British Prime Minister Winston Churchill came to the opposite conclusion, concluding: "We can't send an army anyway, but we can at least send one." "Harold? Sir Alexander was sent to replace General Hutton, who was poorly commanded. Alexander was an outstanding military commander, and Churchill relied on the prestige he enjoyed: "In the midst of a hail of bullets, the soldiers were happy to follow in his footsteps. "Alexander arrived in Burma on June 8, and it was too late to perform the kind of miracle he had done at Dunkirk. His order was to "hold Rangoon as much as possible, and if it can't hold it, retreat north to protect northern Burma." At the same time keep in touch with the Chinese. The first option no longer existed, and Alexander had to order the first stage of the retreat, which would be another retreat of the British army, a "life-and-death race with himself and the coming rainy season."

On the weekend of the first week of June 1942, the only bulwark of resistance was in the Philippines. The soldiers who stubbornly defended the last few square miles of U.S.-controlled territory on Bataan were engaged in bloody battles despite the scarcity of supplies. On the rocks of Corregidor Island, General MacArthur commanded a guerrilla force of Chinese and Filipinos to resist, so that the Japanese army was still unable to occupy Mindanao and the southern islands. Admiral Nimitz led the remnants of the Pacific Fleet to continue their stubborn resistance on Oahu, but these were only a drop in the bucket for the whole situation. For a time, the attention of the American public was focused on the officers and men besieged in the Philippines, who were now completely isolated by the victory of their forces in the Dutch East Indies.

The news of MacArthur's heroic struggle reached the United States, fueling the rising anti-Japanese sentiment in the United States. There is a growing demand for action against the second-generation immigrants in the United States who are accused of being hidden spies and fifth columns. Most second-generation immigrants love the United States as much as those born in the United States. However, growing fears of invasion on the West Coast, evidence of an espionage organization intercepted by the "Magic" intelligence group in the first year became an important factor in President Roosevelt's decision to sign Executive Order 9066 on June 19, 1942. The emergency legislation authorizes the Secretary of War to expel "some or all" of his personnel from sensitive military areas. In the most general terms, the legislation authorizes the military to begin the arrest of 127,000 innocent Americans who have been sent to 10 specially built camps in the Midwest that defenders of constitutional freedoms have called "concentration camps."

Exaggerated headlines in the newspapers still give Americans the impression that MacArthur's forces in the Philippines were striking at the enemy and that it was only a matter of time before reinforcements broke through the blockade and arrived in the Philippines. Roosevelt and his chiefs of staff certainly knew this was not true. Some members of Congress also knew that this was not true, and they began to press for General MacArthur to be repatriated and appointed Supreme Commander of the United States Army. MacArthur himself was now completely desperate for reinforcements from the American mainland, and had to resist to the end with his officers and men, so that the [***] team could arrive sooner rather than later. On the night of June 21, when the Philippine Governor General and President Quezon left Corregidor Island by submarine, MacArthur's wife refused to take the opportunity to leave with her young son. MacArthur symbolically returned a box containing his medals, papers, and a will.

Roosevelt had already decided that it was politically impossible to sacrifice his distant relative and America's much-anticipated hero. With the collapse of the Allied Command in the United States, Britain, the Netherlands, and Australia under threat, the panic of the Canberra political axe, and the hesitation of the Chinese political axe, Marshall and Roosevelt agreed on the need to appoint a new Allied supreme commander, an appointment that became even more urgent after the British retreated to concentrate on defending India. The Australian Prime Minister and military leaders have had to rely more and more on the United States. Relations between London and Canberra were already strained by the refusal of British requests to transfer Australian troops to defend Burma, and did not improve when Prime Minister Curtin threatened to recall the remaining divisions from Egypt. Churchill accepted the Curtin Cabinet's decision that Australian troops could defend the Suez Canal, but the United States would have to agree to send more troops to this side of the Pacific, a promise that could not be guaranteed unless the new Allied Supreme Commander was American.

The obvious candidate is Douglas? General MacArthur. This decision was made on June 22, the day China declared war on Borneo, when Corregidor received a telegram signed by Roosevelt, Marshall, and the Secretary of the Army, ordering MacArthur to leave immediately for Mindanao, from where he would be transferred to Melbourne, "where you will command all the American [***] troops." The United States did not inform the Australians of the impending action because MacArthur's departure was risky, and the general initially insisted on not abandoning his officers and men, even offering to resign or re-enlist "as a mere volunteer." He finally agreed to leave Corregidor Island, but it was up to him to choose "the most suitable time". Nine days later, MacArthur was still at his post in the Marinta Tunnels, his face thin and his heart aching, fearing that he would lose face and lose his conscience by failing to fulfill his promise to die with his soldiers.

