Chapter 16 Chiang Kai-shek has both ways and is determined to fight against the Communist Party

On this day, Germany, Italy, and Japan signed a military agreement in Berlin. The main contents are: (1) Japan recognizes and respects Germany's leading position in establishing a new European order. (2) Germany and Italy recognize and respect Japan's leadership in the establishment of the "Greater East Asian New Order". (3) If one of the signatories is attacked by a country that has not yet participated in the dispute between China and Japan, they will assist each other in various ways politically, economically and militarily. (4) The three countries immediately organize a joint technical committee, with members appointed by the governments of Germany, Italy, and Japan. (5) The existing political status between any one of the three signatories and the Soviet Union shall not be affected in any way.The agreement is valid for 10 years.

Experts who study the history of World War II believe that with this agreement as a symbol, the Allied Powers group with Germany, Japan, and Italy as the axis was formally formed. For the world, this is not good news by any means.But when the news reached Chiang Kai-shek's ears, he felt relieved all of a sudden, and this was the day he had to wait for.Thinking about the fact that China has lost almost all international aid in the past nine years, and in the midst of international ambiguity, China has fought against Japan alone and waited for changes. The tamping, but the sense of steadfastness in my heart is more solid.

Two days later, Chiang Kai-shek also specially called the senior Kuomintang generals to analyze the situation after the formation of the Three Kingdoms Axis for them, declaring that this incident was "absolutely beneficial to our war of resistance. Since then, it is a very natural trend for Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union to cooperate. , while our country has a clear distinction between friends and foes, it is easy to deal with, and it is easier to receive the effect of more help." He also hoped that the soldiers of the army "will improve their fighting spirit, train day and night, work together,...to achieve the success of the revolution together."

Under the general situation of the formation of the Axis group, how did Chiang Kai-shek have both sides? Let's look at Japan first.At this time, Japan's China policy was clearly out of step.Since the September 18th Incident, Japan has been fighting a war of aggression against China for nine years. The argument of "rapid collapse of China" has long since become a dream. The Japanese military, which has always been mediocre in strategy, has never come up with a clear and effective countermeasure As for China's combat strategy, due to the mutual restraint between the military and the government, Japan's China policy has always left the national government in doubt.In the last three months of 1940, on the one hand, Japan adjusted its policy towards the Nationalist government to mainly political inducement to surrender, supplemented by military strikes, and it also used "Tong Gong" and other secret methods to induce Chiang Kai-shek to surrender; On the one hand, on November 30, the Japanese government publicly recognized the regime of Wang Jingwei in Nanjing, and announced the "Japanese-Manchurian-Chinese Joint Declaration" signed by Wang and Japanese Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Wang government Nobuyuki Abe.Although the Wang regime team has only been set up for seven months, it has appeared in an "orthodox" face, and its government chairman is also Lin Sen, the chairman of the Chongqing National Government in name.What does this event mean?It means that the Japanese government is no longer prepared to negotiate "peace" with Chiang Kai-shek.If Chiang still descended to the sun, he would become a second-class regime under the Wang regime.Of course Chiang Kai-shek could not accept this result.In this way, Japan's policy toward Chiang Kai-shek was actually self-contradictory, and its objective effect could only be to push Chiang to the side of Britain and the United States.

Let's look at America again.From the bottom of his heart, Chiang Kai-shek is the "German faction" in military affairs and the "American faction" in economics.He has never doubted the comprehensive national strength of the United States, and he also understands that the war is actually fought with steel and banknotes. Therefore, as the War of Resistance Against Japan progressed, he realized more and more clearly which side the United States would ultimately stand on. Which side may be the ultimate winner.But the United States has its own historical inertia and thinking logic.People on this independent continent have a tradition of isolationism. Even when it has become the world's most powerful country, its political leaders want to do more on the international stage and eventually become leaders. With regard to this historical inertia—the thinking of most Americans is simple and common sense—why should we bother with other people's business?But Roosevelt was definitely not a president who followed others and compromised with lazy historical inertia. He saw the real ambition and threat of fascism, and he also longed for the United States to become the world leader.Therefore, although the United States had not yet joined the war, Roosevelt used his kind and clear "fireside chat" to persuade the Americans to pass the Lend-Lease Act and to implement an economic blockade against Germany, Japan, and Italy. On September 27, Roosevelt announced that the United States would ban the export of all scrap iron and steel to countries outside the Western Hemisphere from October 16 this year, with the exception of the United Kingdom, and Japan was also within the scope of the embargo.It is difficult to imagine this decision as a purely isolated incident.Chiang Kai-shek saw very clearly that what is lacking now is an emergency to push the high-quality and expensive modern machine of the United States into the war.The Triple Entente obviously gave the United States a big push.In Chiang Kai-shek's view, once the United States joins the anti-fascist camp, the war will actually be over, and he must be the victor; It's out of consideration.That's why he emphasized "clear friend and foe".

