Chapter 44 This year's general trend

1938 came in a gloomy atmosphere.The fall of the capital Nanjing at the end of last year and the subsequent Nanjing Massacre proved that the Japanese invaders had pushed China into the abyss of suffering with brutality and ruthlessness.At that time, the Chinese army suffered heavy casualties in the south and north battlefields one after another. If the Japanese army in East China took advantage of the victory and attacked Wuhan along the Yangtze River, the situation would be extremely severe. At that time, the Japanese soldiers were still immersed in the carnival of occupying the Chinese capital. The Japanese government put forward harsh conditions for peace talks, waiting for the Chinese government to sign the surrender document. Those extremely harsh conditions were conveyed by the German ambassador to China, Tautman. of.

January 15, 1938, was the deadline set by the Japanese government.The Japanese government did not receive any substantive reply from the Chinese government. The Japanese military and political leaders were disappointed and angry because the war had to continue.The next day, the Japanese Konoe cabinet issued the arrogant "January 16 Statement", announcing that it would no longer take the warring Nationalist government as its opponent. On January 18, when Japan’s foreign minister answered questions from the Diet, he made a domineering supplementary statement. He said that “not using the National Government as an opponent” had set a new precedent in international law, whether to deny the National Government and completely obliterate it.

The Japanese military began preparations for a larger war. In 1938, the goal of the Japanese army was to open up the Jinpu Road first, realize the joining forces of the Japanese army in North China and Central China, and then march into the Central Plains through the Pinghan Road and the Yangtze River, occupy Wuhan, and end the war against China in one fell swoop.This is the most imaginative plan of the strategists of the Japanese General Staff Headquarters. At the beginning of 1938, Wuhan was still a peaceful scene. At that time, China’s wartime capital had been set in Chongqing on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, but Wuhan, with its convenient transportation and developed industry and commerce, was the actual political and military center of China’s war of resistance.The Anti-Japanese War brought not only tension, but also excitement to the city, and even a short-lived prosperity. Restaurants and teahouses were still crowded.

If the turbulent Yangtze River passing through the city and connecting east and west is the soul of the three towns of Wuhan, then the Ping-Han Railway and the Guangdong-Han Railway, which run through the north and south and converge in Wuhan, are the blood of the city.After the fall of the southeast region, Wuhan, with convenient transportation, became the most important arms supply base.Various strategic materials purchased from overseas were transported northward by Guangzhou through the Guangdong-Han Railway, and after being collected and distributed in the three towns of Wuhan, they were distributed to the troops in each theater.It is worth boasting that Wuhan is known as the "Chicago of China" and is the only industrial city in the mainland. The "Made in Hanyang" produced by the Hanyang Arsenal is still a favorite item for many soldiers who suffer from lack of decent weapons.

Walking on the streets of Wuhan in midsummer, I often hear a hyperactive song called "Defending Oriental Madrid-Great Wuhan".Communists and people on the left love this association and analogy.Madrid, the capital of Spain, bravely resisted the siege of the fascist Franco, while China faced the Japanese fascists. The defense of Wuhan was the primary concern of the public throughout 1938. This year was the honeymoon era of Kuomintang-Communist cooperation during the Anti-Japanese War. On January 6, 1938, the military headquarters of the New Fourth Army moved from Wuhan to Nanchang. Ye Ting was the commander, Xiang Ying was the deputy commander, Zhang Yunyi and Zhou Zikun were the chief and deputy chiefs of staff, and Yuan Guoping and Deng Zihui were the chief and deputy directors of the Political Department.The New Fourth Army has a total of 10,300 people, divided into 4 detachments, the commander of the first detachment Chen Yi, the commander of the second detachment Zhang Dingcheng, the commander of the third detachment Zhang Yunyi, and the commander of the fourth detachment Gao Jingting.The Military Commission of the Nationalist Government assigned the New Fourth Army to the command of the Third War Zone.

