In 1939, due to the stubborn resistance of the Chinese army due to the pace of aggression of the Japanese army invading China, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression entered a stage of stalemate. But at this time, due to the Kuomintang army on our eighth route army, the New Fourth Army began to suppress. Therefore, our army can only insist on self-reliance, so the superiors of our army, taking into account the reality of backward equipment, insist on fighting guerrilla warfare with the enemy behind the enemy's back, and tunnel warfare has also been derived from long-term operations. The essence of tunnel warfare is to effectively connect the houses in the area where the troops are located, and then play a role in annihilating the enemy inside and outside. These tactics have become the housekeeping skills of our army, and the Japanese army in the battlefield behind the enemy lines has suffered even more. After the Japanese army saw the strength of guerrilla warfare methods and tunnel warfare methods, they began to imitate and study. It was imitated in the Battle for Peleliu Island in the Pacific War to deal with the U.S. army, but the result was so unsatisfactory that it was completely destroyed.
So what's the problem? The weapons and equipment of the Japanese army are obviously far superior to those of our army, and if our army's tactics are used in this case, the results of the battle should be more brilliant, so why has it not achieved the imagined results? New in the small partners, trouble point a point to pay attention to praise, so that both good past wonderful, but also can see the timely content update, your support is our greatest motivation. Well, let's move on.
The deep cause of the Japanese defeat
In fact, according to relevant historical records, the Japanese army invading China once used our army's tunnel tactics in the Pacific War, and was able to do its best to drag down the US army, but there were two main reasons for the fiasco.
Figure | our army's tunnel warfare restoration map
The first is that the Japanese army has limited resources and cannot meet the needs of combat readiness. Specifically speaking, this reason is that the reason why our army won the victory by using guerrilla warfare methods and tunnel warfare methods was because our army fully considered the actual situation at that time.
The senior generals of our army once said that guerrilla warfare methods can only be carried out extensively in order to cause the enemy to fall into a quagmire. Restlessness, restlessness, inability to hear and ears, and insensitivity to the hands and siblings create conditions and opportunities conducive to sports warfare. This method of warfare was determined according to the local environment at that time.
Pictured| militia in tunnel warfare
In other words, our army's guerrilla tactics are based on the premise of mobilizing the masses and establishing non-governmental organizations. In this way, the effect of mutual cooperation between the military and the people can be fully achieved, which is fundamentally different from the Japanese army's guerrilla warfare method and tunnel warfare.
It was concretely embodied in the guerrilla tactics used by our army at that time, which were in familiar base areas, where there were not only topographical advantages, but more importantly, a broad mass base. Having a mass base means having plenty of food and grass, as well as cover. As an aggressor, the Japanese army naturally did not have enough grain and grass.
Pictured| the U.S.-Japan Pacific War
The main place where the Japanese and Americans fought in the Pacific Theater was the island, and the difference with the land operation was that it was difficult to obtain sufficient supplies in a closed environment. In addition, the strength of the US Navy is far stronger than the Japanese Navy, and what is more fatal is that the logistics have been hit by the US military. More importantly, the Pacific War was essentially a war of attrition.
The United States had an unmatched logistical advantage over Japan, and in this case, the logistics of the Japanese army would be more affected. Moreover, in combat, the transportation lines of the Japanese army in maritime operations were often bombed by the US army, so the tactics that were originally attrition of the enemy became the tactics of consuming themselves.
Figure | our army and the masses of the people
In addition, a more important reason is that the disparity in national strength between Japan and the United States is very large. In the War of Resistance Against Japan, although at that time Japan's national strength was crushing on our country. But Japan is essentially an industrial country that lacks resources, and the longer the front line is stretched, the greater the economic impact on Japan. It can be said that before and after the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Japanese army had long been caught in the quagmire of the Chinese battlefield.
Battle of the U.S.-Japan Peleliu Island
However, at that time, the US military did not have such a situation, the United States had a lot of resources, coupled with a just battle, so it was a completely dimensional reduction strike on the Japanese army. The most typical of these is the Battle of Peliliu Island in the Pacific War, which is of high strategic importance in the war, because once it is taken, it means that there is a springboard for the Us army to retake the Philippines.
Pictured| the Battle for the Island of Peleliu
Before the Battle of Peleliu, the Japanese had already suffered crushing defeats in Midway and solomon's islands. By 1944, the japanese army's elite army, army and air force had been lost. Therefore, before this battle, the Japanese army began to analyze the characteristics of the American army.
At that time, the Japanese side naturally knew that its strength had been attacked, and considered the strong industrial and material base of the Us army. Therefore, it is intended to take advantage of the advantages of the island to lure the American troops into the encirclement and fight a war of attrition here. Therefore, the Japanese army had the idea of tunnel warfare, because the terrain of the island was complex, plus there were underground passages and interconnected bunkers.
Pictured| Japanese bunker
Moreover, in addition, the Japanese army also set up a very tight firepower layer outside the bunker, in fact, according to this deployment, it is an enhanced version of our army's tunnel warfare. Logically, the Japanese army did not dare to say that it could defeat the US army, at least it could delay the progress of the US army. But the reality was always unsatisfactory, and the U.S. military initially deployed superior warships as before landing, and air forces carried out three days of bombardment.
