Moreover, among the Japanese army, there is still a popular belief that if the Japanese army goes north to attack the Soviet Union, it will fall into the trap of the United States and Britain to use the opportunity to weaken Japan's national power. After all, compared with Southeast Asia, which is rich in resources, except for timber and tundra, , Siberia, which has nothing, is a bone that is difficult for Japan to swallow even if it is swallowed.
Not to mention that there is nothing in Siberia except the severe cold in winter and endless virgin forests and permafrost zones. Most of the Soviet Union's industries and developed mineral resources are in Europe, which is too far away from Japan. Well, in going to war with the Soviet Union, Japan would not only lose its national power but also pay for others.
For Japan, even if Siberia is within easy reach and has strategic resources that Japan urgently needs, with its current scientific and technological strength and its relatively weak national power compared to the United States and Britain, it simply cannot afford the astronomical figures required to develop the permafrost there. Same cost and technology,
For Japan, the northern advance will not bring any benefits except a waste of national power. The northern advance is not a good choice for Japan. Therefore, many people in the military believe that the northern advance is The conspiracy hatched by the United States and Britain to consume Japan's national power,
Compared with the ice-covered Siberia, Southeast Asia is not only rich in resources, but also has ready-made mines that have been developed by Westerners. The mines that have been put into large-scale production can be directly used. The mining of various rare strategic metals is both convenient and trouble-free. There is also the Soviet Union there. Rubber and oil that are not available in the Far East, as well as rice that the Japanese are used to eating,
The most critical thing is that the combat effectiveness of the Western colonial legions in Southeast Asia is negligible compared to the Soviet Union's hundreds of thousands of aircraft, tanks, and heavy artillery well-equipped garrisons in the Far East. Especially after the European War broke out, the Europeans in Southeast Asia The best of the garrison troops of the great powers have been drained away, and the rest can barely maintain local security. They are no match for the Imperial Japanese Army.
Compared with the elite Imperial Japanese Army, these colonial armies were fighting in the sky and on the ground. The Japanese Empire was sending troops to Southeast Asia at this time. Judging from the elite combat effectiveness of the Imperial Japanese Army, even though it was currently the only military force on the European battlefield, The British, who were struggling to support themselves, dispatched troops from North Africa and Europe to return reinforcements. The imperial army had already occupied the entire Southeast Asia.
As for the other two countries, France and the Netherlands, which occupied large colonies in Southeast Asia, the Japanese paid no attention to them. These two countries had even lost their homeland. What capital could they use to make a profit? Last year, the imperial army entered the French territory. In Indochina, those French people still dare not even fart.
During the Battle of Nomonhan, many people in the Japanese army, who had suffered a heavy blow of firepower and steel from the Soviet army, immediately realized their shortcomings with the Soviet Union after they hit the southern wall hard. , and turned its attention to Southeast Asia, which is more resource-rich,
At present, many people in the base camp have changed their previous strong attitude towards advancing north, and have repeatedly requested that the next strategic move of the Japanese army make a 180-degree turn, from going north to going south, and changing the target from Siberia of the Soviet Union to Southeast Asia. colonies of European powers,
Although the southbound faction does not completely have the upper hand in the current army, as the intensity of the U.S. embargo has been strengthened step by step, not only have the number of these people increased significantly, but their attitudes have also Beginning to be able to influence the emperor and army chiefs,
After all, for Japan, the oil in Southeast Asia is extremely important. Under the situation that the United States may completely cut off Japan's oil source at any time, it can occupy Southeast Asia, which is currently ownerless, especially the Dutch East Indies, which is rich in oil production, and obtain Rich oil resources have become the key to Japan's survival.
Compared with those fanatics in the military, Umezu Yoshijiro, who has served as a military attaché abroad for many years and is now the general commander of the Kwantung Army, is well aware of the strength gap between the United States and Japan, so he is very concerned about Japan's domestic situation. I am deeply concerned about emotions, especially the manic emotions in the military,
The Germans have begun to formulate plans to attack the Soviet Union. As a senior member of the Japanese army, Yoshijiro Umezu has heard of this to some extent. Therefore, compared with the southern movement that has gradually begun to expand in the army, as the highest military commander of the largest overseas heavy force group of the Japanese army, , General Umezu Yoshijiro preferred that while Germany attacked the Soviet Union, the Japanese army would go north and cooperate with the German army to attack the Soviet Union from east to west in order to defeat the Soviet Union in the shortest time. The Soviet Union's threat to Manchuria, Japan and North Korea,
The strategic differences in the base camp made General Umezu Yoshijiro very dissatisfied. The reason why he called in the Chief of Staff today who he always disliked was that he hoped that he could persuade the Prime Minister behind him not to be easily The southern faction in the army was confused and easily agreed to go to war with the United States. At the same time, they discussed the Kwantung Army's next action plan.
Umezu Yoshijiro has a strict private life and does not live as lavishly as ordinary army generals. He has not married another man since his wife died of tuberculosis more than ten years ago. Therefore, in this luxurious and magnificent official residence of the Kwantung Army commander, there is no one except the guards. Outside, there was only one personal adjutant and orderly, which seemed empty because there were no other people.
