Chapter 6, Hearts of Iron: Empire of the Rising Sun (Part 2)
Although he said that he wanted to "share the joys and sorrows with the Australian soldiers," as a "base camp staff officer" who basically stayed in the imperial capital Tokyo during the entire war, Hattori Takushiro reluctantly took a few mouthfuls of urea-rich, smelly The overwhelming kangaroo meat made me unable to swallow any more, so I just kept drinking. Tsuji Masanobu, however, was not too selfish. He pushed the canned kangaroo meat aside and asked about the current situation on the battlefield in mainland China.
"...China battlefield? What else can we do? We have been shrinking our troops to the coastal areas, disengaging, and letting Wang Jingwei's people take the lead! Since we completely abandoned Shanxi and Mongolia the year before last, and abandoned Wuhan last year, Nanchang was abandoned this spring, and Shandong Province was completely lost to the Chinese Communist Army. The defense of Anhui was handed over to the Chinese friendly forces. The railway lines connecting the occupied areas were completely cut off, and communication with each other could only be achieved by sea.
His Excellency Okamura Neiji of Peiping was very dissatisfied with this. He originally took advantage of the conflict between the China Communist Army and the Chongqing Army and the riots of hungry people in Henan last year to organize a large-scale offensive against the Tang Enbo Corps of the Chongqing Army entrenched in Henan! As a result, the base camp not only refused to provide support, but also transferred two of his divisions to Australia, and another division to Zhejiang to block the coastline. Now Henan has become the base area of the Chinese Communist Army. In Hebei, the imperial army was also forced to abandon all the territory south of Shimen (Shijiazhuang). The plainclothes teams of the Eighth Route Army have already reached the edge of the Forbidden City! ”
"...You're kidding! They're still attacking! According to me, Okamura Neji's North China Expeditionary Force should simply abandon Pingjin and withdraw to Manchukuo! This would also save a lot of manpower! I doubt General Okamura knows about his What does the army look like now! Or maybe they are just pretending to be confused! I heard in the spring of this year that this guy’s security forces in the rural watchtowers in the eastern Hebei region failed to receive the maximum number of troops for more than half a year. In order to fill his stomach, he secretly sold out all his military uniforms, quilts and ammunition. In the end, he was so depressed that he worked as a tenant farmer for the local Chinese landlord. He was also treated as a joke by the Chinese radio station. Come out...but the base camp still refuses to mobilize these idle troops to Australia! Does the base camp really want to win the war? Or is it simply ready to surrender to the US and Britain? "
Colonel Tsuji Masanobu said carelessly, but Hattori Takushiro was so frightened that his expression suddenly changed, "...Tsuji-kun! Be careful what you say!"
"...It's okay, the war will eventually end! Since those big guys dare to do it, why don't we little guys like us say a few words?"
Colonel Masanobu Tsuji waved his hand disapprovingly, but did not continue. Instead, he talked about the military supply that was most criticized by the frontline soldiers.
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——Although Japan had a very sufficient labor force before the war, and Japanese workers also had a fine tradition of diligence and hard work, and were very loyal to the factory and their own jobs, after the war began, Japan's domestic industrial production was transferred to The process of establishing the wartime system was very bad. This is largely due to the fact that the government does not have a reasonable overall economic plan and simply focuses on output as the ultimate goal. As a result, policies and orders of various departments conflict with each other, and it also leads to a mismatch between resources and factory production capacity, which both affects workers. work enthusiasm, and reduced output.
The most fundamental problem lies in the lack of cooperation and even the most basic communication between the departments responsible for domestic economic production and the recruitment agencies. The staff of the base camp, who are deeply influenced by Bushido beliefs, take it for granted that every Japanese is a warrior of His Majesty the Emperor. , all can go to fight, and the result is that the engineers, technicians, leaders, mechanics and skilled workers in the factory are all captured and sent to the army. Leaving the factory with no skilled workers available, resulting in a significant decline in both the output and quality of various arms. For example, a supervisor working at Hitachi Electronics said, "We have recruited a thousand skilled workers. In order to ensure production, we must find 4,000 novices to replace them, and the quality cannot be guaranteed."
