Chapter 9 Chapter 2 "Down and Up" (2)

2 At the same time as the fall of Xuzhou, an American transport plane painted with the International Red Cross emblem slowly landed at Xuzhou Frontier Airport. A group of high-spirited Western gentlemen emerged from the cabin. Some of them wore military uniforms, some wore suits and top hats. These elegant Westerners were all wearing cameras, and some even had binoculars hanging on their chests, as if this was not a scene of bloody massacre The battlefield is the same as sightseeing.Westerners were graciously received by Japanese soldiers.The Japanese held a brief welcoming ceremony for them, and then the guests were divided into several military vehicles and drove to the Xuzhou battlefield all the way to the Xuzhou battlefield.

This is an international observation group with a strong background. Among the members are military attaches from Western countries stationed in China, officials from the U.S. and British defense ministries, weapons experts, and journalists.The purpose of their trip is of course not sightseeing, but to inspect the Sino-Japanese war on the spot and make a proper assessment of the Japanese war capabilities.Although the Japanese are very annoyed, they dare not offend these condescending Westerners, because they have demands from others in international trade, so they cannot refuse the tough demands of Western countries.According to the documents disclosed after the war, the United States had been Japan's largest arms supplier in the 1930s. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the arms trade volume between the two countries reached new highs, reaching more than ten times that before the war.In addition, the United States is also Japan's main source of scrap steel, which accounts for 90% of Japan's total global procurement, while Australia is Japan's largest iron ore supplier.Of course, there are precious petroleum, rare metals, chemical raw materials, etc. The trade volume with Western countries accounts for 95% of Japan's foreign trade.In other words, if the Western countries launched a global sanctions, the resource-poor Japanese would not be able to maintain a war for a month.

The guests saw along the way that the heavy bombs dropped by the planes directly hit the towns and villages in China, and various powerful high-explosive bombs, magnesium powder burning bombs and large-caliber aviation machine guns effectively destroyed the Chinese fortifications and shattered the defenders. Army's will to resist, and most of these advanced weapons and equipment used to massacre Chinese people have the words "USA (United States)" printed on them.Just take the Japanese fighter planes that run across the sky as an example. Two-thirds of the aero engines are products from American factories on the other side of the ocean.

The Japanese also showed the guests the power of their weapons. Under the continuous bombardment of a 115 large-caliber field artillery, a tall and solid Chinese city wall collapsed.The Japanese military officer proudly said to the guests: No fortification can resist the attack of the imperial army's artillery fire.In fact, this large-caliber field gun is one of the supplied weapons on the US arms sales list. In the continuous stream of Japanese military convoys, the Western guests saw with satisfaction that whether it was trucks towing cannons, troop carriers, jeeps or motorcycles, including main battle tanks and armored vehicles, the engines that delivered powerful power were American products.Statistics show that among the technical equipment of the Japanese invaders in the early days of the War of Resistance Against Japan, 96 engines and key technologies were made in the United States for every 100 vehicles, tanks and armored vehicles on average.The ambitious Japanese invaded the impoverished and backward mainland China with the help of modern technology from the United States and the West, and then paid the Americans dollars through the most bloody and brutal robbery. Accomplices and winners of war.

In the presence of a wrecked tank, Western military attaches inspected the performance build of Japanese tanks and concluded that although Japan had acquired American engines, it would take at least five years for their tanks to catch up with Western armies.However, when they learned the story of the Japanese tank soldiers insisting on firing the last shell in the burning tank in order to destroy the enemy, they were finally burned alive. impression. A Japanese general receives a Western observer group.The guests asked the host many questions, one of which was interesting: Why do Japanese soldiers use old-fashioned rifles instead of submachine guns (automatic rifles)?If a submachine gun made in the United States is used, its individual combat capability will be increased by more than three times.

The Japanese general ordered a group of soldiers to demonstrate their shooting skills to the guests on the spot. The "38-style" rifles made in Japan were fired in the hands of the soldiers, which showed that they were all sharpshooters.Then they practiced assassination and fighting. All the soldiers were full of energy and roared like thunder, and they stabbed the imaginary enemy's chest with their gleaming bayonets together.The Japanese general proudly replied to the guests: Japanese samurai will kill every enemy with a desperate fighting spirit. They don't need submachine guns, which are cowardly weapons.The samurai longed to plunge his bayonet into the chest of his enemy.

Westerners were dumbfounded. In fact, the Japanese did not start producing submachine guns until 1945, at the end of the Pacific War. A total of 1,000 were produced, but the emperor announced his surrender before he had time to equip the troops.The reason is not entirely due to the conservative thinking of the Japanese generals, but because Japan is really an island country with poor resources.Someone calculated that if all Japanese soldiers were replaced with submachine guns, they would deplete the country's ammunition stocks in just a few months. After the Westerners left Xuzhou, they flew to Wuhan non-stop to continue to inspect the Chinese army, and then wrote written reports on the comparison conclusions of the Chinese and Japanese armies and the judgment of the war prospects and submitted them to their respective governments.Western observers believe that the combat effectiveness of the Japanese army is not enough to threaten the interests of Western powers in Asia. Although the Chinese army is backward, they are large in number and hardworking, which will greatly consume the Japanese army.The common view held by Westerners about this inter-Asian war is that the vast territory will become a powerful weapon for the Chiang Kai-shek government in the war of resistance, and the possibility of the Japanese occupying the entire territory of China is extremely slim.If things go on like this, China and Japan will consume each other, and the appetite of the Japanese will be sapped by the huge prey of China, unless the Chinese choose to surrender.

The conclusion is to appropriately increase aid to China to curb the expansion ambitions of the Japanese; at the same time, continue to sell arms to the Japanese and implement the international strategic policy of "Asians fight Asians".