei.
Inoguchi Toshihei laughed when he saw it: "Interesting, the first battle after the modification of the 'Musashi' was to fight the Eighth Route Army? Is this considered a test for it?"
The subordinates all laughed. In their opinion, this mission was basically to give experience to the "Musashi".
The Tokyo side was quite cautious. After they learned that the Navy had assigned the task to Inoguchi Toshipei, they immediately sent a copy of Okabe Naosaburo's intelligence and plan to Inoguchi Toshipei.
However, their fate was the same. Inoguchi Minhei still left them aside to eat ashes.
In the words of Toshihei Inoguchi: "How do those guys in the Army know how to fight a naval battle? So, they actually want to give us a battle plan? Does this count as teaching us to fight? I think they might as well teach us.
How about we swim!"
If it weren't for the fact that the maintenance of the "Musashi" had not been completely completed, Toshihei Inoguchi would have hoped to drive the warship to Dalian immediately and teach the arrogant army what war is!
At this time, on the Chinese side, Naosaburo Okabe was no longer able to pay attention to how the navy would attack Dalian, because he was already overwhelmed by the situation in China...
After the Eighth Route Army surrounded Fengtian and successfully captured Dalian, the news quickly caused a sensation in China and caused a series of chain reactions.
Not only were the people experiencing "turbulence" one after another, but the puppet troops were also constantly losing. The puppet troops in various places were "defecting" and there were reports of "rebellion" coming one after another.
The most important thing is that intelligence shows that the stubborn army also has plans to launch a counterattack.
To be precise, the stubborn army is already counterattacking... The battle for the stubborn army to cooperate with the expeditionary force to open the external road has begun.
But this is another matter. Naosaburo Okabe is more worried that the stubborn army will counterattack using Chongqing as the starting point.