Chapter 22 Chapter 21

The Road to Midway (from Armin von Roon's "World Slaughter") Translator's Note: In the original German, it begins with an analysis of the Soviet counteroffensive in the winter between 1941 and 1942.For American readers, it is best to begin with Elon's excellent foreword on the battle of Midway, which also refers to the situation in Russia.The mutual influence between different battlefields is beyond ordinary people's expectation, and Long is fully aware of this connection. --dimension.Heng. The Rise of Japan After Pearl Harbor, we had to deal with the United States as a formal and angry belligerent.We have gained a brave but poor ally, a remote Asiatic island people whose land area and natural wealth are less than an American state, California; combat potential.The balance of power is against us.In our General Staff, however, we can still see an element of surprise in this situation.

Because the bedrock of war is geography, and geography our situation remains dire.One of the Führer's leather boots stepped on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean, and the other stepped on the snow outside Moscow. The Europe he stepped on was larger than the Europe occupied by Napoleon and the Europe occupied by Charles V of Spain. , or bigger than the Europe of Emperor Antonyus.From the Arctic to the Mediterranean, all nations are either our allies, friendly neutrals or conquered subjects.Lend-Lease aid from the United States and resources from the British colonies sank under the onslaught of our submarines.Every month fewer Confederate ships sailed, despite their furious work in the shipyards.Churchill himself admitted in his memoirs: "During the war, there was only one thing that really alarmed me, and that was the attack by a German U-boat."

As for the Soviet Union, its winter counter-offensive was a partial success at great cost; but when this offensive waned, our Vietnam-strengthened forces still controlled most of the fertile Russian lands west of the Volga.As a nation, we have broken our boats and fought together.Despite the bombing by British planes, our military production went up. Before us, Japan is entering the world battlefield with a brilliant victory! Adolf.Hitler immediately embraced these brave, small Asians as comrades in arms.That inexplicable nonsense about the superiority of the Nordic Germanic races is for Nazi zealots.We German officers despised it; we were relieved to see that Hitler did too.The Führer doesn't care if a nation is yellow or black or green if it helps us win the world empire twelve thousand miles away.The Japanese were undisturbed by Nazi theories because they themselves were the "master race" according to their Shinto beliefs.Unlike our General Staff, the Japanese high command seemed to allow this nonsense to cloud their judgment.

Military judgments should never be separated from the three basic factors of time, space and power.Whether the Axis powers can achieve unexpected victory depends on time.As for space, we have the advantage of fighting on the strong interior lines of Europe, while our enemies are spread out on our periphery; but our only fighting allies are on the other side of the globe.According to the relentless balance of power, in the long run things will be increasingly unfavorable to us.But the Americans are weak now, and it will be at least a year before they can exert influence on the battlefield.In their eagerness to exact revenge on Japan, we may expect a reduction in their Lend-Lease assistance to the British and Russians in dire straits.In short, we still have the time advantage to claim victory or force a less-than-desirable peace.

The Global Battlefield In December 1941, as the industrial civilization in the northern hemisphere was already on fire, a major theme loomed amidst the smoke: the entire surface of the earth had become a battlefield.This presents unprecedented strategic choices.Both Britain and the Soviet Union had to pull out all the stops just to contain Germany.But Japan, the United States and the Third Reich now had to decide: "Where to strike?" Since 1918, it has been known that American forces have been preparing to fight Germany and Japan simultaneously.Their notorious "Changhong Five Project" is far away in Adolf.Hitler's march, laid out many years before, provided a ready-made answer to this question: the eastward march, or "Germany First," went straight to the heart, according to Clausewitz's principles.Franklin.Roosevelt had the willpower and reason to maintain this sound military view in the face of the storm of opposition to Japan at home.President Roosevelt put on a veneer of cheery Christian philanthropy, but at heart he was a cunning and indifferent conqueror, far more suited to a global war than an impulsive, romantic, European-minded Führer.

Japan's problems are more complex.In the north is rich Siberia, in order to defend Moscow, only half of the original Soviet troops stationed there are left; in the west is China, which is retreating steadily, but is still weakly resisting; in the southwest is resource-rich Indochina, East India to the south, New Guinea and white Australia; and to the southeast, the useful islands lying across the supply line from Australia to America.The United States glared at the East, and although it was far away and weak, it inserted its imperialist outposts Midway and Hawaii like needles into Japan's living space.

