The tragedy of the British Empire seems to have just begun.
The UK has long adopted a policy of supporting Japan to contain China, the United States and Russia. This is an Anglo-Japanese alliance policy that the UK is proud of. Now, they will pay the price for it.
Britain is the founder of warship diplomacy, and now it also has to pay the price for it.
Beginning in the second half of 1940, the Gu Weijun cabinet significantly adjusted its foreign policy. Through consultations with the Military Ministry, on the grounds of safeguarding the collective interests of the Asian Union, it dispatched more troops to the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia in the name of the Asian Union, secretly making it clear that It supports Iran and other Islamic countries in their fight against British colonialism, and Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and other countries have proposed Pakistan and Malaya independence policies, requiring Britain to completely withdraw from Southeast Asia, the Arabian Peninsula and the Middle East.
While the members of the Asian League are actively anti-British, the Gu Weijun cabinet has shown a relatively stable foreign policy towards Britain, advocating that the freedom and autonomy of Asian countries should be gradually guaranteed through negotiations.
The empire¡¯s foreign policy during this period was obviously more inclined to be consistent with the member states of the Asian League, more inclined to political activities within the Asian League, and to expel the power of the British Empire through coordinating and leading the Asian League.
At the same time, the empire also has many two-sided principles.
In the second half of 1940, the empire passed a congressional motion to include the Ryukyu Islands, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Fiji Islands, Society Islands, Marshall Islands, Palau Islands, Nauru, The Andaman Islands, North Madagascar, and Rose Island were officially designated as Imperial Overseas Provinces.
At this point, the empire¡¯s territory has officially exceeded 20 million square kilometers. If the merger vote of Kachin State is passed, the empire¡¯s area will increase to 20.15 million square kilometers, continuing to maintain the throne of the largest empire in the world.
In October, in order to concentrate more efforts on dealing with new problems that may arise from Britain, Japan, and the Soviet Union and Germany, the Gu Weijun cabinet reached a compromise agreement of mutual exchange and concession with the United States, transferring the suzerainty of the Polynesian Islands to the United States in exchange for Guam. China and the United States reached an agreement on equal ownership of the Pacific Ocean. The two sides delimited the sea line between Wake Island and Midway Island. The Western Pacific on the west side belongs to the sphere of influence of the Imperial Navy, while the east side belongs to the sphere of influence of the United States Navy.
In order to reach this agreement, the Gu Weijun cabinet gave up its controversial claim to the Aleutian Islands and recognized that the United States had sovereignty over the entire Aleutian Islands, while the Comandore Islands belonged to China.
After demarcating the boundaries between the two sides with the United States, Gu Weijun actively maintained his dominant position in the prime ministerial election and the ruling party election in Congress, while actively promoting the activities organized by the Asian League and forcing the United Kingdom to make continuous concessions through the Asian League.
With regard to the Soviet Union and Germany, the Gu Weijun cabinet also adopted a diplomatic strategy with the Asian League as the main body, requiring Kazakhstan as an Asian country to secede from the Soviet Union and join the Asian League in order to obtain the protection of the Asian League.
The Soviet-German war continues.
Joseph Stalin, who failed to reach an agreement with China and stubbornly believed in the Soviet Union's own strength, was forced to face reality. Although the German army made the wrong decision to divide its forces into two directions, Germany's advance in capturing Stalingrad was extremely smooth.
The Soviet Union was forced to transfer the entire Eastern Group Army in Chelyabinsk and Kazakhstan back to reinforce Stalingrad. It used all its strength to gamble and no longer ignored the threat of the Chinese Army.
Even so, the Soviet Union still failed to withstand the invasion of Nazi Germany and the Polish coalition.
Former comrade-in-arms and close friend, Head of State Artur Martos has become a close comrade-in-arms of the Nazi devil Hitler, and the Polish Defense Forces under his command are definitely much more powerful than the Italian army. With China's long-term assistance, Poland's overall The strength is the strongest among Eastern European countries. Its national defense forces are not only well-equipped but also well-trained.
