Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 192 Tao Jun: The Nanyang Anti-Japanese War needs a general to die on the battlefield, I will die
The naval battle lasted all day.

Zheng Yi only received the news of the British army's defeat after returning to Penang.

"How's the battle damage?"

"It is said that the remnants of the defeated army fled back to Singapore in the early hours of this morning. It was not until British aircraft in Singapore provided support that the Japanese army retreated."

"There are no public reports of the damage yet, but our people in Singapore report that at least three battleships have not returned, and those that have returned are all damaged. Also, the Prince of Wales doesn't seem to have returned."

"Ah."

Zheng Yi nodded.

All expected.

"What about Hong Kong Island? What's the situation now? Have the people on the island... evacuated?"

"Most of them weren't able to evacuate. I heard that many people had originally planned to evacuate, but when they heard that the British army was heading north, they..."

"Hey~, I get it. I...light me a cigar."

The defeat of the British army was nothing, it was even completely within his expectations. Objectively speaking, let alone in the Asia-Pacific region, even if the entire British navy was deployed, Zheng Yi did not think the British army would have much chance of winning.

But Hong Kong Island...

Zheng Yi turned on the phonograph and played a soft jazz piece in his office alone. He closed the door, took a break from his busy schedule, and planned to secretly be sad for half an hour.

He was really too busy now, and even half an hour of decadence seemed too much of a luxury for him.

Ever since the Japanese army attacked Pearl Harbor that day, anyone with a discerning eye could see that the Japanese army would definitely capture Hong Kong Island.

The only reason why Hong Kong Island was not occupied by the Japanese army was because Japan was afraid of Britain, but they are still afraid of Britain now.

So after the Japanese army took action, Zheng Yi kept in contact with Wang Qiaoyun, hoping that he could come back quickly before the Japanese army attacked Hong Kong Island.

You should know that long before this, more than 3800 British people had been evacuated from the entire Hong Kong Island.

But now Wang Qiaoyun is no longer a willful young lady, but a real coach of the National Government Air Force, which can actually be said to be a soldier.

Since she was a soldier, it was impossible for her to just leave. Zheng Yi asked her to fly back by herself as soon as possible, but even Zheng Yi knew that doing so would be the same as desertion, and Wang Qiaoyun naturally would not agree.

She wanted to withdraw, but she insisted on waiting for orders from the government.

Zheng Yi certainly had contact with the Nationalist government. The Nationalist government actually intended to expand its office in Penang, and after withdrawing all the administrative and military agencies in Hong Kong Island, they could be transferred to Penang.

It can still serve as a window for them to communicate with the Western world.

However, there is a huge dispute over the issue of when to withdraw from Hong Kong Island.

Simply put, there are too many smuggled goods on Hong Kong Island, which can even be described as "piled like mountains", but the Kuomintang government is reluctant to give them up.

The sea route has been closed for a long time, and the current mainstream arms aid is also through the Yunnan-Burma Railway built by Zheng Yi, but the air flights at Hong Kong Island's Kai Tak Airport and Chongqing Airport have always been unimpeded, specializing in transporting items with relatively high added value.

We hope to transport as many of these things as possible before evacuating, and we will never leave them to the Japanese.

It's like no one knows what the hell is in your warehouse.

After all, the Yunnan-Burma Railway had to pass through the territories of General Long and General Li, and the source of the railway was in Yangon, so Hu Wenhu would not tolerate any sand in his eyes.

Therefore, things like cigars, cigarettes, fine wines, stockings, and pianos had to be transported from Kai Tak Airport instead of the Burma Railway.

To be honest, Zheng Yi really thinks there is nothing wrong with leaving this kind of thing to Japan. This is also the thing Lin Shaoliang used most often to infiltrate Japan.

Because Japan has long had a rationing system and ordinary people can't even get enough food, the more of this stuff flows into Japan, the more intense their social contradictions will become, and this thing can really be used to corrupt Japan's elite upper class.

Of course, the most important thing was that Fatty Qiu gave them the illusion that Hong Kong Island could at least be defended.

