At the end of World War II, the Japanese army, which was at the end of its rope, still fantasized about stubborn resistance, and divided all the land forces into several major theaters, especially in the Chinese theater, and even hoarded two heavy army groups to prepare for the final decisive battle. They were the Chinese Dispatch Army, which defended the landing of American troops on the southeast coast in Guannai and aimed at Lao Chiang and our army at the same time, and the Kwantung Army in the northeast, totaling two general armies.
However, before the decisive battle began, the Japanese army chose to surrender under the double blow of the Soviet Union's attack on the northeast and the domestic mushroom bombs.
So, in this issue, Yutian Jun will come to Guan Gong to fight Qin Qiong and discuss whether the old Jiang Guojun at its peak in 1945 could defeat the 1.8 million Japanese troops on the Chinese battlefield at that time?
National Army VS Japanese Army
The two general armies before the end of the war
It is necessary to understand whether the peak national army or our army can defeat the Japanese army.
First of all, we have to understand these two vicious general armies - the Kwantung Army and the Chinese Dispatch Army.
Let's take a look first, what is the strength of these two general armies?
After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the Kwantung Army was a corps-level unit at the earliest, with several rotating divisions and regiments under its jurisdiction, and the strength was tens of thousands, and it was only before the Nomenkan incident that it was upgraded to the front army, but it was also a unit under the jurisdiction of 2-3 armies, and the strength did not exceed 200,000.
It was not until the outbreak of World War II that the Kwantung Army was upgraded to a general army unit with a peak strength of 750,000 in order to prepare for the start of the war against the Soviet Union in the north and the launch of the Kwantung Special Exercise.
However, with the outbreak of World War II, a large number of elite Japanese Kwantung Army were sent to fight in the South Seas, and in 1944, in order to increase the defense of the homeland, some Kwantung Army divisions also withdrew to the Japanese mainland, resulting in its strength falling again and again.
Before the Soviet attack, the Japanese Kwantung Army could only urgently expand its troops, reaching more than 500,000 troops in 24 divisions and regiments, and if we count the seven divisions and regiments in the direction of the peninsula under its command, the strength of the troops reached its peak of 750,000.
Japanese Kwantung Army
On the other side of the pass, the Chinese dispatch army commanded by the old thief Okamura obviously has more troops.
Before 1939, the Japanese army fighting in China did not have a unified command and deployment, at that time, the Japanese army in Guannai was subordinate to the North China Front in the direction of North China, and the Central China Front in East China and Central China, as well as the 21st Army of the Japanese Army in the Liangguang area, after 1939, in order to coordinate and command the two front armies, the Chinese Dispatch Army was specially established.
After the outbreak of World War II, the South China Front Army (renamed the 21st Army in 1940) in Guangzhou was also included in the Chinese Dispatch Army.
At that time, the Chinese Dispatch Army stationed in Guannai had 2 front armies, 8 armies (including the Mongolian army), 27 divisions and regiments, and a large number of independent brigades and garrisons, totaling 1.04 million people.
The Chinese Dispatch Army in the Guannai
So what is the level of equipment of these 1.8 million Japanese troops?
By 1945, the resources of the Japanese army had long been exhausted, which was more obvious in the reflection of weapons and equipment, with a large number of elite troops going to the South Seas and the Pacific Ocean to feed fish, and even brought a large number of heavy weapons including heavy artillery, so that the Japanese army in the Chinese battlefield compared with the peak period of 1941-1942, dropped by N grades, especially the elite Kwantung Army, which had been emptied, and the equipment level may not even be as good as the national army.
Here's an example
Taking the Japanese army in Kannai as an example, in 1939, the artillery units of the Japanese army, which were mainly permanent divisions, special divisions, and first-class divisions with the number 40 before, were roughly 12 105mm howitzers, 32 75mm mountain guns, 36 75mm field guns, a total of 84 guns, and 24 92 infantry guns.
And in 1945, the Japanese army's first-class division, taking the 47th division as an example, had 24 mountain guns, 4 howitzers, 4 field guns, 18 120mm mortars (wing guns, 1 wing 6), and 18 92 infantry guns, this standard has dropped a lot from before.
At the end of the war, in order to make up for the lack of body guns, the Japanese army prepared a large number of mortars
But even so, the equipment of these 1.8 million Japanese troops should not be underestimated.
