Iron Cross

Richthofen and other German HNA executives, as well as companies such as Heinkel and Juncker, originally did not think that Japan HNA's aircraft would be very powerful, but in view of the benefits that Messerschmitt gained from zero-war improvements, they were still skeptical. I took it over and tried it. I was very surprised when I saw the technical indicators of Tianshan and Comet, because the two indicators far exceeded the improvement that the German Navy planned to use based on the Stuka, especially the Aichi AE1A Atsuta engine (DB The explosion of the Comet ship, which is a Japanese copycat version of the -601 engine, made Heinkel feel a familiar sense of disobedience, because the Comet was improved on the company's He-118 dive bomber and was originally used to compete with German dive bombers. During the bomber project, the He-118 was valued by Air Force senior general Udet, who was responsible for the selection, because it had more advanced technical indicators than the Stuka. It was once designated as a new generation model. Who knew that the He-118 was too technical? The performance was unstable due to being ahead of schedule. During the aircraft model selection verification meeting, the He-118 piloted by Udet broke up in the air. Fortunately, he was lucky enough to successfully parachute. From then on, the German dive bombers became the Stuka's world. The company later sold the He-118 design to Japan. Now that I saw the results of flowers blooming inside the wall and fragrance outside the wall, I immediately jumped out and said that I would take care of the improvement of Comet. Of course, the old rival Junkers could not choose Heinkel's "Japanese illegitimate son", so they took over the task of improving Tianshan. manual labor.

News of the victory in the South Pacific Campaign reached Tokyo. While the top brass of the army and navy cheered, they were also full of enthusiasm at discussions on follow-up operations. However, a large number of discordant voices also arose, and disagreements arose about the next strategic direction. The first is the re-examination of the so-called Indian Ocean strategy, and the second is the issue of withdrawing troops from China. In order to quell the discussion, the top eight leaders of the Army and Navy, the Prime Minister, the Tibetan Prime Minister, and the Foreign Minister had no choice but to sit down and discuss it again.

"The issue of the Indian Ocean strategy cannot be shaken." Navy Minister Isoroku Yamamoto first made a statement. "I know that there is a lot of opposition within the Navy to withdrawing troops from the Southeast Asian Islands. There are also people who advocate seizing the opportunity to weaken the U.S. Navy. The opportunity to further attack Australia and New Zealand is completely unachievable. It can be seen from the Battle of Guadalcanal that the U.S. garrison has strong firepower, high combat power and the cooperation of mecha forces. Our army is no match for the same number of people. There are too many people and logistical supplies cannot be guaranteed. Although the U.S. Navy has suffered a setback, it still has a large number of abundant troops in the country. It only takes one month to mobilize them. This one-month gap is not enough to conquer Australia and New Zealand. "

Everyone understands this. In order to bombard Guadalcanal Airport, the combined fleet used its main force to bombard it all night. The ammunition poured out took several months to produce. Fortunately, this was part of Horikichi's overall strategy. If it was just to suppress Guadalcanal, Island firepower, this is completely a loss-making deal (I don’t know if the Americans will be heartbroken after hearing this), so the march to Australia and New Zealand is completely a matter of enthusiasm among middle and lower-level officers. There is no market among the senior officials, but for withdrawing troops from China , the resistance faced is much greater. Not only are a large number of mid-level and lower-level officers firmly opposed, but there are also many people who hold objections at the general level - General Yan Junliu, the commander of the Chinese Expeditionary Forces, has always held the position of limited termination. But he could not stop others. To show how strong the opposition was, he sent a telegram to Ishihara Kanji, clearly listing the opposition figures within the Expeditionary Forces.

Therefore, Kanji Ishihara lamented his bitter experience at the meeting. On the one hand, he expressed his determination to withdraw and shrink the troops, but on the other hand, he said that he did not know how to start. The Tibetan Prime Minister kept complaining that too much military expenditure was consumed on the Chinese battlefield. In 1942 Although it is not over yet, military expenditure is expected to exceed 18.5 billion yen, equivalent to more than 75% of Japan's national expenditure, and the Chinese battlefield accounts for 60% of it. He spread his hands and said: "If this continues, The national finances are simply unsustainable, and in the end the only solution is bankruptcy. Japan may not be defeated militarily, but it is likely to be defeated financially. "

Everyone had just rejoiced at the victory of the great battle and was full of confidence in the follow-up Indian Ocean strategy. When they heard the complaints, their hearts suddenly sank. Prime Minister Ugaki Kazunari planned to smooth things over and reduce the pressure on all aspects. Unexpectedly, he just stood up and still Before they had time to speak, an inexplicable scene that shocked everyone appeared: Navy Minister Yamamoto Isoroku suddenly stood up angrily and yelled at Deputy Chief of the Military Command Department Toyoda: "The navy's affairs are ruined because of you who don't know the heights of the world. On the red deer who didn't know how to advance or retreat..." As he spoke, he still felt uneasy and stretched out his hand to slap the deputy officer of Toyoda twice. The latter was probably stunned, covering his face for a long time and not daring to move. He couldn't speak. After the beating, Yamamoto Isoroku didn't say much. He just nodded slightly to Ugaki Kazunari and left, and then Inoue Narumi followed him angrily. Not wanting to be embarrassed by staying at the scene, he left after a while, and the meeting ended unhappily amidst the wry smiles of others.

