Chapter 12 3. Neiji Okamura, the number one war criminal

Neiji Okamura is one of the most famous generals of the Japanese invaders. Among the generals of the Japanese invaders, he has been in China for the longest time and invaded China for the longest time.For the Chinese, Neiji Okamura is considered the most well-known figure, not only because his butcher knife has cut across most of the rivers and mountains in China, but also because of his novel and feature film called "Fire King Kong", which reflects his This army has a history of bloody raids in central Jizhong.His hands are stained with the blood of the Chinese people. Neiji Okamura was born on May 15, 1884 in a family of fallen samurai in Tokyo, Japan.Since Japan was relatively feudal at that time, pregnant women had to gird their waists when the fetus was protruding, so as not to let outsiders see the big belly.Anyway, Japanese pregnant women at that time were like this, and Okamura Ningci gave birth prematurely, so he was very thin when he was born.

The emaciated Neiji Okamura was very smart. He went to elementary school at the age of 8 and then transferred to the Tokyo Army Junior School. At the age of 17, he was promoted to the Army Non-commissioned Officer Academy. He was the 16th student of this school. He also studied with Seishiro Itagaki, Kenji Doihara, and Rikichi Anten. This class is very talented. They were all Japanese imperialists later. general rank officer. In 1907, Neiji Okamura served as the district captain of the foreign student team of the Qing Dynasty in the Japanese Army Non-commissioned Officer Academy, and began to deal with the foreign students of the Chinese Qing Empire. Therefore, he was also the teacher of Chinese warlords Yan Xishan, Sun Chuanfang, Li Liejun, and He Yingqin.

Okamura had been to China in February 1915. At that time, he came to collect data and intelligence for Japan. Later, he went to Beijing and worked as an assistant to President Li Yuanhong's Japanese adviser. He stayed there for four years.Later, he was hired as a consultant by his student Sun Chuanfang, and from Sun Chuanfang he stole military maps of Zhejiang and central China.He dedicated the map to the Japanese Army General Staff Headquarters, and secretly received a large bounty. Since then, he has been stationed in Shanghai, China as a spy military attache.While he was doing well, his second son died of scarlet fever in Shanghai, and soon his wife Rie died of illness in Tokyo, which dealt a heavy blow to him and made him silent for many years.

A madman is always a madman. In 1928, Okamura Neji created the "Jinan tragedy" in Jinan, Shandong, and found a reason for the Japanese army to station in Shandong.He personally led his 6th regiment stationed in Qingdao and was promoted to the rank of major general.During the "February 26" incident in Japan, Okamura Ningji analyzed the incident correctly and handled it properly. During the reform of the Japanese military circle, he was promoted to lieutenant general, and he was exceptionally appointed as the commander of the 2nd Division, becoming the leader of the Japanese Empire. One of the 17 regular division fighters, and then marched into Beiman.

During the Marco Polo Bridge Incident in July 7th, his division was fighting fiercely with the Northeast Allied Forces. At that time, he was looking for the troops of Zhao Shangzhi, a famous Chinese anti-Japanese general, in the mountains and plains. In June 1938, Neiji Okamura was appointed by the Japanese headquarters as the commander of the 11th Army, responsible for completing the strategic task of capturing central China.The 11th Army he personally formed was the main force of the Central China Dispatch Army. He captured Jiujiang, swept Nanchang, captured Wuhan, fought fiercely in Changsha and Changde, and then turned around to sweep the Eighth Route Army and anti-Japanese base areas in central Hebei.Especially when Jiujiang was captured, when cholera broke out in Jiujiang, Neiji Okamura excused that he was afraid of infecting Japanese soldiers, and ordered that all the people in the infectious disease area be buried alive or burned to create a no-man's land.

Last year, the Japanese base camp issued the No. 1 operation, and it was the front army led by Okamura Ningji who carried out the No. 1 operation.Lieutenant General Heng Shanyong of the 11th Army of his direct line served as the vanguard, sweeping Henan, Hunan, Jiangxi, Guangxi, and even Guizhou.Just after the Henan-Xiang-Guangxi War ended, Emperor Hirohito of Japan sent him a telegram. This is the telegram of Emperor Hirohito's commendation to the Chinese dispatched troops: The officers and soldiers of the various armies fighting in central and southern China have bravely maneuvered and fought hard for nearly half a year. Regardless of their intentions and epidemics, they have gone through hardships and destroyed the US air force bases in China everywhere, fully achieving their combat objectives and making contributions to the overall operations. , I am deeply appreciative.

