#首发创作赛#
With all-out war looming, an unavoidable question arises: Can China win this war?
War is a material confrontation and a duel of the comprehensive strength of the countries of the two belligerents, that is, a duel between the national and military strength of the two belligerents.
War is also a contest of spirits, a confrontation between the fighting determination, will to fight, and perseverance of the two warring sides with the wisdom of war.
As far as China in 1937 is concerned, in the face of a war that will spread throughout the country, the strong will of the whole people and the determination to defeat the enemy are necessary, but obviously not enough. Although China's total population was more than that of Japan, and its land area was dozens of times larger than Japan's, it was generally believed in world public opinion at that time that China had almost no possibility of winning a full-scale war with Japan.
In 1937, Japan's industrial growth rate was as high as 9.9 percent, and its industrial output value accounted for more than 80 percent of the total national economic output value, making it the fastest growing country in the capitalist camp in the world. In 1937, however, China was still a backward agricultural country, and even if foreign-run enterprises were taken into account, China's industrial output value accounted for only 10 percent of the total national economic output value. With the exception of some coastal cities and a small number of light industries in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River, most of China's so-called "industry" is still in the manual stage, which has lasted in China for at least a thousand years. And war, in fact, is fighting the industrial capacity of a country.
In 1937, when the war began, the main economic indicators of China and Japan were:
Gross industrial output value: 6 billion US dollars in Japan, 1.36 billion US dollars in China;
Steel production: 5.8 million tons in Japan, 40,000 tons in China;
Coal production: 50.7 million tons in Japan, 28 million tons in China;
Copper production: 87,000 tons in Japan, 700 tons in China;
Oil production: 1.69 million tons in Japan, 13,100 tons in China.
The only factor that could constrain Japan's industrial capacity was the lack of indigenous resources in the island countries, especially cotton, rubber, wool, non-ferrous metals such as lead, tin, and zinc, as well as oil and coal. Japan's own annual iron ore production is only 450,000 tons, and with 600,000 tons plundered from North Korea, it can only meet one-sixth of its needs. Northeast China is extremely rich in coal and iron. At that time, Fushun produced 7 million tons of coal per year, and Benxi produced 600,000 tons of coal per year, ranking first in the country in total. Northeast China's iron ore reserves and steel production also rank first in the country, Liaoning alone accounts for 79% of the country's iron ore reserves, Anshan and Benxi together account for 40% of the country's steel production. There is also oil, and the reserves of the northeast account for 52% of the country's proven reserves. However, China's northeastern region has become the "Manchukuo" under Japanese rule, which for China is "tantamount to losing its economic lifeline." The current situation of "Japan's local resources is really scarce" has "changed the situation" since the invasion of northeast China.
Relying on its strong industrial production capacity, Japan violently expanded the scale of its military industry. In 1937, Japan's investment in the military industry reached 2.23 billion yen, more than double the previous year, accounting for 617 percent of Japan's total industrial investment that year. Japan has an annual production of 1,580 combat aircraft, 744 large-caliber artillery pieces, 330 tanks, and 9,500 automobiles. As for the production of infantry small arms and small-caliber artillery, it fully meets the annual needs for conducting large-scale wars. In 1937, if China still had a military industry, its level was not much different from the era when Li Hongzhang and Zhang Zhidong, important ministers of the Qing court, handled foreign affairs. The country as a whole did not have the capacity to produce large-caliber artillery, tanks and cars, and although aircraft and ships could be produced in small quantities, the main components and raw materials had to be imported, far from the mass production scale to support a full-scale war. China can only produce infantry light weapons and small-caliber artillery, and its production capacity is also unable to support the needs of large-scale war.
Hanyang Iron Works
The gap between a strong capitalist industrial power and a semi-feudal and semi-colonial agricultural country is not only reflected in the statistics of productive capacity. At that time, China and Japan were still two countries with completely different faces. In Japan, which is experiencing rapid economic development in a modern economy, the people have a collective consciousness of fanatically pursuing the future, and the relatively rational social operation procedures brought about by the constitutional system have not only contributed to the continuous prosperity of the economy, but also led to the progress of science and technology. As far as education is concerned, since the late Qing Dynasty, there has been a great trend for China to send or study in Japan on its own, and the top military and political officials in the Kuomintang, including Chiang Kai-shek, have returned from studying in Japan. All kinds of patriotic organizations and paramilitary organizations throughout the country have enabled Japan to accumulate tremendous potential energy to drive away differences and seek common ground, making the whole nation and society form a solid spiritual whole.
The first half of the twentieth century was the most chaotic period in China's history. Although Dr. Sun Yat-sen promulgated the Provisional Law of the Republic of China at the beginning of the founding of the Republic of China, for a long time thereafter, China was a country that did not even have a formal constitution. The brutal plunder and suppression of national industries by the great powers have made China's weak national economy increasingly decaying, and years of warlord wars have caused the entire country to die in constant war. The country once prided itself on the early birth of civilization, but thousands of years of civilization accumulation still cannot save the current situation of national malaise.
