First of all, I want to give the conclusion: the Axis powers, except for Italy, are all hard stubble!
Japan's combat effectiveness in World War II must have been very strong. Moreover, compared with the Chinese army at that time, this kind of toughness is not only in military equipment, but also in the will of the fighters, military quality and command level. For example, the top tactics of detouring, interspersing, and encircling these light infantry used by the Volunteers during the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea were used countless times by the Japanese army in the war of aggression against China, and the national army at that time was completely powerless. Taking the Songhu War as an example, under the condition that the frontal attack was not smooth, the Japanese army relied on the absolute superiority of the sea and air to land at Jinshanwei and Wusongkou.
Battle of Songhu
In the face of the interspersed Japanese army, the national army has not had a good way to deal with it. The "Heavenly Furnace Tactics" created by Xue Yue are actually similar to the magnetic tactics used by the US military in the later stages of the Korean War, that is, through limited retreat, the opponent's tactics are interspersed with loss of space, but because of the limited mobility and firepower of the national army, Xue Yue's "Heavenly Furnace Tactics" must rely on favorable terrain and superior forces to be effective. Sure enough, in the Fourth Battle of Changsha, when the number of Japanese troops was higher than that of the national army and the attack surface was deliberately widened, the "Heavenly Furnace Tactics" immediately became ineffective, and a tough situation was formed on the battlefield, and the national army with poor equipment and low quality was quickly defeated. It is worth mentioning that at that time it was already 1944, Japan's defeat was certain, and its military strength had declined significantly. But even so, it is still difficult for the Chinese army to gain the initiative on the frontal battlefield.
Battle of Changsha
In addition to the command, the strength of the Japanese army on the battlefield is also staggering. The famous "Battle of Guanjiayuan" is an example. The number of Okazaki detachment is only more than 500 people, trapped between Guanjiayuan and Liushuyuan, its entrenchment range is less than a kilometer, and the Eighth Route Army besieging this Japanese army has at least 20,000 people, in the face of such a predicament, the collapse of the encircled troops is almost a normal script, but in fact, this Japanese army not only did not collapse, but also carried out stubborn resistance, even if the final commander Okazaki Ken was killed, the troops still did not give up, and most of the combatants broke through in an orderly manner after dawn the next day! This kind of fighting will and fighting quality is terrible!
Guan Jiayuan
And the extreme manifestation of this will to fight is the tunnel tactic. In the struggle for several islands in the Pacific Ocean, in the face of the absolute sea and air superiority of the US military, the Japanese army brought the tunnel tactics into full play. Taking the Battle of Iwo Jima as an example, this island is no more than 8 kilometers long and 4 kilometers wide, and more than 100,000 US troops fought for more than a month, killing 6,800 people and wounding 21,000, while the Japanese army killed 22,000 and captured 1,000. We switched to another battlefield, which was the Battle of Songshan experienced by the Chinese Expeditionary Force, in fact, Songshan is a different kind of tunnel, but the size is much smaller than Iwo Jima. In the battle, almost all of the more than 1,300 Japanese defenders were killed, and the casualties of the national army were as high as more than 7,700, and the casualty ratio reached almost 6:1. You must know that the expeditionary force was the unit with the highest fighting quality and fighting will of the Chinese army at that time, and the fact that it paid so many casualties is enough to prove the gap between the Chinese and Japanese armies at that time.
Chinese Expeditionary Force
However, we must also realize that although the Japanese army in the Pacific theater was extremely tenacious and gave the US military a headache, the Japanese army actually had nothing to deal with effectively against the steel torrent of the Soviet Union. There are two reasons for this: 1. Japan is an island country, and its military trend must be "sea first and then land", and in addition, the strength of its army in East Asia is sufficient, so the degree of mechanization of its army is far inferior to that of the Soviet Union, which did not have an ice-free port outlet to the sea. 2. The Japanese Army did not face up to the military modernization of the Soviet Union from the 30s, and always linked the Soviet Union with Tsarist Russia, which was defeated by itself, and the most direct example was the fiasco of the Japanese army being crushed by the Soviet armored forces in the Battle of Normenhan, and there was no way to fight back.
Battle of Normenheim
Comparing the wars around the world after World War II, it is not difficult for us to come to the conclusion that due to the long-term development and tactical planning of the US military against Soviet-style weapons, its combat effectiveness is extremely threatening to the Soviet Union (Russia), such as the Gulf War, and the devastating attack on Iraq's air and ground forces is actually a complete victory over Soviet-style weapons and Soviet-style large-depth tactics. Another example is the attack of NATO-standard weapons on Russia's mobile armored forces in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, which is actually the battlefield embodiment of the individual combat mode designed by many NATO countries against the Soviet Union (Russia) steel torrent for half a century. But for flexible tactics, whether it was Japan in World War II, China in the Korean War, or Vietnam in the Vietnam War...... The US army is a bit clumsy, and although it occupies absolute superiority on the battlefield, it is difficult to quickly turn it into a victory! From this point of view, the Japanese army's combat strength was placed in World War II, and in the Pacific Rim region, it was left to the US military to slowly get it done! On the Chinese battlefield, containing Japan's military strength was the main issue, and with the strength of the Chinese army at that time, it was difficult to push the Japanese army backwards on its own.
American
At the end of the article, let's talk about some topics outside the battlefield. I can understand the reason why the Japanese army looks very stupid in some dramas of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, because ugliness is necessary! But in fact, there is sometimes a thin line between "deification" and "ugliness"! Those plots that are "deified" sometimes do not make the ancestors shine, but instead have the opposite effect of "scandalizing." You must know that during the Anti-Japanese War, the tiger and wolf divisions faced by the Chinese army on all fronts could never be as joking as in the film and television dramas, and I can also conclude that if there is another war in the future, Japan's combat effectiveness will not be so weak that we press the ground and rub it repeatedly. Looking at the pride of "winning the war" in the Qing Dynasty before the First Sino-Japanese War, do you feel sad and ridiculous today?
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