The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

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 was incompetent, self-willed and lacked overall consideration; third, Chang Kaishen's micro-management made the decisive victory 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 set the combat goal for this major counteroffensive on the Burma battlefield a year ago. But 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 a major counterattack could begin.

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 domestic situation, Chang Kaishen finally chose to compromise—the U.S. threatened to stop the Lend-Lease Act 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 ridicule the incompetence of Chiang Kai-shek and the National 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. 60 million people.

But the background of this great defeat was the complete collapse of China's economy, and all US aid supplies were diverted to the battlefield in Myanmar. The Ninth Theater Zone, which has 11 corps and about 30 elite divisions, could only piece together 50 old cannons when facing the Japanese attack. During the Battle of Guilin, there was a 14,000-man reinforcements force with only 2,000 rifles, and the soldiers were all 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, a division of Chinese troops began to climb up the mountain occupied by the Japanese under the cover of a World War I-era French mountain cannon and nine mortars..."

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. Their enemies have sufficient logistics, including artillery, machine guns, and aircraft to provide fire support, as well as solid fortifications and even inhumane chemical weapons. This extremely difficult attack lasted for three days before the Chinese army finally began to retreat. Their retreat was not due to lack of willpower, but because they ran out of supplies - they ran out of ammunition and food!

Regarding the defeat of Henan, Hunan and Guangxi, Lao Jiang and the national 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 done the best they could, using their flesh and blood to withstand the Japanese artillery 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 despite insufficient troops, incomplete equipment, unavailable reinforcements, and unsustainable logistics, which lasted for 48 months. Day and night, the Japanese army suffered more than 60,000 casualties.

Not only that, Fang Xianjue also planned to launch a counterattack with reinforcements. Not only did Stilwell refuse to allocate 1,000 tons of supplies to the reinforcements, he even said: "Let them get angry." This prevented the reinforcements from leaving and made the defense of Hengyang even more difficult.

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’ evaluations of Stilwell——

Chennault, captain of the Flying Tigers, said: "If he (Stilwell) is a company commander and battalion commander, he is only responsible for the troops under his direct command. This behavior is indeed commendable. As an Asian U.S. military with heavy responsibilities, Commander and Chief of Staff of the China Theater, his behavior of leaving the army without authorization and not hearing anything for three weeks is a shocking ignorance and irresponsibility." - This is about Stilwell who brought more than 100 soldiers with him. The American media used this experience to describe Stilwell as a legendary hero, while soldiers throughout the 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 disarray and extremely slack in business. 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 revised plans 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 warned Japan many times that Japan might launch an attack, hoping that Stilwell would 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. Until the Japanese army had launched an offensive, Stilwell was still hesitant and refused to believe the facts. There is a report that his staff "knew in advance that the attack was coming, but after it started, we didn't know how far it would develop, and now we 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 if he was in this situation.

Not only was his staff capacity insufficient, but Stilwell's command ability was also lacking. He drained the logistics supplies of the Chinese battlefield, and it took him three months to conquer Myitchi (Harmony). Finally, he waited until the Chinese army penetrated the Hukang River Valley to solve the problem, which indirectly led to the humiliating defeat of Henan, Hunan, and Guangxi.

At that time, Chennault was so angry that he directly sent a report to Roosevelt: "(Stilwell) has concentrated all our main forces into Burma, which has now led to the fall of East China."

Since then, Stilwell has had 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 "infantry platoon leader" Chang Kaishen, and the chief of staff was "the best four-star battalion commander" Stilwell. However, these two people still dislike each other. They argue with each other on various occasions and feed each other's traps - is this the so-called novices pecking each other?