Not many Chinese are full of fervent desire for the future, just as farmers cannot predict the harvest and can only resign themselves to fate, even the blood of the wise and the cry of the elite cannot awaken the boundless lifeless wilderness. Everywhere there were water wheels turning slowly, ox carts moving in deep ruts, low grass huts and hungry children. Because of his amazing ability to endure mental and physical suffering, Chinese can "sit motionless in one place for a long time", and this silence of doing nothing can be seen everywhere in the streets and villages, and the "numb, dull expression" on the faces of the silent people is "easy to associate with helplessness and despair". This ancient country has been like a terminally ill old man, wandering in the eternal sunrise and sunset.
A country that is in decline and backward cannot build a strong army.
According to the records of the Japanese Army, in July 1937, when the Sino-Japanese War began, Japan had a total of 4,481,000 soldiers, including 1,997,000 combat soldiers. Except for the 11 divisions stationed in the country, the rest are the Korean Army, the Kwantung Army, the Taiwan Army and the Chinese Garrison Army. Its strength is:
Chinese Garrison: A mixed brigade and the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 12th divisions of the Kwantung Army.
Kwantung Army: In addition to the 1st, 2nd, 4th and 12th Divisions, there are 1st and 11th Independent Mixed Brigades, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th Independent Garrisons, 1st, 3rd and 4th Cavalry Brigades, 4th Independent Mountain Artillery Wing, 9th Field Heavy Artillery Wing, 12th Anti-aircraft Artillery Wing, Flight Group Command, 10th, 11th, 12th, 15th and 16th Flying Wings, Railway Line District Command, 3rd Railway Wing, 3rd Telecommunications Wing, 1st and 2nd Automobile Wing, Survey Unit, epidemic prevention team, military horse epidemic prevention factory, field weapons factory, field aviation factory, temporary military court, junior officer candidate, Lushun fortress headquarters, gendarmerie, army hospital and army warehouse, etc. In addition, the divisions and regiments of the Kwantung Army still have troops left behind in the country, including two infantry brigades and regiments and cavalry, field artillery, engineering wings, signal teams, and heavy units, totaling more than 10,500 people.
Korean Army: 19th and 20th Divisions, in addition to fortified headquarters, hospitals, warehouses and other units.
Taiwan Army: Taiwan Garrison Command, 1st and 2nd Infantry Wings, Mountain Artillery Wing, Heavy Artillery Wing, Anti-aircraft Artillery Unit, Keelung and Penghu Fortress Headquarters, Army Hospital and other units.
The Japanese Army Air Force Command is located in Tokyo, with the first, second, and third flight regiments and directly subordinate units, which are stationed in mainland Japan, Taiwan, and North Korea.
The Japanese Army's units on home are the Guards Division, the 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, 14th, and 16th Divisions, making a total of eleven divisions.
The "division" structure of the Japanese Army is unique in the world, and it is actually a joint combat unit of various arms. Since the Meiji era, the Japanese Army has maintained the following "divisions": two infantry brigades and regiments, one cavalry, artillery, engineers, and heavy army wing, a communications team, a health team, a field hospital, and a small number of logistics units. One of the infantry brigades has two infantry wings, one infantry wing has three infantry brigades, and one infantry brigade has four infantry squadrons. Thus, a Japanese Army division with a standing forty-eight infantry squadrons. And the number of troops of each division is different from period to period, and peacetime is also different from wartime. At the time of the "918" incident in 1931, the strength of the Japanese army divisions was 13,000 in peacetime and 18,000 in wartime; At the time of the Lugou Bridge Incident in 1937, the strength of the Japanese Army Division was 15,000 in peacetime and more than 20,000 in wartime.
Japan was the first Asian country to introduce a modern conscription system, and the law stipulates that all men between the ages of 17 and 40 must perform military service. In July 1937, in addition to the 380,000 officers and men on active duty, Japan still had 738,000 reserve soldiers, 879,000 reserve soldiers, 1,579,000 first supplementary soldiers, and 905,050 second supplementary soldiers. Japan's total population is about 105 million, and its military service system means that the Japanese army can mobilize up to 10 million troops when required by war.
And China did not begin to reorganize its army until a year before the outbreak of war. The plan of the Military Affairs Department of the Military Commission of the National Government was to complete the establishment of 60 readjusted divisions in 1938. The adjusted army divisions were divided into two types: A and B:
A division has two brigades and four regiments under its jurisdiction, and divisions with three regiments have no brigade headquarters. There is one cavalry company directly under the division headquarters, one artillery, one engineer, one communications and one heavy battalion each, and one each of the medical unit and special agent company. The A Division is the main force of the Army.
B divisions, each with two brigades and four regiments. The division headquarters directly administers a cavalry company, an artillery battalion and a communications company, a radio platoon, a special services company, and a hospital. The B Division is an army reserve.
In July 1937, the Chinese Army was organized into 49 corps, 182 infantry divisions and 46 independent brigades, nine cavalry divisions and 6 independent brigades, four artillery brigades and 20 independent regiments, and a small number of special forces, with a total strength of more than 1.7 million troops. However, this is only the number of establishments, and the army strength expected to be truly operational at the beginning of the operation is: eighty infantry divisions, nine separate brigades, nine cavalry divisions, two artillery brigades and sixteen independent regiments, and the total strength is less than one million.
