"On Protracted War" was published, and how did Japan react?
In 1937, the full-scale war of aggression against China after the Lugou Bridge Incident plunged the land of China into a bloody storm, innocent compatriots suffered under the iron hooves of the Japanese invaders, and countless brave soldiers shed blood on the battlefield for the survival of the country.
When there was an endless debate within the Kuomintang about whether to rely on Britain and the United States or surrender to Japan, ** put forward a different voice in Yan'an - the "protracted theory of the war of resistance". He firmly believed that China's cause of resistance against Japanese aggression would be won, but victory would not be achieved overnight, but would require a long and difficult struggle.
The article "On Protracted War" not only caused a shock within the Kuomintang, but even caused the Japanese army to study it in depth.
In the early days of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, although China had some victories in the battle against the powerful Japan, such as the Battle of Taierzhuang and the Battle of Kunlun Pass, it was still unable to stop Japan's aggression in North China.
At this difficult moment, Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Ching-wei within the Kuomintang were divided in their attitudes toward the war. Chiang Fang believed that Britain and the United States would come to China's aid, and victory in the War of Resistance was imminent; Wang Fang, on the other hand, believed that China had completely failed and advocated a compromise with Japan.
Under different political ideas, China's anti-Japanese cause was in a difficult situation, and the people at the bottom could not see the hope of victory, but could only struggle in pain and darkness. However, ** has a unique insight in the Yan'an caves.
He commanded the Eighth Route Army to conduct guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines and made accurate ** about future war trends. At the Yan'an Anti-Japanese War Research Conference, he published the article "On Protracted War".
In this article, he made it clear that he did not agree with the "quick victory theory" and did not believe that China would necessarily perish, on the contrary, he believed that although the Japanese fascists were **, they had a fatal weakness, and the final victory would definitely belong to the Chinese people.
**In "On Protracted War", the actual situation of the battlefield against Japan is analyzed in depth. He did not rely on subjective fighting spirit to lead to the outcome of the war, but through the analysis of objective facts, he came to a convincing conclusion.
He believes that Japan is a militaristic power, which has tremendous superiority in science and technology and military affairs, and its comprehensive national strength far surpasses that of China. In this case, it is impossible for China to defeat Japan single-handedly.
At the same time, China was still under the oppression of imperialism, the bourgeois revolution had not yet been completely completed, there were still a large number of feudal remnants, and industrial and national defense construction had just begun.
All this determined that China could not drive the Japanese invaders out of the country in the short term, and could only achieve victory through a protracted war.
** Emphasizing that this does not mean that the land of China will completely fall under the iron heel of the enemy. First of all, although the Japanese fascists are now very rampant, they are creating atrocities everywhere in our country and are waging an unjust war.
As the enemy's behavior intensifies, the will of the Chinese people to resist will become stronger. In particular, the Communist Party of China, which takes the interests of the people as its primary consideration, will not succumb to the pressure of the enemy and will certainly put up strong resistance, and this spirit of fighting for independence and freedom will spread like a prairie fire to every place occupied by Japan, and this will make it more difficult for the enemy to conquer not only not less, but will continue to increase.
Secondly, Japan has a clear disadvantage compared to China. Japan is an island country with a small land area, and its resources and population cannot support it to have enough strength to occupy China quickly, and can only occupy it gradually.
We can use this time to resist and eventually drag down the enemy.
** In conclusion, Comrade pointed out that Japan's fascist expansionist policy would eventually lead to its lack of supplies and forcing it to go to other countries to plunder its wealth, making it a public enemy of the whole world.
After a comprehensive analysis of the strengths and weaknesses between China and Japan, he proposed a feasible anti-Japanese policy and divided it into three stages. The first stage was the defensive period, when the Japanese army was more aggressive, and our army could not compete on the frontal battlefield, so it was necessary to concentrate superior forces and attack flexibly in the form of mobile warfare.
After passing the first stage, the Japanese army had run out of energy and could only turn to the strategic maintenance stage, trying to stabilize the territory it had already occupied. At this time, it is the best period for our army to grow strongly, and we must adopt the tactics of guerrilla warfare, constantly harassing the enemy so that he is tired of coping and unable to enjoy the fruits of war.
After the end of the stalemate stage, the strength of our army has surpassed that of the Japanese army, and we can no longer be passively attacked, but must take the initiative to attack and enter the ** stage. At this stage, we should not only pay attention to the changes in the domestic situation, but also pay attention to the changes in the international situation, seize the best opportunity, deal a fatal blow to the Japanese fascists, and recover our splendid rivers and mountains.
