Glorious Mission 1937

The army's failure made the base camp very dissatisfied. In modern times, until the Battle of Nomenkan, the Japanese army had an innate psychological advantage over the Soviet Russian army. This advantage originated from the Russo-Japanese War in 1905.As the victors of the war, the Japanese army always looked down on the Russian Army, and later the Soviet Red Army.

Especially when the Japanese army got the news that most of the excellent and experienced commanders in the Red Army had been executed due to Stalin’s purge of counter-revolutionaries, they even dismissed the Red Army and even arrogantly declared that the Japanese 1st Division could fight 3 Soviet divisions.It is precisely because of this that this fiasco was an intolerable shame in the eyes of the base camp. For this reason, General Ueda, the commander of the Kwantung Army, was severely reprimanded by the base camp.Even many veterans who had never cared much about the actions of the Japanese army publicly claimed that this was the only humiliation of the Japanese Imperial Army, especially the invincible Kwantung Army, and it was also the greatest shame.

General Ueda was very dissatisfied with such a reprimand. Originally, General Ueda did not support the action of No.20 Third Division Commander Komatsuhara from the very beginning, but he couldn't stand Lieutenant General Komatsuhara's repeated requests for instructions, and finally agreed. His battle plan, he did not expect the final outcome to be such a fiasco!

However, the matter did not end there.Due to the deliberate propaganda of the high-level Japanese army, the militant sentiments of the Kwantung Army units have been aroused. They have long been looking forward to fighting the Soviet army. This failure is just an accident to everyone. Yes, it is an accident.What the failure brought was not introspection, but even more mania. The entire Kwantung Army was in a kind of pathological "excitement" ready to move.

No one cares why the cavalry regiment and heavy armored vehicles of the 23rd Division were defeated after outflanking and attacking the headquarters of the Mongolian army, and no one cares why the powerful heavy armored vehicles of the Imperial Japanese Army were defeated by Soviet tanks. It breaks when you hit it.No one cared that the cavalry were helpless in the face of these rampant "steel monsters" of the Soviet army, so they had to wave their sabers in despair.The fanatical Japanese army was eagerly looking forward to fighting the Soviet army. More than 90% of the officers knew nothing about the situation of the Soviet army, but they despised their opponents for no reason.

On May 5, the Kwantung Army received a telegram from Komatsuhara before the aftermath of the previous phase of the war had been dealt with.The contents of the telegram were: (20) The Soviet army continued to increase its troops in Nomenkan, and on the 18th the "Manchukuo" army had been expelled from the Nomonkan area; (2) Soviet planes bombed the hot spring area and Gangur Temple, causing losses.As the garrison commander of the Nuomenkan area, Lieutenant General Komatsuhara proposed to take the initiative to impose severe punishment.

After receiving the telegram, the Kwantung Army Command immediately held a combat meeting. On the 20th, order today to mobilize troops in the direction of Nuomenkan.The troops mobilized include all of the No.20 Third Division after supplementation.Angang Detachment, composed of the First Tank Regiment and part of the Seventh Division, and the attached Second Flying Group.This was an unprecedented large-scale mobilization of troops in border disputes. Its policy was to start a frontal conflict with the Soviet army, and its attitude was very tough.

And there is also a big bombing plan in the Kwantung Army's combat plan.It mainly used planes to bomb all military and civilian targets in Outer Mongolia.It's just that the Kwantung Army is expected to be opposed.And did not mention and ask for instructions in advance.When the staff headquarters in occasional cases.When he heard about the bombing plan, he was afraid of expanding the situation, so he sent a telegram to express his inappropriateness.He also sent Lieutenant Assistant You Weici, the deputy chief of operations, to Manchuria in an attempt to persuade the Kwantung Army not to bomb.

But the speed was still a step slower. Before Yuci arrived at the headquarters of the Kwantung Army, the Kwantung Army had already bombed Tamsk, a stronghold in Outer Mongolia, and the second Nomenkan incident broke out.In order to ensure air supremacy, the Japanese army dispatched 130 planes to carry out air strikes on the Sumeng Air Force Base.

While the Kwantung Army launched another attack on the Soviet and Mongolian Army in the Nuomenkan area, the North China Front Army also received an order from the headquarters of the Chinese Expeditionary Army. Part of the troops carried out a local war against Chen Feng's troops in North China, in order to prevent Chen Feng's troops from crossing the Dongwu Banner and marching towards the Nuomenkan area, threatening the imperial army's flank.

After receiving the order from the headquarters of the Chinese Expeditionary Army, General Bin Shanyuan did not dare to neglect, and immediately held a meeting of the main officers of the division, brigade and regiment to discuss the battle plan.

However, the vast majority of military officers, including Lieutenant General Naozaburo Kobe, the chief of staff, do not agree to go to war with Chen Feng's troops when they are not prepared. After losing the battle, the front army's ordinary soldiers and low-level officers had cast a shadow over the battle with Chen Feng's troops. Once they were defeated again, their morale would drop further, which the front army could not bear no matter what.

