Chapter 7 The development of the second holiday beauty strategy

2.1 Japan's strategy 2.1.1 Orthodox strategy The above-mentioned "National Defense Policy" and "Military Employment Program" were revised three times in 1918, 1923 and 1936 respectively in order to adapt to the changes in the situation and the improvement of weapons. First Amendment (1918) During the First World War, in January 1915, my country put forward 21 demands to Yuan Shikai's government, which caused the Chinese government and people's feelings toward Japan to deteriorate, and disputes between the two countries may arise at any time.On the other hand, in view of the need to modernize the Army's weapons and equipment, and to deal with the increasing strength of the US Navy, the first revision was made on June 29, 1918.

National Defense Policy imaginary enemy country The imperial defense regards Russia, the United States, and China as imaginary enemy countries in turn, and mainly guards against these three countries. Force required Forty divisions of the Army (in wartime) The navy is based on the 88th Fleet Compared with the 50 divisions determined in 1907, the Army's wartime requirement has been reduced by 10 divisions.The reason is that according to the experience of the First World War, the army must realize modernization, that is, improve machine guns, artillery, tanks, aircraft and communication equipment, especially the equipment of tanks, and improve the quality of the army.

The strength of the navy is based on the Eighth Eight Fleet, which refers to two fleets of eight battleships and one fleet of eight cruisers, a total of twenty-four ships.This is a countermeasure to the plan of the United States. The United States plans to build ten battleships and six cruisers during the 13th Year Plan in 1916, a total of 158 ships, about 800,000 tons. military program war against russia Annihilate the Russian army in the Far East and occupy the key areas east of Lake Baikal. war against america At the beginning of the war, the army and the navy quickly captured Luzon Island in the Philippines, destroyed the enemy's naval bases, and wiped out the US fleets from all over the country, so as to facilitate the subsequent interception of the navy.

At that time, the policy of the naval battle plan was: assemble all the fleet near Amami Oshima, deploy patrol troops on the front line of the Ogasawara Islands, and attack with all their strength according to the attack direction of the enemy's main force to wipe out the enemy. The purpose of the Army's war against the United States is to quickly secure Manila and Subic Bay as the bases of the Japanese Navy. Second Amendment (1923) In 1917, Tsarist Russia fell.In 1923, the Washington Naval Disarmament Treaty was concluded.In order to adapt to the world situation after the First World War, the second revision was made on February 28, 1923.

National Defense Policy imaginary enemy country It is especially necessary for the empire to be vigilant against the three countries of the United States, Russia and China.The national defense of the empire in the near future should be aimed at the United States, which is most likely to conflict with our country and has strong national strength and armaments, and take it as the main object of defense. Force required Forty divisions of the Army (in wartime) The navy is based on ten capital ships, four aircraft carriers, and twelve large cruisers, with corresponding auxiliary ships and aviation forces.The aviation force strives to form seventeen teams.

Due to the conclusion of the Arms Limitation Treaty at the Washington Conference, our Navy's long-cherished plan for the 88th Fleet for many years naturally fell through. military program Its characteristic lies in: the army and the navy cooperate to seize the advantage and take the offensive. The navy seizes the expected location quickly before the enemy, assembles its forces, and defeats the enemy's main fleet. The army advances the enemy and quickly concentrates the expected troops in one place to defeat the enemy's field army. War policy against the United States At the beginning of the war, we first wiped out the enemy's maritime forces in the Eastern Pacific, and cooperated with the army to capture their bases, control the Western Pacific, ensure the empire's commerce and trade, and make it difficult for the enemy's fleet to fight. When the enemy's own fleet invades, intercept and annihilate it.

Since 1923, the Army and Navy Commands have formally drafted an operational plan for the capture of the Philippines, and made epoch-making revisions to the 1926 operational plan. The Navy advanced its envisaged main battlefield to the front line of the Ogasawara Islands.Therefore, its front line is set in part of the Nanyang Trust Territory. Although the Navy has made serious preparations for fighting against the United States, the Army does not believe that there will be a Japan-US war in the near future.Although the combat plan stipulated that three divisions should be used in the Philippines, it only set a standard for how many troops the army needed, and it did not seem to be a rigid decision to fight according to this plan.

