Iron Cross

"Today I told him some things and personnel about the combined fleet, hoping that he could integrate as soon as possible, but he turned out to be more stubborn than I thought. He said that he did not want the chief of staff to change the results of the war game without authorization, and asked me to turn Ugaki around. Join the reserve and propose that Kusaka be appointed Chief of Staff of the Combined Fleet..."

Ugaki Matou is a backbone of the Fleet Faction. Yamamoto Isoroku, who is the leader of the Treaty Faction, has been deliberately neglecting him. He hardly asked for his opinion in the battles at Pearl Harbor and Midway. Ugaki Matoi's most famous story is in In the war game shown before the Battle of Midway, he arbitrarily changed the results of the exercise, changing four aircraft carriers sunk to one sunk and three injured. When the news actually came that four aircraft carriers had been sunk, he was The calmest one in the headquarters - because he already knew it from the picture! But even so, Yamamoto had no intention of touching Ugaki Matoi. Now, as soon as Horikichi came to power, he did not consider the fact that Prime Minister Ugaki Kazunari was Ugaki Matoi's uncle, nor did he care about the power of the Kantai faction, but he murderously demanded that he be transferred to reserve service.

"What?" Shun Tada and Sada Shimomura were shocked, "You agreed?"

"I promised half of it, let him swap positions with Kusuka." Yamamoto sighed, "So I said that he is more determined than me. The country is in a difficult situation right now. I can't let Ugaki Matoi be transferred to the reserve force like this. Treat him like that. The impact on some people is too great, so it’s better to change positions. For him, it’s still a promotion. It’s just that Caolu Renyi has been wronged, and he has to change positions not long after he took office.”

Kusaka Renichi is a member of the 37th Marine Corps and is a classmate of Ozawa Jisaburo. In early October, he just succeeded Tsukahara Tsukahara (36th Marine Corps) as the commander of the 11th Air Fleet (mainly naval base aviation, except for a few destroyers and almost no warships). ), Ugaki Matoi is only in the 40th term. On the surface, the two positions are equal, but if seniority factors are taken into account, Yamamoto will think that Ugaki Matoi was promoted and Kusuka Renichi was wronged.

"Where is the military headquarters?"

"Didn't he complain all day long about the Navy Ministry's interference in military orders? If he jumps out to criticize now, I will definitely label him as interfering in military affairs." Yamamoto Isoroku said proudly, "How long has it been since the Shimada incident? He really didn't Any responsibility? Who recommended this person?”

Tada Shun had nothing to say, he could only give a thumbs up to express his admiration for Yamamoto Isoroku: Now from top to bottom of the Navy Ministry and the chief officers of the Combined Fleet are all treaty sects, and in key positions of the Combined Fleet , such as Combined Fleet Chief of Staff Kusaka Noichi, Mobile Fleet Commander Tsukahara Tsukahara, and Mobile Fleet Chief of Staff Kusaka Ryunosuke are all from this group. Of course, it is the right of the Military Command to command operations, and those who can be responsible for commanding The front-line generals are all senior officers who wear the same pants as the Navy Ministry (either Yamamoto Isoroku's classmates or his confidants). It is difficult to imagine that the Military Command can still make a difference. This situation coincides with Nagumo Chuichi's appointment as the commander of the mobile fleet. It was the other way around - although Yamamoto Isoroku had the authority to command him at that time, Nagumo more often took orders directly from Nagano Shushen, the commander-in-chief of the military command department, and because he was timid, Yamamoto Isoroku had no control over many command details. He was not satisfied.

Inoue Narumi interrupted dissatisfiedly: "What? The fleet is allowed to clean us, but we are not allowed to retaliate? What kind of truth is this?"

Shun Tada and Shimomura couldn't accept this, because it brought back the grudges from 10 years ago - at that time, there were two completely different views on the Naval Arms Treaty within the Navy. Some people believed that the treaty should not be abrogated and were called The main members of the "Treaty Faction" include Yamanashi Katsunoshin, Horikichi, Sakon Sikyomi and Terashima Takeru and other key members of the Navy Ministry. The opposite is the Fleet Faction. After a power struggle, in 1934 the fleet party headed by the Navy Minister Okaku Sumio carried out a large-scale purge of senior officers of the treaty faction. Most of them were dismissed from the military and put into the reserve force. As a treaty faction, Yamamoto was protected by the big bosses. After escaping a disaster, Japan withdrew from the "Washington Naval Treaty" and "London Naval Treaty" on December 29 of the same year. Unexpectedly, things would turn around, and ten years later, the treaty faction would have the upper hand and control key departments.

"Inoue-kun, revenge is too superficial. It doesn't matter whether you are the fleet faction or the treaty faction now, but..." Yamamoto Isoroku emphasized his tone and said in a murderous tone, "I can't interfere with military orders and operations now. , but as long as I am the Minister of the Navy, there can only be one dominant force in commanding operations - that is, the aviation faction. The Malu who are still advocating that the battleships are the best should go to the reserve. "

"Yes, sir." Inoue Narumi lowered her head in embarrassment.

"It seems that personnel adjustments are beneficial. I wonder if there will be a new atmosphere here in the Army."

"The Army is also preparing to adjust?"

"Transferred... Sato Kenraku was transferred to the reserve force, and Muto Akira returned from the post of commander of the Guards Division to serve as director of military affairs of the Army Ministry; Tanaka Shinichi was sent to the Guards Division to take over Muto Akira's squad, led by Kawabe Toshiro Served as Chief of the Operations Department of the General Staff Headquarters.”