The British army believed that although Hong Kong Island as a whole could not be defended because its fresh water system was too poor, the Japanese army had many ways to cut off Hong Kong Island's fresh water supply.

But there is definitely no problem in holding out for more than half a year. They built a defense line in the southern New Territories that they believed to be indestructible, relying on the multiple peaks in the northern part of the Kowloon Peninsula as a natural barrier.

This line of defense, named Drunken Bay, stretches 18 kilometers from east to west and is known by the British as the "Maginot Line of the East."

Even Zheng Yi feels that this line of defense is fucking unreliable!
Throughout World War II, all the large ships that were expected to win went unsunk, and all the defense lines that were considered "indestructible" went unbroken.

Especially those with the word "Maginot" in them. You should know that this is not the only Eastern Maginot. The one that Japan used to resist the Soviet Union in the Northeast was also called the Eastern Maginot.

Sometimes Zheng Yi couldn't help but wonder, if French General Maginot knew that after his death, so many defense lines would use his name to commit fraud, and the key point is that they would all be broken like a hymen with a single poke.

I don’t know if I will be able to come back to life from being angry.

But in short, the British army was determined to hold on for a while. Fatty Qiu's attitude towards Hong Kong Island was similar to Zheng Yi's attitude towards Pattani.

It is definitely impossible to hold on to the position, and we cannot do so, but it should be possible to delay the situation.

The British army is also waiting for the American army to recover and come back to attack!
Zheng Yi needs Pattani to delay the defense of Alor Setar and Penang, and the British army also hopes that Hong Kong Island can delay the defense of Singapore.

Fatty Qiu may be the foreigner who knows the most about the specific industrial strength of the United States besides Zheng Yi.

The Japanese claim that "it will take three years to recover" is nothing but a summer insect's cry of ice. It is a naive speculation of a primary industrial country about a mature industrial country, or even a fully industrial country.

Britain understands the value of a mature industrial country.

In Fatty Qiu's vision: Hong Kong Island will be defended for half a year, and the entire Malaya will be defended for another half a year. When the Japanese army starts to attack Singapore, as long as they put up a little resistance, the US army should be able to fight back. Singapore can also be used as a war base for the US army.

In this way, even if the war is over, Britain's interests in the Far East will at least not be greatly affected.

Since the British army decided to defend, it would be difficult for the Chinese there to withdraw. He was still trying to curry favor with the British, and he had to show his determination to fight to the death.

You know, there are a few people in Hong Kong who are not suitable to be mentioned. The wives of big shots have not left yet. Since these people have not left, Zheng Yi asked Wang Qiaoyun to run away alone, but Wang Qiaoyun naturally refused.

"Hey~"

Troubled times.

It depends on fate.

If she really died in Hong Kong Island, it would be her bad luck. She should just consider it as what she wanted.

…………

The victorious Japanese army has become increasingly arrogant. Naturally, the war will not be limited to Hong Kong Island. Instead, the troops are divided into two groups. While attacking Hong Kong Island, the attack on Duolun and Pattani areas has not stopped. Instead, it has become much more fierce and is determined to win.

The South Allied Forces and the British Army in Pattani, Tolon, Songkhla and other places were actually similar to those in Hong Kong Island. After the British Navy was defeated, everyone knew that this place was difficult to defend, and the supply problem alone was enough to cause people a headache.

Not to mention that there was already a Japanese army in the Kota Bharu area and it had occupied a stronghold. Even if there was not, without the advantage of the navy, if all transportation was by land, the cost would be too high and the transportation capacity itself was limited.

What's more, the entire Kra Isthmus is coastal. Although there are not many places for landing, the Japanese army can use aircraft carriers calmly after there is no threat at sea, and battleships can also directly bombard the coastal defense.

It is not completely impossible to defend, but it will definitely be difficult and there will be heavy casualties. Instead of holding on to Pattani, it is better to retreat directly to Perak or even directly to Alor Setar.

You should know that although Alor Setar is still under construction, and many factories that were originally planned to be built but not completed have been stopped, the original civilian projects are being converted into military projects in full swing.

