Chapter 14 Section 2 North China Falls

Changsha Temporary University and several research institutes of the Academia Sinica settled down in the Bible College one after another. A large number of government personnel, intellectuals, workers, businessmen, refugees, beggars, hooligans, proletarians, etc. in the occupied areas flooded to Changsha Coming, the whole city is already overcrowded and chaotic.And every influx of refugees marks the continuous retreat of the national army on the frontline battlefield and the loss of large areas of land. On September 20, 1937, Baoding, an important town in North China, fell! On October 10, the city of Shijiazhuang was broken, and the Japanese army began to advance rapidly along the Yellow River. The entire northern China fell into an unprecedented crisis! On the night of October 11, Fu Sinian in Nanjing wrote a Confidential [secret] letter to Hu Shih in the United States, disclosing the domestic political and military situation as follows:

1. The awareness of the domestic war of resistance has not diminished, and the common people are suffering without complaint.The former enemy soldiers in Shanghai couldn't be better.This time the most admirable ones are the soldiers of the revolutionary army, and the most boring ones are the Nanjing bureaucrats.The prince (southern press: referring to Sun Ke) said that he rejected morality and wanted to win the trust of the Soviet Union, so he gave a big lesson to General (southern press: referring to Chiang Kai-shek), and they also silenced it afterwards.Wang Luyi was dismissed for playing with women in dugout.Director Wu from the outside was also dismissed by fleeing, which is not satisfactory.

2. The efforts of Guangdong and Guangxi to send troops to help the war can be counted as 100%.The Guangxi army marched north in large numbers, and the whole province was mobilized. The Guangdong army was killed and injured tens of thousands in Shanghai. It seems that the "personnel problems" over the years have been wiped out.Both Yan and Han are good, as ideal, Yan You is courageous (south note: referring to Yan Xishan, chairman of Shanxi Province, who was also the commander of the second war zone at the time), and Han Zhi has also risen recently (southern note: referring to Han Fuju, chairman of Shandong Province, at that time He also served as the commander-in-chief of the Third Army in the Fifth Theater).It's just that those miscellaneous armies such as the Northeast Army and the 29th Army are too difficult to fight.

3. In Shanghai, the battle line today is roughly the same as when the husband left.There was a danger around the 17th and 18th of last month, but General himself went out to save the day and took a section.In the section of North Sichuan Road, Beizhan and Jiangwan are still in our hands, and Pudong is only a cannon contest, and the enemy failed to land.In this front line, we resisted the planes and artillery with our flesh and blood. Needless to say, there were so many casualties, the numbers were frightening to death.But the bravery that has never been seen in the ages is fully expressed.This is the great success of the anti-Japanese training. 4. ... 5. Jinpu Road is completely sloppy.The 29th Army ran away when they heard the sound, lost the tranquil sea without fighting, lost the horse farm when they heard the steamboat, and the enemy drove straight in with thousands of people. Our 17th Division didn't know where it was, and Feng's command didn't move.Fortunately, a large number of Guangxi troops had arrived, and Han also stepped forward (there were many rumors in the past, but the day before yesterday, the Japanese understood that Han ordered the civil servants in the province to resist to the death, and Han also stepped forward with elite soldiers).At present, this road will be commanded by Li Zongren and Han to guard the north bank of the Yellow River. Li will probably be able to reach the front in three or four days.Renyun Li and Han have a good friendship.This line is now fought on the plains.

6. Pinghan Road is also in a mess.Liu Zhi has been dismissed from his post to investigate and deal with it, and Feng's commander is currently downgraded.This line is now in Shijiazhuang. 7. The situation in Jinsui and Sui was worse than that of Liu Ruming's 29th Army.Liu Naiyi was a quasi-traitor, and at first refused Tang Enbo to enter the inspection. Later, Tang guarded the south entrance, and he retreated in the rear, causing the Central Army to suffer greatly.Before Liu retired, Fu Zuoyi came to help, but when he arrived at Zhangyuan, red flags were all over the ground, all of which were signals of traitors.Fu Nai retreated and turned to Liu Jun to disarm.Liu Jun handed over the weapons of Fu and Tang's armies along the road, and fell to Shanxi.Li Fuying couldn't do it again, so Datong didn't keep it.But later, Lao Yan worked hard and won several big victories.The Japanese pirates were about 180,000 invaders, including the Manchurian and Mongolian puppet troops. They attacked all the entrances along the Great Wall.However, the Eighth Division of the Central Army had already caught up within a few days, Lao Yan was working hard, and the Eighth Route Army (Communist Party) was behind guerrilla warfare.About Shanxi can support it for a while.It's a pity that the two thieves Liu and Li, otherwise Yanshan is a natural danger, how easy it is?

