sjar Chapter 1259 The Darkest Hour
Chapter 1259 The Darkest Hour
The Shancheng government hadn't expected this to happen. Afterwards, they held a grand celebration, and the people spontaneously took to the streets to celebrate. Li Shaoyi, on the other hand, remained unusually calm.
Li Shaoyi knew that the coming period would be the darkest moment of the War of Resistance. With Hankou and Guangzhou falling one after another, they would enter a phase of full-scale defense. The Japanese large-scale offensives would cease, but smaller attacks would continue unabated. Lacking external support and with all seaports blocked, this was the situation they were currently facing.
At the Nationalist government's highest military conference, everyone was praising the 2nd Infantry Division's long-distance trek. However, Li Shaoyi's speech delivered a rude awakening, providing a thorough analysis of the current anti-Japanese situation. "Now is not the time for celebration," he said. "We should be taking stock of all our departments and assessing our resources, because we are about to enter the most difficult phase of the war against Japan."
The first half of the meeting was filled with jubilation, as everyone was recounting the 2nd Division's victory. Although it was only a localized victory, it was still a rare bright spot on the battlefield of the War of Resistance.
In truth, only Li Shaoyi could clearly see the essence of the war: we had not yet achieved victory. Only by wiping out the Japanese invaders and driving them out of our land could we truly claim victory. Right now, we were merely delaying their invasion.
When Li Shaoyi uttered these words, many people disagreed. But after they finished objecting and sat down in their seats, they realized that Li Shaoyi was right. No matter what efforts we made, we hadn't actually driven the Japanese out; they were still on our land. Moreover, we were losing more and more major cities and more and more people.
Li Shaoyi's speech served as a wake-up call for everyone. Now is not the time to celebrate any victory, but rather for all regions to take stock of their war situation so that the next phase of the war can be better and more scientifically planned, instead of allowing the Japanese to seize all the initiative as before.
Meanwhile, Li Shaoyi sent a group of his men from southern Shandong to Chongqing to explain the importance of guerrilla warfare, hoping to change the course of the war effort nationwide. After all, we had achieved great success in southern Shandong; the Japanese hadn't gone a day without suffering losses there.
“I attended the lectures given by some of your men, and they were truly excellent. Even this old man was greatly inspired. If possible, I would be willing to follow them to southern Shandong to participate in guerrilla warfare. But you must understand, guerrilla warfare is not suitable for us.”
In Minister He's office at the Ministry of Military Affairs, he applauded vigorously at the speech given by Li Shaoyi's subordinate. It wasn't because they had achieved anything, but because they had indeed found a method. Leaving aside the number of Japanese soldiers annihilated, according to reliable sources, almost every Japanese army that came to southern Shandong and northern Jiangsu was bogged down, with no way to extricate themselves.
The Japanese originally deployed a large number of troops to this area to obtain food, but now not only are they unable to obtain food, they also cannot withdraw their troops stationed there. If they were to withdraw, local resistance forces would immediately be able to seize the land they had acquired and disrupt surrounding transportation. Currently, due to the destruction of bridges and railways, railway traffic in this area has decreased to 30%.
"It all depends on human effort. I'm not saying that all armies should learn this approach, but I just hope they can understand this principle. As long as they use their brains more in the fight against Japan, this is, after all, our territory. Don't engage in head-on battles with the Japanese. Think of other ways, and we will always be able to achieve victory."
Minister He's expression eased slightly when Li Shaoyi said this. It was clearly unrealistic to expect our entire army to wage guerrilla warfare.
"I had someone analyze the differences between the national army and the 72nd Army. The national army can't be described as a disorganized mess, but its cohesion isn't that strong. The training they received before was to unite as one fist and then strike with full force. Now, you're asking them to split up and fight the Japanese in small groups, which is obviously not going to work. They haven't received this kind of training, and it would be difficult to regroup them after they've split up."
Minister He shook his head as he said this, a difficulty faced by all units of the National Revolutionary Army. Although they understood how Li Shaoyi's side had achieved victory, they had to admit that they couldn't replicate that method.
Li Shaoyi was somewhat short-sighted, always assuming that his army was no different from other armies in terms of learning. Now it seems their foundations are different, and there are many things they simply can't do together. For example, in the current situation, we can't pull other Nationalist troops forward together.
"Let's not talk about that. You're still young, and it's normal that you can't see things clearly. Let's talk about something serious now. As you know, several major battles have passed, and while our warehouses aren't exactly empty, they're practically empty. Some of the procurement specialists at the Ministry of National Defense are working themselves to the bone, but they haven't managed to procure much of anything useful. Can you think of a solution for us?"
Minister He summoned Li Shaoyi today not to discuss guerrilla tactics. Minister He has long understood those things; the 72nd Group Army can do it, but we can't. In terms of individual combat capability alone, one soldier from the 72nd Group Army is worth more than a dozen of ours. They say they're behind enemy lines, but the Japanese can't gain any advantage. Add to that the supplies airdropped, and they're practically special forces operating on home soil.
In contrast, if our army did the same, probably 80% of its soldiers would quickly become puppet troops. At this time, many people have surrendered to the Japanese. These people were originally heroes of the War of Resistance against Japan, but because they could not return to their original units, or because their original units retreated too quickly, they had no choice but to surrender to the Japanese in order to save their lives.
Regarding the purchase of arms, the Nationalist government truly had no other option but to seek help from Li Shaoyi. All its seaports were now blockaded, making it extremely difficult to acquire weapons even with money. This is where the 72nd Army Group came in handy.