Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 181 Penang, impregnable?
Penang.

Since the declaration of war, everyone in the city, including Alor Setar, has gained a new form of entertainment: watching movies.

Every night, the streets are full of open-air cinemas, but the movies they show are not serious movies. Instead, they are all real battlefield shots taken from the Zongbayin battlefield.

Most of them are even silent.

"This is the Molotov cocktail tactic that the elite Japanese Kwantung Army was so proud of."

"This tactic was used extensively in the Spanish Civil War, and actual combat proved that the Japanese army used this tactic to effectively destroy Soviet tanks and armored units."

"Essentially, this thing is a homemade incendiary bomb. A large amount of yellow phosphorus is added to the wine bottle. When used, it is thrown directly at the tank's chassis from the side or rear. The burning yellow phosphorus will often stick to the tank's fuel tank and burn."

"Although it's difficult to completely destroy a tank, it's easy to cause its fuel tank to burn, its engine to explode, or even cause it to explode, rendering it immobile and making it a sitting duck for mortars and howitzers."

"However, choosing to use light infantry to approach a tank and accurately drop a Molotov cocktail like this under it undoubtedly requires tremendous courage. Only one or two out of ten warriors who carry out this mission will succeed, and even those few who succeed will often be killed."

"Everyone, ask yourselves, if one day a Japanese tank rolled into the streets of Penang, how many of you would dare to charge the tank's chassis with a Molotov cocktail?"

“What if we entered Alor Setar instead of Penang? If Alor Setar was about to fall, would you be willing, or would you have the courage to do so?”

"If throwing a Molotov cocktail is a sure thing, then this next one, the human bomb tactic, is a sure thing."

"As you can see, the Japanese army's strength wasn't limited to its military equipment. On the Zongbayin battlefield, the Japanese army's equipment, firepower, and supplies were all inferior to the Soviet army."

"However, judging from the outcome of the war, the Japanese army did inflict heavy casualties on the Soviet army. You see, the Soviet army clearly had more tanks, artillery, and armored vehicles, but they were often the ones who were forced to take the initiative to defend themselves."

"We speculate that the ratio of casualties between the Japanese and Soviet armies was probably less than 2:1."

"This is the strength of Japan's Type A Division."

"This is the opponent we will have to face in the future. They possess courage that most armies throughout history have never possessed. They possess ironclad discipline and extremely high military proficiency. This is the opponent we will have to face!!"

Relatively speaking, the war on the Zongbain battlefield was much more shocking than the one they fought on the Pattani side.

On the battlefield in Pattani, although the South Asian Alliance had a certain firepower advantage, it lacked heavy equipment such as tanks, and its air force was not deployed much.

Moreover, the Japanese army was the attacking party, and their Southern Allied forces relied more on geographical advantages. The most important thing was that the Japanese army did not seem to attack in a hurry, that is, they did not get angry. Everyone was shooting and firing artillery at each other from a distance. On average, not many people died in a day, and it became a war of attrition.

It doesn't look that heroic, nor does it reflect the strength of the Japanese army, so it naturally doesn't look that shocking.

Of course, after showing these videos and photos of the Soviet-Japanese War, the materials from Pattani will also be shown.

However, when providing information, it is more focused on learning, such as how to dig trenches, how to set up guns, how to fire cannons, how to arrange formations, etc.

As similar videos were shown more and more, the atmosphere in Penang naturally became very depressing, because most people knew what was going on.

When they really got to the battlefield, most of them didn't have the courage to crawl into a tank with a Molotov cocktail, let alone become a human bomb.

In terms of firepower, the South Asian Alliance is not inferior to the Japanese army at least when the number of people is equal. Conservative estimates show that the troops in Penang, Perlis and Kedah, plus the troops that Pattani can mobilize, are almost equivalent to two to three divisions of the Japanese army.

If the troops in Yangon are included, it is actually equivalent to an army group.

However, when it comes to training intensity, discipline, and even the most basic courage, they are probably really lacking a bit.

The happier a person is, the higher the cost of daring to die will be.

To a large extent, it is because Penang is doing too well that few people are willing to carry out this kind of suicide attack.

And to be honest, Zheng Yi couldn't let them do it.

He can't even afford the pension.

