Anti-Japanese War: The whole world is a base vehicle

The dark clouds of war loom over Southeast Asia.

The Japanese army's ambitions were spreading rampantly here. However, a gradually rising free army was like a hard nail, nailing the Japanese army's path of expansion firmly, making it feel like a thorn in its throat.

"We can't wait any longer. The Free Army has already threatened the security of the empire in the Southeast Asian theater." As the rainy season was about to pass, a hot breath filled the air, which seemed to have ignited the fire of war in the heart of Japanese Lieutenant General Yamashita Tomoyuki. He was anxious and actively asked for battle, and his tone was full of unquestionable urgency.

The Free Army continues to grow and develop in this land, and their sphere of influence is expanding like wild weeds growing wildly in spring.

This phenomenon was undoubtedly like a loud slap in the face of the Japanese 4th Division, because the growth of the Freedom Army meant that the 4th Division was in a mess.

Yamashita Tomoyuki, the former commander of the 4th Division and now respected as the "Tiger of Malaya", felt completely humiliated at this moment.

His great reputation seemed to be covered with a thick layer of dust because of the defeat of the 4th Division, and his battle records seemed to be diluted and not as dazzling.

This feeling was like a carefully crafted perfect image that suddenly had cracks, making him feel very uncomfortable.

Therefore, he now urgently wants to regain his position, prove himself again, and save some face for the 4th Division.

Yamashita Tomoyuki unbuttoned the second copper button on his collar, and the winding red and blue arrows on the battle map kept jumping in his eyes.

The general, known as the "Tiger of Malaya", suddenly rapped his knuckles on the table, causing ripples on the surface of the teacup: "Look, everyone. The Free Army's defense line is splitting the Empire's controlled area like a malaria parasite!"

The staff officers held their breath at the same time.

"They sank two of our transport ships last week." When Operations Staff Officer Major Kobayashi stood up, the wooden chair made a harsh sound when it scraped against the floor.

His shaking fingers traced the coastline. "They used the M-1938 122mm howitzer provided by the Soviet Union. The range is kilometers!"

"Two months ago, they ambushed the transport fleet again, causing the loss of fifteen Type 97 medium tanks. These natives actually knew how to use reverse slope fortifications to offset the advantage of naval guns!"

Terauchi Juichi stroked the chrysanthemum relief on the teacup, his eyes sweeping over the sword bestowed by Emperor Showa on the wall. The mottled sunlight through the blinds cast fine shadows under his eyelids: "Has Kitano ever calculated the transportation cost of maintaining the offensive of three divisions? Each 70mm shell from Saigon Port to the front line requires six liters of aviation fuel and the rations of three civilians."

The conference room fell into an eerie silence, with only the sound of fan blades cutting through the air.

The round-frame glasses of the transport section chief, Colonel Nakamura, were fogged up. When he took out a handkerchief to wipe the lenses, his thumb, calloused by the abacus, was exposed on his sleeve: "According to last month's statistics, the ammunition consumption on the front line is 1.7 times the production. If we launch a new offensive, we will need to mobilize at least motor sailing ships - and this does not include the fuel consumption of the escort fleet."

Yamashita Fengwen's temples were throbbing. He suddenly grabbed a red and blue pencil and drew a blood-red circle in the Sarawak jungle: "The three main divisions of the Free Army are concentrated here! Just cut off their supply lines."

"Their supply line is in the jungle canopy," Intelligence Director Tanaka interrupted abruptly. The file bag in front of him was printed with the word "Top Secret". "The photos taken by the aviation team last week showed that the natives used vines and wooden boards to build a transportation network at an altitude of 30 meters. Our bombers couldn't find a foothold at all."

Kitano Kenzo suddenly opened his collar, revealing the unhealed shrapnel wound on his neck: "Then use the flamethrower! Burn the entire jungle to ashes!"

"General Kitano may not know." Logistics staff officer Yoshida said faintly, "The Type 93 flamethrowers issued by the Southern Army require each to carry 15 liters of special fuel. And now even the gasoline used in transport trucks has to be mixed with 30% palm oil to maintain its operation."

"What does the headquarters think?" A hoarse question suddenly came from the corner. Everyone turned to look at the silent Military Command Special Envoy Muto, the golden eagle badge on his shoulder glowing coldly in the shadows.