Due to Okamura Ningji's heroic combat in the Chinese theater and his outstanding military exploits, he was appointed by the Emperor of Japan as the commander-in-chief of the Chinese Expeditionary Army in November 1944, and was promoted to the rank of general.Neiji Okamura is the third commander-in-chief of the Chinese Expeditionary Force after Tojo Hideki and Hata Shunroku.His life has witnessed the whole process from the Japanese militarism's conspiracy to invade China to the demise of the Japanese Empire.At the last moment of the dying struggle of the Japanese Empire, he realized his dream, stepped on the bones of the Chinese people, and finally ascended to the throne of the Supreme Commander.

For such a crazy butcher, Chiang Kai-shek actually acquitted him during the trial of Japanese war criminals.His students He Yingqin and Tang Enbo also hired him as a consultant to help them fight against the Communist army, which is really incredible.The Communist Party of China protested against this and listed Ningji Okamura as the No. 1 war criminal of the Japanese invaders.But Chiang Kai-shek did everything possible to protect him and secretly sent him back to Japan. He died of illness at home in his 80s until the 1960s.These are all later things. In March 1945, when Ningji Okamura was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, he was ordered to destroy the Chinese air force bases in Nanyang, Xiangyang, and Laohekou. They did not know that the bombers that took off from mainland China did not depart from the above airports. Instead, there is a secret air force base hidden in the deep mountains of western Hunan.

Ningji Okamura, who is engaged in espionage information, analyzed the military intelligence transmitted from the intelligence department. This secret air force airport should not be in Yunnan or Guizhou, but somewhere in western Hunan.Neiji Okamura, who is familiar with the situation in China, is a China hand. Based on his common sense of Chinese geography, the airport is in Zhijiang.He locked Zhijiang on the map with a red pen. According to the reconnaissance report, Ningji Okamura's judgment was accurate. Between the Wuling Mountains and Xuefeng Mountains, there is a flat county seat.The traffic there is blocked, and it is covered by mountains and dense forests, but there are thousands of aircraft of various types gathered in this small county airport.Zhijiang is the most active area of ​​the Chinese and American Air Forces.

Neiji Okamura was a war machine. He immediately reported the information about Zhijiang in China to the Japanese headquarters, and at the same time ordered the main force of the Japanese army that captured Nanyang, Xiangyang, and Laohekou to turn around and go south to assemble in Changsha, Hengyang, and Yiyang.Imai Takeo, deputy chief of staff of the Chinese dispatched army, convened the staff to formulate the Zhijiang combat plan. Neiji Okamura, 60, still has a burning passion for Bushido.Together with the chief of staff and deputy chiefs, he worked out a battle plan to attack Sichuan, China, in an attempt to concentrate ten elite divisions of the Japanese army on the Chinese battlefield, with more than 300,000 troops, to attack Sichuan on a large scale.One is to eliminate the vital force of the Kuomintang army, so that the Chinese army has no ability to cooperate with the Allied forces, so that the Americans will not have the support of the mainland, so their landing in China will come to naught; the second is to destroy the command system of the Chinese army, Push the Chiang Kai-shek Group out of the Sichuan area and head towards Yunnan.In this way, China's dispatched troops can join forces with Burma, Vietnam and other dispatched troops to attack from north to south and join forces in Kunming.