Among the faction of Head of State Artur Martos, many senior commanders once served in the Second Bureau of the Imperial Staff, participated in the Sino-Japanese War of 1911, the Sino-Soviet War and the First World War, and later visited the Empire many times. The Army, while purchasing military equipment from the Imperial Army, also brought back the ideas and combat theories of mechanized weapons.
The years of management and efforts of Head of State Artur Martos were clearly demonstrated throughout the Soviet-German war. The many elite armies under his command all performed as well as the German army, but they were forced to coordinate with Germany's anti-Semitic stance. and orders will also be destined to become a flaw in his life's honor.
Militarily, Head of State Artur Martos was much wiser than Head of State Hitler. Although he believed that the decision of the German-Polish Alliance to divide its forces to attack the northeastern front of the Soviet Union was unwise, he still personally planned the entire Battle of Stalingrad. Attack, cooperate with the German army's decisive battle in Moscow on the northern front, and adopt the strategy of siege and reinforcements to contain the main force of the Soviet Eastern Group Army.
National reputation and diplomacy always depend on military strengthSpeaking of which, its outstanding military performance made Hitler and Nazi Germany rely more on their alliance with Poland, but it did not prevent Hitler from further forming an alliance with Italy.
According to Hitler's vision, the German-Italian-Polish Steel Alliance would sweep across the entire European continent. Poland would occupy Belarus, Ukraine and the Balkans, while Germany would occupy the wider western continental region of the Soviet Union. Italy would join Germany and Poland in dividing the entire Balkan Peninsula. , as a condition, the European Iron and Steel Alliance will withdraw from Asia and transfer the Kazakh region to the Chinese Empire for trusteeship. In exchange for the Chinese Empire's external neutrality, the Iron and Steel Alliance will be allowed to attack France and change the pattern of France and the European continent.
Next, if everything goes well, Hitler wants to march into North Africa, occupy the French colonies, and join forces with the Chinese Empire to destroy the British and divide the British colonies. The Sino-British Assam Incident and the Sino-British conflict made Hitler even more worried. The F¨¹hrer saw hope for the success of his great idea.
He realized that he would build a great Third Reich, standing together with the Chinese Empire at both ends of the Eurasian continent, and dividing the entire world equally. His idea was wonderful, but his only mistake was that he misjudged the nature of the empire. Bottom line.
For the Chinese Empire, the only bottom line is that no country will be allowed to challenge the empire¡¯s world hegemony.
Britain can¡¯t do it, the Soviet Union can¡¯t do it, the United States can¡¯t do it, and Germany can¡¯t do it either.
As the German and Polish coalition forces advanced to Moscow and Stalingrad, the two sides soon entered a cruel stalemate stage. Strategically, the German and Polish coalition forces failed to effectively cut off Kazan and the upper reaches of the Volga River, leaving the Soviet Red Army still With a large space for mutual support, the Soviet military industry also transferred to the Kazan area on a large scale, and used the rich resources of Kazakhstan and the western Soviet Union to engage in a brutal battle for positions with the German-Polish coalition.
This long-term war of attrition is definitely more detrimental to the Soviet Union, because the Soviet Union is isolated and helpless internationally at this time, especially after it rashly and arrogantly rejected China's trading conditions, completely declaring that the Soviet Union has lost its last foreign aid.
During this period, China completed the circular blockade of Japan and carried out large-scale bombings against Japan using North Korea, the Far East and the Ryukyu Islands as air bases. On average, more than a thousand bombers flew over the Japanese mainland every day. During this six-month bombing mission, Japan's modern industrial base was almost completely razed. Japan's steel plants, power plants, coal mines, shipyards, arsenals, chemical plants, airports, and government agencies were all important bombing targets, and even textiles Factories were razed, Japan's agricultural, water conservancy, and transportation facilities were basically destroyed, and the entire country regressed back to the Meiji era. Such a policy has caused Japan to enter the most impoverished stage in terms of national resources. Not only does it have no war resources, the country also faces the threat of large-scale famine, which is exactly what the empire needs to achieve.
