Glorious Mission 1937

The defeat at the front line made Japan feel gloomy. Even at the beginning of the Western New Year, there was no joy in Japan at all, and the atmosphere in Japan was extremely tense.While the "government" was trying to use diplomatic channels to clean up the situation, the Japanese army's stronghold, the Army and Navy Departments, had gradually reached a consensus on the countermeasures to open up the situation.

To be honest, it is really strange that the Japanese navy and army can reach a consensus. The conflict between the Japanese navy and army has a long history, and this is well known to high-level Japanese people.The incongruity caused by this contradiction comes from their origins at the beginning of their establishment. After the Meiji Restoration, a large number of samurai from the four powerful vassals who had fallen in the past became important ministers in the early Meiji period.

Among them, the originator of the army, Yamagata Yutomo, and others were all feudal vassals from the Changzhou domain; while the main force of the navy was the feudal men of the Satsuma domain.In the beginning, there were some factional factors fighting for power and profit, and later the central "government" forcibly lifted the "Southwest War" of the Satsuma domain, and the grievances between the two sides became even deeper.

Except for the Taisho era, the Japanese "government" was basically influenced by the military.In order to compete for influence over the state power, the soldiers will naturally divide the spoils unevenly.

Let's talk about something "hidden". Japan's army learned from Germany, and the navy learned from Britain.These are the different results of the differences between the two cultures, and Japan puts them all in its own pocket.The resulting disharmony is inevitable.One intends to "nakedly" engage in militaristic expansion, and the other intends to learn from Western powers and engage in "civilization expansion."The difference between the two sides can also be understood as "urgent" and "slow", and one advocates absolute violence.Another advocacy is relative violence.

Finally, because of Hirohito, he didn't like how the Meiji elders controlled the army.They secretly supported the plots of young and strong officers to seize power, which made the army's expansion plots continue to succeed. The army's ambitions were extremely inflated and it tried to drag the country into the war immediately; while the navy knew more about the strength of Britain and the United States and recognized Japan's fragility. Such action is not advocated.Both sides are constantly expanding their armies and preparing for war, which makes Japan's limited resources really overwhelmed, and the struggle for power and profit will intensify.

Before that, the Army Department of the base camp believed that.At present, it has made a major determination to decide that the national policy against the United States should be based on the navy. Therefore, before the navy has expressed its attitude, the army deliberately avoids expressing opinions.Of course, the Army is just in a hurry. They simply cannot formulate the most effective countermeasures against countries such as Britain and the United States.

As we all know, the drafting of the original bills that determine national policy has always been done by the army for the most part.But this time it was different.At the beginning of the new year, the Japanese military base camp held a meeting of the Ministry of Army and Navy, and the directors of the bureau. The directors of the two military affairs bureaus and the chief of operations attended the meeting.At the meeting, the Navy proposed the "Guidelines for the Implementation of Imperial State Policy" for the first time.

Its main content is: "The Empire of Japan is limited to the end of May 1941. War preparations and diplomatic negotiations are carried out at the same time; when the diplomatic negotiations still fail to achieve a compromise by mid-May, force will be used." [

This is indeed an unprecedented major determination for the Japanese Navy.However, as mentioned above, due to the embargo imposed on Japan by the United States, Britain, and the Netherlands, the survival of Japan was threatened, and if a solution could not be found, force would be used.This is the basic attitude that has been brewing in the army and navy since the spring.Thereafter, according to this naval plan, discussions and consultations were held between the army and navy.

The navy and army have always been antagonistic.This time is no exception.The above-mentioned naval plan still retains the determination to go to war and prepares for war. To put it bluntly, the navy still does not want to fight, or dare not fight.The army, on the other hand, was embarrassed to make formal war preparations without making up its mind to fight. The Japanese army was confident in sweeping the South Pacific island countries.

Because among the four countries that dominate the South Pacific, except for the United States, the other three countries are all involved in the European War, while France and the Netherlands have already been defeated, and the previous "government" is already dead in name only. The state is completely negligible.

Although the United Kingdom has not yet been defeated, according to the relevant information collected by the Empire of Japan, the United Kingdom has also been hit hard. Although Hitler's "Sea Lion Project" did not destroy the United Kingdom, it caused great damage to the British industry and agriculture. Especially in industry, the major industrial cities along the coast were bombed by the Luftwaffe, causing heavy losses.Even if Britain can recover in a short period of time, in order to keep the British Isles, the main force of the British cannot be transferred to the east. They must reserve enough troops to guard against the Germans.

Let's talk about the United States, although the economic strength of this country is indeed very strong, so strong that the Japanese Empire must look up to it.However, the military strength of the United States did not make the Japanese have too many scruples. According to the intelligence collected by the Empire in 39, the total strength of the US Army was only 10, and the navy was even smaller, less than 2.

