After the Battle of the Far East, the Japanese Army Ministry reorganized the domestic and overseas armies into three general armies, namely the Home Defense Force, the Far East Army and the Chinese Condemnation Army. The original historical Kanto Army was The army was replaced by the Far Eastern Front Army in this time and space. However, the jurisdiction of the Far Eastern Front Army was many times wider than that of the Kwantung Army.
In the original history, the Kwantung Army's defense area was only the three eastern provinces, but in the current time and space, the Far Eastern Front's defense area covers the three eastern provinces, Mongolia, the Far East and Siberia. At this imperial meeting, the Japanese Army Ministry even North Korea was also designated as a defense zone for the Far East Front.
Therefore, Konoe Fumimaro's request to reduce the strength of the Far Eastern Army will definitely be strongly opposed by the Ministry of War, because from a purely military perspective, the Far Eastern Front, with a strength of 500,000, not only needs to be responsible for the security of such a vast area, but also needs to be vigilant. The Soviet Red Army still needs to go all out to encircle and suppress Xu Ruixin's regiment, and it is indeed stretched thin.
Konoe Fumimaro originally wanted to talk about shrinking the front, but seeing that the Ministry of War did not even agree to the conditions for reducing the strength of the Far Eastern Front, he simply stopped mentioning the shrinking of the front, because in comparison, shrinking the front was even more embarrassing. These generals in the War Department find it difficult to accept this. They are being asked to spit out the meat in their mouths!
The first imperial meeting held after Konoe Fumimaro became prime minister again ended in this way. None of the goals of shrinking the front line and reducing the force proposed by Konoe Fumimaro before the meeting were achieved. This also set the stage for Konoe Fumimaro two years later. The failure of the New Deal laid the foundation for the Japanese invasion of Southeast Asia.
But now, the Japanese army has just won the Far East Battle. The strategic resources it seized from the Soviet Red Army are still enough for the Japanese government to sustain for a while, so the crisis is not that serious until two years later. Trapped in the mud, strategic resources are consumed in large quantities, and danger will emerge.
It is also because of this that the Japanese Army Ministry flatly rejected Konoe Fumimaro's proposal to increase revenue and reduce expenditure.
After the Japanese Army rejected Konoe Fumimaro's suggestion, it quickly reorganized the Far East Army. After the reorganization, the Far East Army had three armies, namely the Third Army, the Fifth Army, and the Seventh Army. Among them, the Third Army was stationed Cullen, responsible for guarding the Soviet Union from serious injuries, the Third Army has the largest force, accounting for half of the Far East Front, and 80% of the armored and aviation forces. It can be regarded as an out-and-out heavy force group.
The Fifth Army is stationed in Khabarovsk and is responsible for the security of the Far East and the three eastern provinces. The strength of the Fifth Army is the smallest among the three armies of the Far Eastern Front. It only has two divisions and four mixed brigades. In a word , the Fifth Army is a field force in name, but in essence it is a security force.
The Seventh Army was stationed in Yanji, and its only mission was to encircle and suppress Xu Rui's new regiment.
Xu Rui's new regiment now has only 5,000 people left, of which only 3,000 combat troops are left. The Japanese Army Ministry and the Far East Front Army Headquarters know this. Even so, the Japanese Army Ministry also A separate army was formed on the Far East Front Army's organizational list, specifically to encircle and suppress Xu Ruixin's regiment.
This is enough to prove how much the Japanese Army values Xu Rui.
In other words, this is enough to prove how afraid the Japanese Army Ministry is of Xu Rui!
In fact, not only did the Japanese Army Ministry attach great importance to Xu Rui's New Regiment, the commander of the Far East Army, Yamashita Tomofumi, also attached great importance to the encirclement and suppression of Xu Rui's New Regiment, because he specifically called the Japanese Army Ministry and asked to concurrently serve as the commander of the Seventh Army, and also asked the Far East Army to Asaburo Kobayashi, deputy chief of staff, also serves as chief of staff of the Seventh Army.
Yamashita Tomofumi not only personally served as the commander of the Seventh Army, but also entrusted almost all the affairs of the Far East Army Headquarters to Chief of Staff Kimura Hyoutaro. In other words, as the commander-in-chief of the Far East Front, Yamashita Tomofumi's main energy now is Put it into the battle to encircle and suppress the new regiment.
In addition, German military adviser Rommel was also retained by Yamashita Fengfumi in the Seventh Army.
At this moment, Yamashita Fengfumi personally presided over a summary meeting at the Seventh Army Headquarters in Yanji to summarize the gains and losses in the battle to encircle and suppress the New Regiment. At the meeting, several main divisions who participated in the encirclement and suppression were interviewed. The commanders of the 3rd Flying Regiment, Shiga Tadashi and Yamashita Tomofumi, both made self-criticisms.
To be honest, in the just-concluded encirclement and suppression operation against the New Regiment, everyone from the commander of the front army, Yamashita Fengfumi, down to every division commander, performed poorly. Otherwise, they would not have performed well under such favorable conditions. , but still allowed the main force of Xu Rui's new group to escape, and even successfully captured the Wujiashan Fortress as a foothold.
