Chapter 8, World of Conflict: Roommate Fighting
China, Wuhan
In the modern history of China, this capital of Hubei Province, known as the "Throughway of Nine Provinces" and an important town in central China, has been continuously burned by raging wars.
From the Wuchang Uprising that overthrew the Qing Dynasty, to the series of fierce battles in the Northern Expedition, to the Battle of Wuhan in the Anti-Japanese War...
Today, although the Japanese invaders have retreated from Wuhan, the anti-Japanese national united front no longer exists. Out of deep-rooted hatred and hostility between each other, as well as irreconcilable class conflicts, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party once again fought, and the city was once again involved in the flames of war.
At dusk, standing on the Yellow Crane Tower on the top of Snake Mountain in Wuchang on the south bank of the Yangtze River, looking at the raging fire burning in Hanyang on the other side, and listening to the faint rumble of artillery, the Chief of Staff of the Allied China Theater in civilian uniform , Lieutenant General Joseph Stilwell, could not help but close his eyes in pain.
This Excellency "Jealous Joe", who is known for his unruliness and arrogance, is in an extremely bad mood at this time.
Everything was lost, all my work and efforts had failed again.
Frustration, disappointment, pain, powerlessness, and all kinds of negative emotions surged into Lieutenant General Stilwell's heart like a tide.
From the outbreak of the Pacific War four years ago to the present, he, who was once proud and arrogant, has always played the role of the defeated general. For Stilwell, there is nothing more cruel than becoming a defeated general, but that he has been kicked out of the battlefield by fate before the war is over.
I recall how high-spirited I was when I led tens of thousands of Chinese expeditionary troops from Yunnan to Burma in the early days of the war! Even though the entire army was defeated and the army was in dire straits in the Burmese battlefield, the tenacious Stilwell did not give up. Instead, he took the last more than a hundred people around him to cross the vast mountains and forests, escape from the Japanese army's pursuit and interception, and successfully attacked the Japanese army. He retreated westward to India, thinking about when to regroup and make a comeback.
But... what the hell! Japan, an enemy recognized by Americans as a clown-like enemy before the war, actually turned out to be so difficult to deal with.
Although China has been frantically building ships locally regardless of blood, the Pacific Fleet has had its spine broken time and time again. The performance of the Army was not better than that of the Navy. MacArthur retreated from Manila to the Bataan Peninsula, abandoned his troops and fled from the Philippines to Australia with a small group of people, and then continued to retreat south in Australia. Now he has retreated to the deepest point in Australia. In Melbourne, at the southern end, if we continue to retreat, we will have to jump into the sea.
So far, almost all efforts by Western countries to resist Japanese aggression have failed, and the best case scenario is just a draw. According to Stilwell, who has been in the East for many years, the root of this problem should be the deep-rooted superiority of white people over people of color. Intellectually, they knew that the Japanese were difficult to deal with, but emotionally, they refused to believe that the yellow-faced Japanese could defeat the Western powers.
——Although these island country dwarfs had already succeeded once during the Russo-Japanese War at the beginning of the century.
Therefore, the Japanese samurai used their ferocity, cunning and toughness to teach those racists who insisted on white supremacy a hard lesson, allowing them to experience enough embarrassment and humiliation, and also combined the majesty of the United States of America and the British Empire. Afterglow, they all stepped under their wooden clogs.
As a professional soldier of the United States of America and on the front line against Japan, Stilwell certainly believed that he should do something.
However, he couldn't do anything.
Since the expedition to Burma failed and he fled to India in embarrassment, he has no soldiers in his hands. Although he finally opened up the "Hump Route" over the Himalayas from the air and returned to Chongqing, China, the subsequent Japanese navy's large-scale entry into the Indian Ocean and the subsequent anti-British uprising in India made Stilwell think of India as As a base, the plan to train Chinese soldiers to counterattack Myanmar was completely declared bankrupt.
