Quartermasters can also fight the devils

Chapter 756: Next Target: Xiangxi

In order to complete the "Operation No. 1" plan formulated by the Japanese Imperial Headquarters, the Japanese China Expeditionary Force consumed a large amount of manpower and material resources, which made the already insufficient forces of the Japanese China Expeditionary Force even more dispersed and stretched, and made the strategic situation of the Japanese China Expeditionary Force on the Chinese battlefield even more unfavorable, thus accelerating the Japanese army's defeat on the Chinese battlefield.

As 1944 approached, the Japanese army was defeated by the Allied forces in the Pacific battlefield and fell into an increasingly isolated situation. In order to save the Japanese government from the fate of destruction, the Japanese military headquarters made a dying struggle to formulate the so-called "decisive battle on the home front" plan.

When the Japanese Expeditionary Force in China completed the "Operation Number One" plan of the Japanese headquarters, the American army also began to implement the island-hopping attack tactics against the Japanese army in the Pacific battlefield. As the American army's attack gradually approached the Japanese mainland, the Japanese navy suffered a heavy blow from the American navy and was almost wiped out.

The near total destruction of the Japanese Navy caused the Japanese army's transportation and supply lines at sea to be almost paralyzed, which meant that the supply lines of hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops isolated in Southeast Asia and remaining in the South Pacific Islands were about to be interrupted.

At the same time, in January 1945, the Allied forces successfully joined forces with the Chinese Expeditionary Force in Mangyou, Myanmar, thus completely opening up the Burma Road, which allowed aid materials from the United States to begin to flow into China.

After the disastrous defeat in the Battle of Henan, Hunan and Guangxi, the Chinese government accepted the advice of the United States Military Advisory Group in order to contact the Allied Forces and curb the continued westward attack of the Japanese Chinese Expeditionary Force. It established the Chinese Government Army Command in Kunming, Yunnan Province, and Chief of Staff of the Chinese Government Military Commission, Commander He, served as the commander-in-chief, unified the command of the Chinese government's troops in the southwest, and used military supplies provided by the United States to equip 36 American-equipped divisions in preparation for a counterattack against the Japanese Chinese Expeditionary Force.

Under such circumstances, in order to boost the morale of the Japanese army and save the already precarious national destiny, the Japanese military headquarters tried to adjust its relations with the Soviet Union in China's northeast region on the one hand, and on the other hand, planned to take advantage of the Japanese army's victory in the Battle of Henan, Hunan and Guangxi to further attack the defense areas of the Chinese government's Third and Fourth War Zones.

Therefore, the Japanese military headquarters planned to launch the Xiangxi Campaign against the occupied areas of the Chinese government. After the Battle of Henan, Hunan and Guangxi, large areas of Chinese territory in northern Hunan, central Hunan, southern Hunan and Guangxi Province were occupied by the Japanese Chinese Expeditionary Force, and the Xiangxi region had an increasingly important strategic position.

The Xiangxi region has now become the first barrier to prevent the Japanese Expeditionary Force from penetrating deep into the heart of China and defending the wartime capital Shancheng and the Southwest, and has become a battleground for the Chinese government and the Japanese Expeditionary Force.

At the same time, the Japanese Army's China Expeditionary Force launched the Xiangxi Campaign, a major purpose of which was to destroy the airport established by the China Air Force in Zhijiang.

The Chinese government's Air Force airport in Zhijiang was built in October 1936. It is located one kilometer southeast of Zhijiang County and covers an area of ​​about 2,000 acres. Since the completion of Zhijiang Airport, it has become one of the important rear air force bases of the Chinese government. Important agencies and air force units of the Chinese Air Force system have also moved to Zhijiang. Many air force units of the Chinese Air Force and the Soviet Union's aid to China Air Force have been stationed here one after another.

In 1942, the United States Army Air Force officially moved into the Zhijiang Airport. Then in 1943, the United States Army's 14th Air Force led by Chennault also officially moved into Zhijiang.

As the forward base of the Chinese government's Air Force, Zhijiang Airport's main combat mission is to bomb the frontier areas occupied by the Japanese Chinese Expeditionary Force, such as Hengyang, Changsha, Sanzhen, and Jinling. At the same time, Zhijiang Airport is also the second largest air force base of the Allied Forces in the Far East. Every day, dozens of fighter jets land at Zhijiang Airport for replenishment and rest. At the peak, the number of various combat aircraft at Zhijiang Airport can reach more than 400.

Zhijiang Airport is not only an important air force base supporting the Chinese government’s troops in fighting on the front lines, but also serves as the air defense base for the secondary capital Shancheng.

From 1943 to 1945, aircraft from the Chinese and American Joint Air Forces at Zhijiang Airport actively participated in the fight against the Japanese army.

Zhijiang Airport has seriously threatened the supply lines of the Japanese front-line troops in the rear, the combat operations of the Japanese China Expeditionary Army's ground forces, the Japanese air superiority in the Chinese battlefield, and more seriously, the security of Japan's homeland.

This made the Japanese Army's China Expeditionary Force regard Zhijiang Airport as a major threat to them, and they have always wanted to destroy the Chinese government's Zhijiang Airport.

The Japanese headquarters and the Japanese China Expeditionary Force's attack on Zhijiang this time had three deeper purposes. The first was naturally to destroy the Chinese government's airport in Zhijiang and remove obstacles to the attack on the Chinese Air Force. At the same time, they could open up the Guangdong-Hankou Highway and the Hunan-Guangxi Highway, so that the Chinese Expeditionary Force's troops could enter some coastal areas and prevent the United States' troops from landing in the coastal areas of China.

The second point is that the Japanese Army's China Expeditionary Force hopes to seize the entire Xiangxi region through this operation to occupy Zhijiang, and then be able to approach Shancheng, the seat of the Chinese government, and reverse the unfavorable situation faced by the Japanese government at this time.

The third point is that after occupying the Xiangxi area, the Japanese Huaxia Expeditionary Force can attack the Sichuan and Yunnan provinces along the Sichuan-Hunan Highway. In this way, the Huaxia Expeditionary Force can merge with the Japanese troops in Southeast Asia and increase the depth of the Japanese army's defense on the mainland.

Therefore, in order to eliminate the threats from Zhijiang Airport, the Japanese Imperial Headquarters and the Japanese China Expeditionary Army began to deploy plans to attack Zhijiang and destroy Zhijiang Airport after the battles of Changsha and Hengyang.

In the spring of 1945, faced with the rapid advance of the American army from the Pacific battlefield, the Japanese headquarters decided to make a desperate move and transferred troops from the southeastern region of China to the North China battlefield to implement the so-called local combat plan.

In April 1945, the Japanese Expeditionary Force in China appointed Lieutenant General Ichiyoshi Sakanishi, commander of the 20th Army, as the commander-in-chief of the Battle of Zhijiang, and planned to concentrate the five divisions of the Japanese Expeditionary Force in Hunan Province to launch an attack on the Zhijiang Airport of the Chinese government.

The operational plan of Lieutenant General Kazuyoshi Sakanishi, commander of the Japanese 20th Army, was that the 116th Division and the 47th Division of the Japanese Army would assemble in the area south of Shaoyang and the Kurodapu area before the war, and serve as the main attacking force responsible for the central breakthrough operation in the Battle of Zhijiang.