After Chen Feng's troops launched the Great Northeast Campaign, it caused great repercussions in the international community, although in terms of the current number of troops invested by both sides, it is not very much, and it is more than 200,000 when it is fully fought, but it is a good news for the United States and Britain and other countries that are retreating one after another.

On 5 October, Roosevelt telegraphed Chen Feng, hoping that the Eighth Theater would continue to intensify its offensive against the Japanese army in Northeast China and devote more troops, and that the US Government was willing to increase its assistance to the Chinese Government.

Chen Feng was noncommittal about this, with the gradual improvement of the industrial construction of Saibei Province, the achievements of heavy industry in the entire Saibei region are gratifying, although in terms of overall strength can not be compared with the United States and Japan and other countries, but in terms of heavy industry, especially military industry, Saibei Province is not inferior to any force. Therefore, whether the United States is willing to support the Nationalist Government or not has nothing to do with him, and even without the assistance of the US Government, China will not perish.

On the contrary, the governments of the United States, Britain and the Netherlands have not had a good time during this time, especially the Dutch government. Under the frantic and powerful offensive of the Japanese army, Java was also lost as much as Singapore. However, defeat is defeat, and despite the bitter faces and accusations of the United States, Britain and the Netherlands, the Americans, the British, the Dutch, and the Australians have achieved temporary unity after this fiasco. Now, in the entire South Pacific, the United States and Britain and other countries are left with only the most important strongholds of resistance - Bataan and Corregidor.

Bataan was not calm either, and the Japanese army would not be soft at all on the American and Philippine troops on the island who refused to surrender, and although there was accurate intelligence that the Philippine commander of the US army, Admiral MacArthur, had fled to Australia, the Japanese army still did not stop attacking. They were going to take Bataan and Corregidor.

As long as these two places are taken in the South Pacific region, the United States and Britain will have no colonies, and from North China to the South Pacific to the Indian Ocean and the Australian continent, Japan will only have three government goals left: Australia, Burma, and the South Seas, and there is only one step left before the strategic goals set by the Japanese government and military department before the war.

With MacArthur's evacuation, the situation on Bataan became more and more severe. Food has become the biggest headache for the defenders, and the daily rations of the front-line troops are only one-third of the usual. The cavalry horses had run out of fodder for several days, and the supreme commander of the garrison, General Wainwright, had to tearfully order that all the horses and donkeys be killed, including his own beloved horse Joseph. Conrad, including him, did not want his horse to become a tool for the Japanese to massacre the Allies after his death or capture.

What's more. With the deterioration of the living environment and the depletion of supplies and medicines. More people have fallen ill in the U.S. and Philippine military, and Bataan is one of the most malaria-prone areas in the world. Weakened by hunger and dysentery, more than 500 people were hospitalized with malaria in the first week of September alone. Doctors are concerned about an imminent malaria epidemic. By this time, quinine, the only drug that could cure malaria, had almost run out of sources.

Although there are still talk of a "mile-long" flotilla laden with supplies and reinforcements. But both the Philippine and U.S. forces chant the war correspondent Frank Frank. Hewlett wrote a poem: "We are the lone soldiers of Bataan, without a father, without a mother, without Uncle Sam, and without aunts, uncles, and cousins. There is no cure for the disease, there are no planes and artillery in the war, how can anyone take us to heart and pity. ”

Several attempts by the Allies to deliver supplies to Bataan and Corregidor through the Japanese naval blockade failed and the U.S. government eventually turned its mind to the South Seas.

MacArthur came up with the idea, after seeing the helicopter equipped by Chen Feng's department, MacArthur was very surprised that backward China would have such advanced fighters, and it could land anytime and anywhere without a special airport, and only needed a piece of flat land that was not very large, MacArthur immediately realized the value of this advanced fighter, so MacArthur sent a report to the US high command, requesting that the government should come forward and ask Chen Feng's department to send a transport force composed of helicopters to Bataan and Corregidore. Deliver weapons, ammunition, and supplies necessary for the defenders.

Chen Feng did not refuse this, anyway, the supplies are from the US military, and he is just helping to transport it, although it may be dangerous, but because the Japanese army does not pay much attention to the development of radar, it has not been equipped with reconnaissance and early warning radar, so the danger of helicopters going to Bataan and Koregidor is not very great, so Chen Feng agreed to the request of the United States.

However, the Japanese were not vegetarians, and with the delivery of large quantities of supplies to Bataan and Koregidor, the combat effectiveness of the defenders on the island was restored, and this abnormal situation quickly attracted the attention of the Japanese army.

After several days of close observation, and at the same time the Japanese learned the truth from the mouths of the captured American and Filipino soldiers, the enraged Japanese army on the one hand intensified its attack on the Bataan area, and at the same time sent aviation to intercept Chen Feng's helicopter group.

However, because the battleships with the helicopter group are equipped with small radars, the Japanese interception effect is not very good, and the Japanese Zero fighters cannot fly at night, so the two sides have been playing hide and seek for 2 weeks, and the Japanese army still has not been able to prevent Chen Feng's troops from delivering supplies to the island.