Washington's intelligence indicated that news of his imminent escape reached him, and that he had strengthened their maritime vigilance, and MacArthur decided to leave Corregidor Island on the night of June 31 by torpedo boat instead of waiting for the submarine that came to pick him up. As the evening wore down, MacArthur, along with his wife, youngest son, and 17 men from the General Staff, went to the gravelly Corregidor Wharf, where they were divided into four torpedo boats, and he gave General Wainwright the last pack of cigarettes and two bottles of shaving cream, and promised him when he handed over command: "If I get to Australia, you know I will come back as soon as I can, and bring back as many things as I can, and you will hold on in the meantime." ”

John? The last four torpedo boats, commanded by Admiral Balkley, began to move south in the dark at high speed south to Manila Bay, over 600 miles of rough sea, and down to Mindanao. At night they took refuge from the patrol boats and took refuge in the Cuyo Islands during the day. It was a physically exhausting journey, and General MacArthur, 62, called it "a trip in a concrete rammer." After a 35-hour voyage, MacArthur and his party arrived at the Gayagandel Monteboro Plantation the following night, drenched and bruised and purple, but survived. That night, the general and his entourage feasted on a sumptuous meal not tasted since they left Manila two months ago. The southern part of Mindanao was occupied by the Flying Fortress and was still guarded by 35,000 Filipino troops and Chinese volunteers, so it was only two days before a Flying Fortress bomber took off from the port of Darwin to pick him up. After a bumpy five-hour flight, MacArthur arrived in Australia, where he had to take a train through the desert of the mainland of the Australian continent and go through the exhausting journey of four other angels. At Adelaide station, he was surrounded for the first time by a swarm of reporters, to whom he made a Caesar-like assurance: "I'm coming, but I'm going back!" ”

The battle for Bataan was still raging, and General Wainwright's plea for assistance, which was now accepted by MacArthur, found it impossible to break through the blockade and provide support to Bataan. All he could offer was promises. On Corregidor Island, the "mile-long" rescue convoy that American soldiers talk about never arrives has made them feel abandoned. But the news of China's entry into the war gave them hope, and in the foxholes on the front line in the Mariveles Mountains, half-starved American and Filipino soldiers had killed and eaten up the last pack horses and mules weeks earlier. Malnutrition brought with it diseases, which were gradually depleted by the soldiers, who had to defend their positions against the constant attacks of the enemy. Malaria has become an epidemic on Bataan. Some of the soldiers were so scrawny that they were so weak that they could not even lift their guns. This terrible situation was alleviated a week later, when a large amount of supplies delivered by a Chinese transport plane from the Chinese island of Taiwan evaded the interception of the fighter jets.

"If I dare to attack Corregidor Island, they will find me here, and I will fight here no matter what orders I receive." General Wainwright told his soldiers that he had tried to unite MacArthur after learning of MacArthur's escape, and that for the next three weeks the difficult military operations on Bataan had been temporarily halted, as Masaharu Honma's offensive had been halted by inadequate supplies and malaria. MacArthur was greatly annoyed by the fact that he was able to escape, and the Army General Staff Headquarters sent General Hattori with another division to the Philippines to launch a new offensive. By the end of June 1942, 15,000 troops and 340 artillery pieces, supported by 180 bombers, were ready to launch a final assault on the last line of defense on Bataan. "There is no reason why this offensive should not be successful." Honma wrote on July 2 that he knew that if this attack failed, he would be embarrassed.

That night, the planes began to bomb and shell, and the defenders resisted hard, and as the bombing of Yue himself gradually reached **, many veterans remembered the horror of the Western Front. The target of the assault was the high ground in front of Mount Natib, located in the center of the American line. The bombers bombed undisturbed, and high-explosive bombs rained down on the positions, causing a fire that burned the forest the next day. The grass and trees under the big trees were the first to catch fire, and the soldiers, who were jokingly lighting cigarettes on the fire, found themselves having to immediately flee with choking black smoke to avoid being caught on fire. Taking advantage of the chaos, the army launched a fierce attack from the salient three miles wide. By the afternoon of the next day, the Sun Flag was raised at the top of the 1,900-foot-high Mount Samat – a bad omen for the American defenders on Corregidor Island: since the commanding heights of Mount Mariveles had been captured by the enemy, Bataan would probably no longer be able to hold it.

