Anti-Japanese War: From Becoming Chu Yunfei to Rising

Nanjing, the headquarters of the China Expeditionary Army.

The plum rain outside the window continued to fall in a drizzle, as if it would never stop.

The air was so humid it was suffocating, just like Hata Shunroku's mood at that moment.

"Wow!"

A delicate Kutani ware teacup was smashed to the ground, shards of porcelain scattering everywhere.

Chief of the General Staff Masazo Kawabe, standing in front of the desk, and a group of operations staff all lowered their heads, not daring to breathe.

General Hata Shunroku, the former commander-in-chief of the Japanese invasion army who once commanded a million troops, now resembled an old lion trapped in a cage, his eyes bloodshot and his chest heaving violently.

Just now, an urgent telegram from headquarters arrived on his desk.

The telegram was brief and cold; every word felt like a slap in the face.

"Given the devastating blow suffered by the 11th Army in this Battle of Western Hubei, with its headquarters rendered inoperable and its main divisions almost entirely wiped out..."

"After careful consideration, the Army Headquarters has decided to abolish the organizational designation of the '11th Army' effective immediately."

"The remaining divisions and brigades formerly under the 11th Army shall be transferred to the direct command of the General Headquarters of the China Expeditionary Army, effective immediately."

The designation was revoked.

For a field army with a glorious history, this is a more thorough humiliation than defeat.

The 11th Army, once the "sharp sword" of mobile strike force in Central China, the number one main force that once struck fear into the hearts of the Chinese army, was thus brutally broken by Chu Yunfei, and even its name was erased from the order of command.

Hata Shunroku was in poor condition, but he kept researching the possibility of breaking the deadlock.

He steeled himself and stepped forward, handing over another thick document.

"Commander, the General Headquarters has also taken into account the problem of insufficient troop strength."

"This is the latest 'Third Military Mobilization Plan of Showa 18'."

"The local authorities have promised to send 80,000 new recruits to your unit next month."

"Eighty thousand?"

Hata Shunroku sneered, took the document, and flipped through a few pages, his expression growing increasingly grim: "These are their so-called 'new recruits'?"

He pointed to the rows of categories on the document, his fingers trembling:
"Street thugs, vagrants..."

"Are there even liberal arts college students who only know how to study by rote and have no practical skills?"

"Send these people to fight the enemy's elite troops with bayonets while armed with Type 38 rifles?"

"Besides reciting a few lines of poetry or engaging in brawls like thugs, what else can they do?!"

Kawabe Masazo said bitterly, "Commander, the situation in the country is also very difficult."

"Science and engineering students were conscripted into arsenals, and the slightly stronger laborers went to Southeast Asia and the Kwantung Army."

"These are the only people we can mobilize right now."

"and……"

Kawabe Masazo hesitated for a moment, then turned to the last page of the document: "In preparation for a possible decisive battle on the home front and a possible full-scale counter-offensive on the China battlefield."

"The Cabinet has approved the Outline for the Formation of the Women's Commando Unit."

"We are going to start training the women."

"Use bamboo spears, hand grenades..."

"Bamboo spear?"

Hata Shunroku seemed to have heard the biggest joke in the world. He slumped weakly into a chair, staring blankly at the ceiling.

"Has the Great Japanese Empire fallen so low that it has to rely on women with bamboo spears for defense?"

"Jade shattered...jade shattered..."

"Is our ultimate fate to be the destruction of our entire nation?"

……

Meanwhile, on the vast Pacific Ocean.

1943 October.

The sun beats down on the azure sea, and beneath the waves, undercurrents surge.

If the Far East theater was a meat grinder, then the Pacific theater was a money-devouring beast.

After all, simply continuing to build up the navy would be enough to bankrupt the Japanese.

Not to mention the intense fighting against the world's leading industrial power during World War II.

By this time, the smoke of the Battle of Midway had long since dissipated, and the stench of corpses on Guadalcanal Island had been carried away by the sea breeze.

Although the U.S. Navy has regained the strategic initiative.

But at this moment, the battle had fallen into a frustrating stalemate.

Three months ago.

