From the day when the Japanese navy failed to attack the Sandu Ao military port, the third Sino-Japanese war launched by Japan was destined to fail. Amid the furious fury of the two countries' citizens, neither China nor Japan could retreat even a little bit. Can this war be fought completely and thoroughly.
In order to prove the superiority of the Yamato nation and the inferiority of the Chinese race, to avenge shame, for the emperor, and for the imperial army, the headquarters of the Imperial Japanese Empire set an unrealistic strategic goal from the beginning and attempted to launch a comprehensive war in Kaesong. attack, eliminate the main force of the Northeast Defense Force, advance to Pyongyang in one go, and then force the "China Empire" to negotiate peace.
The strategic plan formulated by the Imperial Japanese Navy and Army headquarters controlled by the Kodo faction was so detailed. They said they would "recover" the entire North Korea and Taiwan within six months and use submarine warfare to disrupt the maritime trade of the "China Country" , its economy collapsed, and the people were afraid of war, forcing the "China State" to actively seek an armistice, formally handing over North Korea, Taiwan, Western Ryukyu, Jeju Island, northern Sakhalin and Papua to the Empire of Japan, and compensate the Empire of Japan for 40 billion yen, and compensated more than half of the main battleships and aircraft carriers to the Imperial Japanese Navy, strictly limiting its naval tonnage to only half of the total Imperial Japanese Navy.
Regarding the so-called relatively stable plan from the base camp, Prime Minister Mitsumasa Yoneuchi can only say that the military has crazyly lost its last sanity.
Mitsumasa Yoneuchi, who was born as an admiral, knew very well that this war would only be lost, not won. However, he had no say in the crazy goals set by the base camp. He did not even have the right to attend the decision-making meeting of the base camp. No, he could only wait in the official residence for the headquarters to inform him of the results in the name of the emperor's order and tell him what to do.
After the Battle of Sandu'ao, Mitsumasa Yoneuchi should have stepped down, but because the base camp adopted the policy of concealing the superiors and bullying the subordinates, the result of this naval battle was that Japan slightly won and annihilated three main battleships of the China Navy. In the air battle of Inchon, the base camp He continued to acquiesce in the lies reported by the Army Air Force and continued to claim that the Imperial Japanese Army had achieved an unprecedented victory over the China Army. As a result, under such circumstances, Yoneuchi Mitsumasa could only remain in office.
In the words of the princes and marshals in the Marshal's Mansion, even if other candidates are replaced now, they may not be more suitable than that guy.
Even though he was an admiral, Mitsumasa Yoneuchi was completely out of control of the military. In fact, before him, no prime minister had ever really been able to control the Imperial Army of the Empire of Japan. This is similar to China, where the army and the cabinet They are all subordinates of the same level and directly subordinate to the emperor. Since they are equal to each other, the cabinet naturally has no right to interfere with the military. Because the Japanese emperor is more interested in controlling the military than the cabinet, so it is always easy for the military to interfere with the cabinet, while the cabinet interferes with the military. Not only is it impossible to do, it is also completely ridiculous in the eyes of the Japanese military and political circles.
For this war, Mitsumasa Yoneuchi has no choice or method at all. All he has to do is to continue to increase taxes and raise as much military expenditures and materials as possible to ensure all the needs of the base camp.
In comparison, Prime Minister Gu Weijun is much better than Mitsumasa Yonei. Gu Weijun was first nominated as the vice chairman of the Central National Defense Commission when the war broke out. As one of the three vice chairmen, he can not only participate in the affairs of the highest military institution of the central government. He will also participate in all decisions and discussions in all meetings; secondly, Gu Weijun has the absolute support of Emperor Hua, which is much better than Mitsumasa Yoneuchi; thirdly, the Sino-Japanese War is everything to Japan, but not to China It was just a local war, far less important than the development and normal operation of the country. As long as there was no world war, Gu Weijun, as the prime minister of the empire, would still be the most powerful minister under the Emperor Hua.
Mitsumasa Yoneuchi was perhaps the wisest person in the Japanese military and political circles during this period. He knew very well that this war was doomed to fail from the beginning. Even if he won the battle of Santa'ao, he wanted to force China to sign a humiliating agreement. A permanent armistice agreement is impossible, but his opinions, like those of the forgotten Saionji Konobo, have long been ignored. Today is an era when the Japanese military and the Imperial Road faction control everything in Japan.