——As a typical American who has been taught to "hate the British" since he was a child, Stilwell can understand the hatred of Indians towards British colonists to a certain extent, but it has to be said that the timing of this hatred breaking out is really bad It's so embarrassing, and whoever set it off is really terrible...
After the Indian subcontinent became a battlefield, the Hump route soon ran out of cargo and came to a complete halt. This was already the last international line of communication between China and the outside world during the war. Losing it will suffocate China's blood vessels, and no bullet or drop of gasoline can be transported to Chongqing...
Well, strictly speaking, there is an international communication line connecting the northern Soviet Union, but that has nothing to do with Stilwell, the American Lieutenant General.
Unable to obtain aid supplies and losing value, Stilwell was kicked away by Chairman Chiang and sat on the bench in Chongqing.
After that, as the Japanese army shifted the focus of its attacks to Southeast Asia and Australia, it continuously transferred troops from the Chinese battlefield, retreated step by step, and voluntarily abandoned the occupied areas of large areas of inland provinces. Chairman Chiang easily regained large areas of land such as Wuhan, and fought against Japan. Attitudes become increasingly negative.
When MacArthur was overwhelmed and retreating in the Australian battlefield, Stilwell once relied on President Roosevelt's call to urge Chairman Chiang not to be content with taking over the part of the territory that the Japanese had voluntarily given up. Instead, he should cooperate with other battlefields and initiate containment. Sexual Counterattack:
"... With thousands of troops on the battlefield in Asia in silence, if China can seize the opportunity to counterattack bravely and proactively launch a large-scale attack on the retreating Japanese aggressors in order to successfully contain the Japanese army's march south, and even, if conditions permit, The early recovery of our capital, Nanjing, will surely be a great encouragement to the anti-fascist people of the world..."
If it were before, Baldy Jiang would still be able to listen to a few words from Stilwell, who had the power to distribute US aid supplies. However, after the US aid supplies on the Hump Route were cut off, the snobbish Chairman Chiang expressed great dissatisfaction and anger towards him, as well as full of complaints:
"... How does China conduct its own anti-aggression war? What does it have to do with others? So far, the Allies have suffered a complete defeat in the war against Japan! All battlefields are retreating, but we, China, stand strong and have recovered a large area of territory! Even if the Allies fulfill their promise He gave us a little bit of his promise and a little bit of practical support. To persist, or to cooperate with our country in fighting even once, can be regarded as demonstrating the value of the alliance! Now even the fuel of the Chennault Flying Tigers composed of Americans cannot be guaranteed! Instead, we are required to contain the Japanese army from going south? All at the expense of China’s interests!”
Although he said it beautifully, Stilwell was speechless for a time. But Chairman Chiang’s approach is really unflattering - he gave all the troops withdrawn from Burma and the last batch of US aid equipment obtained through the Hump Route to Hu Zongnan in Xi'an, wholeheartedly Although he was in trouble with the Eighth Route Army in Yan'an, he had no interest in fighting the Japanese. He just wanted to wait for the allies to defeat Japan, and then go pick the fruits himself.
What use are these so-called "allies" that only take things but do nothing to the United States? Does Washington owe you anything?
Lieutenant General Stilwell felt extremely frustrated and angry about such a stubborn "peanut", but he was helpless.
Fortunately, after a period of silence, Stilwell finally found something to do, so he no longer had to be idle and moldy. The U.S. Pacific Fleet, which had repeatedly failed, proposed the idea of "shuttle bombing" in order to save face and retaliate against the enemy. The concept is to have long-range strategic bombers take off from Midway Island, bomb Japan, fly directly to mainland China, refuel and load bombs in China, then fly east over Japan to perform a second bombing, and finally return to Midway Island. This can avoid the problem of insufficient aircraft range and inflict a double blow on the Japanese, but for this it is necessary to find a suitable base on the coast of China.
Therefore, Stilwell, who was idle in Chongqing, devoted himself with great enthusiasm to the work of surveying the terrain and inspecting the location of the airport.
Unfortunately, just as this work had just begun, the unlucky General Stilwell was hit in the head again - the second civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party broke out!