The Navy Department building in Washington, D.C., has been the site of similar discussions and controversies.

At that time, Admiral Ernest King, the Chief of Naval Operations, pointed at that huge Pacific Ocean chart and roared at a group of staff officers and generals.

"Rabaul!"

"Truck!"

"These damned islands are like nails the Japanese have driven into the Pacific Ocean!"

"To remove a single nail, we would have to pay the price of thousands of Marines' lives and consume months' worth of combat supplies!"

"The enemy forces in Rabaul number at least 100,000. How much will we have to pay?"

"Fifty thousand, or one hundred thousand, or one hundred and fifty thousand?"

"At this rate, it would take us until 1948 to reach Tokyo!"

Under the current circumstances, the Japanese military has used those scattered islands to construct a solid "absolute defense perimeter".

Each island is an "unsinkable aircraft carrier".

Every step the US military took forward was met with the Japanese army's layered defense system, which they fought hard against and suffered heavy losses.

In terms of strategic direction.

There are also huge divisions within the U.S. military.

The conservatives, led by General MacArthur, advocated an attack from the southwest Pacific along the New Guinea-Philippines axis, ultimately using the Philippines as a springboard to invade the Japanese mainland.

His reasoning was sound: "I promised I would go back (to the Philippines)."

The naval faction, led by Nimitz and Admiral Kim, advocated taking a direct strike on the Mariana Islands from the central Pacific, cutting off Japan's lifeline, and using long-range bombers to directly attack the Japanese mainland.

The two sides were locked in a stalemate, neither willing to yield, and even argued fiercely in Congress over resources.

However, in the face of harsh reality, a new tactical approach is emerging amidst this argument and stalemate.

Why bother tackling the toughest challenges one by one?

At a previous high-level strategic meeting.

General Kim looked at the Rabaul base on the map, which was heavily guarded by the Japanese army and looked like an iron barrel, and a cunning glint flashed in his eyes: "The Japanese have concentrated their forces on these fortified islands."

"Then let's go around it!"

We must leap like frogs off lotus leaves!

General Kim's finger traced graceful arcs across the map, passing over the heavily guarded outposts.

"This is called—Island Hopping!"

"We only attack those islands that are poorly defended but have strategic value, and establish airports and ports there."

"As for those fortified fortresses painstakingly built by the Japanese..."

General Kim gave a cold laugh and made a cutting gesture:

"Let them stay behind us, cut off their supplies, and blockade the sea."

"Let the tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of Japanese soldiers there, guarding their cannons, slowly starve to death, die of thirst, and rot on the island!"

This tactical concept has not been accepted by anyone to date.

On March 28, in accordance with the operational deployment determined by the Joint Chiefs of Staff:
MacArthur will lead the capture of Lae, Salamoua, and Woodlack Island and Kiriwina Island in New Guinea in the Western Theater; Halsey will be responsible for capturing New Georgia Island in the Eastern Theater, using it as a springboard to attack Bougainville Island.

The primary target remains Rabaul.

This tactic, known as "Operation Wheel," was the most complex military operation of the entire Pacific War, requiring joint operations from both the Eastern and Western Theaters, with a two-pronged approach and a frontline stretching 1000 miles across land and sea.

As two "pincers" in the war, if MacArthur and Halsey cannot cooperate perfectly, it can easily lead to complete defeat.

After Yamamoto Isoroku was killed.

The pincer movement against Rabaul is also being prepared intensively.

At this moment, the war situation in the Pacific is about to undergo a dramatic change, and in the far east, the "Joint Landing Operation Plan for Qiongzhou Island" from the Far East Theater is like a new piece thrown into this huge chessboard.

It not only aligns with the US military's urgent need to break through the current situation, but it is also like a key that will soon unlock the prelude to the joint counter-offensive of the US-China allies in the Asian theater!

Washington, D.C., at this very moment, at the White House.

The Oval Office.

Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Ernest King, a naval commander known for his volatile temper, extreme favoritism, and hatred of not only the Japanese but also the British, is standing before a giant world map.

