Although he also attaches great importance to the opponent he is facing, who defeated the Kwantung Army last year, but for Hisao Tani, he attaches great importance to it, but he does not take it too seriously. In his opinion, the enemy's combat effectiveness It is indeed fierce and well-equipped. In terms of equipment, it even exceeds the troops of the Kwantung Army scheduled to participate in the war.
But they made a big mistake throughout Western Manchuria, that is, the deployment of their troops was too dispersed. Although the number of tanks they deployed in Western Manchuria almost exceeded that of the entire Kwantung Army, for Hisao Tani, it was I don't think this is a serious threat.
Because their huge tank clusters were artificially divided into Linxi and Tongliao, which are not connected to each other, they left a huge gap in the middle for them to exploit. At the same time, even if the troops of Linxi and Tongliao were added to At the same time, it was less than the total strength of the Kwantung Army used for counterattack.
Their overly huge appetite and desire to seize everything allowed them to disperse their troops, which they did not have an advantage in. This situation was undoubtedly very conducive to the Kwantung Army defeating them one by one. Regarding the Kwantung Army's combat effectiveness, although they had fought consecutively before Although he was defeated, Hisao Tani was undoubtedly quite confident.
In his view, the previous defeat was not that the Kwantung Army's combat effectiveness had declined, but that a series of errors in command, coupled with the frontline commander's underestimation of the enemy and major errors in intelligence collection, led to last year's battle. The defeat was definitely not that the Anti-Japanese Alliance really surpassed the Kwantung Army in terms of strength and combat effectiveness.
Hisao Tani believes that he should be more cautious and try his best to avoid the tendency of underestimating the enemy's advance. As long as the battlefield in Xinjing can really hold back most of the anti-alliance forces as Commander Umezu Yoshijiro and Chief of Staff Yoshimoto Sadichi promised. , making it impossible for Western aid, then judging from the comparison of the enemy's and our own forces, our chances of winning are still very high.
Moreover, their huge tank cluster on the Linxi front line and the 51st Division in the north are still resisting tenaciously and restraining a considerable part of their troops in Nanxing'an. On the Tongliao battlefield, they are currently in a stalemate and are cut off from Tongliao. Under the circumstances of the North, it almost formed a situation of intruding alone.
The tank cluster in Qilinxi has not only become a lone intrusion, but its actual supply line is far from being opened. The supply of oil and ammunition required by the large tank cluster can only rely on extremely unreliable air transportation. The supply capacity of air transportation is somewhat too insignificant for a huge tank group.
For the Kwantung Army, this is undoubtedly a huge weakness that can be exploited. Hisao Tani is quite scornful of the air transport capabilities of the Anti-Japanese Alliance. According to his understanding, even the Japanese army, which has its own fairly strong aviation foundation, is not like this. The large air transport capacity can meet all the supplies required by a mechanized group consisting of a tank and a large number of infantry.
What's more, the Anti-Japanese Alliance can only rely on imported aircraft and fuel for air transportation. In addition, the current transportation capacity of the transport aircraft is only a few tons. With their poor air transportation capabilities, even if all transport aircraft are mobilized to the Western Manchuria battlefield, I am afraid that All the transportation capacity added together may only be a drop in the bucket for the needs of a mechanized cluster.
Although he is not a tank commander, as someone who has used a large number of tanks on the battlefields of North China and Central China, and who has a large number of staff who know how to use tanks around him, for the Anti-Japanese Alliance on the Linxi battlefield, There is still a rough estimate of the amount of fuel a tank needs every day.
Tens of thousands of people must eat horse chews, guns and ammunition, and the small amount of supplies transported by air alone may not be enough. Coupled with the fierce fighting during this period, according to their current firepower configuration and standards, I'm afraid there is no doubt that various materials are in short supply, but this is a very rare opportunity for the Kwantung Army.
As long as the Kwantung Army takes advantage of the gap left between the enemy forces in Linxi and Tongliao, join the Tongliao battlefield with one force, and cooperate with the Tongliao defenders to block the Tongliao enemies on the periphery of Tongliao, and completely cut off the resistance between the two places. In order to strengthen the connection between the alliance and the alliance, a division force was used to launch a forcible assault from the Kangping line to Shuangshan, cutting off the communication between the enemy forces in Tongliao and those in other directions.
The entire Western Manchurian resistance force can be divided into three non-connected parts. At the same time, more than three divisions can be used to form a pincer offensive from the front and the northern flank. Concentrate the troops to attack first and become a lone army. Although Linxi's enemy has sophisticated equipment, it lacks supplies.
On the one hand, they had suffered heavy casualties after many days of fierce fighting, were stranded, and were short of supplies. On the other hand, they had been recharging their strength for a long time and had a complete organization and equipment. In the battle of Linxi, even if they could not completely annihilate the enemy forces in Linxi, they could still be severely damaged or defeated. According to Hisao Tani, there is no problem.
Once the enemy in Linxi is annihilated first, he will be free to turn to Tongliao. Although the resistance alliance between Tongliao and Linxi seems to complement each other on the battlefield, as long as one of them is defeated, the remaining one will not be enough. Fear, as long as these two groups of anti-alliance forces are eliminated, the overall situation of the war in Western Manchuria will be decided.
Once the enemy in Western Manchuria, which has concentrated most of their current heavy equipment, is defeated or severely damaged, it means that the entire resistance alliance has lost its offensive power without a large amount of external assistance. As for the next step of the Kwantung Army Or how the base camp decides, whether to sweep across the so-called base areas of the Anti-Japanese Alliance north of the Songhua River in one go, or whether to temporarily recuperate and recuperate, that is what the higher-ups want. Anyway, they have accomplished a great job.
