Quartermasters can also fight the devils

One day in September 1945, Zhang Wenwu was walking on the street of Jinling City. Since the surrender of the Japanese army, the New 100th Division has been responsible for the defense of Jinling City. Since the surrender of the Japanese army, Zhang Wenwu has also started to run to his elder brother Zhang Wenjun's house every day, hoping to retire from the army.

Zhang Wenwu also hoped to take advantage of this time of government's large-scale military downsizing to leave the army. After all, Zhang Wenwu knew what would happen next. With his family and his background, he would definitely be known as a super athlete.

In fact, at the end of 1944, the Minister of Military and Political Affairs of the Chinese Government, Chen Changguan, reported a series of shocking figures to the highest levels of the government. That is, the Chinese government’s army had a total of army groups, armies, more than divisions, and a total national strength of more than million people.

However, such a large army size has revealed many problems. The first is the overlapping command structures. According to the regular organization of the Chinese government's military, the total strength of the 56 army groups should be more than 7 million people. This means that many of the army groups are not fully staffed.

Some armies are even more misleading. The total strength of an army is less than the number of a reorganized division. Moreover, the non-combat personnel in the Chinese government's army, that is, personnel in agencies, logistics, military academies, hospitals, etc., has reached more than 1.8 million, which is more than 40% of the total number of the Chinese government's army.

At that time, the total strength of the Japanese army in China was 1.28 million, plus nearly 2 million Japanese and puppet troops assisted. If you take this into account, the Chinese government's army was even fighting a fierce battle with the Japanese army at a disadvantage.

The defeat of the Chinese government army in Henan, Hunan and Guangxi at the end of 1944 deeply stimulated the top leadership of the Chinese government. At the beginning of 1945, the top leadership of the Chinese government ordered Chen Changguan, the Minister of the Chinese government's Military and Political Department, to be primarily responsible for disarmament.

After two months of hard work, Commander Chen, the Minister of Military and Political Affairs of the Chinese government, completed the Chinese government's disarmament work. Among them, the Chinese government's combat forces were laid off by 520,000 people, including 14 armies and 40 divisions. These disbanded troops had weak combat effectiveness and could no longer complete their combat missions with the Japanese army.

More than 50,000 people were laid off from military academies, and a large number of unqualified military academy students were laid off. A total of more than 1,100 useless military institutions were also laid off, bringing the total number of people to 430,000.

Adding up all the personnel laid off by the Chinese government this time, the number of people laid off by the Chinese government is exactly one million. Chief Chen, the Minister of Military and Political Affairs of the Chinese government, also knows that such a disarmament plan will face too much resistance and is afraid that it cannot be implemented, so he reported this disarmament plan to the highest level of the Chinese government.

However, the top leaders of the Chinese government were very determined to disarm. After seeing the proposal of Chief Chen, the Minister of Military and Political Affairs of the Chinese government, they gave a clear response: "But it will not achieve important goals unless we implement it with pain."

Therefore, starting from the beginning of 1945, the Chinese government began to plan to cut at least one million troops to prevent the large number of non-combat personnel in the Chinese government’s army from seriously squeezing the army’s living space.

While the Chinese government was reducing its military, the Chinese army was also expanding its forces in disguise. However, the conditions for recruiting soldiers were very strict. They were basically young students with higher education. The Chinese government's recruitment slogan at the time was "One inch of land, one inch of blood; one hundred thousand young people, one hundred thousand soldiers."

Due to the destruction of the war, most of China's colleges and universities are concentrated in the southwest region of China, which also provides a rich supply of high-quality soldiers for the Chinese government's conscription.

Another thing that made the Chinese government determined to raise the conscription conditions was that in a battle in 1943, when the Japanese offensive force attacked a high ground defended by the Chinese government's army, the Chinese government's army deployed five artillery pieces provided by the United States on this high ground.

However, among the entire battalion of Chinese government troops defending on the high ground, not a single person could understand the English instructions for using the artillery, and in the end they could only watch the Japanese attacking forces rush up. After this incident, the Chinese government was determined to increase the number of high-quality troops in the army.

Starting from the beginning of 1945, the Chinese government began to gradually downsize the army, planning to lay off a total of 1.7 million people by 1946. As of June 1946, the Chinese government's field forces totaled 86 reorganized divisions and 248 reorganized brigades, with a total of about 2 million people. In addition, there were 360,000 special forces, 160,000 air force, 30,000 navy, about 740,000 irregular troops, 1.01 million joint logistics and military agencies and academies, a total of 1.79 million people generally counted as military personnel were laid off.

First of all, after the end of World War II in 1945, the Chinese government suffered heavy losses in the war and faced a grim situation. At the same time, China’s domestic economy was in trouble due to the long-term war, resulting in a generally low living standard for the Chinese people. It was also because of this situation in China that the top level of the Chinese government resolutely took disarmament measures.

Another major reason why the top leaders of the Chinese government decided to cut back on the military was to consolidate their own political position. During the war, the Chinese government's army was often defeated in battles with the Japanese army and had low morale. In order to prevent the further spread of dissatisfaction within the army, the top leaders of the Chinese government decided to cut some troops. This move would not only weaken the opposition forces within the army, but also reduce the economic burden on the Chinese government and use resources for other areas of construction.

Economic factors are also an important consideration for the top level of the Chinese government in disarmament. Since China's economic development suffered serious damage in the war, a large amount of resources were wasted and consumed, which brought tremendous pressure to China's economy. In addition, the top level of the Chinese government needs a lot of funds to maintain the daily operation of the army and the continuation of the war. In order to alleviate the economic difficulties and pressure, the top level of the Chinese government can only cut the army and use resources for the country's economic construction and reconstruction.

In addition, the international situation is also an important factor in the disarmament of the top leaders of the Chinese government. After the end of World War II, the international community's attention to China has dropped significantly. The top leaders of the Chinese government also realized that if China continues to be involved in war, international support will be difficult to obtain, which will also bring great obstacles to the country's development. Therefore, the top leaders of the Chinese government decided to use disarmament to show their willingness to peacefully resolve domestic conflicts and win the support of the international community.