What's even worse is that many large companies or factories rely on hundreds of small companies to provide production raw materials and spare parts. In Japan, many small companies only have two or three technicians. If the technicians who master the key processes in these small companies are suddenly captured and sent to the army, then the entire production of this company will be finished, which will cause a chain reaction, eventually causing the entire production of a large assembly plant to stop because a certain part cannot be in place. ……
In addition to unscientific and indiscriminate recruitment, which wastes a large number of technical talents, another problem in Japan's domestic military production is the indiscriminate intervention of the military in factories. Today's Japanese Empire has essentially been taken over by the base camp, and most of the senior army and navy officers do not have any knowledge of business or production technology. Under the supervision of these officers, various factories have been forced to switch to military production. Regardless of the technical capabilities of these factories. As a result, many weird and embarrassing things happened, such as asking spinning factories to produce bullets and pottery workshops to bake telescopes... In the end, a bunch of unprecedented, bizarre and tear-inducing defective products were produced, which not only wasted precious raw materials, It also wastes a lot of manpower and electricity and delays time.
The craziest case is the Mitsubishi Aircraft Factory located near Nagoya. It used to be a factory that produced canned beef. However, the base camp threw away a drawing and ordered it to be temporarily converted into an aircraft manufacturing factory. God knows how those officers managed to combine cans and fighter jets. associated with each other.
And at the same time, skilled mechanical engineers were arrested and sent to the army, and they were replaced by some children who had not graduated from school... The result is one can imagine. The Zero fighters and bombers produced by this cannery were probably More than half couldn't take off at all. Even though it could barely fly, it still had fatal flaws. Soon after being sent to the front line, it gained the reputation of "pilot killer" from the officers and soldiers.
The inferior aircraft and tanks produced in this way soon became unusable - the former could easily stall and disintegrate in the air, while the latter had the ability to randomly self-destruct. Later, even rifles and machine guns had unbearable explosion rates.
Seeing that there was no hope of munitions in the rear, the Imperial Japanese Navy and Army on the southern front had to find a way to recruit technicians from the army and laborers, organize local production using Australia's rich iron ore resources, and miraculously quickly produce Many production lines for bullets, rifles, machine guns, grenades and mortars were established. For large mechanical parts or precision cutting-edge products that cannot be produced, we can only rely on "foreign orders."
——Although they captured the oil fields in the Dutch East India Colony (Indonesia), due to limitations in refining capacity, the Japanese army still had a gap in fuel supply during the Pacific War. Therefore, before the outbreak of the Pacific War, Japan signed a secret agreement with the Soviet Union. During the peace period between the two countries, Japan could import tens of thousands of tons of fuel oil from the Soviet Union every year, mainly heavy oil for naval warships. Later, due to some secret contacts and private communications, the scope of imports expanded to include aluminum ingots for aircraft production, as well as second-hand Soviet merchant ships, etc. Next, in view of the desperate situation of domestic military production, the headquarters, especially the navy, actually began to bite the bullet and order various parts from the Soviet Union. Later, some weapons were also entrusted to the Soviet Union for processing and manufacturing. I really wonder how the Russians could squeeze out so much production capacity while crushing the German Nazis on the Western Front?
This year, in view of the domestic food crisis, Japan has even begun to try to import food from Russia. Although the taste of those Russian brown bread is so sour that it is difficult to eat, the food rations that Japanese civilians could receive during the war were only daily. It's two-to-three scoops (330 grams) of rice, or the kind of brown rice that hasn't even taken off its husks. It's only half a pound in comparison. It would be nice to have something to eat during the war, but I don’t dare to be too picky.
Massive blood transfusions from the Soviet Union allowed the Japanese empire's already crumbling war machine to barely run for a while longer, but these foreign goods were not free, and credit was not allowed. In order to pay the bills, Japan initially relied on public donations to collect hard currency such as precious metals. Later, the gold and silver in the country were depleted, and the oil and water in North Korea and the Chinese-occupied areas had long been drained. The Japanese army went on a rampage in Southeast Asia, digging into the ground to collect various tropical specialties. They even ransacked Buddhist temples in Myanmar and scraped gold leaves from Buddha statues... ...bearing a devilish reputation, but the benefits went to the Russians.