Throughout the year, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party cooperated closely from tactics to strategies on the battlefields of Shanxi, Xuzhou, and Wuhan. At the beginning of this year, the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government was reorganized, and Chen Cheng became the director of the Political Department. He came to ask Zhou Enlai to be the deputy director.Zhou Enlai was well aware of the internal complexity of the Kuomintang, so he repeatedly declined.When the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China learned of this, it specially sent a telegram, saying that if they repeatedly declined, Chiang Kai-shek and Chen Cheng might misunderstand that the Communist Party had no intention of helping.After taking office, Zhou Enlai became the highest-ranking leader of the Communist Party in the National Government. Zhou Enlai attached great importance to this work. He often handled official affairs in the Political Department during the day and rushed back to work in the Eighth Route Army's Wuhan office at night.The Communists devoted their enthusiasm and wisdom to defending Wuhan.

The grim situation reminds people that whether it is good for the whole war situation or for the defense of Wuhan, the right time and place are not as good as people. On March 29, the Provisional National Congress of the Chinese Kuomintang was held in Luojia Mountain, Wuchang.On the same day, the "Xinhua Daily", which was founded just over two months ago, published an editorial advocating that all parties should unite and be close.The "Programme for Anti-Japanese War and National Construction" proposed by the Provisional National Congress of the Kuomintang was also supported by all parties.

On April 1, good news came from the Fifth War Zone, which was responsible for defending the Jinpu Line and the Xuzhou area.In the previously unknown town of Taierzhuang in southern Shandong, after eight days and nights of fierce fighting between the Chinese and Japanese armies, the Japanese army began to retreat. The Taierzhuang victory caused tens of thousands of Japanese casualties.It was an inspiring victory.Since Shanghai, Nanjing, Taiyuan and other important cities have fallen one after another, there have been no exciting battle reports from the Chinese side on the battlefield. The news of Taierzhuang's victory made the three towns of Wuhan jubilant.A torchlight parade of 100,000 people took place in Wuhan.Guo Moruo has a vivid description in the book "Hongbo Song": "Under the Yellow Crane Tower in Wuchang, it was so crowded that the passengers of the ferry could not disembark, and the torches lit up both sides of the Yangtze River. Shouting slogans, as if to blow up the entire space. The three towns of Wuhan have indeed been revived! Who can say that the people are dead? Who can say that the iron-blooded suppression can suffocate the people forever?"

On the same day, Chiang Kai-shek was elected as the president of the Kuomintang at the Provisional National Congress of the Kuomintang, with Wang Jingwei as the vice president.When the conference announced the result, Wang Jingwei looked unhappy.He hid his dissatisfaction with Chiang Kai-shek and his pessimistic views on the prospect of the war of resistance deep in his heart. To continue China's war of resistance in a difficult environment, it must first tap its own strength. On July 6, 1938, the National Political Council was held in Wuhan. Among the 150 representatives were representatives of important parties, social groups, frontier ethnic minorities and overseas Chinese. Except for Mao Zedong who asked for leave for the future, all the seven Communist Party members attended the meeting.People's participation in politics provides a way for other political parties and individuals outside the Kuomintang to participate in politics. It has even been compared to China's "wartime congress".The Political Consultative Conference after the Anti-Japanese War also had a direct relationship with it.The National Suffrage represented a beginning in the democratization of politics.The Communist Party of China stated that it will participate in the work of the National Political Council with the most active, enthusiastic and sincere attitude.Later, Zhou Enlai told the officials of the U.S. Embassy in China that although the National Political Council "provided the CCP with a number of seats that did not match the actual strength of the CCP, the CCP still accepted these seats because it gave the CCP an opportunity to make its claims public. And hope to participate in national government affairs through this limited opportunity."