But relatively speaking, although Alor Setar does not have the geographical advantage of Pattani, it has the advantage of people. It is already a large city with a population of more than three million, a large number of factories and reinforced concrete buildings.

Although it is mainly composed of Malays, the Malays in Alor Setar are undoubtedly pro-Penang. All industries in Alor Setar are centered around Penang, and it plays the role of a supporting provider for Penang.

Zheng Yi and the South Asian Alliance both have a high prestige in Alor Setar, and Alor Setar and Penang can serve as each other's support.

Even if they rely on city buildings or fight street battles, they will definitely be able to hold out longer than here.

So at this time, the Southern Allied Forces in Pattani and Wanka had actually already thought about retreating. Since Zheng Yi came a few days ago, the entire Nanyang anti-Japanese strategy has been fully implemented to every grassroots soldier.

Zheng Yi told them clearly that Pattani needed to be defended to delay time, but it did not need to be defended to the death. He even recorded a video and showed it to the soldiers directly in a cinema in the army.

The entire Duolun area was fighting with the goal of "delaying time as much as possible". Simply put, it was to place more mines and use heavy machine guns in trenches and bunkers to resist the Japanese army as much as possible.

Once you can no longer resist, if there are trenches and bunkers, retreat through the dug tunnels, take away light weapons, and if you can't take away things like howitzers and mortars, just blow them up.

After all, they have been operating for such a long time, the tunnel has been dug long ago, and it is not very deep, usually only one or two kilometers, but in fact it is enough.

If it is a hilltop position, use a powered delta wing to evacuate.

The Southern Allied Forces still have a great advantage in powered delta wings.

What if you really can't run away? You can turn around and fight the Japanese or surrender directly. It's all fine.

Zheng Yi did not object to the surrender of grassroots soldiers, but only asked that if you wanted to surrender, you should fire as many bullets as possible in your gun.

It is not shameful to surrender after running out of bullets in your gun. At most, the soldier's various preferential treatments will be revoked.

The people defending Duolun were mainly Wu Aihua's men, that is, mainly Malays and Thais. Although a large number of Chaozhou people also joined the Siamese army, there were relatively few of them who actually went to fill the line, and most of them were technical soldiers.

That is to say, the main firing is from the back.

After all, these Malays and Thais are not as cruel as the Chinese. Many of them are actually unaware of the cruel face of the Japanese army. In fact, many of them may actually support the so-called Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere from the bottom of their hearts.

The Japanese army also conducted propaganda warfare. In the context of the Japanese army's propaganda, the Chinese in the Nanyang region were all running dogs of European and American whites, helping European and American whites to plunder and exploit the indigenous people.

And the Japanese army came to liberate everyone.

All the white people in Europe and America have been driven away by them now. Are you still willing to follow these white people's lackeys, bully your own people, and resist the heavenly soldiers together?

Regardless of how this kind of talk is received in other places, it is really popular in Thailand, because after Phraya Phraya Phrom came up with "Greater Thaiism", it has always been an ally of the Japanese army.

Thailand was not occupied or colonized by Japan, but was simply being used as a passage by its allies.

This kind of publicity campaign is actually quite useful.

Furthermore, many Siamese troops, especially the Thais and locals in the Tolon area, did not intend to leave after learning that the Yugoslav Army had no intention of defending to the death.

There were also many Thai soldiers who took the initiative to jump ship and surrender.

After all, to be honest, if the Chinese retire, they can go to Penang, and the Malays can go to Alor Setar.

Where can the Thai people go?
Go live under someone else's roof?

Originally they had a leader to follow, but suddenly, very quickly, their leader suddenly became Chinese.

You know, before Wu Aihua resumed his Chinese name, many of his former subordinates actually had no idea that their leader was actually Chinese.

Many of them were just Wu Aihua's former confidants. They served as soldiers and got paid, and came here to deal with Siam. They were just obeying the orders of their superiors, and it was not their own choice.

Now that they have become the boss of the Chinese, they want to completely abandon their "Siamese homeland" and run to the territory of the Malays and Chinese.

So is he still our leader?