The richer a place is, the higher the cost of using military force will be and the higher the value of human life will be. This is a common law of nature throughout history, both in China and abroad.

If the Southern Alliance wants to go to war, it is of course impossible to learn from Japan. Rich people naturally have their own ways of dealing with things, and a small but elite light infantry will naturally have its own ways of using them. As for propaganda, this is actually used to increase the intensity of the troops for the people.

In fact, Japan's death charge did not last long, and the Japanese army was not as brave as they appeared. When the Soviet-Japanese battlefield just started, Marshal Zhu, Zheng Yi, and the reporters who were taking pictures on the scene were all shocked by this tactic.

But after a while, the Japanese army's true colors were revealed.

The vast majority of those holding Molotov cocktails were not brave men willing to sacrifice themselves for victory. On the contrary, most of them were bullied victims in the army, or were new recruits who had just joined the army.

On the battlefields of Outer Mongolia, when a new soldier first arrived, his superior would often hand him a bottle of drink: "You've worked hard, have a drink to quench your thirst. You're lucky, there's a bottle of drink right here."

You drank the drink, and he took the bottle away, filled it with gasoline and yellow phosphorus, and returned it to you: "Congratulations, chosen warrior, take up your weapon and fight!"

This type of human bomb was unique to Showa Japan. Have modern countries learned from it? Actually, yes.

They have one thing in common with the Showa Army: an extremely clear hierarchy, a "fine tradition" of seniors bullying juniors, and an emphasis on "extreme obedience to orders" and "not being allowed to think for themselves."

Such an army will certainly have a certain combat effectiveness and is the only way to build second-rate troops, especially second-rate light infantry.

But it is only second-rate.

The best evidence of this is actually the Pearl Party. They used suicide attacks such as human bombs, truck bombs, and other means of attack, which they used even better than Showa Japan.

The terrorists after the new century are only worthy of carrying shoes.

However, after entering the new millennium, the Pearl Party voluntarily abandoned such suicidal tactics and instead began to significantly increase the wages of frontline soldiers, solemnly telling every soldier that your life is precious.

Sacrifice is noble, but it must be valuable.

They began to build up vast rural areas, constructing schools and hospitals in the villages and raising money to provide lunch for the children.

Video cameras and cameras will be arranged to follow the soldiers on the front line all year round to record their lives and write their stories. The treatment of martyrs will be improved as much as possible, so that the streets and alleys will be filled with photos and deeds of martyred heroes, rather than so-called movie stars.

Their leaders will break down and explain to them the significance of each policy, and will explain to them in detail the objectives of the battle during combat.

Even if they were on a mission to be left behind and destined to sacrifice their lives, they would never lie. Instead, they would tell the soldiers on the front the truth, explain their difficulties in detail, and give the front-line soldiers a high degree of autonomy.

Basically, they tell you the tactical goals and let you decide what to do. They also taught this set of combat methods to the Houthi armed forces.

2000 years ago, the Pearl Party, which was good at playing with bomb trucks, made every one of its opponents terrified. However, they were just a terrorist organization. Faced with the iron torrent of the Israeli army, they could only carry out some terrorist attacks to make their opponents fearful.

2000 years later, the Pearl Party, which excelled in light infantry infiltration operations, became the world's king of light infantry, a force that no one in the world dared to underestimate, and built an iron-clad defense line.

Things like human bombs may seem like a tragedy of human courage, but in fact they are nothing special when facing an army with true faith.

Human civilization is a hymn to courage, but it is definitely not the courage to be forced to die!
This is the difference between a first-rate army and a second-rate army.

What Zheng Yi wanted to build, of course, was a first-class army, and he was intentionally learning from the Pearl Party in many areas.

For example, he pays special attention to cameras and video cameras.

In the movie, there are not many pictures of the battle in Pattani, but there are many pictures and videos of the soldiers' lives.

Especially those soldiers who died, almost every one of them has clear photos or even video images.

"We're about to fight the Japanese. Are you afraid?"

"Not afraid."

"Why not be afraid?"

"Because I am defending my own homeland. Mr. Zheng told us that if we hold the Kra Isthmus, the Japanese army will not be able to get through."

"Everyone says the Japanese army is powerful, but I want to see what makes them so powerful. Isn't it just two shoulders carrying one head?"

"If you died, what would you want to say?"

