The formation of the Qing army was not hasty, not to mention not knowing the art of war. Instead, after studying the characteristics of China and Japan, after careful consideration, a fairly targeted style of play was formulated. Behind it is a set of aggressive and imaginative battle plans.
Ding, a former general of Huai army, is famous for his bravery and good fighting skills. He has experienced many battles and is proficient in the art of war. Li Hongzhang has a reputation for knowing people, and he will not choose a loser to lead his painstaking Beiyang Navy. Ding is actually not a bureaucrat in the imagination of future generations. He is a soldier and a "dead man" who is determined to win glory for his country. Although he was born in the old army (like Japanese commander Tomohiro Ito), he was constantly honed over the ocean in 16, which made him know the international situation and the new naval strategy like the back of his hand (Ding has visited Europe and Nanyang, Japan many times). The time from the war to the Dadonggou naval battle was enough for him to consider a careful operational plan.
At that time, the advantages and disadvantages of Beiyang navy and Japanese army were obvious to all. The biggest advantage of the Japanese army is that it has four British cruisers, namely Yoshino, Su Lang, Takahashi and Akitsu, which are the first guerrillas. Beiyang Navy has two armored ships, Zhenyuan and Dingyuan, which have slow speed, slow fire, large tonnage and powerful shells. Other aspects, such as personnel training, are different.
Let's take a look at Ding's flying formation of Beiyang Navy. In fact, it's a lot like Nasimov's formation fighting Sinop naval battle. If you look down from the air, you will see the Beiyang navy rushing to the Japanese fleet in an inverted V-shape. The tactical value of this formation lies in decisively dividing each other, and then concentrating the superior forces to divide them one by one! Judging from the Sinop naval battle, it can even be said that this is the nemesis to break the T-gun formation. However, Ding's tactical thinking is not a simple epiphany, just like playing chess, he considers the subsequent successful steps. The formation arrangement of Beiyang navy, including who comes first and who comes later, and the speed distribution, are all carefully planned. Obviously, the idea of Beiyang Navy is to cut up the Japanese fleet from Zhenyuan to Dingyuan and then outflank it. To complete this plan, the task of the pilot ship is the heaviest. It has to undertake the task of division, and it will be attacked by two enemy forces, and its course intention is extremely obvious. At the same time, it is necessary to complete the subsequent flank attack, and the tactical action is far more complicated than other ships. Therefore, Beiyang Navy used Dingyuan Zhenyuan to undertake this most arduous task. First of all, they are the strongest. Second, commanders Ding and Liu are on both ships. In the case that the communication between warships may be destroyed in the battle, they can still accept orders, and it is the easiest ship to complete the command will. The rear wings are far away from the enemy ship, and only meet the enemy ship on one side, so the probability of being hit is low, and the weak ship can be used to complete the task. This makes the threat to ships balanced, which not only protects weak ships, but also gives full play to the advantages of armored ships. The speed of the Beiyang Navy is slow, but the Japanese warships are a long snake array, facing the Beiyang water cut off by the waist. Unless all of them turn right and change their defenses, there will be a situation where only the bow is against the enemy (this is a key criticism of the formation of the Qing army). The Japanese ship is a single column and lacks depth. The cutting of Beiyang navy will be completed in an instant, which is precisely the weak link of the Japanese army! Using this method, Japanese ships can effectively entangle with Beiyang navy to rescue each other, and their advantages of fast maneuverability cannot be exerted. According to the actual situation of naval battle, Beiyang Navy conducted quite well in the war, and the point of contact was chosen between the Japanese army and the First Guerrilla! The correct operational plan should be to cut the Japanese warship formation. Dingyuan Zhenyuan turned left and right, respectively, and turned to the port side of the Japanese warship, so that the pilot ship of the Japanese warship was attacked from the front and left and right at the same time, and the first guerrilla had to turn around and rescue, becoming a fire brigade, not a Japanese fist. At this time, its pilot ship will also be attacked on three sides. What will be the consequences of such a play on the pilot ship of the Japanese fleet? The example of Nelson's devastating battle to wipe out Napoleon's Eastern Fleet in Alexandria is proof. On the whole, Beiyang Navy used Dingyuan Zhenyuan as bait in exchange for the formation advantage of cutting and encircling Japanese ships, and then used the slow Japanese team as collateral, forcing the Japanese high-speed first guerrilla to fall into a trap (even if it didn't vote, the subsequent ships would risk their lives on three sides). Then it takes its super courage as the main axis. Taking Dingyuan Zhenyuan as a hammer, the Japanese fleet was smashed into pieces. According to the idea of the Qing army, the fleet of Beiyang Navy will eventually form a prostrate H-shape, which will sandwich two Japanese warships and make them unable to maneuver. If Japanese ships break through, we can concentrate our superior forces to annihilate at least one ship first. If Japanese ships put all their eggs in one basket to close the dragon and concentrate their fighting power, then the China warships in the middle (see the order of ships, it should only be the flexible Zhiyuan and Jingyuan ships) will make way.
