Barton's "China Diary":

"After going through the tedious and nasty formalities about the identities of us Americans, I met my Chinese comrade-in-arms Zhao Yu who had saved me at Saint-Miel at Shanhaiguan and received first-hand information about the situation of the Japanese from Colonel Gay. In addition to the six divisions that arrived first, there is also a tank regiment of the 9th Division, a tank regiment of the 10th Division, and the 209th Anti-Tank Battalion, as well as some artillery and quartermaster units. The officers and men of those quartermaster units were also very outstanding, and they always behaved very bravely when they were needed. ”

"In order to counter the imminent invasion of the Japanese army, the Chinese government began to assemble all the troops capable of fighting, and the troops returning from the European theater were all called up, and I accepted the appointment of the Chinese government to assist Colonel Liu Renfeng of the Chinese Army in commanding a tank regiment that had just been formed by the 6th Division. I thought it would be a mistake to concentrate all the tank forces and separate them separately, but the situation at the time forced the Chinese government to do so. I also made many phone calls to prepare anti-tank artillery battalions, hospitals, bombs, bridge construction equipment, etc. I ordered the personnel assigned to our anti-tank detachment to be fully prepared, because I had a hunch that the war would begin soon. ”

"At the end of an unusually busy day, my friend Zhao Yu complained to me: 'Our politician spent a lot of money on those staff officers. In fact, as long as there are a few more people like you to manage the troops, they are much better than them. Actually, I feel the same way, but I admit that the staff officers who have studied and worked in Europe and the United States are much more efficient than the staff officers of the Chinese army, and the reason why the 1st Army of the Chinese Army was able to quickly assemble from Tientsin to the vicinity of Shanhaiguan should be entirely due to the extraordinary efficiency of the staff officers of the 1st Army, and I think those in the squadron who want to know how a group army acts, should study this operation. ”

"The 1st Army made a detailed record of the build-up. On the evening of April 6, our troops were deployed as follows: the 5th Army was on the right flank, which consisted of the 6th Infantry Division and a task force, plus the 7th Infantry Division, the 8th Infantry Division, and attached artillery and tank units; The 6th Army had the 11th, 12th and 14th Infantry Divisions; The 8th Army had the 4th and 5th Infantry Divisions and the 13th Infantry Division; The 7th Army had the 15th and 17th Infantry Divisions and a newly formed tank brigade. It is said that six more divisions are advancing here, ready to replenish here, and then be placed in the 6th or 8th Army, depending on the situation. The timing of the offensive of the 5th Army has not yet been determined. But we're all ready. ”

"I've had a lot of phone calls from Chinese officials asking for my opinion and expressing concern about the success of our offensive. I stick to my own point of view, and it is better to attack immediately with the existing forces and take the enemy by surprise than to miss the opportunity. I fear that the Japanese will launch a harassing attack on us. If the Japanese had known that we were massing, they would have undoubtedly attacked immediately, but as we had learned in Europe, the Japanese had a very poor communication system, and I doubt that they would have known that the 1st Army was in action. ”

"As usual, when the battle is approaching, everyone is suspicious, but I am an exception. Before each action, I was always playing the role of a sunny bad luck sè, and I had to constantly cheer up my boss and subordinates. But I can say very frankly that I had no doubt that we would succeed in our operation, and I was sure that we would succeed. ”

"For the Chinese, bad news kept coming, in Vladivostok, the squadron was fiercely attacked by the Japanese army, and they held on with the support of the navy. The army of Soviet Russia attacked Ménggu, killed the leader of the lamas of Ménggu, and the squadron retreated. In the face of the fact that war had already broken out, the Chinese High Command finally issued an operational order and issued a partial mobilization order. It seems to me that the Chinese gave orders too late, although they began preparations very early. ”

"What I probably know about the situation of the squadron is that the Chinese army began to deploy and assemble in Shanhaiguan and Liaoxi, and their strategic intention was to separate the Japanese army on the Liaodong Peninsula from the army in Korea. The squadron assembled in the area of Gubeikou, Kouwai, Shanhaiguan, Liaoxi, and Jinzhou on the Great Wall are all expeditionary forces that have participated in the exclusive occupation of Europe, and I estimate that the total number is about 24 divisions (actually 30 divisions). These units are all armed with American-made weapons. As far as I know, the squadron outside the mouth is now beginning to move towards Kulen and Balkan in the outer Méng Valley, and their target position should be the southwestern region of Nebuchu and the southern part of Ulan-Ude. The main forces of the Southern Chinese Army were also massing in the Shandong and Qingdao areas to prepare for the landing of Japanese troops from the sea. ”,