His face flushed crimson, and his thick finger seemed to pierce through the "Qiongzhou Island" mark on the map. President Roosevelt, seated in his wheelchair, held his signature long cigarette holder, his gaze shifting between General King and the composed Chief of Staff Marshall standing on the other side.

"George!"

General Kim whirled around, his voice booming like a naval gun firing: "This is what you call 'strategic composure'?!"

"In the far East, our allies in the Far East inflicted heavy losses on an entire Japanese army, even sending their Yangtze River fleet to the bottom of the sea!"

"And what about us?"

General King strode up to Marshall, his spittle almost landing on the Army Chief of Staff's face:

"What are we doing?!"

"We force-feed tons of supplies and thousands of planes to those British who only know how to retreat and abandon their tanks on the beach!"

"We'll have the world's most powerful navy in the Atlantic act as bodyguards for those slow-moving merchant ships!"

"Our destroyers and cruisers should have fought a decisive battle with the Japanese Combined Fleet in the Pacific, and should have sent the Japanese aircraft carriers to the bottom of the sea!"

"But what about now?!"

General Kim waved his arms angrily, as if shooing away flies:

"My lads can only play hide-and-seek with Dönitz's ghostly U-boats in the frigid Atlantic!"

"That was damn anti-submarine warfare!"

"That's a game of cat and mouse!"

"That's not our war!"

"That's a shameful waste of the U.S. Navy's fighting power!"

Marshall frowned, but maintained his signature calm and restraint: "Ernest, watch your words."

Seeing that General King had ceased his impassioned speech, Marshall said in a deep voice:

"'Europe first, Asia later' is the highest strategic principle established at the Arcadia Conference."

"Germany is the heart of the Axis powers; only by defeating Germany can we..."

"Screw 'Europe first, Asia later'!"

General Kim abruptly interrupted him, a rare outburst in the White House.

But Roosevelt did not stop it; instead, he watched the scene with great interest.

“George, you’re a smart man. Look at those reports from Stilwell, look at those battle reports!”

General Kim grabbed the telegram from the table and slammed it down with a deafening roar:

“That China theater used to be a quagmire, and we didn’t want to give it a second glance. We even invested very limited resources in it.”

"But things are different now!"

"That country is awakening, and their army is transforming into a pack of ferocious beasts capable of tearing apart their enemies!"

"What did General Stilwell say in the telegram?"

"You saw it too!"

"They have proven countless times that, given sufficient support, they are fully capable of containing or even annihilating a million Japanese troops on the Asian continent!"

At this point, General Kim took a deep breath, his tone becoming extremely seductive. He looked at Roosevelt, then at Marshall: "Since the East has people who can fight and are willing to fight, why should we continue to increase our resources in Europe? Wouldn't it be better to let the British and Soviets continue their bloody battle with the Germans?"

"Why can't we allocate some of our resources, even if it's just 30 percent of Europe's resources, to the South Pacific?"

"As long as we increase investment in this 'Joint Landing Plan on Qiongzhou Island,' as long as we give Chu Yunfei that nominal command, provide him with escorts, and give him landing craft..."

General Kim drew a large circle in the air with his finger: "We can turn the entire South China Sea into our allied forces' 'inland lake'!"

"This is a million times more worthwhile than getting bogged down in the quagmire of Europe and arguing with the British!"

Marshall fell silent.

He did not immediately refute as he usually did.

Because General Kim hit the nail on the head, or rather, hit the nail on the head regarding his recent hesitation.

The performance of our allies in the Far East has been truly outstanding.

In fact, it was under his leadership.

Roosevelt, whether secretly or unintentionally, promised the Republic of China that Asia would come first, followed by Europe.

They even provided a large amount of supplies and equipment through Stilwell.

However, all of this was not done openly, either by the European allies or the Soviet Union.

The Americans still told them, "Europe first, Asia later."

Kim naturally understood this; he was merely using this strategy to express his own demands in order to achieve his own goals.

“Mr. President,” Marshall relented, “Ernest’s words, though radical, are not entirely without merit. If they are truly confident in taking Qiongzhou Island and cutting off Japan’s maritime lifeline, it will be a huge boost to the Pacific War. This is the fundamental reason why the Army has softened its stance and is willing to support this plan.”

