Under the authority of Hideki Tojo, Kenji Sato soon began to organize the deployment of troops and the defense of Okinawa. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Although Kenki Sato was wronged by Hideki Tojo, he still did his best to do things for Hideki Tojo.

Speaking of the reason, it was when he was the captain of the artillery unit, and the wing captain of Kenri Sato at that time was Hideki Tojo. Once, an old lieutenant under Sato was seriously ill and asked Sato to borrow money in the middle of the night, but Sato had no money, so he ran to borrow it from his teacher, Captain Tojo. Tojo didn't have any money, so he asked his wife to go to the pawnshop to get a few clothes to get money to help Sato. This incident made Sato grateful, and since then he has followed Tojo with all his heart, and Tojo has always regarded Sato Kenri as a big disciple.

And Ken Sato is still very skilled.

His deployment of Okinawa was not as simple as the dispatch of troops...... Of course, the transfer of troops was also required, and Sato Kenrichi transferred the 9th Division, the 44th Independent Mixed Brigade, the 15th Independent Mixed Wing, the 24th Division, and the 62nd Division from Manchukuo to Okinawa several times.

Of course, these transfers were not all smooth sailing, and the 44th Mixed Brigade suffered the greatest losses...... Its convoy was attacked by US submarines, and only 600 of the 5,000-odd brigade arrived safely in Okinawa. This forced Kenji Sato to be more cautious, and the 15th Independent Mixed Wing was transported to Okinawa by air...... This was the first time that the Japanese army had attempted to airlift such a large army.

These are just minor episodes, and apart from the fact that Manchukuo's forces are largely drained, they ostensibly have little impact on the Chinese battlefield.

However, the transfer of these troops to Okinawa never met Sato's expectations, so Sato came up with a solution...... Soldiers and laborers were recruited from the common people of Okinawa.

As a result, an order was issued, and about 16,600 Okinawan residents were added to the Japanese army, and a large number of Okinawan residents became laborers to build fortifications for the Japanese army. Sato also formed civil defense detachments in each town...... This can be described as a militia, and equip them with a small number of weapons.

Kenri Sato hoped that these Okinawans could take the initiative to assist the Japanese army in resisting the attack of the Chinese and American armies, so as to achieve the effect of "all the people are soldiers together to resist foreign enemies".

However, to Sato's disappointment, the Okinawans did not have the so-called "bushido spirit" of the Japanese, they were indifferent to military service, and they did not intend to "defend themselves against foreign enemies" with the Japanese army...... In fact, a considerable number of Okinawan people only regarded the Japanese army as colonizers, and the Japanese did not regard the Okinawans as Japanese (the Japanese are very conservative, and it is very difficult to integrate into Japanese society, even in modern times, there are still Japanese police who call Okinawans "natives" and "Shina people"). ）

Therefore, it is natural that Okinawans are not willing to die for the Japanese.

In this regard, Sato Ken thought of a solution...... He asked the Japanese army to spread propaganda to the Okinawans everywhere, saying how murderous the Americans and Chinese were, and how they killed them after landing on the island.

This soon worked, as the fear of unknown enemy forces led the Okinawans to side with the Japanese to defend themselves against enemy attacks.

As a result, the defense of the entire Okinawa was carried out in an orderly manner.

But Sato thinks it's not enough.

Ken Sato understands a little bit clearly...... Okinawa is an island after all, and even though Okinawa covers an area of more than 1,200 square kilometers and can achieve self-sufficiency by growing vegetables and farming on it, the island's flaw is that it has no industry, and it always has to obtain necessary strategic materials such as bullets, shells, and gasoline from the outside. And once the U.S. or Chinese military blockades the waters around Okinawa, it is a matter of time before Okinawa is lost.

At the same time, Sato Kenji also thought of another question.

Okinawa is a choke point for Japan to connect with its colonies on the Asian mainland, and the Sino-US coalition forces do not even need to occupy Okinawa, they only need to use their powerful naval and aviation forces to achieve the goal of blockading this choke point.

Therefore, it is not enough to rely on the army to defend the island, and it is very likely that the Americans will use the "island-hopping tactic" to encircle Okinawa without attacking it, and then Japan will be in a desperate situation.

But...... How could Japan defeat the powerful naval and air forces of the Sino-US coalition?

Japanese Combined Fleet?

Not to mention that the Japanese Combined Fleet is difficult to protect itself in the Philippines, and even if the Combined Fleet is used, it will only add a few targets to the enemy's fighters.

After thinking about it, Kenri Sato thought that there was only one way, and that was the "suicide fighter".

Moreover, the scale of this "suicide fighter" is not as small as the previous five or six, and Sato intends to throw a large number of fighters into Okinawa to launch a suicide attack on the enemy's fleet......

And where did this "massive" fighter come from?

Anyway, it is a suicide fighter, and it does not require the level of the pilot who flies the fighter, nor does it require any combat ability, so it can be used regardless of military or civilian aircraft!

As a result, Kenji Sato recruited civilian aircraft on a large scale in Japan, and on the other hand, he turned over all the old fighters that could fly.

Of course, Sato would not say that they were asked to defend Okinawa, which would undoubtedly expose the "lie", and he recruited them in the name of "the shortage of pilots, and the mobilization of citizens with flying skills as reserves...... After they arrived in the army, after some brainwashing and secrecy work, they didn't have to do whatever they were asked to do!

In the end, Kenneki Sato was able to collect more than 2,000 planes in a short period of time, and soon the number of planes increased to more than 4,000 due to the enthusiastic registration of many Japanese civilian aircraft...... (Note: According to the statistics of the U.S. military, more than 7,000 planes were shot down by the Japanese army in the Battle of Okinawa.) ）

Compared with these suicide fighters, the "Huitian torpedo" and "cherry blossom bomb" are weakly exploded...... Because these planes do not cost anything at all, most of them are civilian planes called from the civilian sector, and the pilots do not need military training, they only need to load bombs on the planes, and then they can rush towards the enemy ships in the nearby waters one after another like missiles.

For this reason, Hideki Tojo also praised Ken Sato fiercely, and Hideki Tojo even thought that it could be a powerful blow to the enemy's navy and block the enemy navy from the Japanese mainland.

It was only at this time that Sato Ken was a little relieved about Okinawa's defenses.

This method does work, but it is a blessing and a curse...... It was precisely because of the heavy casualties suffered by the U.S. military in the attack on Okinawa that it finally decided to use the atomic bomb to solve the problem.

(To be continued.) )