Driven by the strong push from the Japanese base camp, the Japanese army continued a large-scale offensive for 21 days at the Kaesong defense line. As a result, they suffered heavy losses. They did not have enough mechanical troops to break through the defense, and the air force did not have any advantage. They still wanted to force a breakthrough. Fu Zuoyi presided over Kaesong Defense Line, this is a bit too disrespectful of the Chinese Army.
Are they the only ones who know how to fight bravely?
In other words, even though hundreds of thousands of army troops were annihilated that year, the Japanese still insisted that the "Shin" were the lowest nation and race. Only their Yamato nation was the noblest people in Asia, second only to the Anglo-Saxons. kind? Or is it that under the Emperor's light, they can defeat their opponents no matter how low their IQ is, as long as they are foolish and loyal?
ah.
ShintoThe power is so great.
China and Japan have obviously been preparing for this war for a long time. While promoting large-scale mechanization changes, China will also pay special attention to the needs of the Korean battlefield in the development process of new weapons such as armored vehicles, tanks, aircraft, and self-propelled artillery.
China¡¯s disadvantage is that the country is too vast and has too many overseas provinces, protectorates and important allies that require garrison troops. The Army¡¯s 54 divisions are scattered across Asia, making it difficult to mobilize enough troops to reach the Korean battlefield in an emergency.
Even if there were 850,000 patrols and coastguards in the country, by reorganizing the patrols in Northeast and North China, replenishing demobilized officers and recruiting new soldiers, the empire would be able to complete 22 new infantry divisions before December 1939. , 4 artillery brigades, 2 armored brigades and more than 10 brigades of heavy equipment engineering troops. However, it will take a period of running-in and training for these troops to be fully engaged in war.
This means that the ace army on which the empire depends for its survival will have to wait until at least March 1940 to exert its full combat effectiveness. Therefore, in the Battle of Kaesong, the empire's more powerful army was on the defensive with the support of the air force. In this way The defensive posture of the Japanese army made the Japanese base camp even more arrogant, trying to force China to surrender before March 1940, and also added 12 new divisions in the country.
Only on the Kaesong defense line, the Japanese Army failed to make any progress, and the damage was too serious, forcing the Japanese base camp to continuously mobilize troops to supplement the front line. At the same time, starting in October 1939, with the transfer of the 203rd Division, the ace force of the Air Force, The reinforcements of the 214th Division on Jeju Island, coupled with the arrival of the Central Aviation Combined Fleet, allowed the Empire to begin to play the role of a combat fulcrum at the Jeju Island Navy and Air Force Base, which had been cultivated for decades, and carried out large-scale air strikes against ships traveling to and from the Japan Strait. Japan's homeland posed a direct threat.
Since the Japanese army lost almost all its aircraft carriers and the range of the 1997 land battle was insufficient, they could only build airports on the Goto Islands to compete with the Imperial Air Force. They suffered heavy losses in the Kaesong Battle but were unable to open up the situation. The Japanese Strait and the mainland Being threatened again, this forced Japan to shift its strategic focus back to the navy and Jeju Island.
In the strategic map of the empire, Jeju Island is a very important strategic fulcrum. The air force and navy deployed here directly guard the security of the entire coastline of mainland China. The imperial air force and navy use this as an isolated fulcrum, in the long East China Sea. Implement anti-submarine warfare to prevent Japanese submarine forces from entering the East China Sea to attack merchant ships.
Under the threat of the Japanese submarine force, the empire's foreign imports and exports generally switched to ports south of Fuzhou Port via railways. However, in terms of military transportation, the northern ports were still very important. A large number of ships departed from Shandong and the Liaodong Peninsula. Transport supplies and troops to North Korea.
This forced the Japanese base camp to adjust its strategy and consider adopting a more extreme policy to attack Jeju Island.
In the original plan of the Japanese army, once the Sanduao naval battle was successful, the Japanese navy would quickly take advantage of the vacuum period when the main force of the Chinese navy was exhausted to capture Jeju Island, but this plan failed to materialize.
After the Sino-Japanese War of 1911, Japan did not object to China's purchase of Jeju Island from North Korea because its navy had absolute superiority. It was not until the end of World War I and the development of its air force that Japan realized the seriousness of this mistake. However, At that time, Jeju Island did not have too many air forces stationed, and Japan did not have too many military worries.