Japan's oil reserves are running out like candles.Six months ago, Franklin.Roosevelt ordered a fuel embargo against Japan, a brutal, outrageous measure that drove it to war.It lacks steel; it lacks food; it lacks most of the necessities for a long war.It had to reckon with its earlier unstoppable victories.Due to limited strength and limited time, Japan had to make a decisive blow.But—"Where should we attack?" Siberia is temporarily excluded.Before attacking the country ruled by the imperialist plutocrats, Japan foresaw a neutrality treaty with the Soviet Union.Hitler foolishly failed to ask Japan to declare the abrogation of this treaty and enter into war against Russia in exchange for his declaration of war on the United States.Therefore, Japan's rear is safe, but we cannot unite with her against the Bolsheviks.

The situation in Germany is indeed extraordinary!Allies all over the world are attacking us, while Japan, our strongest ally, is at peace with Russia, our strongest enemy!The German people were already paying dearly for the leadership principle of total trust in Hitler's politics.Italy has a sizable navy, air force, and well-managed army; but it has a paper dictator and a people who don't love war, and so consumes our fuel and steel in vain, while its long, undefended The coastline of the Mediterranean Sea is our weakest link. These factors all point to one problem.Against Britain, all three Axis powers were still able to unite.Even Italy would be somewhat useful in the Mediterranean and North Africa.It was obvious that we had one best course of action: to take a defensive position against our stronger enemies - Russia on our side, America on the Japanese side - and swift combined action to crush the crumbling British Empire.It can be done, and it can be done in time.Nothing could compare with the fall of Great Britain, which would mark a turning point in world history and would greatly increase the impact of Japan's victory in the Far East.

The Mediterranean Strategy destroyed the British Empire by blocking the Mediterranean and cutting off its lifeline to India and Australia. Admiral Raeder first proposed the plan in 1940.It calls for the occupation of the Strait of Gibraltar, the landing in Tunisia, beyond Libya and Egypt, to the Suez Canal and the Middle East, where we can count on a warm welcome with arms raised by Arabs and Persians.One only has to look at a map to see that the idea is brilliant.Spain, France, and Turkey, the three principal weak points in our sphere of influence, would be thrown into our camp.In possession of French North Africa, the Greater German Empire would become a mighty pyramid; in the south its base stretches from Dakar over the Sahara through Egypt, Palestine, and Syria to the Persian Gulf; its apex is midnight Norway in the sun; the western slope is the Atlantic Ocean and the fortified coastline; the eastern slope (in 1940) is the border with the Soviet Union.

Our weak ally to the south, Italy, would be safely locked in a lake ruled by the Axis powers.The island of Malta, Britain's small fortified military bastion in the central Mediterranean, would be too hungry to hold on.Africa's wealth will be shipped to Germany's Europe by boat.We'll get oil from the Persian Gulf and raw materials from Asia.From that jutting promontory of Dakar, we'll take control of the fertile South America.This is the call of the Golden Age, the dawn of the German World Empire. As early as 1940, and later in 1941, Hitler took great interest in this visionary project.The Arabs of that region hated their French and British masters, while the "Arab Freedom Movement" welcomed our propaganda and proxies.Hitler did discuss Gibraltar with Franco.But this cautious Spaniard was noncommittal, and the head of state had already put his mind on the upcoming attack on Russia, so the Barbarossa plan temporarily overshadowed the light of the Mediterranean strategy.