From a military point of view, this plan has a complete realization foundation. First of all, Japanese ships have no weapons that can destroy Dingyuan Zhenyuan. It was China's army that wanted to bombard them. They used their own armor to beat other ships, in exchange for the loss of being hit, but Japanese ships could not stop their breakthrough (Ding dared to put his own boat in front, which was really courageous, much like his fighting style with Nie Jun, but it was reckless. It also laid the groundwork for defeat. A similar example is that during his stay in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, Jiang set the headquarters of the first theater commander on the bank of the Yellow River to boost morale. As a result, the Japanese army destroyed its headquarters as soon as it launched the Henan-Gui Xiang campaign, which caused the China army to suffer a great defeat in the Henan campaign. Secondly, in order to avoid being surrounded, Japanese ships can only turn right, and their play is nothing more than along both sides of the Chinese fleet. The two fronts forming the figure of eight are located on the outer line (much like the actual combat later), but this has brought two benefits to Beiyang Navy. First, Japanese ships have two fixed steering positions at the top of the figure of eight, which is equivalent to providing fixed shooting opportunities for the ships on the left and right wings of Beiyang Navy. Beiyang navy is at the top of the eight characters, which is precisely the fixed distance and Zhenyuan that Japanese ships cannot destroy! As a result, Japanese warships that can form a front confrontation with China warships are bound to be scarred. The closer they get to the bottom of the figure of eight, the more serious the damage. Second, the Japanese ship is divided into two teams, and the strength is thin, while the Chinese fleet is on both sides. Note that the middle of the two columns of the Chinese fleet is empty and will not be attacked from both sides, showing a figure of eight. The two Japanese ships are bound to fight further and further. Dingyuan Zhenyuan, located at the top of the figure of eight, can become a mobile team once the situation of the figure of eight artillery battles is formed. As you can imagine, at this time, beiyang fleet will hold off the Japanese fleet with weak ships on the left and right wings (so Ding is not afraid of the slow speed of the rear team, and the original plan is not to let the rear team catch up with the front team). Dingyuan Zhenyuan jumped up from behind like two Russian tigers and killed the enemy ships at the end of the team in turn (will Dingyuan Zhenyuan be divided into left and right wings? I don't think so. The essence of forming Dingyuan formation is to concentrate superior forces, and he will inevitably use all the ships in Dingyuan Zhenyuan to deal with the Japanese. ) No Japanese ship can resist the face-to-face joint attack of Dingyuan Zhenyuan and other ships for a long time-in actual combat, Japanese ships will quit the battle as long as they are close to Zhenyuan Dingyuan, but Japanese ships can't make a fist against China ships, because the formation of the Chinese fleet is two long dikes. If we go around the bottom of the figure-eight, let alone be outflanked, we will be flanked on both sides. Probably all ships entering its tail will use Dingyuan Zhenyuan as the Olympic torch. What a thoughtful, cunning and old-fashioned way to play! Non-battlefield veterans can't do it! No wonder there is no doubt that the generals who read the classic navy in the battle. Why did Ding adopt this formation? There is also a speculative idea, that is, Ding's idea is that he is afraid that Japanese ships will be defeated and cannot be wiped out! Therefore, he will cling to each other from the beginning of the war, not fighting long-range artillery battles with each other or fighting less, and dragging the Japanese ship to the edge of the cliff for a duel, so that the other party can't pull it away, otherwise the Japanese ship will play its speed advantage, and it will not be bad to fight and run. Maybe Ding wants to turn Japanese warships into torches, so that the town name and the torpedo boats in the port can end the final battle? They are not good at mobile warfare, and killing targets just shows their powerful characteristics, which is also in line with the habit that everyone in the Qing army has a share in fighting and making meritorious deeds.