Until 1929, with the outbreak of the first Indonesian turmoil, China transferred the 214th Air Force Division originally stationed in Qingdao to Jeju Island in order to curb Japan's expansion, and established a deep-water port 7.5 kilometers west of Seogwipo on Jeju Island. A large naval base was built here, a long-term project lasting five years.
Although this naval base, officially named Gangjeong Port, currently mainly docks submarines, close defense and destroyers, and the largest naval submarines are only two heavy cruisers, it still lacks the ability to attack the Japanese mainland through the navy. However, based on the Jeju Island Air Force Base, The air force's strike range exceeds 800 kilometers, and it is fully capable of attacking Osaka.
This made the Japanese base camp completely intolerable.
It¡¯s just that China¡¯s garrison on Jeju Island is not ordinary. There are not only two air force divisions, an artillery brigade, an infantry brigade and a light armor brigade, but the total garrison size has reached 77,000, which is enough to contain the Japanese army¡¯s large-scale landing battle. .
If the Japanese army launches an offensive and fails to end the battle within one day, the ensuing Chinese aircraft carrier fleet will be able to completely defeat the attacking Japanese army and crush all the Japanese navy invested here, unless Japan uses the entire navy Main force.
In fact, what the Japanese base camp planned was to dispatch the main force of the navy to seize Jeju Island at once. Considering the difficulty of the entire operation, the Japanese army would need to dispatch at least more than 200,000 landing troops to forcibly land on the northwest coast of Jeju Island.
Objectively speaking, based on the defense measures on Jeju IslandThe conditions and level of fortifications, coupled with the Japanese Army's lack of armored forces and defense-breaking capabilities, faced the steel bunker-like Jeju Island, let alone 200,000, even the 300,000 Army could not take it down.
The few people in the empire who have studied the most deeply about fortifications and positional warfare over the years are none other than Jiang Fangzhen, Zhang Hongkui, Fu Zuoyi, and Han Chunlin. In terms of pure theory and architectural design of fortifications, Zhang Hongkui, deputy director of the Central Military Academy, is undoubtedly the highest level. In order to strengthen his research on fortifications, he even completed a master's degree in architecture from the Central Polytechnic University.
The defense of Jeju Island is exactly the masterpiece of Zhang Hongkui in the past twenty years. His defense theory is a very alternative aviation active defense, that is, using the air force airport as the center of defense, using air force to block the surrounding coastline, and attacking the enemy's forces. Destroy the opponent's ships before launching a landing operation. Even if they cannot be eliminated, they must be continuously weakened. The layer-by-layer weakening makes it impossible for the enemy to organize an effective landing operation.
A total of two layers of ring roads and fortifications have been built on the entire Jeju Island. The armored brigade is mainly composed of light and medium tanks, and the artillery belongs to the self-propelled artillery brigade. It conducts mobile operations through the area between the ring roads, no matter where the enemy lands. They will all be subject to extremely violent artillery counterattacks.
In Rudong County, Nantong, the Imperial Central Air Force stationed an Air Force Airborne Division. The J5 fighter groups of Jiaxing Air Force Base and Xuzhou Air Force Base have the ability to transfer to Jeju Island within 8 hours.
Under such circumstances, even if the Japanese base camp continues to adopt extreme and risky strategies, it is impossible to capture Jeju Island, the core fulcrum of the empire's strategy. Moreover, can the Japanese army organize a 200,000-person battle? The landing operations are a very serious problem.
At this time, the Japanese Navy did still have the strength to continue fighting. Its main battleships were basically intact. The problem of not having an aircraft carrier could be made up for by building an airport in southern Korea. After intense discussions, the Japanese base camp still made a decision. The decision to attack Jeju Island.
According to the Japanese army's plan, they still hope to reach this sea area through nighttime naval deployment and then launch an attack on Jeju Island in the early morning. However, the Japanese army's deployment capabilities are very limited and can only organize a landing operation of 40,000 to 50,000 people. Due to the lack of For waterborne amphibious armored vehicles and tanks, this landing operation can only continue to rely on traditional charge tactics.
This decision actually led to the early defeat of Japan.
The Battle of Kaesong lasted until November 1939. The two sides faced off here for three months. The Japanese army was unable to make a breakthrough and suffered heavy losses. At the same time, the Central Military Headquarters also discovered the Japanese troop movement in southern Korea and Kitakyushu. The situation is unusual, and it is estimated that the Japanese army may launch a forced landing operation on Jeju Island within the next two months.