It's not that Hisao Tani is careless or looks down on his current opponent. He is quite concerned about whether his butt can be secure in this comeback. He knows that if he fails in this battle, it does not necessarily mean that the Kwantung Army will be in trouble throughout the entire battle. The end of Manchuria's rule, but it means that the Kwantung Army's situation on the entire Manchurian battlefield will be completely passive, and it will be difficult to turn around.
From now on, the Kwantung Army will no longer be able to exterminate this bandit. The most important thing is that once this battle is lost, it will not only shake the Kwantung Army's rule in Manchuria, but more dangerously, it will affect the empire. Once Manchuria, which was hailed as the lifeline of the entire strategic landscape and supported half of Japan's military industry that maintained the war, was lost, what it would mean for Japan as a whole, Hisao Tani knew better.
During this battle, General Umezu Yoshijiro not only called the base camp three times, requesting that he, a lieutenant general who had been transferred to the reserve, be resurrected, but he also trusted him with half of the current Kwantung Army's strength and two-thirds of its heavy artillery and tanks. This shows that General Umezu is full of trust and expectations for himself.
Hisao Tani knew very well that with General Umezu's connections in the army and the holy family members in front of the emperor, as long as he fought this battle well, his future and money would be bright. At his age, he was now serving as the land minister and chief of staff. , the director of education is almost impossible.
But as long as this battle is fought and the Anti-Japanese Alliance is defeated in one fell swoop, it is still possible to become a governor of Korea, governor of Taiwan, or commander of the China Expeditionary Force, a very lucrative position. So after having this idea , although he seems not to care on the surface, in fact he attaches great importance to this battle.
In fact, after he was transferred to the army commander responsible for commanding the entire Western Manchuria war, he conducted a painstaking analysis of the entire war situation. He admitted that the current opponent was not an easy opponent to deal with, but a very difficult bone to crack, and The opponent he is about to face is obviously superior to the Kwantung Army in terms of equipment.
He had been transferred to the reserve force before and was no longer able to receive battle reports. He only really understood the situation in Manchuria before taking office. He did not expect that in just a few short years, the Kwantung Army would be reduced to the size of the Anti-Japanese Alliance, which could only defend the mountains and old forests. Now my body bones are actually so strong.
The number of tanks, aircraft, and heavy artillery almost exceeded that of the Kwantung Army, the largest strategic group of the entire Japanese Army. If they had won the previous battles by chance, then last year's battle was a head-to-head confrontation with the Kwantung Army on the frontal battlefield. In the confrontation, through various strategic means, the final victory was achieved.
This greatly subverted his previous belief that the Imperial Army was absolutely invincible when fighting against the Chinese. At the same time, it also made the veteran general more prudent in his actions, and changed his previous publicity. His character appears to be extremely cautious, trying to get the final word.
Of course, the Kwantung Army Headquarters set aside the Japanese military practice for this battle and directly formulated a combat plan, instead of only being responsible for strategic deployment and guidance and forcing him to execute it. This combat plan has been from formulation to implementation until now. So far, it was the Kwantung Army headquarters that was involved.
He, the army commander responsible for commanding front-line operations, did not take over the final command until the final stage. However, Hisao Tani did not care about the Kwantung Army Headquarters' interference in his actions as the army commander, and he rushed to Manchuria. It only lasts seven days, and this battle will decide the fate of the Kwantung Army and Manchukuo. It would be strange if the Kwantung Army does not pay attention to it. It is precisely because the Kwantung Army attaches so much importance to it that he is more cautious.
However, although he has always been cautious, the superior force in his hands, the Linxi and Tongliao resistance forces, fighting alone, and the long and fragile supply line made him full of confidence in the upcoming counterattack. He believed I will definitely re-enact the scene of landing at Jinshanwei and defeating hundreds of thousands of Chinese troops in Shanghai in this desolate Western Manchuria.
Although Linxi's anti-alliance troops reduced their strength after the 23rd Division's tentative counterattack, and even gave up the strategic point Sunjiayingzi line, which surprised him somewhat, it did not mean that he would postpone any action. , In Hisao Tani’s view, Linxi’s deployment adjustment of the Anti-Japanese Alliance just confirmed their helpless contraction due to excessive losses due to their eagerness for success and lack of follow-up.
Although the main force of the 23rd Division could not hold off Linxi's enemies for too long, with the strength of the 23rd Division and Linxi's solid fortifications, the casualties of the Anti-Union forces in Linxi will definitely not be small. Where did they go? Although there has been no information on the actual casualties of the resistance forces in Linxi, judging from the battle reports of the 23rd Division, the casualties should be about one-third, or even half.
It's not that Hisao Tani 100% believed in all the so-called battle reports of the 23rd Division. In fact, for a veteran like him, if he believed all of these battle reports, there would be something wrong. False reporting of battle results was not a problem in the Japanese army. This has always been a common thing. Although it is not as exaggerated as the Chinese army, it is not uncommon.
Exaggeration is not just a bad habit of the Chinese people. Things like this kind of deception are not uncommon in that country's army. However, Hisao Tani still has deep faith in the combat effectiveness of the Japanese army. In his opinion, Twenty-three Although the battle reports of the division cannot be fully believed, but with a little squeeze of water, the figure of one-third of the enemy's casualties in Linxi can still be believed.