After more than half a year of disputes and wrangling, the Chinese Expeditionary Force’s second operation into Myanmar finally entered the stage of full-scale counterattack.
We all know that the expeditionary force's first battle in Burma was a complete mess. There are no more than three reasons: first, the British betrayed their teammates more thoroughly than on the French battlefield; second, Stilwell lacked ability and was willful.
And there is a lack of overall consideration; third, Chang Kaishen's micro-management is decisive compared to thousands of miles away.
Each of these three factors is fatal. When combined, one can only feel sad for the soldiers of the expeditionary force.
In fact, Stilwell had set the goal of this major counteroffensive on the Burma battlefield a year ago. However, Chang Kaishen did not want to fight, and even rejected Roosevelt many times at the Cairo Conference. He believed that the United States must send troops to cooperate before the major counterattack could begin.
Counterattack.
Chiang Kai-shek had his own considerations. For example, he did not trust the British army or Stilwell's ability. At the same time, he also wanted to preserve the strength of the expeditionary force.
However, the pressure from the U.S. government was too great, and coupled with the dire situation at home, Chang Kaishen finally chose to compromise with the United States and threatened to stop the concession bill and cut off aid supplies to China.
This counterattack will last for a year. The Chinese Expeditionary Force suffered 85,000 casualties and annihilated nearly 70,000 Japanese troops. It is a rare victory in the history of China's Anti-Japanese War.
However, it directly led to the great defeat of Henan, Hunan and Guangxi in 1944!
In order to launch a major counterattack in Burma, Stilwell consumed enough military supplies for the entire Chinese theater for four months, draining away the logistics of the Chinese army that was resisting the Japanese Army's No. 1 Operation Plan, and depriving China of its domestic battlefield strategy.
Reserve team.
These are the fundamental reasons why Chang Kaishen refused to agree to enter Myanmar for a major counterattack.
We often use the rout of Henan, Hunan and Guangxi to laugh at the incompetence of Chiang Kai-shek and the Chinese army, because in 1944 it was the end of World War II, and there were good news in the European battlefield, but in the Chinese battlefield, 146 cities, more than 200,000 square kilometers of land and land were lost in eight months.
Population of 60 million.
But the background of this great defeat was the complete collapse of China's economy, and all US aid supplies were transferred to the Burma battlefield. The ninth theater, which had 11 armies and about 30 elite divisions, faced the Japanese attack.
Can piece together 50 old cannons. During the Battle of Guilin, there was a 140 million reinforcements, but only 2000 rifles, and the soldiers were hungry.
Let’s take a look at the American reporter’s report on the Fourth Battle of Changsha: “Chinese soldiers marched on foot carrying their own rifles and rations. They were thin, sweaty, and struggling with every step. The entire army did not have a car, and neither did mules or horses.
It was extremely difficult to see. When the attack began, one division of Chinese troops, under the cover of a World War I-era French mountain gun and nine mortars, began to climb up the mountain occupied by the Japanese..."
Please imagine that Chinese soldiers, hungry and tired, attacked the Japanese army with rifles with worn rifling under the cover of mountain artillery and mortars from the World War I era. And their enemies had sufficient logistics.
There were artillery, machine guns, and aircraft to provide fire support, as well as solid fortifications, and even inhumane chemical weapons. This extremely difficult offensive lasted for three days before the Chinese army finally began to retreat. Their retreat was not due to lack of willpower.
Instead, they ran out of supplies and ammunition and ran out of food!
Regarding the defeat of Henan, Hunan and Guangxi, Lao Chiang and the government should certainly be scolded because they were corrupt and stuffed their own pockets when the country was in the most difficult time. But the soldiers of the Anti-Japanese War should not be scolded. They had already done what they could.
To the extreme, using flesh and blood to withstand Japanese artillery fire and bullets.
At the same time, this guy Stilwell should also be scolded.
Take the defense of Hengyang as an example. Army commander Fang Xianjue relied on crude field fortifications to resist the siege of 110,000 Japanese troops, which lasted for 48 months despite insufficient troops, incomplete equipment, unavailable reinforcements, and unsustainable logistics.
Day and night, it caused more than 60,000 Japanese casualties, directly leading to the resignation of Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo.
Not only that, Fang Xianjue also planned to cooperate with the reinforcements to launch a counterattack. Not only did Stilwell refuse to allocate 1,000 tons of supplies to the reinforcements, he even said: "Let them get angry." This caused the reinforcements to be unable to move out, making the Hengyang defense battle even more difficult.
hard.
We have said that Stilwell used "peanuts" to satirize the old Chiang Kai-shek for his great talent and lack of talent, and he himself did the same.
Here, let me quote two Americans’ comments about Stilwell.
Flying Tigers captain Chennault said: "If he (Stilwell) is a company commander and battalion commander, he is responsible for the troops under his direct command in an orderly manner. This behavior is indeed commendable. It can be used as a commander of the US military in Asia with heavy responsibilities.
Officer and Chief of Staff of the China Theater, his behavior of leaving the army without permission and not hearing from him for three weeks is a shocking ignorance and irresponsibility." This is about Stilwell taking more than 100 people from Burma.
The American media used this experience to describe Stilwell as a legendary hero, while soldiers in the entire Chinese war zone scolded him bloody.
Davis, the first secretary of the U.S. Ambassador to China, said of Stilwell's staff team: "from pleasant mediocrity to old age and incompetence." As the chief of staff of the Allied China Theater, the staff team managed by Stilwell was in chaos.
The business was so sluggish that even the U.S. Embassy in China couldn't stand it anymore and asked it to rectify it many times.
Japan's "Operation Plan No. 1" and its subsequent revisions were the root cause of China's defeat in Henan, Hunan and Guangxi. Before the Japanese army launched "Operation Plan No. 1", Chiang Kai-shek had repeatedly warned that Japan might launch an attack, hoping that history would
Diwei should not send troops to the battlefield in Burma.
But Stilwell ignored it and believed that Chiang Kai-shek was too timid to launch a major counterattack in Burma. Even after the Japanese army had launched an offensive, Stilwell was still hesitant and refused to believe the facts. There was a report that his staff "should have
The blow is coming, but I don’t know how far it will develop after it started, and now I still don’t know if it has passed.” Stilwell wrote in this report: Really?
To be honest, the chief of staff should have been dragged out and shot long ago if he was in such a position.
Not only was his staff capacity insufficient, but Stilwell's commanding ability was also poor. He drained the logistics supplies of the Chinese battlefield, and it took him three months to conquer Myitki (Harmony). Finally, he waited until the Chinese army broke through the Hukang Valley to solve the problem.
Indirectly leading to the humiliating defeat of Henan, Hunan and Guangxi.
At that time, Chennault was so angry that he directly sent a telegram to Roosevelt to report: "(Stilwell) has concentrated all our main forces into Burma, which has now led to the fall of East China."
After that, Stilwell got a nickname in China: the best four-star battalion commander.
The Chinese theater of World War II was so miserable. The commander-in-chief was the "infantry platoon leader" Chang Kaishen, and the chief of staff was "the best four-star battalion commander" Stilwell. However, these two still disliked each other. On various occasions
Are they fighting each other and feeding each other? Is this the so-called noobs pecking each other?
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