After carefully evaluating all the intelligence, the Central Military Headquarters estimated that the Japanese army could not exceed 60,000 troops for the Jeju Island landing operation. Two infantry divisions plus one brigade. As we all know, the Japanese army and navy are the largest in the world. The most serious disagreement among the military services was that the internal conflicts were extremely fierce. The Japanese Army strongly demanded an attack on Jeju Island, but the Navy seriously disagreed. The two sides also had fierce arguments within the base camp.
But no matter what, the base camp finally decided to attack Jeju Island.
Around November 20, the Central Military Headquarters intercepted Japanese telegrams. After analysis, combined with Japan's preparations for war, it was estimated that Japan would likely launch a landing operation on Jeju Island in early December. If it gets colder, Japan would have to delay it until after March next year. , this is an extremely unfavorable situation for Japan.
On the night of November 24, the Second Fleet of the Central Aviation Combined Fleet quietly headed south to Taiwan waters. This fleet consisted of 5 aircraft carriers, 4 escort aircraft carriers, 3 battleships, and 7 escort cruisers. There were also two comprehensive ships sailing with the ship. supply ships, 5 destroyers and 14 transport ships.
After several rounds of deliberation, the Imperial Navy considered that the possibility of a battleship decisive battle was very low. The Japanese fleet would basically only fight within the coverage of the Japanese Air Force on the Korean Peninsula. Therefore, it did not dispatch more battleships and purely used aircraft carrier formations as the main strike. strength, and the four newly added escort carriers are all coal ships renovated by Jiangnan and Fuzhou Shipyards.
After the Second Fleet left Weihai Port, it maintained radio silence. However, another coast guard fleet cooperated with two escort aircraft carriers to disguise the designation of this fleet and confirmed through radio many times that it was heading south to the Sino-Japanese Pacific Theater.
At this time, China and Japan are also at war in the Pacific Ocean, but the scale of the battle is smaller. As this fleet moves south, if Japan does not send its main fleet south, Japan will be quickly defeated in the Pacific Ocean.
The two sides are constantly fighting for their wits.
Japan was forced to send part of its navy southward, and at the same time continued to secretly concentrate its main force in the Busan Port area. The Japanese fleet never entered the port and stayed in the eastern waters of Busan Port during the day.Only then did he secretly advance to Jeju Island.
At this time, Japan already knew that China's S-10ZC series patrol aircraft had night reconnaissance capabilities. However, the Japanese army did not have night fighters to defend against such patrol aircraft. It could only adopt a quick-win strategy, that is, the main landing force set off at night, and The main fleet set off at 3 a.m. and arrived at the combat sea area at 7 a.m. to cooperate with the landing troops in large-scale operations.
This is Japan's only extreme strategy against China's night reconnaissance capabilities. It is feasible on the surface, but there is a special risk, that is, the main fleet and the landing force can easily be separated.
In the absence of an aircraft carrier, once the main fleet is attacked by the Chinese naval aviation force in advance, the Japanese air force deployed in southern Korea will face a dilemma, either abandoning the landing force or the main fleet.
Since the air battle at the Kaesong defense line is still going on intermittently, Japan does not have much air force that can be transferred to the Jeju naval battle. The total number of fighter planes is only more than 700, which can barely compete with the air force stationed on Jeju Island.
Therefore, the Japanese military¡¯s policy is still very risky.
It¡¯s just that for the Japanese army, they lacked a more suitable choice besides taking risks.
Since mid-November 1939, the Japanese Army Air Force at Seosan County Airport in North Korea has been continuously dispatching aircraft to reconnoiter the sea area from Weihai Port to Dangjin Bay in North Korea. This 160 nautical mile wide sea area is the center of China Central Aviation Joint Air Force The only way for the fleet to go south.
Because the bases of the Central Combined Fleet are scattered across two large joint bases, Jinzhou-Lushun and Weihai-Qingdao, and the Second Combined Fleet is deployed in Qingdao Port, which is outside the reconnaissance range of the Japanese army, but the Japanese army has been convinced that the Second Combined Fleet is in Taiwan. to Brunei in the South Pacific waters, so we are not very worried that this aircraft carrier group will threaten the landing operation on Jeju Island.
The First Fleet of the Central Combined Fleet has been supporting the Northeast Defense Force in northern North Korea. Reconnaissance planes from both sides continued to meet in the Weihai-Tangjin waters, and there were many fights. The Japanese reconnaissance plane was not a J-5 electronic reconnaissance plane at all. The opponent of the J-303 Sea Snake fighter jet caused the Japanese reconnaissance aircraft to be shot down many times, but it gave the Japanese base camp a little peace of mind.
