webnovelfull Chapter 377: The gap between the Japanese army and navy
Chapter 377: The gap between the Japanese army and navy
After the Meiji Restoration, Japan began to build a modern army and navy. The emperor handed over the power of the army to the Choshu domain, and the power of the navy to the Satsuma domain.
Since there had always been conflicts between the Choshu clan and the Satsuma clan, this also laid the seeds for the conflicts between the Japanese navy and army in the future.
Because Japan's territory is small and its resources are limited, the navy and the army are constantly competing for limited resources for their own development.
In addition, in the research and development of some weapons and equipment, the Japanese Navy and Army often act independently and set up their own research and development institutions.
The most noteworthy thing among these is that the Japanese Navy and Army are also independent in the research and development of military aircraft.
Japan has the capacity to produce at least 20,000 to 30,000 aircraft per year, but due to the infighting between the two armies, it can only produce a few thousand aircraft per year.
Even the internal structure and instruments of the aircraft are different. Japanese Army pilots will not fly Navy aircraft, and Navy pilots will not fly Army aircraft.
In addition to aircraft, the Japanese Army is building its own aircraft carriers, and the Navy can also produce its own tanks.
The Army turns the screws to the left, the Navy turns the screws to the right.
If a certain caliber of weapon has been used by the Navy, the Army will never adopt it, and vice versa.
Based on this, the Japanese navy and army manufactured "magic cannons" of various strange calibers, which made the logistics of both sides very complicated and laid the groundwork for their failure.
But then again, this attack on Shanghai was the result of repeated discussions between the navy and the army.
After all, Shanghai is an international metropolis with a large number of Western forces and an important strategic position.
Firstly, Shanghai is the gateway to the Yangtze River and Nanjing, and was China's industrial base, financial and trade center, and transportation hub at the time.
The port of Shanghai is also very close to Japan, which the Japanese pirates regarded as an important entry point for invading China.
Controlling Shanghai can not only strangle the throat of mainland China, but also deprive it of its function as an economic center and cut off its external connections.
It was precisely because of these that the Japanese navy and army were able to temporarily put aside their prejudices and launch a joint attack in an attempt to quickly occupy Shanghai and block any possible incoming support forces.
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Therefore, when the highest leader of this fleet, Admiral Hase Kiyokawa, received a request for help from Army General Baka, he reluctantly arranged air support.
However, due to poor visibility, their planes did not carry bombs, but instead carried a lot of incendiary bombs and gasoline bombs.
Just when Hase Kiyokawa arranged for the fighter planes to take off, the front battlefield had been in a stalemate for a long time. In order to regain the lost positions, they launched several strong attacks.
However, with the Anmin Army's abundant firepower and reasonable defensive fortifications, they did not gain any advantage and were easily repelled every time.
After several attacks, these Japanese pirates finally gave up their stubbornness and continued to try to attack by force.
Instead, they consciously sent out small forces to attack. Their purpose was certainly not to recapture the position, but to mark it and guide naval aircraft.
The person who led the team to launch this battle was Jiang Youxiao. After discovering that the enemy had changed its tactics, he immediately sent a telegram to the rear.
After receiving the news, Jiang Li reacted quickly and immediately ordered the destruction of their prevention marks to avoid being bombed by Japanese pirates' planes.
After receiving the order, Jiang Youxiao was also shocked and immediately arranged for people to destroy these marks. The two sides then broke out in another smaller but more brutal battle.
As the two sides were struggling, the shrill roar of bombers was heard in the sky. When they arrived at the battlefield, they saw sporadic fighting between the two sides on the ground.
But even though there were many burning trees and some fires on the ground, they still could not determine the positions of the enemy and ourselves.
After circling in the sky for several times, the aircraft still could not determine the enemy's location, and finally had no choice but to return.
At this time, the Japanese army on the ground was dumbfounded. The promised air support had already arrived, and then turned around and left without firing a single shot.
But the planes had already flown away, and they had no choice but to continue urging the navy to send aircraft support. However, after the navy received the report from the pilot.
They could only helplessly express that they were powerless, but if the army insisted, they could let the pilots drop bombs on both sides of the war at the same time.
Hearing this, the army commander was so angry that he immediately stopped requesting air support.
But even though he was so angry, he didn't say anything excessive to Hasegawa Kiyokawa.
It’s not that Songjin Shigen is really so generous, but he really needs the navy’s firepower support.
But because their army's attack was too fast, their own aircraft were unable to provide support at this time, so they had to rely on the help of the navy.
Song Jin Shigen looked at the dark night sky again, as if his vision could transcend the darkness and see the battlefield in the distance.
After looking for a while, he retracted his gaze and looked at the map in front of him again.
After searching the map for a long time, he still couldn't find a way to break through. Finally, he had no choice but to order the troops to withdraw and wait until dawn to cooperate with the navy in the attack.
But Jiang Youxiao did not stop at all. He ordered the soldiers to dig cat ear holes all night and continuously reinforce the fortifications.
They kept working until dawn, when they stopped digging. Although the excavation was not completely completed at this time, they had experienced a whole night of fighting and high-intensity excavation.
They were already quite exhausted at this time, so they followed Jiang Li's orders and switched guard with the troops of Li Jiayu and Li Renzong behind them, letting them fight the battle during the day.
As for the fact that this will cause them to suffer greater losses from bombing by aircraft and artillery, they may be dissatisfied.
Jiang Li had never thought that if they were unwilling to fight during the day, then fighting at night would be the same. Unfortunately, their miscellaneous soldiers were simply unable to withstand such a difficult battle as a night attack.
All we can do is fight a positional battle and attract some firepower.
As soon as Jiang Li's order was issued, the 100,000 elite troops who participated in the night attack slowly withdrew from their positions.
At the same time, Li Jiayu sent people to take over the defense of the position. The two groups completed the change of guard without anyone noticing before dawn.
The soldiers who had just entered the position immediately began to set up defensive positions while continuing to dig anti-artillery holes until it was completely light.
As expected, the Japanese pirates began to act. With the roar of cannons and the large number of bombs dropped by planes, a new round of offensive and defensive battles began again.
Shells fell, explosions sounded, smoke filled the entire battlefield, and people died every moment.