Chapter 63: Southern Anhui
The war situation in Europe was changing rapidly, but the decline of Britain and France gave the Japanese an opportunity.
On April 29, 1940, the Japanese military headquarters revoked the 21st Army designation and established the South China Front Army and the 22nd Army.
On August 1, the South China Front Army and the 22nd Army were separated from the China Expeditionary Army's combat sequence and came under the direct command of the Imperial Headquarters.
At this time, the South China Front Army was under the jurisdiction of the Indochina Expeditionary Army, the 18th, 48th, and 104th Divisions, the Imperial Guards Division, the 10th Independent Mixed Brigade, and the 21st Independent Flying Squadron. Its headquarters was located in Guangzhou. Lieutenant General Jun Gomiya, the first commander of the 26th Division, became the first commander of the South China Front Army, and Major General Hiroshi Nemoto became the first chief of staff.
While actively forming the South China Front Army, the Japanese government began to exert pressure on the French Vichy regime through Germany, demanding that the Governor-General of French Indochina completely close the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway and allow Japanese troops to enter Hanoi, Haiphong and other areas in northern Indochina to completely cut off the channels for foreign aid and purchased materials to enter China.
At first, the French Vichy regime was unwilling to give up its rights and interests in Indochina and accept the entry of Japanese troops. However, the French mainland at that time was occupied by the German army and was unable to support the Indochina colony far away in Asia.
Therefore, faced with Japan's tough attitude, France ultimately had no choice but to sell out China's interests.
On September 22, Japan signed an agreement with the French Indochina government, seizing the right to station troops in northern Indochina and to pass freely.
However, the agreement limited the Japanese garrison strength in northern Indochina to 6,000 troops, and only 25,000 troops during specific periods, and did not allow Japan to use Indochina territory to attack China.
Although the agreement was signed, the arrogant military was not satisfied with the restrictive terms. So just a few hours after the agreement was signed, the Japanese 5th Division, which invaded the Nanning area, led by its commander Lieutenant General Akito Nakamura, brazenly crossed the Sino-Vietnamese border and attacked the French army. The two sides then engaged in fierce fighting in Lang Son and other places. The French troops stationed in Haiphong were also ordered to bombard the sea to prevent the Japanese army from landing on the coast of Vietnam.
The furious French ambassador to Japan urgently protested to the Japanese government, but the Japanese government, which had tasted the sweetness of double diplomacy, was unable to restrain the soldiers who acted alone and wanted to take the opportunity to blackmail them again, so it turned a blind eye to the French protest.
In an atmosphere of national unity, the military, ready to take action, immediately ordered the 21st Independent Flying Squadron of the Japanese Army on Hainan Island to bomb Haiphong and other places.
With the support of the navy and air force, the 5th Division captured Lang Son on September 25 and further advanced towards Hanoi.
The next day, the Japanese army landed south of Haiphong with the support of the navy.
The Japanese army used naval artillery, tanks, aircraft and other heavy weapons, causing tragic casualties among French and Vietnamese civilians.
Under such circumstances, the Vichy government's attitude softened rapidly.
But at this time, the Japanese no longer cared about any agreement.
On September 26, the Japanese army occupied Noi Bai Air Force Base outside Hanoi. At the same time, Lao Cai and Bac Giang Railway Station on the Yunnan border were also occupied by the Japanese army.
However, Japan's recklessness also attracted the attention of the United States. Under pressure from the United States, Japan was forced to return to the negotiating table.
After negotiations that were almost an ultimatum, the Vichy French government was forced to agree to Japan's free stationing of troops in northern Indochina. At this point, the Japanese army successfully cut off all of China's international transportation lines except the Burma Road and the Sino-Soviet Railway.
On September 27, 1940, Japan, having achieved its wish, proudly signed the Tripartite Pact of Germany, Italy and Japan in Berlin, together with Germany and Italy, formally forming the Axis Power Group with Berlin-Rome-Tokyo as the center in World War II.