Although the United States has consciously expanded its armaments and increased its national defense force in the past two years, in less than two years, the Americans cannot make much progress no matter how hard they work. Besides, the United States is different from the Great Japanese Empire. limit the powers of the president.Even if Roosevelt recognized the threat of the empire, as long as Congress does not agree to their military expansion, the military strength of the United States cannot be improved too much.

In addition, according to Ambassador Murano's report, the vast majority of Americans have no interest in participating in the war. Americans under isolationism only want to guard their one-acre three-point land. Therefore, the Japanese Army is confident of defeating the US in the South Pacific. all armed forces.

Thus a conflict of opinion arose between the navy, which wanted to prepare without making up its mind, and the army, which thought it difficult to prepare without determination.The navy is indeed already making solid preparations for a large-scale war in case of any eventuality, and it is scheduled to be completed by the end of April.And the Admiralty informed the Army of the following matters, to the great astonishment of the Army Department.

“一、截至4月15日以前完成对英美的战争准备。二、5月和6月再分别征用船只30万吨。三、6月20日实施陆海军作战协定。四、6月上旬从中国抽调陆战队三个大队。五、预定从6月中旬开始再征用船只50万吨。”

The Army believes that such preparations for war should not and cannot be carried out without the determination to fight.

In fact, this difference is only caused by different types of arms, and it is not a big problem.From an operational point of view, the Navy’s war preparations are mainly to maintain a certain amount of troops and sufficient strategic materials at the base, so it is relatively easy to cancel the once-prepared war preparations, so the Navy tends to regard war preparations as relatively simple.

The preparation of the army is to mobilize a large number of troops first, and then gather them near the expected battlefield and deploy them.At the same time, it is necessary to closely monitor the enemy's movements, so as to formulate detailed combat plans, and the process is extremely cumbersome.And it also needs the support of His Majesty the Emperor and all the people, which is far more complicated and laborious than the navy.Therefore, in terms of procedures, it is also necessary to first determine the national policy, and then obtain the consent of the "government".

In addition, according to historical experience, at the last moment of a diplomatic breakdown, the Navy may not make up its mind to go to war and withdraw midway, and the Army is very worried about this.Therefore, the Army advocates making a determination to fight the United States and Britain first. Under this determination, war preparations and diplomatic work should be carried out at the same time. Once the diplomatic negotiations break down, it is determined to go to war.

On January 1941 and 1, 2, the directors of the Army and Navy continued to hold meetings to discuss the determination to go to war.As expected by the Ministry of War, the Chief of Naval Military Affairs resolutely disagreed with the determination to go to war, and said that even if the foreign talks failed, he still had to consider the situation in Europe before deciding to go to war.

Therefore, although the Ministry of the Navy proposed a plan to use force against the South Pacific region and proposed five implementation methods, the Ministry of the Army still doubts whether the head of the navy has the determination to fight the United States.Therefore, the Army proposes to change "determination to war" to "under the determination to war".However, Chief Military Affairs Director Gang refused to accept even this. On January 1, he said that it would be acceptable if it was revised to "under the determination to fight at all costs." [

Only in this way did the Ministry of the Navy and the Ministry of the Army tend to agree on the issue of whether to go to war, and agreed on a specific time. On the issue of when to go to war with Britain, the United States and other countries, the navy and the army are very consistent, and they all believe that it must be at the same time. Around early August.

However, in order to complete this preparation for war, it is necessary to station a large air force in the southern part of French Indochina, and it is also necessary to gather a large transport fleet in the South China Sea.The Army believes that these measures should be implemented after the decision to go to war, and the preparations before the decision to go to war should be limited to not hindering diplomatic negotiations.That is to say, the Army advocates that the decision to go to war should be determined at an appropriate time before the use of force, and then transition to formal combat preparations, and the timing should be set in early May.At this time, the army and navy reached a consensus.

On January 1, the opinions of the army and the navy in the base camp were completely consistent. Regarding whether to continue negotiations with the United States, both the navy and the army agreed that they could continue to contact the United States.Regarding the conditions for diplomatic negotiations, the navy and army believe that the purpose of the historical Japan-US understanding plan should be respected in principle, and their attitude is much tougher than before.

At the same time, the navy and army also requested the "government" to immediately start preparations for the expansion of the war, in terms of human, financial and material resources, to ensure that the Empire of Japan would go to war against Britain, the United States, France and the Netherlands when it was "forced" as a last resort.And also provided the "government" with a list of required materials, requiring the "government" to prepare all the materials on the list before the end of May! (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to the starting point to vote, monthly pass, your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile phone users, please go to m to read.)

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