Chapter 16 What kind of medicine is sold in the gourd

On December 24, 1941, the day before Christmas, there was no celebration in Manila, only sadness and ominousness.MacArthur ordered the Southern Luzon Army to retreat to Bataan first, and the headquarters moved to Corregidor Island. The place that the eyes can see is called the line of sight, and the place that cannot be seen is called the field of vision. His rich experience has enabled MacArthur to have both. That is to say, while he has strong commanding capabilities in battle, he can also look at it from a strategic perspective. military question. The defense of the Philippines once caused headaches for the Americans. This place is surrounded by sea and there is almost no danger to defend.Roosevelt, the uncle of the current President Roosevelt, once said bluntly: "The Philippines is the heel of the United States." He lamented that although its position is important, it is extremely fragile.

Some people even said that it was a huge mistake for the United States to seize the Philippines from Spain, because no matter how many troops it stationed in the Philippines, it could not stop the enemy's attack. MacArthur had a unique vision and found a key to defending the Philippines, that is, Manila Bay, and the key to controlling Manila Bay is to occupy the Bataan Peninsula and Corregidor Island to the south. During his garrison in the Philippines, MacArthur surveyed most of Bataan. As long as he had time, he would walk or ride a horse, conduct inspections in the jungle-covered mountains, and draw up defense maps one by one.He is very familiar with the local terrain. Not to mention that the Bataan Peninsula is easy to defend and difficult to attack, even Corregidor Island, known as the "Cave", is difficult to attack from the outside.

In order to carry out the great migration, MacArthur requisitioned all the ships and sampans in Manila to move the strategic materials that could be taken away.Those who could not be taken away were destroyed as much as possible to avoid being used by the Japanese army. The last few million gallons of fuel were burned, and the black smoke from the burning enveloped the entire sky over Manila. On December 26, 1941, MacArthur issued a proclamation declaring Manila an undefended city in order to avoid unnecessary massacres in the city.It cannot but be said that this is a wise move in line with Western war ethics and humanitarianism.

Different from the bleak scene in Manila, the Bataan Peninsula, which will be used as a base, is showing signs of prosperity.MacArthur built a supply station in the forest, improved the road network and docks, and a series of supporting facilities such as military hospitals, flour mills, slaughterhouses, salt pans, and fishing grounds. According to statistics, the materials moved to Bataan can last at least six months.However, if the U.S. and Philippine troops cannot quickly gather on the Bataan Peninsula before being attacked by the Japanese army, such preparations will become meaningless.

The key is the Calombit Bridge.The marching route of the Southern Luzon Army during the retreat was not a straight line from east to west. They had to travel another six kilometers to the north and pass the Calombit Bridge before entering Bataan along the highway. MacArthur ordered the Southern Luzon Army to go first to cover the Northern Luzon Army. In other words, before the Southern Luzon Army reached Bataan, the Northern Luzon Army must not allow the enemy to approach the Calombit Bridge, otherwise the Bataan defensive battle Without a fight, the U.S. and Philippine forces will lose half of their defense capabilities.

At this moment, Mai Shuai is facing an extremely severe test: the northern team has to cover the southern team, but a very likely ending is that the northern team not only cannot cover the opponent, but also puts itself in it. This is not to lose half of its strength The problem is that the entire defense plan of Bataan will collapse. He is not a gambler like Yamamoto, but now he and his subordinates must have the courage to gamble their lives! Northern Luzon commander Wainwright was ordered to pull up five lines of defense on the central plain.These five lines of defense were all set by MacArthur before the war. They made use of the natural terrain suitable for defense as much as possible. This facilitates layer-by-layer defense.

Save where you should save, and be generous when you should be generous.MacArthur changed his previous "stinginess" that no soldier was willing to reinforce, and sent the only temporary chariot brigade composed of light tanks to the side of the fifth line of defense, just in case. While pulling up the defense line in the north, he had to help the Southern Luzon Army move faster. Seeing that the U.S. military's transport vehicles were insufficient, MacArthur quickly turned his brains to the local commercial bus companies and organized them into several temporary car transport brigades.These buses were mixed with military trucks, and they transported the personnel and supplies of the Southern Luzon Army to Bataan day and night.

No matter how MacArthur tried his best, he could only toss on the ground after all. The air supremacy of the Philippines belongs to the Japanese.If Honma mobilized the air force to carry out the bombing, even if Mai Shuai turned himself into Avalokitesvara, he could only watch helplessly as his Southern Luzon Army was blown to pieces. Of course, for MacArthur, the most terrifying thing was that Honma used air superiority to destroy the Calombit Bridge. Only two bombs were dropped, and all the roads for retreating troops would be cut off. But Honma didn't do this, not because he had an irresistible friendship with MacArthur, but because he didn't know how to react after the other party's sudden change of formation.

Honma went through a roller coaster-like mental process.In the early stage of launching the landing battle at Lingayin Bay, due to the interruption of communication, he had no idea of ​​the specific situation on the frontier battlefield. Seeing that the weather conditions on the seaside were so embarrassing, he thought that the Japanese army would definitely suffer a lot in the sea, or in the sea. Treat people as "human snacks" on the beach. Ben Jian was full of bitterness at the time, thinking that he was a cripple, why did he have to travel so far to seek guilt?As a result, people were beaten to death as soon as they came up. In this state, even if they climbed ashore and entered the central plain, wouldn't they still be defeated?

He didn't expect that the landing battle at Lingayin Bay was successful, let alone that the landing at Ramon Bay was easier than that at Lingayin Bay.He is really eating radish and worrying about it. Honma was very satisfied, especially the 16th Division made him full of praise.The 16th Division is a veteran standing division that has been established for a long time. It once participated in the Songhu Battle in China, but its record is very average and it is regarded as a second-class corps. Although this division did not fight well, it has long been notorious.It was one of the culprits of the Nanjing Massacre, and its military discipline was very bad. Even the Japanese army internally complained about it, so it was quickly sent back to Japan.

However, the 16th Division has picked it up this time.As for the notoriety, Benma didn't care, he was a bad wolf himself, and since he was a bad wolf, he wouldn't have any compassion. He only asked the 16th Division to help him kill more people, and he didn't care about the rest. Since he set foot on the land of the Philippines, Honma, who used to have a dead face, changed his expression, and a smug smile almost occupied his entire face. Honma's every move was done according to the plan of the Japanese army base camp.The Army Staff Headquarters believes that the decisive battle in the Philippines will be fought in Manila, and MacArthur will definitely mobilize all troops to defend the city. Even people who don't know how to fight can already see that the two forces in Honma have an absolute advantage. If there is a fight, the Japanese army will undoubtedly win. How could he be unhappy? But the Americans did not follow this routine. MacArthur declared Manila an undefended city.Benma was confused. He didn't know what kind of medicine was sold in MacArthur's gourd. Look through the plan again, trying to find the answer from the plan.Reluctantly, the base camp did not expect that the U.S. and Philippine troops would retreat to Bataan. There was no such item in the plan, and turning it over would be nothing.