In April 1941, the Imperial Central Military Commission decided to launch the Kobe operation to attack the Japanese mainland in advance. For this purpose, more than 3.5 million elite army troops and 700,000 marines would be invested. The new goal the empire hoped for was to attack the Soviet Union. Before the end of the German war, the remaining forces of the Japanese army should be completely eliminated, the Japanese emperor system should be overthrown, and a new republican system of government should be established.
At 4 a.m. on April 20, 1941, the Imperial Army and 14 Marine Divisions set out from Busan, North Korea, to launch a landing operation on the northern coast of Shimonoseki, Japan.
Half an hour before the Imperial Army and Marine Corps launched their attack, the Imperial Strategic Forces once again launched more than 3,000 short-range ballistic missiles from more than 40 temporary missile bases throughout the Korean Peninsula, and launched a large number of rockets in Busan artillery shells, and the Imperial Air Force and Naval Air Fleet then conducted blanket air raids on the coast.
Before the Empire launched its attack, China and Japan had been engaged in a tug-of-war for half a year on the coastal defenses at Shimonoseki Fukue. Japan continued to repair the defenses, while the Empire carried out repeated bombings to ensure that the Japanese defenses here were not enough to threaten the entire landing. Combat.
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Chen Wu was the commander-in-chief of the Xiaguan landing battle.
As one of the few people in the Army who holds the title of Senior Army General, Chen Wu only now has the honor that should originally belong to him. Senior Army General is an honor, not a military rank. The highest military rank is Army General.
Chen Wu did not sit on the shore and command. He boarded a Luoyang-class command cruiser. Through the radar communication and command system on the Luoyang-class command cruiser, he collected various battlefield information in real time and commanded the entire army on the ship.
As an army general, it was the first time for Chen Wu to command operations on a naval ship.
The Luoyang-class command cruiser represents an extreme direction of the imperial armored cruiser. This class of armored cruiser has a relatively balanced configuration in terms of armor, maneuverability, and artillery, and is equipped with the highest level of equipment in the country.It is a large, flat and high-power ship-based radar with complete air defense and anti-submarine systems. It has the ability to command surrounding aircraft, submarines, and ships for coordinated operations. It usually serves as the central force of a small fleet.
The scale of construction of this class of cruisers may be the largest in the world. It is in service in multiple member states of the Asian Alliance at the same time. Iran alone has 3 ships.
In the past two days, Chen Wu has been living on the Luoyang-class command cruiser Xiangyang. He has adapted to the life characteristics of a navy man. Every day, whether he is eating or sleeping, he is always shaking slightly. in the feeling.
Several of the dozen or so army staff officers accompanying him vomited violently, but Chen Wu did not have a strong reaction.
On this cruiser, Chen Wu can communicate closely with Admiral Yan Houhua and Air Force Admiral Chen Renqi, who are co-commanding operations at any time, to coordinate operational planning with each other. The Navy assumes the most important task in this landing operation.
The Imperial Navy deployed 11 battleships and 7 aircraft carriers to participate in this battle, plus 24 cruisers. They implemented a large-scale artillery cover before the Marine Corps amphibious force landed. The naval aviation was responsible for seizing air superiority and suppressing the shore, while the Air Force It is responsible for large-scale deep and high-explosive bombing.
During the entire landing operation, the Marine Corps was also the main force. Chen Wu's Northeast Defense Forces First and Fourth Group Armies subsequently landed operations. This operation also used helicopters on a large scale for the first time. The helicopters in this battle It is officially equipped with a rocket launcher, which can carry out rocket attacks on targets within three kilometers and cover the landing of ground troops.
