Chapter 242: Declaring War (Asking for Subscriptions, Asking for Monthly Passes, Asking for Various !! ）

The bombing has ended, but intelligence officers from Shanghai have reported that the fire at Wusongkou is getting bigger and bigger, and explosions are heard from time to time. Shanghai City is also under martial law today, and a large number of Japanese field troops have taken to the streets to patrol, and even people from Britain, France, and other countries are forbidden to walk on the streets.

That night, the Military Command Bureau of the Nationalist Government intercepted an urgent telegram sent to the Japanese army headquarters in Tokyo, which was sent by Lieutenant General Fujita Sususu, commander of the 3rd Division of the Japanese Army in Shanghai. After decipherment, this is a loss report, which proves that the Japanese army lost a total of 77 warships in this bombing, of which 29 were sunk, 24 were seriously damaged, and 24 were slightly damaged.

In addition, 264 warplanes and a large number of small ships were lost, and 3,128 soldiers were killed and 4,236 soldiers were wounded in the bombing. More importantly, Vice Admiral Hasegawa Ao, commander of the Japanese Third Fleet, and Vice Admiral Toyoda, Vice Admiral Toyoda, were both killed in the bombing, and the generals who were also killed at the same time were Rear Admiral Kondo, commander of the 11th Sentai Seaplane Carrier Kamigawa Maru, Rear Admiral Kondo, commander of the 4th Mine Squadron, Rear Admiral Goshiro Hososu, commander of the 1st Combined Air Force, Rear Admiral Michitaro Tozuka, commander of the 2nd Combined Air Force, Rear Admiral Sadamoz Minami, commander of the Shanghai Naval Special Marine Corps, Rear Admiral Okawa Uchidenchichi, Rear Admiral Eiji Goto, commander of the 5th Mine Squadron of the Fourth Fleet, and Rear Admiral Tamazo Hoshi, commander of the 3rd Diving Squadron, the Japanese lost 2 lieutenant generals and 7 major generals in World War I, and the number of casualties among officers below Osa was even greater.

Among the ships sunk in the bombing were the aircraft carrier Hosho and the Third Fleet's flagship Izumo, as well as the Heido, Tenryu, Takuma, Tokiwa, Ataka, Uji, Fushimi, Sumida, Seta, Hira, Hozu, Katata, Toba, Atami, Kuma, Yakumo, Naka, Abukuma, Yura, Myoko, Nagara, Tenryu, and Tatsuda

The Ashigara was seriously injured during the Fourth Fleet. The capital ship of the Third Fleet, the Notoro, ran aground and suffered heavy damage, and it can be said that after this battle, the two major fleets of the Japanese army were already seriously damaged. Although the Japanese army berthed more than 160 ships at the Wusongkou Military Port at that time, and less than 30 were sunk, because the Chinese Air Force had a clear goal, the 30 ships lost by the Japanese army were the main ships of the two major fleets of the Japanese army.

More importantly, the 300,000 tons of heavy oil stored by the Japanese army at the Wusongkou military port were blown up, and the huge oil depot was located in an underground fortification two kilometers away from Wusongkou, and the Chinese air force did not know in advance that there was a large amount of oil stored there. But unfortunately, a Nationalist government bomber was hit by Japanese ground artillery fire, and the pilot died on the spot. The warplane also caught fire and lost control. And this fighter plane happened to fall on this oil depot. Coincidentally, the bomber was also very well stocked with ammunition. The power of dozens of aerial bombs exploding together was quite strong, and in this way, the hundreds of thousands of tons of heavy oil that the Japanese army had worked so hard to accumulate were completely scrapped.

Once a fire breaks out in heavy oil, it is not something that can be extinguished by any firefighting method, and the fire caused by hundreds of thousands of tons of oil is a disaster. The spreading fire gradually burned to Wusongkou. From the morning of the 15th to the night of the 15th, everyone was burning. Fortunately, after the Japanese captured Shanghai, they drove away all the residents near Wusongkou. Otherwise, I don't know how far this fire will burn.

In addition, the Chinese Air Force not only blew up the main ships of the Japanese Third and Fourth Fleets, but also blew up all the docks set up by the Japanese near Wusongkou. Because Chen Feng had exchanged views with Liu Nijia and others in advance, if the Japanese shipyard had not been blown up. The Japanese ships that survived the disaster would be successfully docked, and the damaged ships would probably be repaired on the spot, so not only the ships but also the docks would be bombed.