Third, look at the Soviet Union.Originally, since the withdrawal of the German military adviser, the largest aid China received came from the Soviet Union, although the amount was very limited. On August 21, 1937, representatives of the two sides signed the "Sino-Soviet Nonaggression Treaty" in Nanjing. The "Sino-Soviet Nonaggression Treaty" consists of four articles, the main content of which is two points: first, the two sides "condemned war as a method of resolving international disputes" and "the two parties agreed not to act alone or in conjunction with one or more other countries. any aggression".Second, when one of the two countries is invaded by another third country, "the other contracting party agrees that during the entire period of the conflict, it shall not provide any assistance, directly or indirectly, to the third country, and shall not take any action or sign any agreement, so as to cause the aggressor country to be harmed." It is used against the country that is being invaded." China also received some assistance from the Soviet Union.In addition to economic aid mainly in the form of loans, the Soviet Union also provided military aid to China.At China's request, the Soviet Union sent military advisers and air force volunteers to China to help China in the war of resistance.Beginning in November 1937, the Soviet Union successively sent thousands of military advisers and related experts and technicians to China, with the total number reaching 3,600 at the most.Not only did they serve as military advisors and train the Chinese Air Force, they even took part in battles directly.The Japanese army was inexplicably surprised when the combat effectiveness of the Chinese side increased sharply due to the direct participation of Soviet air force personnel in the Battle of Wuhan.From 1937 to 1941, the Soviet Union provided China with 1,250 aircraft of various types, and more than 2,000 aviation volunteers fought in China, including more than 700 pilots.They fought side by side with Chinese pilots and destroyed a total of 1049 Japanese aircraft. On September 29, 1940, also two days after the formation of the Axis Group, Chiang Kai-shek accepted the suggestion of Shao Lizi, the Chinese ambassador to the Soviet Union, and called Stalin to ask him for advice on China’s foreign policy, hoping that China and the Soviet Union could adopt a common policy. His foreign policy is clearly a show of goodwill. On October 16, Stalin replied in a telegram stating: "According to my opinion, China's main task is to maintain and strengthen the Chinese people's army... As long as the Chinese people's army is strong and strong, China will surely win." Although Stalin's reply did not express Expressing the enthusiasm that Chiang Kai-shek hoped for is mostly a scene, but it still has some value-Stalin hoped that Chiang Kai-shek would rule out "the possibility of negotiating peace with Japan and peace."The information revealed in this sentence gave Chiang Kai-shek great confidence in his decision-making, so he replied to Stalin on the 22nd, saying: "No matter what, Japan will be the common enemy of China and the Soviet Union."

In short, after the formation of the Axis Group, Chiang Kai-shek had some leeway to get his way, which was much better than waiting for changes. Will Chiang Kai-shek increase the intensity of the war against Japan?In this regard, Mao Zedong said that Chiang was "up for sale."Zhou Enlai further analyzed: After the Three Kingdoms Agreement, Britain actively pulled Chiang, Jiang Xi.Now Japan is pulling Chiang, Jiang is more happy.Stalin electric Jiang, Jiang Yixi.This was the time when Jiang was overjoyed, so after the Japanese army withdrew from Nanning and Stalin resumed his telegram, Jiang went to Chengdu. Pétain and Kemal are the best at both sides.So he hid himself in Chengdu, asked his wife and Yingmei to send Yingmei, Zhu Jiahua, Gui Yongqing Ladd, let the pro-Japanese faction talk about peace, let Sun (Ke) and Feng (Yuxiang) pro-Soviet, let He (Ying Qin) ), Bai (Chongxi) anti-Communism, so that he can choose in the middle, and use anti-Communism as the axis.

Zhou Enlai's analysis can be described as detailed and penetrating. It was in this international situation that Chiang Kai-shek felt that the timing was in his favour.Perhaps from this moment on, the idea of ​​"safety inside" was more important than "resistance outside" climbed into his mind again.The few battles he had to fight with Japan had indeed hurt his vitality; more importantly, if he thought the general situation was settled, then why would he need to put his money on a "lost" country? What about Japan's war?After all, in his view, it is the Communist Party that really threatens him.Ever since, the idea of ​​launching a new anti-Communist upsurge gradually matured in his mind!

The events that followed will demonstrate this.