Because the conscription system practiced in its long history is deeply rooted, it has not been implemented since China promulgated the Military Service Law in 1933. The conscription system continued in China from the fifth dynasty of the Tang dynasty to the Qing Dynasty, and even when Yuan Shikai formed a new army at the end of the Qing Dynasty, the soldiers still came from the conscription system. What is not about the conscription system is that conscription is recruitment and conscription, and the number of recruits is beyond the control of the recruiter. In March 1936, the National Government imposed the Military Service Law, which means that all citizens who meet the standards according to national laws and regulations have the obligation to perform military service, but in practice it still becomes recruitment and conscription. Therefore, the Chinese army has no reserves, and the reserve source is only 500,000 strong men trained at the end of 1936. - In the long war against Japan, China often found itself in an unsustainable dilemma in terms of troop mobilization, which is really strange for a populous country.
In terms of weapons and equipment, the Chinese army is also far from the Japanese army.
A division of the Japanese Army compared with a division of the Chinese Army: various guns, 9,476 Japanese divisions and 3,831 Chinese divisions; grenade canisters, 576 Japanese divisions, 243 Chinese divisions; light machine guns, 541 in the Japanese division and 274 in the Chinese division; heavy machine guns, one hundred and four Japanese divisions, fifty-four Chinese divisions; Yeshan guns, sixty-four guns of the Japanese division and twelve guns of the Chinese division; Infantry guns, forty-four Japanese divisions and thirty Chinese divisions. - The above are only conventional weapons, not counting the thousands of special combat vehicles and dozens of tanks owned by Japanese divisions. As far as the actual situation of the battle is concerned, the Japanese army is not only equipped with a large number of special forces, but also fully supported by the air force and navy.
In 1937, the Japanese Navy ranked third in the world after Britain and the United States. At the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese Navy had already commissioned combat and auxiliary ships: four aircraft carriers, nine capital battleships, twelve heavy cruisers, twenty-one light cruisers, one hundred and two destroyers, fifty-nine submarines, one practice battleship, two seaplane carriers, five diving carriers, six minelayers, seven coastal defense ships, ten gunboats, eight mine ships, twelve minesweepers, as well as repair ships, transport ships, special agent ships, survey ships, minelayers, and submarine hunting ships, totaling 285 ships. The total displacement reached 1,153,000 tons. In addition, two capital ships, two aircraft carriers, four light cruisers, twelve destroyers, three seaplane carriers, four mine ships, etc. are still under construction, and they will soon be put into battle sequence.
On the eve of the Sino-Japanese war, the Chinese Navy had more than 120 ships of various types, all of which were small ships, with a total displacement of only 110,000 tons. Even so, there are only about 60 ships that can actually be put into operation, with a total displacement of about 60,000 tons, less than one-twentieth of the Japanese Navy. The ships of the Chinese Navy are not only small but also old, and the largest cruiser, the Haiqi, was purchased from Britain by the Beiyang Navy in the 22nd year of Guangxu, that is, in 1896; The best-equipped cruiser was the Haichen, second only to the Haiqi, which was also purchased from Germany by the Beiyang Navy of the Great Qing Dynasty in 1898, with a displacement of only 2,950 tons, a speed of 19 knots per hour, and three 15-centimeter naval guns, eight 10.5-centimeter naval guns, four 4.7-centimeter naval guns, and one 37-centimeter four-burst torpedo tube. At this time, the conventional cruisers owned by the Japanese Navy, all with a displacement of more than 13,000 tons, a speed of more than 61 kilometers per hour, were generally equipped with 10 20 cm naval guns, 16 12.7 cm naval guns, and 4 61 cm four-shot torpedo tubes. In this way, it is conceivable what the situation of the war will be once the capital ship of the Chinese Navy encounters the capital ship of the Japanese Navy.
Japan does not have an independent air force, aviation is subordinate to the army and navy. The Army Aviation has fifty-four flying squadrons, including twenty-two fighter squadrons, each with twelve common fighters and eight reserve fighters; six squadrons of light bombers, each with nine common bombers and six spare bombers; There were eight heavy bomber squadrons, each with six regular bombers and four spare bombers. In addition, there are fifteen reconnaissance aircraft squadrons and three mixed bombing and reconnaissance squadrons, each with the same number of aircraft as fighter squadrons. In total, the Japanese Army Aviation has about 960 combat aircraft of various kinds. In addition, there are hundreds of transport, training and research aircraft.
The Chinese Air Force nominally has more than 600 aircraft of various kinds, but only 305 aircraft can participate in the war. These aircraft were purchased from the United States, Germany, Britain, France and other countries, and were very unfavorable to combat due to the complexity of aircraft types and difficult maintenance. A small number of domestically produced aircraft are also unusable for a long time due to the dependence on imports of spare parts.
In addition to weapons and equipment, the most important and obvious gap between the Chinese and Japanese armies is the difference in overall quality.