The citizens of Wuhan first learned about the war from refugees, newspapers, magazines, radio, and speeches. They witnessed and welcomed the resolute-looking soldiers passing through the streets and driving to the front line to deploy defenses. Many officers and soldiers came from distant provinces such as Sichuan, Guangxi, Hunan, and Guangdong.The air strikes by Japanese aircraft made the citizens of Wuhan immediately feel that the war was very close to them.The war made China's space seem to be much smaller, and the emotions of people in different regions have become closer.After the outbreak of the war, a large area of ​​land in the densely populated and prosperous coastal areas was occupied by the Japanese army. The Japanese army's aggression ended the peaceful life of the people. The invaders destroyed their houses and farmland with artillery fire, and bombed hospitals and schools. Thousands of people Realizing that the cruel war cannot be ended in a short period of time, those who have property or have no property, because they are not willing to accept the enslavement and plunder of the Japanese invaders, are not afraid to travel long distances, forming a spectacular refugee wave. Wuhan and other places, then transferred to safe areas such as northwest and southwest, and finally settled in Chongqing, Kunming, Guilin, Xi'an and other cities or surrounding small towns and villages, spent a long time in a complex state of tension, anxiety, expectation and joy years of war.Government agencies and schools along the coast and along the river have also moved inward.Modern warfare is inseparable from industry. The industrialists in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War showed high patriotic enthusiasm. Under the conditions of extremely simple means of transportation, they went through hardships and moved their factories inland.The internal relocation of factories roughly went through two stages: the first stage was the relocation of factories from Shanghai and coastal provinces to Wuhan; the second stage was the continued relocation from Wuhan to Chongqing and other places in the southwest and northwest. According to statistics, more than 450 private factories moved inland in the early days of the war. They resumed operation in the rear area, changed the industrial backwardness of the rear area, and became the material basis for the long-term war of resistance.