Various criticisms of the formation of the Qing army mainly focus on two issues. First, it was actually prepared by Beiyang Navy that the Japanese army seized the T-gun battle position. That is to say, the battle position formed by the two sides later is more like a six-character word. As we all know, the T-gun battle position is played by the other side's pilot ship, but there are two, which can greatly disperse the other side's attack, and at the same time, the two wings are separated from each other, which is more or less effective than the simple T-gun battle. In fact, Dingyuan Zhenyuan, as a pilot ship, did not suffer a devastating blow. On the contrary, it played a role in attracting enemy fire, and only allowed the Japanese army to destroy the headquarters at once, which was the biggest failure of Beiyang Navy. Second, at the beginning of the war, the ship's bow was against the enemy, and each ship could only open the main gun, but the rear gun could not give play to its advantages. This criticism is correct, but it is an inevitable sacrifice to gain formation advantage. Just like Tougou Heihachirou's appearance in the naval battle against Japan, he got a lot of shells in the T-gun battle and got a favorable position. Only Ding failed and Dongxiang succeeded, so their evaluations were so different. These two problems are different from the later battles.
So, in fact, China's warships were successfully divided. Such a good formation, careful planning and high morale, why didn't it work? There are six main reasons for this.
First, such a "well-thought-out" complex battle plan is often difficult to achieve in actual combat, and a simple plan is easier to achieve, because in actual combat, it is impossible for each ship to carry out the plan without interference as usual. Just like a football player who shoots, it is often difficult to do the action in training under the pressure of pandering. The last battle of the Japanese navy, the Battle of Leyte Bay, was defeated by a "well-thought-out" complex battle plan thousands of kilometers across.
The second is to underestimate the fighting capacity of the Japanese army and the tragic degree of the war. It can be said that after the war, only the officers and men of Beiyang Navy fully understood the combat effectiveness of the Japanese army. The intensive and accurate artillery fire and precise command of the Japanese army surprised the Beiyang Navy and seriously affected its morale. If we had known in advance that the Japanese ship's hit rate was so high, Zhiyuan would never have rushed out alone to block the shells of the Japanese fleet. This is something that only Dingyuan Zhenyuan can do. Ding's injury was caused by "head burn", which will be described later, but it can be seen that the army was unprepared for such a fierce blow, which affected the determination of Beiyang Navy to implement its later plan. Like Kingyung Woo, the ship that escaped from Guang Jia, he was definitely not prepared for it, so he broke down. Beiyang navy probably came with the attitude of hunting, but it was a bloody battle! At this time, the thought of the leader of Beiyang Navy must quickly change from completely annihilating the enemy to protecting himself from being annihilated, which is contradictory to the original operational plan. If we hastily change the operational policy, beiyang fleet's combat effectiveness and planned advantages will be greatly reduced. In this hand-to-hand combat, the advantages of Japanese fast guns were fully exerted, while the Qing army did not consider the backwardness of its own ordnance and the lack of soldiers' quality. Therefore, even if the Beiyang Navy has a smooth command, it is still a question whether Ding has the courage to carry out his established plan.
Third, there are not enough troops and the plan is too mechanical. According to the original battle plan, no ship can sink to complete the siege of the West Field without a reserve team. Did not take into account the Japanese in the first battle can give beiyang fleet a major blow. Although the enemy formation was successfully cut, with the escape of Jiyuan and Guang Jia, even with proper command, this plan has been difficult to implement. If all the ships in Pingyuan and other ports attack and win,
Fourth, the most important point is that this plan can only be realized if the ships are coordinated as a whole and the command is smooth. When to outflank and how to deal with the counterattack of enemy ships should be considered from the perspective of the fleet, not from the perspective of a warship. As soon as the Qing army started the war, it lost its command and didn't appoint a backup commander (isn't Zhenyuan a good backup flagship? Why is there no regulation? Probably underestimating the enemy), causing great confusion behind. Regarding the replacement of command by raising the flag of Zhiyuan Ship, Gao Teng, a participant in Mawei naval battle, once raised the dragon flag in Feiyun. According to the explanation of General Zhong Hanbo of Taiwan Province Province, it just means that there are senior generals on board, which is equivalent to raising the flag later, which means to fight to the death in the naval battle. It's not taking over command. The Japanese army's evaluation is that "the brave are too brave and the timid are too timid." Another problem is that junior generals don't know enough about the overall operation, so they rush forward and turn the formation into a semi-arc. Zhiyuan's departure from the team and Jiyuan's escape made the fleet's eight-character formation fall apart. With Ding's injury, the Qing army simply lost its unified command, and this plan could not be carried out without command! The ships of the Qing army did not have their own thinking, and their thinking was taken over by the out-of-control flagship. How can I not take it indiscriminately? Imagine, in the Battle of Hushan, Lin Biao ordered the attack and let each column go its own way. That's the best battle plan!