Since the Meiji Restoration, Japan has established a complete modern military command system relying on modern capitalism and a mixed political system unified by the emperor. The military command of the base camp is unified and efficient, and it has absolute authority over the army, navy and air force. The setting of land ministers and maritime ministers in the Japanese cabinet is similar to the joint chiefs of staff of the three services in the United States, and the high concentration of command power makes it quick and convenient to dispatch troops and guide operations. The Japanese army has completely abandoned the ills of the shogunate era and has become a powerful armed force that swore allegiance to the emperor and made "bushido" its spiritual pillar. The basic qualities of Japanese officers and men such as absolute obedience at home, fierceness and tenacity externally, and martyrdom for their own sacrifice made "their spirit of being able to fight battles second to none in the armies of the world," and they were one of the most powerful armed groups in the world at that time.
Due to historical reasons, although the Chinese army is nominally subordinate to the Nationalist government, in fact, the organizational leadership and military command are not unified. There are about 70 divisions directly under the military commission of the Nationalist government, customarily called the "Central Army", of which about 40 divisions come from the National Revolutionary Army formed by students of the Whampoa Military Academy during the first Kuomintang-Communist cooperation, and have been trained under the guidance of German military advisers, with relatively good equipment and high quality of officers and men.
The remaining thirty divisions, all from the collateral units that followed Chiang Kai-shek or were absorbed by Chiang Kai-shek during the Northern Expedition, although they were still called the "Central Army", were relatively poor in terms of weapons and equipment and the quality of officers and soldiers. China's local warlord army is a deformed existence in modern Chinese society. These units are basically the private armies of local warlords, each with its own recruitment, establishment system and munitions system, and weapons are also purchased with their own funds or produced by their own indigenous laws. The warlord troops with abundant financial resources have better weapons and equipment, while the warlord armies with weak financial resources have quite primitive weapons and equipment. In particular, within these warlord units, the malpractice of eating empty quotas and drinking soldiers' blood is commonplace, and some officers and soldiers are infected with such vices as drug addiction, prostitution, and concubinage.
Therefore, when the country was in trouble, although the local warlord troops were willing to resist Japan and save the country, this was ultimately a war between the two countries and not a fight between two provinces. -- In the face of the extremely unified and firm will to fight, the Chinese army "is chaotic in every aspect of organization, training, equipment, and supply." As far as an army is concerned, if the quality of officers and soldiers, combat capability, weapons and equipment, overall coordination, and even unified command are outdated and backward, then when war comes, it will be "unbearable" or fatal.
While recognizing the inevitability of Sino-Japanese war, the Nationalist government also recognized the huge gap between the Chinese army and the Japanese army.
In December 1935, the First Plenary Session of the Fifth Central Committee of the Kuomintang passed the "Outline for Determining the Implementation Plan for National Economic Construction," stating: "In the light of the international situation, which is becoming more and more dangerous, once a war breaks out, marine traffic is cut off, and foreign sources are blocked, all the needs of our people for daily clothing, food, shelter, and transportation will immediately show extreme panic." At that time, there will be no invasion of strong enemies, and I will also collapse on my own due to the social and economic chaos... We should quickly adopt the courageous and decisive determination, adopt the most progressive and effective means, quickly make appropriate preparations, adjust the original organization of production, control social and economic activities, and enable the national economy to become organized and planned activities. ”
The case specifically states in the terms of the plan: "The construction of the national economy should be aimed at the entire nation, and in the current international situation, it is especially necessary to examine the situation of transportation geography in various places, and all the establishment of basic industries and the construction of major projects must be set up in a safe zone in the rear of national defense." The National Government proposed: "It is proposed to make central Hunan, such as Xiangtan, Liling and Hengyang, the central area of the national defense industry, and strive to develop the main resources of southern Hubei, western Ganxi and various parts of Hunan to create a major economic center." ”
The National Government formulated a "three-year heavy industry construction plan". In 1936, the plan allocated $10 million, and in 1937, the year the war broke out, the appropriation soared to $20 million. From 1936 to the first half of 1937, the National Government successively invested in the establishment of more than 20 heavy industry enterprises, mainly including iron ore, iron and steelmaking, non-ferrous metal ore and smelting, coal mines, motor manufacturing, machine manufacturing, etc., and from the perspective of coping with the war, most of these enterprises were scattered in Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Yunnan, Sichuan, and even Qinghai. After the full-scale start of China's war against Japan, most of these enterprises have already started construction, and some have even been put into production, which played an important supporting role in the war to a certain extent.
China does not have its own defense industry, and the few arsenals in the country are scattered among warlords. Especially after the northeast region was occupied by Japan, the only arsenals that the Nationalist government could control were Shanghai, Jinling, Hanyang, and Gongxian. In 1935, the Gongxian Arsenal imitated the German-style Mauser gun, which was named "Zhongzheng" and put into mass production. The Jinling Arsenal was able to imitate the Maxim heavy machine gun. The Hanyang Arsenal could create seventy-five-mm field guns, hundred-mm howitzers and twenty-millimeter anti-aircraft guns. However, until the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, the small variety of products and low output of several arsenals that the Nationalist government could control were a drop in the bucket for a country facing a full-scale war and the country's large army:
Jinling Arsenal: monthly output of 1,800 82-mm mortars, 358 hand-held machine guns, 33 Maxim heavy machine guns;
Shanghai Arsenal: 6 75-mm mountain guns, 2.4 million rounds each of Type 79 machine gun ammunition and Type 65 rifle ammunition per month;
Hanyang Arsenal: monthly output of two 75-mm mountain guns, 4,700 Type 88 rifles, and 35 30-section heavy machine guns;
Gongxian Arsenal: annual output of 50,000 "Zhongzheng" rifles, monthly output of 3,120 first-year rifles, 25 Czech light machine guns;
Hanyang Gunpowder Factory: 30 tons of gunpowder per month.
