The advantage of the Japanese army's equipment.
On July 7, 1937, the Japanese invaders launched a full-scale war of aggression against China at Lugou Bridge, and the Chinese people rose up to resist. Although it was not very advanced in the Asian theater, it was far more tragic than the European theater.
In the face of Japan, which has been fighting for many years in order to invade, the equipment and quality of the Japanese army far exceed that of any Chinese army, and it is precisely because of this that on the frontal battlefield, the first is defeated and retreated, although it also has the courage to break through the mountains and rivers, but the battle loss rate is extremely high, and the Japanese army often plays an exchange ratio of more than 1:5.
Looking at the infantry brigade of the Japanese army, the regular number is 1,100 people, more than half of them are equipped with rifles, equipped with 36 light machine guns to enhance firepower, each squad is equipped with grenadiers, plus 12 heavy machine guns and 2 infantry guns, the fire is extremely fierce. Their rifle is a "three-eight big cover" with a caliber of only 65 mm, but high precision, few failures, strong durability.
Japan's small resources are small, the military industry will save money and materials to the extreme, but the effect is unexpectedly good, Japan's grenadier is ** type, weighing 3 kilograms, firing range of 500 meters, in the hands of the Japanese army, this thing is extremely accurate, a large number of machine gun positions are blown up by grenadiers.
Their infantry guns are Type 92, weighing more than 200 kilograms, which can be disassembled on people's backs, and can be fired either directly or in a curved manner, which poses a great threat to the squadron without reinforced concrete fortifications.
In contrast, the equipment of the squadron is very backward. At the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War, the best-equipped ** military and German division in the squadron, the number of rifles in each infantry battalion was less than half of that of the Japanese army, and the number of artillery was only 2 mortars, which was not enough compared to the Japanese army.
Not to mention the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army, Hanyang is considered a good guy, and some are even old-style firearms from the Qing Dynasty. Their machine guns and cannons are also very few, and some are still home-made**.
With such a gap in equipment, the Japanese infantry was almost invincible on the battlefield. Their effective range is around 300-400 meters, while the effective range of the squadron is only 100-200 meters. Their shooting level is also much higher than that of the squadron, they are able to hit a single hit at this distance, and they hit the vital points. Their grenadiers and infantry artillery were also capable of inflicting devastating blows on the positions and staging areas of the squadrons. Their tanks, planes and artillery made the squadron even more daunting.
Under such circumstances, the arrogance of the Japanese invaders was very arrogant, and they believed that the squadron was vulnerable, and they could easily occupy China's land, the Chinese people, and realize their ambition of the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere".
The counterattack of the New Fourth Army of the Eighth Route Army.
However, the dreams of the Japanese invaders were soon shattered by the heroic resistance of the Chinese people. In the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army played an important role, establishing anti-Japanese base areas behind enemy lines, carrying out guerrilla warfare, supporting the frontal battlefield, and laying the foundation for the final victory.
The fighting style of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army was very different from that of the Japanese invaders. They did not fight head-on with the Japanese invaders, but adopted flexible and mobile guerrilla warfare, taking advantage of the terrain and the masses to attack the Japanese invaders' lines of communication and rear strongholds, depleting the Japanese invaders' troops and materials, and breaking the morale and will of the Japanese invaders. They also established a broad united front with the Kuomintang army and people from all walks of life, mobilized and organized the broad masses of the people to participate in the anti-Japanese struggle, and formed a powerful force in the people's war.
The Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army created many brilliant examples in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and demonstrated the wisdom and courage of the Chinese people.
Pingxingguan Victory: On September 25, 1937, the Japanese army had already occupied Beiping and Tianjin, and was heading for Shanxi. ** Led the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, ambushed in the valley of Pingxingguan, waiting for the arrival of the Japanese army. A brigade of the 21st Brigade of the 5th Division of the Japanese Army, plus logistics troops and the wounded, totaled more than 1,000 people, not knowing that danger was in front of them, and walked into the encirclement of the Eighth Route Army with light on the enemy. ** Ordered a fierce attack, the artillery fire and machine guns of the Eighth Route Army, rained down on the heads of the Japanese army, caught the Japanese army by surprise, and after the battle, only more than 100 Japanese troops fled the battlefield, and the rest were annihilated.
But even so, the Eighth Route Army also lost more than 1,000 people, and the time, place, and people were all on our side, but they still played a 1:1 exchange ratio, and I have to say that the Japanese army at that time was indeed strong in combat effectiveness.
Battle of the Hundred Regiments: From August 20 to December 5, 1940, the commander-in-chief and deputy commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army commanded more than 100,000 people from 18 divisions to launch the Battle of the Hundred Regiments in North China, and carried out large-scale attacks and sabotage on the Japanese army. The Eighth Route Army carried out scattered battles, striking at important targets such as Japanese communication lines, bridges, tunnels, power stations, airports, and warehouses, and blowing up more than 1,000 kilometers of Japanese railways and more than 2,000 kilometers of automobile roads, causing huge losses to the Japanese army.
Establishment of the Jin-Cha-Ji Anti-Japanese Base Area: In November 1937, the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army and a group of military and political cadres, under the leadership of the first political commissar, opened up the first anti-Japanese base area behind the enemy line - the Jin-Cha-Ji Base Area. This base area covers parts of Hebei, Shanxi, and Henan provinces, with a population of more than 20 million and an area of more than 100,000 square kilometers. This base area became the rear of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army, providing them with a favorable strategic base, establishing close ties with the broad masses of the people, and developing an anti-Japanese democratic regime and an anti-Japanese armed force.
The "law and order war" of the Japanese army
The Japanese army encountered stubborn resistance from the Eighth Route Army in North China, the offensive plan was disrupted, the supply lines were cut off, and morale was very low. The top brass of the Japanese army realized that the previous way of fighting the first army would not work at all in North China, and the strategy must be changed, so the Japanese army invented a new word: "law and order warfare."
The core idea of the "public order war" is that the Japanese army no longer tries to destroy the main force of the Eighth Route Army, but mainly defends its own strongholds and lines of communication, supplemented by "sweeping" and "clearing," aims at stabilizing its own occupied areas, and uses the means of depleting the Eighth Route Army's activity space and mass base to achieve the goal of "maintaining public order."
In order to carry out the "law and order war", the Japanese army established a large number of strongholds in North China, each of which had a certain amount of strength and firepower, and a certain distance and connection between them, forming a dense defensive network. The Japanese also dug blockade ditches, repaired artillery towers, and set up barbed wire and mines around each stronghold to prevent the Eighth Route Army from attacking. The Japanese army also used traitors and puppet armies to carry out a reign of terror on the people around the base area, forcing them to pay food and taxes, restricting their access and activities, and even carrying out large-scale ** and burning to defeat the will to resist Japan.
The Japanese army made another mistake in judgment, Nie Shuai was an old revolutionary who had experienced five anti-encirclement and suppression, and he was not too familiar with this set of tactics, and the Eighth Route Army was broken into pieces, and did not clash with the Japanese army's strongholds, but adopted the policy of "can fight, can't fight, can't fight, can't fight" According to the enemy's situation and terrain, flexibly choose the timing and method of attack and retreat, strike at the weak points and weak links of the Japanese army, avoid the strong points of the Japanese army and the concentration of heavy troops, give the Japanese army a sudden and fierce blow, quickly withdraw, and do not give the Japanese army a chance to react and pursue.
In fact, the New Fourth Army was not bad, but its main scope of activities was in the southeast, and it was not the main battlefield in North China like the Eighth Route Army, and the scale of the New Fourth Army was small, so it did not attract as much attention as the Eighth Route Army.