Fifth, the commander structure. Among the Beiyang navy, only Ding has really fought (and obviously has no commander temperament) and also has the ability to command the whole army. Even a second-level commander like Liu obviously lacks overall consideration of strategy. Liu Can commanded a warship well, but his vision was too narrow, and he didn't have the ability and experience to command the whole team. The so-called general is not handsome Besides, it is the first time he has participated in a real battle, and the requirements for him should not be too high. Therefore, after Ding was injured (the Japanese army really had no choice but to kill the hull far away, and the rapid-fire gun was extremely effective in killing the superstructure and personnel), Beiyang Navy did not have a talented and courageous commander who could be responsible for implementing this plan.
Sixth, luck, this plan is a typical idea of defeating the enemy, so it is doomed to suffer in the first half. When the enemy really split up and could make profits on its own, it failed for various reasons. It seems that the Qing army is completely losing money in the whole campaign, and there is no bright spot. Therefore, later generations only criticized Ding's Flying in the Wild.
Therefore, the relationship between Beiyang Navy's defeat and formation should be much simpler and deeper than that between Single Longitudinal Array and yan zhen. If the plan of Beiyang Navy can be realized, can the Japanese army win the Sino-Japanese War without a joint fleet? Without the victory of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, can Japanese development be ahead of China? Without the victory of the Sino-Japanese War, would there be today's problems in Taiwan Province Province? Even world history has to be rewritten. ...
At this time of gardening, birthday celebration and opening its "Kunming Lake Naval Academy", Sino-Japanese relations are in full swing, and Japanese imperialism, whose first goal is to invade China, is frantically expanding its troops to prepare for war. On the eve of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the Japanese navy had 2 1 new ships. Nine of them are fast cruisers newly made in Britain and Germany, which were completed and launched after 1889. They are equipped with dozens of rapid-fire guns about 10 inches. The fastest cruiser in the world (23 nautical miles per hour) is a decisive new force. At that time, the world arms race was fierce, and the rapid development of the Japanese navy shocked Europe and America! From the last navy in the world to the position of 1 1; By the time the Yellow Sea cannon rang, the fighting capacity had already surpassed our army.
Under the development of international armament, what was my reaction at that time? Of course, the first sensitive is the first naval general. Ding is not a bureaucrat in the imagination of future generations. He is a soldier and a "dead man" who is determined to make great contributions to the country. Although he was born in the old navy (like Tomohiro Ito of Japan), he has been training for 16 years (Ding visited Europe and Nanyang of Japan many times) and knows the international situation and the new naval strategy like the back of his hand. What's more, his crew, chief officer and others are first-class world-class naval generals who have undergone strict training and are proficient in foreign languages. Coupled with countless "foreigners" serving with the ship.
They saw the imaginary enemy, the Japanese navy, aggressive and surpassing themselves day by day; How can you not worry about the first thing? They are all professional soldiers, knowing that fighting in the ocean, using a slow boat with a speed of 15 knots against a speedboat with a speed of 23 knots is only nine Niu Yi hairs. Defeated, there is nowhere to run. You can't pursue it even if you win! To defeat the enemy, it is very important to know yourself and yourself. Li Hongzhang also repeated it in his tricks.
They know better the difference between firing one shot every five minutes and firing five shots every minute in naval artillery combat. The enemy drifted about in speedboats and speedboats. In a flash, the enemy's bombs fell like a storm. In a blink of an eye, the enemy ship has escaped without a trace. Your speed at 15 knots; It's really useless to parry a gun for five minutes, let alone fight back. Turtles vs sharks, how to defeat the enemy? !
