Decoding the Secrets of the Wuchang Campaign: A Memoir of the Chinese War of Resistance on the Frontline

Author: Chen Daokuo
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2005-08-01
Features: This is a history written in blood and tears by the Chinese people. With vivid descriptions and abundant historical records, this book authentically recreates the epic Battle of Wuhan, exposing many little-known secrets of the Chinese theater during the War of Resistance against Japan! The Chinese nation, with its unique resilience and indomitable spirit, fought bravely against the Japanese invaders in the midst of blood and rain, composing a magnificent and moving epic. Sixty years after the victory in the War of Resistance against Japan, this book takes our memories back to that fiery and heroic era of warfare.
Battle Duration: Late May to Late October 1938
Troop Strength: The Chinese Fifth and Ninth War Zones, comprising 130 divisions and parts of the naval and air forces, totaling approximately 1 million people; the Japanese 9 divisions, 3 brigades, artillery units, and marine corps, totaling about 350,000 people.
Outcome: Japanese casualties were 100,000, while Chinese casualties were 400,000.
Significance of the Battle: In the face of the Chinese army's fierce resistance, Japan mobilized its maximum available forces and fought for five months. Not only did they fail to eliminate the main force of the Chinese army, but they also suffered severe setbacks. After the Battle of Wuhan, the Japanese army was no longer able to launch large-scale strategic offensives aimed at capturing cities and was forced to switch to a strategic defensive posture. This marked the transition of China's war of resistance from a defensive phase to a phase of strategic stalemate. At the same time, it led to a shift in Japan's policy of invasion: from primarily relying on military strikes with political inducements as a secondary measure, to transferring forces to conduct "pacification" operations in the rear areas, replacing major offensives on the main front.
On a day when the sky cleared after the rain and the western sky was filled with rosy clouds, a few gentlemen-like tourists stood scattered by the riverbank at the northeastern outskirts of Zhengzhou, on the southern bank of the Yellow River at Huagangkou, seemingly idly waiting for the delayed ferry. Among them was a middle-aged man dressed in a light green silk robe, with an ethereal demeanor. He leaned on a sunshade, occasionally glancing at the northern bank of the Yellow River and then at the southern embankment. He was Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of the Kuomintang and the Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the National Government.
The river was vast and boundless, stretching endlessly. There were no boats in sight. Only rows of turbid waves rolled endlessly eastward, their lonely waves like the ticking of historical clocks, recounting its prosperous years and yet washing away the grandeur of ages like silt.
This was once the garden of Xu Tian Guan. Historical records show that Xu Tian Guan was from Lingbao. He passed the imperial examination in the ninth year of the Hongzhi reign (1496) and entered the court in the sixth year of the Jiajing reign (1527), becoming a Minister of Light Provisions and later rising to the position of Minister of Personnel. Due to being squeezed out by Yan Song, he became frustrated and retired to his hometown, settling in Xu Tang Village by the Yellow River, where he built a large garden. The garden faced the Yellow River to the north and bordered the dry riverbed to the south. The dry riverbed originated from Xingyang and flowed into the Yellow River here.
Xu Tian Guan, greedy in his old age, wanted to expand the dry riverbed with the Yellow River to make a fortune from the ferry crossing. However, that year, the spring flood was fierce, and the Yellow River surged southward, sweeping away Xu Tian Guan's garden. The dry riverbed ferry became a Yellow River ferry. Over time, travelers passing by the river would say, "Go to Huagangkou!" Thus, the name Huagangkou stuck, while Xu Tian Guan became a figure forgotten by most.
Chiang Kai-shek strolled along the embankment. The Yellow River embankment was part of the Bianluo Highway connecting Kaifeng to Luoyang, with a width of 30 meters, which could have been considered a first-class highway at the time. The southern slope of the embankment was a trench, with a reinforced concrete bunker every 50 meters. The soldiers of the 39th Army's New 8th Division did not recognize this middle-aged man in a blue cotton robe as Chiang Kai-shek. Seeing that their Vice Chief of Staff, General Shang Zhen, and Army Commander Liu Hedeng, both generals, were not leaving his side and were behaving with great respect, the soldiers straightened their backs, held their rifles, and stood at attention.
It was mid-May 1938. Five days earlier, after lunch, Chiang Kai-shek had received a report on enemy movements, saying that an unidentified Japanese force was advancing from Junxian in western Shandong to Puyang with great momentum, seemingly aiming to cross the Yellow River and cut off the Longhai Railway. Another Japanese force of about a division had landed in Qingdao and Shanghai and was advancing toward Xuzhou.
In the Wuhan Luojia Mountain villa, surrounded by lush green trees, Chiang Kai-shek, dressed in a long blue silk robe, frowned as his brow furrowed and his jaw tightened, his expression one of deep worry. Before him hung a large map, on which he studied the situation with red arrows and blue pointers, winding and looping like dragons and snakes, as if the winds and clouds had met in a dramatic convergence. Looking at the map, Chiang Kai-shek felt an ominous premonition. What were the Japanese planning? Were they trying to cut off the Longhai Railway, attack from north and south, and encircle and annihilate the main force of our 600,000 troops here? What a huge appetite! Chiang Kai-shek couldn't help but feel a surge of concern.
As early as when the National Government retreated from Nanjing and moved its capital to Chongqing, with the central leadership establishing itself in Wuhan, Chiang Kai-shek and his cabinet had begun formulating a strategic plan centered on defending Wuhan. The "Third Phase Operations Plan" drafted by the Military Council in December 1937 had already outlined the determination to defend Wuhan.
Mading, Tianjiapeng