According to post-war statistics, in the entire Battle of Saipan, the Japanese army could only fire an average of 48 rounds a day from a machine gun...... This can show the extent to which the Japanese army lacked ammunition, and this is still the island of Saipan, where the Japanese commander is located, and it is conceivable that the supplies of Guam and Tinian Island must be even more unbearable. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

It is worth mentioning that the modern Internet is full of remarks that the Japanese army transferred elite troops to the Pacific in World War II, and the US military defeated the elite Japanese army in a short period of time, and the Chinese troops were unable to counterattack even when Japan was close to surrendering, so as to elevate the US military and belittle the Chinese army and its contribution with ulterior motives.

But this is clearly not the case......

First of all, the Japanese army did not transfer elite troops to the Pacific direction.

The Japanese are not fools, they also know that the operation in the Pacific direction is mainly a naval and air battle, and it does not make much sense to transfer elite troops to the Pacific Ocean, as long as people with a little military common sense know...... By the time the battle is over, the outcome will already be decided, and the landing operation is only a question of how much of the opponent's forces can be consumed by the length of time.

For example, the current Mariana Islands, the former Marshall Islands, and the former Kuah Islands, etc...... In fact, it is the navy that plays a decisive role.

In this case, it doesn't really matter whether the troops on the island are elite or not. In any case, they had to endure all the shells that rained down from the enemy, and they also had to face hunger, disease, lack of ammunition, etc., and a good soldier would not necessarily live longer than a poor soldier.

This point was fully realized by the Japanese army after the Battle of Kuah Island...... The 2nd Division, the main force of the Japanese army sent to Guadalcanal, can barely be regarded as an elite force, and the reason why the word "reluctantly" is used is because the 2nd Division of the Japanese army is in fact no longer the 2nd Division of the past, and this 2nd Division has been split into other divisions and regiments because of the serious shortage of troops on the Chinese battlefield, and then supplemented with a large number of new recruits.

However, this division is also a regular army that has fought on the battlefield, and its combat effectiveness is still there.

However, most of the Japanese troops in this division were not killed in battle, but died of starvation and disease...... In the face of hunger and disease, on a battlefield where victory or defeat is completely determined by sea and air battles on all sides, is the quality of the army really important?

As a result, the Japanese army became smart later, and most of the troops transferred to the Pacific were troops stationed in the puppet state of Manchukuo to deal with the guerrillas, and a considerable part of them were even composed of Taiwanese and Koreans.

Even the Mariana Islands, which Hideki Tojo decided to hold resolutely at this time, were not transferred to the elite 29th Division.

So, in fact, it should be said that way...... In 1937, the Japanese army was the most elite, and these elite troops began in China with an unstoppable momentum in an attempt to occupy the entire territory of China in three months, which is also known as the theory of "March Death in China".

However, the Japanese army did not expect that this war would be fought for so long, and as a result, the Chinese and Japanese armies were attrition indefinitely, and there was a serious crisis in the military strength and national strength of the two countries...... At this time, the Japanese army was already at the end of its strength, and the army also had serious quality problems because a large number of veterans were consumed in China and did not have enough troops to replenish the resources.

Of course, this is not to say that the role and contribution of the US military is insignificant, and the US offensive in the Pacific theater can be said to be a powerful support for the Chinese theater, which not only defeated the Japanese navy in the Pacific Ocean, but also effectively isolated the Japanese mainland from the occupied areas.

However, this does not lead to the conclusion that the U.S. Army, which has almost never fought a war, is far superior to the Chinese army.

The U.S. offensive on Saipan entered its 23rd day......

The top generals of the Japanese army had realized that they could no longer hold on, and there was no hope of escape.

Therefore, after Gao Pinbiao, commander of the Japanese army group, issued the last order, that is, the order for the Japanese army to launch the "Jade Shatter Battle" against the US army on their own, he asked the orderly soldiers to take out a little treasured rice wine and the last bit of food in the night...... A can and a rice ball.

Gao Pinbiao silently shared the food with several subordinates, and after the meal, everyone lit two cigarettes, and smoked them one by one, until the cigarette butt was too short to hold.

"So be it!" Lieutenant General Gao Pinbiao knelt on the ground facing the north, then took off his military hat and put it in front of him. Several other major generals followed suit, and the only sound in the cave was the roar and flash of American shells, except for the rapid breathing of the generals.

An adjutant, who had been prepared, walked in with a pistol drawn, and pulled the triggers one after the other from behind on the general's head......

"Bang bang bang", after each gunshot, a general fell to the ground with his brain bursting. Finally, the adjutant also pointed the pistol at his head and pulled the trigger.

However, the war did not end there.

The Japanese troops on Saipan did not know what was happening in the cave, and their heads were still hovering around the last order issued by the commander, "Jade Crush Attack".

They realized that the final moment had come and spent hours preparing for it...... The reason why it takes several hours is because this so-called preparation is actually to kill those comrades who are unable to move because of serious injuries. Then, mobilize all the wounded who can move, even if they don't even have the hands to carry guns.

At four o'clock in the morning, I don't know who gave the order, "Rush!" The Japanese jumped out of their hiding place and rushed towards the American defense line.

At the head of the pack were six people holding a sun flag aloft and they didn't even have guns in their hands...... They were the flag bearers, one fell and the other raised the flag, and that's it.

This was followed by a relatively healthy and combat-ready combat team. And then there's the incredible ...... Thousands of wounded soldiers, wrapped in gauze on their heads, on crutches, and barely armed, limped forward.

And this time, the Japanese charge was incredibly successful. The reason was that the U.S. military thought that the Japanese army had no ability to counterattack at all, so the deployment of troops was very scattered, and rifles and machine guns alone were not enough to form enough firepower in the dark to suppress the charge of these wounded soldiers.

On the other hand, the US artillery and warships did not know where the US troops were advancing, and they were worried that they would accidentally injure their own people by firing their guns indiscriminately, so they could only do their job in a hurry in the dark. (To be continued.) )