The Japanese base camp was already somewhat dissatisfied with the stalemate in Bataan, and was even more unhappy when they learned of MacArthur's bold escape. Suspicious of Honma's remarks that he could win quickly without reinforcements, Konoe Fumima sent his secretary, Shinosa Nishiura, to the base camp to meet with Admiral Umezu Mijiro and convey his dissatisfaction with the Bataan war.

Senior General Umezu Yoshijiro was also dissatisfied with Masaharu Honma's actions on Bataan, and immediately summoned some senior staff officers of the General Staff Headquarters to discuss the matter. After research, the overwhelming majority of officers in the General Staff Headquarters agreed that Mount Shamat, which was considered the strongest in the Bataan defense system, was in fact the weakest link, and that Mount Shamat was a steep cliff with an altitude of 1,920 feet just behind the middle of the US defensive line. As long as the Imperial Japanese Army captured this mountain, then the entire defense line of the American and Philippine forces was under control.

Therefore, these senior officers at the base camp believed that the Imperial Army should first concentrate on bombing and shelling a two-and-a-half-mile long position directly in front of Mount Shamat, opening a gap from where a general attack could be launched with infantry, and even special ammunition if necessary.

Secondly, the reinforcement of the Chinese army, especially the large amount of material delivery, is also an important reason why the US and Philippine armies have not collapsed, plus the Chinese army has been at war with the imperial Kwantung Army in Manchuria, so the Imperial Japanese Army should immediately launch an attack on Chen Feng's Nanyang Territory in China, and use the Nanyang Territory as a springboard to attack Australia.

As long as the Nanyang Territory and Australia were captured, the Great Japanese Empire basically won the war, and even if the American and British troops counterattacked in the future, the empire could be completely invincible.

However, after listening to the results of the discussion of the General Staff Headquarters, General Umezu Mijiro agreed to order Honma Masaharu to concentrate his forces on Mount Shamat, but he did not agree to launch a full-scale attack on the Nanyang Territory, as for the reason, it is very simple, the Japanese Empire is now launching the most severe blow to the Anglo-Burmese army in Burma, while the government army of China is massing on a large scale in Yunnan, according to reliable intelligence, this time the government army of China will not be less than 150,000, which is a big test for the imperial army, Therefore, the base camp believed that it should concentrate its forces on the Anglo-Burmese army and the government army in China, rather than launching an attack on Chen Feng's territory.

In addition, according to the intelligence personnel who carried out hidden sabotage on the island of New Guinea, the lord of the South Seas, Chen Feng's armed forces on the island are very strong, and it is initially estimated that the imperial army must invest at least five or more infantry divisions and two detachments to compete with the Chinese army, and if it wants to achieve a complete victory, it will need more troops.

The Southern Army was busy taking over the new territory and resuming production of the new territory, and simply did not have much troops to devote to the attack on Chen Feng's territory. Besides, for Chen Feng, the Imperial Special High-tech already has a detailed plan, which is now in the pipeline, so there is no need to rush it at all.

A full-scale attack was impossible, but General Umezu Yoshijiro agreed to carry out a sweeping raid on the warships of the Shina near Bataan in order to prevent the Shina army from dropping supplies to the American and Filipino forces in Bataan.

The order from the base camp soon reached Honma Masaharu's headquarters, and as soon as Honma saw the plan, he believed that it was a good solution to the problem that had tormented him for a long time, and immediately ordered his troops to begin organizing the campaign. However, Masaharu Honma did not know what to do, and at this time, there was a huge disagreement between the command levels within the US and Philippine forces.

After MacArthur's retreat, Wainwright established a new command in Corregidore. The War Department has promoted him to lieutenant general and appointed him as commander-in-chief of all US forces in the Philippines.

However, MacArthur was not consulted in advance about this matter, because Washington knew MacArthur's character, and knew that he would never agree to such a decision, because he wanted to command the overall situation of the Philippine Islands in Australia. Moreover, MacArthur privately believed that Wainwright was not qualified enough to be commander-in-chief.

Therefore, when the newly appointed commander-in-chief, Lieutenant General Wainwright, telegraphed to Washington that some of the heavy weapons needed by the army, especially anti-aircraft weapons, by October 15, his troops would be bombarded to pieces by the lack of heavy weapons and anti-aircraft weapons.

This telegram from Lieutenant General Wainwright provoked a strong reaction from MacArthur, who sent a brief telegram to Marshall: "After my departure, the perseverance of resistance may certainly have slackened somewhat, and Wainwright is not capable of serving as commander-in-chief of the Philippines." ”

In the minds of Bataan's Filipino soldiers, MacArthur remained the greatest figure of his time, and his pledge to return to the Philippines was his own pledge to save their country.

On September 30, at the same time that the mechanized army of the Eighth Theater of Operations launched an attack on the Japanese puppet army in the northeast on the Chinese battlefield, 50,000 Japanese troops, including 15,000 newly arrived from the mainland, were already assembled and ready for a large-scale attack. Behind them, 350 cannons, howitzers and mortars, as well as many giant guns brought in from Hong Kong, aimed their guns at Mount Shamat, the main position of American forces in Bataan, in preparation for the heaviest artillery bombardment since the beginning of the campaign. (To be continued......)