The Imperial Navy invested about 1,400 amphibious tanks PT30 and more than 2,000 amphibious tracked armored infantry fighting vehicles at one time, and as many as 5,000 large-scale landing ships. The first batch was sent to the Japanese coasts of Fukue and Kawabana. Invest 7 divisions.
Under the cover of naval artillery and air force, as well as previous missile attacks, the Japanese frontline positions have been severely damaged for many rounds, and the coastal defenses have been largely destroyed. The Imperial Marines easily broke through the coastal defenses.
At 10 a.m., two amphibious armored divisions of the Marine Corps seized control of the Shimonoseki coastal defense zone. At 10:30, the Air Force's 1st and 4th Airborne Divisions arrived in the northwest of Shimonoseki one after another, cutting off the Japanese headquarters' advance to support Shimonoseki. route, organize fortifications on the spot, and occupy multiple highlands of the Japanese army.
After confirming the news, Chen Wucai continued to arrange for the First Army Group to land at Xiaguan.
The goal of the Shimonoseki Operation was not to directly occupy the entire Japan, but to seize a fulcrum for the empire to attack Japan, establish the first large-scale supply center in Shimonoseki Port, provide supplies for the expeditionary force, and at the same time cut off the Japanese mainland's path to support Kyushu Island.
After occupying the entire Kyushu Island, the empire will continue to plan a landing operation in Hakusan County, Japan, take a detour to occupy the Nagoya area, cut the entire Japanese mainland in two, adopt a battle plan of cutting off one section and wiping out the other section, gradually razing Japan, and finally Nagoya sent troops to capture Tokyo and wipe out the entire Japanese army.
This plan of distribution and cannibalization was formulated by Liu Gengyun. His consistent style was to pursue stability rather than rush. Even though the Central Military Department hoped to end the war within two years, he still followed his own ideas. His goal was to achieve the minimum cost. , step by step defeating the entire Japanese resistance.
Chen Wu has always been very supportive of Liu Gengyun's plans. After all, the two have been old partners for decades.
On the command cruiser Xiangyang, after confirming that the Marine Corps had taken control of the coastal defense zone, Chen Wu also breathed a sigh of relief. He knew that this was a good start. Later, with the combat level and scale of the Northeast Defense Force, he would win the entire Japan is not difficult.
With an old partner like Liu Gengyun continuing to serve as chief of staff, General Chen Wu will always feel much more relaxed. He can sit across from Liu Gengyun's desk, drink tea calmly, and enjoy the moment of success.
Unlike middle-aged generals like Fu Zuoyi, Chen Wu was already full of honors. As long as he restored the honor of a senior army general, he would be really satisfied, so he did not have any anxiety. This was also the reason why he and Liu Gengyun had strong feelings. The reason why he suggested that the Central Military Commission not set too many dates for the complete end of the war was that he and Liu Gengyun knew Japan's national character and the characteristics of the Japanese army very well, and they knew very well that this would be a very cruel occupation war.
The general will attack the enemy.
At this time, Chen Wu could still remember that when he was studying in the first phase of the Far Eastern Military Academy, Liu Gengyun, who served as a lecturer, once explained "On War" and once said that the goal of military is to eliminate the opponent's will to resist, not just military power. So simple.
Only this kind of victory is the real victory, the final victory.
¡°That¡¯s exactly what they want to do now.
It is precisely for this reason that Chen Wu invested a lot of moneyMilitary resources were used to bomb Japanese civilian facilities, including textile factories, farmland water conservancy facilities, coal mines, oil reserve stations, and power facilities, fundamentally destroying Japan's industry, causing Japan's economy to collapse and causing serious food shortages.
The reason why he and Liu Gengyun did this was to torture the Japanese people, torture the Japanese government and army, and make them gradually lose their resistance.
After the landing battle began, in addition to a large amount of ammunition, the Northeast Defense Force also prepared other offensive resources-food.
Once areas in Japan are occupied, the troops will distribute large amounts of relief food as needed.