There were quite a few Thais who thought this way. Nationalism worked like this: not only would the minority identities of non-majority ethnic groups be reinforced, but the identity of the majority ethnic group itself would also be constantly strengthened. Zheng Yi didn't let Tao Jun stop him. In fact, he didn't really want the Thais. If they really followed Wu Aihua to retreat to the Malay Peninsula, he would find it very troublesome.

On the contrary, if all these people surrendered to Japan, he would think it was a good thing. Maybe after a few years, Zheng Yi would really regard Wu Aihua as a pure Chaozhou overseas Chinese leader in Southeast Asia.

It was precisely because of this that the entire Duolun fell very quickly. In just seven days, the Japanese army had completely approached Pattani.

During these seven days of fighting, even the Japanese army began to realize what was happening.

[So the enemy didn't really intend to defend at all. So why should I fight for my life?]

After all, although the men of the Showa era were crazy and abnormal during the war, most of them were still normal people and were afraid of death.

As they got closer to Pattani, the Southern Army's counterattacks and vitality naturally became more and more intense and fierce.

Then as everyone played for a while, they developed a tacit understanding.

On the battlefield, everyone was firing intensively, but most of them were hitting each other on the battlefield. The Japanese army was better off, but the Southern Army completely believed in shooting.

When people were in the trenches and knew there were Japanese soldiers on the opposite side, they raised their guns and fired indiscriminately outside.

The Japanese army also responded with indiscriminate fire.

When the bullets and shells are used up, the Confederate Army will retreat.

When the Japanese army felt that there were no more bullets in the opposite position, they would tentatively move forward, and after confirming that the Southern Army had really withdrawn, they would report to the headquarters that they had occupied the position.

This is actually the biggest flaw of the Japanese army as a second-rate army in actual combat: it cannot disperse.

During large-scale combat, group charges are often carried out, but if they really disperse into small-scale combat, the combat effectiveness and fighting spirit of the Japanese squadrons or even companies will often plummet.

They will also become afraid of death, lazy, and just deal with things perfunctorily.

It’s enough to report to the superiors, why risk your life?

Of course, if the Japanese army did not charge forward or shoot back, the Confederate army would not fire even if they believed in shooting, so the Japanese army would often shoot back with the Confederate army. At most, the Confederate army would shoot more and the Japanese army would shoot less.

It also wasted the Japanese army's bullets.

After all, Penang can produce its own saltpeter, and Nanyang itself is rich in copper mines, so bullets are not expensive.

On the contrary, Japan's nitric acid production is actually very tight under the current oil embargo.

Apart from a small number of unlucky soldiers who were injured by stray bullets, the casualties on both sides were very small. They were all wearing helmets, and those who were directly killed were rare.

In the entire Pattani area, and even in the entire Kra Isthmus, all the positions are small positions, characterized by being small and dense. Each position and hilltop will not have more than a hundred people, usually only about twenty or thirty people.

The initial strategy was to drag things out, imitating Lu Xun from the Three Kingdoms period, who played the game of connecting camps.

The Japanese army could attack about a dozen positions at the same time every day. The fastest positions would take a whole day to attack, while the slow positions would take two days, three days, or even a week or more, which was very normal.

The advancement speed is as slow as a turtle.

Of course, although it was slow, disgusting, and time-consuming, the Japanese army was indeed advancing at the speed of capturing two or three positions a day.

Gradually, the Southern Army began to retreat directly to Kota Bharu. Zheng Yi even transferred Long Yao, who was stationed in Yangon, to support these retreating soldiers.

They directly blocked the Kota Bharu Port and engaged in field fighting with the local Japanese troops to ensure that the Southern Army would not be attacked from both sides during its retreat, and that supplies could be transported smoothly from Alor Setar and Kuala Lumpur.

However, no matter how slow the pace was, after fighting for more than two months, they had almost reached the outskirts of Pattani.

Surrounding the city, the Japanese army bombed with artillery and bombed with planes, and then directly called for surrender. They deployed their troops in a three-sided encirclement of the city, using the tactic of "three missing one", but leaving them a way to retreat.

