Quartermasters can also fight the devils

The Third Battle of Changsha ended with the complete victory of the Chinese army. However, the 11th Army of the Japanese Army announced that the mission of this combat mission was to contain the Chinese government's army from participating in the battle of Hong Kong Island. Therefore, the propaganda departments of the Japanese war zone all said in the same voice that the 11th Army of the Japanese Army had successfully completed all pre-war combat missions and forcibly gave the Japanese army the title of winner.

However, as the so-called "victor", the Japanese military headquarters quickly launched a post-war accountability frenzy within the 11th Army of the Japanese Army after the war.

The first person to be questioned was Lieutenant General Toyoshima Fusutaro, commander of the Japanese 3rd Division. The temporary change of combat mission this time was due to the telegram requesting battle sent by the 3rd Division to Lieutenant General Anami Korechika, commander of the Japanese 11th Army. Although Lieutenant General Anami Korechika himself wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to occupy the city of Changsha and accomplish a feat that the previous two commanders of the Japanese 11th Army had failed to accomplish.

However, the disastrous defeat in the Third Battle of Changsha just happened to use the Third Division's telegram requesting to fight to absolve themselves of some responsibility. As a result, the Japanese Imperial Headquarters removed the commander of the Third Division, Lieutenant General Toyoshima Fusitaro, from his post and transferred him back to the mainland Army Ministry to take up a sinecure.

At the same time, the Japanese Imperial Headquarters was also studying the issue of Lieutenant General Anami Korechika, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, and looking for a new commander for the 11th Army. Lieutenant General Anami Korechika, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, also heard the news from all sides. For Lieutenant General Anami Korechika, this news was not surprising at all.

As for the Chinese government, after the victory of the Third Battle of Changsha, the Ninth War Zone of the Chinese government held a large-scale victory celebration meeting in order to create a greater momentum for the victory. At the same time, the effect of this victory was quickly revealed.

After learning that the Chinese government's army defeated the arrogant Japanese army at this critical moment, the United States immediately announced that it would provide $1840 million in aid to the Chinese government. Subsequently, the United States and England simultaneously announced the abolition of a series of unequal treaties imposed on China since .

This victory of the Ninth War Zone of the Chinese Government also meant that the Japanese army did not launch a large-scale attack on the Ninth War Zone of the Chinese Government for the next two years. It can be said that this battle directly created a two-year period of peace for the Xiangbei region.

In the Battle of Changsha, although the Ninth War Zone of the Chinese government failed to completely annihilate the Japanese army or annihilate more Japanese troops as planned before the war, the victory of this battle was generally praised by international public opinion. It was also the first victory of the Allies after a series of failures in the early days of the Pacific War.

It not only inspired the confidence of the Chinese military and civilians and strengthened the Chinese people's determination to fight the war to the end, but also prompted the rapid implementation of the United States' aid plan to China, and promoted the rapid formation of an international anti-fascist united front including China, greatly improving the Chinese government's international status.

On April 1942, 4, a U.S. Air Force formation consisting of sixteen B18 medium bombers, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Doolittle, took off from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet and bombed Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and Kobe in Japan, and then landed at airports in Quzhou and other places in Zhejiang Province, China.

The sudden bombing by the United States also caused shock to the Japanese government and the mainland army and navy. The Japanese military headquarters believed that due to the success of Doolittle's air raid on Japan, the US Air Force would definitely use an island or aircraft carrier in the Pacific as a base to take off and bomb the Japanese mainland, and then fly to China's coastal airports to land, or take off from China's coastal airports to bomb Japan.

The Japanese military headquarters' worries were actually not unnecessary. In the early stages of the war in China, China's weak air force had been completely destroyed in repeated battles with the Japanese air force.

After the outbreak of World War II, China's Air Force began to rebuild with the strong support of the Allies. Within a short period of time, a large number of field airports were established in Zhejiang Province and Jiangxi Province. In particular, the airports in Lishui, Quzhou and Yushan in Zhejiang Province, China. Allied aircraft took off from these three airports, with a range sufficient to cover Japan, which posed a huge threat to the security of Japan's mainland.

Therefore, the Japanese military headquarters decided to launch an operation to bomb the airport in Zhejiang Province, China. In order to strengthen the air combat power of the China Expeditionary Force, the Japanese military headquarters transferred the 62nd Heavy Bomber Flying Squadron from the Southern Army to Nanjing, China, the 90th Light Bomber Flying Squadron and the 84th Fighter Flying Squadron to Guangzhou, all under the unified command of the China Expeditionary Force.

Now Japan's air force in China was sufficient, but Hideki Tojo, who served as the Prime Minister of the Japanese Cabinet, believed that it was not enough to just send the air force to bomb China's airports.

To this end, Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo ordered Lieutenant General Shunroku Hata, commander of the China Expeditionary Force, to mobilize the army to cooperate with the Japanese Air Force to completely destroy all field airports in Zhejiang Province, China.

Three days after Lieutenant Colonel Doolittle of the United States bombed the Japanese mainland with sixteen B25 medium bombers, the Japanese military headquarters notified the China Expeditionary Force to prepare for the "Zhejiang Province Operation."

At that time, the 13th Army of the Japanese Army had already issued Operation Order No. 19, which was scheduled to start on April 25. The target of the operation was the area controlled by the Third War Zone of the Chinese government. The Japanese Army Headquarters ordered Lieutenant General Hata Shunroku, commander of the Chinese Expeditionary Army, to launch the "Zhejiang Province Operation", with the goal of destroying all field airports in Zhejiang Province.

After receiving the order from the Japanese military headquarters, Lieutenant General Shunroku Hata, commander of the China Expeditionary Army, was very disapproving. This was because if he acted according to the order from the Japanese military headquarters, the Japanese 13th Army, which was originally prepared to attack the Chinese government's Third War Zone, would face the trouble of readjusting its deployment, which would cause great trouble to the command of the Japanese 13th Army.

Therefore, Lieutenant General Shunroku Hata, the commander of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, proposed to General Motobu Sugiyama, the Chief of the Japanese Army General Staff, hoping that the 13th Army of the Japanese Army would still act according to the original plan. However, his proposal was sternly rejected by General Motobu Sugiyama, the Chief of the Japanese Army General Staff.

However, although he was rejected by General Hajime Sugiyama, the Chief of the Japanese General Staff, Lieutenant General Shunroku Hata, the commander of the China Expeditionary Army, was not prepared to act according to the combat plan formulated by the Japanese Imperial Headquarters.

In the view of Lieutenant General Hata Shunroku, commander of the Chinese Expeditionary Army, the Chinese government's Third War Zone troops in the Zhejiang-Jiangxi area were the real threat to the Japanese Chinese Expeditionary Army. The top priority should be to annihilate the main force of the Chinese government's Third War Zone, rather than destroying the field airports in Zhejiang Province.