In order to capture Jeju Island, the Japanese base camp established four ports in Wando County, which is only 55 nautical miles away from Jeju County. After the landing ships transported the first batch of combatants south, they returned here to transport the second, third, and first batches. The first batch of landing troops was one division. Later, two divisions and an armored brigade were dispatched to capture Jeju Island with a force of 75,000 to 80,000 people.
In the planning of the Japanese base camp, the most important thing is the naval main fleet's salvo tactics. By then, the Japanese navy's main ships will basically gather here to carry out a comprehensive bombardment of Jeju Island, destroy the fortresses on the island, and cover Troops attack.
To this end, the Japanese base camp specially conducted an exercise on Sado Island. During the landing operation, multiple aircraft were dispatched to patrol the sky to observe the location of the opponent's fortress. The main battleship group of the Japanese army would then take turns to bombard the fortress according to the coordinates.
Such a plan is a good one, but the prerequisite is that the Japanese army needs to eliminate the two air force divisions deployed by the Chinese Air Force on Jeju Island, and at the same time help defend against the J-5 Tiger Shark fighter-bombers flying in from Jiangsu and northern North Korea for support. This kind of When the fighter aircraft was upgraded to the J-5D type, it was already equipped with two Shenyang Liming Company SELM-2800-14 or Pratt & Whitney R-2800-8 engines. Each engine has a power of 2240 horsepower and a cruise speed of 520 km/h. Speed ??and limit: The fastest speed is 630 kilometers/hour, the practical maximum ceiling can reach 11,000 meters, and the conventional range is 2,200 kilometers.
This heavy fighter-bomber, which is almost the same size as a medium-sized bomber, was officially installed on the J-5D model of 1938 with the Dongdao Company's crystalline Doppler radar "Rainbow ERD-10", although it was the first-generation Doppler. radar, but its performance is still much better than conventional tube radar.
Since the Japanese army lacks suitable high-altitude fighters, the J-5D Tiger Shark fighter-bombers can attack normally even during the day. They are not afraid of the Japanese Army's 97 Land Battle. After encountering the 97 Land Battle, they also adopted a dive-style strafing attack. Immediately after the attack Flying back to high altitude, no longer entangled in the 97 land battle.
This method of attack left the Ninety-Seven Land War without any countermeasures.
With the ultra-long range of the J-5D Tiger Shark fighter-bomber, even if it takes off from Nantong, Yancheng, and Xinchuan Air Force Base in northern North Korea, it is capable of carrying out assistance operations to Jeju, and the Tiger Shark fighter-bomber is in service with the Imperial Air Force. The total number has exceeded 3,000. Its multi-purpose and versatile performance allows it to bomb the Japanese mainland in clusters without the need for fighter companions, or to provide protection and escort for larger heavy bombers.
This is, of course, bullying the Japanese army¡¯s lack of suitable high-altitude fighter aircraft. If faced with countries like Britain, Germany, the United States, the Soviet Union and France, as long as the opponent has suitable high-altitude fighter aircraft, the empire will not launch large-scale attacksModel produced so many Tiger Shark fighter jets.
In short, the value of this thing is to bully Japan's shortcomings.
The Japanese army also came up with many crazy ideas in order to deal with the Tiger Shark fighter jets, such as installing an anti-aircraft machine gun on a 97 Marine Fighter. Such things may only be thought up by a country like Japan that is driven crazy, just like their Kaitian torpedo.
The Japanese army also practiced many tactics in an attempt to curb this high-altitude advantage. Especially during the Jeju Island landing operation, they installed a large number of legal 75mm anti-aircraft guns on the ships in an attempt to defeat China's Tiger Shark fleet and give these Tiger Sharks a chance. No return.
In early December 1939, as the weather gradually turned colder, and after thinking that the preparations were foolproof, the Japanese base camp issued the final battle plan in the name of the Emperor's order, and the Imperial Navy's Second Air Combined Fleet circled around the Taiwan Strait. Afterwards, he secretly returned to the sea area between Shanghai and Nagasaki, where he secretly stood by.
At this point, the Jeju Naval Battle, which will determine the final fate of the Chinese and Japanese navies, is about to begin. (To be continued. Please search Piaotian Literature, the novels will be better and updated faster!)