After everyone had criticized themselves, Yamashita Fengwen nodded and concluded: "Yoshi, it seems that you all have a clear understanding of the mistakes you made during this encirclement and suppression operation. I feel that I'm glad, let's sum it up again, what we gained in this encirclement and suppression operation are the things we did well!"
"Let me say it first." Asaburo Kobayashi raised his hand first, and after obtaining Yamashita Tomofumi's consent, he continued, "In this encirclement and suppression operation, the most outstanding aspect of the imperial army's performance was the blockade of the new regiment from the intelligence level. , before the war, the imperial army used diplomatic channels to force the Soviet Union to block the mobilization of heavy troops of the imperial army from the New Regiment, so that the new regiment knew nothing about the mobilization of the imperial army. The new group caused a lot of passiveness!”
"Soderga." Yamashita Fengwen nodded happily, "He did a good job at the intelligence level."
Kobayashi Asaburo said: "Therefore, in the subsequent blockade and encirclement and suppression operations against the New Regiment, we must continue to use our intelligence advantages so that the New Regiment knows nothing about the movements of the Imperial Army, so as to achieve the goal of military operations. Suddenness! The Art of War goes like this: take the enemy by surprise and attack them unprepared. If you achieve this, the imperial army will have at least half a chance of victory!"
"Yo Xi." Yamashita Fengwen said, "Mr. Xiao Lin is right. In order to wipe out Xu Rui's new group, intelligence help is indispensable. Therefore, I decided to set up a forest agency in Yanji County to be responsible for the new group. For the intelligence operation of the regiment, you, Xiao Lin, will be the head of this Lin agency."
"Hai!" Asaburo Kobayashi nodded heavily and said, "Your Excellency, Commander, I will never let you down in this humble position."
Yamashita Fengfumi smiled slightly, waved his hand for Kobayashi Asaburo to take a seat, then turned his eyes to the other division commanders, and then asked with a smile: "Do you have anything else to add?"
"Your Excellency, Commander, you can earn a little from your humble position." Miura Takayuki, the division commander of the 57th Division, suddenly raised his hand.
Yamashita Fengwen said: "Miura-kun, please tell me."
"Hai!" Miura Takayuki paused and said, "Your Excellency, Commander, during this operation to encircle and suppress the New Regiment, all the troops, including our 57th Division, were fooled by the New Regiment. The regiments went around, many times just marching in vain, even if there was a chance to confront the new regiment, they were all defeated without exception."
Hearing this, the several division commanders present immediately lowered their heads in shame, and at the same time felt slightly unhappy. Well, Miura Takayuki, we have just done some self-criticism, right? So, there’s no need to humiliate us again, right? Is it fun to humiliate us? In other words, can this highlight your fifty-seventh division? No way, your 57th Division's performance is the same. How can we be any better
Miura Takayuki continued: "However, one unit is an exception."
"Really?" Yamashita Fengwen asked, "Is there such a troop? Which troop?"
Miura Takayuki said solemnly: "Your Excellency, Commander, this unit is the Inoue Brigade!"
"Nani? Inoue Brigade?" Yamashita Fengwen frowned slightly and said disapprovingly, "Miura-kun, are you mistaken? As far as I know, Inoue Brigade's performance in this encirclement and suppression operation was just as bad, even worse than those who participated in the encirclement and suppression operation. The main divisions were even worse, because nearly two hundred people in the Inoue Battalion, including the captain Chiyoko Inoue, were collectively destroyed, and no one survived. The casualty rate was much higher than that of other units, which can be considered excellent. ?”
Miura Takayuki shook his head and said: "Your Excellency, Commander, it is a bit unfair to say this."
After a pause, Miura Takayuki continued: "Because the opponent of other main divisions is only the main force of the New Regiment, but the opponent of the Inoue Brigade is the Wolf Fang Force. The combat effectiveness of the main force of the New Regiment is the same as that of the Wolf Fang Force. Completely different, we might as well make a bold assumption. If the combat effectiveness of the entire new regiment is as strong as that of the Langya troops, what will be the outcome of the main divisions participating in the encirclement and suppression? It is really not that the ambitions of others are humbled and the prestige of one's own is destroyed. If the main force of the entire new regiment is as powerful as the Wolf Fang troops, then of all the main divisions participating in the encirclement and suppression this time, no one will be spared!"
Kobayashi Asaburo said: "Miura-kun's words are a bit unreasonable. The Spike Force is a special force. No matter how well the main force of the new regiment is trained, it will never have the combat effectiveness of the Spike Force!"
Miura Takayuki waved his hand and said: "I am not saying that the New Regiment can obtain the combat effectiveness of the Spike Force through training. I just want to state a fact, that is, the performance of the Inoue Brigade during this encirclement and suppression operation against the New Regiment. It is better than all the main divisions. At least, in the pursuit of the Xilin River Valley, the Inoue Brigade caused heavy casualties to the New Regiment. If the Wolf Fang troops had not arrived, the main force of the New Regiment would have been wiped out! "
Yamashita Fengfumi nodded and said: "If we simply compare the performance in encircling and suppressing the main force of the new regiment, the performance of the Inoue Brigade is indeed better than that of the other main divisions."