To put it bluntly, the Japanese army had completely seen through the Southern Army's plans by now and had no intention of entering the city.

Everyone, fire some cannons at each other, and I'll use my planes to bomb them. When it's almost done, you guys can retreat quickly.

The Japanese army was also unwilling to fight street fighting.

At this time, in the urban area of ​​Pattani, Tao Jun, Wu Aihua, and a group of middle and senior generals were also discussing who should leave and who should stay.

"Throughout Pattani, there are still quite a few heavy machine guns, small-caliber flat-fire artillery, and mortars. I believe everyone is aware of the situation."

"We must retreat. Mr. Zheng said that the purpose of Pattani is to buy time. Although it is a strategic location, there is no need to defend it to the death. However, with these things, the defense positions of the entire city are complete, and there are even quite long underground tunnels."

"In fact, the conditions for a large-scale street battle do exist."

"To delay time, leaving behind a small force, dispersing them and occupying tactical positions throughout the city, relying on urban buildings and tunnels to consume the Japanese army, is the most advantageous and will definitely cause the Japanese the most headaches."

"That's what Mr. Zheng meant. Urban warfare is different from field warfare. Any building over three stories high is an excellent war fortress, and any factory is an excellent defensive position. With a few tunnels, it's possible to defeat a hundred enemies with one."

"If the purpose is just harassment, the Japanese army might not stop for several years. To put it bluntly, you can just shoot and run. No one can do anything to you. As long as the entrance and exit of the tunnel are not exposed, you can keep fighting."

"Even if the tunnel entrance is truly exposed, it would be nothing more than mincing meat in the tunnel. There are currently 82 tunnels dug throughout Pattani, all independent and unconnected."

"Mr. Zheng and I mean that we can leave 82 teams in Pattani."

"Each team only needs one squad, or even less, just three or five people are enough. Even one person occupying a tunnel is not impossible.

Sufficient supplies were left in the tunnel, including ammunition and sufficient military food such as biscuits, sausages, instant noodles, etc., all of which were high-end products produced in Penang and Alor Setar, for urban guerrilla warfare.

"Probably just a few hundred people."

"I'm sure you all know Mr. Zheng's philosophy of military management. Such extremely dangerous, almost fatal missions should not be forced upon you. Talk to your soldiers about this upon your return."

"Those who are willing to stay will receive three times the pension, and their children will be able to join Mr. Zheng's guards directly."

"Mr. Zheng left us a hundred cameras and a lot of film. Each combat team will be given one, distributed in tunnels. During the battle, you can use the cameras to take pictures of your battle."

"All the films are stored in a special secret place. Even if all the people died in the battle, when the Japanese army retreats and the Southern Army returns to Pattani in the future, Mr. Zheng will find all the films."

"For all those who remain, there will be no more combat orders. Each team will decide how to fight. These films are the evidence that our brothers, as heroes, can leave to Mr. Zheng and future generations."

"Your children will grow up looking at these films. When you compile the results of the battle, you can count the heads in those films and give bonuses to your families."

"Finally, please emphasize to the brothers that those who choose to stay are doomed to die. Mr. Zheng deduced that a counterattack back to Pattani would take at least a year, and at most three or four years."

"After such a long time, it's basically impossible to survive. The Japanese are not cowards and will definitely search the tunnels. Although the entrances to these tunnels are very secretive, it's only a matter of time before they're discovered. If they're discovered, the brothers in the tunnels will definitely be dead. After being strangled, they can simply detonate the ammunition depot."

"Of course, if any lucky individual can actually hold on until Pattani's liberation, at least a year later, he or she will naturally be treated like a war hero."

"That's it. Those who want to stay can stay, and those who don't want to stay, today and tomorrow, we can fight a few more rounds of artillery with the Japanese army, and then we can start to withdraw one after another."

"It seems that the Japanese army has no intention of pursuing us, so there is no need to leave another unit behind to cover our retreat."

After saying that, Tao Jun took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, and smoked it heavily, waiting for them to calm down.

But someone asked, "Then, General, those who stayed behind will completely lose contact with their families and have no command at all?"