Precisely because there were no outsiders at home, and because the secret message, which revealed the current internal strife among the Japanese military's top brass, was too confidential and would bring chaos to middle- and lower-level officers once it was spread, General Umezu Yoshijiro made an exception and brought Kimura Hyōtaro to his home for discussion. , to ensure that the contents of the secret message are not leaked,
Naturally, when he returned home, he would no longer wear military uniform. Umezu Meijiro, who had put on a comfortable kimono, knelt down on the tatami and looked at Lieutenant General Kimura Hyōtaro, who had been in a daze after carefully reading the secret message sent from the Tokyo base camp. , but there is some disgust in my heart,
He did not believe that this man held a radio station that directly connected to the Ministry of War. As the chief of staff of the Kwantung Army who was placed by Prime Minister Lu, he would know nothing about the internal fighting among the top brass of the base camp regarding the quarrel between the southward movement and the northward movement. He must have Correspondingly, he should keep his confidant informed of the situation in Tokyo at any time. But now the chief of staff pretends to be so clueless, which really makes Umezu Yoshijiro, whose impression of him is not good, very dissatisfied.
In fact, Umezu Yoshijiro somewhat wronged Lieutenant General Kimura. Before Kimura Hyōtaro served as the Chief of Staff of the Kwantung Army, he was the commander of the 32nd Division stationed in Yanzhou, Shandong, China. As a division commander, although he held the rank of Lieutenant General, , but the trends of the army’s top brass are beyond his control.
In particular, the extremely high-level secrets related to the next strategic direction of the Japanese army are beyond the control of a division commander. As for the Prime Minister behind him, he will reveal some information to him, but it is too high-level. But I won't explain it clearly to him. After seeing the special telegram sent by the base camp to Umezu Yoshijiro, the commander of the Kwantung Army today, it's not surprising that he looked surprised.
Seeing Kimura Hyōtaro put down the telegram in his hand, Umezu Yoshijiro suppressed the disgust in his heart and said: "Kimura-kun, what do you think of the current situation? You are the chief of staff of the Kwantung Army. As long as it involves the Kwantung Army, you will always be there." Within your scope of authority, I would like to hear your opinion on the base camp’s order to temporarily halt the Kwantung Army’s march north to fight the decisive battle against the Anti-Japanese Alliance.”
In response to Umezu Yoshijiro's question, Kimura Hyōtaro roughly adjusted his thoughts and said: "Your Excellency, after I was transferred here, I carefully looked at the two battles we had with the Anti-Japanese Alliance the year before last and last year. From the two battles, In this battle, it seems that our opponent is not comparable to the ordinary Chinese army."
"This army has strong combat effectiveness, and its spirit of determination is no less than that of the Imperial Army of the Empire of Japan. The commander of this army is extremely cunning, with changing combat styles and eclectic methods. Its confidentiality and tight organization Sex cannot be compared with the Chinese government army or even the general army."
"They don't have as many factions as the Chinese government forces. Not only can they not cooperate during battles, they are even wary of each other, no less than when facing the imperial army. Moreover, when the troops are fighting, they often do so in order to preserve their strength. And there was a situation where they were trying to undermine each other.”
"As for this army, not only is it well-organized, but it also cooperates with each other very well. If a friendly army is in trouble, the friendly and neighboring troops will definitely go all out to rescue them. There has never been a situation where they waited and feared the enemy because of mutual conservation of strength. Its strong initiative in combat and its strong desire to fight are far beyond what the Chinese government forces can match."
"The most important thing is their confidentiality methods. They are too tight. We didn't find out many things until we encountered them on the battlefield. They are equipped with a huge number of fighter groups, tanks, and heavy artillery units. We didn't know anything about them even before the battle started. We don’t know until we appear on the battlefield.”
"Our intelligence work encountered great setbacks when facing this army. Not only is the source of its high-level movements almost negligible, but it is also extremely lacking in other aspects. The specific location of their arsenal is unknown to us. There is no way to find out now.”
"Even how many troops their troops actually have, how many troops can be mobilized in wartime, what their organization is, what their detailed equipment is, and what their troop's mobility is. But we don't even have detailed information. Your Excellency, Commander, This is very detrimental to us.”
"In the so-called summer battle last year, we suffered a big loss in this regard. The original calculation of their total number of troops and equipment was simply a mistake. It was not until we entered the battlefield that we discovered that the enemy's actual mobilizable troops , far more than we expected, and its maneuverability also exceeds our imagination."
"The passivity in intelligence work caused us to be passive in the entire war situation. Its troop strength and firepower far exceeded our expectations. This caused us to suffer a big loss in last year's battle. The enemy's cunning and changeable force,
Coupled with the strong support from the Soviet Union behind it, it has now become a formidable enemy of ours."
"Your Excellency, Commander, I think our top priority now is not to rush north to retaliate against them. In addition to recovering our strength as soon as possible, the most important thing is to repair our intelligence system and collect all the intelligence that is useful to us. Only by treating the Chinese government like
Only by truly understanding them in detail can we eliminate them more thoroughly."