Reprinted with the authorization of the public title "Reanalysis of the History of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression"
【Continued from the previous part】
? The previous article was based on the Japanese army's "15 years of the Compilation of the Indochina Army" and "Data on the Positive Hostility of the 1st Army in the Summer of Showa 16" and other materials that roughly introduced the Evaluation and Combat Strength of the Japanese Army for some of the main miscellaneous armies in North China. This article continues to supplement some of the miscellaneous armies not mentioned above in the War of Resistance in North China.
? Fu Zuoyi's 35th Army should be the unit with the greatest contrast in the evaluation of Japanese materials.
? In the two materials in March and May 1940, the combat effectiveness of all units under Fu Zuoyi's 35th Army was assessed as "E-class". A, B, C, and D are followed by E. It should be known that in the materials of the same period, the Japanese army's assessment of the combat strength of the divisions under Sun Dianying's New Fifth Army was also "Ding and so on."
? From December 1939 to the end of March 1940, during the three-month-long Suixi Campaign, Wuyuan City lost three and won three. Fu Zuoyi's 35th Army, as the core main force, began to attack Baotou from the winter offensive, killing Kazuo Kobayashi, the commander of the 14th Wing of the Japanese Drama You Cavalry, and then killing Kuwabara Arakirō Nakasa in the counterattack on March 20, which can be described as a brilliant result. Fu Zuoyi was also awarded the Order of the Blue Sky and White Sun for his military exploits in this battle.
? Perhaps because of the Suixi Campaign, the Japanese army changed the combat strength of all divisions under Fu Zuoyi's 35th Army to "B Xia" in the materials of July 1940. In particular, the 101st Division, the New 32nd Division, and the New 33rd Division of Fu Zuoyi's troops were evaluated as "the action is neatly coordinated, and the quality is excellent, and the war spirit is exuberant." ”
? There is also a miscellaneous army that insists on persisting in the War of Resistance in North China, which the author believes cannot be ignored, that is, the 51st Army of the Northeast Army.
? The army successively participated in the Huai River Blockade Battle in early 1938, the Battle of Xuzhou, and the Battle of Wuhan, and in 1939 took the lead in going deep into Shandong to carry out the War of Resistance behind enemy lines. It was not until August 1943 that it broke through from Shandong to Fuyang, Anhui.
? Although the Japanese army evaluated the combat strength of the 51st Army as "C class" in many materials, the army fought with the Japanese army for many years, during which 7 major generals, 8 colonels and 15 lieutenant colonels were killed. It can be said that it was the unit that sacrificed the most and suffered the most during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
? Let's talk about the Fifth Theater. According to the statistics of the Japanese army in July 1940, the 41 divisions under the jurisdiction of the Fifth Theater of Operations belonged to only 5 divisions directly under the central government, that is, the 4th Division, 23rd Division, 89th Division, 110th Division and 193rd Division under the Tang Enbo Group Army, and 7 divisions of the Central Paraphyllary Department.
? From the end of 1941, after the Transfer of the Toynbur Department to the First Theater of Operations, the First Theater really became a great gathering of princes from all walks of life. The First Theater is just described as a three-legged stand, and three powerful local factions have supported the sky of the First Theater. These three local factions were simply the 59th, 68th, and 77th Armies of the Northwest Army system under Song Zheyuan's control, Li Zongren's Gui clan, and Sun Zhen and Wang Miaoxu's Sichuan Army.
? The 30th Army of Chifengcheng, which was originally the Northwest Army, was the only unit in the Fifth Theater of Operations except for the Tang Enbo System Central Army, which was included in the first-class combat strength of the Japanese army. From March to July, the materials rated the combat effectiveness of the three divisions under the army's command (the 27th, 30th and 31st divisions) as "first class". Even when the March report recorded that the 27th Division suffered heavy losses in the winter offensive and that "morale was extremely demoralized and combat low", it did not change its rating. In fact, in the winter offensive, Huang Qiaosong, commander of the 27th Division, was awarded the Baoding Medal of the Fourth Class for "leading the advancing team to attack Xinyang, fighting fiercely with the enemy, and killing many enemies..." The Japanese 34th Wing, which fought against the 30th Army in the Winter Offensive, said that "the 30th Army is betting on the battle with the honor of its Iron Army."
