Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 164: Finally, I was fooled.

In Japan, whether it is the army or the navy, the growth curve of its officers is extremely similar. They are all trained and brainwashed in military schools since childhood, and firmly believe in inexplicable beliefs such as the Yamato nation is invincible in the world. They join the army when they are in their teens.

Only a very small number of children from noble families and wealthy families could be sent to study in Europe, especially when the Long Island warlords were still in power.

Then he served as a military attaché in a foreign country, learned the so-called military experience of European powers, and after returning, he was parachuted into a high-level leader.

This resulted in most of the middle and low-level officers in the Japanese army being rural boys who were full of passion and only knew how to work hard and brute force. Their military knowledge was actually very average, but precisely because of their simple minds and stubbornness, these people really believed that they were invincible. They were often brainwashed thoroughly, were not afraid of hardships, and dared to launch the so-called long live charge.

Those who truly believe in the so-called Bushido spirit and commit suicide by seppuku after being defeated are almost all these people.

As for the small number of aristocratic children who returned from studying in Europe, although they are more knowledgeable and some of them really have real talents and knowledge, they often do not start from the grassroots level and are parachuted in, so they have serious inadequacies in control over the troops.

To put it bluntly, the national conditions in Japan are that the military leads the cabinet, the colonels lead the generals, and the lieutenants and non-commissioned officers lead the colonels. From top to bottom, the country is filled with the culture of rebellion.

However, there is a suffocating relationship between superiors and subordinates, with one layer oppressing the other. This is more common at the grassroots level, where superiors can slap their subordinates in the face at will.

This leads to the fact that the conflicts between superiors and subordinates are actually very prominent.

When an entire team of eighty people, including only thirty or so Japanese soldiers, returned wounded, the Marines and senior naval officers had no idea what was happening, and one of their squadrons set off without any authorization.

"What happened? Huh? A Malay bandit army? About one or two hundred people? Why are there bandits in Phuket? And Malay bandits? This is an island!"

Anyone with a little common sense can figure out that something is amiss.

Although Phuket is the largest island in Thailand, it is only less than twice the size of Penang.

Why is there a group of bandits with such strong combat effectiveness in such a small place?
It would be fine if there were pirates, but in this situation, the pirates would not even have time to run away, so why would they take the initiative to provoke the Japanese army?
Moreover, if they were Malay bandits, why would they save the Chinese tin mines? Are the relations between the Malays and the Chinese in Thailand so harmonious?
I always feel that there is something wrong with this matter.

Instinctively, Kakuji Kakuta, as the fleet commander, felt that there was something wrong and sent a telegram to ask the Thai government whether there was such a powerful armed force in Phuket.

It’s a pity that the soldiers below didn’t think about the problem at all. They just knew that more than 30 of their brothers were killed. In a fit of rage, the entire squadron rushed forward to seek revenge.

Kakuji Kakuta could only watch.

But I thought, even if there is a problem, Chengpotian is just a group of about a hundred armed men, so I didn't care too much.

After so many years of fighting, it is rare for everyone to relax. This group of navy officers will be sent to Phuket. The military originally intended to reward them with a vacation. Most of them are veterans who have fought in the East China battlefield for many years, and nearly half of them have participated in the Battle of Shanghai.

At times like this, as a leader, it's best not to spoil the fun.

However, he waited and waited, thinking that it was just a group of bandits and it would take two or three hours at most, and they would be able to defeat them and return victorious. But Kakuji Kakuta waited for four hours and there was no news at all.

I had a bad feeling in my heart.

Although Kakuji Kakuta was also a general from the countryside, he was a veteran who had participated in World War I. Although he did not have enough theoretical knowledge, he had extremely rich experience and immediately sent his own guards to look for him.

It was almost an hour later that the Royal Guards told him that they had been fighting for five hours but still couldn't break into this tiny tin mine.

As the sky was getting darker and darker, Kakuta Kakuji felt more and more that something was wrong, and he quickly ordered all the troops to withdraw.

However, even so, the front line continued to fight for more than an hour, until it was completely dark and only human silhouettes could be seen, and then they reluctantly retreated.

There were only a few people, two full squadrons, but more than 80 people were killed, and countless people were injured.

For a moment, the soldiers in the army were so angry!
They are all veterans of hundreds of battles. When have they ever suffered such a great loss?
Kakuta Kakuji also hurriedly asked them, "Weren't they just two hundred or so Malay bandits? Why is the fight so difficult? The enemy has heavy firepower."

"Where's the heavy firepower? At most, they have a few grenades. They're just relying on the dangerous terrain. When tomorrow morning comes, brothers, we can charge again and we'll definitely be able to wipe out that mine in one fell swoop!"

It turned out that when these revengeful troops attacked the mine, Anand ordered them to fight back with a maximum of 300 people, and only allowed them to use the dangerous mountains to block the attack and at most use grenades.

Heavy machine guns, grenade launchers, and small mortars were not allowed to be used. Under the guidance of Chinese people who were familiar with the terrain, several entrances and exits were blocked to prevent the Japanese army from attacking.

However, these sika deer were stubborn. Without anyone to give them orders, no one tried to go around and they just blocked the entrance of the gourd and fought with them for five hours.

After all, the Japanese army was much more elite than the newly established Malay Corps. In order to create the illusion that there were only about 200 people and about 100 guns in the mining area, Anand strictly ordered most of the troops to sit and watch the show and not do anything.

