In the anti-Japanese battlefield, there was a mysterious squad in the Japanese army, they were called "skeleton soldiers", came and went without a trace, the Japanese government regarded them as "heroes" hyped up, but only a month after going to the battlefield, this squad was completely annihilated by our army, and the ashes were also sent back to China. So what is the "skeleton soldier" of the Japanese army, and how strong is it? Why were they completely annihilated in a short period of time, and even the history of our war is rarely recorded? Feel free to like the comment collection and learn about the history of this battle.
Japanese skeleton unit
In 1933, the second year after the outbreak of the September 18 Incident, Japan's ambitions swelled and tried to invade Anding Peiping, so under the pretext of pursuing the volunteer army, they attacked Rehe and approached the line of the Great Wall. Thus, along the Great Wall, the largest Chinese army operation against Japan before the all-out War of Resistance broke out. In the course of this operation, a peculiar Japanese army appeared.
According to the recollections of the old man who experienced this battle at that time, in the direction of the Gubeikou of the Great Wall, there was a Japanese army squad, wearing skeleton steel helmets and holding skeleton soldier flags, and came and went without a trace, causing heavy casualties to our army. The local people called it the "Skeleton Army".
Japanese skeleton flag
According to historical records, on March 7, 1933, the Japanese Eighth Division was preparing to attack Gubeikou, and the 107th Division of the Kuomintang army was stationed at Gubeikou. The name of this unit may sound a little strange, but when it comes to the "Seventh Brigade of the Border Guard Army", after the outbreak of the September 18 Incident, the Bao Bao army that retreated overnight without firing a shot and a cannon is very familiar. After the outbreak of the September 18 Incident, Chiang Kai-shek reorganized into the 107th Division and was stationed on the front line of the Great Wall.
The Japanese army had thought that the 107th Division would still retreat as quickly as before, but they did not know that they had retreated in a helpless position before, and now was the time to hate Japan the most, and they were more anxious to be ashamed. As a result, the Japanese army encountered unprecedented fierce resistance, the Japanese army was unprepared, for a while, the front line Japanese army even lost contact with the rear, and when the battle was at its most intense, japan only had 20 reserve soldiers left. When the battle was white-hot, the "skeleton army" of the Japanese army suddenly appeared on the battlefield.
Japanese forces in World War II
The "Skeleton Army" did not venture forward, but reconnoitred the deployment of the Chinese army around, and tried its best to escort the wounded to retreat and rescue the main force of the Japanese army. Due to the high combat quality of the skeleton army, the fierce and fierce combat style, and the sophisticated weapons, the national army could not carry out the pursuit for a while. After a short rest, according to the situation of the Nationalist positions detected by the skeleton soldiers, the Japanese once again mobilized heavy artillery units to bomb Gubeikou, and the Nationalist army was defeated, and retreated after 3 days of fierce fighting.
In addition, the Japanese skeleton army, as a shock force, with the advantage of few people, has been undertaking the task of reconnaissance and "beheading" in the battle with the Eighth Route Army and the Nationalist Army, and in the subsequent battles, it rushed to the front, and together with a company of the Japanese army, captured a number of high ground on the defense line of the Great Wall, and the defenders suffered heavy losses.
Garrisons stationed at the Great Wall
Due to the many head-to-head confrontations with the skeleton soldiers, in addition to their ostentatious skeleton patterns, our army has also begun to understand their fighting style. The advantage of the skeleton soldiers is that the quality of individual combat is extremely high, and the weapons and equipment are excellent; the formation and combat methods of the national army have been fully exposed, and the heavy weapons have been lost in several fierce battles. However, in several encounters, our scouts noticed that the number of skeleton soldiers was very small, and generally only a squad of about 50 people was maintained.
In the face of this extreme disadvantage, our army still found out the advantages of our army, that is, it is good at cooperation, this skeleton soldier of the Japanese army, due to the fact that it undertakes more secret attack and assault tasks, the skills and experience of teamwork are very lacking, coupled with the repeated success of the skeleton soldiers, it is precisely when they are satisfied, in the face of the skeleton army, as long as they use the position warfare, they can completely annihilate these Japanese troops who only care about their own charge.
Guild wars
On March 10, 1933, the Japanese army and the defenders of Gubeikou once again engaged in fierce fighting. At this time, the Japanese army let the skeleton team undertake the task of assaulting and raiding around the back; the main Japanese force was constantly bombing through field artillery and bombers in the front. At this time, due to the wounding of the commander of the nationalist defender division, the temporary retreat was adjusted, and the skeleton army "took the lead in climbing the Gubeikou". Just when the skeleton army was full of pride, he did not expect his end to come.
The battle was fought until mid-April 1933. Under the strong resistance of the Chinese defenders, the Japanese army has not advanced at all, and the skeleton soldiers who undertake the surprise mission have also suffered heavy damage. In order to maintain a 50-man squad outside, the Japanese army continued to draw troops to supplement Cao, but the quality of the soldiers who supplemented them has gradually declined. The main force of the Japanese army did not expect the national army to be so strong, and the battle that was expected to end in one day was still no improvement after 3 days of fighting, and the Japanese commander remembered the skeleton soldiers at this time.