It's a pity that their top-notch "four modernizations" major is completely isolated in that ignorant and corrupt bureaucratic garbage dump-the next urgent; The superior is indifferent.
Ding and his generals have nothing special to play with. They can only appeal to Li Hongzhang, express their feelings and demand "shift change". Li Hongzhang's understanding of the international situation is not as good as that of Ding and Liu. Faced with this unconscious tyrant, they know that "remonstration" and "remonstration" are not only useless, but sometimes the consequences are unimaginable. However, things have been "mixed up" for a long time, and sometimes things may have the opportunity to exchange time for space. So they got mixed up!
Li, the prime minister, is a teacher in Jichuan. He has a long history of official career. Why can't he just muddle along? The situation is better than others, and it is necessary. Factional struggle, schadenfreude, so Li Hongzhang's demands on his subordinates sometimes even dare not change. Therefore, when the Qing Imperial Navy was founded, although it was hot for a while, it pushed the "four modernizations" (science and technology) to the peak and ranked among the top eight; Because the "five modernizations" (politics) can't cooperate, the development of science and technology will inevitably come to a dead end. After the 14th year of Guangxu (1888), while the Japanese navy was pushing ahead with all its strength, the China navy actually "didn't buy a boat"!
No, it's not. Just when both China and Japan were dying, the Ministry of Housing obtained the consent of the naval yamen. 1892, the official announced that the Queen Mother needed money to live a long life, and the navy stopped buying ships for two years! This is the eve of the Sino-Japanese War!
You can't buy a clipper. Should we at least buy more fast guns? The situation in North Korea is very tense. At the request of his subordinates, Li Hongzhang asked the naval yamen to allocate 600,000 yuan to buy 20 fast guns and replace the slow guns on major ships, but the lake and the sea were poor. As a last resort, Li squeezed 202,000 yuan from the daily rations of the navy and talked about buying 12 inferior fast guns to calm the anger of the officers and men on board.
This corrupt politics has brought down the new navy. How can soldiers fighting at the front be ignorant? I know, how does my heart react?
Friends, we historians and writers might as well put ourselves in their shoes: how would we feel if you and I were members of the navy at that time? According to Chinese and western records, Ding Zhifu was very worried at that time. He is ready to die.
Liu, Lin Taizeng, Deng Shichang ... What about the generals? -All three of them later committed suicide. According to the memories of the "foreigners" on board at that time, before the Sino-Japanese War, the young sailors on board (including Li Gang) had high morale and were all ready for war. However, the senior generals on board were very worried. This phenomenon also makes those foreigners feel that Sailor Soldier, a soldier in China, is lovely and respectable; And their superior generals are timid and incompetent. If they are timid, they should be killed.
According to the only records of these foreign witnesses (few in Chinese, almost none), China's later historians and journalists almost unanimously despised the martyred generals below Ding and Liu. Is that really the case? ! Here, I want to reconsider with historical facts and readers of this article.
It is understandable that beiyang fleet's junior officers, sailors and gunners have high morale. The navy was the only modern armed force in China at that time. The young soldiers who personally participated in this new type of armed force felt glorious and proud. Its situation is exactly the same as that of the air force before and at the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War. Aspiring young people are really flocking. When I was young, I longed for the Air Force very much. I have had three tragic experiences of trying to go north. At that time, I saw my young partner, passed the physical examination and joined the Air Force. My admiration for them is unforgettable-most of these partners are gone forever. Dedicated his infinitely beautiful youth life to the motherland!
China Air Force had high morale, fought bravely and made great sacrifices, which is well documented in history. It is unnecessary to go into details of the navy of the Great Qing Dynasty, which is exactly the case.
The soldiers at the lower levels are persistent, ambitious and know each other.
Senior generals are not. They know each other and themselves. Seeing that the enemy's armaments have already surpassed ours; The corrupt officials in our imperial court don't want the Yellow Sea, but also carve their "Zhou Shi" in yi river and run their "navy". Seeing that the Japanese army is advancing step by step, the war is imminent, and our army is slow to fire and slow to ship, and there is no strength to fight back. How can I get it? I wonder every day, can I not destroy it for five days? !
My friend, if you and I are both in this adversity, how can we work hard? Moreover, in those days, ignorant officials and censors dared not criticize the queen mother or curse the king's wine. Holding only one admiral Ding and Liu they don't know all day, as the object of abuse and ridicule, is this reason fair?