The Command of the Japanese Expeditionary Forces in China wanted to share the worries of the Japanese Emperor and win this impossible war of aggression when the Japanese Empire was in its most difficult time.Neiji Okamura thought that even if the Americans could not be defeated at sea or at home, as long as there was China, the American allies could not do anything to Japan, and the Japanese army could also fight against them.China has a vast land and abundant resources, and this is the place that Japan's small island country covets. However, the Japanese base camp did not approve this combat plan, and he ordered to add this content.After occupying Zhijiang and completely destroying the secret airport of the Chinese and American Air Forces, they took advantage of the trend and entered Chongqing or Guizhou from Zhijiang to occupy the strategic rear of the Chinese army. The Japanese base camp quickly approved the Zhijiang battle plan this time, and they telegraphed Commander-in-Chief Neiji Okamura to pull out this nail at all costs, otherwise there will be no peace in Japan, and the emperor's palace will not be safe Assure. On March 29, 1945, the Japanese dispatched troops to China held a military meeting in Nanjing.The scale of this military conference is large and the specifications are high. The commanders of the 12 affiliated front armies all participated in this military conference. The Nanjing Military Joint Conference decided that the 20th Corps of the Sixth Front Army would be the main force, with Commander Ichiro Sakanishi as the commander-in-chief, leading the 116th, 47th, 34th, 64th, and 68th divisions and three mixed brigades The regiment, equipped with 5 fighter squadrons and 1 bomber fleet, with a total of 135 aircraft and a total strength of 80,000 troops, attacked Zhijiang from Yiyang, Shaoyang, and Dong'an in three routes. Lieutenant General Sakani Ichiro proposed that the road leading to Zhijiang was not conducive to the combat of the mechanized troops of the Imperial Japanese Army, and the road must be repaired urgently.In the case of insufficient air power, it is necessary to ensure the smooth passage of ground tanks, armored combat vehicles, and artillery vehicles, otherwise there is no possibility of victory. Neiji Okamura ordered the engineering unit to rush to repair the roads and bridges leading to the mountains.He knew that under the condition of losing air supremacy, the Japanese army could not fight without a large number of mechanized tanks.Considering that there are many rivers in western Hunan, there must be an engineering unit for transportation support. Commander Neiji Okamura particularly emphasized the importance of the engineering unit for combat in mountainous areas. In the end, Commander-in-Chief Neiji Okamura demanded that we should use all our wisdom and all-powerful skills, be good at planning and fighting, break through the crisis, and restore the country's fortune.As long as this battle is fought well, the Empire of Japan will be able to reverse the situation and switch from an unfavorable war situation.Therefore, the troops participating in the war must have the confidence to win, be loyal to His Majesty the Emperor, and swear to the death to capture the Zhijiang River in China and beat the Yankee Air Force to the ground. The soldiers and horses did not move, but the food and grass went first.Japanese soldiers began to rush to repair roads and erect temporary pontoon bridges where they entered Xiangxi.Lieutenant General Sakanishi Ichiro also personally inspected along the way, and he was quite satisfied with the efficiency of the Engineering Corps.He didn't have much chance of winning the Zhijiang battle. Unlike the past, the Japanese military now has very different views and opinions on the war situation.Sakanishi Ichiro belonged to the 6th Front Army, and the commander of the 6th Front Army was Okabe Naozaburo, who was Sakanishi Ichiro's immediate superior.However, General Naozaburo Okabe and Neiji Okamura are at odds, because they belong to the same level of generals. Last year, there were conflicts in the competition for the position of commander-in-chief of the Chinese Expeditionary Force. In the end, Emperor Hirohito appointed Neiji Okamura. , and let Naozaburo Okabe take over as Okamura Ningji's Sixth Front Army, which made Naozaburo Okabe more thoughtful. Sakanishi Ichiro, who is in the relationship between the two of them, is in charge of commanding Zhijiang's operations, so he will inevitably be involved in the conflict between the two.Take this mission as an example, Okamura Ningji ordered the 20th Corps of the Sixth Front Army to take on this important task. Does Okamura Ningji give Naozaburo Okabe any color? Naozaburo Okabe held a negative attitude towards the Zhijiang operation, and he appealed to the base camp many times. At the beginning, the base camp