But the time has indeed come for this historic vision to be realized.Greece, Crete and Yugoslavia were all under a strong German rule.Rommel is marching in Africa.The Soviet threat was hit, almost a thousand miles back, and its bombers were nowhere near our range.The British navy was forced to stretch its battle lines and become as thin as paper, and the sinking of the "Prince of Wales" and "Repulse" created a vacuum of water power in the Indian Ocean.Australia and New Zealand are to bring their troops back from North Africa to defend Singapore and their own homeland.In fact, we are watching the world-system of the British Empire disintegrate before our eyes. The enemy is already on the verge of collapse, and we should knock him down in time.At that time, we had the most powerful navy and the most powerful army in the world.If Japan attacked the British Empire westward through the Indian Ocean, and we attacked eastward along the Mediterranean coast, wouldn't that old Empire be crushed like a rotten hazelnut in a nutcracker of solid steel? Kuroshima Strategy At that time, a wonderfully conceived secret combat plan appeared in the Japanese naval circles: the Kuroshima Strategy.Kuroshima showed a brilliant professional vision and courage, comparable to Manstein.Had this plan been carried out, the British plutocratic regime might indeed have collapsed quickly, and the Second World War might indeed have ended differently. Captain Kameto Kuroshima is a senior combat planner of the Japanese Navy: a eccentric intellectual with non-military habits, but often bursts out with strategic talents like lightning.He was the one who designed the brilliant attack on Pearl Harbor.Since then, the Japanese Navy has been working on a long-term plan to continue the attack: a plan to advance east, south, and west.Naval morale is strong; Captain Kuroshima's "Westward March" vision fits perfectly with our Mediterranean strategy.His idea is still exciting today: the timing of the march must be closely coordinated with German offensives in the Near and Middle East. The objectives will be: 1. Destroy the British Fleet 2. Capture strategic points and destroy enemy bases 3. Establish contact between Japanese and European Axis forces The thrilling plan was put aside, and he ordered all his staff to study the plan of the black island.A Japanese-German military agreement was indeed being negotiated in Berlin.Unfortunately, it turned out to be an empty document.The two thin pages provide neither for joint research by the staffs of the two sides nor for the development of a joint strategy.The globe was divided into two "combat zones" by a line through the West Indies.Then came the high-sounding general principles; to the west of the line, Germany and Italy would destroy the enemy; to the east of the line, Japan would do the same, and so on.The nonsense document ends with empty jokes about intelligence exchanges, supply cooperation and "trade wars".The diplomatic blunders chilled Japanese naval planners, who abandoned the "Westward March" as an impossible proposition. well! Hitler Goes Mad Ironically, Hitler was re-examining Raeder's Mediterranean strategy. An isolationist American newspaper, the "Chicago Tribune," had the top-secret Changhong-5 combat plan, and published the full text in large boldface with a headline against Roosevelt.This peculiar act of treason was, of course, a fortunate opportunity for us to obtain information.There is no doubt that the document is genuine; Hitler referred to it when he declared war on the United States.It called for a large-scale landing in Europe in 1943 of millions of newly recruited American soldiers and a large number of British support troops, with the British Isles as the main landing base.Admiral Raeder seized on this intelligence and made a big fuss.Clearly, the fall of Great Britain would jeopardize the entire Changhong 5 operational plan and overwhelm the United States. Just as Hitler was mulling over these scenarios, the Japanese blew up Pearl Harbor.Days of rejoicing followed.Hitler heard the navy, army, and air force speak out in support of Raeder's plan.He fully understood the central idea—the Axis powers would attack together quickly to destroy the weakest enemy—and finally he grudgingly agreed, and set off for the Eastern Front.Our General Staff quickly worked out the Führer's Directive No. 39: Put on the defensive in Russia, make the necessary retreats and prepare measures for the rear positions; we sent the plan to the headquarters for him. The result was a big mess! Hitler sent the Army Commander-in-Chief von.General Brauchitsch and his chief of staff, General Halder, were summoned to a midnight meeting.He screamed insults, saying that Führer's order No. 39 was "full of nonsense," and then announced that there would be no retreat on the Eastern Front;He dismissed Feng on the spot.Brauchitsch's position is to personally control the command of the troops-a corporal was removed from the post of field marshal!Raeder's new strategy was of course bleak, because its central idea was to draw forty or fifty divisions from the Eastern Front to sweep the Mediterranean.Undoubtedly, this