They let the Japanese grenade launchers boom and boom, blowing up their brothers from time to time.

This was also thanks to the fact that the opponent was the Marines rather than the real elite army. 42 years ago, the Japanese Marines had very little heavy firepower.

Five hours later, they had suffered more than one hundred casualties. Although they had the advantage of terrain and only had two hundred men fighting, they were actually rotated every half hour. Their morale and physical strength were much greater than those of the Japanese army.

But everyone's exchange ratio is almost the same, a 50-50 split.

Even Anand couldn't help but sigh, these Japanese soldiers are really elite and brave. If they really only have 200 or even 300 people, they would have been killed by this group of Japanese soldiers long ago.

For an illusion, more than a hundred brothers were sacrificed. Anand didn't know whether it was worth it. After all, this was a new army. Such huge casualties had shaken their morale a little bit. Anand could only rely on loud speeches to calm people's hearts.

The key is whether the Japanese army will be fooled tomorrow.

Everyone actually understood that if the Japanese army was fooled, the sacrifice of more than one hundred brothers would actually be worth it.

If they had not been fooled, these people would have died in vain. These 5,000 people would most likely have been trapped to death here by the Japanese army.

After all, this is just an ordinary mining area. There is not much food stored there. Together with the biscuits and military rations they brought, it is only enough to last for five more days at most. After five days, they will have nothing to eat and can only try to attack the naval base.

Fortunately, this time the Japanese army came with a heavy battleship instead of an aircraft carrier, and the Japanese side did not have any reconnaissance planes.

In order to prevent them from escaping, they even left two teams to set up camp near Hulukou at night and block the door.

After listening to the report from his subordinates, Kakuji Kakuta naturally felt that something was wrong. He wanted to ask the Thai army for help and ask them to send planes to investigate and see what was going on in the mine.

However, such an idea was of course unanimously opposed by the entire army. After all, their fundamental purpose of coming to Thailand was to show off their military power.

No matter where this group of Malays came from, they are just a group of natives. If they still want to make demands on the Thai military, will the Imperial Japanese Army still have any face?
Do we still need the Thai army's help to fight against a hundred or so Malays?

Kakuji Kakuta thought about it and agreed, so he gave up the idea of ​​asking the Thai Air Force for help. However, he said, "This matter requires further consideration. Two hundred or so Malays were able to withstand the assault of the Imperial Japanese Marines for five hours. The Thais are incredible. I'm afraid there must be something fishy going on."

But when he said this, the Marine officers were furious. They said, "How can we possibly have such a long-term plan? Before noon tomorrow, no, before breakfast tomorrow, if we can't capture this mountain and avenge our comrades, and kill every last one of them, how can we still hold our heads up high in the army?"

"Yes, if the army idiots knew about this, I'm afraid we would never be able to wash away this shame in our lifetime."

"If the Thai army knew about this, it would be a disgrace to our nation. If we can't capture this place before breakfast tomorrow, I think we should all commit seppuku."

"Tomorrow, we must fight with all our might and crush the enemy with a fair and square force!"

My goodness, it was just a mine, and the attack was inexplicable, but it has escalated to the level of committing seppuku to apologize.

However, this forced Kakuji Kakuta to no longer be able to refute his soldiers.

In fact, this Marine Corps was not his direct subordinate. At that time, Kakuji Kakuta's official position was the commander of the "Naval Reserve Fleet", not a front-line commander.

The Yamashiro is not a front-line combat warship, but a training ship. This ship is a bit too old. It was launched in 1915 and there were problems when it was originally designed, so its actual combat value is not great. Since the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War, it has been in the rear port of Dalian for training.

Didn't Thailand request the stationing of troops to show off its military power? They were sent here without any fighting. This ship is indeed big enough to scare the Thai bumpkins.

However, this Marine Corps came from the battlefield in East China. It was a deliberate holiday given to these meritorious veterans to relax, and they were scheduled to be rotated after a few months.

Of course, although Kakuji Kakuta was only the commander in title, everyone was not familiar with each other and did not report directly to each other. Since the attitude of his subordinates was so firm, it was certainly difficult for him to force them.

I could only say, "Alright, but since we're going to fight, you must not underestimate us. As you said, if there are any more setbacks in this battle, we'll lose face. Even a lion will fight a rabbit with all its might. I hope you all will remember this."

All the officers shouted in unison: "Hey!!"

So the next morning, just after the sun rose, the Marines didn't even have breakfast, but pulled out the entire battalion of 3,000 Marines.

I want to avenge this!
This is truly a lion fighting a rabbit.

Each of them looked heroic and proud, and there was no trace of fear on the faces of these Japanese soldiers.

They also realized that something was wrong with this group of Malay soldiers, but it didn't matter. Three thousand Marines went forward together. No matter what monsters were on the opposite side, if they had provoked our great Imperial Japanese Army, there would be no other possibility except death.

As everyone knows, at this time.

Anand, who was standing on the highest hill in the mining area and was watching the entire battalion of 3,000 Japanese soldiers from afar through a monocular telescope, did not feel any panic. Instead, he felt that every cell in his body was trembling.

With a thud, Anand's legs softened and he knelt down, tears streaming down his face uncontrollably, his mouth corners stretched too wide.

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha."

Anand couldn't help but grab his hair with both hands.

"Finally, I got fooled. I finally got fooled. I won. I won the bet. Hahahahahahaha, from today on, I will make sure no one in this world dares to look down on us Malays!!"

(End of this chapter)