Tao Jun: "Of course not. We still need to leave behind a radio station and a command center. If necessary, we can even call in planes from Penang to coordinate bombing operations."

"Then, who is left behind to command the remaining command center?"

Hearing this, Tao Jun took a long drag on his cigarette, exhaled, and then said with a smile, "Me."

"what?"

Everyone was shocked when they heard this, but they hurried to stop and persuade him.

After all, this is a mission that requires one to stay and die, which is essentially to cover the rear. I know that Tao Jun is trying to boost morale, but it doesn't make sense for the leader of an army to stay behind in person to boost morale, right?
After all, he is a general.

Tao Jun was unmoved. Instead, he asked a question: "After fighting for so long, do you know which army corps the Japanese troops fighting us belong to?"

"They're the Fifth and Eighteenth Divisions, both top-tier Type A Corps. The Fifth Division is one thing, but the Eighteenth Division, also known as the Chrysanthemum Corps, has a chrysanthemum as its flag. The soldiers retreating from the front lines should have seen this chrysanthemum, right?"

"Originally, I had no intention of staying, but now that the Chrysanthemum Army has arrived, I'm not going to leave, because this Chrysanthemum Army..."

"Whoo~"

Tao Jun narrowed his eyes and took a deep puff of his cigarette.

"It was the Chrysanthemum Army that captured Nanjing two years ago, and that killed 300,000 of my compatriots."

Everyone in the operations room was horrified. Some of them had no idea that the Japanese army they were fighting was the Chrysanthemum Army, while others did not know that this Chrysanthemum Army was the one in Nanjing.

They were all shocked and annoyed at the same time, and some even slapped their thighs in regret.

If I had known that we were facing a bunch of beasts, I would have fought harder.

For a moment, everyone started to blame Tao Jun: Why the hell didn’t you say it earlier!
Tao Jun smiled and said, "The reason I didn't tell you earlier is because I was afraid you would be too impulsive and fight them to the death. Mr. Zheng said that Patani should not be the place where we fight the Japanese to the death. As the leader of the army, I must bring back as many brothers as possible alive."

"But, these past few days, I've been suffering. Such an enemy is right before my eyes, but I can't give him a good fight. It's really annoying. If I don't avenge this blood feud, how can I still have the face to be a general? I'm ashamed to be a soldier, ashamed to be a Chinese!"

"I've been holding this damn anger in my heart for over three months. I promised Mr. Zheng I'd let you go back, but as for me, screw me! I'm not going back!"

Tao Jun took another puff of his cigarette and said calmly, "When the Japanese attacked Kota Bharu, I saw that the troops responsible for the landing were from the 56th Regiment of the Chrysanthemum Corps, the Tomei Detachment."

"It's just a fucking detachment!"

"Honestly, I'm shocked. The Tuomei Detachment is the most elite, most impressive, and most fearless army I've ever seen in my half-life of military service."

"But Mr. Zheng said they were a second-rate army."

"He said we are the first-class army."

"I've been suffering from insomnia almost every night these days, especially after I learned they were from the Chrysanthemum Army. My heart has been in agony."

"Because I actually developed a fear of them."

"I am afraid of them, afraid of this, the greatest enemy of the Chinese people, afraid of these beasts!"

"If I don't tear them apart with my own hands, I will never be able to get over this inner demon in my life."

"Mr. Zheng said that an army whose soldiers have subjective initiative, can consciously fight with their brains, and are not afraid of death and do not die in vain, is a first-class army. Only a first-class army can defeat those Japanese Type A divisions that are fearless but only second-rate in Mr. Zheng's eyes."

"Are we a first-rate army now? I don't know. If we are, then I will create it."

"The Nanyang War of Resistance still needs a bloody baptism. Since the war began, there has been no bloody battle or death battle in Nanyang. I know that there are many people who are afraid of the Japanese army like me."

"Let this fear end from today. The Nanyang Anti-Japanese War needs a general who died on the battlefield to commemorate its heroic deeds."

“Today, I start with myself!”

(End of this chapter)