As we all know, after the so-called "honeymoon period" in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, the relationship between Chongqing and Yan'an has long been inseparable, and various conflicts and frictions, large and small, have never stopped, such as the most serious "Southern Anhui Incident" . When the Pacific War broke out and the main force of the Japanese army gradually withdrew from the Chinese battlefield, Chongqing became more passive in resisting Japan and actively "suppressed bandits"... However, the Japanese army's aggressive retreat not only allowed Chongqing to take advantage of the situation, but also allowed the Eighth Route Army to The power of the north expanded dramatically. In addition, with the closure of the hump route, the national government has completely lost US aid and is losing blood and weakening day by day. However, the "Soviet aid" from Yan'an is still open. With one ebb and flow, the prospect seems very scary.
Therefore, Chiang Kai-shek in Chongqing saw that the Japanese troops in China had temporarily lost their threat, so he prepared to take advantage of the fact that his military strength still had an absolute advantage on paper and launch a "preventive war" against Yan'an as soon as possible. Destroy the opponent's upward momentum and nip it in the bud!
Regrettably, Chairman Chiang obviously seriously overestimated his own strength, but forgot that his territory is now isolated from the world, with channels for arms imports completely cut off, and the Nationalist Government's own military production is bizarre. , unexpectedly, during the war with Japan, there would be embarrassing incidents of arsenals going bankrupt... In other words, his army cannot be self-sufficient in ammunition and has nowhere to import it. It is a "disposable army" that will be finished after a few battles!
Therefore, the actual situation and long-term combat capabilities of the troops under the Nationalist Government were even worse than before the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War. Quite a few motley troops did not even have enough rifles for each man, and could only fight with spears and machetes. Even for direct troops, ammunition reserves are usually only enough to fight one or two battles, and then they run out of supplies. The aircraft and tanks that were finally saved had neither gasoline nor spare parts, and they were actually lying dormant for a long time. Therefore, in terms of weapons and equipment, the Chongqing government army actually has no advantage at all compared with the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army, and its morale and fighting spirit are far inferior.
The great famine in the Central Plains and the exorbitant expropriation of Tang Enbo's troops caused the local people to rebel and welcome the Eighth Route Army's liberation.
As a result, in the all-out civil war that lasted for a year, the Northwest Corps of Hu Zongnan, the most die-hard direct lineage of Chairman Chiang Kai-shek, won first and then lost. They were forced to abandon Xi'an and flee to Hanzhong in despair, and everything north of the Qinling Mountains changed hands. Tang Enbo's regiment in the Central Plains was defeated again and again. It made little effective resistance and suffered a devastating blow. It fled from Luoyang, Nanyang, and Xiangyang all the way to Wuhan before it could barely gain a foothold. The 400,000-strong army was defeated and only less than 100,000 soldiers were left. Twenty thousand.
When the front line collapsed, Chairman Chiang's backyard also caught fire. The Guangxi Army and the Yunnan Army successively called out the civil war and declared that they would resist Japan and Chiang... Suddenly, the Chongqing National Government was in turmoil, as if it was besieged on all sides. sound. Fortunately, the puppet Nationalist government in Nanjing was in the midst of the chaos after Wang Jingwei's death. Otherwise, even if the Japanese army did not take action, the puppet troops would probably come to kill the tiger together.
Such a series of earth-shattering blows finally made Jiang calm down. In order to stabilize his opponents, he played the peace card again and organized representatives from all parties to hold a peace truce meeting in Wuhan. Lieutenant General Stilwell also participated in the mediation as a representative of the United States, and he sincerely and urgently hoped that all forces in China could stop the civil war as soon as possible and unite in dealing with the outside world, so that the United States could contain as much of the power of the Japanese Empire as possible. This reduced the pressure on the U.S. Navy and Army's counteroffensive operations in the Pacific Theater and allowed him to get some credit.