It cannot be made on its own, only weapons can be imported with limited financial support. Since the military advisers of the Nationalist government were Germans, China imported the most weapons from Germany. Before the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, the tanks, heavy artillery, anti-aircraft guns, machine guns, searchlights, torpedoes, and ships purchased from Germany were equipped with about 300,000 Chinese troops.
The German military adviser reminded Chiang Kai-shek: "The development of a strategic transportation system that could quickly transport troops to critical areas in the event of a Japanese invasion is a priority at present." Chiang Kai-shek immediately sent a military transportation delegation to Europe to investigate and presided over the formulation of a national defense transportation construction plan. By the first half of 1937, the railway projects built by the National Government had successively included: in September 1935, the Tongpu Railway was opened to traffic, opening up the two major trunk lines of Pingsui and Longhai; In April 1936, the section from Zhuzhou to Shaoguan was opened to traffic, and the whole line ran through the Guangdong-Han Railway; In the same year, the Zhejiang-Gan Railway was opened to Nanchang; In July 1927, the Guangzhou-Kowloon Railway and Sujia Line were put into operation; In the first half of 1927, the line east of Baoji to Lianyungang of Longhai Railway was opened to traffic; In the summer of 1937, the section from Nanchang to Zhuzhou was opened to traffic.
At the same time, the Qiantang River Railway Bridge was basically completed. -- The length of China's railways has reached 13,000 kilometers. In one and a half years, the total length of new railways built by the National Government was more than six times that of China's railway construction in the eight years from 1927 to 1935. The Nationalist government also used a large amount of reserve funds to purchase locomotive equipment, and by the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, China Railways had 1,272 locomotives, 16,342 freight cars and 2,416 passenger cars. More than 200 kilometers of military platforms and military turnouts have been added to all important railway lines across the country; The main railway lines also stockpiled railway equipment and fuel that could last more than one year, and built anti-aircraft trenches and basements. However, almost all of China's major railway trunk lines are single-legged, and the track specifications are not uniform, among which the Hangjiang section of Tongpu Road, Zhengtai Road, and Zhejiangan Road is still a narrow gauge that cannot be effectively connected to the rest of the country's railway network.
At the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, China had 109,500 kilometers of highways, of which 43,521 kilometers were paved and 65,979 kilometers were dirt roads. However, even if China's roads are paved, they are mostly gravel, dusty on sunny days, muddy on rainy days, and dirt roads make it difficult for all means of transportation to move. Automobiles were still a novelty in China at that time, and on the huge territory, there were less than 10,000 manned cars and only 13,000 trucks. The serious lack of modern means of transportation directly led to the fact that the speed of the movement of Chinese troops fighting on home was not comparable to that of the Japanese army invading from a foreign country.
Perhaps realizing that it was difficult for the Chinese army to quickly adjust its defenses and make a rapid assault, in accordance with the inertia of Chinese thinking that "soldiers come to block, water to cover the soil", the Nationalist Government spent huge sums of money to build a large number of national defense fortifications along the coast and along the river. Defense fortifications are divided into three types according to their degree of solidity: permanent type made of reinforced concrete, semi-permanent type constructed of railroad tracks and sleepers, and temporary type constructed of simple materials. The distribution of military positions constructed by the Nationalist government at the main locations where it is expected to fight the Japanese in the future is:
1. Shandong District: Weihe, Luxi, Lunan;
2. Jicha District: Beiping, Tianjin, Zhangjiakou, Cangxian, Baoding, Dexian, Shijiazhuang;
3. Henan District: Yubei, Guide, Lanfeng, Kaifeng, Zhengzhou, Gongxian, Luoyang;
4. Xuhai District: Haizhou, Canal, Xuzhou, Bengbu, Huaiyin;
5. Shanxi District: Jindong, Jinbei;
6. Suiyuan District: Suidong and Suibei;
7. Zhejiang District: Shanghai-Hangzhou Line, Ningbo, Wenzhou, Taizhou, Beijing-Hangzhou;
8. Jiangsu District: Beijing-Shanghai Line, Nantong, Nanjing;
9. Fujian District: Longyan, Yanping, Fuzhou, Xiamen;
10. Guangdong District: Chaozhou, Shantou, Leizhou, Qiongzhou, Guangzhou, Huizhou.
On the eve of the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, the first phase of national defense fortifications in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Shandong, Henan, Shaanxi, Suiyuan, and Jicha districts was basically completed. However, the course of the war proved that these heavily expensive fortifications were largely useless, either abandoned by the retreating Chinese army, or unfinished when the enemy came, or completed but unusable "tofu dregs" projects.