"I would say... Mom, I'm not a coward. Oh, and if I really die, I won't regret it. I just don't have any relatives in Penang. My mom and brother are still in China. Can you ask SAMN to bring them to Penang?"

Since this thing dared to be shown in public, the martyr's mother must have taken it back. To be honest, this was not easy in the current environment where the Japanese occupation had completely blocked the coastal areas of Northeast China.

Soon, the movie started showing the scene where Zheng Yi brought the old lady back home and directly let her and the second child in the family live in a commercial house with an elevator in the northern part of the city. He also went to the old lady's home in person to comfort her and talk about the significance of the war.

Things have come to this point, and the old man is not ignorant. He will definitely say some nice words in front of the camera and Zheng Yi.

"Thank you to the Southern Alliance and Mr. Zheng. My son died fighting the Japanese invaders. I am proud of him."

The photo of Zheng Yi shaking hands with the old lady is still posted on the wall of a residential building not far away, used as a poster.

Zheng Yi also learned from the Pearl Party in this regard. As long as a martyr died, there would be at least a billboard of his own hanging near the community where he lived.

Such movie scenes are played everywhere in Penang, every day, and various materials are played on a loop at night.

Although it is not mandatory to watch it, in this day and age there are not many entertainment activities at night, so there will always be people who come to watch it, and it can be said that the vast majority of people have seen it.

People of this era are still relatively simple and easy to fool.

"Mr. Zheng, there's actually no need for you to go to such lengths to protect yourself. From what I understand, you've mandated military training for all citizens in preparation for war, converting civilian resources to military use. This has seriously impacted Penang's normal production."

In a specially made bulletproof car, General Bonnar and Zheng Yi were sitting in the car, wandering around and admiring the night view of Penang.

Bonar: "No matter how many times I come, I can't help but be amazed. Even London, in terms of prosperity and infrastructure, can't compare to Penang. Every time I come, I can clearly feel the new changes."

"Mr. Zheng is truly the best politician and entrepreneur I have ever met. The creation of the Southern Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) is, in my opinion, a brilliant idea. However, Mr. Zheng, you halted this miraculous construction pace in preparation for war. With all due respect, your hatred and fear of Japan have seriously affected your wisdom and composure."

"This is Malaya. Our British Empire navy is more than enough to guarantee the safety of you and Penang. There is no need to go to such lengths."

On the side, Zheng Yi said with a half-smile, "Henry asked you to be the lobbyist, right? Why didn't he come himself?"

Bonar smiled awkwardly upon hearing this and said, "Henry did look for me, but I'm not here today entirely because President Henry asked me to. I sincerely think you're being a little too worried."

"I'm here this time to invite you to come to Singapore to participate in our British Empire's military parade and show you the military might of our British Empire."

Upon hearing this, Zheng Yi smiled and looked outside the car. On another movie screen not far away, there was a scene of the Japanese army using human bombs to blow up Soviet tanks.

"I don't know what the British army in Europe is like, but I think I know what the level of the British army in Malaya, Burma, and India is.

General Bonnar, do you think that your British army, composed mostly of Malays, Indians, and Burmese, can stop these ferocious Japanese troops?

"This……"

Bonar was slightly embarrassed, but soon calmed down and said, "These are the land forces you mentioned. However, Nanyang is an archipelago after all, and Penang is completely an island."

"I admit that our British army in Asia is indeed inferior to Japan's, but our British Empire has always relied on the sea to control the land. The navy is the true foundation of our empire. If the Japanese want to attack Penang, they must do so as they did last time, just testing and provoking, firing two shots and then leaving."

"Otherwise, there's no way they could bypass Singapore, right?"

After saying this, Bonnar puffed out his chest and said proudly, "London is taking the war in the Far East very seriously. Our 'Deterrent Fleet' has arrived in Singapore a few days ago. It is a fleet far superior to the Japanese, and the Japanese are in no way comparable to it."

"I have been specially ordered by the Prime Minister to invite you, Mr. Zheng, our most important friend of the British Empire, to visit the greatest and most powerful fleet in the world, a fleet that will never be silent."

"We have the most powerful and invincible fleet in the world in Singapore. Singapore is absolutely defensible and can never be breached. I believe that with the protection of our British army, Penang will be impregnable."

(End of this chapter)