Third Amendment (1936) Thirteen years passed after the second revision.During this period, the Disarmament Conference was held in London in 1930, the Manchuria Incident occurred in 1931, and my country withdrew from the League of Nations in 1933.The Navy, in particular, has been non-treaty since late 1936 in limiting naval armaments.Due to such drastic changes in the international situation, the third revision was made on June 3, 1936. imperial defense policy 1. The original meaning of the national defense policy of the empire is to follow the emperor's rule since the founding of the country, always put righteousness first, carry forward the prestige of the country day by day, and ensure the advancement of the country's interests and the people's well-being.

2. Based on the original meaning of imperial defense, the national defense policy of the empire is to establish the national power of a stable force in East Asia worthy of the name, especially military affairs; and to adapt diplomacy to national power and armaments to ensure the development of the country. Once something happens, pre-emptive strikes will be made to quickly achieve the purpose of war.Therefore, in view of the national conditions of the empire, it is extremely important to strive to strengthen the power of the first battle.Furthermore, future wars are likely to be protracted. Therefore, we must have the consciousness and preparations to support them.

3. In view of the original meaning of imperial defense, imperial defense targets the United States and Russia, which have a strong possibility of conflict with us, and possesses strong national power and armaments, while guarding against China and the United Kingdom.For this reason, the troops required for the empire's national defense must be able to control the East Asian continent and the western Pacific to meet the requirements set forth in the imperial defense policy. 4. The troops required for the national defense of the Imperial Army in wartime are as follows: army strength Fifty divisions and 142 aviation squadrons