Ren Yun Fu Sinian is one of the few talents who understand military affairs among the literati and scholars. This statement is generally not bad, as can be seen from his understanding and analysis of the complicated military situation in the country and the mentality of the soldiers of various armies. On August 1, 1937, Chiang Kai-shek ordered Fu Zuoyi, the chairman of Suiyuan, to be the commander-in-chief of the Seventh Army in the Second Theater under the jurisdiction of Yan Xishan, and Tang Enbo was the commander-in-chief of the former enemy, and sent reinforcements to Zhangjiakou from Suiyuan and Shanxi.At the same time, the Military Commission set up a Baoding camp, appointed Xu Yongchang as the director, and Lin Wei as the chief of staff to supervise the war in Hebei Province. On August 6, Chiang Kai-shek agreed to expand the 29th Army into the First Army, and appointed Song Zheyuan as the commander-in-chief of the First Army; Liu Zhi as the commander-in-chief of the Second Army, who were respectively responsible for commanding the northern section of Jinpu Road and Pinghan Railway to fight against the enemy.Liu Ruming, the "quasi-traitor" mentioned by Fu Sinian in his letter, was assigned to serve under Yan Xishan, commander of the Second War Zone, as the deputy commander-in-chief of the Seventh Army (Fu Zuoyi was the commander-in-chief) and commander of the 143rd Division. The Chairman of Harbin Province directly commanded two divisions and one security brigade to fight against the enemy (the other troops of the First Group Army stopped the enemy in the Hejian and Daming areas). Because Liu Ruming's warlord had a serious mentality of separatism, he wanted to preserve his strength, and Yan Xishan , Fu Zuoyi, Tang Enbo and other generals did not cooperate harmoniously, which led to the chaos of the front-line war in Suicha and Shanxi, and eventually led to the successive fall of strategic areas such as Zhangjiakou and Nankou.

As far as the situation in North China is concerned, according to the deployment of the Kuomintang Military Committee, first defend the south entrance to stabilize the war situation, and then immediately launch an attack on Zhangbei and Shangdu, especially focusing on the competition for Zhangbei.However, Liu Ruming delayed the counterattack of the traitors in Zhangbei by a day, and when he entered the border of Zhangbei, he mistakenly believed the puppet army leader Li Shouxin's request and asked him to delay his troops for a day. .Just when Liu Ruming was hesitating, the Japanese army dispatched troops to defend Zhangbei one after another. With Li Shouxin as the vanguard, they counterattacked Liubu.

Tianzhen and Yanggao, which are under the jurisdiction of Shanxi Province, are west of Zhangjiakou and east of Datong. It is not only the gateway of Shanxi, but also shields the southeast of Suiyuan.And its southwest is Chaigoubao, from this area to Datong, guarded by Li Fuying, commander of the 61st Army of the Jin Army.When Nankou was in danger, Yan Xishan, the general leader of the Jin army, received an urgent telegram and ordered Li Fuying to lead his troops from Chaigoubao to help Nankou. Back away from Tianzhen and Yanggao. The Japanese army occupied the two towns of Nankou and Zhangjiakou and the traffic throat, and the whole province of Chahar was quickly controlled by them.Therefore, the Japanese army again used Zhangjiakou as a base to attack Tianzhen and Yanggao, the military fortresses between Datong and Zhangjiakou, and knocked on the gate of Shanxi in order to obtain Datong.At this critical juncture concerning the survival of the nation, Li Fuying still resisted passively, resulting in the fall of Tianzhen on September 8.The next day, Fengzhen was in an emergency, and Gushan and Xinghe were in crisis one after another.At the same time, the other Japanese army used seven tanks to rush into Yanggao, where Li Fuying's headquarters is located. Li led his staff to flee, and Yanggao fell. On the 13th, Datong fell into the hands of the enemy. The gate of Jin Province was opened.At that time, Liu Ruming's troops were stationed in Yanggao, Yuxian, Guangling, Lingqiu, Laiyuan and other areas that were the only link between Pinghan and Pingsui roads.Although Lin Biao's 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army under the command of the CCP dealt severe blows to the Japanese at Pingxingguan, it still failed to stop the enemy from going south. Yanmen, known as the "natural danger", abandoned its defense on September 27.At this time, only the Soviet Union was the only major power that could support China with bullets, and there were two routes from the Soviet Union to China: one was through Outer Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, and Shanxi Datong to the interior; the other was through Xinjiang, Gansu, and Shaanxi, connecting Gansu sea ​​route.If Datong and Yanmen Pass were to fall, Taiyuan would be difficult to protect, and the Sino-Soviet firearms transportation line would be cut off. This would undoubtedly be a fatal blow to the ongoing war in Shanghai and even the continuous war of resistance in China.In this regard, Chiang Kai-shek was extremely shocked when he heard the news, and his grief and indignation can be seen from Jiang's diary on the 14th: "Yan's crime is worse than Song's (lost) Pingjin, and he has no courage. It is extremely painful for the dream to fall short. It is even more difficult for the transportation of goods to Soviet Russia."