agreed with Admiral Naozaburo Okabe. Later, the U.S. Air Force really deceived people too much and dared to bomb the Emperor’s Palace. Lieutenant General Ichiro Sakanishi paid a visit to General Naozaburo Okabe before his expedition.At that time, Naozaburo Okabe was in poor health, suffered from high blood pressure, and suffered from terrible headaches.He told Ichiro Sakanishi that this battle is a mountainous jungle battle, which is not conducive to the mechanized troops of the Japanese Imperial Army, so we must be more cautious and careful, and we must not underestimate the enemy.He also said that in support of the 20th Army's operations, the main force of the 34th Army has been transferred to gather near Changsha, and it is ready to reinforce or cover the 20th Army at any time. Okabe endured a severe headache. He knew his physical condition, and perhaps the days to come were numbered, so he spread out paper and ink, and wrote a Chinese haiku for his favorite general Sakanishi Ichiro: Birds returning from spring also weep, my eyes soaked with tears. Okabe's calligraphy was taken from the second king of China. He began to learn the way of Chinese calligraphy since he was a child. He is the general with the best calligraphy skills in the Japanese military.From his fondness for Chinese calligraphy, he fell in love with ancient Chinese calligraphy and painting, antiques and ancient poetry, so he left a lot of poems in his military life.At this time, he gave the written haiku to Ichiro Sakanishi after paying for it. Ichiro Sakanishi didn't know at that time that this was Naozaburo Okabe's last pen.Just after the Zhijiang operation ended, Okabe Naozaburo died of a cerebral hemorrhage in a hospital in Shanghai, China.He escaped the trial of the Chinese people. The frequent mobilization of Japanese troops in the Hunan area aroused the vigilance of the Kuomintang in Chongqing.Tang Enbo and Wang Yaowu, who were hurrying up for training, found out what was going on, and went to the front to observe it. They were the ones who reported the situation to Chiang Kai-shek. "The Japanese army is increasing its troops to Hunan. I went to the front line in western Hunan and observed the movement of the Japanese army. There are gathering places for the Japanese army everywhere. The timid people may have a heart attack from fright." Tang Enbo said exaggeratedly. Wang Yaowu was stationed in western Hunan, and his fourth front army had not yet finished its training, and the troops had not yet received all the American equipment. After replacing the equipment of several divisions, most of the divisions had not been replaced and were waiting.He is a careful person, recording the number of Japanese troops increasing every day.From the dynamic point of view, it is possible to attack Xiangxi.He suggested to the committee that the troops should be transferred quickly, and if necessary, they should be transported by air, and they must be ahead of the Japanese army, so as not to be passive, so as to consolidate the Zhijiang forward position in advance. When Chiang Kai-shek heard that the Japanese army pointed at Zhijiang, his nerves immediately tensed up.He knew that the Zhijiang Air Force Base was very important for the sake of the War of Resistance Against Japan.Especially after Hengyang, Guilin, Liuzhou, Nanyang, Xiangyang, Laohekou and other airports were lost, Zhijiang Airport was the last secret forward base of the Chinese and American air forces. Anxiously, Chiang Kai-shek looked down at the topographic map of Zhijiang.The geographical location of Zhijiang Airport is very exquisite. It is surrounded by mountains, with Xuefeng Mountain in front and Wuling Mountain in the back. It is very hidden and far away from the Beijing-Guangzhou Railway Line. At that time, Chennault said it was an OK place.Now there are a large number of military materials piled up here, and there are Chinese and American fighter planes parked on the airport.The fall of Zhijiang not only caused losses to the Allied Forces, but also affected the bombing of important Japanese military fortresses. It is very likely that Chongqing will also find it difficult to protect itself. What worried Chiang Kai-shek even more was the fall of the US air force base again.In the past, he had promised Chennault countless times that he would do his best to protect the US Air Force base and stick to the strategic airfields of the US Air Force. However, the troops below did not fight well, and lost the airport one after another, which made Chiang Kai-shek too embarrassing.Although Chennault did not criticize him, and did not protest this and that like Stilwell did, Chiang Kai-shek still felt a little bit unable to step down. This time Chiang Kai-shek has vowed that no matter what happens in the past, similar situations cannot happen again.Chiang Kai-shek did not allow Zhijiang to be