Terauchi Juichi finally picked up the teacup, and the chrysanthemum-patterned bottom of the cup made a crisp sound when it hit the tray: "The General Staff believes that the Freedom Army is just a minor problem. But the navy..." Everyone could hear the unfinished meaning in his deliberately prolonged ending tone - the Combined Fleet was busy worrying about whether to go to war with the American beasts, and had no time to take care of this miasma-filled jungle.

"When the rainy season is over," the tiger hissed through his teeth like a venomous snake, "I will drive these monkeys back to the trees myself."

However, when Terauchi Hisaichi heard Yamashita Tomoyuki's request to fight, he felt a sudden pain in his forehead.

He sat quietly in the dim command center, the lights were dim and dark, his face was full of fatigue and helplessness, and he was slow to respond to Yamashita Tomoyuki's request to fight.

After a long while, he slowly said: "It's just an indigenous force. There is no need to pay so much attention to it. Our current mission is to take Borneo and threaten Myanmar." In his opinion, the Free Army was just a group of rabble, an indigenous force that was not worth mentioning.

What's more, the French had been defeated in this land, and he really felt that there was no need to waste too much energy on the Free Army.

But Terauchi Juichi knew in his heart that what really worried him was that the Freedom Army was no longer what it used to be.

In the past, the Freedom Army was just an insignificant small team in his eyes, and he didn't even bother to pay attention to it. But now, the Freedom Army has grown into a force that cannot be underestimated.

After a long period of intelligence exploration and analysis, the Japanese have roughly figured out the strength of the Freedom Army.

According to reliable intelligence, the Free Army has three divisions of main combat forces with a strength of at least 100,000.

The number of people in each division is no less than 3, which is almost the same as the strength of a Class A division.

Moreover, based on the analysis of previous battles, the strength of the Freedom Army is no weaker than that of a Class A division.

It must be said that although the 4th Division did not perform well on the battlefield, it was smart and effective in collecting intelligence.

This is also the reason why they are unwilling to continue fighting, because they know very well that continuing to confront the Free Army will not do them any good and will only cause more soldiers to die in vain.

"The Free Army's squads were modeled after the Germans, with machine guns as the core. Each squad basically has a machine gun. Some of the machine guns are light machine guns, but most are Soviet-made. The Soviet DS-39 heavy machine gun, in particular, is very powerful, with firepower not inferior to our Type ." Terauchi Hisaichi had a solemn expression, and he implicitly reminded Yamashita Tomoyuki of the intelligence he had collected.

His voice was low and powerful, and every word was like a heavy stone hitting Yamashita Fengwen's heart.

When Yamashita Tomoyuki heard this, he couldn't help but frown slightly.

This piece of information alone was enough for him to take it seriously. If each squad was equipped with such a heavy machine gun, it would be equivalent to a squad having a heavy machine gun, and the Japanese squads were not equipped with heavy machine guns yet.

Every officer with a little military knowledge knows the disadvantages of light machine guns compared to heavy machine guns. It is a huge gap in firepower, and on the battlefield, this gap often means the difference between life and death.

"Do they have enough ammunition?" Yamashita Tomoyuki looked surprised, with a puzzled gleam in his eyes.

In his opinion, a large number of machine guns does not necessarily mean sufficient ammunition.

After all, the supply of ammunition has always been a key issue in war. Without sufficient ammunition, no matter how many weapons there are, they are just a pile of scrap metal. "The Soviet army provides them with ammunition, and they also produce some of their own ammunition." Terauchi Juichi said calmly. This information is no longer a secret. "They have 15 people in a squad, 3 of them are machine gun crews, one main gun shooter, and two assistants who are part-time ammunition handlers. In addition, there is an ammunition handler in each squad. However, they do not carry machine gun bullets, but submachine gun bullets. Each squad has at least 5 submachine guns."

Yamashita Fengwen's face changed slightly. He didn't expect that some rumors were actually true. He originally thought that the Freedom Army was just a poorly equipped indigenous force, but he didn't expect that their equipment was so sophisticated.

When Terauchi Hisaichi first heard the news, he was even more surprised than him.

When used in close combat, the power of five submachine guns is sometimes similar to that of five light machine guns.