However, the orders from the superiors cannot be disobeyed. In the end, it was Lieutenant General Naozaburo Kobe who came up with an idea. Since the front army was unwilling to go deep into Chen Feng's defense area to fight, they should lead Chen Feng's troops to attack on their own initiative. In this way, the superior's orders were fulfilled. It does not violate the wishes of its own front army headquarters.

According to Lieutenant General Naozaburo Kobe's analysis, combined with Chen Feng's family, Chen Feng has a very close relationship with Yan Xishan in the World War II zone. After all, Chen Feng is also Yan Xishan's son-in-law. The kinship relationship is still very strong. In addition, the last time Chen Feng's troops dispatched 15 troops to cooperate with Yan Xishan's troops to besiege the First Army, Lieutenant General Kobe Naozaburo believed that as long as the North China Front Army launched another attack on Yan Xishan's Jinsui Army Attack, and as long as Yan Xishan's troops show a little defeat, Chen Feng, the son-in-law, will not stand by and watch.

Therefore, Lieutenant General Naozaburo Kobe suggested that the front army once again launch a large-scale attack on Yan Xishan's troops entrenched in Shanxi. On the one hand, it is because there are many new recruits in the troops transferred to the front army by the empire this time, and weak troops like the Jinsui army are needed. brigade training.On the other hand, because the strength of the front army has basically recovered, the First Army has the ability and this necessity to open up the situation on the Shanxi Plateau, and it cannot be passive like this.The last is the task of the superior.

Lieutenant General Naozaburo Okabe's proposal was quickly approved by all the officers present. As Lieutenant General Naozaburo Okabe said, the number of troops transferred from China this time is indeed not small, except for the 22 infantry brigades In addition, there are 7 infantry brigades and two infantry divisions.But after inspecting these new troops, all the Japanese officers were dumbfounded. What kind of soldiers are these? Not to mention the 22 infantry brigades, they are all recruits, except for a very few soldiers (veterans). , the vast majority of soldiers only received three months of recruit training, and then were sent to China.

Even those brigades and divisions with numbers and establishments are not much better. The vast majority of troops are half-old and half-new, that is, half veterans and half recruits, and some even only account for one-third or even a third of the number of veterans. less.Such troops are barely able to maintain order in the rear, let alone participate in field battles. If these troops are to take the lead, they must practice.

And military training is also skillful, and ability is not enough. Even if you run on the playground for 100 years, it is useless. On the battlefield, you are still a recruit, so this military training still needs to be trained in battle. Call it an elite, otherwise it's just a show.It’s easy to say that training by combat is easy, but it’s not easy to actually operate. If you suffer heavy losses during the training process, the entire army is likely to be devastated. Therefore, the whetstone for training is very important, and it should not be too strong. It can't be too weak either.If it's too weak, it won't work. If it's too strong, it will be gone before the soldiers are trained. It's not worthwhile!

In the land of North China, the most suitable whetstone is the Jinsui Army, and of course Tuba Road.However, although the Eighth Route Army is suitable, people are elusive. If you want to find them as a sharpening stone, you have to find them first. The problem is that there is no time, and the second is that you can’t find it. It is obviously not suitable to use the Eighth Route Army as a sharpening stone. , so this whetstone can only be found in the Jinsui Army.

最后彬山元大将拍板决定，此次进攻山西高原以驻山西第一军为主，由梅津美治郎大将担任指挥官，所部下辖第4师团、第20师团、第108师团、独立混成第1旅团、第3旅团、第4旅团、第7旅团、第8旅团、山炮兵第一旅团、战车第一联队、山本特种大队、皇协军第三师、骑兵独立团、独立第六支队等，总兵力合计十万余人。

另外，华北方面军司令部又命令方面军直属的第32师团、独立混成第5旅团、第15旅团、第9旅团、战车第三旅团、重炮第2旅团、方面军飞行大队等五万余人作为第一军的预备队。

The purpose of this operation is to recapture Taiyuan and severely damage Yan Xishan's second theater, preferably to wipe out the Jinsui army.

The Japanese army moved quickly, but since all the units of the First Army were on the Shimen line, the movement of troops was not obvious, so this action of the Japanese army did not attract the attention of the World War II area and Chen Feng's troops.

On May 5, the headquarters of the new Second Army of the Sixth Army stationed in Yu County was attacked by a small group of Japanese troops. The commander Wei Changhu was seriously injured, the deputy commander Li Guohua died in battle, and the chief of staff Xu Si died in battle. There are also 22 lieutenant general division commander, 1 major general brigade commanders, 2 colonel regiment commanders and 4 lieutenant colonel regiment deputy battalion commanders. At the same time, the two brigades of the Japanese army stormed Yuxian County with the cooperation of artillery and armored troops In the front line of Shouyang, the New Second Army, which was established less than half a year ago, was defeated by the Japanese army overnight. More than 6 people fled back to Jinzhong, and less than 2 people fled. The rest were either killed or captured. The door to the front line from the county to Shouyang is wide open. (To be continued..)