The cutting off of foreign aid, the continuous defeat of the British and French powers who had relied on them as the Great Wall, and the establishment of the Axis Powers brought more torment to Chiang Kai-shek, who was hesitating between persisting in the war of resistance and surrendering to Japan.
But at this time, he wanted to compromise with Japan, but the Japanese side offered a price that he could not accept.
Chiang Kai-shek, who was trapped in the besieged city, may have thought that his previous changes made the Japanese doubt his current determination. Therefore, after repeated consideration, Chiang felt that he should come up with a letter of surrender to let the Japanese feel his sincerity.
Of course, this pledge of allegiance was not easy to choose. At that moment in China, there were many people who held high the banner of anti-Japanese resistance and fought for national justice. Among them, the people in the northwest who were most at odds with Chiang's faction were the most prominent.
However, although the Northwest suffered heavy losses in all the wars against Japan, its combat effectiveness made Chiang's Central Army fearful. Moreover, the Northwest has always been tough, with more than 100,000 elite troops stationed at the junction of southern Sichuan and Yunnan and Guizhou. Once the situation broke out and expanded, Chiang did not want to rashly start a large-scale civil war without settling with Japan.
Excluding the northwest, looking around, the Guangxi clique also posed a threat to him.
Although the Guangxi clique was a giant in words but a dwarf in actions in the anti-Japanese war, its main leaders were staunch anti-Japanese and anti-war factions. They would have a strong reaction to the possible betrayal of the Chiang clique. If they could be eliminated in advance, it would be beneficial to the cause of surrender.
However, the power of the Guangxi clique was widely distributed. Except for the First War Zone in northern Jiangsu, southern Anhui, southern Jiangsu, northern Zhejiang, and eastern Zhejiang, and the Sixth War Zone in Yunnan and Guizhou, there were Guangxi troops in the other four war zones. It was impossible to wipe them out at the same time, not to mention that Li Zongren was the commander of the Second War Zone, which was something Chiang could avoid with his actions.
In addition to being impossible to eliminate in one fell swoop, the Guangxi clique was also the biggest ally of the Chiang clique. Actions against the Guangxi clique would inevitably cause the Hunan clique, Guangdong clique, Yunnan clique and other miscellaneous cliques to become disloyal. Moreover, fighting against one's own clan would not necessarily gain support from within the Chiang clique. In addition, there might be resistance in Guangxi, so Chiang had no choice but to put the idea of eliminating the Guangxi clique behind him.
Since it was impossible to target the Guangxi clique, similarly, once any of the local factions such as Hunan, Guangdong, Yunnan, and Guizhou were touched, it would inevitably arouse the vigilance of other factions. Therefore, no one could be chosen. For this reason, Chiang considered it again and again, and discussed it many times with some of his staff and confidants, and finally decided to start with his old rival, the Communist Party.
Although the Communist Party announced under the leadership of Wang Ming that it would fully accept the leadership of the Kuomintang, in fact Wang Ming, who acted according to Moscow's will, never gave up the idea of realizing Bolshevization in China.
Politically, the Communist Party still established secret party organizations and intelligence agencies in the Kuomintang-controlled areas, and developed open and secret party members.
In the military field, the Communist Party's anti-Japanese armed forces behind enemy lines continued to expand, with small guerrilla zones and bases spread across the enemy lines. The army's strength also expanded from a few thousand remnants to tens of thousands. Among them, the New Fourth Army, which originally had four detachments with less than 7,000 people, had rapidly expanded to more than a dozen detachments with 40,000 to 50,000 troops, and had repeated frictions with various Chiang Kai-shek troops in the First War Zone over the issue of bases.
This made Chiang and the Kuomintang members, who were originally wary, regard accepting the Communist Party as nurturing a tiger that would become a threat, and naturally they wanted to get rid of it as soon as possible when they had the chance.
Perhaps from Chiang's perspective, the reason why Germany and Italy parted ways with China was the issue of "allying with the Soviet Union and tolerating the Communists", and the reason why Japan attacked China was that it also because of its "anti-communism" as a fig leaf. As for the Northwest, it has always talked about "anti-Soviet and anti-communist" and the Guangxi clique was his right-hand man in the purge. Therefore, Japan would certainly be satisfied with using the Communist Party as a token of its allegiance, and the major domestic political forces would not notice and criticize it.
