Chapter 42 I don't know how to let the old club

The person who kicked Dong Hailin away was full of anger. The 2nd Division was furious.They are the only old standing divisions in the 16th Army. They fought with Ma Zhanshan and other anti-Japanese armed forces in the northeast during the September 18th Incident. At that time, the 38th and 48th divisions were still in the womb.Besides, who is Dong Hailin? He was the scum that we kicked out at the beginning, and now he has become a hero. Isn't this a curse that we are blind and ignorant? Dong Hailin himself doesn't know how to be a human being, and it's fine if he doesn't know how to let his old club go, but the commander of the army didn't say a word, which made the 2nd Division extremely angry.They asked Imamura to issue an order to prohibit Dong Hailin's detachment from entering Bandung.

For Imamura, it doesn't matter which army enters Bandung, and it's not worth offending Niu Honghong's teacher group for this, so he immediately approved it. On March 10, 1942, the later 2nd Division replaced the Donghailin Detachment that arrived earlier, and with Imamura swaggered into Bandung City, accepting the surrender of 60,000 Allied troops. The East India Campaign came to an end, and its direct consequence was to make the Allied Forces more passive on the Pacific battlefield, and at the same time make the U.S. and Philippine forces on the Bataan Peninsula worse. Roosevelt repeatedly assured Philippine President Quezon that aid was on the way, but under the strict blockade of the Japanese army, these guarantees could not be fulfilled at all. All the United States could do was to arrange for Quezon and the dignitaries to evacuate first.

Quezon and MacArthur had a deep personal friendship. The Quezon couple were also the godparents of MacArthur's children.When parting, Quezon took off the ring with his own seal and put it on Maishuai's finger: "If you die in battle, when they find your body, I want all Filipinos to know that you are Died for our country." MacArthur was ready to die on the battlefield, but shortly after Quezon left, he received a telegram jointly signed by Roosevelt, Marshall and the U.S. Secretary of the Army, ordering him to go to Australia to command the Allied operations in the Southwest Pacific .

On the Pacific battlefield, MacArthur has become the banner and superhero of the United States and even the allies to resist the Japanese army. From a political point of view, whether he is dead or alive, he cannot fall into the hands of the Japanese, otherwise it will be an extremely heavy burden to the allies. Moreover, the Philippines, as a secondary battlefield that will be lost sooner or later, has no need to stick to it. Its commanders should get out of danger as soon as possible, and should not die with them. In Roosevelt's words, "The United States does not need a single soldier to die in the Philippines." Admiral".

At the same time, due to Wavell's lack of command skills, the United States, Britain, Holland and Australia's Allied Command was about to be disbanded. Roosevelt and Marshall agreed that only MacArthur could shoulder the heavy responsibility of commanding the Allied Forces again. After receiving the telegram, Mai Shuai's first reaction was to refuse to obey.He even told Marshall that if he "pushed people too far," he would resign from his current position and go to Bataan as an American volunteer to participate in the defense. MacArthur was unwilling to leave the Philippines for various reasons that belonged to him personally.After Quezon withdrew from Corregidor Island, MacArthur became the only decision-maker on the island, which means that all responsibilities must be shouldered by him, and he cannot just leave.

Of course, the most important factor is that MacArthur hopes that he can personally defeat Honma in the Philippines.In his opinion, even an army that has been defeated many times can still win at the last moment, not to mention that the U.S.-Philippine army has already defeated the Japanese army, and such an opportunity will definitely come again. The situation seems to be showing signs and symptoms of a turning point.At that time, it was rumored that after the setback in Bataan, Honma praised the U.S. military greatly, then ran to the Manila Hotel, and got into the room where MacArthur had lived-not to stay, but to commit suicide in shame and anger.

There were many such rumors during World War II. For example, in the Chinese battlefield, if the Japanese army suffered a slight defeat, it would be said that this or that commander had undergone caesarean section.In fact, laparotomy is one of the performance arts of the Japanese, but if it does not go to the bottom of the mountain, generally no one is willing to do such a difficult movement, after all, this is not a play. So someone suggested to MacArthur to take the initiative to launch a counterattack.Mai Shuai didn't think that the time to counterattack had really come. He knew very well that without air supremacy, even if he barely organized an offensive, it would be difficult to last. You can take the opportunity to seize the Japanese army's supply base, and you don't have to worry about it in the future.

He wants to stay and fight for victory with the soldiers. However, MacArthur's staff did not see it that way.The staff think that Mai Shuai should go to Australia: The reason why the U.S. and Philippine troops are in a dilemma is not because the military aid channel is blocked. After you go to Australia, you can gather all the soldiers, weapons and transportation tools, and then open the channel. Isn't it much stronger and more sure to take a shot to rescue the Philippines than a counterattack with no guns or bullets? MacArthur was persuaded. He deliberately postponed his departure for three weeks.During these three weeks, on the one hand, he made a contingency plan to avoid the sudden collapse of the Bataan defense line due to his departure. On the other hand, he carefully selected personnel and built a team for the counterattack in advance. A total of 18 people went to Australia with him The generals later became the mainstay of commanding the counteroffensive.

Finally, it was time to say goodbye. On March 10, 1942, the day the Japanese army occupied Bandung, MacArthur sent someone to invite Wainwright to Corregidor Island.Wainwright was named the supreme commander of the remaining Philippines, and MacArthur told him: "Now I am leaving, but I will come back as soon as possible." For Wainwright and every soldier who stayed to fight, MacArthur was full of guilt and reluctance.When parting, he held Wainwright's hand tightly: "Hold here until I come back to replace you!" When he said this, Mai Shuai didn't know that he would not be able to fulfill his promise again—he would come back, but it was too late.

The next day, Washington telegraphed MacArthur that the Japanese had information that he was about to leave, and that he could not delay any longer and must leave immediately.