Chapter 822 The Fish Dies or the Net Breaks? (Part 1)

ps: I see that you are arguing fiercely about press censorship. Let me give you an opinion: During World War II, the United States had a strict press censorship system and confidentiality laws. For details, please refer to the history of journalism. During the post-war peace period, the United States abolished this system and replaced it with facts. until the rise of Internet media...

At the end of the day on February 4, 1944, on the first weekend of February, Vice President Henry Wallace received notice that his mission as acting president was over. Standing up, he stared out the window blankly, not knowing what to do for a while. Now he felt as if a balloon had been inflated to its maximum point and suddenly someone pricked it with a needle, and his whole body was deflated.

There was a knock on the door suddenly, and he weakly shouted: "Please come in."

It was actually Nimitz who came in. The other party saluted him first, and then reported: "I just received an emergency telegram from the Pacific Front. Japan dispatched a fleet to break diplomatic relations near the waters between the Marshall Islands and American Samoa. It is reported that at least 2 people including An aircraft carrier, a super battleship and related cruisers and destroyers, two fleets of our army were attacked, and 3 escort aircraft carriers and 14 merchant ships were lost. In addition, 15-20 merchant ships may have been captured, and only 6 ships were destroyed. After passing the blockade or turning back to Hawaii. Judging from the current situation, the Pacific Fleet is not a match for the Japanese fleet, so the supply of supplies to Australia and New Zealand will be temporarily interrupted. But I would like to ask you to tell the leaders of the two countries that we will not interrupt. Assistance to Australia and New Zealand, the two countries are very critical to the situation in the Pacific, and we will find ways to overcome this crisis as soon as possible.”

Nimitz was the most restrained person among the people in the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and he was also the only one who believed that the relationship with Wallace should not be too tense. Now because of Wallace's harsh criticism of the military's performance in the African battlefield, even Nimitz, who has always been relatively moderate, Eisenhower didn't want to talk to him, he just said bad words like Turner.

Wallace smiled weakly: "Thank you, General, for letting me know the situation on the front line, but I can no longer exercise presidential power now. Mr. Roosevelt will return to the White House soon. You can report relevant issues to him before doing anything else." Decide."

"Understood, thank you very much." Nimitz saluted again and walked away.

Wallace sighed. He had just noticed Nimitz's eyes. After hearing that Roosevelt had returned to the White House, the man's frown suddenly relaxed, and even his eyes suddenly became brighter, indicating that these soldiers In their minds, Roosevelt was their backbone, and his idea of ​​involving the public in politics and listening more to the voices of the people was probably child's play in the eyes of professional soldiers, right? Do we still need the public to tell senior military officers where to attack? How to fight? Soldiers must prefer authoritarian leaders like Roosevelt and Churchill, right? As for a political and military leader like Horikichi who can win wars, I'm afraid his subordinates will follow him wholeheartedly, right?

Wallace's idea was not bad at all. The Japanese Navy originally had no interest in breaking diplomatic relations. It believed that it was not in line with the spirit of Bushido and was only obsessed with fleet battles. Even though it had a large submarine force, it still only used To carry out the decisive battle mission of cooperating with the fleet. However, after in-depth exchanges with the German Navy, which had been specialized in breaking diplomatic relations for thirty years, and especially after repeated achievements in breaking diplomatic relations, the combined fleet also began to learn bad things, and a large number of submarines (whether built by Japan or later donated by Germany) began to be sent to perform the task of breaking diplomatic relations. , even the Musashi, which was reluctant to be used in fleet battles in the past, was used to break up the friendship. It was simply going from one extreme to the other. The two partners of Tsunoda and Nishimura suddenly transformed from the vanguard of robbing routes to aid the Soviet Union to the two generals who broke diplomatic relations in the Pacific.

The effect of the armed force to break the diplomatic ties was indeed extraordinary. At the very least, the Musashi, Kongo, and Zuikaku formations got their appearance fees doubled. The fuel stocks on the intercepted oil tankers were drained on the spot for large and small warships in the Second Air War. Some of the cargo ships were even seized. The excess fuel was also sucked away - anyway, the prisoner ship can just sail to Truk, and someone will worry about it later.

A few days after the Second Air War went to sea, the Japanese Navy established the Oriental Theater, which was mainly responsible for operations in the Gilbert Islands, Marshall Islands, Mariana Islands, Solomon Islands, New Guinea Islands and other places in the absolute defense circle. A total of It has two support points in the north and south, the northern support point is Truk and the southern support point is Rabaul. It is said to be the Eastern Theater, but it is actually responsible for the entire Central Pacific region.

Compared with the Nanyang Theater, which mainly includes Malaya, Borneo, the Dutch East Indies, the Philippines, and the Indochina Peninsula, the East Ocean Theater is directly on the front line of the war and is more dangerous. In the end, Horikichi chose a man with both aviation combat experience and Lieutenant General Hosei Goshiro (36th issue), who has fleet command experience and is senior enough, was promoted to admiral and took up this position. Hosei Goshirō first helped Horikichi in the position of mobile fleet commander, and later Being the first to respond to the rebellion on the Dafeng, a general will still be given.