Unexpectedly, there were unforeseen circumstances. With the successive collapse of the fascist regimes of Nazi Germany and Italy, and the fierce fighting between the British and Soviet armies in Western Europe, the anti-fascist alliance was on the verge of collapse in the spring and summer of this year. Even the two superpowers, the United States and the Soviet Union, were on the verge of collapse. In the meantime, it seems that they may turn against each other at any time.
In order to hold back the Americans, the Kremlin needs to find ways to temporarily reduce pressure on Japan so that the Americans can bleed more in the Pacific. Therefore, a special envoy was sent to Yan'an, China, in April to instruct Yan'an that under the current favorable situation, they should never compromise with the "class enemies", but should first seize state power and then try to counter Japanese aggression, just like the Soviet Union in the October Revolution Follow the steps before and after. In exchange, the Soviet Union could provide Yan'an with a large amount of arms and material assistance. In addition, it could also improve their status in the Communist International organization and so on.
As a result, under the soft and hard tactics of the Soviet Union, the new round of armistice negotiations between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party ultimately failed, and the Wuhan peace talks were completely aborted. In August, Yan'an restored the title of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army and launched a new all-out offensive against the Nationalist Government. On the western front, 200,000 Red Army troops crossed the Qinling Mountains in large numbers, defeated Hu Zongnan again, and won the Battle of Hanzhong. Red Army guerrillas were already present in the Sichuan Basin. ; On the eastern front, 100,000 Red Army troops rushed down the Dabie Mountains and easily defeated the frightened Tang Enbo Corps. Currently, the leading troops have just entered Hanyang and are engaged in fierce street fighting...
——The U.S. mediation failed, the civil war broke out again, and the Japanese army had no worries in the rear. For a moment, Lieutenant General Stilwell felt that all hope was lost.
The Pentagon and the White House are still sending instructions, ordering Lieutenant General Stilwell to try to help China's legitimate government resist the "rebels" and must not allow China's Bolsheviks to overthrow the Chongqing regime. However, now that all international transportation lines are cut off, he can't get a bomb, a barrel of gasoline, or an American soldier for Chairman Chiang Kai-shek in Chongqing... except to use these telegrams to support the table. , what else can he do?
Looking back, I find that in this largest war in human history, besides being a loser, my role is still a loser...
What's even more frightening is that according to rumors, the desperate Chairman Chiang seems to have taken refuge in Japan in order to survive... If things come true, he, an American lieutenant general, may have to Go to a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp...
Looking at the city of Hanyang on the other side of the Yangtze River, where artillery fire was pouring in the dusk, Lieutenant General Stilwell could not help but become more and more dejected.
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China, Shanghai
In modern history, this most flashy city in China in the first half of the 20th century was called the "Paris of the East" or the "Paradise of Adventurers" by Westerners. Its unique oriental heritage is mixed with imported Western temperament. , attracting countless people to be fascinated and flock to it.
When it is mentioned, people will think of majestic high-rise buildings, ornate Western-style buildings; streets lined with sycamore trees, rickshaws shuttling through the streets; women's hair pulled low and long cheongsam; oil painting-like Advertising posters; the lavish Paramount and the Big World, echoing with the tired and beautiful songs of dancers... Shanghai in this era is the most fashionable place in China and an important window for China's foreign exchanges. Western medicine, automobiles, electrical appliances, small hardware and other foreign industrial products, as well as all kinds of foreign visitors, are pouring into the mainland from Shanghai. Tea, silk, minerals and other agricultural products exported from the mainland are also exported along the Yangtze River. , railway all the way to Shanghai, and then shipped from here for transportation to various parts of the world.
However, by 1945, Shanghai's glamorous beauty had faded under the flames of war and became withered and dim. Even the colorful world of Shili Foreign Market is no longer the extravagant atmosphere of the past with feasting, singing and dancing.