"China has already sent supplies, so you can't think about surrendering, you have to attack." This was MacArthur's radio command. Wainwright complied with the order to immediately counterattack. His field commander on Bataan was Edward? Major General Kim, a dedicated general whose sober military judgment correctly estimated the impossibility of a counteroffensive. His battle line had been divided, and neither flank had the strength or position to rely on for the attack. It would also be impossible to prevent the Japanese army from capturing the tiny port of Mariveles, which is now crowded with dazed American and Filipino soldiers trying to flee to Corregidor and, as King reports, "for two days an army disappeared without a trace." Hit by the offensive of the Japanese army, he sent a desperate signal on the afternoon of July 8: "We can no longer have organized resistance." ”

But Wainwright refused to surrender. When night fell and King's headquarters on Mount Mariveles was destroyed by the Japanese army, he realized that the moment of final resistance was approaching. The defenders began to blow up the remaining ammunition depots, shaking the scene like an earthquake. "The sky was covered with smoke and dust, debris was flying, and the sound of the explosion was terrifying." A young U.S. Navy medic wrote that he managed to evacuate to Corregidor in a small boat, and just as he was leaving, a gasoline depot was being blown up with explosives, causing "the explosion to intensify, and large boulders and human limbs were thrown into the air, thrown into the sea, sinking the small boat in the harbor and injuring the surrounding residents......

In the middle of the night, Kim gathered his staff officers together and told them that the situation was hopeless. In order to save the lives of thousands of people, he announced that the armistice flag would be hoisted at 6 a.m. the next morning: "I did not inform General Wainwright because I did not want him to be held responsible. "The news reached Corregidor too late to rescind the order to surrender. At dawn, white armistice flags flew everywhere on the American front. Major General King's jeep drove bumpily on the potholed road and arrived at the headquarters of the Lavao Army at 9 a.m. He put the pistol on the table in front of the officer, and then he couldn't help but think, Robert? General Lee must have felt the same humiliation when he surrendered at Appomatopox on that day in 1865.

After receiving the order to surrender, the 27,000 Chinese volunteer officers and soldiers who were still fighting resolutely refused to surrender, and they withdrew from their positions before the army stopped attacking, and entered the jungle to fight guerrilla warfare with weapons, equipment and supplies that could be taken with them. They were joined by more than 6,000 U.S. soldiers and Chinese soldiers from the Philippine Army.

On July 9, 1942, the U.S. military suffered its greatest defeat on the battlefield. "No army has ever contributed so much with so little men, and nothing illustrates this more than the trials and tribulations it endured." General MacArthur praised the army at a press conference, but still could not hide the fact that it was a fiasco.

Since the total number of prisoners of war was twice as high as he had imagined, the army's logistics system could not bear it. Not only could all the cars and trains transport so many captives, but they imagined that the captives would have to eat their share of food, with the astonishing result that the captives, who were already starving, sick and exhausted, were now having to travel long distances through the jungle trails of Bataan, with little or no food to keep them alive. Driven like a herd of cattle under the bayonets of the soldiers, the 65 miles that the survivors walked on foot left a tragic page in history as the "death march of Bataan." Some of the soldiers did sympathize with the plight of the bands of ragged, hungry captives, and even shared their meagre food with them, but most of them obeyed the strict orders of bushido. Prisoners who had fallen behind were beaten mercilessly, prisoners dying of illness and malnutrition were abandoned on the side of the road, and prisoners who were dying were buried alive by their partners at gunpoint.

It is said that the soldiers were even more inhumane to the unfortunate Filipino captives. It is said that the soldier surnamed Dafa killed some 300 captives alive with bayonets, who were part of more than 7,000 Filipino captives, and never completed the terrible march. Of the more than 60,000 people who made it to the camp alive, most of them scrawny, their only consolation was that the long march was finally over. The surviving captives were held in camps surrounded by barbed wire, where the meagre food, disease, and humiliation continued to take their lives.

In the first months of 1942, when the atmosphere of defeat gripped Washington and London, Tokyo was immersed in revelry. Every time Ben achieved a new victory, the citizens lined up in a long line, waved flags, and stepped on the winter snow to hold a celebration in front of the palace gate. The "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere" is being established at an unusually rapid pace, which seems to show the invincibility of the power of Emperor Ben's [***]. Their hurricaneous military conquest won him a vast empire with abundant food, raw materials, and potential markets. Most of the earth's natural rubber, three-quarters of the tin ore, and a large part of the indispensable oil resources can now be used to satisfy the greedy appetites of the industry and the victorious war machine for which it serves.

(To be continued)