Focusing on the offense and defense of Wuhan, the offensive Japanese army used 350,000 troops from land, sea, and air force, and the defensive Chinese side invested millions of troops.The number of troops on both sides, the length of the front, the length of time, and the scale have never been seen since the War of Resistance. Neiji Okamura, the commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army that attacked Wuhan, later admitted in his memoirs that he often had three hidden worries during the attack on Wuhan. One is the strength of the Chinese army. The ratio of strength between the two sides often reaches a ratio of 10:1. The second is the hot climate. He transferred the Botian brigade from Taiwan to lead the battle because this team is adapted to the hot climate.During the battle, the number of Japanese soldiers who fell ill due to acclimatization to the soil and water was large, even exceeding the attrition during the battle.When the Chinese and Japanese armies were fighting fiercely in the Yangtze River Basin, a severe plague occurred in the local area. The Japanese army did not accept the water and soil, and there were many sick people.Chinese soldiers were also afflicted by diseases, and because of the lack of medicine, many soldiers died of diseases.At that time, all the capital in China had been spent on the purchase of arms. Guns were even more important than people. Soldiers barely had food to eat, and there was no nutrition at all. In the field troops, medicine was almost non-existent (except for red medicine). Under unimaginably difficult conditions, the Chinese defenders were sick, feverish, and groaning, but they had no medical treatment, but they still tried their best to defend their homeland in every battle. The third is complex terrain.This was the most distressing thing for Okamura Ningji, the commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army who attacked Wuhan.In addition to emotion, he even wrote down the words "the enemy is not the enemy, the terrain is the enemy, and I don't love mountains and rivers in battle". China's operational guidelines for defending Wuhan are more clearly close to the strategic concept of exchanging space for time. After learning the painful lessons of the Battle of Songhu and the Battle of Nanjing, the Battle of Wuhan is to defend Wuhan instead of fighting in Wuhan; The outskirts of Wuhan, and the battle in the distance where the lakes and hills are densely covered. When the Yangtze River was no longer a natural barrier in front of the Japanese army with an absolute superiority in the navy, lakes, especially mountains, became the best allies of the Chinese army.The vast land left by our ancestors and the hills and mountains bestowed by nature have become precious resources for the Chinese nation to fight for survival from the enemy's tiger's mouth.Even if the Chinese army cannot turn the Dabie Mountains, Lushan Mountains, and Mufu Mountains into the tombs of the Japanese army, at least they must make these majestic mountains an insurmountable threshold for the Japanese army.The Chinese army cleverly used the terrain to inflict heavy damage on the invading Japanese troops in Fujinshan, Shawo, Tianjiazhen, Guangji, Lushan and other places.Especially in the Wanjialing battle in northern Jiangxi, the Xue Yue Corps of the Ninth Theater surrounded the 106th Division of the Japanese Army and almost wiped out the Japanese Army. August to October was the worst time for the defense of Wuhan.China urgently needs assistance from the international community and comprehensive sanctions against Japan.Coincidentally on September 9, the League of Nations held its 102nd regular meeting, which once again attracted the attention of the Chinese people.The Chinese government angrily stated that if the League of Nations did not implement Article 17 of the Covenant to impose sanctions on Japan, China would withdraw from the League of Nations. On the 11th, China’s chief representative, Gu Weijun, sent a note to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations, stating that sanctions against Japan in accordance with Article 17 of the Covenant were not only for China, but also for the League of Nations and world peace. On the 12th, Wuhan, Nanyang, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Lanzhou, Changsha, Nanchang, Guilin and other large and medium-sized cities held large-scale public meetings in support of the Allied Aid China Day, with millions of people. Hitler once sarcastically said: "The League of Nations is a straw, but China wants to cross the river by grasping this straw." However, China has seen through the lessons of the "September 18" incident. The largest international organization arouses the international community's attention to China's war of resistance and firm resistance and sanctions against international aggressive forces.China in the war of resistance has taken the lead in taking this step. On September 12th, sparks were flying between Germany and the Czech Republic, and swords were on the verge of breaking out.Most of the foreign ministers of major countries are not in Geneva, which is an unprecedented phenomenon.Suffering from the arrogance of aggressive arrogance, the weak League of Nations finally made the toughest resolution since its establishment: first, it claimed that Japan’s actions had violated the non-war agreement and the Nine-Power Pact; second, all countries could follow Article 16 of the alliance, Individually implement sanctions against Japan; thirdly, countries can individually assist China within their capacity.On the second day after the resolution was passed, Jordan, the interim chairman of the meeting and representative of New Zealand, made a speech. He pointed out that the success of the League of Nations depends on the wisdom and determination of the governments of member states.Without the will and actions of its members, the League of Nations cannot exist independently, nor can it act. Although this resolution is neither collective nor mandatory, the clear attitude of the League of Nations has made a moral effort to deal a blow to the reputation and morale of the aggressors.But the weakness of the League of Nations is also exposed to the world. It is like a policeman without a pistol. This congenital deficiency cannot be rescued.A French reporter said: "A half of the palace made of white stones is exposed in the green woods of Geneva. From a distance, you can't tell whether it is the