The effect of this bombing was very good, and the air force not only focused its attack on the Japanese navy on the ships, but also did not ignore the machine factory and the 300,000 tons of heavy oil stored there. Without these fuels, it would have been impossible for the Japanese fleet and land tanks to launch any combat operations from Shanghai in a few months.

There are also the deaths of the 9 generals, which made the Japanese hurt to the bones, these are 9 generals, of which there are two lieutenant generals, and they are all famous generals in the Japanese Navy, I didn't expect it to be so easily explained to Wusongkou, and Vice Admiral Hasegawa Qing didn't even find the body.

When Dai Li sent the information to Wuhan to camp, Lao Jiang's original frowning brows were relieved because of the upcoming Battle of Wuhan, and the whole person excitedly confirmed whether the results of the battle were true. After receiving a definite answer, Lao Jiang did not hesitate to praise Chen Feng and all the air force officers and men, and even asked the attendant room to send him to the aviation committee despite the fact that it was already more than nine o'clock in the evening.

When Lao Jiang arrived at the Aviation Committee building, he found that there was only one platoon of guards inside, and none of the officers, including Zhou Zhirou, were there. After inquiring, it turned out that Zhou Zhirou was celebrating all the pilots at Wuhan Airport.

In addition to being happy, Lao Jiang didn't pay attention to these things, and asked the attendant room to send him to Wuhan Airport. At this time, Wuhan Airport is called a lively, where are thousands of people toasting to invite Mingyue Of course, the Air Force officers and soldiers do not have this Yaxing, but drinking is indeed real.

More than 100 tables of wine and food are placed throughout the airport, and even the runway is set up with tables, everyone drinks wine and eats meat in large bowls, and there is no shortage of seasonal fruits and the like, and the atmosphere of the scene is very lively.

This night, the old man, who had been advocating a new life and quitting alcohol and smoking, was drunk, and his wife came to pick him up in person. It's hard for this old man, he has never been so happy as he is today in more than a year, and although there have been big victories before, those victories have never made the old man happy. One is that those victories have little to do with him at all, whether it is the Pingxingguan of the Eighth Route Army or the repeated victories of Chen Feng's department, and he can't fight with the eight poles of the Central Army, the better people fight, the more they can bring out his incompetence of Lao Jiang, yes, it is incompetence.

The main forces of the Nationalist Government also won great victories. But what made Lao Jiang depressed was that every big victory was often followed by a big rout. I think that at the beginning, Tang Enbo guarded the south exit, and he fought very tenaciously and very well, and gave the arrogant Itagaki Seishiro's Fifth Division a blow to the head. However, the result was that the southern entrance was lost, and hundreds of thousands of troops in North and North China fell for thousands of miles.

Besides, how the Battle of Taierzhuang was fought, well, there is nothing to say, more than 20,000 enemies were annihilated, many were captured, and the prestige of the Chinese army was played. But what about the result? The Battle of Xuzhou was fought by the Nationalist Government. If it weren't for Chen Feng's side reinforcements. I am afraid that the Lanfeng line has long been broken by the Japanese, and the flames of war will burn to the Central Plains.

But today's battle is different, although the Northern Air Force participated, and Chen Feng had a share of the credit. But Lao Chiang thought that this was dominated by the Central Army. The supreme commander was Zhou Zhirou. The venue and more than half of the ammunition were also provided by the National Government. The intelligence is also provided by the Military Command Bureau, and this credit belongs to his old Jiang, and no one can take it away.

What's more, this result is gratifying. Thinking about the elimination of 9 generals of the Japanese army in World War I, Lao Jiang's heart was pounding and jumping, how could he raise his eyebrows and breathe his anger!

It's a pity that before Lao Chiang could be happy for long, when he woke up from a hangover, he heard a bad news, the Japanese government openly broke off diplomatic relations with the Republic of China, the two sides were in a state of war, and Japan openly declared war on China.

Although it can be said that the two sides have been fighting since the Lugou Bridge Incident last year, from the Linhai Snow Plain in the northeast to the vast plains in the south of the Yangtze River, from the grasslands of Saibei to the loess-covered Shanxi Plateau, the two sides have fought hard to the death, but in the four years from the beginning of the war in July 1937 to the outbreak of the Pacific War in December 1941, neither the Chinese Government nor the Japanese Government even declared a state of war, nor did they officially announce the severance of diplomatic relations.

