Chapter 311
Speaking of which, in the early days of World War II, the Japanese Zero fighter did give people a stunning feeling, but as time went by, the technical performance indicators of the Zero fighter are now far from advanced.
In the continuous air battles in the Far East, the La-5 fighters adopted in large numbers by the Soviet army were able to hold their own in the confrontation. After continuously equipping a large number of La-7 fighters, the Far East Air Force had an absolute advantage when fighting against the Japanese army. A "lighter" is a "lighter". The Zero, which the Japanese felt was superior to, was like their tanks, with a thin skin and a large filling, and it seemed that it would catch fire at the slightest touch.
In addition to the fighter jets necessary for air combat, over a period of more than a month, the Soviet army also gradually deployed a large number of long-range aviation forces to the Far East. According to Novikov, the long-range aviation forces in the Far East can undertake sufficient airdrop and bombing missions.
After Novikov, Stalin called on Isakov's name and wanted to hear about the situation in the navy.
According to Isakov, the Japanese had apparently given up any preparations for a confrontation with the Soviets at sea during this period, and they laid mines on a large scale in the waters off Japan. At the same time, Japanese submarines also expanded their range of activities, but their intentions were mainly harassment, and they never took the initiative to launch any form of attack.
However, the Soviet Navy had foreseen this situation long ago, so before the war against Japan was launched, the Navy had already begun to allocate warships to the Far East. During the Great Patriotic War, some minesweepers obtained by the Soviet army from the British, as well as 28 AM minesweepers and 17 "Tacoma" class frigates obtained from the Americans, would be deployed to the Pacific Fleet within two weeks.
In terms of supporting landing operations, over the past month, the Soviet ports in the Far East have modified more than 90 patrol gunboats, mainly by installing Katyusha rocket launchers on the gunboats to provide powerful firepower support for possible beach landing operations.
As for the transportation of soldiers , Isakov frankly stated the difficulties currently faced by the Pacific Fleet. At present, the only truly effective transport ships available within the Pacific Fleet are the 43 LCI and LCT landing ships previously provided by the Americans. Considering the limited transport capacity, it is simply impossible for the Soviet army to launch a large-scale campaign landing operation in Hokkaido. The navy can only transport an armored infantry division to Hokkaido at most at one time.
The problem Isakov mentioned is the biggest dilemma facing the Soviet army at present. To be frank, if the Soviet Union borders Japan, the plan to attack the Japanese mainland would have been implemented a month ago. Although Japan has recently launched a nationwide mobilization and claims to have 7 million combat troops on its mainland, according to the accurate intelligence obtained by the General Staff Intelligence Bureau from the Japanese Communist Party, among the army defending the Japanese mainland, only less than 30 divisions are equipped with barely enough ammunition. As for the so-called National Volunteer Combat Team with a number of more than 28 million, they do not even have basic weapons. Most of them only have bamboo spears as weapons, and some of them are old-fashioned firearms handed down from their families.
Faced with such so-called regular army, the Soviet Red Army, which had fought a brutal war with the Germans for several years, did not feel any pressure.
When Isakov finished introducing the situation of the navy, the living room became quiet. Stalin frowned. The tobacco in his pipe had burned out, so he handed it to Poskrebyshev who was standing behind him.
Then, Stalin touched his pocket, probably looking for a cigarette. Yuri took the lead and took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, took out a cigarette and handed it to him. When Stalin took it, he took out another one and prepared to light it for himself.
However, as soon as he put the cigarette in his mouth, Yuri realized that this was not Stalin's office in the Kremlin, but in the Kuntsevo Villa, so he quickly took the cigarette out and prepared to put it back into the cigarette box.
"Have a cigarette," Stalin lit it with the light Poskrebyshev brought, waved his hand at Yuri, and said, "Relax a little and refresh yourself."
Yuri smiled awkwardly, put the cigarette in his mouth again, and passed the cigarette box around. Finally, he gave the remaining cigarettes to the person sitting behind him, motioning for the other person to pass them around, and then sat back on the sofa.
Among the people present, there was not a single non-smoker. With more than 20 people, each holding a cigarette, the entire living room soon became a "fairyland" with misty smoke. Poskrebyshev quickly opened all the windows to prevent everyone from being suffocated.
"Comrade Nikolai Alexandrovich, please talk about the letter sent by Ambassador Harriman," Stalin said, looking at Bulganin beside him after taking two puffs of his cigarette.