Sato Kenroku is a die-hard loyalist of Hideki Tojo, so it is no surprise that he was transferred to the reserve; Tanaka Shinichi has always been a hard-line opponent of China and the backbone of the expansionists, so it is natural that he was exiled; Kawabe Toshiro has always been the backbone of Ishihara Wanji , now the position of director of the Operations Department of the General Staff Headquarters is just right. The only thing Inoue Narumi has not figured out is why Akira Muto, an expansionist, is back? He also holds the important position of director of the Military Affairs Bureau. Does Prime Minister Tada Jun like to cause trouble for himself?

Shun Tada seemed to have read through Inoue Narumi's thoughts and asked: "Can't you figure out Muto Akira's appointment?"

The latter nodded: "If I remember correctly, it was the two expansionists Muto Akira and Tanaka Shinichi who joined forces to drive Ishihara Kanji out of the army center. What?"

"People change. If you change positions, your thoughts may be completely different... Just look at Shimomura-kun and you will know."

Shimomura Sada was an expansionist who shouted to fight and kill when he was formulating the battle plan at the General Staff Headquarters. After serving as the president of the Army Artillery School and the Army University for several years, he returned to the Army Center and became a cautious one - Shun Tada When he said this, Shimomura Sada's own face turned red.

Shun Tada didn't seem to see the wonderful change in Shimomura Sada's face, and just kept talking to himself: "Muto Akira was in high spirits when he drove away Ishihara-kun, and he was eager to make a career, but he wasted a long time in the Army Ministry. , and later learned a lesson on the battlefield in China. He spent two years without achieving anything. When he was transferred back to China, he actually said something that he had never dared to think about before: "I want to get to know the Chinese people again." He had changed from a fanatic to a calm person. Recently, I have been in Sumatra for half a year and I feel that I have made a lot of progress. He sent me a series of telegrams to tell me that the situation in Southeast Asia is dangerous. He also sent me his thoughts on the combat situation in Southeast Asia. I gave it to Deputy Commander Ishihara to take a look. , he basically agreed with this and also recognized Muto Akira’s return, so the current situation has emerged.”

"I really envy Ishihara-kun..." Inoue Narumi said sincerely. Now Ishihara Wan'er is having the best life: his boss is the royal family of Higashikuru Miyazaki, who is his backstage, and all the chief officers of various departments of the staff headquarters are Being a direct descendant of Ishihara means that he can rule the roost in the General Staff Headquarters. Army Minister Tada Shun is his close friend and ally. Army Vice Minister Shimomura Sada has also been in a low position recently. Ishihara Wanji's status in the army is like calling the storms. It’s no exaggeration to describe it. Moreover, now that the Ministry of War and the General Staff Headquarters have clearly joined forces, they are extremely decisive in handling internal personnel. Most of Tojo Hideki's confidants have been swept into the reserve force, especially Major General Shigao Ryouji, the captain of the Tokyo Military Police who Ishihara Kanji hated most. He sent a transfer order to die on the battlefield in Burma, while trying to speak with a single tone to the outside world. Unlike the Navy, there was a vague opposition between the Navy Ministry and the Military Command. When thinking of the latter, Inoue Narumi felt extremely irritable for no reason.

"I would like to draw a circle on the specific list of islands to be retreated from in Nanyang."

"Draw a circle?" No one understood Tada Shun's thoughts.

Shun Tada did not explain in detail how to draw a circle, but said: "Secretary General Ishihara told me one thing: the German envoy was shocked when he heard that our planes took off from Rabaul, more than 1,000 kilometers away, to attack the US military on Guadalcanal. , repeatedly said that this is simply the behavior of a lunatic, because this distance is equivalent to taking off from Warsaw to Moscow to support the frontline operations. If a staff officer in Germany proposes such a combat plan, he will probably be ordered to retire tomorrow - regardless of Bf-109 or Fw -190 can’t even go that far. Then Deputy Commander Ishihara said that Japanese planes can do it. What do you think the Germans would say?”

"How to answer?" Several people's curiosity was aroused.

"More than 1,000 kilometers means that it takes more than 2 hours to fly over, and more than 2 hours to fly back. On the way, you can only stay over Guadalcanal for 15 minutes for combat - the plane can fly for 5 hours without malfunction, and the man can fly for 5 hours. Is it okay if it’s one hour? Even if it’s one day, is it okay every day?”

There was silence at the scene. If there was no brainless young man or Lieutenant Colonel present, he would definitely shout: "Five hours is nothing. Japanese soldiers with the support of Yamato soul don't say 5 hours, 50 hours will do." But the people present are all big and medium-sized students. Jiang, of course, understands that under such an ultra-long-distance attack, the pilot's life is almost measured in days. The loss of the aircraft is nothing. Can Japan afford to lose its elite pilots? Because if you are not an elite pilot, you will not be able to carry out ultra-long-distance attacks.

Seeing that the atmosphere at the scene was a bit dull, Jun Tada slowly took out a document from his wallet: "I brought a telegram from Akira Muto. The purpose of inviting you two out for a drink today is to discuss this matter."

Inoue Narumi glanced at the words above, but it was better not to read them. When he looked at them, his hands couldn't help but tremble, and he only said: "This... this..."

He wanted to show it to Yamamoto Isoroku, but the latter slowly pushed it back: "Please Inoue-kun, please read it to me. The light is dim today and my eyesight is a little difficult..."