If Zhukov's pre-war meeting was full of confidence, then Ogisu Rihei's pre-war meeting was only solemn and tragic.
"After more than a month of hard fighting, we finally arrived at this day." Since Ogisu Rihei used the heavy word "hard" to describe this meeting at the beginning, the generals of the Kwantung Army present here,
No one showed a relaxed expression.
"This battle has been fought so far. Not only us, but the Soviet army has also been forced to fight with all its strength. Both sides are fighting for a chance to decide the outcome. If anyone takes a step back, they will be in danger of no return.
To the point!" Although the enthusiasm in his eyes no longer existed a month ago, Ogisu Rihei was still trying to use words to encourage his subordinates as much as possible.
In fact, the fact that Ogisu Rihei was able to survive Zhukov's violent attacks until now is enough to prove that his ability is quite good among Japanese generals. If it were another person, he might have completely collapsed.
In this local battle, Zhukov has so far consumed nearly 31,000 tons of ammunition. You know, even in the Battle of Stalingrad, known as the turning point of World War II, the Soviet army only consumed 80,000 tons of ammunition.
The amount of artillery bombardment endured by the 6th Army under Ogisu Rihei has so far exceeded one-third of that in the Battle of Stalingrad! But how many German troops were there in the Battle of Stalingrad? How many Japanese troops were there in Nomonkan?
It seems that he has nearly 70,000 troops on paper. But so far, only one brigade of the 8th Border Guard and a 23rd Division have actually been on the battlefield. The other troops on paper are,
It never appeared at all!
The 23rd Division, which serves as the main force on the battlefield, although its equipment is at the forefront of the Japanese Army, in the final analysis is just a newly formed division with completely insufficient combat experience.
Even commanding such a not-so-elite force, the Ogisu Rippei were still able to inflict huge losses on the elite Soviet troops under Zhukov's reasonable command, causing the Soviet army's ammunition consumption in a Nomonkan battle to be almost close to
The total consumption of China’s eight-year war of resistance!
From this we can see how tenacious the Japanese army's terrifying fighting willpower is.
This also proves from the side that those Chinese soldiers on the Chinese battlefield, who were supported until the end by the Japanese elite troops, were by no means as vulnerable as most people thought! On the contrary, their willpower was by no means
It will be inferior to the Japanese army at all!
Returning to the topic, in the pre-war meeting of Ogisu Rihei, he was still boosting morale again and again: "The heavy artillery brought by Major General Yama Eitaro is already in place, and the rapid-fire artillery units are also deployed in the attack of Soviet tanks.
In terms of direction, now is our best and last chance. If we don’t go all out now, we will never have such an opportunity again!”
"Long live the Empire of Japan!" Ogisu Rihei took the lead in shouting this most common slogan.
"Long live the Empire of Japan!"
"Long live!"
...
From the beginning to the end, Ogisu Rihei did not mention their weaknesses and crises in the meeting. It was not that he was unaware or that he was too optimistic, but that the current Kwantung Army generals' psychological condition was already quite fragile. Ogisu Rihei
The soldiers were afraid. If he mentioned pessimistic words again, these generals might be defeated by the huge mental pressure before the Soviet army could attack!
We can't go on like this! Life or death, at worst, we have to fight with all our strength. If failure is inevitable in the end, then the long-term pain is not as good as the short-term pain.
He, Ogisu Rihei, has always had a temperament that would rather be shot once in the head than die from blood loss after being shot five times in the chest.
Although the 6th Army, with the large amount of artillery it had just added, would have no problem relying on its defense lines to resist for another month.
But in that case, although it is safe, it goes against the strategic goal of the Kwantung Army Headquarters to win. Defense alone will not be able to cross the Nomenchi, the hurdle that lies in the heart of the Kwantung Army. Only offense can have a chance of victory.
"Gentlemen, I, Ogisu Ripei, can only be here to pray for everyone. I wish you good luck in martial arts!" Resisting the pessimism in his heart, Ogisu Ripei deceived himself and wished everyone.
"Don't worry, Lieutenant General, we will die to serve our country and swear to be loyal to the Emperor!" A group of Kwantung Army generals who had been beaten up finally drank the last bowl of pre-war chicken soup from Ogisu Rippei and squeezed out
A hint of momentum.
"Okay!" Seeing that his ultimate goal of boosting the morale of this group of generals who had suffered consecutive defeats had finally been achieved, Ogisu Rihei ended the pre-war meeting with a long sigh of relief, summarizing the current situation: "Using troops is to use risks, and there is no such thing as risk.
The risk is no victory. If we cannot defeat the Soviets here now, it will be difficult to defeat them in the future. For the great cause of advancing northward, let us join hands again to create a miracle that determines the fate of the country!"
Therefore, the Japanese army in World War II was very fanatical in fighting, and the secrets of this can be seen in pre-war meetings such as Ogisu Rihei.
Thinking about it from another perspective, the so-called pre-war meeting of Ogisu Rippei actually had nothing to do with combat. What Ogisu Rippei did from beginning to end was only one thing, and that was brainwashing, over and over again.
Brainwashing again and again!
On the one hand, he emphasized that the enemy had suffered heavy losses due to our tenacious fighting. On the other hand, he moved out the Northern Movement, moved out the Emperor, and moved out the National Movement to shout slogans and enhance everyone's sense of mission. In future generations, with this kind of brainwashing ability,
It’s enough to run a pyramid scheme and harm people.
Unfortunately, during World War II, Japan used too many trouble-making methods and the times were so mundane that many Japanese soldiers were filled with crazy thoughts such as Bushido.
Although this kind of thinking also played a great role in the Battle of Nomenkan, it helped the Kwantung Army soldiers to muster the courage to face the crushing of Soviet armored forces time and time again.
However, from an overall perspective, it is certainly not a wise choice to pin the hope of victory on such immature and uncool fanatic thinking.
Just make a simple comparison between the European German army and the Asian Japanese army who have the same call to fight tenaciously. Even ordinary people can see how childish the Japanese army's so-called reliance on pure fanatical fighting spirit to defeat the enemy is.
In contrast, the German army was always used to blitzing the enemy silently like a stream of black iron, while the Japanese army always liked to pounce on the enemy shouting at the top of their lungs.
From this, it is enough to tell which one is calm and cool, and which one is a strong one.
But Ogisu Rihei would not think that his thinking was wrong! Compared with the national industrial level, Japan is by no means an opponent of the Soviet Union. In terms of equipment quality, the Kwantung Army, even though it is the "Flower of the Imperial Army", has the best in the Japanese Army.
The equipment is still too outdated compared to the Soviet army.
Apart from the spirit of competition, what else can the Kwantung Army have to compare with?
