Chapter 882: Walking Into a Trap

The Central China Front Army was a large-scale front army group specially established by the island country during the full-scale war of resistance.

This force was one of the front armies established by the island country during the full-scale war of resistance, with a total force of nearly 400,000!

These 400,000 devils are definitely the main force of the island country!

In fact, before the July 7 Incident, the island country had a total of 17 Class A divisions.

In addition to these 17 active divisions, the island country also has 15 reserve divisions.

If all are counted, the total force of the island country is 1.5 million.

On December 7, 1941, when the Pacific War broke out, the Kwantung Army had only 730,000 people and the Huaxia Expeditionary Army had 620,000 people, totaling 1.35 million people.

When the war of resistance ended, the Kwantung Army had 680,000 troops and the Huaxia Expeditionary Army had 1.05 million troops.

During the entire full-scale war of resistance, the island country established a total of 173 divisions.

Among them, the 1st and 2nd General Armies stationed in the mainland had a total of 53 divisions.

A total of 62 divisions were deployed to the battlefield in China.

In the three provinces of the Northeast, which were regarded as the rear base by the Japanese, the Kwantung Army had 58 divisions.

In other words, during the entire War of Resistance Against Japan, there were a total of 120 divisions in China.

On average, a fully staffed division of an island country has 35,000 troops.

In this way, the number of Japanese troops entering China is roughly 4.2 million.

…

In summary, the island country has definitely invested heavily in the Battle of Songhu.

On September 11, 1937, the island country headquarters formed the Shanghai Expeditionary Army, which had 6 divisions under its jurisdiction, and Matsui Iwane was the commander.

On October 20, the newly formed 10th Army, which had 3 divisions under its jurisdiction, was urgently transferred from the island country.

In this way, there are a total of 9 divisions in the battle sequence of the Central China Expeditionary Army.

In fact, the Central China Expeditionary Army was established on October 29, 1937.

And Matsui Iwane, who was in charge of the Shanghai Expeditionary Army, served as the commander-in-chief.

And this Central China Front Army is the unit that created the Nanjing Massacre!

Among them, the 3rd Division must be mentioned.

It is the only Type A division that has been fighting on the Chinese battlefield from the beginning of the war to the surrender.

The Central China Expeditionary Army was directly under the command of the island country headquarters and participated in the Battle of Songhu, the Battle of Jiangyin, and the Battle of Nanjing.

There are four big devils in this unit who have already entered Ye Tian’s sight and became his assassination target.

They are General Iwane Matsui, the commander-in-chief, Lieutenant General Yanagawa Heisuke, the commander of the 10th Army, Major General Tsukada Osamu, the chief of staff, and Colonel Muto Akira, the deputy chief of staff.

In addition, the 3rd Division, 11th Division, 9th Division, 13th Division, 16th Division, 101st Division, and 5th Field Artillery Brigade of the Shanghai Expeditionary Army are all Ye Tian's combat targets.

What makes Ye Tian happy is that the Shigeto Detachment of the Shanghai Expeditionary Army has been wiped out by him.

In the 10th Army of the Japanese, the 6th Division, the 18th Division, and the 114th Division are under its jurisdiction.

In addition, there is a 6th Field Artillery Brigade directly under the management of Yanagawa Heisuke.

People know their own affairs best.

The Anti-Japanese National Salvation Army has too few troops, and there is no chance of winning against any of the concentrated divisions.

Ye Tian initially formulated a plan, which is to try to deal with the 5th Field Artillery Brigade and the 6th Field Artillery Brigade!

In the anti-Japanese war film and television works, the Japanese artillery seems to have only small-caliber artillery such as the Type 92 infantry gun and grenade launcher.

But in fact, the Japanese artillery is definitely not that shabby.

During World War II, although the Japanese army was not equipped with submachine guns and automatic rifles, its artillery was very impressive.

Although the artillery of the island country is far inferior to that of the European and American powers, it can absolutely crush the Chinese artillery.

