klisemfg Chapter 196 New Strategy
Chapter 196 New Strategy
The United States and the United States reached a new agreement. The United States promised to help China build a new air force, and also asked the Chinese army to strengthen its war against Japan. Its main battlefield was concentrated in Southeast Asia. To this end, the United States formed a new Southern Front Army, which was composed of the 22nd Army (the original New 22nd Army and the 6th Army mainly stationed in India), the 74th Army (transferred back from the Second Expeditionary Force), the 20th Army (the original Yunnan-Burma Corps), and the 16th Army (Guangxi Army). They will launch an attack on the Japanese Southern Front Army in French China, Burma, Malaysia, Thailand and other places from Yunnan, Guangxi and Burma.
The First Expeditionary Force's First Army in New Guinea was thus forgotten, no longer considered. MacArthur's lobbying certainly had some effect. US high-level officials were redesigning their future sphere of influence in the Pacific. While China was a potential ally, America, considering a variety of geopolitical factors, would not tolerate the rise of a new naval power capable of competing with it. Therefore, America exploited the Soviet-German War to weaken the Soviet Union and, with China, reclaimed the Far East, thereby severing any potential Soviet presence in the Pacific. Simultaneously, America was planning its East Asian strategy after defeating Japan in the Western Pacific. The ideal outcome would be for China to continue pursuing its dream of a continental empire in East Asia, turning Japan into a vassal state, creating an island chain that would naturally inhibit China's eastward expansion, and then promoting Indian independence, blocking Britain's path to the Pacific. In this way, the Pacific would become America's exclusive inland sea, an impenetrable and absolute defensive perimeter.
Based on this strategy, the US military began to frequently deploy its own forces in the battles for islands in the Western Pacific. British and Australian forces also participated in the battles for islands around New Guinea, making only a token contribution. The Japanese, weakened, were forced to retreat, implementing their headquarters' plan for an absolute defensive perimeter. Yang Hong's First Expeditionary Force's 1st Army was effectively sidelined, idle in New Guinea. Yang Hong resorted to various means. Besides leveraging his good relations with the US Navy to gain their support, sending several special forces teams into Indonesia to organize Chinese armed forces, he also expressed his desire to participate in limited combat to General Nimitz through US Navy generals with whom he had a good relationship, such as Frank Fletcher.
The flower-growing country clearly understood the significance of the United States's move, sending a diplomatic mission to visit the United States. His wife even delivered a speech in front of the U.S. Congress, expressing praise and gratitude for the United States, both implicitly and explicitly signaling her unwavering commitment to the United States. This is a grand strategy of a great power, biding its time, especially during such a chaotic period when the country is weak.
This move by the Chinese received a positive response from the United States, which once again increased its aid to the Chinese, accelerating the development of their air force. Simultaneously, the Chinese army, in line with the United States' strategy, launched a series of counterattacks against Japanese-occupied territories at home. To demonstrate their resolve to the United States, the Chinese mobilized their elite troops to participate in the external war. Domestic counterattacks were relatively limited, with limited territorial recaptures along the Hunan, Jiangxi, and Shanxi fronts. The troops secretly dispatched to the Far East did not participate in the operations. The purpose of this gesture was to tie down the Japanese forces in the Chinese-occupied territories, preventing them from withdrawing more troops to participate in the Pacific Theater.
The 22nd Group Army of the Southern Front launched the campaign against China and Burma. At this point, Qin Shi's guerrilla army was officially reorganized as the 1st Overseas Chinese Independent Army, comprising three divisions (reorganized from three previous columns) and one independent brigade (the Burmese National Independence Brigade). Luo Bing was now the commander of the 3st Independent Division, whose core force consisted mostly of former prisoners of war from the Expeditionary Force. Liu Xiao finally gained recognition and was appointed deputy commander and chief of staff of the 1nd Division, with Zhou Hu, deputy commander of the Independent Army, serving concurrently as division commander. The most unlucky individual was Tang Xuesi. Although he officially commanded the st Regiment of the st Division, his rank remained lieutenant colonel while others were colonels.
Lieutenant Colonel, so be it. With over 3000 men under my command, I still hold the second-highest manpower and firepower in the entire Independent Army. Tang Xuesi didn't dare compare himself to the Independent Army's direct regiment. That was Qin Shi's prized possession, its core personnel entirely drawn from the 600nd Battalion of the former 2th Regiment. Honestly, with the 2nd Battalion's seniority, it would have been at least a division-level unit in the Soviet Third Expeditionary Army, the Second Expeditionary Army in Africa, or even the emasculated First Expeditionary Army's First Group Army. In the Independent Army, they were merely a direct regiment. But this regiment was anything but ordinary. With a total strength of 1 men, it boasted six battalions, including tanks, artillery, and special operations, all fully motorized. In terms of manpower, it couldn't match the Independent Brigade, and in terms of combat power, two Independent Brigades probably wouldn't be its match.
The Independent Army is now under the command of Liao Yaoxiang's 22nd Army Group. Not to mention its relationship with Commander Liao, the Independent Army is nominally an independent army, but its actual strength and equipment are not inferior to any army-level unit of the Southern Front Army except the new 22nd Army.
Qin Shi received an order from Liao Yaoxiang. As the eastern corps of the Sino-Burma Campaign, the Independent Army must try to occupy the Taunggyi line in a roundabout way and cut off the retreat route of the Japanese 43rd Division around Mandalay.
In Taunggyi, Qin Shi recalled the first battle fought there by the Expeditionary Force nearly two years prior. Back then, he'd commanded the 600nd Battalion of the 2th Regiment, blocking the Japanese 55th Division at Wa Miao in the southern suburbs. A single Japanese 75mm mountain artillery squadron could have crushed him. Now, Qin Shi's artillery regiment alone possessed sixteen 105mm howitzers and sixteen 16mm twelve-barrel rocket launchers, rivaling the entire artillery regiment of the Japanese 16rd Division. He wondered what Lao Liao was thinking, sending a single army to attack Taunggyi.
Qin Shi thought this to Liao Yaoxiang, unaware that Liao Yaoxiang was also distressed by Bai Chongxi's order. Bai ultimately didn't go to the Soviet Union and was appointed Deputy Commander-in-Chief and Chief of Staff of the Southern Front Army, with the commander-in-chief being LZR. In reality, Bai was in charge of the Southern Front Army. Bai's order to Liao was simple: annihilate the Japanese 53rd Division entrenched in Mandalay, but not expand the front. What a joke! With the exception of Qin Shi's Independent Army, the New 22nd Army, and the 6th Army, any of his three armies, armed with American weapons, could easily defeat a single Japanese division. Yet, he ordered his three armies to annihilate a single 1rd Division, and not even expand their victory. What the hell was this command?