naval forces Twelve battleships twelve aircraft carriers twenty-eight cruisers Mine Team Six (ninety-six destroyers) Several diving teams (seventy submarines) Air Force Sixty-five Regiment imperial army plan 1. Based on the national defense policy, the battles of the imperial army are characterized by the coordinated operations of the army and navy, taking advantage of the advantages, taking the offensive, and making quick decisions.For this reason, the army and navy should quickly destroy the enemy's field army and the enemy's main fleet, and at the same time occupy the necessary territory.Furthermore, with the progress of the operation or in view of diplomatic needs, the necessary troops can be used to occupy strategic locations.The Army and the Navy cooperate to take charge of domestic defense, within the scope of not violating the characteristics of the above-mentioned operations. The sea line of communication in the Tsushima Strait is constantly ensured by the cooperation of the army and navy. 2. Operations against the United States shall be carried out in accordance with the following principles: The initial purpose was to annihilate the enemies in the Eastern Pacific, destroy their bases of activity, and annihilate the main fleet from the continental United States.For this reason, the Navy should quickly annihilate the enemy fleet in the Eastern Pacific Ocean at the beginning of the operation to control the Eastern Pacific Ocean. When it comes to the surface of the sea, wait for an opportunity to annihilate it. The army assisted the navy to quickly capture Luzon Island and its nearby important places, and assisted the navy to occupy Guam. After the enemy's main fleet is wiped out, the battle of the army and navy shall be decided on the fly. 3. The war against Russia shall be carried out in accordance with the following principles (omitted by the original author). 4. Combat with China as the enemy shall be carried out in accordance with the following principles (omitted by the original author) 5. Operations against Britain as the enemy shall be carried out in accordance with the following principles: The initial purpose was to defeat the British troops stationed in East Asia, destroy their bases, and annihilate the main fleet of the enemy from the British mainland. 6. When two or more of Russia, the United States, China, and the United Kingdom are regarded as enemies, they shall be implemented in accordance with items 2 to 5; as the situation changes, operations against the above-mentioned countries shall be carried out sequentially as much as possible. 7. The chief of staff and the chief of the military command shall formulate the respective combat plans according to this program, and ask for approval after repeated consultations. Needless to say, due to changes in the situation caused by the passage of time, the development of weapons and technology, especially the improvement of aircraft and submarines, the essentials of the Navy's operations against the United States have also been constantly changing.As mentioned above, the original policy was to deploy patrol forces on the front line of the Ogasawara Islands to capture the US fleet advancing westward; our fleet, which was waiting near Amami Oshima, attacked in the direction of the enemy's main force and fought a decisive battle with all our strength.However, this patrol line gradually advanced, and the sea area where the decisive battle was scheduled also moved eastward. This predetermined sea area for the decisive battle was located west of Ogasawara and the Mariana Islands in 1934. By 1940, it had been moved to the 160-degree east longitude north of the Marshall Islands and east of the Mariana Islands. west. Although the above-mentioned changes have taken place in the basics of the war against the United States with the times, the basic offensive and defensive strategy of the Japanese navy called interception operations to intercept the U.S. fleet approaching across the Pacific has been determined in the "Imperial National Defense Policy" since 1907. "Since then, more than 30 years have passed in the middle, but there has been no change.This is the traditional orthodox strategic thinking of the Japanese Navy against the United States.The education and training of our navy are all carried out on this basis, and there are no exceptions to the armament and establishment. 2.1.2 Strategies of the Unorthodox However, in the Japanese navy, which was unified in this interception combat thinking, and with the rapid development of aviation, some people had doubts about or raised objections to this traditional strategy.This kind of dissent is prevalent especially among the aviation armies. By 1934 they had expected that aviation attacks could sink battleships, so they began to advocate the abolition of battleships and use aviation as the main force.The next year, 1935, some in the air force even raised the idea of ​​an aerial attack on Pearl Harbor.However, this kind of thinking failed to shake the mainstream naval faction who advocated the doctrine of big ships and cannons, and it was nothing but the barking of aviation firstists.But it cannot be denied that this presents a new topic for the study of the idea of ​​using troops. Here, it is worth noting that in 1936, when the Japanese navy's military thinking began to be confused, the achievement "Research on the Combat Employment of Country A" (country A refers to the United States) was published.It did not come from the personal egoism of a part of the aviation force (the mainstream faction that advocates the doctrine of large ships and cannons thinks so), but was proposed by the Naval University, the highest institution for studying the combat of our navy.In this secret document marking the Naval University in November of the 11th year of the Showa era, it clearly proposed the operational concept of attacking the US Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor by plane when the war started: Before the war, when the enemy's main ships, especially the aircraft carrier, are moored at Pearl Harbor (AL), they must carefully plan to take advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness and use aircraft (carrier-based aircraft, large seaplanes, and medium-sized seaplanes) to carry out surprise attacks and start a war. Yamamoto Fifty-Six, then Minister of Naval Aviation and later Commander-in-Chief of the Combined Fleet, concluded long ago: According to the orthodox ideas of our navy, wait for the US fleet to attack, meet it in our coastal waters, and use battleships as the core. Passive operations based on annihilating the US fleet will not only fail to win the war against the US, but will also lead to a protracted war and a desperate situation in the future, and eventually they will have to raise their hands and surrender.Moreover, under the current situation of advanced aircraft, the fleet decisive battle that we expected may not happen.Compared with the United States, there is a huge gap in national and military power between Japan and the United States. At the beginning of the war, unless we fight actively, always take the initiative, and force the enemy to remain on the defensive, we cannot expect victory in the war.It is still not clear what relationship Yamamoto's judgment has with the Naval University's research. In this way, Commander Yamamoto finally decided in November 1940 to resolutely implement his secretly researched and thoughtful operational plan, and at the beginning of the war, he used his air force to smash the main force of the US-Hawaii Fleet.This is his "Opinions on War Readiness" submitted to the Secretary of the Navy on January 7, 1941.Among them, Yamamoto's combat policy negates the traditional orthodox ideas of the above-mentioned Japanese navy, and proposes: At the beginning of the war, the aviation fleet attacked and damaged the enemy's main fleet, which depressed the morale of the U.S. Navy and the people and made them unable to recover. It has gone through a long and tortuous process in order to make Yamamoto's idea of ​​combat in Hawaii consistent with the entire combat guiding ideology of the military command.In October 1941, Yamamoto's idea of ​​the Hawaiian operation was finally adopted in the military command's operational plan.