Chapter 37: It is a good plaster that can pull out pus
When the American and British military delegations visited prisoner-of-war camps and residential areas where expatriates concentrated, they once protested against the manual labor performed by these Japanese prisoners of war. They believed that the Anti-Japanese Alliance's move violated the Geneva Convention and asked the Anti-Japanese Alliance to address the issue of the treatment of prisoners of war. , accept the supervision of the International Red Cross.
In response to the protests from the United States and Britain, Yang Zhen had only one sentence waiting for them. Yang Zhen clearly told them that the Anti-Japanese Alliance, which was still in the development stage, did not have so many idle resources to feed these idle prisoners of war. They needed to work. In exchange for their necessary living supplies.
As for the supervision of the International Red Cross, as long as the Japanese army also accepts the organization's supervision of Chinese prisoners of war captured by the Japanese army, the Anti-Japanese Federation will have no problem. If the Japanese army refuses the supervision of the Red Cross, then the Anti-Japanese Federation has no obligation to unilaterally agree to accept it. .
And according to the crimes committed by these Japanese prisoners of war on the land of China, they did not treat the Chinese captured soldiers like they did in Nanjing. Allowing them to engage in manual labor is already preferential treatment. Yang Zhen’s answer, those carefree Americans and British The military representatives were naturally very dissatisfied.
What they didn't expect was that less than two or three months after the Pearl Harbor incident, the Japanese army launched an offensive in Southeast Asia. The hundreds of thousands of American, British and Dutch prisoners of war who were captured were tortured and cruelly treated by the Japanese army to a far greater extent. It exceeded the Anti-Japanese Alliance's standard of treating Japanese prisoners of war as abusive in their eyes.
When the Japanese army attacked India and Australia, they repeatedly used British prisoners of war as human shields, forcing them to walk through minefields and shield themselves from bullets. As for practicing bayoneting, hacking, starvation, beatings, and heavy physical labor, It’s even more commonplace.
In order to build a railway from Burma to India alone, due to poor living conditions, severe shortage of food and medicine, and long-term heavy manual labor, more than 80,000 American, British and Dutch prisoners of war were forced to participate in road construction. The mortality rate was as high as 70%, and the remaining After the completion of the project, they were collectively massacred in order to cover up some secrets of the project.
Under the influence of some black hands, the Pacific War was far more cruel and bloody than the original history. The American and British armies suffered huge casualties, and the captured personnel were extremely abused by the Japanese army. Reciprocal retaliation measures were also adopted against Japanese prisoners of war and Japanese nationals within their respective jurisdictions.
Compared with the Japanese women captured by the Anti-Japanese Alliance, they were only sent to garment factories and knitting factories for labor reform. Pregnant women were not required to engage in physical labor, and were also provided with some additional nutritional products. A number of Japanese schools were also established to accept overseas Chinese. According to the prisoner-of-war policy, when children of school age enter school, their belongings can still be retained.
In the end, the Americans took a much more extreme approach. After the Pearl Harbor incident, the United States immediately stripped the Japanese citizens down to their pants and drove them into concentration camps in the shortest possible time. The U.S. military guards and residents near the concentration camps also Beating these expats has become a daily routine.
Most of the expatriate women, ranging from old ladies in their fifties to children as young as 12 or 13 years old, were raped. There were even concentration camp managers who selected some of the women to open brothels at extremely low prices. , as well as some special gameplay to attract some Americans who have strong patriotism but cannot go to the battlefield to take revenge on the dwarf animals they say are inferior to pigs and dogs.
In other words, if you can't defeat the Japanese on the battlefield, you can go to a brothel to take revenge on a Japanese woman. Although this situation is only an undisclosed secret, this kind of thing is very common in the so-called Japanese custody areas across the United States, and these brothels , the business was quite prosperous throughout World War II, which is similar to the Japanese who captured women and female soldiers from the United States, Britain, the Netherlands, Australia and other countries and used them as military comfort women.
In fact, compared to the way the Japanese treated prisoners of war, and the various retaliatory methods the United States and Britain implemented against Japanese prisoners of war and local Japanese expatriates a few months later in order to retaliate against the Japanese, Yang Zhen has always believed that his current treatment of prisoners of war is almost the same as that of the Japanese. Just like a saint.
Of course, these things are still out of reach for the United States and Britain, which are still claiming to uphold justice. For the Anti-Japanese Alliance, it is an out-of-reach digression. The United States and Britain treat Japanese expatriates and prisoners of war. Yang Zhen doesn't have that much time to worry about the means. As for now, he is more concerned about the issue of replenishing troops.
The potential of soldiers in the old base area has been tapped, and it is really unable to afford a large-scale expansion of the army. The new base area is still mobilizing. Without forced recruitment, it will be difficult to recruit a large number of new soldiers in a short period of time. At the same time, the number of people available for mobilization , also quite limited.
It was quite difficult for him to replenish his own troops. In the Jehol battle, the advancing army suffered nearly 10,000 casualties. He was really a little unsatisfied. If he didn't solve it, he might be labeled as a localist again. , Nowadays, there are many people who are not good at fighting, but they are very good at hating them.
It's okay to say now that if for some reason more than ten years later, some people open up old accounts and slap a big label of departmentalism or mountain-headism on them, Yang Zhenhe, the commander-in-chief, they may not be able to live well in this day and age. It's too good, Yang Zhen doesn't care, but the commander-in-chief and the others don't have the foresight of his own. If they are involved in something that will be just a trivial matter in a few years, but is now a difficult matter, then it is really not a crime. .