As a matter of fact, after the outbreak of Japan's war of aggression against China, the Chinese and Japanese governments were very cautious about the issue of declaring war, and each side conducted full deliberations and discussions, but as a result, they did not formally declare war or officially announce the severance of diplomatic relations in consideration of various factors, and the two sides only diplomatically recalled their respective ambassadors to each other.

As early as a few days after the Lugou Bridge Incident, Chiang Kai-shek had instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to issue a statement in response to Japanese aggression. At that time, the Beiping Jicha authorities had signed an armistice agreement with the Japanese army. When discussing Chiang Kai-shek's instructions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs held that the local government had signed a peace agreement with the Japanese army, while the central government was mobilizing troops to declare war against Japan, which seemed to be a lack of contact and coordination between the central and local governments. At this time, instead of declaring war against Japan, the central authorities should express their desire for peace. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs forwarded this opinion to Chiang Kai-shek, and the matter of issuing the statement was abandoned.

In addition, there is another consideration for not declaring war, that is, China cannot be self-sufficient in military supplies, and must rely on foreign transportation, if war is declared, first of all, Japan can notify other countries as a belligerent country to prohibit all military supplies and military raw materials from entering China. The Japanese navy has an absolute advantage over the Chinese navy, and China is unable to protect foreign aid materials from entering China by sea. Second, Chinese nationals in Japan will be deported or arrested, and China will not have ships to carry them back to China, so they will not be protected as they deserve. On the other hand, the Japanese overseas Chinese and the Japanese in the Japanese concessions could move into the concessions of Britain, France, and other countries, and could continue to serve their country's aggressive policies, and the Chinese government could not expel or intervene. In short, after declaring war and severing diplomatic relations, it will do more harm than good to China.

The Japanese government did not declare war either, and at the Imperial Council of Japan, Hirohito also discussed the issue of declaring war and severing diplomatic relations. However, after the meeting of the ministers, land, navy, and foreign ministers exchanged views on the issue of declaring war, the unanimous agreement of the meeting was to shelve the issue because of the complicated interests and disadvantages of declaring war on Japan. After the Battle of Songhu began, some people in the Japanese General Staff Headquarters and the War Ministry demanded that the government declare war on China, but many people opposed it. In mid-September, Prime Minister Konoe suggested that a declaration of war might be feasible in the light of what a country should do and to seek an early end to the war. He appointed Chief Cabinet Secretary Kazami to consult with the army and navy on the matter. However, the unanimous opinion of the army and navy was that it was advisable not to declare war. The reason is that although a declaration of war can prevent economic exchanges between China and a third country, Japan is a country lacking in resources, and most of the raw materials for military supplies rely on foreign imports.

Soon after, the Japanese troops fighting in China demanded a declaration of war, citing the inconvenience of not declaring war, such as the inability to accept customs, postal services, and financial services in the occupied areas, and the restrictions on warfare. Organizing a puppet regime in the occupied areas, some pro-Japanese factions were not very enthusiastic because they doubted Japan's determination, and so on. In response to this, on November 1, 1937, the Japanese government established a committee in the Cabinet to study the question of the declaration of war, composed of the president and vice ministers of the Planning Institute, and the vice-ministers of each province. The study unanimously concluded that the declaration of war was not good for the Japanese side, and therefore there was no declaration of war.

After fighting for so long, neither side declared war, and Lao Jiang did not expect that the Japanese government would wake up one night and declare war, which was not good news for him and the entire Nationalist government. Once China and Japan declare war, there will be no room for maneuver in the future, that is, the possibility of peace talks with Japan will be cut off. Second, other countries will be forced to remain neutral, and they will not be able to assist China, such as the Soviet Union and Germany, whose aid to China will be stopped, and China, which has lost international aid, will be even more difficult. Third, the issue of overseas Chinese can be quickly evacuated to the British Concession and the French Concession, but the Chinese overseas Chinese in Japan have nowhere to go, and China is not able to send ships to transport the overseas Chinese back to China, which is not good for China. Japan's cold declaration of war forced Lao Chiang into a corner, and Lao Chiang's mood froze again in less than 12 hours. (To be continued......)