As everyone knows, Okamura Ningji was an important leader of the Japanese army invading China, who was once the commander-in-chief of the Japanese China Dispatch Army, and his hands were stained with the blood of Chinese people.
Regrettably, however, this important war criminal of the Japanese army invading China did not receive the punishment he deserved after Japan announced its unconditional surrender, but was instead shielded and reused by Chiang Kai-shek, and lived until 1966.
As early as 1915, he was sent to China to serve as an assistant to Japanese Army Lieutenant General Aoki Xuanjun, who was then an adviser to Li Yuanhong, the president of the Republic of China, so Okamura Ningji also had a comprehensive understanding of China.
Later, the Beiyang warlords were in a scuffle, and Sun Chuanfang invited him to China to serve as an adviser to himself.
As a result, Okamura knew China's military, political, and popular feelings, as well as the relationship between various factions.
To talk about the history of Okamura Ninji's invasion of China, we must start from 1932.
On January 28, 1932, the Japanese planned the "January 28 Incident" and sent troops to invade Shanghai, and Okamura Ninji became the deputy chief of staff of the Shanghai Dispatch Army.
Later, Okamura went from Shanghai to the northeast, served as deputy chief of staff of the Kwantung Army, and launched several major sweeps against the anti-Japanese volunteer army in the northeast.
After the outbreak of the All-Out War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression in 1937, Okamura served as the commander of the Eleventh Army of the Central China Dispatch Army, and later promoted to the commander-in-chief of the Japanese China Dispatch Army, so it can be said that the executioner fought in China for 13 and a half years.
However, it was this notorious war criminal of the Japanese army who invaded China who escaped capital punishment after the war and was pronounced "not guilty" by the National Government in Nanjing.
The reason for this was that Chiang Kai-shek was going to fight a civil war at that time, and Okamura Ningji was left behind by Chiang Kai-shek to help him fight the civil war because he had been fighting the Eighth Route Army in North China for a long time and had "experience" in dealing with the Eighth Route Army.
Of course, Chiang Kai-shek's wishful thinking finally failed, and his sinister intentions to shield Okamura Ningji were also criticized by the Chinese people.
After returning to Japan in January 1949, although he continued to hook up with Chiang Kai-shek, he had little use value and lived a very uneventful life in his later years.
In Okamura's later years, a reporter asked him whether he was afraid of the Chinese army, and Okamura Ningji said: "I am not afraid of the Chinese army, I am afraid of the will to resist of the Chinese, and here the Hunan people are particularly important." ”
The meaning of Okamura's words is actually that he is afraid of the Hunan people, because he has hardly won in the battle against the Hunan people, nor has he won the battle in Hunan territory.
The most obvious thing is that the three battles of Changsha, the city of Changsha, which made him look through, has never been able to enter.
In particular, the fiasco of the First Battle of Changsha left an indelible shadow in his heart.
At that time, it coincided with Hitler's blitzkrieg in Europe and Poland, and the Nazi army almost swept through Europe everywhere it passed, as if it were in no man's land. Therefore, Okamura Decided to emulate Hitler and engage in a blitzkrieg in Changsha, in a vain attempt to take Changsha within 7 days through superior troops and weapons.
However, his wishful thinking failed, and instead of taking Changsha, he was beaten back by the Chinese army and suffered heavy losses, killing hundreds of officers at all levels alone.
Okamura saw that he could not take advantage of it, so he increased his troops again, but Xue Yue's "Heavenly Furnace Tactics" made him suffer a lot and had to withdraw his troops, encountering the most painful defeat since his invasion of China.
The defeat at the First Battle of Changsha puzzled Okamura Ningji, who could not figure it out in any way, and he had never encountered such a defeat in China. He has been summarizing, but also has been looking for answers, to this end, he also specifically inquired about Xue Yueqi, specifically to find the "Outline of Hunan Province" to study the hunan terroir, in an attempt to find answers from it.
Not to mention, he actually found the answer in the book.
In this book, there is such a passage: "Hunan people have strong self-esteem, xenophobic thoughts, rich in martial arts, faith in interpretation and Taoism, and dedication to worshiping ancestors, and are less than money." Strong resistance, deep superstitious thoughts, jealousy, exclusion, and generous and sad feelings..."
This passage can be said to summarize the character of Hunan people very accurately.
In fact, there is a more refined and more vivid saying in the folk: "Eat bitterly, be patient, not afraid of death, and bully!" ”
To this end, when Okamura Ningji clarified the operational essentials for all units, he specifically told everyone about the characteristics of the military and civilians in Hunan, and in addition to specifically mentioning Xue Yue, he also mentioned Wang Qibo and others of the Seventh Advancing Column in Northern Hunan Province. Because of the failure of the first Changsha Campaign, it was because Wang Zhaibo blew up his arsenal and cut off the Ammunition Supply Line of the Japanese Army.
Indeed, Okamura Ningji's fear of the Hunan people is not unreasonable, and in the vigorous War of Resistance Against Japan, the contribution made by the Hunan people is indeed very great.
On March 5, 1944, the National Government held a meeting of the Executive Yuan, attended by Xue Yue, who pointed out in his speech: "Hunan Province's wartime contribution to the country ranked first in the country! ”
Xue Yue also calculated that the Kuomintang had organized a total of 22 congress battles on the frontal battlefield, of which 6 were in Hunan, and by the beginning of 1944, a total of 440,000 Japanese troops had been annihilated nationwide, of which 210,000 were annihilated in Hunan, and nearly 2 million young Hunan nationals had enlisted in the army, ranking first in the country.
Therefore, in this sense, not only Okamura Ningji is afraid of Hunan people, but the entire Japanese army should be afraid of Hunan people.
(References: "War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression", "Chronicle of the Battle of Changsha", "Memoirs of Ninji Okamura")