Everyone was confused and didn't know what was going on. They were shocked when they asked the whole story afterwards: During the meeting, Deputy Chief of the Military Command Department Toyoda Takeru muttered to the Chief of the Military Command Department, Prince Fushimi Miyahiro Kyoto, that he was dissatisfied with Horikichi, not only because of He spent a lot of money on aircraft (he would rather use them up and let the pilots parachute instead of returning to refuel). He also said that he did not cherish the main flagship and forced the Yamato to charge. Finally, he suggested that Musashi cannot be given to him in this battle, and Ise and Hinata can do it. .

Originally, it would have been fine if they had just muttered to themselves, but these words were overheard by Yamamoto Isoroku, who already had a strong opinion of Toyota Futsumi (Yamamoto repeatedly said that the two Toyotas in the navy must not be used, one was Toyota Futsumi, and the other was the "official fan" Toyota Sadajiro). Now that he heard the other party's nonsense, he could not suppress his anger and flew into a rage. Yamamoto's rank was higher than Toyota Futsumi and his qualifications were more profound than his. The latter did not dare to fight back in the end, but the Navy Minister beating the Deputy Chief of the Naval General Staff was an unprecedented major event, involving the coordination of military and political affairs and military command. In addition, there were so many eyes watching the scene of the beating, and the news inevitably spread.

The generals of the army initially thought that the navy would definitely keep quiet and that Admiral Yamamoto might apologize in private, but the development of the situation was completely beyond their expectations: many people supported Yamamoto in this matter. In the eyes of many people, Yamamoto won Pearl Harbor, and Hori Teikichi, who Yamamoto guaranteed, won the South Pacific Campaign. It was nothing to teach a lesson to Toyota Fuetake, who had not made any achievements and was ignorant of the immensity of heaven and earth. This voice was so loud that even Prince Fushimi Hiroyoshi began to dislike Toyota Fuetake for being too talkative.

The news was originally circulating among the high-ranking military and political officials in Tokyo, but somehow the news spread that the Naval General Staff was unwilling to transfer Musashi to the front line. A large number of backbone members of the fleet on the front line, including Kondo Nobutake and Shimizu Mitsumi, became anxious and sent telegrams to Tokyo to scold people, strongly supporting Hori Teikichi's approach. They did not think it was a big deal to use Yamato to attack. The injured Yamato was at least better than "Yamato Hotel". As for Musashi, it must be used after it is built. Now the Indian Ocean strategy is a battle of national destiny. If Musashi is not used, will it be moldy after it is built? The storm became more and more serious, and in the end even Hirohito began to pay attention to this matter, so Toyoda Fumu's fate was soon doomed. On the third day, he was ordered to transfer to the reserve. At the same time, an order was issued to promote Hori Teikichi to the rank of admiral, and the deputy chief of the Naval General Staff was replaced by Koga Mineichi.

The whole incident is called the Navy A Incident (also known as the Toyota Incident). Of course, everyone is a high-level elite, and no one would simply regard Yamamoto's lesson to Toyota as a personal grudge between the two. This is entirely due to the lack of coordination between the military and the government and the military order after the imperial military order. The situation of the army is slightly better than that of the navy, because the Chief of Staff Prince Higashikuni Toshihiko listens to Ishiwara Kanji, and Ishiwara Kanji has a close relationship with Army Minister Tada Shun, and the performance of Army Vice Minister Shimomura Sada is also very low-key, so the four giants of the army maintain a harmonious appearance.

However, unlike the middle and lower-level officers of the Japanese Navy who support Yamamoto and Hori Teikichi's line, the army has always been very resistant to the contraction of Nanyang and the withdrawal of troops from China. Yan Junliu himself supports the contraction. Although the strength and intensity of the contraction are not completely consistent with Ishiwara Kanji's ideas, he deeply feels that he cannot control the generals below, so he will submit the list-he originally wanted to show Tokyo how serious the resistance below is, but the situation has developed to a degree that he did not expect at all.

If it were the old Ishihara Kanji, he might have had the patience to do some ideological work on the group of idiots on the list, but stimulated by the Navy's great victory and the Toyota incident, his methods became more intense. Based on Yan Junroku's list, on November 9, the Army Ministry issued an order to transfer 3 lieutenant generals, 7 major generals, and 14 majors and lieutenant colonels to the reserve. All of them were people who opposed the withdrawal of the China Expeditionary Army. This was called the Army A Incident (also known as Tada's layoffs, Tada Shun cried, I was used as a gun by others). This aroused a strong backlash from the China Expeditionary Army, but Ishihara Kanji was tougher than them and told them that if they did not withdraw, all the military supplies for the China Expeditionary Army would be withheld next month. This hit the heart of the expeditionary army. Thanks to the strong support and communication of the Chief of Staff Prince Toshihiko Higashikuni, the personnel adjustment plan was finally determined.

However, Harukichi Momotake, who had been against the withdrawal of troops before, was probably frightened by the tragic situation on Guadalcanal. This time, he became an advocate and supporter of active adjustment. Therefore, the 17th Army was restored and became the main force for the Indian war, and the divisions drawn from the 18th Army and the three divisions drawn from the Chinese battlefield would become the scheduled Indian dispatched forces. However, it would take some time for the army to fight India. At least the navy could not send the army to India until it opened up the Indian Ocean route and gained control of the sea in the Indian Ocean. Therefore, Ishihara Kanji still had a chance to improve the dispatched army.

At this point, everyone understood that Ishihara Kanji had gambled everything on himself. His political life was completely linked to the Indian Ocean strategy. Once there were twists and turns, he would be completely crushed to pieces.

Note: I know everyone is waiting impatiently, so these two chapters will explain the necessary transitions, and the next chapter will return to the Eastern Front.