It¡¯s not the time to celebrate victory yet.
Chen Wu recalled the past in his heart. He inadvertently thought of the Battle of Shenjiabao, the Battle of Heigoutai, the Battle of Liaoyang, and the beginning of his military career. For him, being able to meet Emperor Song Biao in the Nandian countryside , became a member of the Northeast Army from then on, which in itself was the greatest adventure in his life.
Without the emperor, there would be no him.
Over the years, he has been working hard to restore his honor, not just for himself. Everyone living in the world needs to prove their worth, and he only needs to prove his worth to His Majesty the Emperor. As long as the emperor knew that he was still useful and was still willing to use him, he would feel satisfied.
His life has meaning.
So at this moment, he was particularly happy and proud, but after all, he had experienced so much, and he was no longer the young man who was so easy to express his emotions and anger on his face.
The years have burned his youth, and the bumpy experiences have also made him a confident old coach.
He is thinking about many things in his mind, all of which revolve around China and Japan. He is evaluating the characteristics of Japan as a country and nation, making his own judgment, and once again confirming that his choice is correct.
He believes that he has been fully prepared militarily. Militarily, it is not very difficult for him to eliminate the Japanese army. Even if the mountainous conditions in Japan are more complicated than in southern Korea, the only thing he is unsure about now is the Northeast Defense Force. Whether the appeasement policy can be effective and whether ordinary Japanese people can give up their resistance.
His years and experience in the Northeast told him that Japan is a very crazy nation, with a very crazy culture, and a very strong and stubborn ambition to become a world power. These factors make landing in Japan very crazy and very difficult. Tough stuff.
During this time, he has been reading the history of Japan's Warring States Period and some biographies of Japanese characters. He wants to have a deeper understanding of Japan's history and national characteristics. At this point, he is not as good as having studied in Japan and the mainland of Japan. Cai E, who had studied abroad, was not as good as Liu Gengyun.
Liu Gengyun's judgment on this is that "the resistance will be stubborn at first, but it will not last long, because the Japanese are very complex and dual-faced. They are crazy about saving face and dare not challenge authority." In other words, as long as If the Northeast Defense Force can establish reliable order in Japan, the occupation of Japan will be smoother, but the anti-occupation resistance before that will be crazy.
Every soldier needs very good weapons and equipment and is well-trained. When each team is assembled, they need huge and comprehensive firepower output, as well as very excellent tactical execution capabilities.
This is a common judgment of Chen Wu and Liu Gengyun. They do not necessarily need a larger force, but they must be elite. This is the reason why they adopt a gradual attack, which allows them more time to train some new troops in North Korea. Troops and recruits to ensure that every unit is fully prepared.
Liu Gengyun had been dealing with the problem of coordinated operations among various units. After finally resting, he also brought a cup of tea to Chen Wu and sat down. He sighed with Chen Wu: "The most difficult moment is coming. Let's attack now." It¡¯s really not difficult.¡±
Chen Wu nodded steadily and replied nonchalantly: "The soldiers will block it, the water will cover it, and the soil will cover it. Let him go. There is always a way for the car to reach the mountain. Let's keep fighting."
Liu Gengyun smiled and said: "Old Chen, you said it so easily. In other words, our preparations are quite sufficient. As for what happens next, we can only take it one step at a time."
Chen Wu continued to nod and did not answer anything.
Soldiers still rely on actions to speak. The rest is to fight day by day. To put it bluntly, it is to kill hundreds of thousands of people first. Chen Wu still has such domineering power.
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The situation was as expected by Chen Wu and Liu Gengyun. The resistance of the Japanese army was very tenacious. In the coastal area, because the imperial attack was completely saturated, the Japanese army was too damaged to organize any threatening counterattack. After the imperial army landed, the Chinese and Japanese The two armies quickly deployed their defensive positions around Xiaguan.?Fierce battle.