——With the full outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, especially after the Pacific War, the Japanese army forcibly took over the entire Shanghai Concession, completely cutting off this modern metropolis from the capitalist world market. Shanghai’s routes to Europe, America, and Southeast Asia were completely cut off. cut off. From then on, no more foreign oil, foreign noodles, and various foreign goods were shipped from the distant Western world, which quickly brought Shanghai's status as a trade and financial center to a halt. The Japanese Empire, the only country that can still maintain "trade" relations with Shanghai, has always had a consistent attitude towards the Chinese people, which is to squeeze and plunder the Chinese people.
Therefore, during the Japanese occupation of Shanghai, thousands of horses and horses were silent and all industries were in depression. Factories large and small went bankrupt one after another, and foreign trade companies closed down one after another. Most daily necessities such as cigarettes, sugar, oil, briquettes, soap, etc. are rationed, and the portions are very small and the quality is very poor. White rice, a staple food, has almost disappeared from the market, or is only available to Japanese people. Citizens could only eat corn flour, potatoes and potatoes to satisfy their hunger. The "cheap food" occasionally rationed by the Wang Puppet Government was originally brown rice and broken rice. By four or five years, most of it had become ground bean cake residue mixed with sand, spoiled military horse feed and rotten miscellaneous grains. Mixed noodles are not only difficult to swallow, but also pose a risk of poisoning after eating.
If someone really lives according to the food rations rationed by the Japanese and puppet colonial authorities, it can be concluded that there is no difference between chronic suicide.
Suddenly, the vendors selling cigarettes and pear candy disappeared from the streets, and the goods in the stores were scarce. The blond and blue-eyed foreigners were imprisoned in enemy alien concentration camps. The clanking trams stopped running, and the street lights stopped lighting up at night...Shanghai, the city that never sleeps, suddenly lost most of its charm. Like a haggard, poor and sick beauty who has been tortured by a rough fate for a long time, she no longer has the peerless beauty she once had.
But despite this, when the merchant ship carrying the 4th Osaka Division of the Japanese Army slowly sailed into the Huangpu River and docked at Shiliupu Pier, these Japanese soldiers, tanned by the tropical sun, still looked at them curiously. The high-rise buildings on the Bund emitted bursts of excited cheers.
Although Shanghai is no longer prosperous at this time, for these Osaka soldiers, it is much better than that ghost place on Ceylon Island - I have to admit that although the navy's curry rice is indeed delicious , but the origin of curry is not very suitable for Japanese people to live. After being stationed in Ceylon for several years, all the officers and soldiers of the Fourth Division smelled of curry. They always complained that Indian rice tasted unpalatable. Many people also suffered from tropical diseases such as dengue fever, malaria, and itchy skin. The troubles caused by prevalent diseases... are really unspeakable.
Relatively speaking, the water and soil in Shanghai are much similar to their hometown in Japan, giving them a comfortable feeling of returning home.
Accompanied by the sound of the whistle, the ship docked at the pier. Groups of soldiers from the Fourth Division stepped onto the shore on the springboard, moved their legs and feet a little, and then got into the work of unloading in full swing—— Dried coconut and coconut oil from Nanyang and Ceylon Black tea, curry spices from India, and rice from Thailand...these are all private goods collected by the Fourth Division along the way. They are very precious and are determined to take advantage of this opportunity to enter Shanghai to change defenses. In the Shanghai market Sell it at a high price and make a lot of money! Because I am worried about the coolies hiding at the dock, I would rather work hard to unload the goods myself...
——The "Trader Division", the most unusual among the Imperial Japanese Army, is truly well-deserved for its business acumen.
At the same time, groups of Chinese workers with sallow faces and ragged clothes were also summoned next to the dock, waiting to board the ship and go to sea. Everyone was drooling at this moment, looking enviously at these well-nourished Japanese soldiers with dark and red faces, and the dazzling array of good things they brought out from the cabin... It seems that the Nanyang place we are going to this time is indeed rich. Even if good things have to be given to the Japanese Taijun first, I should be able to have a happy life at least, right?