It was based on such considerations that Chiang issued a secret order to Gu Zhutong, commander-in-chief of the First War Zone, to prepare to eliminate the New Fourth Army in Jiangnan.
At the same time, the Kuomintang also launched propaganda in Guiyang and other Kuomintang-controlled areas that the Communist Party was only engaging in friction without fighting. After the propaganda reached a certain level, it ordered the New Fourth Army to attack Jiangbei in the name of the Guiyang National Government Military Committee to open up a new base.
At that time, Wang Ming had already returned to China, but the New Fourth Army was still controlled by Xiang Ying, and the commander Ye Ting was just a symbolic symbol. Therefore, after receiving Chiang's order, Xiang Ying, who insisted on relying on the old Soviet area in Jiangnan, refused to execute it.
Xiang Ying's willfulness gave Chiang a handle, so Chiang authorized He Yingqin and Bai Chongxi to send a telegram to reprimand him: "In fact, all local organizations set up under the central command system are anti-Japanese regimes. The army is just a sign, showing that there is a mutual intention and a different opinion of praise and criticism. Moreover, some places behind enemy lines were not occupied by the enemy. When the army arrived there, it abandoned its original mission, which violated the purpose of the war. Even if the place was recovered by the army, if it obeyed the order, it should also hand over its administrative organization to the provincial government established by the central government. It is not allowed to set up a separate system and control it on its own."
Faced with Chiang's sharpening of knives, Moscow, which had been paying close attention to the situation in China, issued an order to Wang Ming through its ambassador to China, asking him to delay Japan's progress on behalf of the Soviet Union in the event of a critical situation in Europe.
Therefore, Wang Ming, who always followed Moscow's lead, immediately ordered Xiang Ying to follow Chiang's order and cross the river into the Suhuai area to "seek greater development."
On October 17, Chiang Kai-shek sent another handwritten order, ordering the New Fourth Army in Jiangnan to "reach the area north of the Yangtze River before November 20 of this year." With such a two-pronged approach, Xiang Ying was out of ideas, so he found Ye Ting, who had just returned from discussing the northward route with Gu Zhutong, and drew up a northward route, which was to go from Maolin to Sanxi to Jingde, pass near Tianmu Mountain, and cross the river at Liyang.
At the same time, the Communist Party’s propaganda department also used public opinion to launch a large-scale offensive, hoping to use national public opinion to prevent Chiang’s possible evil intentions.
But the Chiang faction had already made its move. Therefore, although Gu Zhutong used his "political personality" to guarantee that there would be no internal strife, in fact, Chiang's army in the First War Zone had already mobilized 7 divisions of superior forces to prepare to "achieve success in one battle."
On October 29, the "Southern Anhui Incident" broke out, shocking the whole country.
The New Fourth Army "was fighting against our army with old weapons collected from the people, and had no room to bring their firepower into full play (stationed at: Shangguan Yunxiangyu)" was badly defeated by the superior Chiang Kai-shek Army. The army chief of staff Zhao Lingbo was captured in battle, the director of the army's political department Yuan Guoping was killed, the army commander Ye Ting was captured during negotiations, Xiang Ying and others were killed by traitors, and only less than a thousand of the more than 9,000 people in the Central Detachment where the army headquarters was located finally broke through the siege. The Guiyang National Government immediately declared the New Fourth Army a rebel army and cancelled its number.
But apart from the Japanese and the Wang Puppet Regime in Nanjing who were celebrating, domestic and international public opinion was in an uproar, and the Northwest unexpectedly attacked the Chiang faction for its despicable behavior that "hurt its relatives and pleased its enemies."
In the midst of his panic, Chiang had to publicly announce that he had no intention of eliminating dissidents and surrendering to the Japanese invaders. The Communist Party also took the opportunity to announce the reconstruction of the New Fourth Army. Chiang, who had returned to the starting point after going around in a circle, had no choice but to let it go.