Subsequently, the ground troops swaggered into the landing battle, but the landing force searched for half a day and did not find the Japanese figure. But the Japanese hiding in the tunnels were staring at them until a few days after the American landings, and the fighting began.
Figure | the purpose of our army's guerrilla tactics
The Japanese army took advantage of the prepared terrain to launch an attack on the US troops, and they followed the guerrilla tactics of our army in which the enemy advanced and retreated, and the enemy retreated and disturbed us, and indeed made the US army suffer a lot in the early stage of the battle. This forced the U.S. military to only let the army and air force join forces to fight, first allowing the air force to guide the fire superiority to continue the attack, and then letting the ground forces take the advantage of flames. Under such an attacking side, the U.S. army barely occupied a few fire points.
But after all, there is a big gap between Japan and the US military in terms of weapons and equipment and logistics, and in the two battles, the Japanese army gradually loses its original advantage. In the end, all the troops died on this island, in fact, to sum up this battle, the Japanese army still lost in the war of attrition.
Pictured| U.S. combat troops
In fact, in October, the casualties of the US 1st Marine Division reached 60% of the entire unit, and then the US 81st Division landed. Under the continuous flow of personnel and logistics supplies of the US army, the Japanese army was completely defeated in combat. Although the Japanese army still ended in failure in this battle, at least the US military could see the effect of the tunnel method of warfare. And let the US military no longer dare to carry out landing operations without authorization in subsequent operations.
It is also worth mentioning that the battle on Peleliu Island actually lasted until 1947. Because there are many caves on the island, the U.S. army has been sweeping here for a long time, and the remaining 34 Japanese troops have been fighting here for up to two years. It was only after the U.S. military told them that the Japanese army had reported the war report that these Japanese troops chose to lay down their weapons and surrender. Judging from this incident, the Japanese army imitated our army's tunnel warfare and guerrilla warfare methods, and although it achieved unexpected results, it was defeated because of the lack of supplies. Our army's guerrilla tactics and tunnel tactics not only affected the Japanese army invading China, but also remained a compulsory course for the US military to this day.
The Japanese on Iwo Jima used tunnel warfare to inflict heavy losses on the U.S. army
Although the Japanese lost the battle on Peleliu Island, in fact, in the late stages of World War II, they only wanted to do the last of their strength to inflict the greatest damage on the American army. In the well-known Battle of Iwo Jima, the Japanese army even inflicted huge casualties on the US army by relying on our army's guerrilla tactics and tunnel warfare.
Pictured | Tadamichi Kuribayashi
At the same time, it was precisely because of the huge losses suffered in this operation that the United States had to use atomic bombs to end the battle. During the Battle of Iwo Jima, the commander of the Japanese army was Tadamichi Kuribayashi. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in China, this person was also a commander stationed in the Battlefield of China. Although he was stationed in inner Mongolia as a cavalry commander at the time. But since then, Tadamichi Kuribayashi has taken a huge interest in our army's tunnel warfare and guerrilla warfare methods.
During the Pacific War, Tadamichi Kuribayashi was ordered to be mobilized to fight the U.S. forces. In 1944, Tadamichi Kuribayashi was ordered to lead more than 20,000 Japanese troops to resist here on Iwo Jima. This Japanese army was no longer the elite unit of the past, so he thought of the guerrilla warfare and tunnel warfare he had learned on the battlefield in China, and began to order the troops to dig through the underground of Iwo Jima.
Pictured| U.S. troops on Iwo Jima
Therefore, after the war, this group of Japanese troops was not attacked by American artillery. However, when the U.S. military occupied Iwo Jima, it was found that the island was full of Japanese bunkers, which made the U.S. military suffer a great price for taking a step forward.
As a result, the U.S. military originally thought that it could take Iwo Jima in seven days, but it took a month before and after. This operation was one of the few battles in the entire Pacific War in which the number of American casualties was higher than that of the Japanese. This caused a great psychological shadow for the US army, but the defeat of the Japanese army was already an inevitable thing. As I said at the beginning, the fundamental reason why our army was able to succeed in using tunnel warfare and guerrilla warfare methods was that it had a broad mass base. As one article recorded, our army was able to move very quickly on mountain roads and was skilled in using surprise attacks, assaults, night battles, and ambushes. The fundamental reason for this is that our army has a wide range of people as a cover and can understand the actions of the Japanese army in a timely manner. In addition, the officers and men of our army are very familiar with the geographical environment.
The greatest feature of our army's guerrilla tactics and tunnel tactics is that they are adapted to local conditions, and this is a prerequisite that the Japanese army cannot obtain no matter what. The eight-year War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression has tempered our army's guerrilla tactics and tunnel tactics, and the three-year War of Liberation has enabled our army to train the ability of large corps to fight. These were brought into full play in the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, because at that time our army gained the same firepower as the Japanese army and a single soldier quality similar to that of the Japanese army. But our army has shown the US military a real guerrilla warfare method, and it has caused greater strike effects.