The views of the book "On Protracted War" have been widely recognized between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, and even the Japanese have begun to study them in depth. Within the Eighth Route Army, this book aroused heated discussions, and the vast number of officers and men of the Eighth Route were deeply impressed by the assertion of the Eighth Route Army, and strictly implemented its military strategy in order to achieve the greatest victory with the smallest losses.
The Eighth Route Army carried out flexible and mobile movement warfare and guerrilla warfare in the battlefield behind enemy lines, which made the Japanese puppet army uneasy day and night, and even Okamura Ninji, the leader of the Japanese invasion of China, sighed: "It is not a day's work to eliminate the enemy of the Eighth Route Army in North China!" ”
The Kuomintang also attached great importance to this, and Wei Lihuang and Fu Zuoyi even paid for a large number of printing out of their own pockets, and asked their officers to study it carefully. Chiang Kai-shek also highly regarded the content of this book, and invited *** and *** to explain in detail at the Nanyue Military Conference.
Bai Chongxi, the leader of the Gui warlords, also summarized the assertion of ***, calling it "exchanging space for time, accumulating small victories for big victories".
Chiang Kai-shek's article "On Protracted War" was not only a must-read for the Communists, but also deeply surprised the Japanese fascists. They not only discussed it within the top echelons of the army, but also adopted its ideas in their strategic deployments.
In order to prevent them from falling into a predicament due to a shortage of resources, the Japanese aggressors put forward the policy of "feeding the war with war" and rapidly transported all the strategic resources in the occupied areas to the Japanese main islands.
This series of moves not only weakened the ability of China's anti-Japanese military and civilians, but also caused some opportunistic politicians to surrender.
Wang Jingwei played the role of a shameful thief in the War of Resistance Against Japan, although some people were induced by the Japanese army, but the Kuomintang and the Communist Party always adhered to the national righteousness and jointly resisted foreign aggression.
The Japanese army's transportation lines were constantly sabotaged, making it impossible for them to transport them to Japan, despite the large amount of supplies they had collected. And the end of Japanese fascism is also as foreseen in "On Protracted War", with the attrition of the war, Japan has fallen into a dilemma.
In order to maintain the battlefield, Japan began to attack the Anglo-American sphere of influence in Southeast Asia and attacked Pearl Harbor, an important U.S. naval base in the Pacific, eventually pushing the mighty United States against them.
From that moment on, the Japanese fascists began to move towards the path of destruction. It can be said that the exposition of "On Protracted War" succeeded in the end of the Japanese army.
In 1945, Japan was completely defeated on the battlefield, but the fascists still stubbornly tried to resist, and even imitated China"Protracted war"。
In Okinawa, the commander of the Japanese army, Lieutenant General Ushijima Mitsuru, strengthened all the buildings and built tunnels in an attempt to deplete the strength of the American army through delaying tactics and buy a respite for Japan.
In Northeast China, the Kwantung Army hoped to establish a de facto territorial divide by turning Shanhaiguan and the Northeast region into a strategic core, preventing the squadron from entering the Guannai, and using the rich resources of Northeast China to maintain Japan's development.
Although the Japanese army has a certain understanding of the enduring tactics of ***, strategy and tactics have always served politics. A country that lives by plundering other countries, no matter how clever its tactics, cannot escape the fate of destruction, because it has lost the support of all in its most basic moral sense.
After the war, many Japanese who participated in the war of aggression against China re-read "On Protracted War" and realized their own stupidity, because the book had already described in detail the end of Japanese fascism.
At the same time, the book has prompted many people to become advocates of friendly relations between China and Japan, and they hope to atone for their sins, even some members of the Japanese imperial family. ** This wise politician and military strategist played a crucial role in the publication of the book "On Protracted War" during the most difficult period of the Chinese nation's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
It pointed out the direction for the future of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and enabled the sons and daughters of China to regain the courage to fight in the most difficult time, and finally won a comprehensive victory.
On Protracted War is a sword hanging over the heads of the Japanese fascists, and whenever they go crazy to wage war, this sword will make them tremble and have no peace.
The strategic wisdom of this book, written by ***, played a key role in the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan. At the same time, it also played an important role in the dissemination and reading of the fallen cities of North China.
References: The Strategic Wisdom of "On Protracted War" Xu Hengbing; Shen Yiqing's "On Protracted War" Led the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression to Final Victory Cao Yingwang's "On Protracted War" Spread and Read in the Fallen Cities of North China Wang Fucong.