Rear Admiral Michyuki Yamada assigned Goshiro Hosuan as the chief of staff (the chief of staff of the Nanyang Theater was Lieutenant General Endo Kiichi in the 39th term). He also assigned Vice Admiral Daigo Tadashige, Japan's only proficient in submarine operations, to be in charge of submarines in the theater. Combat command. According to the bilateral agreement between the army and the navy, the army aviation and army ground forces stationed on the islands in the Dongyang Theater are under the unified leadership of the navy, and relevant materials and ordnance supplies (except military salaries) are also left to the navy. Anyway, the navy has money, ships, and equipment. Of course, they only obey the navy's unified dispatch in operations, and the relevant personnel rights and organization rights are still firmly in the hands of the base camp.

In exchange, the Navy withdrew from all presence in mainland China and transferred its assets to the Army. From now on, the Navy will only retain four locations in mainland China: Qingdao, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xiamen. China dispatched troops to sort out the navy's fine goods and then turned around and resold some of the outdated goods to the Kuomintang and the Communist Party.

After the large-scale friction between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party began in October 1943, the Japanese military arms and supplies business suddenly improved a lot, and there was an endless stream of people coming and going every day. However, the dispatched army soon discovered that the communist forces that came to contact for purchase were only one-tenth less than their opponents, and aerial reconnaissance results showed that the communist-controlled area was rapidly expanding, which puzzled the dispatched army because *** *Originally, the weapons and equipment lagged behind the national army, and the number of arms purchased from Japan was significantly less than that of its opponents. Why is there such a huge difference in combat effectiveness?

The mystery was not revealed until December, and the reason turned out to be something no one expected - oil! After shipping to India was cut off, the Kuomintang's oil import became a big problem. There are currently only two oil-producing areas in mainland China, one is Yanchang and the other is Yumen. The combined annual output is only a few thousand tons, and these oil fields are all In the hands of the common party. As soon as the gunfire rang out, all exports to the Kuomintang were stopped. The supply of aircraft and tanks to the Communist side was enough, but the country's mechanized heavy equipment was completely finished. Simply fighting on foot with small arms? Sorry, Gongfang is the ancestor in this regard. While the Chinese side is calling in oil stocks from the southwest, it is also urgently trying to find ways to buy it from Japan. However, the Chinese dispatched troops themselves have a shortage of oil. Where they dare to export it, a few tons or dozens of tons sold secretly at high prices are just a drop in the bucket, which is better than nothing.

Under this circumstance, Japan also accepted a big order - the Communist Party purchased a set of oil extraction equipment and a batch of industrial machine tools from the Soviet Union, requiring Japan to provide full transportation and security from Vladivostok to the Communist-controlled area, which was costly. , the top brass of the Expeditionary Forces decided to let it go after discussion. While making money, it also happened to make up for the deterioration of Japan-Soviet relations after the robbery incident. Then the person in charge of negotiating with the dispatched army said that if you want machinery and equipment, please tell us earlier. We also have it. If you want it, we can sell it to you. If we can't get it, it's easy, let the navy transport it from Europe! Europeans have a lot of outdated industrial equipment. The Eighth Route Army was stunned for a moment when they heard this tone, and then started setting up cotton spinning mills, small blast furnaces, machinery factories, petroleum refineries, etc. in the base area.

As for the supplies needed by the Kuomintang, the Expeditionary Forces gave them an idea - let the American father deliver them, and Japan's custom was to charge 40% of the toll to ensure safety (the Army Red Deer quickly followed suit), and the Chongqing authorities who were in a hurry sought medical treatment. The request was actually sent through diplomatic channels. However, for Wallace, who had to stop aiding the Soviet Union and Britain, assistance from China was not at all within his scope.

The relevant request was shot dead by Secretary of State Hull before it even reached Wallace. The latter was also holding back his anger: When I asked you to send troops to support India, you resisted, and now you want to benefit from us? This abacus is too beautiful, right? Even if Hull agrees, the Joint Chiefs of Staff will not let it go. In the latter's view, although China is still containing some Japanese troops, its significance and status have declined sharply, and it is increasingly unable to play a containment role.

This judgment is very accurate: over the past year, the occupied area in China that Japan has withdrawn from has been very large, and the strength of China's dispatched troops has been reduced to less than 400,000. In the past, subordinates were divided into North China Front Army. After the Tokyo coup and the completion of personnel adjustments in the base camp, the Central Committee Yan Shunroku, who had been criticizing the deployment of Chinese troops, was kicked to the reserve by Ishihara Wanji. The former commander of the North China Front, Okamura Neiji, became the commander of the China Expeditionary Force. The organization of the North China Front was abolished, and the divisions to which it belonged were directly transformed into the armies of the China Expeditionary Force.

The decrease in the number of people does not mean a decrease in combat effectiveness. Due to the increase in mechanization and armoring and the increase in troop density caused by the reduction in control area, the actual control power of the Japanese army in the greatly reduced control area has improved, and the only way to reach the level of armed surveillance is What dissatisfied Okamura Neiji was that the average equipment level of the Chinese dispatched troops was the worst among the major dispatches. He worked hard to improve this.

In response to this situation, the Joint Chiefs of Staff rarely had the same opinion as Wallace: aid to China is a pure waste and can be cut off resolutely!