Hideo Ikegami
The skeleton soldiers had to pause for a break to take on the assault mission again, at this time the Chinese and Japanese armies were fighting around the two beacon towers of the Great Wall. The strategic value of the beacon tower is extremely important, so the Chinese defenders fought a bloody battle here, and the skeleton soldiers temporarily occupied two beacon towers with the courage of flesh and blood. Hideo Ikegami, the commander of the Skeleton Army, asked the main force to leave all the shells behind and wait for reinforcements from the Japanese.
When the Japanese reinforcements arrived, they saw that the flag of the skeleton team had not fallen, and there was a cheer. However, the "skeleton army" has been almost completely annihilated by the national army, and only the commander is Ikegami Hideo, and Ikegami Hideo himself has also fallen into a state of blood obsession, killing the red eye, shouting to kill all The Chinese troops, and constantly charging forward. While conquering the 3rd Ridge, Hideo Ikegami spotted a seriously wounded Chinese officer on the ground and tried to kill him, but the Chinese officer fired one last shot, and both sides were killed.
Great Wall Front Nationalist Army
Ironically, after the skeleton soldiers "took the lead in climbing the Gubeikou" in March, Japan's "war reports" began to praise the skeleton soldiers wildly, praising them as combat heroes, and foreigners called them "Manchurian Storm Troops" at that time. But only a month later, Japan's "World Pictorial" published the news that the Japanese army sent the ashes of the skeleton soldiers back to China.
Moreover, this army is almost not recorded in the history of our war, because its appearance time is too short, almost equivalent to the total annihilation of the army at the beginning of the conquest.
So what is the origin of the Skeleton Soldier? What is the most fundamental reason for the failure of such a strong skeleton army?
Japanese forces in World War II
This is almost no record of the skeleton soldiers in the history of our war, but it is recorded in great detail in the history of the Japanese army. On the whole, this skeleton soldier of the Japanese army is more like the predecessor of the modern special forces, but at that time the special forces were not yet fully mature, and the skeleton soldiers could only be regarded as an experimental product at best.
Japanese archives record that in addition to the skeleton soldiers with skull patterns painted on their belts and armbands, in addition to holding a skeleton military flag in peacetime, there is also a military flag painted with the chrysanthemum emblem of the Japanese Imperial Family, which is absolutely unique in the entire Japanese army. So what can this 50-man squad have to do with the Japanese Imperial Family? In fact, the founder of this skeleton soldier is the 4th generation heir of the Japanese imperial family Kita-Shirakawa Palace, the permanent king of Kita-Shirakawa Palace.
Coat of arms of the Japanese Imperial Family
The permanent king of Kita-Shirakawa, graduated from the Japanese Army School, and then went to Germany to study military affairs, where he was exposed to the operational theory of special forces and believed that the German military model should be applied to the Japanese army. One of the favorite armies of the permanent king of Kita-Shirakawa Palace was the skeleton unit in German history, so he used this element to the army of the Japanese army, he not only personally selected the commander and soldiers, but also gave the royal insignia and military flag, you can imagine how much he attached importance to and expected the skeleton soldiers at that time.
However, it was embarrassing that they were completely annihilated by the Chinese army within a month of their expedition. In the Battle of South Tianmen, the skeleton army was fought by the Kuomintang 17th Army commanded by Xu Tingyao. Compared with the equipment of the Japanese army, the equipment of the 17th Army was already quite poor, but they still relied on hard resistance to repel the Japanese attack, before killing the Japanese skeleton soldiers.
Surrender to the Japanese
Interestingly, after the total annihilation of this special force of the Japanese army, japan took the initiative to propose that kita-Shirakawa Palace was an extremely ominous royal family in order to save respect. This royal family has been passed down for 5 generations, of which three people died and the last one was deposed. Even the permanent king of the Northern Shirakawa Palace himself died on the battlefield of China in 1940, plus the name of their army was skeleton soldier, which originally represented "death", so under such a curse, he died on the battlefield of China.
However, the most practical reason why the skeleton soldiers will fail is, of course, the struggle of our army to resist. However, behind the scenes, the Japanese army also has a big problem, first of all, they overemphasize the ability to fight individually, and ignore the cooperation between the army; secondly, although the Japanese army praises the skeleton soldiers in the war report and equips them with the most sophisticated weapons, fundamentally speaking, they are just a whimsical experiment of the imperial family, and the Japanese military does not pay attention to them.
The Skeleton Soldier was established in 1929, and for a long time there was no number, until hideo Ikegami, the commander of the Skeleton Soldiers, served as the attached to the Yamagata Wing of the 32nd Division, and his skeleton soldiers were given the number of the first squad of the first squadron of the third squadron of the first brigade, and the war mission was to be a surprise vanguard.
Another important problem is that special forces like this, which are not expensive in numbers, should not be fighting on the frontal battlefield in the first place. On the battlefield of the South Heavenly Gate, Hideo Ikegami adopted a wrong decision in the case of a long period of invincibility, so that the skeleton soldiers, a special force, fought head-on with the national army, they themselves lacked the sense of teamwork, they were not opponents of the national army, and of course they were annihilated cleanly. Share it here today, welcome to like the collection comments.