Air superiority does not guarantee the smooth advancement of the Imperial Army. It is still fighting positional warfare. The Japanese army is not yet short of troops and ammunition. At least the rifle ammunition is still barely enough. The number of anti-aircraft guns and mortars is also sufficient, and the number of heavy artillery is sufficient. There aren't many, just a handful of armored vehicles and tanks.
In the past year, the gap in military equipment between the two sides in the Soviet-German war was still very low. This is of course related to China's role in the war, and the Soviet Union's development of heavy industry and military industry in the past thirty years was also A lot of resources and manpower have been invested.
When the Sino-Japanese War has reached this level, the equipment gap between the two sides is already very large, and the gap has finally widened in terms of the quality of soldiers and frontline commanders.
This battle was indeed brutal, but it was more for the Japanese army.
The Japanese army did not hesitate to defend their positions, seize them, and even used life-saving methods to attack the amphibious tanks and armored vehicles of the Imperial Army. The Imperial Army did not hesitate to use ammunition, heavy artillery rained down, and a large number of tanks and armored vehicles were invested in Shimonoseki. During the offensive and defensive battle, heavy artillery gathered and bullets rained down like a storm.
It only took the Tohoku Defense Forces and the Imperial Marine Corps three hours to seize the Japanese coastal defense line of Shimonoseki Fukue, but it took three days to capture only the western part of Shimonoseki County. The casualties were heavy, and the Japanese casualties were even more severe. .
Especially in the mountains and forests around Xiaguan, and in the towns of Xiaguan, Japanese soldiers were hiding everywhere. They were broken into pieces and constantly engaged in small-scale harassment operations with the Northeastern Defense Forces, making it difficult for the Northeastern Defense Forces to guard against them.
But no matter what, Chen Wu accomplished his strategic goals at all costs, occupied Xiaguan Port, controlled urban areas, and began to transport troops on a larger scale. More than one million troops of the Northeast Defense Force completed the task in three days. Landing, they gathered in the Shimonoseki area and pushed toward the east of Japan's main island like a tide.
At this time, the Japanese army base camp concentrated its main forces near Tokyo, Nagoya and Kyoto, because the Japanese army also knew very well that it was an impossible task to organize a large-scale landing operation of the Chinese Army. The hope it placed was to use The brutal war and huge casualties forced China to sue for peace.
The hope of the Central Military Department of China is that the war can be ended within a year, but if the war cannot be successfully ended, the Central Military Department will have enough patience to advance step by step and eliminate the Japanese army and Japanese resistance forces at all costs.
The entire Battle of Shimonoseki was basically over in mid-May. Both China and Japan suffered heavy losses. The Japanese army lost 4 newly formed divisions and 2 infantry brigades. The total casualties exceeded 70,000, which meant that half of the soldiers Whether they were killed or seriously injured, the total casualties of the Northeast Defense Force and Marine Corps were close to 20,000.
In late May, relying on the stronghold of Shimonoseki Port, the Northeastern Defense Force and the Marine Corps once again launched a new round of large-scale landing operations against Koga, Fukuoka Prefecture, Kyushu Island, Japan. After the landing at Koga was completed, the Northeastern Defense Force took control of Shimonoseki Port. On both sides, more than twenty divisions were stationed on Kyushu Island to carry out annihilation operations against the Japanese troops on Kyushu Island.
At this time, the Japanese army on Kyushu Island still had six divisions. Facing the Northeast Defense Force with more than 600,000 troops, the Marine Corps with more than 100,000 troops, and two airborne divisions, they actually did not have much defensive capabilities. However, the Japanese army also fought very tenaciously on Kyushu Island and defended every position as hard as possible, causing the Imperial Defense Forces to pay a heavy price.
By July, as the Northeast Defense Force basically wiped out the Japanese troops on Kyushu Island, a new issue surfaced, that is, how to control the Japanese-occupied areas? (To be continued. Please search Piaotian Literature, the novels will be better and updated faster!)