? The Japanese army was surprised by the assessment of the combat strength of the 33rd Group Army under the command of Zhang Zizhong. After the Winter Offensive and the Battle of Zaoyi, the combat strength of the divisions of the 59th Army and the 77th Army under the group army was assessed as "B class". Cao Fulin's department was rated as "Class C".
? In July 1937, when the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression had just broken out, the Japanese army conducted an extremely detailed investigation of the various units of Song Zheyuan's 29th Army, and evaluated the basic quality and training status of each division of the 29th Army as "excellent quality and strict military discipline."
? Excluding the japanese army's high praise for it in many confrontations with the Japanese army in 1937 and 1038, only from the perspective of the winter offensive, the commander of the 77th Army, Feng Zhi'an, the commander of the 180th Division, the deputy division commander, and the chief of staff were all awarded the Baoding Medal of the Fourth Class for their outstanding performance in the winter offensive. Huang Weigang, commander of the 38th Division, was awarded the Baoding Medal of the Third Class for "brave and composure, breaking the enemy's attempts several times, and killing many enemies". The Japanese 104th Wing described the 59th Army in its war history as follows: "The will to fight is outstanding, and the combat effectiveness cannot be underestimated."
? In the Northwest Army, there were some who were highly evaluated by the Japanese army, and there were also low ones. For example, Liu Ruming's 68th Army. The 119th and 143rd Divisions, two divisions under the command of the army, were rated as "C class" by the Japanese army. In particular, the 143rd Division of Liu Ruming's starting unit specially commented that "there are many fugitives (soldiers), and the troops have no fighting spirit."
? Li Zongren's Gui Army, many people think that it is a strong combat force in the miscellaneous army, but it is difficult for the author to find its highlights in the large-scale battles in the historical materials of the Japanese army. The Japanese army also only had "B class" in its combat strength assessment, and the 7th Army, the number one ace of the Gui clan, was evaluated as "military discipline is relaxed". This comment I think is really the finishing touch! Not to mention the description of the Gui army by the People's Liberation Army in the war report during the Liberation War, before the Dabie Mountain area in Anhui Province, there were words such as "having a son to return to lao Jiang, and having a daughter to lao Guang" before that. The difference in military discipline of the 7th Army can be seen here.
? The Gui army was poorly disciplined, but in Anhui, especially in guerrilla warfare centered on the Dabie Mountains, small-scale battles hit the Japanese army with a headache. Moreover, the Gui Army was aimed at the Japanese army and had the characteristics of the Warring States Qin soldiers. In early 1938, the 3rd Brigade of the Japanese 58th Wing was attacked by the Gui Army, and the Japanese corpses were cut off their ears and noses. In the Battle of Dashu Mountain in Hefei in early 1940, the leader of the Miura Brigade of the 58th Independent Infantry Brigade of the Japanese Army was killed and his head was cut off for public display.
? The Sichuan Army in the Fifth Theater came from two factions, Sun Zhen's 22nd Army and Wang Miaoxu's 29th Army. In several documents from 1940, the Japanese army rated its combat effectiveness as "B class". As for the performance of the Sichuan Army in the War of Resistance, the author has previously written an article titled "Miscellaneous Army (I) Sichuan Army in the Eyes of the Japanese Army", and I will not repeat it here. It can only be said that with the deepening of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Sichuan Army, which had never been in contact with modern warfare before, did make great progress in the blood and fire tempering of the War of Resistance for many years.
? Finally, let's talk about the distribution of miscellaneous armies and central direct lines in various theaters. According to the statistical table of the Japanese army, it can be clearly seen that the proportion of the Central Army is the largest, but it is still the sixth and ninth theaters, and the same two theaters have the fewest miscellaneous troops. The Fifth and Second Theaters were dominated by non-central miscellaneous armies.
【To be continued, stay tuned】