In order to ensure that the above-mentioned passages were not cut off, Chiang Kai-shek planned to strengthen the war in Shanghai to attract the main force of the Japanese army and keep the Sino-Russian transportation line. Yan Xishan, who was squatting in his old lair in Shanxi, also knew that the fall of Datong and Yanmen Pass had a huge impact on the Three Jin Dynasty and China's overall war of resistance. In a rage, he ordered Li Fuying, the defeated general, to be escorted to Taiyuan. military discipline. On the evening of October 3, Li Fuying was shot in Taiyuan.Not long after, Chiang Kai-shek ordered Liu Ruming to be dismissed and investigated.

Yanmenguan fell, and the Japanese army immediately broke through the Great Wall defense line set up by the Yan Xishan Department of the Jin Army in northern Shanxi, and approached the Xinzhou Fortress in the north of Taiyuan.In order to restore the situation, Yan Xishan ordered the Jin army stationed in Xinkou to guard against death.As a result, the two sides launched a bloody battle, and the positions changed hands repeatedly, and the competition lasted for more than 20 days.The Japanese army consumed more than 20,000 troops, and the Jin army suffered heavy casualties. Generals such as Hao Mengling, commander of the Ninth Army, and Liu Jiaqi, commander of the 54th Division, were killed.During the battle, the Japanese army continued to increase its troops, and accompanied by fierce artillery fire, the Jin army was finally exhausted and retreated to Taiyuan.Since then, the entire northern Shanxi has fallen into the hands of the enemy, and the famous scenic spot Wutai Mountain and other temples and temples have been destroyed by artillery fire.

On October 13, Shijiazhuang fell completely, and the First Army Corps of the Japanese Army advanced along the Zhengtai Railway to the land of Sanjin.Chiang Kai-shek immediately dispatched two armies from the first theater, under the command of Huang Shaohong, the deputy commander of the second theater, and rushed to Niangziguan to reinforce the Jin army. On October 29, the Nanjing National Defense Supreme Conference formally decided that the national government would move its capital to Chongqing, and made an announcement to the public, demonstrating to the world the firm belief of the Chinese government and the military and civilians in their long-term resistance and never surrendering to the Japanese pirates. On November 5, Anyang, Henan fell.The iron hooves of the Japanese army stepped into this historical ancient city, and the Japanese "scholars" who came with the army rushed to the ruins of Yin Ruins in Xiaotun, and began to steal and loot underground cultural relics with open flames. Cultural relics were robbed by the Japanese army. On November 8, Yan Xishan abandoned Taiyuan, and the three Jin tribes fell into the enemy's hands. On November 11, the Kuomintang army on the Songhu battlefield had been struggling for three months.In this battle, China and Japan invested a total of about 1.03 million troops. Japan mobilized 280,000 marines and elite army troops, armed with 4 aircraft carriers, 34 large warships, more than 400 aircraft and nearly 400 tanks. About 750,000 Chinese troops fought an unprecedentedly tragic large-scale battle.Both China and Japan suffered heavy casualties, with 100,000 casualties on the Japanese side and about 300,000 on the Chinese side.The scale and number of casualties of this battle was one of the largest battles in the entire World War II. Neither the Normandy landing, which was later famous in Europe, nor the bloody battle of Iwo Jima in the Pacific battlefield could match it.Due to the huge disparity in equipment and the quality of soldiers, the Chinese army was forced to withdraw from the south bank of the Suzhou River after suffering heavy casualties after three months of fighting. On November 12, Shanghai, the largest seaport city in the Far East, fell, and the Japanese army turned to lay siege to Nanjing, the capital of the Nationalist Government. The Chinese nation reached its most critical moment. At such a critical juncture, the peace advocates in the Kuomintang emerged again, advocating peace.Ju Zheng, the President of the Judicial Yuan who was firmly opposed to the peace talks and advocated the arrest of the peace advocate Hu Shi, now sees that North China and Shanghai have fallen, and instead advocates seeking peace from the Japanese side, and publicly declared: "If no one dares to Sign it, and he is willing to do it!" On November 21, after Chiang Kai-shek had finished handling the Nanjing War and Defense, he faced Ju Zheng and a group of weak politicians who were strong outsiders and middle-ranked, and they were ruthless politicians. "The literati are old, and they all advocate peace negotiations because of military defeats, and some high-ranking generals are also discouraged and hope for peace. Woohoo! If this generation has no revolutionary spirit, I don't know why they advocated the war of resistance in the past." On the morning of December 7, Chiang Kai-shek and his wife Song Meiling went to visit the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum. Because of the grief, he fainted on the spot and the crowd was horrified.After a short rest, Jiang and his wife hurried back to their apartment, and then flew from Nanjing to Jiangxi to continue planning the war.