Chapter 140 Chapter 16 The Shandong Military Region’s Autumn Offensive Operations in 1944: Defensive Operations Turned into Active Offensive Operations

On January 19, 1944, Gendai Sugiyama, Chief of Staff of the Japanese Army Base Camp, rushed to the Imperial Palace in a car to attend an imperial meeting convened by Emperor Hirohito.At the meeting, Sugiyama took out the "Operation No. 1" strategy being formulated by the base camp from the briefcase, and bowed and presented it to the Emperor.The emperor wore a pair of black-rimmed glasses, frowned slightly, and flipped them over. Sugiyama waited for the Emperor to read the plan, walked to the huge wall chart, and began to explain: "Your Majesty, this plan is our largest offensive on the mainland in the past four years. The purpose of the operation is to open up the Ping-Han, Guangdong-Han and Hunan-Guangxi railways to form a line of communication across the mainland to make up for and replace the increasingly critical sea traffic. At the same time, it defeated the main force of Chiang’s army, destroyed the main base of the enemy’s air force, prevented the enemy’s air raids on the mainland of the empire and disrupted sea traffic, etc., and hit the Chongqing regime’s will to continue the war of resistance. It is planned to carry out the Ping-Han battle in late April, and the North China Front Army will be responsible for it. The main force was to annihilate Chiang’s forces in the first war zone in Henan. At the beginning of June, it was transferred to Hunan and Guangxi to fight. With the 11th Army, 23rd Army, 13th Army, and troops directly under the dispatched army as the main force, it defeated the vicinity of the Guangdong-Han and Hunan-Guangxi lines. Jiang Jun, make sure the railway is smooth."

The emperor said worriedly: "Are there enough troops for such a large-scale war?" Sugiyama said with confidence: "The U.S. military has gained the upper hand in the Pacific Ocean, and we need to strengthen our forces there. I think the mainland can complete the plan with the existing forces. The base camp plans to transfer two divisions from the North China Army to reinforce the Pacific Ocean and Southeast Asia. One division was transferred from the Kwantung Army to participate in the 'Operation No. 1'..." The Emperor interrupted Sugiyama's words, "Soviet Russia has been gaining power on the battlefield recently, will the weakening of the Kwantung Army affect its combat readiness?" Take immediate emergency measures to repel their invasion of Manchuria." Sugiyama boasted.

The emperor was still worried, and asked again: "Dropping so many troops to fight, will it hinder the law and order in North China? It is said that the law and order there is not good, and the redness is serious. The battle may be victorious, but will the law and order be worse?" Sugiyama replied: "During the battle, the Communist Party may take advantage of the opportunity to expand. I believe that law and order can generally be maintained during the battle. The strength of North China is currently not sufficient, and we are planning to deploy two reserve brigades from the mainland to strengthen it."

The emperor was still worried after hearing what Sugiyama said, and Hideki Tojo, who was standing aside, repeated his old tricks and tried his best to cheer up the emperor.Encouraged by the war madman Tojo, the Emperor reluctantly nodded, and ordered people to take out the jade seal and stamp the big seal on the "Operation No. 1" plan. Two months later, on March 22, the Japanese North China Front Army Command on the east side of Jingshan Mountain in Beiping conducted a war game exercise for the "Operation No. 1" plan. On this day, the North China Front Army Headquarters was heavily guarded. Gendarmerie wearing white armbands posted every three steps and sentry posts every five steps. Motorcycles of the patrol team shuttled back and forth.Small sleeping cars of various models filed in from the gate of the compound.

Officers above major generals and leaders of the puppet army from various stations in North China gathered here.This is a two-story Western-style building, which used to be the governing government of the Beiyang government, and is now the headquarters of General Ningji Okamura. The leaders of the puppet army huddled in a conference room waiting for Okamura's summoning.They are all senior Kuomintang generals who have rebelled in the past two years. Although they have become notorious traitors, they still cannot avoid intrigues.Neiji Okamura said with great emotion after learning about it: "Fighting in the nest is the innate nature of the Chinese people. This statement is absolutely true!"

At this time, the generals of the Japanese army are conducting a war game exercise of "Operation No. 1" in the war room.Lieutenant General Sanji Oshiroto, Chief of Staff of the Front Army, acted as the director, and conducted a sand table confrontation exercise for three sets of plans in the three situations of "excellent, medium, and inferior".Dashiro blushed in the applause of the generals and kept bowing to thank him. Neiji Okamura stood in front of the situation map of North China with a pointer in his hand, and said loudly: "Operation No. 1 requires a strong field force to carry out mobile operations. Our force was dismembered by my predecessor's poor strategy. You guys Look, the Imperial Army built a total of 10,000 strongholds and 100,000 forts in North China, while the Imperial Army’s strength in North China was less than 180,000, scattered on 100,000 points, and surrounded by the Communist Army. We can maintain the status quo To this day, it is because the communist army lacks heavy weapons, but their strength is increasing, and once they have an advantage, they will launch an offensive. The scattered deployment of the imperial army cannot conduct large-scale mobile combat training. I'm sure their field combat capabilities have been greatly weakened Therefore, we must tighten the front line, abandon unimportant strongholds, and concentrate our forces to carry out mobile operations. The abandoned areas will be taken over by the Royal Association Army, and they are waiting for my order in the conference room..."