The Nationalist government only had one kind of war preparation to start very early, and it really played an important role in future wars, that is, the selection and construction of the large rear. Before the full-scale war began, the Nationalist government realized that as soon as the battle began, the Chinese army, together with the government, was likely to run inland, and where it was appropriate to run had to be planned in advance. In 1934, Chiang Kai-shek sent He Guoguang, chairman of the Military Commission, to Sichuan and supervise the operation and construction of Guizhou, Sichuan, and Yunnan. By the end of 1935, Chiang Kai-shek had clearly defined his purpose of controlling southwest China: "Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou are the base for the rejuvenation of the Republic of China... As long as Sichuan, Yunnan and Qian can be consolidated and unharmed, they will certainly be able to defeat any strong enemy, restore all lost territory, and revive the country. "Unify the three provinces of Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou, which have never been unified, and lay the foundation for the life of our country, as the last base for the rejuvenation of the nation... From then on, not only will China not die in three years, but it will not be able to die in China for 30 years. The construction of bases in the rear of the war by the Nationalist Government solved a life-and-death problem during China's war with Japan.
China's preparedness for war has important and irreversible deficiencies.
But war is already at hand.
At the beginning of 1937, the National Government formulated extremely detailed sets of operational plans, A and B, involving judgment of the enemy's situation, judgment of the enemy's situation, operational guidelines, operational guidance essentials, battle sequence and battlefield distinction, tasks and operations of each corps, aviation and air defense, navy, transportation and communications, military stations, and security. The most important of these is the judgment of the war situation that China will face:
(1) The enemy country has an advantage over us in armaments and all material aspects, and has absolute sea control, and has created a strong base in North China. Therefore, he will adopt an active offensive against our combat policy and hope for a quick victory.
(2) The direction of the enemy's attack is to advance north of the Yellow River from Gubeikou Shanhaiguan through Beiping-Tianjin, along the Pinghan-Jinpu road, towards Zhengzhou-Jinan-Xuzhou, hoping to annihilate our main force. Or oppress the Continental Army to the barren areas of the northwest, hoping to blockade them. Its secondary operations were from Duolun via Zhangjiakou-Suiyuan-Hetao-Datong, and from Beiping via Baoding and Shijiazhuang to Taiyuan and encircle Shanxi. In addition, it will take advantage of its absolute sea control to land from Limb Bay to Haizhou and other places to threaten the flank of our combat army on the north bank of the Yellow River.
(3) The area near Lake Taihu in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River is the most important economic center and capital of the mainland, and the enemy has now formed a considerable base in Shanghai, and will land with powerful troops on this front, cooperate with the navy to attack, hoping to defeat the mainland's will to resist.
(4) In the battle of the two or three two, the enemy's implementation of its fundamental national policy is of great significance. However, the enemy country is accustomed to using force and intimidation to fulfill its demands. If the continent has the will to resist resolutely, it will not be a large-scale armed conflict in the early stage of the outbreak of war in the future, but a local battle will open the curtain.
(5) If the two countries have entered into a formal war, provoking a Russian-Japanese war or a US-Japan war, or even a joint Sino-Russian-British-American war against Japan, the enemy will use the main force of the army and air force to deal with the Russian army, and the main force of the navy to deal with Britain and the United States, and only one force against us.
(6) In the early stages of the Sino-Japanese War and the development of a world war, or the beginning of the Russian-Japanese or US-Japanese wars, the enemy, in order to plunder resources and lay the foundation for warfare, may use the main force to attack the mainland and destroy our ability and will to resist in a short period of time.
(g) All important areas along the coast south of Hangzhou Bay are expected to be attacked only partially to achieve their purpose of disturbance; Only Fuzhou-Xiamen-Shantou in Guangdong and other places can form a defensive line in the China Sea with Taiwan's Ryukyu and Japan's three islands, and the enemy will have the intention of occupying it.
(8) In order to form a powerful encirclement of Russia, the enemy country may assist the puppet bandits to advance from Duolun through Zhangbei-Huade-Guisui-Baotou-Hetao, in order to obtain a basis for seizing Mongolia and Shaanxi and Gansu.
It should be said that the judgment of the national government is accurate.
Even for Japan, although it has launched wars against Pingjin and Songhu in China, the presence of the Soviet Far Eastern Army in the northeast and west of the "Manchukuo" that must be ensured is always a great worry, which makes Japan have to think that this may be "an adventure" when it launches a full-scale war against China: "The Soviet Far Eastern Army (including the Siberian Military District) has twenty-eight blocking divisions, four or five cavalry divisions, six armored brigades, fifteen hundred aircraft, and ten divisions of Mongol cavalry. During the war, the strength of the Far East army amounted to thirty-one to fifty divisions. Therefore, even in the summer of 1937, Japan still thought about the question of a quick victory, and Prime Minister Fumihiro Konoe raised to the military a puzzle that the Japanese had not been able to solve even in the long war that followed: "Where exactly can Chiang Kai-shek surrender?" The ongoing war in Songhu is far from "progressing" as the Japanese envisioned.