is why the agreement we signed with Japan in the first month was so hollow and superficial. Why did Hitler change his mind? He returned to the dark, gloomy, icy field headquarters and had to face some difficult things.Against the advice of the General Staff, he marched on Moscow until December.Difficulties of weather and supplies stopped our cold and exhausted troops in open positions.The Russian counteroffensive had begun; local breakthroughs were being made.How unsettling it is, for a dictator is used to nothing but victory! Hitler couldn't escape the specter of Napoleon.We all know this: Coulancourt's "Memoirs" was banned in General Staff as obscene books were in the boys' dormitories.Our terrified Fuehrer no doubt imagined the collapse of the front, the retreat of the German armies, and the driving of the Germans out of Russia by the Cossacks.This is just a dream.Our vast and fortified front from Leningrad to the Black Sea was nothing like Napoleon's solitary march into Moscow with a few thin supply lines.But Hitler's mind was so taken by this false comparison that he issued the draconian order "Stand or Execute," and personally took command of the troops to obey it. Even if every supreme commander had the right to fear of sleepless nights, there was no need to send such a depressing order to the Japanese.If Hitler had sent a small military delegation to Tokyo—maybe Admiral Raeder with General Vallimont or myself—it might have turned the tide and brought the Black Isle strategy into focus.Or if Hitler had invited some of the top Japanese commanders to Berlin after Pearl Harbor to consider a joint battle plan, we might still have a blockade even if the Russian front was still snowed in and even if we were preparing for a summer offensive in the Caucasus The Mediterranean forced Britain to surrender.But no Japanese liaison officers were allowed in the High Command. "If you don't stick to it, you will be executed" Some historians and military analysts still hailed Hitler's "hold or execute" order on the Eastern Front as one of Hitler's great achievements, an act of sheer willpower to "save" the German army.But here is the fact: as soon as this order was issued, the star of the Austrian adventurer began to dim.Political leaders need to avoid getting bogged down in the specifics of war and keep their eyes open.Once Hitler took over top field command (for which he was only a headstrong, scratchy man), he went from bad to worse. The order "Defend or execute" was in fact a hysterical military error.Tenacious confrontation in unfavorable situations is a correct principle; however, flexible defense is also a correct principle.In Russia we are vastly outnumbered by the Slavs, but we outnumber them in leadership, combat prowess, and the art of mobilizing troops.Hitler's orders demanded unnecessary sacrifices, thus freezing troop movements, removing leadership, and dampening morale.Our image of invincibility evaporated.Russian propaganda posters showed a new image of the German soldier: "Winter's German," a bony wretch in a steel helmet, with icicles hanging from his frozen red nose, "stands firm and Death" in an untenable post. Raeder's plan, the last coherent idea of ​​a German victory, vanished.People can use their imagination freely to imagine unexpected scenarios: Japanese battleships and aircraft carriers flying the sun flag, passing through the Suez Canal flying the thousand-character flag, and sailing into the Mediterranean!Such political fallout would shake the world.And it can be done.Our defense lines in Russia, properly shortened and strengthened according to Directive No. 39, will be tenaciously held, and the blood of the Bolsheviks will be shed on the land of Russia.With a small defensive force in the spring of 1942, Japan had no trouble defending its Pacific perimeter against the weakened Americans. But put all this aside as a love that is elusive.It is still an absolutely true fact, confirmed by Churchill's memoirs: Japan could have occupied Madagascar at will, cutting off the supply line up the East African coast to Egypt.If so, there would be no Battle of Alamein.After Rommel's brilliant surprise attack on Tobruk, starving African British troops would have surrendered to him in June.Then maybe Churchill would have fallen, and the war would have turned out to be very much in our favor. As a result, the Mediterranean strategy degenerated into a titular "grand plan," a general attack that would end the war in one fell swoop after Hitler's defeat of Russia.He loved talking about the project at the dinner table, and it was always just that: dinner table conversation material. A Forgotten Victory The mighty Japanese navy dawdled and delayed until late March when Vice Admiral Nagumo, the conqueror of Pearl Harbor, actually received a mission.Before that, he had been swimming around the blue ocean with an aircraft carrier, carrying out small-scale attacks, as the commentator Fuchida put it, "breaking eggshells with a sledgehammer."As the days passed, the fast Japanese battleships remained at base near Hiroshima.In March, Nagumo finally moved westward to attack the British navy and air force in