If it is just to support war with war, then that's fine. The Japanese army has been doing this before. But the problem is that the Soviet Union used the excuse to consider the sentiments of its Chinese colleagues and maintain the internal unity of the Communist International, and did not want to see the steel it produced being smashed on the heads of its Chinese brothers. Therefore, Japan was required to import materials from the Soviet Union only for use in the navy. The Soviet machinery factories only accepted orders from the Japanese Navy.
It happened that Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, who was originally from the army, had fallen by this time and was sent to be the commander of the military police. The new Prime Minister, His Excellency Mitsumasa Yoneuchi, was born in the navy, so he naturally readily agreed to such a proposal that would benefit his own people. As a result, the channels for importing strategic materials and industrial products from the Soviet Union were completely monopolized by the Japanese Navy, and were basically only used for combat against the United States. The Army in Southeast Asia could still benefit from the glory, but the Army in the Chinese battlefield could not get even a hair. The Army Staff Headquarters was so angry that the Navy scolded the Navy for "colluding with the Soviet Union and being polluted by red ideas"...
Moreover, according to the opinion of Colonel Hattori Takushiro, Chief of the Operations Section of the General Staff Headquarters, this statement of attacking the navy does not seem to be entirely groundless.
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"...According to reliable information, Yamamoto Isoroku ran a huge smuggling network within the navy, reselling various materials wantonly in the empire and the entire Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, undermining the country's wartime economic control, and even Mitsumasa Mitsuru. The Prime Minister is also involved..."
Hattori Takushiro said gloomily, "...Moreover, what the navy does is not just smuggling Soviet supplies and Nanyang goods. Various red ideas are also spreading within the frontline navy. Many of Marshal Yamamoto's actions in the Nanyang controlled area, For example, enterprises directly run by the military, military farms, etc., all have obvious socialist overtones. The Special High School has issued warnings many times, but instead they were ordered to talk..."
However, the Australian Army under Colonel Tsuji Masanobu was able to share some of the things that the Navy obtained privately because of its long-term fighting side by side with the Combined Fleet. Although the taste of eating leftovers from the Navy is not pleasant, at least it is a soft-mouthed and short-handed attack on others, so it is very disapproving of this, "...undermining wartime economic control? If it weren't for the mess of domestic control, even qualified military products If the supply cannot be guaranteed, will the frontline soldiers need to resort to various evil methods? Do you want to overthrow the government? Or just have another fight with the Red Army? "
"...It wouldn't be a bad idea to have another Nomenkan Incident..." Hattori Takushiro suddenly said in a low and sinister voice, "...Someone in the Kwantung Army suggested that they could have a friction with the Soviet Union in the Far East. Regardless of victory or defeat, they could win. Showing goodwill to the United States will help open up peace talks with the United States..."
"... Ridiculous! This is simply irresponsible! It's suicide! The few elite divisions and brigades that the Kwantung Army could fight are now either completely wiped out, or they are in Nanyang and Australia! The current Kwantung Army is just empty-framed. What are they going to use to fight the Red Army? The old and weak women and children with bamboo guns in the Manchuria Pioneer Corps? Besides, this idea is just fantasy! Who said that just provoking the Soviet Union can please the United States? br>
Colonel Tsuji Masanobu immediately became angry, "...If this is really done, the US military will only be overjoyed, quickly strengthen its offensive, and then join forces with the Soviet Union to carve up the empire. By then, even the mainland will not be able to save, and Tokyo may have to suffer a nuclear bomb! Who is here? If you mess around, you are the sinner of the empire!”
"...The Soviet atomic bomb...well, this is indeed a problem, a very serious problem! It seems that the General Staff Headquarters must quickly send people to Manchuria to clean up military discipline. Those guys who are used to walking alone and defeating their superiors must not be allowed to do it again. poke out What kind of disaster is coming..." Hattori Takushiro was startled at first, but then he continued to ask unwillingly, "...but is it true that the empire can't get a decent peace from the United States now?"
"...Hattori-kun, give up! There is absolutely no way the empire can compromise with the United States now."
Tsuji Masanobu shook his head and said decisively, "...it was still possible in the first two years of the war. At that time, in order to concentrate its power on Europe, the United States might treat Japan with a little tolerance. But now the European battlefield has settled. , the United States only grabbed half of Italy in the south, which was not even worth mentioning. It was just enough to fill the gap between the teeth. If the Yankees want to fill their stomachs, they can only defeat the imperial army here in the Pacific!