In 1945, 750,000 Japanese troops of the Kwantung Army, equipped approximately
"350,000 rifles, 12,000 light and heavy machine guns, 600 aircraft, 160 tanks, and less than 1,800 cannons (including a lot of mortars, according to the ratio of Japanese mortars and barreled guns in this pass is 1:1, some antique fortress guns, and the Japanese army's mountain grenades and cannons used for mobile operations should be about 800)"
It should be noted here that many people on the Internet say that the Kwantung Army has 750,000 and 500,000 rifles is pure nonsense, and the ratio of guns to the Japanese army is actually not high, in fact, not only the Japanese army, but also our army, the 50,000 volunteer ace army to resist US aggression and aid Korea has less than 20,000 submachine guns and rifles, and the Japanese army's 24,000 permanent divisions and regiments have only 9,800 rifles.
The Japanese Kwantung Army, which surrendered, was not ordinarily poorly equipped
On the other side, what about the equipment of the Chinese army?
According to He Yingqin's statistics, after Japan's surrender, the main materials collected by the national army in various places were Japanese troops
"686,000 rifles, 23,000 light machine guns, 7,000 heavy machine guns, and 15,000 grenadiers; in terms of heavy weapons, 4,600 mortars with a caliber of 70 mm or more, 1,000 infantry guns, 2,000 antiaircraft guns, and 600 anti-aircraft guns; and there are quite a few mountain artillery pieces that represent hard core strength, including 1,300 mountain artillery, 600 field artillery, and 520 cannons of howitzers above 105 mm and cannon......s."
In addition, in terms of mobile action warfare, the Japanese army also has
"350 tanks, 150 armoured vehicles, 15,000 trucks, and 2,500 other vehicles3 such as officer cars, tricycles and engineering vehicles",
And the above is the entire armed forces of the Japanese army in the Chinese theater.
A total of 1.8 million people, 980,000 rifles, 42,000 light and heavy machine guns, 500 tanks, and 10,000 artillery pieces, including more than 3,300 mountain howitzers and 5,000 mortars, which are known as heavy artillery.
A 150mm howitzer of the artillery of the Chinese army sent in Kannai
So what will happen to the national army at its peak?
The national army is struggling, and our army is crushed
Dealing with these 1.8 million Japanese troops was actually very difficult for the national army at that time, and even if the national army took the initiative to attack, the chances of victory might be very low, why did Yutian-kun dare to say so.
First of all, let's take a look, what was the strength of the national army before the end of the Anti-Japanese War?
At the beginning of 1945, the total strength of the national army reached 7 million, while the regular army was 5 million, and was divided into 120 armies, 350 divisions, and hundreds of independent brigades and independent regiments.
The elite of the national army
In terms of equipment comparison, in addition to domestic weapons, the national army also has international materials obtained from Britain and the United States, Germany (in the early stage) and the Soviet Union, and the equipment level is acceptable. Among them, the weapons aided by the United States include 1,200 mountain artillery and howitzers, 6,000 light and heavy mortars, 87,000 rifles, 40,000 light and heavy machine guns, 56,000 submachine guns, and 400 rocket launchers against tanks and fortified targets. The Soviet aid supplies consisted of 1,200 heavy artillery, 11,000 light and heavy machine guns, 50,000 rifles, and a large number of aircraft, automobiles, and tanks. In addition, there are British aid materials and supplies purchased by Germany and European countries in the early stage.
In 1945, even with the addition of the Indian Army and the Expeditionary Force, the heavy artillery of the National Army was less than the 3,300 guns of the Japanese Army. However, in addition to heavy artillery, the foreign army has to crush the Japanese army in other equipment, such as machine guns, there are 40,000 US aid materials alone, not to mention that there are a large number of domestically produced Czech light machine guns and Min-24 heavy machine guns in the rear of Chongqing, so in terms of machine guns alone, the number of national troops is conservative more than twice that of the Japanese army.
Heavy artillery units of the National Army
It can be said that in addition to heavy artillery and armored troops, the national army still has an advantage over the Japanese army in the Chinese battlefield, but after all, the base is placed there, and this equipment advantage is diluted by the 5 million army, and it is basically difficult to have an advantage.
And most importantly, before Japan's surrender in 1945, the two sides actually fought each other, but the Nationalist army's record is indescribable.