the Indian Ocean.The purpose is to support the Japanese army advancing into Burma. Here at last was a test of the Black Isle strategy, and it turned out to be a resounding success.Nagumo's dive bombers sank an aircraft carrier, two heavy cruisers, and a destroyer.He destroyed two bases in Ceylon and many merchant ships.His Zero fighters smashed the defending Swordfish, Hurricanes, and Spitfires, Winston.Churchill admitted in his memoirs that the RAF had never suffered such a disastrous defeat in Europe.The remaining British warships fled to British East Africa.The British navy, which has held hegemony for two centuries, disappeared in the Indian Ocean.In fact, the Indian Ocean became Japan's inland sea.Western historians have ignored this remarkable event, only Churchill candidly wrote about the shock and horror he felt at the time. This is how Black Isle's vision proved correct.Madagascar, the coast of Africa, the Suez Canal, the Persian Gulf, the Mediterranean itself, were all left open to the advance of the Japanese fleet.But it is too late now.Nagumo was called to carry out other military operations.The time advantage of the Axis powers was wasted and not utilized. Dolittle Raids At the time, the United States was engaged in a reckless but courageous propaganda campaign, the infamous Dolittle terror attack on Tokyo, which provoked the long-delayed question "Where to strike?" at the Japanese high command. make a decision.Almost in a panic, they chose the most impracticable path. Underestimating Americans is a mistake their enemies often make.They appear to be frivolous and carefree; in fact, they have very mechanical, orderly minds that can become quite ferocious when agitated.The Yankees were too weak in the Pacific at that time, other than to send the planes from the aircraft carrier out to carry out small air strikes.Can't do anything else.But they had planned this savage little trick of launching a dozen Army Air Corps bombers from the deck of an aircraft carrier to harass Tokyo.Because the range of the Japanese patrol aircraft can only reach the range of the aircraft on the aircraft carrier.This air raid had completely unexpected results.In addition to the indiscriminate killing of civilians in this operation.It was of no use militarily, but the Americans did it all the time, and they did it again in Dresden and Hiroshima.Their purpose is to inspire the people at home.To panic the enemy. Technically, this is extremely difficult to do.But the Americans modified the bombers in their usual clever way, and changed the operating procedures of the aircraft carriers.A group of volunteer pilots, led by able Army pilot Dolittle, conducts a sneak attack.Bombs were dropped from clear skies and exploded in Tokyo.The United States rejoiced; the whole world was dumbfounded; Japan was so shaken that its foundation was shaken.Only four months into the war, the Holy Emperor was threatened with bombs from Yankees! Yamamoto, the audacious Supreme Admiral of the Navy who made the decision to attack Pearl Harbor, is now determined to never allow such a thing to happen again; the presumptuous Americans must be taught a lesson, they must be driven far away, and the planes on their aircraft carriers must be driven away. Never enough to fly to Japan.The clear and consequential answer to "Where to strike?" thus arises: "East!" There is no concrete advantage to be gained by going east; but there the American fleet may be forced out and destroyed.Japan would instead occupy an enemy outpost from which it would be able to prevent any future Dolittle raids.So Nagumo was called back; the matter was decided and irreversible.Go east! That's it, because of this wrong leadership, we and the Japanese turned our backs on each other and let the British Empire go.We are each heading in the wrong direction on the global battlefield.German troops marched long distances toward Stalingrad, while Japanese naval forces sailed to Midway. Translator's Note: This analytical article was used as a research topic at the Naval War College.I have given lectures on this subject.As an Army officer, Long tended to downplay the logistical problem of supply lines at sea across the Indian Ocean and the flanking threats from India, both sea and air, to trivial importance.However, in the spring of 1942, the best policy for the Axis powers was probably indeed to hold off us and Russia on the one hand, and to attack the British hard on both sides.Losses from German submarines were reaching their peak.The Japanese advance on the Suez Canal, combined with Rommel's advance in North Africa, could have dire consequences for Churchill's government.If Churchill were to fall, the chances of a separate peace would be greatly increased. But Long ignored one fact from beginning to end: a totalitarian government is not suitable for joint operations.The hallmark of such governments is that they are staffed by extremists and fanatics who came to power through intrigue and crime.Once in power, and the conspirators seize power, these properties remain.Just as thieves are quick to turn against each other, so totalitarians cannot form solid alliances. --dimension.Heng.