And now that the advancing army has actually solved it on its own, this is a good thing in his opinion. Although he still doesn't know how much trouble the mobilization of the advancing army has caused to the Northeast Bureau, in his opinion, no matter what method , as long as it can solve the problem, it is a good method, and anything that can pull out the pus is a good plaster.
With this news, Yang Zhen also started joking after alleviating a certain amount of pressure. After all, for him, the equipment was enough to satisfy most people even if he advanced into the army and changed his equipment. Even if there is still a small gap left, he does not have no solution, but it is a headache for him to replenish the troops.
Regarding Yang Zhen's joking words to express his attitude on this matter, the two coaches hesitated for a moment, and finally nodded. What he said was correct. The most important thing to do now is to seize the time to improve. The military quality of the troops will lay a solid foundation for the next operation and future development. As for the splitting of the troops, we should wait until the battle is over.
To be honest, for these two veterans, it is basically impossible to say that they are not distressed by the fact that almost the best of the two major military regions are now being recruited into the advancing army. , these are the real essence of the two military regions, they are all old bone troops and fist troops, many of them are even the first batch of old troops formed after crossing the Yellow River eastward.
Although now with the support of the Anti-Japanese Alliance, there is no need to worry about weapons and equipment, but those commanders who have been trained for a long time, as well as veterans who have survived hundreds of battles, will have no place to replenish the newly formed troops for a while. If you want to reach the combat effectiveness of the old army, it will take time to adjust.
If Yang Zhen can negotiate with the central government to allow the two military regions to bring back some of their old troops, it will be a very beneficial thing for the recovery of the two military regions that suffered heavy losses in the anti-mopping battle, at least for the acceleration of The formation of the combat effectiveness of the new troops and the expansion of the troops in the future will have considerable benefits.
It's not that the two old commanders have any egoism or hilltopism, but that the two major military regions of Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei and Taihang suffered heavy losses in this large-scale raid by the Japanese troops in North China, and there were not many old troops left behind. He was basically disabled in the brutal anti-mopping battle, and it was very difficult to regain his strength in a short period of time.
Once the essence of the two military regions that have been integrated into the advancing army are all integrated into the Anti-Japanese Alliance on the spot, it will only make things worse for the two military regions that are already damaged. This will be a great thing for the two military regions to restore their strength as soon as possible. The bad thing is, as Yang Zhen said, how can you start the meal if you even take away the pot?
If Yang Zhen can really negotiate with the central government and leave some troops, even if he brings back half of the troops, it will be of great benefit to the recovery of the vitality of the two major base areas. With these old troops who have undergone anti-Japanese training, their combat quality has improved rapidly. As the backbone, the restoration and development of the two major military regions will bring considerable benefits.
Regarding Yang Zhen's idea, the two veterans expressed their acceptance in a silent manner. However, when it came to the modification and training of the troops, the commander's interest came. The replacement of weapons and equipment proposed by Yang Zhen would advance the current two types of troops. Weapon calibers were all changed to unified, either Japanese weapons or 79 caliber.
The commander could not deny it. For him, as long as the troops are fully loaded and the ammunition is sufficient, then he will be satisfied. He can eat whatever he wants. This is the old commander's idea. Besides, there are tens of thousands of troops marching into the army. , after the battle is all over, we still don’t know which side we belong to, and the commander can’t say too much.
For this highly principled veteran, no matter what result Yang Zhenhui strives for with the central government, he must now implement the central government's orders. This is the true nature of soldiers in his area. Without exact orders, He would not change for a day, and even in front of his old subordinate, he was unwilling to open his mouth to extend his hand.
Although for the weapons and equipment of Yang Zhen's advancing army, we must first unify the calibers and change the current idea that the two calibers are not conducive to supply. As a veteran who has been on the battlefield, the old commander naturally agrees. The more complex the caliber, the more difficult it is to supply tactical supplies. The more likely it is that problems will arise.
In the past, the troops had little ammunition and were always hungry for ammunition. Except for battles that decided life and death, they only issued up to twenty rounds of ammunition per battle on average. This was not that much of a problem, but now that ammunition is scarce, Now that the situation has changed, it is easy to cause trouble if there are too many ammunition calibers.
Although the army's current weapon calibers have been reduced to two types, which is very different from the previous numerous calibers, it is still very easy to cause problems and very troublesome. In this Jehol battle, there were more than one cases where 79 rifle bullets were sent to The situation in the hands of the All-Japanese Armed Forces.
Seriously speaking, all the equipment used by the army should be replaced with a unified caliber, even if it is to unify all rifle bullet calibers first. This old commander raised his hand in favor from the bottom of his heart. As the commander of the military, he does not understand that the entire army should unify the ammunition caliber. benefits.
It was helpless before. There was no way or source to unify. Even the guns of a regiment could not be guaranteed to be unified. What's the use? If you can do it with one gun per man, it would be pretty good. There are still so many leaders there, but now we have them. Opportunities and conditions are naturally what the boss wants.
But now it is obvious that the Anti-Japanese Alliance needs to expand in order to meet the next operational needs mentioned by Yang Zhen, and its own demand for weapons and equipment must be great. At this time, the old commander also feels that something is not good, although as a general As a military commander, he desires those sophisticated equipment more than anyone else.