Although the distance was far and the accuracy of the submachine gun was almost negligible, in the dense jungle, bullets were flying everywhere. Who would dare to charge easily?
According to intelligence, many Free Army units have more than five submachine guns in a squad, and sometimes even more than 5.

Apart from machine guns, the entire class was equipped with almost exclusively submachine guns; even ordinary rifles were rarely used.

"Submachine guns are not suitable for long-range shooting, and they waste bullets." Yamashita Tomoyuki frowned and cited a common excuse used by the Japanese army.
In his opinion, the submachine gun has always been an impractical weapon that does not conform to the Japanese army's consistent pursuit of accurate shooting and saving ammunition.

"There are many jungles here and the environment is complex. There is no need for long-range shooting in many places. Moreover, there are special sharpshooters in the Freedom Army. With machine guns, they will not be at a disadvantage even with long-range shooting." Terauchi Hisaichi retorted mercilessly.

He has been in Southeast Asia for a long time and is familiar with the environment here.

He knew that in this dense jungle, close-range combat was the norm, and that powerful weapons such as submachine guns were more suitable.

At first, the Japanese did not like to use submachine guns. On the one hand, it was because they were stingy and felt that submachine guns wasted too many bullets. On the other hand, the Japanese regarded the Soviet Union as their imaginary enemy. Whether on the vast Siberian plains or on large plains such as Northeast and North China, they needed rifles for long-range shooting.

But now, the battlefield environment has changed dramatically, and their tactics need to be adjusted accordingly.

As for the point of wasting bullets, Terauchi Juichi was too lazy to refute it.

The 4th Division suffered heavy casualties before because they did not realize the power of submachine guns.

Those Japanese soldiers who charged forward blindly were knocked to the ground by the Freedom Army's rain of bullets before they could get close to them, and their blood dyed the wet land red.

"We still have artillery advantage and air advantage." Yamashita Tomoyuki was still unconvinced. He stiffened his neck and spoke loudly.

In his opinion, even though the Free Army was well equipped with light weapons, the Japanese army still had an absolute advantage in artillery and air power.

In previous battles, the Japanese army relied on these advantages to effectively suppress the enemy.

When it comes to air superiority, Terauchi Juichi can't help but feel a little annoyed.

He slammed the table so hard that the documents on it jumped up.

"Air supremacy is not entirely in our hands!" he roared angrily.

In the confrontation with the Free Army, although the Japanese army possessed a certain amount of air power, the Free Army was not completely defenseless.

Their fighter planes would roar in from time to time and bomb the Japanese positions.

This forced the Japanese army to restrain its heavy artillery advantage. After all, no one wanted to be targeted by the Freedom Army's planes while firing and become a sitting duck.

Terauchi Hisaichi sent telegrams to the headquarters more than once, demanding that all the Freedom Army's fighter planes be destroyed first.

He knew very well that if he could concentrate his forces and destroy all of the Free Army's air power in one go, he could revitalize the entire Southeast Asian battlefield and allow the Japanese army to regain the initiative in the war.

However, the response from the headquarters has always been vague and evasive, without giving a clear answer.

This made Terauchi Jūichi feel extremely frustrated and helpless, as if he had punched cotton, with no place to put his strength.

After listening to Terauchi Juichi's words, Yamashita Tomoyuki fell into deep thought.

The image of the well-equipped Free Army troops and their brave fighting on the battlefield kept appearing in his mind.

He knew that this war was much more difficult than he had imagined.

But the fighting spirit in his heart was not extinguished, but burned even more vigorously.

He secretly vowed to defeat the Freedom Army and make his reputation shine again.

At this time, in the Free Army camp, the soldiers were training intensively.

There was a determination on their faces and their eyes revealed the desire for victory.

They knew that the enemy would not give up and a more brutal battle was about to begin.

"The Japanese army will definitely not give up easily. They will most likely launch a large-scale attack next." Lu Yuhua said with a frown.

"That's right, we must be fully prepared. We must make good use of the terrain of this jungle and fight a guerrilla war with the Japanese army." Another officer continued.

Everyone was talking at the same time, and the atmosphere was warm and tense.

Finally, they developed a detailed battle plan.

They decided that when the Japanese army attacked, they would first use the jungle terrain to harass and ambush the Japanese army and consume their manpower.

Then, we will concentrate our superior forces to attack the weak links of the Japanese army. (End of this chapter)