lost, otherwise, he would really become a big joke of the Allied forces, making him lose all prestige.So he wanted to send heavy troops to resist or destroy the invading Japanese army in Xuefeng Mountain. Chiang Kai-shek appointed He Yingqin as the commander-in-chief of the Xiangxi battle, and asked him to immediately go to the Zhijiang front to hold a military meeting, deploy troops, and consolidate the Xiangxi defense line.If it cannot be defeated this time, military officers at all levels will surely receive the most severe sanctions.This is the death order given by Chairman Jiang to He Yingqin, Commander-in-Chief of the Army. Before He Yingqin presided over the Zhijiang military meeting, the commanders of the national army's front forces, theater commanders, and defense forces all went to Chongqing.They gathered in a conference room of the Military Council to discuss various options.Chiang Kai-shek sat on the chair, he did not speak, and listened to the analysis and speeches of the commanders first. Lu Han, commander of the first front army, and Zhang Fakui, commander of the second front army, didn't say much, and it was not their turn to intervene in the Zhijiang battle.This battle may fall on the heads of Wang Yaowu, commander of the Fourth Front Army, and Tang Enbo, commander of the Third Front Army.Of course, from the perspective of the garrison position, the Fourth Front Army is on the ground in western Hunan, and it is only natural that Wang Yaowu's Fourth Front Army is the main force. According to Air Force reconnaissance, Japanese engineers are rushing to repair the roads from Hengyang to Shaoyang, and from Xiangtan to Shaoyang.The Japanese army rushed to repair the road, indicating that a large number of mechanized troops participated in the attack.Wang Yaowu's fourth front army alone may not be reliable.Chiang Kai-shek pondered for a while, and he ordered Tang Enbo, the fourth and third front armies, to assist with all his strength. On the one hand, he must stabilize the rear of Guizhou, and on the other hand, he must protect Wang Yaowu's flanks, and block the loopholes at the junction of Guangxi and Hunan to prevent the Japanese army from drilling. into the Guizhou region. After Chiang Kai-shek set the tone, he looked at the tense expressions of the two men, and put pressure on them while the iron was hot, saying: "Everyone knows that Zhang Deneng, the commander of the 4th Army, did not fight well and caused Changsha to fall. I have ordered him to be executed. Chen Shunong, the commander of the 93rd Army, lost Guilin, and the Military Commission punished him. He killed a general Han Fuju in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, and then killed a lieutenant general in the later period. It was not because I, Jiang, was cruel, but because I had to do it as a last resort. "He paused for a while, and glanced at everyone's faces, deepening the deterrent weight of the above words.Then he said in a different tone: "I am still very satisfied with the record of everyone present here. I believe that you will be able to serve the country in this battle and establish an unrivaled feat." Wang Yaowu heard the meaning of Chairman Jiang's words.Just now he was a little worried that his own troops might not be able to resist the 80,000 Japanese army, and he wanted to make a statement to the committee, but now the opportunity to make a statement was blocked.When Wang Yaowu was thinking this way, someone spoke up for him. After hearing what Chiang Kai-shek said, He Yingqin felt the pressure on his shoulders. He was afraid that he might make a mistake, so he boldly said to Chiang Kai-shek that the Fourth Front Army relying solely on Yaowu might be weaker. If something unexpected happens, it may be too late to make up for it. Chiang Kai-shek was also thinking about this matter, so he pointed to the map and ordered that the army commander-in-chief He Yingqin would personally command the battle of Zhijiang, and he must arrive at the front line to take command.You can lead Wang Jingjiu's 10th Army and Li Yutang's 27th Army to attack the Japanese separately in advance.Order Liao Yaoxiang's new 6th Army to go to Zhijiang as the general reserve team for the Xiangxi battle. The main task is to guard Zhijiang Airport.Order the Air Force to ensure that 400 aircraft will participate in the battle, and the total force shall not be less than 200,000, so as to ensure that the Sino-US Air Force Base in Zhijiang is safe. He Yingqin rubbed his hands, he was very satisfied with the final decision of the committee, so that he was sure of winning.Of course, the most important thing is that Chiang Kai-shek reminded him with a sentence just now, which made the battle plan he was brewing in his heart suddenly clear, and the strategy and tactics became clearer. He resolved to follow the method he had been planning for a long time.