In fact, every time the Japanese fought, the Chinese army lost more than they won. The huge gap in the strength of the artillery was the most important reason.

Before the July 7 Incident, the island country had already formed five heavy artillery brigades.

Among them, one brigade was deployed in China, and the other four brigades were all deployed in China.

Specifically, the Kwantung Army deployed two, and the remaining two were deployed in the North China Front Army and the other was assigned to the Central China Front Army.

However, when the Battle of Songhu began, the two heavy artillery brigades were allocated to the Central China Expeditionary Army.

In fact, the heavy artillery brigade is definitely a strategic force for the island country!

A standard heavy artillery brigade has two heavy artillery regiments.

In each heavy artillery brigade, 30-40 150mm heavy cannons, 20 240mm heavy cannons, and 10 305mm heavy howitzers are deployed.

Not only that, some heavy artillery brigades are also equipped with 3-6 320mm mortars.

The power of these heavy artillery is not ordinary, and the power of the explosion is absolutely terrifying.

Take the 240mm caliber heavy cannon as an example, the shell weighs 185 kilograms.

The shell is too heavy, there is no way, when loading, it must be loaded into the barrel with a special loading vehicle.

Its effective range reaches 16 kilometers, and the killing radius at the time of explosion exceeds 80 meters.

Once the field fortifications are hit by such a shell, they will definitely be destroyed.

Not only that, at least a platoon of troops will be eliminated.

That is to say, even if the soldiers in the fortifications were not killed by the explosion, they would be killed by the huge shock wave.

The 320mm mortar shell weighed 300 kilograms.

Obviously, it was more powerful.

Basically, one shell could directly wipe out a company.

When the full-scale war of resistance broke out, China had about 200 divisions, totaling 2 million soldiers.

Although the difference in military strength was not much between China and the island countries, and even much more, the results of the Chinese army were very average.

In the real history of the war of resistance, the Chinese troops did not even have the history of completely annihilating a single infantry regiment of the devils.

The reason is very simple, the weapons and equipment were too poor, and the fighting spirit was far inferior to that of the devils.

It must be said that throughout history, there have been many examples of the annihilation of the whole army.

However, the situation of the devils swearing to die and fighting to the last man is basically unique.

Compared with the island country troops, the weapons and equipment of the Chinese troops are simply unbearable to look at.

Take a division of the government army as an example:

The soldiers only had two sets of coarse cloth clothes and two pairs of straw sandals.

On average, each division had less than 10,000 soldiers.

In terms of weapons, there were 2,000 rifles, 20 rounds of bullets per person, 60 light and heavy machine guns, 5 mountain cannons, and 20 cars.

Most importantly, there was basically no tank and air cover.

Soldiers could only eat two meals a day, including one meal of porridge.

Even more, 600 government soldiers set out from Guizhou to Yunnan to participate in the war. After walking for a month to reach the war zone, more than 300 people were starved to death.

In contrast, the Japanese troops had an average of 22,000 people in a division in the middle and late stages of the War of Resistance.

Although the number of troops was reduced a lot, it contained 9,000 rifles, 600 light and heavy machine guns, 1,000 cars, 2,000 war horses, 200 mountain cannons, and 20 armored vehicles.

In terms of bullets, each Japanese soldier could consume 300 bullets a month.

Ye Tian believed that, without exaggeration or slander, the combat capability of a Japanese soldier was equivalent to that of seven or eight Chinese soldiers.

The combat effectiveness of a brigade of 1,100 Japanese soldiers was no less than that of a Chinese division!

In a trance, thinking of the huge gap between the two countries' troops, Ye Tian reaffirmed his determination.

He must try to destroy these two heavy artillery brigades!

Of course, Ye Tian did not forget his current goal.

It's very simple, that is, to find chemical weapons in the Third Division and use them to do something.

In addition, for this Arai Yasuko in front of him, Ye Tian thinks that she is definitely a big fish.

Now, the operation of luring her into the trap has been completed, it's time to make good use of her!