Chapter 4 Tojo is very incompetent

Different from the previous formalities, this time the homework on the picture is very serious.The commander who simulates the US military is a US military expert and has a lot of research on US military tactics.The instructions he received were not to be scruples during the exercise, but to let go and fight the Japanese army as if they were enemies. The deduction was carried out twice, the first time, the attack failed; the second time, the chief referee finally made a ruling: the attack was successful! As soon as the work on the picture was completed, Yamamoto immediately asked the military command to approve the "Z" plan again.He claimed that if the plan still fails to pass this time, he would rather resign as commander of the combined fleet.

The date Plan "Z" was approved was October 19, 1941.The day before, Hideki Tojo completed the formation of the cabinet, and as an active soldier, he simultaneously served as the three major positions of Prime Minister, Minister of War (Land Minister), and Minister of the Interior (Ministry of Internal Affairs). In all fairness, Tojo is capable and hardworking in dealing with trivial matters, but he lacks a big picture and is not a talent for economics.Some observers commented that among the leaders in the world at that time, Tojo's talent and ability were the worst. Tojo likes to record all kinds of little things about sesame and mung beans in a booklet, and also likes to go to the trash can frequently to check if there is any extravagance and waste, and even visits the fish shop, In order to show their closeness to the people.Of course, these are all right, but what is wrong is that Tojo just showed indifference to the country's major policies, so some people said: "It would be more appropriate if Tojo was appointed as the household registration officer of the village chief's office."

After he formed a cabinet, a minister remonstrated: "I think it's too disrespectful for a person who is the prime minister of a country to look at the trash can and pat the fish shop guy on the shoulder. It's better not to do that in the future." .” This remark angered Tojo, who was furious when he heard it, and continued to do it afterwards. On the other hand, Tojo is also very easy to be emotional, for which he has received a famous comment: "In Tojo's mind, there is no brain, only emotion." Tojo, to put it nicely, he called love and hate; to put it badly, he was narrow-minded and mean.Since Tojo served as Prime Minister Lu in the Konoe Cabinet, anyone who did not like him was either demoted to the local area or expelled abroad.In the army, Wanji Ishihara and Hayao Tada, who disagreed with him, were successively dismissed from their active military posts, and even the famous Seishiro Itagaki almost fell to the ground.

However, at that time, Tojo had a very high support rate in Japan.The senior ministers who recommended Tojo to form a cabinet only heard of Tojo's name, but they couldn't figure out his political orientation. When people asked why he recommended Tojo as prime minister, they even replied: "I hope Tojo can suppress the main war theory within the army and avoid wars." outbreak." Relying on Tojo to suppress the war is really seeking skin from a tiger, because Tojo has always been the representative of the hardliners in the army.In the early days of his cabinet formation, he had made up his mind to go to war with Britain and the United States.

At a banquet, Tojo inadvertently said something like this: "If you say that you cannot go to war with Britain and the United States because of insufficient national power, then there is no way to do it, but if you can go to war, you must definitely go to war." Then he was proud Said: "Even children are eagerly looking forward to the war against Britain and the United States. I have received two letters from the people saying that they hope that I will wage war no matter what." Knowing that Tojo is keen on war, some so-called insightful people in the army want to stop it.Ishihara, known as a strategist, yelled at the mention of Tojo's name: "Is there such a stupid thing in the world to say that the war is for oil? Even if it occupies Nanyang, with Japan's existing ship volume, let alone It’s oil, even if it’s rubber and rice, there’s no way to transport it back to Japan.”

Some people think from another perspective that if war with Britain and the United States happens to fall into Chiang Kai-shek's trap, it is better to compromise with the United States and resolve the "China Incident" (that is, the war of aggression against China) first. Tojo hated these objections deeply. Not only did he not listen to a word, but he hated you to the bone, and would put on shoes for those who raised opinions whenever he had the opportunity.In the end, the Tojo cabinet became his own cabinet, a veritable war cabinet. Since the day when the cabinet was formed, the Tojo cabinet has held consecutive meetings to discuss the war plan against the United States.Tojo's predecessor, Konoe, had made a resolution that by early October, if negotiations failed, war would begin.But that was just a kind of intimidation strategy by the guards. It looked like sparks, but it was actually just a little phosphorus flying out of the cemetery at night.

Unlike Konoe, who was born as a civil servant, Tojo really dared to do it, and he really wanted to do it. On November 5, 1941, the Imperial Council decided that if negotiations with the United States were not successful before midnight on December 1, an armed attack would be launched against the United States. After receiving the order from the Naval Command, Yamamoto officially set the start of the war as December 7, and appointed Nagumo Tadaichi as the commander of the sneak attack fleet. On November 20, 1941, a huge attack formation composed of 31 warships was secretly assembled in Danguan Bay.This is the largest build-up of the Japanese Combined Fleet since the Russo-Japanese War.Previously, neither ship knew what they were being mobilized for.A reporter described it this way: "Even the most imaginative captain would not have imagined that the combat mission would be an expedition of 3,500 nautical miles to surprise Hawaii."

On November 26, with the signal from the flagship, the most powerful naval fleet in Japanese history sailed out of the harbor and headed for Hawaii.