mesbooks Chapter 277 You jump, I jump
Chapter 277 You jump, I jump
As one of the few three countries in East Asia that did not completely become a colony of Western white powers, Siam also successfully carried out modernization reforms in modern times.
Not only did Phibun attend the internationally-advanced Bangkok Army Officer School when he was young, he also later studied abroad at the Fontainebleau Military Academy in France for three years.
These experiences made him a rare politician who was very knowledgeable about military affairs. He was not only able to express his opinions on the construction of the army, but also not easily fooled by the superiors under him (Nehru: Don't call).
Therefore, under his leadership, the Siamese Army currently has a total of 4 fully staffed regular army divisions equipped with a full set of Japanese weapons.
Based on the knowledge he gained from studying abroad in the West, Phibun also strengthened the deployment of artillery. Under his intervention, the Siamese Army not only imported a large number of artillery from the John and Pha people before the war, but also imported a batch of artillery from the Japanese after defecting to the Japanese.
Although most of them are old cannons from the Taisho era, most of them are 75 and 105 level cannons, which are not bad in Asia.
Therefore, when Luang Phibun received the call from the Ministry of National Defense, his first reaction was: "Fight back, we must fight back hard. What are our artillery doing?"
In fact, the response of the Siamese army on the front line was not bad.
Their divisional artillery and several independent artillery regiments immediately attempted to launch counter-artillery operations after being attacked.
The problem is that the Anmin Army is too familiar with the fighting style of these devils' apprentices of the Siamese Army.
Even their Japanese master was beaten badly by the An Min Army in Pegu, so the fate of the Siamese Army can be imagined - the location of the artillery positions that dared to fight back were immediately discovered by the An Min Army Air Force observation plane in the sky.
The exposed Siamese artillery positions were immediately subjected to a combined air-to-ground attack, including 155mm "Long-legged Tom" cannons, 1000-pound aerial bombs, and napalm incendiary bombs.
Most of the artillerymen were directly caught in the sea of fire and were killed. Only some lucky Siamese artillerymen saw that the situation was not good and quickly abandoned their artillery, thus saving their lives.
After learning from the phone that the front line was in a mess, the fortified areas had almost all been broken through by the armored forces of the An Min Army, the artillery had been almost completely destroyed, and the infantry had been divided and surrounded, Phibun hung up the phone dejectedly.
He didn't know that in the original plan, Zhang Chi did not intend to march into Siam immediately. After all, unlike Pegu, the Siamese people had a stronger sense of national identity, and it was not a colony, so it was difficult to swallow it all at once.
The Siamese Army suddenly suffered this devastating disaster only because Zhang Chi was annoyed by Stevenson's urging and did not want to get involved in the Changheng Campaign, so he instructed the Anmin Army to launch a battle first to find something to do.
Faced with these disastrous news, Luang Phibun felt dizzy and seemed to have lost all his strength.
His mind was blank, as if a heavy stone slab was pressing down on him, making him breathless. He murmured softly: "It's over, it's all over..."
Suddenly, he saw the plaster flag on the table, and his eyes lit up instantly.
After a moment, he picked up the phone again and yelled, "Connect me to General Tanaka Hisaichi, quickly!"
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On the other side, Stevenson was in the mountain city.
For confidentiality reasons, Stevenson brought a full set of radio equipment and several matching telegraph operators to the mountain city.
In the room, after several rounds of heated exchanges with Zhang Chi via telegram, the uneasy Stevenson suddenly realized something.
Compared with Mai Yanpi, a true "aristocrat" who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, Stevenson's military temperament is undoubtedly more genuine.
In terms of family background, the former was a son of the Beijing Army and a descendant of nobles in the Ming Dynasty; in the Qing Dynasty, he was an old prince with an iron hat and an eagle flag. He suffered all the hardships in his life when his father followed President Lincoln to fight in the Civil War.
So Mai Yandao easily became the Governor-General of Luzon by relying on his family background, and he could easily handle the ways of the world.
In contrast, Stevenson relied entirely on his own efforts, and therefore, compared to the ways of the world, his mind was filled with only one belief - to win the war.
But of course, Stevenson's concentration does not mean that he is a fool. When the anxiety fades, his clever IQ naturally takes over.
After realizing how unreasonable his request was, Stevenson immediately wrote a handwritten letter of apology and asked the telegraph operator to translate it and send it to Zhang Chi, expressing his apologies and wishing him victory in the battle with the Siamese army.
(Stevenson thought it was the Siamese army that launched the attack first)
After realizing his own mistake, if the war with Qian Kingdom had not been so urgent, Stevenson would have even planned to fly directly to Pegu to apologize to Zhang Chi.
After all, compared with the stubborn White Party members in Shancheng, Stevenson felt that Zhang Chi, who was good at fighting and relatively obedient to orders, was more lovable.
At least the latter would not threaten to surrender to the Japanese when they were forced into a corner.
(A true story. In history, when the White Guards threatened to cut off their hawkish aid to the enemy, they countered with a direct surrender to the enemy. This tactic eventually forced General Luo to transfer Stevenson in October 1945 and replace him with Wedemeyer, who did not seek any command authority but was only responsible for coordination.)
At this time, a serious conflict broke out between Stevenson and the top leaders of the White Party. On the one hand, he and the supreme leader had different personalities and looked down on each other; on the other hand, Stevenson saw that the White Party only wanted to delay and was unwilling to fight the devils head-on, and only wanted to reap the benefits, so he began to seek absolute command and force the White Party to attack.
After exchanging several consecutive telegrams with Zhang Chi, Stevenson also realized that his current irreconcilable situation with the White Party’s top leaders was forcing General Luo behind him to make a choice. There was no doubt that compared with maintaining Qian Country’s continued stay in the Allied camp, he, Stevenson, even though he was a four-star general, was also a part that could be sacrificed.
In that case, let's all play badly together.
Stevenson, who was standing alone, suddenly felt that everything became clear. Instead of dragging Zhang Chi to jump into the pit with him, it would be better for them to jump out together.
He also thought clearly that the great defeat in the Battle of Central Henan was a slap in the face for himself as the commander of the war zone and for General Luo who advocated aid to the Qian Kingdom.
However, Zhang Chi's great victory in Southeast Asia, which was also under the Allied system, significantly weakened this sense of frustration.
Instead of hoping that all the White Party factions will work together to launch a counterattack on the Qian Kingdom mainland, it would be better to hope that Zhang Chi, who has been fighting well so far, will continue to launch attacks on the devil's flanks in Southeast Asia.
As for the battlefield in central Henan and the upcoming Changheng battlefield, forget it, let's just deal with it...
After all, no matter how much the White Party shrinks or how much they preserve their strength, when the Japanese invaders reach the Liugui area and threaten the Stevenson Highway, the main entrance for Allied supplies and the lifeline, they will have to fight to the death, right?