"The Chinese are not a belligerent people, they are gentle and kind-hearted, and they always know to fight back after the enemy has caused them threats and losses. I think this is one of the reasons why they are always bullied by the Japanese. ”

"The assembly and preparation of the squadron took about 40 days. The 5th Army launched its attack at 6 a.m. on 13 April, and despite stubborn enemy resistance and difficulties caused by the bombing of roads and bridges, they advanced smoothly for six miles. It was slower than I expected, but I know that in this situation, it's usually tough to keep attacking. Our attack was actually very fierce against the Japanese, and I think that the Japanese army will not be able to take countermeasures in the next 36 hours, and I sincerely hope that our troops will continue to advance during this time. ”

"The 1st Tank Regiment of the 6th Division, which I assisted in commanding, launched an attack in the direction of Jinzhou at noon on the day of the attack and achieved outstanding results. We happened to run into two Japanese wings that were preparing to attack the 6th Infantry Division and routed them. In Ganjiagou, I met eight Chinese special forces soldiers and an officer, who happened to be there at the time of the Japanese attack. They told me that they had gone straight through the territory occupied by the Japanese and that they had only seen 10 Japanese. This convinced me that the intensity of the Japanese offensive was much smaller than the data in the report. ”

"Our offensive continues, and the number of units and armies supporting the offensive of the 1st Army is very impressive, with a total of almost 800 mén 105 mm and 88 mm caliber guns."

"On April 17, we were subjected to a fierce Japanese attack from the northeast, which was repelled by the 6th Infantry Division. This was probably the first Japanese response to our attack. ”

"From the intercepted orders of the Japanese troops, we learned that the Japanese were trying to cross Jinzhou to the west and then turn south to attack us from the flanks and rear. Since the presence of this possibility is a great threat to us, it is necessary to consider strengthening the left flank of the 5th Army. Some units launched a limited-objective offensive that drove the Japanese to the east of the Daling River. At the same time, the 6th Army also launched a limited-objective offensive against the Japanese front in order to pin down the enemy. The weather was getting warmer, and the five bomber groups of the Chinese Air Force fought very badly, and they bombed and destroyed the pontoon bridges erected by the Japanese on the river, which seriously threatened the rear of the Japanese. Our progress on the day was not impressive, and we only advanced 2 to 5 miles. ”

"The 20th was really discouraging, our entire front was subjected to a fierce counter-attack by the Japanese, and we lost several tanks. It was probably my fault because I insisted on attacking day and night. Such an offensive went well on the first night, and probably no problem on the second, but after that the officers and men were extremely tired. Not only that, but unless Yue Sè Qingming can see the road clearly, the consequences of a night battle by tank troops are unpredictable, and I should have thought about this earlier. ”

"I always believed that this attack was planned and executed by the Japanese General Staff, with the aim of regaining the initiative on the battlefield, but later it turned out that I was wrong. The Japanese offensive was obviously much slower than planned, so at that time I thought it was possible for us to surround and annihilate the enemy. But there is also a concern that we do not know very well about the situation of the Japanese army, but undoubtedly overestimate their strength, and nevertheless my mistakes are much smaller than most. ”

"While we were with the 1st Tank Brigade (commanded by Major General Xie Xun), two Japanese planes swept and bombed us, but to no avail. During the period when China was fighting Korea, it was the only time I was spotted and attacked by Japanese planes on the road. ”

"Overall, there hasn't been much progress in the last few days. Although we kept pushing forward, the only remarkable achievement was that the 6th Infantry Division drove the attacking Japanese back and annihilated a wing of the Japanese who attempted to escape across the river. ”

"That night, I had a simple dinner with Colonel Liu Renfeng and Major General Xie Xun. After the meal, Major General Xie Xun and I had a long talk. Rear Admiral Xie Xun told me that the Japanese Navy was likely to cover the landing of the Army in our rear, and he was worried that our rear route would be cut off, and whether we should retreat to wait for the infantry to follow, but both Colonel Liu and I felt that such a move by the Japanese was unlikely, and I knew that a strong Chinese fleet was on combat cruises in this area of water behind us, and that we had been supported by gunboats at sea, and the situation he was worried about should not arise. Liu and I are firmly opposed to making any gestures of back-off, because we feel that it will have a huge adverse political impact, and may lead to the enslavement or massacre of all the **** residents in this area. Because such a retreat would put the areas we had already recovered back into the hands of the Japanese, who were notoriously brutal and tyrannical. ”,

