In fact, Masato Hirota mistakenly blamed the officers of the Kwantung Army headquarters. They were not new to the war, so how could they not understand the benefits of rotational operations?
But they can’t adjust it!
You must know that the September 18th Incident, the Battle of Jehol and the attack on the Great Wall were all unilateral actions of the Japanese Kwantung Army and were not authorized by the Japanese Cabinet and the Japanese Military Ministry.
The Japanese cabinet during this period actually did not want to expand the war with China, because Japan was also affected by the world economic crisis, and the overall national economy suffered a major decline. If it went into full-scale war with China now, it might face the financial system.
collapse situation.
Moreover, they have not yet noticed the weakness of the Western powers. After all, the remaining power of the past hundred years is still there. Japan is also afraid of being sanctioned by the Western powers and sending troops to intervene. Just like the Republic of China government, it also pinned its hopes on the Sino-Japanese dispute.
It is the same psychology as the Western powers’ mediation.
They didn't know that after World War I, the British Empire, which once dominated the world, had been depleted and weakened day by day. And France, known as the largest army in Europe, was even more powerful on the outside and weak on the inside.
At this time, the United States was still digesting the benefits of the First World War. They were accustomed to following the British Empire to pick up the bones. They had not yet clearly understood their own strength and potential, and they were even more intoxicated by the consequences of the Neutrality Act.
In the dream of being independent from the world.
It was not until a few years later that a German mustache stretched out his finger and poked a gap in the fig leaf of false prosperity in Western countries. Only then did little Japan realize how ridiculous their previous cowardice and cowardice were and let them
Realize what a paper tiger is.
But now, the little Japan is still very timid. They only dare to bully the weak Republic of China. When facing any Western powers, they have to lower their pig's head that is not tall enough and swallow big mouthfuls of air.
Therefore, the Japanese cabinet currently does not support what the Kwantung Army is doing. Not to mention the deployment of troops and reinforcements, the deployment of an additional air wing of aircraft has also been delayed as originally promised.
Therefore, although the Japanese Kwantung Army has now established a flying group army, claiming to have 4 flying wings, the total number of aircraft is only more than 150, and most of them are deployed in North Korea and Heilongjiang to defend against the Soviet army and can be sent to Jinzhou for support.
There were only about 50 aircraft operating on the Great Wall, including several squadrons of reconnaissance aircraft and fighter jets. There were less than 20 bombers used to support the front line.
Therefore, on the entire Great Wall defense line, the Japs could only devote their limited aviation forces to the Gubeikou battlefield, which they considered the most important.
However, the commanders of the Little Devils are all very self-centered people. Lieutenant General Masaemon Sakamoto, the division commander of the 6th Division in charge of the Kifengkou and Lengkou defense lines, does not think that the area he is responsible for is secondary.
battlefield.
In his view, since the Chinese army is defending the hundreds of kilometers long Great Wall defense line with a long snake formation, there may be loopholes everywhere. As long as a pass is opened, the entire defense line will be self-defeating.
, where are the primary and secondary battlefields.
Especially after two consecutive defeats in Lengkou and Kitaguchi, the commander of the Sakamoto Division realized that the Chinese army he faced was different from the past, and he hated the 13th Regiment Captain Ryo Suzuki for disobeying orders.
Gritting teeth.
The commander of our division has warned you, but you still have to disobey the order and launch an attack, so that's fine. What's even more annoying is that the captain of the Pig Head Regiment did not strictly follow the provisions of the infantry drill to deploy his camp, and his troops were too spread out.
, this led to a successful sneak attack by the Chinese army, which actually defeated a regiment of imperial troops and fled in panic. In the end, only more than 1,000 people were left alive.
Sakamoto Masaemon didn't care too much about the death of nearly two thousand Imperial soldiers. There are no immortals in war. From the day they join the army, these loyal and brave Imperial soldiers must be prepared to die in battle and fight for it.
Honor.
However, a regular regiment whose flag was conferred by His Majesty the Emperor himself was actually beaten by the Chinese army and almost burned the flag. This was a bit embarrassing, and it not only lost the face of the Japanese Kwantung Army, but also the Japanese Kwantung Army.
His Majesty the Emperor's face.
If the tens of thousands of Chinese troops who launched the attack at Xifengkou had not suddenly withdrew inexplicably, it is unknown whether the remnants of the 13th Regiment trapped on several hills could have escaped, and burning the military flag would have been inevitable. If that happened
In that case, Masaemon Sakamoto didn't even know how he could explain to General Ueda, the commander-in-chief of the Kwantung Army. Would the general allow him to commit seppuku?
If Suzuki Ryo, the pig-headed captain, was still alive, with such shame and guilt, the first thing Sakamoto Masaemon would do when he saw him was to slap him into a pig face, and then, immediately, immediately, on the spot
, asking him to commit seppuku and not even mention the wrong person.
Although Sakamoto Masaemon, who placed all the blame on Ryo Suzuki, escaped punishment from the Kwantung Army headquarters, it also made him wary of the Chinese defenders at Kitaguchi and Lengkou.
This is not at all the thin troops of the Northeastern Army that we encountered before, but the elite Chinese troops who are as brave and tenacious as the imperial army.
Therefore, he was surprisingly calm and stopped his two brigade commanders from furiously issuing letters of challenge demanding that the shame be washed away as soon as possible. Instead, he quietly waited for the supplies from the rear to arrive.
Some people here may ask, why are the Japanese army's supplies so slow? Hasn't the Sixth Division been waiting for nearly two weeks and still hasn't finished its supplies?
As mentioned above, the Japanese rear was very dissatisfied with the Kwantung Army's self-initiated offensive, so it did not provide any domestic assistance to the Kwantung Army. Therefore, the supplies of the two Japanese divisions currently attacking along the Great Wall are very high.
To mobilize from the storage warehouses in Shenyang and North Korea, the journey is relatively long. Railways and highways also pass through Jehol Province, where there are currently a large number of Chinese resistance armed activities. The transportation channels are not smooth.
The priority for replenishment is the direction of Gubeikou, which the Kwantung Army military headquarters considers to be the most important, so the 6th Division's supplies can only be ranked behind the 8th Division.
This is also what makes Masaemon Sakamoto particularly unhappy with the Kwantung Army headquarters.
However, he was no longer unhappy. He no longer dared to underestimate the Chinese army on the opposite side, and he no longer had the arrogant idea that a regiment or a brigade could easily break through the Great Wall defense line.
Since supplies are coming slowly, we need to have enough patience, have a careful plan, and conduct a detailed analysis of the Chinese defenders at these two passes.
This time, he planned to gather all his troops and use the power of Mount Tai to attack Xifengkou and Lengkou at the same time, completing his victory in one battle.
Therefore, within the next week, the logistical supplies he had been waiting for were finally replenished for the entire division.
At the same time, there were two other strategic weapons that were crucial to him.