Japan's small size is partly due to its short stature, and partly due to its narrow territory.
How did a small country invade the entire East Asia and Southeast Asia during World War II, and even expand to Oceania.
Where did the small Japan come from with so many soldiers?
Even if there are many soldiers, without corresponding equipment, they are just a group of cannon fodder.
Japan is very good at learning from the strengths of other countries, but in terms of learning overall warfare, just like learning Chinese culture, Japan only barely passed.
Their semi familiar overall war ideology directly led to Japan's failure.
As early as 1915, Japan realized the difference between World War I and previous wars. At that time, Japan dispatched a large number of military observers to the European battlefield to understand the war decisions of the British and French commanders.
These observers conveyed a large amount of information about comprehensive mobilization to Japan through on-site investigations.
Therefore, Japan was the first to understand the mechanism and mode of overall European warfare.
In normal times, they tend to maintain a small and elite military, reduce expenses, use funds for weapon research and development, and actively develop reserve forces.
Once the war breaks out, Japan will immediately enter a comprehensive mobilization mode and deploy all reserve soldiers into battle.
Japan's massive military size
During World War II, the total population of Japan was about 70 million, with adult males accounting for about one-third of the total population, which was about 23 million.
However, it is not possible for all of these people to be deployed on the battlefield.
There needs to be male labor in the rear to produce war materials, ensuring military supplies and economic operation.
Before the September 18 Incident, there were approximately 230000 active Japanese soldiers.
With the outbreak of the War of Aggression against China, the Japanese army began to expand, and by the time of the July 7th Incident, the current size of the Japanese army had reached 450000.
By the time the July 7th Incident broke out, the size of the active Japanese army had expanded to 1.084 million.
With the development of the war, Japan was deeply trapped in the Chinese battlefield and continuously increased its troops.
The Kwantung Army remained between 300000 and 400000 troops, while the Japanese army in the interior exceeded 1 million.
In addition, Japan has also increased its troops to Southeast Asia, Pacific islands, and Oceania, with land, sea, and air forces reaching over one million.
To meet the military needs of over 3 million troops and maintain the fuel consumption of Japanese armored forces, navy, and air force, such a huge expenditure is by no means an ordinary burden.
Against the backdrop of the world economic crisis in 1931, Japan managed to maintain a 14 year long aggressive war, which is precisely where the power of the overall war lies.
In contrast, although China has a vast territory, abundant resources, and a large population, it always won more with less during the Anti Japanese War.
One important reason is that China was unable to achieve reunification, unable to build a comprehensive war model, and its limited strength was unable to fully invest in the war of resistance.
Therefore, it can be said that total war was a guarantee for Japan to have a large military force and maintain aggression during World War II.
Despite Japan's formal construction of a total war model and the mobilization of a large number of manpower to ensure the progress of the war, the maximum number of Japanese troops reached 7.8 million!
However, just like how they learn Chinese culture, they are only half familiar with overall warfare.
The overall war built by European and American countries is based on the economy, with modern weapons as the core, and vigorously developing high-tech branches of arms, such as submachine guns, tanks, aircraft, aircraft carriers, and atomic bombs.
Most of these weapons can also be manufactured by Japan, but they have not been fully mass-produced.
On the one hand, this is because Japan's resources are limited and cannot be fully developed, and on the other hand, it is because the Japanese military's thinking is lagging behind.
Although there were some visionary figures in the Japanese military, such as Ichiro Ugaki and Tetsuyama Nagata (who were killed by the conservative or imperial faction), as well as Yamamoto Isoroku of the Navy, their advocacy of high-tech units received attention from the military for a period of time.
But after entering the 1930s, Japan was deeply mired in the battlefield of China, and its high-tech development was indefinitely postponed.
As a result, the standard equipment of the Japanese army remained the Type 38 rifle from World War I.
Therefore, Japan fought World War II entirely with the mindset and equipment of World War I.
Therefore, even with the support of a total war model, the joint operation between the small country Japan and the US, China, and the Soviet Union is destined to be defeated.
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