"I told Major General Xie Xun that we just had to move forward. At 9:45 a.m. the next day, we encountered the Japanese again, we saw the Japanese tanks for the first time, but their tanks were too few and the armor was so thin that they could not pose a threat to us at all, but the Japanese infantry was very troublesome, I have to admit that these Japanese were very brave, they would rush to our tanks in spite of the sweep of machine gun bullets, and try to destroy or destroy the tanks with bombing, we lost 6 tanks, but we still eliminated them, By the end of the battle, there were corpses of Japanese soldiers everywhere. We also took many Japanese soldiers, but when the Japanese planes attacked our troops at night that day, about 100 Japanese prisoners rioted and attacked the guards. ”

On the same day, the Japanese also launched another attack on the 7th and 8th Infantry Divisions from the northeast, launched by a wing of the Guards Division and a cavalry unit. Another Japanese division launched an attack on the Liaozhong area. This was probably the largest coordinated counterattack my unit had ever experienced. We have won all kinds of battles. ”

"On April 24, a group of 10 Japanese dressed in Chinese uniforms and traveling in an American truck were killed. According to the information reported by the 7th Division, there was also a group of Japanese soldiers, a total of 22 people, also wearing Chinese uniforms, and a reinforced sentry found them, killing 15 people, and the rest escaped. I think it might have been a Japanese scout or a spy. On this day, the Japanese launched a total of 3 attacks on us, but all of them were repulsed. We were unable to occupy a large area, and only the 8th Division made a surprise attack along the muddy road, advancing four miles. ”

Barton's Letter Home:

"How are you, dear? Hopefully I'll be able to spend Christmas at home this year.

Yesterday I really didn't have bad luck. Two more Chinese tank regiments came, but they arrived late for the rendezvous, and among them I saw many more acquaintances, and it was so great that each of them urged me to delay the attack. I still insist that they attack, if it is in the vanguard's favor. They were finally persuaded by me to agree to attack, only to meet the Japanese flank attack. If this is not the case, the situation will be against us. In this way, we stopped their attack at that time.

Historians would say that such a perfect timing was a stroke of genius. Actually, this was my stubbornness, I didn't know that the Japanese would attack.

On the other side of the front, they also hit us. We lost a village, the enemy lost 15 tanks, and after a lot of fighting, we finally stopped their attack.

It was a tough battle today, but we got more tanks and things have improved. Tomorrow is a test of life and death. I think, actually, I knew we were going to stop them and attack immediately. ”

Barton was interviewed by the Daily News:

Patton: For all the Americans who volunteered to serve in the squadron, the purpose of this trip was to beat the dogs* and get them out of China -- excuse me -- that's what we did, and as a result, could there be any other outcome? Of course we defeated them, and they were running away from us.

I'm happy with the current situation...... For me, all that our valiant fighters – whether they are Americans or Chinese – can do is for peace in Asia and the world.

I would also like to say this: what is really great is that the ordinary soldiers fighting on the front line, the Chinese generals and their staffs, can issue orders for action. It was the young and brave officers and soldiers who were taking part in the operation. You can think about it, these young men marched all day and all night, no one was left behind, everyone arrived at the appointed place in time, even if they were surrounded by the enemy, they never retreated, which is very remarkable; In military history, nothing compares with this...... I took off my hat to salute them.

I think China should not be weak in the face of Japan, their enemies are not as terrible as yesterday, the Japanese could have done something, but now they have nothing to do.

Reporter: Will the 1st Army move soon?

Patton: I'm not a commander, and I don't know what the Chinese generals decide.

Reporter:...... What about future plans?

Barton:...... We planned to catch as many Japanese soldiers as we could, but unfortunately they were retreating. ,

Reporter: If you capture too many Japanese, is it possible to collapse the front?

Barton: What do you think I was doing in church yesterday?

Reporter: And what if the enemy forces concentrate troops and tank artillery?

Patton: They don't have at all unless they can get tanks from Japan right now

Reporter: What is the strength of the Japanese army on the Liaodong Peninsula?

Barton: I don't care. I'm only interested in these dogs* that are right now under my nose...... Everywhere we can defeat the Japanese soldiers...... I don't care where I fight, I can find them and kick their teeth in the stomach

Reporter: Did you break through the Japanese defense?

Barton: Of course, there has never been a line of defense in the history of the world that has been successfully held. The Trojans built a large wall, but the Greeks attacked it anyway. Hadrian built a wall; The Chinese also built the Great Wall; The French - out of consideration of the situation - built a wall with their heads down. We also built walls when we were in Europe - the trenches were really just walls with their heads down. The only way to win a war is to attack and attack again

Reporter: Major Patton, what do you think is the general purpose of the Japanese government in waging this war?

Barton: I think they're preparing for another world war, they've always thought that China should be their territory, and I'm going to tell them that they're wrong, China was, is, and will not be their territory, and as long as we survive, they don't want to enslave the people of this land, but that's just my personal opinion