More importantly, China has mobilized all its forces to prepare for war. Therefore, the Japanese believe that it is necessary to "rely on the exercise of necessary strength to clean up the situation" and "must inflict a thorough blow on the Chinese army so that it loses its will to fight." - Tada Jun, who has been promoted from commander of the Chinese garrison to deputy chief of staff, had a premonition at a meeting at the staff headquarters: "This incident and war will last for a long time. ”
On 12 August, the Standing Committee of the Kuomintang Central Committee held an extraordinary meeting and decided to establish the Supreme Council of National Defense as the highest leading organ of the Party, government, and military in wartime. This body was chaired by Chiang Kai-shek, chairman of the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government, and Wang Jingwei, chairman of the Political Committee of the Kuomintang Central Committee, as vice chairman. The meeting also decided to form a Chinese base camp, with Chiang Kai-shek as the generalissimo of the navy, land and air, Cheng Qian as the chief of staff, and Bai Chongxi as the deputy chief of staff. China's base camp is a national wartime system, which integrates military, political and economic power to carry out the country's overall war.
The Chinese base camp divides the country into five theaters:
1st Theater: Commander Chiang Kai-shek concurrently, in charge of the First Army, Commander-in-Chief Song Zheyuan; Second Army, Commander-in-Chief Liu Zhi; Fourteenth Army, Commander-in-Chief Wei Lihuang.
Second Theater: Commander Yan Xishan, under the command of the Sixth Army, Commander-in-Chief Yang Aiyuan; Seventh Army, Commander-in-Chief Fu Zuoyi; Reserve army, the commander-in-chief Yan Xishan concurrently serves.
Third Theater: Commander Feng Yuxiang, in charge of the Eighth Army, Commander-in-Chief Zhang Fakui; Ninth Army, Commander-in-Chief Zhang Zhizhong; Tenth Army, Commander-in-Chief Liu Jianxu; Fifteenth Army, Commander-in-Chief Chen Cheng.
Fourth Theater: Commander He Yingqin, in charge of the Fourth Army, Commander-in-Chief Jiang Dingwen; Twelfth Army, Commander-in-Chief Yu Hanmou.
Fifth Theater: Commander Chiang Kai-shek concurrently, in charge of the Third Army, Commander-in-Chief Han Fuyu; Fifth Army, commander-in-chief Gu Zhutong.
The units directly under the command of the Generalissimo and the Chief of Staff were:
1st Reserve Army, Commander Li Zongren;
Second Reserve Army, Commander Liu Xiang;
Third Reserve Army, Commander Long Yun;
Fourth Reserve Army, Commander He Chengjun;
17th Army, Commander-in-Chief Ma Hongkui;
XVIII Army, Commander-in-Chief Zhu De.
Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Chen Shaokuan; Chiang Kai-shek (concurrently), commander-in-chief of the Air Force, and Zhou Zhirou, former commander-in-chief of the Air Force.
Subsequently, the Nationalist Government, in the name of Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, formally issued Directives No. 1, 2, and 3 of the base camp, and on the basis of the two sets of operational plans formulated at the beginning of the year, successively promulgated a series of operational guidance instructions, requiring all troops to "immediately abide by and implement them":
The First Theater: "Near the enemy who should be in front of him, carry out soft attacks to attract its main forces, so that the operations of our Second and Third Theaters can be calmly spread." However, if the enemy forces attempt to fight us in a decisive battle with their true faces, they should resolutely do their utmost to prevent them. ”
The Second Theater: "Break the enemy's usual attempt to encircle and make it dare not boldly launch a frontal attack on our First Theater, and at the same time contain the enemy forces east of the Rehe River, so that they cannot use troops in the operations against Qingdao and Songhu." ”
The third theater: "Quickly invade the enemy, army, navy and air force base areas in Songhu, sweep and extinguish in preparation for the enemy's response when it returns." At the same time, for areas along the coast of Zhejiang where the enemy can land, they quickly form stronghold-type positions to prevent the enemy from landing or take advantage of the opportunity to annihilate them. ”
Fourth Theater: "In addition to disrupting the enemy's sea, land, and air and completing the combat readiness posture, they should be fully prepared to participate in the second phase of operations." ”
The Fifth Theater: "The characteristics of operations in this theater are operations for forcible landing of the enemy, so it is the first meaning of operational guidance to stand in the active position, to take advantage of the preemptive position, and to fundamentally break the enemy's attempt to land." Even if one of the enemy troops lands first, it must be quickly besieged and annihilated, so that the subsequent corps will not use this as a cover for a safe landing. This is the second meaning of operational guidance. When necessary, it should be held within the designated area, absolutely limiting the progress of the enemy, and annihilating it by using mobile forces, so as to ensure the operational connection between the northern and southern battlefields of the Continental Army. ”
Navy: "While carrying out the war in Songhu, it will block the Wusongkou and destroy the enemy ships within the Wusongkou, and absolutely prevent them from passing through the west of Jiangyin, and cooperate with the various fortresses and land forces in the battle." ”
Air Force: "The Air Force should concentrate its main forces to coordinate with the Army to first annihilate the enemy in Songhu (with enemy ships and artillery as the main targets), and then the tasks should be specified separately." ”
The First to Fourth Reserve Forces: "Except as otherwise indicated, each shall be rapidly concentrated in the designated area, and on the basis of the experience of the forward battles in each theater, shall each carry out (if necessary, liaise with the central military schools) appropriate wartime education, and maintain the mobility to respond to battle at any time." ”
The direct subordinate troops are the same as the reserve army.