In an office next to the dock, Shanghai Mayor Zhou Fohai, appointed by Wang Jingwei's Nanjing puppet government, was smiling broadly as he entertained the Chinese and Western military commanders who came to handle labor transfer matters. I saw that he first complimented the young and promising Chinese and Western military commanders, and then complained nonstop about the hard work of recruiting this group of laborers from the nearby countryside, as well as the current livelihood difficulties of the Shanghai Municipal Government-even now, even Wang The civil servants of the puppet government only have a daily ration of 200 grams of brown rice, plus half a bag of flour every month. Not to mention being pampered, it is difficult to even eat enough.
So, seeing that we are working so hard this time, can the Japanese Taijun slip more benefits out of his fingers?
But on the other side, Zhongxi Gong secretly looked at the mayor of Shanghai and one of the founders of the Chinese Bolsheviks with a rather amused look... Obviously, the guy opposite Zhou Fohai didn't know that he was Another identity, otherwise this scene would be really weird.
One is a Japanese military officer who became a formal member of the Communist Party of China, and the other is the founder of the Communist Party of China who defected to the Japanese Empire.
To be honest, since he came into contact with red ideas at the East Asia Tongwen School in Shanghai more than ten years ago and secretly joined the party, Zhongxi Gong has never imagined that he would actually act in such a strange way under such a rather subtle situation. As an underground worker who has been lurking in the heart of the enemy for many years, Nakanishi Gong will not This little entanglement leads to any inappropriate behavior, which is suspicious.
Nakanishi Ko smiled and praised the hard work of Mayor Zhou Fohai and all the staff of the Shanghai Municipal Government, praising them for their great contributions to Japan's allies and the Emperor's "Greater East Asia Jihad" cause, and then agreed to allocate a small number of funds to the Shanghai Municipal Government. A batch of sugar and rice were shipped from Southeast Asia, and finally the entourage presented a bundle of naval coupons with pictures of various Yamato-class battleships printed on them, which immediately made Mayor Zhou Fohai and his entourage smile with satisfaction.
——Although it is also a military ticket, the Japanese Army's military ticket has basically become useless paper now, while the Navy's military ticket is relatively strong. You can find a way to buy some Southeast Asian or Australian specialties from the navy's special canteen. , as well as industrial products imported from the Soviet Union...
And seeing them looking so satisfied and flattering themselves in every possible way, Zhongxi Gong couldn't help but sigh slightly in his heart.
To those who do not know the inside story, the current situation of the Japanese Empire seems to be pretty good - good news is spreading frequently, the national fortune is prosperous, the Yamato nation roars with pride to the whole world, and the famous generals of the empire shine through history... But in fact, Japan's national power It has been severely overdrawn, the national life is becoming increasingly difficult, war weariness is increasing, and the general will to fight is declining. It was just that it was difficult to reach a compromise externally and the military was stubborn internally, so we had to bite the bullet and fight on.
According to the spirit of the Communist International’s instructions, today’s Japanese Empire is just like the German Empire at the end of the last world war. Although it is arrogant, its defeat is actually determined and its strength is at the end. It is not the real enemy of the proletarian revolutionaries. And the United States, protected by two oceans, the stronghold of capitalism, is the ultimate enemy that hinders the Communist International's cause of liberating all mankind! Therefore, in order to plant red flags all over the world, it is necessary for Bolsheviks all over the world to use and strengthen the power of the Japanese Empire to hold back the hands and feet of the Americans on the Pacific battlefield and bleed them as hard as possible. Only in this way can we buy time for the global proletarian revolutionary organization and make the Americans unable to interfere in the real world revolution in the future...
And Zhongxi Gong also understood and agreed with this. Thinking of this, he couldn't help but turn his head and look to the southeast sky in the distance... When he set out, there was already information about the movements of the US fleet on the Nanyang front, and when he arrived Now, the third naval battle of Noumea may have begun, right?
This time the scale of the US military fleet should be larger than last time. I wonder if Marshal Yamamoto Isoroku can achieve another good result? However, he forgot that even a dog would know to take a detour after being beaten several times in the same place, let alone a human?
So, will the Americans really follow the same old path and once again hit the iron wall that the Combined Fleet has prepared for a long time?