Quartermasters can also fight the devils

It is a pity that the attack on Yichang led by Commander Chen of the Sixth War Zone failed. The attacking troops of the Sixth War Zone killed a large number of Japanese troops, and just before the fall of Yichang, reinforcements sent by Lieutenant General Anami Korechika, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, arrived in Yichang.

As the Japanese reinforcements were rapidly moving towards Yichang, and considering that the Changsha crisis had been resolved, the highest level of the government ordered Commander Chen of the Sixth War Zone to stop attacking Yichang and all troops to withdraw from the battle immediately. At this point, the Second Battle of Changsha was basically over.

Although the Chinese army managed to defend Changsha in the Second Battle of Changsha and inflicted huge casualties on the Japanese army, strictly speaking, it was not a victory. After the war, the top government leaders personally went to Changsha to hold a post-war summary meeting. At the meeting, the top government leaders severely criticized the commander of the Ninth War Zone, Commander Xue, and ordered Commander Xue to make a profound review.

During the Second Battle of Changsha, Commander of the Ninth War Zone, General Xue, did not fully understand the strategic intentions of Lieutenant General Anami Korechika, commander of the Japanese 11th Army. He simply carried out defense according to the tactics used by General Okamura Yasuji in commanding the attack. This led to the passive situation of the Ninth War Zone in the early stages.

Despite active adjustments in the later period, the losses were still very serious. In addition, the confidential intelligence of the Chinese army was repeatedly intercepted and deciphered by the Japanese army without immediate discovery and rectification, which was also a huge mistake and loophole in this battle. The main force suffered heavy losses, and even the 74th Army was almost surrounded and annihilated by the Japanese army.

Commander General Xue of the Ninth War Zone also understood that although the troops of Lieutenant General Anami Korechika, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, did not ultimately occupy Changsha, they had achieved the goal of inflicting heavy damage to the main forces of the Ninth War Zone of the Chinese government, and had basically completed the combat plan objectives formulated by the Japanese 11th Army Command before the war.

At the same time, this second Changsha Battle also allowed Commander Xue of the Ninth War Zone of the Chinese government to realize the strength of his new opponent, Lieutenant General Anami Korechika, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army. Commander Xue understood that neither the Japanese mainland nor Lieutenant General Anami Korechika, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, would give up Changsha, and the Japanese army would definitely launch an attack on Changsha again. The contest between the Ninth War Zone and the 11th Army of the Japanese Army was not over yet.

After the war, Commander Xue of the Ninth War Zone of the Chinese government also learned from his mistakes and studied the combat characteristics of Lieutenant General Anami Korechika, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, carefully. He was ready to formulate a complete set of strict tactics and be on high alert, waiting for Lieutenant General Anami Korechika, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, to command the Japanese troops to fight Changsha again. Commander Xue was determined to give Lieutenant General Anami Korechika, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, a heavy blow in the next Battle of Changsha to restore the face he had lost in this battle.

However, with the end of the battle between China and Japan on the Changsha battlefield, the propaganda war between the two sides officially began with mutual boasting and slander. After a month of fierce fighting, both China and the Japanese army claimed that they had won.

The Chinese government's newspapers and broadcasts claimed that the Ninth War Zone killed 20,830 Japanese soldiers and wounded 31,991 in the Second Battle of Changsha, for a total of 52,821 Japanese officers and soldiers killed and wounded, while the Chinese army suffered a total of 59,078 casualties and 11,594 missing. This figure obviously exaggerated the results achieved by the Chinese army.

Newspapers and radio stations in the Japanese-occupied areas claimed that in the Second Battle of Changsha, more than 54,000 Chinese troops were killed and 4,300 Chinese officers and soldiers were captured, while the Japanese army had a total of 5,670 officers and soldiers killed, 5,180 officers and soldiers injured, and 14 soldiers missing. The figure announced by the Japanese army obviously exaggerated the results of this battle.

While China and the Japanese army were arguing fiercely on the battlefield of propaganda, the Japanese military headquarters conducted a joint exercise with actual land, sea and air forces, imagining the occupation of Malaysia and then the continuation of the attack on Singapore. The air force units were given special training in long-distance and night flights at sea and communications with the navy. At the same time, the South China Front was ordered to conduct tropical and landing combat training for its troops.

In today's Southeast Asia, except for Thailand, which is a formally independent country, all other countries are colonies of European and American countries. Among them, Britain occupies Myanmar, Malaysia and Singapore, the United States occupies the Philippines, France occupies Indochina (Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia), the Netherlands occupies Indonesia, and Portugal occupies Timor.

Since the Southeast Asian regions were very weak and could not get rid of the colonial rule of European and American countries on their own, some government leaders and nationalists in Southeast Asian countries placed their hopes for independence on Japan, believing that Japan was their ally in resisting Western colonial rule and fantasizing about using Japan's power to overthrow European and American colonial rule.

It can be said that the colonial rule of European and American countries in Southeast Asia created favorable conditions for the Japanese government's "Southward Advance Plan", which allowed Japanese spies to spare no effort to infiltrate Southeast Asia.

In early 1941, the Japanese government used the excuse of "mediating" the dispute between Indochina and Thailand and clearly favored Thailand in the mediation. This prompted Thailand to lean towards Japan and prepared the conditions for Japan's subsequent attack on Burma and the Malay Peninsula.

Then almost at the same time, the Burmese People's Revolutionary Party signed a secret agreement with the Japanese government, asking Japan to help form the "Burma Independence Army" and send 30 Burmese youths to Taiwan and Hainan Island in China for training, which put the Japanese army in a more advantageous position when attacking Burma later.

After the end of the Second Battle of Changsha, on October 16, the Konoe Cabinet of the Japanese government was replaced by the Tojo Hideki Cabinet, which accelerated the implementation of the Japanese government's "Southward Advance Plan" strategy.

Half a month after Tojo Hideki's cabinet came to power, a secret decision was made at the Imperial Conference in Japan to launch an attack on the United States and Britain. The attack was scheduled for early December, and Japan's army and navy were required to complete war preparations and military deployments before then, and be ready to receive orders to attack at any time.

On the second day after the Imperial Conference of Japan decided to declare war on the United States and Britain, the Japanese government submitted a proposal known as "Proposal B" to the American government. This proposal was considered by the American Secretary of State Hull and senior government officials to be an ultimatum from the Japanese government to the United States.

In this proposal, the Japanese government proposed that "neither Japan nor the United States would use force to enter Southeast Asia and the South Pacific (excluding Indochina)" in exchange for the United States lifting its embargo on Japan and stopping aid to the Chinese government. The Japanese government clearly stated that this proposal was the "absolute final suggestion" for the relationship between the two countries.