Chapter 22 Can't match the elite

"The Japanese are not as difficult to fight as they used to be." Ateli, a British reporter, went deep into the battlefield in northern Jiangxi to conduct interviews. She randomly interviewed several veterans who participated in the Battle of Taierzhuang, and these veterans all said this sentence in unison. . Most of the generals also held the same view. Tang Enbo, who had commanded the Battle of Nankou and the Battle of Taierzhuang, delineated three stages for the Japanese invasion of China based on his personal experience: the first stage was the Battle of Nankou (the same period as the Battle of Songhu). , the Japanese fought like lions; the second stage was the Battle of Taierzhuang, the Japanese were still good at charging forward, but they were a little bit discouraged; now they are obviously not as fierce as they were a few months ago, and even A feeling of unmotivated fighting arose.

War weariness and anti-war are both psychological reactions that are inevitable in protracted wars. Especially in a morally untenable war of aggression, soldiers are under greater mental pressure and are more likely to be negative and angry. bored.The Chinese army seized many letters and diaries of the Japanese army on the battlefield in northern Jiangxi. General Li Hanhun of the Cantonese Army showed one of them to Ateli.It was written by a Japanese army captain, and there was a picture of his family in it. Judging from the diary, this captain is a man with a conscience.From the moment he landed in Shanghai, he has seen the cruelty of war and is horrified at the cruelty of his companions.In Japan, he was undoubtedly a good man, not only a good husband, but also a good son and a good father, but when he set foot on a foreign land with a gun, all he did was murder and arson.Although he also believed that "we should fight for victory by all means", he still felt very painful in his heart: "Why and for whom did I commit this crime? I have to understand in my heart, because I dare not say it out of my mouth."

If the war went smoothly and ended soon, that would be fine, but the reality is that after entering the battlefield in northern Jiangxi, fierce and bitter battles continued one after another.One night, in the dark night, the captain's unit fought hand-to-hand with the Chinese army, resulting in "extremely heavy losses".Only two days later, a shell fell next to him and almost killed him. The captain saw with his own eyes that more than a hundred people were killed in the battle, and he saw the great spirit of sacrifice and the ability of the Chinese soldiers to endure hardships and stand hard work, which made him almost collapsed.If it is to defend his own motherland, of course he should have no hesitation, but if he invades other countries, he really can't find the value of dying for it.

The family portrait was taken during the Cherry Blossom Festival, and the captain said that he would cry when he saw this photo, "When the cherry blossoms bloom next year, will my child be an orphan, my wife will be a widow, and my gray-haired old mother will not know what to do?" Do you know where his children are?" When Ateli took over the diary from Li Hanhun, its owner had already died on the battlefield. Li Hanhun had read the diary, and he was also very touched by the death of this young Japanese: "War is war. I am a general, and he is a captain in the enemy army. We killed him, but he was essentially Not the enemy, so my conscience is disturbed by it at the moment."

There are still many people like captains in the Japanese army. They don't want to engage in war, but they are wrapped up by an inescapable force, so they can only bite the bullet and kill people to die.In this case, it is impossible for them not to resist or be negative psychologically. In addition, the Japanese army's attack power showed a downward curve, and there were other more complicated reasons. One of the most important ones was that after previous confrontations, the veterans who invaded China suffered a lot, and many recruits were bound to be recruited and new divisions would join the battle.Both the 101st Division and the 106th Division are ad hoc divisions, or newly organized divisions, and their combat effectiveness is far inferior to that of the established divisions.The biggest difference between the two is that there are fewer active-duty soldiers in the ad hoc divisions. Taking the infantry regiment as an example, only the regiment captain, regiment adjutant and battalion captain are active. Reservists or reservists.

This kind of division must undergo certain pre-war training to meet the needs. However, due to the tense battle, the 106th Division was hurriedly sent to the Central China battlefield as soon as it was formed.Neiji Okamura believes: "(Like the use of the 106th Division), it is somewhat inappropriate to send people who have worked in society for several years or even more than ten years directly to the front line." The 101st Division was a different situation.This division was not made hastily, but it was disabled in advance in the Battle of Songhu, and more than 10,000 soldiers were lost.Most of the current soldiers are supplementary soldiers from the bustling area of ​​Tokyo, and most of them are middle-aged married. Although they are all military-trained reservists, their military discipline is very bad.

Okamura sees this very clearly, "an army with strict military discipline is an elite army." It can be inferred from this standard that neither the 101st Division nor the 106th Division can match the elite. Those Chinese veterans who participated in the Battle of Taierzhuang can measure the opponent's weight as long as they stretch out their hands-the Japanese army usually bombards with artillery for several hours before attacking, and then enters the infantry attack. Behavior when attacking. After the shelling on the Nanxun Line, the Japanese army always dispatched two or three soldiers first. These soldiers would climb up to 20 or 30 meters in front of the Chinese position and try to throw grenades into the trenches.If the Chinese soldiers in the trenches showed weakness, the Japanese troops would rush up, and if the Chinese soldiers fought back, they would immediately become timid and retreat as soon as they fought.

Hand-to-hand combat was originally the strength of the Japanese army, but the recruits who had just entered the battlefield often lacked enough courage and experience to fight bayonets. Strong Chinese armies, such as the Seventy-Fourth Army and the Cantonese Army, will take the initiative to launch hand-to-hand combat in order to repel the enemy when their weapons are at a disadvantage. In the end, the only thing left to embolden the Japanese army is the aircraft and artillery. However, in mountain warfare, the use of aircraft and artillery will be greatly limited.In the words of the veterans: "When we climbed the mountain, it was not easy for them to do it (referring to bombing with planes and cannons)."

Regardless of the 106th Division or the 101st Division, the two weaker divisions were weak and unable to make a breakthrough from the front. As a result, there was a period of silence for more than 20 days on the Nanxun Line.It was during this precious time that the Chinese army was rested and replenished, and it also accumulated the necessary strength for the upcoming duel.