Therefore, unless Japan surrenders unconditionally, or the United States and the Soviet Union immediately break up and fight in Europe - but with the Soviet Union showing off its atomic bomb, the latter seems to have little hope, otherwise the United States would rather unite with the Soviet Union to carve up the empire , and they are unwilling to reach a peace treaty with us! ”
"...This... Americans' will to fight is really that strong? They have already killed so many people and shed so much blood!"
"...It is precisely because they have killed so many people and shed so much blood that they must persist in fighting to the end!"
Tsuji Masanobu smiled bitterly and said, "...We fought too well in Nanyang and Australia before, and beat the US military too hard, so now we can no longer submit! Hattori-kun, you have also read the history of ancient Western wars, you should know about Rome How did the empire treat the Carthaginians: they slaughtered the whole family, eradicated the weeds, and even the Carthaginians The ruins of the city must be sprinkled with salt so that no grass will grow in this place! Why? Isn't it because the former Carthaginian general Hannibal beat the Romans too hard and accumulated too much hatred and hatred? Fear, so once there is an opportunity, you must put it to death before giving up!
If the United States chooses to give up instead of persisting to the end after suffering a bloody blow in Japan, then not only will it succeed Britain as the world hegemon, but even South America, which was originally regarded as its own backyard, may not be able to succeed. Stable. So let’s not have any illusions. American politicians basically have no tradition of compromising with their enemies. Especially since we started this war in the first place..."
At this point, both officers sighed sadly. The prospect of this war against the United States is already clear: no matter how much we win, we will only be able to survive; if we fail once, we will be doomed. The Japanese Empire seems to be rising and shining brightly, but in fact it has already reached its end and the sun is about to set.
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Such a bleak future prospect is simply too heavy to bear. So after talking about state affairs for a while, they consciously shifted the topic to various romances, and then noticed an unusually pretty and lively petite figure beside Marshal Yamamoto Isoroku in the distance.
This is a girl who looks to be about the age of a primary school student. She has hair that almost reaches her shoulders. The hair behind the ears is pulled into two not-so-traditional buns, leaving only the hair hanging next to the ears. Side of face. Wearing a light blue silk furisode kimono with exquisite patterns, white socks and clogs, and a string of colorful necklaces in her hair, she presented a slightly classical style.
Looking at the clothes, not to mention the workmanship, the materials alone are worth a lot of money, and the face as delicate as a doll. If you stand there obediently, you really look like someone who grew up in a "evil exploitative class" family. , a well-educated eldest lady.
It's a pity that now she is laughing very rudely, running around swaying her little feet in wooden shoes, holding a box of Western pastries made with cream produced at the Rokko Marine Farm in Kobe, teasing those who keep drooling. Refugee children playing in air raids...
After noticing the little girl's unladylike behavior, Marshal Yamamoto Isoroku walked over and scolded her with a straight face. However, seeing her disapproval, he could only sigh helplessly and stretched out his hand to rub He rubbed her hair and made her squint her eyes comfortably.
Seeing the familiar appearance of Marshal Yamamoto and the kimono lolita, Hattori Takushiro couldn't help but feel curious, "...this little girl... doesn't look like she is the daughter of Marshal Yamamoto's family! Could it be that she belongs to one of his relatives and friends?" ”
"...Perhaps she is Marshal Yamamoto's illegitimate daughter? I heard by chance when I was in Nanyang that Marshal Yamamoto seemed to have raised an illegitimate daughter in Truk. Not only did he dote on her very much, he even brought her to the flagship Let’s go play on the Yamato.”
Colonel Masanobu Tsuji casually guessed, "...perhaps when I came to Tokyo on the Yukikaze destroyer this time, I brought her along for a walk."
"...Really? Hey, remember that Admiral Nelson also had a similar romantic affair. Are all the famous naval admirals in the world such a romantic person?..." However, what Colonel Tsuji Masanobu didn't know was that Marshal Yamamoto Isoroku's " "Illegitimate daughter" is not just one. And the reason why they ignored naval discipline and appeared on the warship was not just Marshal Yamamoto's "pampering"...