Chapter 612: Asia—Only China Is Resisting (Asking for Subscriptions, Monthly Tickets, Asking for Various!! ）

Today, the world is in complete disarray, in Europe, Japan's allies are showing the Soviets their bravery, and the German Army is finally launching its deadliest assault on Moscow, which has long been the Führer's favorite. In Africa, Rommel used his wisdom to drive the British to Egypt, and the British once again saw the strength of the German army.

And in Asia, Japan, a former second-rate country, seems to have taken a strong pill, rampaging throughout East Asia and Southeast Asia, the British suffered heavy losses, the Americans suffered a major blow, the Thais surrendered directly, the French took the initiative to cooperate with the actions of the Japanese, the Dutch were even more trembling, without the slightest fighting spirit, and it seemed that only the Chinese were still resisting in the whole of Asia.

The Americans were still quite confident in the war with Japan, especially the top level of the government headed by Roosevelt. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, a national excitement swept through the United States, and then US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, supported by his son, Navy Captain James, walked into the House of Representatives, stood in front of the podium with a steel frame on his legs, and delivered a historic speech to an emergency session of Congress: "Yesterday — a day of eternal shame — the United States was deliberately attacked by the Imperial Japanese Navy and Air Force. ”

With a heavy heart, he recounted the "unprovoked vile sneak attack" of the previous day, and then warned: "The fact that our people, our territory, our interests, is in grave danger." At the end of his 10-minute speech, he asked Congress to declare war on Japan. He confidently prophesied: "With the boundless determination of our people, we will surely win the last victory." ”

As soon as the president prayed "God bless us," the crowded House of Representatives erupted in cheers and stomping, undoubtedly the least controversial of the many demands to Congress made by his administration for nine years.

The United States finally entered the war, but the victory that Roosevelt had hoped for did not come, and the bad news came one after another. The British, French, Thai, and Dutch were all beaten by the Japanese, and French Indochina became Japan's backyard, and Bangkok became Japan's military warehouse. Kuala Lumpur became a strategic location for the Japanese Navy. Eventually, the Japanese Navy and Army entered the Philippines, which the Americans considered imprisoned.

Before the official attack on the Philippines, the Japanese Navy's 11th Air Force launched a frenzied bombing campaign against the Philippines, flying thousands of planes to the Philippines to deal a devastating blow to the United States' naval and air forces in the western Pacific. The large fleet took off from the airport in Formosa and flew south. Then bomb the U.S. and Filipino forces on Luzon.

Although the American radar detected the Japanese plane early. However, the P-48 fighters equipped by the US military are far from being the opponents of the Japanese Navy and Air Force in terms of quantity and quality. The losses were extremely heavy.

Subsequently, the Japanese Navy and Army landed in the Philippines, just after midnight on August 25. Seventy-two Japanese troop carriers dropped anchor near the gently sloping beach in the Gulf of Lingayen. The troop transports, escorted by battleships and cruisers, carried General Honma's Fourteenth Army, which had boarded the ports of the Formosa and Pescador Islands.

MacArthur, the commander-in-chief of the U.S. Army, correctly estimated where the Japanese would launch the main attack, but he miscalculated the timing of the Japanese attack. When the submarine "Shark" reported that the Japanese fleet had reached the surface of the sea only 50 miles from the northern tip of Luzon, he had less than 48 hours left. A few hours later, another piece of news came: a small invasion force of five troop carriers was landing in Davao, on the southern tip of Mindanao. These two Japanese actions were not seriously intercepted by the submarines of the American Asian Fleet, nor by the B-17 bomber fleet ordered to attack the Japanese before withdrawing to a new base in Australia.

In the early morning of the 26th, when it was still dark, the Japanese 48th Division, under the cover of heavy artillery fire from a large number of warships, began to land at three beachheads. The rough seas were a greater threat than the three divisions of the Philippine infantry and the regular Philippine cavalry regiments. Only Rosario's troops put up a resolute resistance, delaying the enemy's offensive for several hours; At other landing beaches, when the Japanese stormed their positions, the defenders dropped their old Enfield rifles and fled for their lives.

Throughout the 27th, Japanese tanks, soldiers, and equipment were brought ashore by barges, and met little resistance except for the occasional burst of fire. By the afternoon, General Honma's vanguard was already deep into the hinterland in order to join up with the troops that had landed a week earlier.