In 1944, 500,000 Japanese troops, who were short of supplies, went all the way south to launch the Battle of Henan-Xiang-Gui, and were able to defeat 1.5 million national troops. In the Battle of Xuefeng Mountain in 1945, the main forces of the two sides clashed in the Battle of Xiangxi, but the national army occupied an absolute superiority in strength, and there were American planes in the sky to support, but a 116th division escaped in the encirclement of various ace troops, and did not form a comprehensive victory.
Yu Xianggui fought against the Japanese army
As for the competitive state of the national army, the U.S. military did not believe that they could defeat the Japanese army in Guannai, so in the counteroffensive plan in 1945, the national army was only divided into four front armies to attack, the purpose was to drag the Japanese army and let the U.S. army land on the southeast coast.
From this point of view, the U.S. military also believes that the national army does not have the strength to deal with the Japanese army alone, and in addition to the Chinese dispatch army, there are also the 750,000 Kwantung Army in the Chinese battlefield, although the strength is very weak, but it also has the combat effectiveness of 8 regular divisions and regiments, which is quite a plus more than 200,000 people to the dispatch army.
Therefore, before the end of the Anti-Japanese War, the Nationalist Army was not likely to defeat the 1.8 million Japanese troops on the Chinese battlefield.
The Chinese dispatch army that surrendered in the Kannai
So, what about our army during the War of Liberation?
If it is said that our army before the beginning of the Liberation War could not be defeated, you must know that the overall strength of our army in 1946-1947 at the beginning was not as good as the national army that had been disarmed, let alone these two Japanese forces.
But for our army at the peak of the Liberation War, it would be more than enough.
During the War of Liberation, our army was at its peak around 1950, with a total strength of 5.5 million, which was 500,000 more than the national army, but the equipment and combat effectiveness were very different.
Infantry of our army at its peak
The first point is equipment.
By June 1950, our army had captured a total of 54,000 large and small artillery pieces, including 3,400 mountain howitzers, 10,000 mortars above 80mm, 700 heavy mortars, and the rest were 60 artillery and other anti-aircraft guns and anti-aircraft guns. Of course, not all of the artillery captured by our army can be used, and some of these are damaged in battle and cannot be used because of age, but in addition to capturing them, our army also captured and obtained some artillery pieces in the northeast and during the Anti-Japanese War.
According to the records of our army's war history, in October 1949, our army's artillery had a total of 29,000 artillery pieces, including a total of 2,500 mountain and field grenades, and 600 battle defense guns, but at that time there were still southwest, central and southern China and Fujian regions had not yet been liberated.
By August 1950, when the Liberation War was basically over, our army already had 19 independent artillery divisions (each artillery division was counted as 100 guns), and at that time our army still had 60 corps (one army counted 36 mountain artillery), and the number of conservative mountain howitzers was more than 4,000, not to mention other artillery such as mortars.
150mm heavy artillery unit of our army
Therefore, our army is the same as the Japanese army in heavy artillery in artillery, but it has an absolute advantage in mortars and other curved guns, and our army has a complete victory in weapons.
The second point is the quality of the soldiers.
At this point, our army also has an absolute advantage, don't look at the Japanese army of 1.8 million, but the 750,000 Kwantung Army in the northeast is equivalent to the standard of the main force of our army's field army, or even inferior.
The combat effectiveness of the Japanese divisions and regiments in the Guannai was also inferior to that of the main force of our army.
To give an example, in the early days of the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, the US military evaluated the units of the four major field armies of our army that entered the northeast to fight as an example, and the standard for evaluating them was that they were stronger than the Japanese troops in the Pacific. The Japanese army in the Pacific Ocean was stronger than the Chinese army in 1945, so our army won a complete victory in this regard.
The surrendered Japanese army was too far from our army at the peak of the Liberation War
Taking a step back, the Japanese army had a total of 27 divisions and regiments as the main force, and in the early stage of our three fields, there were a total of 16 armies, and the four fields had a total of 12 corps, totaling 28 corps.
What's more, in addition to these two field armies, our army also has troops from the First Field Army, the Second Field Army, and the North China Military Region.
Therefore, in terms of soft power, our army is stronger, what will the Japanese army use to fight our army......
Heavy artillery units of our army
Therefore, if you really have to deal with the Japanese troops on the battlefield in China before the end of World War II, the peak national army is likely to be inferior to the Japanese army, while our army in the heyday of the Liberation War is a complete victory......