Rear Service Department: "To meet the requirements of operations in various theaters, complete communication and transportation equipment, and replenish ammunition and equipment." The essentials of accumulation transportation are to disperse the configuration, worry about air covering, avoid the bombing of enemy air forces and artillery, and lose no time in replenishing the front, and consider the material adequacy law of the second phase of the operation. ”
Almost at the same time, Prince Zaihito, Chief of Staff of the Japanese Army, and Prince Fushimi Miyamiya Hiro, Chief of the Naval Command, presented a plan to expand the war against China. In response to the emperor's inquiry, the two governors made a fierce statement on how to make "China lose its will to fight":
1. In order to achieve the goal at an early date, the most anticipated means at present is to destroy the most outstanding aviation force of the enemy's army with naval aviation, and repeatedly attack its important military installations, munitions industrial centers, and political centers, so as to make the enemy's army and citizens lose their will to fight. To do this, it is necessary to quickly seize the land air base near Shanghai. 2. The above measures alone cannot guarantee the achievement of the objective, so it is necessary to be mentally prepared for the fact that the war situation will be considerably prolonged, so as to continue or re-implement the following measures: (1) On the North China side, it is necessary to ensure the stability of the Pingjin area and the predominantly occupied areas around it, and at the same time to deal blows to the Chinese Central Army that is trying to take an offensive against us, so that it loses its self-confidence in resisting Japan. (2) Ensure that Shanghai loses its function as an economic center. (c) Resolutely impose a blockade of China's coastal areas at an appropriate time in order to threaten the survival of the Chinese people and armed forces and to cut off foreign economic activities.
On August 24, the Japanese cabinet held a meeting and decided to replace the emperor's official declaration of war in the form of an edict for the opening ceremony of the Imperial Diet - no matter what form is used, this edict of the Japanese emperor is equivalent to Japan having declared war on China:
Relying on the cooperation of the Empire and the Republic of China to ensure stability in Asia for common prosperity is something that cannot be forgotten day and night. The Republic of China did not understand the true meaning of the empire and wantonly created incidents, so that today's events occurred. I deeply regret this. The soldiers of Jinxi are exerting their loyalty against all odds, just to promote the awakening of the Republic of China and quickly establish peace in East Asia, and there is no other intention. It is hoped that the subjects of the empire will cooperate with today's situation, be loyal to the public, and work together to achieve the desired goal.
What is the "desired purpose"?
On September 3, Japan convened the 72nd Imperial Diet and, in addition to officially issuing the edict of the opening ceremony, decided to "establish a wartime system that is unified throughout the country." Japanese Prime Minister Fumihiro Konoe issued a policy address in which he clearly answered what Japan's "desired purpose" was: "The means that Japan should adopt today is to deal as quickly and completely as possible to the Chinese army, so that it loses the will to fight." However, if this aspect does not awaken and continues to resist stubbornly, Japan will not be able to fight for a long time. ”
In September 1937, both Japan, which had premeditated for a long time, and China, which was still preparing, had already expressed a tough stand.
The Japanese say that China must be quickly and completely deprived of the will to fight.
Chinese said that China's indomitable will must be used to defeat the powerful aggressor.
Chinese also knew that in the face of this war, this land would suffer unpredictable disasters and pains.
"Kou Shen! Woe to the day! ”
Chinese is a people who believe in the gods of their ancestors. Whenever they feel that disaster is coming, Chinese expect to be blessed by the gods of their ancestors and pray for courage and strength from their ancestors. The Chinese communists Mao Zedong and Zhu De wrote an article to pay homage to the ancestors of the Chinese nation:
Hehe ancestor, Wuhua Zhaozhuo; 冑Yan Qimian, Yue He Hao. Wise and wise, the light is deserted; Build this great cause, stand majestically in the East. The world has changed and the middle has fallen; The more thousands of years, the stronger the neighbor despises virtue. Ryutai does not guard, and Sanhan is the ruin; Liao Haiyan Ji, how many traitors! If the enemy is defeated by the land, the enemy will not be enough; Man holds the rope, I am a slave. Yi Wei my ancestor, the hero of the world, Zhulu fights, and Ou Yu Yining. If they are not martial, they will be determined to be a big country and let them fall into ruins. The east is not talented, the sword is vigorous, thousands of miles are rugged, and serve the country. Years of hard fighting, preparation for adventures, the Xiongnu have not been destroyed, why do you act at home. All parties and all walks of life are united and solid, regardless of military and civilian affairs, rich or poor. The National Front, a recipe for national salvation, 40,000 people, resolutely resisted. Democracy and republic, reform of internal affairs, trillions of trillions and one heart, war will be won. Return my rivers and mountains, defend the right of the continent, this thing and this will, never die. After the army was reorganized, the ancestors were announced, and the truth was present, and the emperor was the queen of heaven. Shang Yi.
The place of worship is on the Loess Plateau on the bank of the Yellow River.
North of the Yellow River, the green yarn tent stretches endlessly.
In the early autumn of 1937, the ears of grain were full, the sorghum was red, and the devil came.