On the 28th, the US Congress announced the restoration of MacArthur's four-star admiral rank, but MacArthur had already realized that neither the submarines of the US Asian fleet nor the poorly trained Philippine army could save the Philippines. However, he remained reluctant to carry out the only remaining military option, Operation Orange, which called for the withdrawal of American troops to the Bataan Peninsula.

On the 29th, the U.S. and Philippine armies experienced another day of crushing defeats on two fronts on Luzon, and General MacArthur disregarded his pride and faced the only military option. On the battlefield, the poorly trained Philippine army was extremely ineffective and could not stop the onslaught of the battle-hardened Japanese army moving south from China. MacArthur's 28,000-strong force in northern Luzon was outnumbered by two to one, but when he patrolled the Lingayen front in a Packard jeep on the 26th, he saw how easily the Japanese could advance the front toward Manila, and he was disillusioned with what little remaining combat strength of the Philippine army was.

MacArthur's deputy, Jonathan. It is inconceivable that Major General Wainwright even called the U.S. and Philippine forces "a rabble" that MacArthur is trying to use to hold up the collapsing front.

It was only at this time that the Americans suddenly discovered that almost none of the American and Philippine troops in the Philippines, whether they were Americans or those indigenous Filipinos, were fully mobile, and all the troops lacked training and equipment. Not a single division or unit had been assembled for exercises or training, and their staff was inadequately staffed and lacked trained staff; Most Filipino soldiers did not even have basic infantry equipment such as steel helmets, trench digging tools and blankets.

On the night of 2 September, Wainwright pleaded with MacArthur for permission to transfer the only American division to the battlefield in order to halt the enemy attack and give the Allies enough time to carry out their plan of retreat to Bataan. MacArthur inspected the battlefield during the day and finally realized the danger when he heard the news that the Japanese were landing at Ramon Bay, just sixty miles southeast of Manila. Just today, the remaining 7,000 troops of the 16th Division of the Japanese Army landed and advanced in depth, and the 51st Philippine Division, which had broken into the hills, practically did not resist.

The landing of the second group of Japanese commanders Masaharu Honma, who launched a pincer offensive on Manila, gave MacArthur a deeper understanding of the military catastrophe he faced. After a week of setbacks, MacArthur radioed his commanders that night: "Carry out the Orange Operation Plan." ”

However, his decision was made too late, and the remaining 40,000 American and Philippine troops had to deal with attacks from both sides as they withdrew, while also collecting food and ammunition scattered throughout the country, which were necessary to continue the fighting, and MacArthur declared the Philippine capital an open city. However, MacArthur's words were ignored by the Japanese, and planes were dispatched to bomb the Martian Building, where the US military headquarters was located.

After the order to retreat was issued, the remaining patrol boats of the U.S. Asian Fleet retreated to the bay on the west coast of Luzon and took refuge, and the submarines had retreated to the ports of Borneo and Java. Ammunition and supplies from the bombed military port of Cavite, which could not reach the fortified island of Corregidore, were blown up with explosives. The only four fighters on Luzon flew away after General Britton boarded the last American transport plane.

A few hours later, MacArthur himself was the last to board the Don Estabane and cross the thirty-mile-wide channel to the tadpole-shaped island of Corregidor that guards the gateway to Manila Bay. Philippine President Manuel Manuel. Quezon and his senior government officials were also crammed into the boat along with the rest of MacArthur's staff and family members.

Due to the total collapse of the American and Philippine forces, the Japanese 14th Army captured Manila without any problems, and controlled the whole of the Philippines with incredible speed.

The Americans lost the Philippines, the British also lost Malaysia, and now only one Singapore and the Dutch East Indies are still under the control of the Allies in the entire South Pacific, but no matter who knows it, this is only temporary, and with the ambitions of the Japanese army, it will definitely not stop at the current results, and the attack on Singapore and the Dutch East Indies is completely predictable.

At this time, everyone discovered that in the whole of Asia, only the Chinese were still resisting, and it seemed that they were no weaker than the Japanese army in the local battlefield. Under these circumstances, the Battle of Changsha attracted the attention of the international community, and the leaders of the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union called Chongqing two days apart, hoping that Chongqing would put aside all its worries and concentrate on fighting the Japanese.

Of course, Lao Chiang was also happy, and hurriedly called the Ninth War Zone, to win this battle at all costs, and absolutely not to let the Japanese capture Changsha. (To be continued......)