Palace of Peace or the Tomb of Peace, but when you get closer, you know it is a luxurious palace. In the hospital, I heard painful cries as soon as I entered the door, especially the cries of the wreckage suffered from air strikes (China and Spain). Several doctors in the hospital would also touch them to express comfort. If they are not even qualified to shout (like Abyssinia), prove by experiment that he is dead." The League of Nations eventually dissolved and was replaced by the stronger United Nations. China's war of resistance is the vanguard of the world's anti-fascism.Jiang Baili once wrote an article titled "Warning the British for the League of Nations Meeting", which was published in Wuhan, Hong Kong, and Chongqing at the same time, warning the British.He wrote: "Our war of resistance this time is holding the front line for the British Empire, and at the same time guarding the last bastion for the peace policy of the League of Nations." appeasement and compromise. On September 15, British Prime Minister Chamberlain went to Germany to meet Hitler. He was working hard for peace, even at the expense of the weak Czech Republic. On September 18, which is also China's "September 18th" anniversary, Czech Prime Minister Hodecze rejected Germany's annexation of the Sudetenland region of the Czech Republic, calling for "only struggle can lead to peace."However, on the 30th, the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, and Italy met in Munich and signed the Munich Agreement, agreeing to cede the Sudetenland region to Germany.The Germans occupied the Sudetenland, and Chamberlain returned triumphantly telling the British that he had brought back a century of peace.There was a fire at the door, and the two countries still kept giving in. What can China expect them to do in the Far East?On the contrary, the appeasementists of Britain and France are preparing to cut off the meat of China to feed the hungry tiger of Japan, so as to preserve their colonies in Asia. In May, Britain and Japan signed an agreement on China's tariffs. In July, British Prime Minister Chamberlain publicly announced in the British Parliament that he would no longer lend money to China. Throughout 1938, there was no substantial assistance from the United States. As General Chennault of the United States who served in China said: "When the Soviet Union helped China, the United States was selling a large amount of scrap iron and gasoline for aircraft to Japan. , invisibly assisting Japan in the continuous bombing of China.” Gu Weijun also said that among the members of the League of Nations at that time, only the Soviet Union gave real and substantial help to China in the war of resistance. On July 5, 1938, the Far East Department of the U.S. State Department released a statistic. After the start of the Anti-Japanese War, among the weapons imported into China by various countries, Germany ranked first in terms of variety and quantity, while the Soviet Union ranked second.These are ironic statistics, when China was at war with Japan, but had to buy weapons and equipment from its fascist ally, Nazi Germany.But war is a litmus test in which friends, sympathizers, and potential enemies all emerge.Under the continuous pressure from the Japanese, Hitler quickly adjusted his policy. After Germany had been tossed between China and Japan for a long time, he decided to openly stand by Japan. In February 1938, Hitler recognized "Manchukuo" and announced in April that he would stop selling military equipment to China. On May 23, German ambassador to China Tautman told Reuters reporters that the German government decided to recall the A total of 40 German consultants. German military advisers left, and Soviet advisers filled their roles. Cuikov, who later became a famous Soviet general in World War II, and others all served as military advisers to Chiang Kai-shek.The airplanes and various weapons purchased from the Soviet Union and transported through the Northwest are especially needed by the helpless China.On May 11 of this year, General Yang Jie became the Chinese ambassador to the former Soviet Union.He is a military strategist and is familiar with the business of military procurement.As early as 1934, he led a Chinese military delegation to visit the Soviet Union. In November 1937, as a representative of the Chinese government, he signed a contract for financial loans and arms assistance with the Soviet Union in Moscow.After the contract was signed, the Soviet Union continuously transported planes, artillery and various military supplies into China via Xinjiang.By 1939, the Soviet Union provided a total of 250 million US dollars in loans to help China in the war of resistance, and China's war of resistance also contained the Japanese army that had been eyeing the Soviet Far East. After Tianjia Town fell, the Chinese government decided to evacuate from Wuhan.It's just that the slowness of the Japanese attack was beyond China's expectations, and the Chinese government decided to postpone the retreat several times. Chen Cheng, the commander of the Ninth War Zone, recalled: "The timing of Wuhan's evacuation was initially decided at the end of August, and later changed to September 18, and then changed to the end of September and the Double Tenth Festival. Until October 20, the leader was still in Wuhan." In mid-October. The final retreat began.At that time, the city was almost empty, and the people of Wuhan had been gradually moving to the mainland since June.The government agencies in Hankou were also relocated successively, the civil affairs agencies were moved to Chongqing, and the military agencies were moved to Changsha and Hengyang.When they finally withdrew, the heavy industry and military factories in Wuhan were systematically destroyed.Only one brigade (the 545th Brigade of the 185th Division) was left in Wuhan to make a symbolic resistance. The biggest surprise during the retreat was that Guangzhou in southern China fell 4 days before Wuhan.After the Battle of Wuhan began, the Japanese army made slow progress, thinking that the continuous blood transfusion to Wuhan by the Guangdong-Han Railway was the key. In September, the Japanese base camp decided to capture Guangzhou.However, the Chinese High Command and the local government of Guangdong have never believed that Japan would easily offend the British face and attack Guangzhou, which is adjacent to Hong Kong. What's more, the invasion of Guangzhou would be suspected of