"Furthermore, according to General Stilwell's telegram, we will be forming the 28th Army Corps in the Far East Theater (Note: The U.S. military only has twenty-four corps in total; this is a newly formed corps and does not conform to historical facts)."

Upon seeing this, General Kim's eyes flashed with a hint of triumphant joy, and he prepared to press his advantage.

"Wait a minute, Ernest."

Roosevelt suddenly spoke up.

He picked up another telegram from the table, shook it gently, and wore that enigmatic smile.

"Before approving your ambitions, I have a telegram from Brisbane here."

“I think you should also hear the opinion of our ‘Caesar’—General MacArthur.”

Upon hearing the name "MacArthur,"
General Kim's face instantly turned as long as a horse's, and he let out a heavy snort.

Roosevelt said slowly and deliberately, "Douglas used very strong language in his telegram. He believed that launching the Battle of Qiongzhou Island at this stage would be 'military recklessness'."

"He insisted that there was only one way to Tokyo, and that was to advance step by step along the New Guinea-Philippines axis, under the cover of land-based air power."

Roosevelt looked at General King and deliberately emphasized his words:
"Douglas said that such a leapfrog attack, detached from the rear base, is extremely vulnerable to being isolated and helpless."

He called it "a reckless gamble on a Chinese army that lacks heavy firepower".

"Reckless? Gambling?!"

General Kim reacted like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, instantly bristling with anger.

He slammed his fist on the map table, making the ashtray on it jump.

"MacArthur knew absolutely nothing about naval strategy!"

"All he could think about was his damn vow to 'I'll go back,' he was acting like a complete clown!"

General Kim pointed at the map and roared, "His so-called 'one step at a time' means sending my Marines into those mud pits one by one!"

"This kind of fighting style is like going head-on into the Japanese's impenetrable wall!"

"Mr. President!"

"This is precisely the fundamental difference between us and that megalomaniac."

General Kim snatched the pointer and drew a sharp arc on the Pacific map, stretching directly from the Solomon Islands to Qiongzhou Island:

"MacArthur is outdated!"

"He's still thinking about the trench warfare tactics of World War I!"

"What I'm going to do is 'frog leaping'! It's island hopping!"

His voice was filled with fanatical confidence: "The Japanese have concentrated their forces on those fortified islands. MacArthur wants to take them down one by one, but I don't want to!"

"The Battle of Qiongzhou Island will be the best proof!"

"We don't even need to attack XX, we don't need to fight to the death for every inch of the Philippines!"

"Let's jump straight over! Attack the enemy's weakest but most crucial point!"

"Once we take Qiongzhou Island, all the Japanese strongholds in Southeast Asia will become like kites with broken strings!"

General King turned around and stared intently into Roosevelt's eyes:

"Douglas said this is gambling?"

"No, this is a revolution in the art of war!"

"If we win this battle, it will prove that my 'island-hopping strategy' is a brilliant idea, while MacArthur's 'step-by-step' approach is nothing but 'old lady's foot binding cloth'!"

“Mr. President, if you listen to that guy in Brisbane who only knows how to give speeches and miss the knife Chu Yunfei is offering, that would be the greatest crime against the United States!”

There was dead silence in the office.

Roosevelt looked at the admiral in front of him, who was practically roaring, and the smile in his eyes grew wider and wider.

By using reverse psychology, he not only forced Admiral Kim to reveal his true feelings, but also showed him the Navy's determination to win the battle.

He flicked his cigarette ash and casually tossed MacArthur's telegram into the wastebasket: "Alright, Ernest."

"It seems you are very confident in your tactics."

Roosevelt's magnetic voice instantly quelled the argument in the room: "Since you're willing to go to the South China Sea and make a big splash to prove Douglas wrong, why shouldn't I support you?"

He looked up and made the final decision: "Approve the plan."

“George, it seems we need to readjust the supplies allocation table.”

"We should allocate more resources to the Pacific Theater and the Far East Theater." (End of Chapter)