Bulganin nodded and began to talk about a state letter sent earlier by William Harriman, the US ambassador to the Soviet Union. The gist of the letter was that the Americans had changed their minds and hoped that the Soviet army would launch an offensive against Hokkaido, Japan within the next two months to cooperate with the US military's subsequent military operations.
In order to support the Soviet landing operation, the Americans promised to send a fleet to assist the Soviet army. This fleet included more than 140 ships, including 6 battleships, and of course, most of them were transport ships.
Yuri felt a little strange. Although he was not very good at history in his previous life, he knew that at the end of World War II, the United States was clearly opposed to the Soviet Union's action on the issue of sending troops to the Japanese mainland. Moreover, at the previous Yalta Conference, Roosevelt, as the President of the United States, also clearly put forward the requirement of full control over the Japanese mainland. In other words, even in this time and space, the Americans did not want the Soviet Union to send troops to the Japanese mainland. They wanted to control the entire Japan after the war.
But now, the war in Europe ended a year ahead of schedule, the Americans have not yet successfully developed the atomic bomb, and there is no final confirmation whether it can be used in actual combat. At the same time, in the Battle of the Philippines, facing the madness of the Japanese, the US military suffered heavy losses, and there were also some differences in the United States on the issue of attacking the Japanese mainland.
All of the above has led to a situation in the current time and space that is completely different from that in the previous life, which is not difficult to understand.
After briefly outlining the US's demands, Bulganin mentioned the American plan to attack the Japanese mainland. In this operational plan called "Downfall", the Americans did not intend to attack Tokyo directly. They set their primary target of attack on Kyushu Island and planned to launch an offensive on Honshu after capturing Kyushu Island.
According to the Americans' plan, they intended to launch an attack on the Japanese mainland after capturing Okinawa. According to their estimates, the Battle of Okinawa would end within two months. In other words, the Soviet army still had two months to prepare, and the coordinated offensive would be officially launched in early December at the end of the year.
After Bulganin's speech, Comrade Stalin made a speech. The first thing he confirmed was an attitude: after discussion and approval by the People's Commissariat of Defense, the general policy of attacking the Japanese mainland has been established. In order to ensure the presence and influence of the Soviet Union in East Asia and Northeast Asia, it is necessary for the Soviet Union to include Hokkaido in Japan in its sphere of influence. The establishment of this general policy also means that the battle plan to attack the Japanese mainland has been put on the agenda. What everyone needs to discuss now is not whether this battle should be fought, but how to fight it.
At the end of his speech, Comrade Stalin called Yuri's name, but he did not ask him to give his opinion on the battle plan. Instead, he asked him to talk about whether the General Armament Department could afford to transport enough military supplies to the Far East within two months once it took over the railway transportation to the Far East.
Yuri had a good grasp of the matters within his scope of work. He gave his answer without much consideration. He guaranteed that as long as there were enough materials for transportation, within two months, without affecting passenger transportation, the General Armament Department could provide 3,000 to 3,500 carriages of ammunition and the same amount of military fuel to the Far East troops through the Trans-Siberian Railway. If passenger transportation was not taken into account, the number would be even higher.
As for the issue of weapons and equipment, Yuri did not give a clear answer. This was because Vasilevsky had not yet drawn up a list of weapons and equipment he needed, and it was a bit early to talk about transportation support.
Comrade Stalin was obviously quite satisfied with Yuri's performance. In fact, whether it was during the war or after the war, Yuri's performance at work never disappointed Comrade Stalin. On the one hand, it was because Yuri was still very young and was at the peak of his energy. On the other hand, it was because the position of the Minister of Operations gave him enough training. That position really trained his brain and abilities.
On the issue of the supply of weapons and equipment, according to Yuri's suggestion, there is no need to issue a new production mobilization order at present. After all, in the past few years of war, the Soviet Red Army has accumulated a large amount of weapons and equipment, whether it is various types of aircraft, tanks, artillery, and even guns and ammunition, which are enough to support the needs of this war against Japan.
What the Soviet Union really needs now is to consume these weapons and equipment and prevent them from being stored in warehouses to rust and mold. As for the weapons and equipment lost on the Japanese battlefield, after the Japanese surrender in the future, they can demand war reparations from them. The loss of these weapons and equipment needs to be included in the reparations statistics.
After Yuri finished his presentation, it was Vasilevsky's turn to explain the battle plan, which was the highlight of the night.