dividing the army strategically. The north was transferred to participate in the battle of Wuhan. On the afternoon of October 9, the Japanese Navy's Fifth Fleet escorted a huge fleet carrying infantry quietly to Daya Bay, Guangdong. In the early morning of the 12th, the Japanese 21st Army landed in Daya Bay, under the command of Guzhuang Qianlang.The Japanese met little resistance as they massed near the beach. On the afternoon of October 21, the Japanese light tank troops broke into the city of Guangzhou. On October 24, the eve of the fall of Wuhan, Chiang Kai-shek had not left.He told left and right that if he stayed in Wuhan for one day, Wuhan could stay there for one more day.Seeing that the encirclement by the Japanese army was about to succeed, the people on the left and right invited Soong Meiling to advise him.In the evening, Chiang Kai-shek finally agreed, and at 8:30, Chiang Kai-shek and his wife left Wuhan.In the darkness of night, the plane flew south.That night, Zhou En came to the "Xinhua Daily" office in Hankou and dictated an editorial.He said, we are only leaving Wuhan temporarily, and we must come back. In the early morning of the 25th, he and Ye Jianying left Wuhan after arranging the withdrawal of the last group of people from the newspaper office. On the night of October 25, the Sixth Division of the Japanese Army entered Hankou on the north bank of the Yangtze River. On the morning of the 26th, the Hata Brigade entered Wuchang on the south bank of the Yangtze River.In the flames, the great Jiangcheng fell. On November 4, Jiang Baili, acting president of Army University, passed away.He and Ningji Okamura were alumni of the Japanese Non-commissioned Officer Academy and were the most prestigious military theorists in China at that time.He had a rough life, although he did not have a showdown with Ningji Okamura on the battlefield, but the arrival of the Anti-Japanese War was the most important time in his life. "When the flowers are in full bloom, maybe they are about to wither." When the people of the country needed him, he left quietly.He did not see the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, but the victory was already in his expectation.He warned the Japanese: "The purpose of war is to submit to the enemy's will. It is possible to submit to the will of a general so that he gives up resistance; it is also possible to submit to the will of a government to make it change its policy; but it is possible to submit to the will of a nation to survive." , the will to seek freedom, which is impossible in ancient and modern China and abroad." He left a sentence similar to the adage for the people of the country: "I have a thousand words for the militaristic Japan that has become obsessed with ghosts, but just don't make peace with it." Wang Jingwei, vice president of the Kuomintang, believed that the War of Resistance Against Japan should be over. In public places such as the National Political Council, he was still personable and eloquent, telling people why the war should be fought to the end, but in private, he had publicly advised Chiang Kai-shek: Continue the war There is no point in continuing. Foreign aid is far from quenching thirst. It is better to compromise with the Japanese, which can prevent the Communist Party from growing stronger. At the end of 1938, the National Political Council held its second meeting in Chongqing. Zhang Yilin, the oldest political member, proposed "In order to end the war of resistance, it should be decided by the meeting, and the government should be issued an explicit order to prevent the people's hearts from being rebellious." As far back as 3000 Tan Kah Kee, a political senator in Singapore city inside and outside, did not attend the meeting for some reason. He sent a proposal by telegram that "officials who talk about peace should be punished as traitors".Chairman Wang Jingwei suddenly turned pale when he read out the proposal.In the end, the proposal was passed and named "No peace until the Japanese aggressors withdraw from our territory".A few months after the fall of Wuhan, the vice president of the Kuomintang, who was pessimistic about the war against the war, suddenly left Chongqing, via Yunnan, and arrived in Hanoi. Not long after, he appeared in Shanghai, drinking with Japanese officials, willing to be the leader of the traitors.The betrayal of a big man will inevitably cause uneasiness among the people, but as one official commented, his behavior is only harmful to himself, and has little damage to the image of the government, but has nothing to do with the War of Resistance. This year, Mao Zedong's "On Protracted War" was published and raised guerrilla warfare to a strategic position for the first time.The day when the Japanese invading army was advancing triumphantly was also the day when its feet were in deep water, and it was doomed to be defeated. The Japanese military did not feel the thrill of victory, and the Japanese generals had no choice but to speak out, preparing to fight the "Hundred Years' War." The Japanese obtained Wuhan as they wished, but just as China wished, Japan fell into a deep quagmire from which it could not extricate itself.The Japanese aggressors wanted to maintain a supply line of thousands of kilometers from Tokyo to Wuhan, and their limited national defense and economic resources were constantly being consumed. This made them covet natural resources such as rubber and oil in Southeast Asia. , the United States, Britain, France increasingly tense relations.Occupying Wuhan, what it gets is not the collapse of China, but the noose of Imperial Japan. At the end of 1937, the people's armed forces that insisted on resisting Japan in the Northeast were reorganized into the Northeast Anti-Japanese Coalition Army, with a total of 11 armies.The various armies attacked actively, relying on the original mountain guerrilla area, carried out expeditions and expanded the scope of activities.At the beginning of the National Anti-Japanese War, in order to concentrate forces for joint operations, the coalition forces formed three route army headquarters. The total strength of the three route armies was more than 50,000. , "Eastern Manchuria" and "Northern Manchuria" operations.Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, the Northeast Anti-Japanese Allied Forces persisted in fighting in a treacherous environment, and pinned down a large number of Japanese troops between bloody mountains and black waters.