The Battle of Wuhan was the longest, widest, largest, and most annihilated three-dimensional war of land, sea and air in the War of Resistance Against Japan. It finally ended with the withdrawal of the Chinese army. The Chinese army showed its tenacity and determination. , Utilizing the terrain, the vast area and the Japanese army were confronted, which greatly consumed the Japanese army's viable force and completely shattered Japan's quick fight and quick decision to make China surrender. After this war, the Japanese army was forced to stop large-scale offensives, and the strategic defensive phase between China and Japan turned to a phase of strategic stalemate beneficial to the Chinese army.
Background
Before the battle in Wuhan, China and Japan had engaged in large-scale battles in Xinkou, Songhu, Xuzhou and other regions, which lasted nearly a year. Although the Japanese army won in these battles, they did not achieve the goal of destroying the main force of the Chinese army and bringing China to its knees. On the contrary, the Chinese army has accumulated experience in battle after battle, becoming more and more courageous. In the battle of Xuzhou , Li Zongren, the chief of the fifth theater, used a combination of positional warfare and mobile warfare, and cleverly used the enemy's desire to fight quickly. The mentality of quick decision tempted the lonely Jigu division and army to deepen, successfully encircled and wiped it out in Taierzhuang, and achieved great victory in Taierzhuang, which greatly inspired the enthusiasm of the war across the country. Then hundreds of thousands of troops in Xuzhou area withdrew smoothly, saving the main force. After this war, the Northeast, North China, and Huanghuai regions have fallen into enemy hands. Naturally, the next focus of the Japanese attack was the three towns of Wuhan in central China.
The importance of Wuhan
(1) Geographically, Wuhan was located in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. It was the second largest city in China at that time, surrounded by many lakes and islands, and rich in resources; more importantly, it is the Guangdong-Hanzhou line and the flat The connecting points of vertical railways such as the Han Line are the places Japan must take in order to open up land transportation lines. After the coastal cities lost one after another, Guangzhou became the only port of international aid to China from the sea, and support materials entered China from Guangzhou. , Enter the mainland via the Guangdong-Han railway. Therefore, if Guangzhou and Wuhan fall, it will be extremely detrimental to international aid to China.
(2) After the fall of Nanjing on December 13, 1937, the Kuomintang government moved its capital to Chongqing, while the Kuomintang Central Party Headquarters, Military Committee and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Finance, and Interior were concentrated in Wuhan. Wuhan became the capital of during the war, , and was even evaluated as " is also entrusted by the spirit of the Chinese nation to ." It can be seen that Wuhan has an important position in politics, economy, and military.
(3) At the beginning of the war, Japan shouted the arrogant slogan of "Destroy China within three months." However, as the war progressed, Japan did not achieve a quick fight, and instead became more and more deeply involved in the Chinese battlefield. In order to end the war against China early, as early as the occupation of Nanjing, the Japanese base camp began to plan the war against Wuhan.
At the beginning of 1938, the Japanese base camp War Department thought: "The capture of Hankou by is the greatest opportunity to end the war at an early date... It was decided to concentrate Chinese forces on the direct settlement of the China incident, and probably achieve the goal of the war in the middle of this year" . On July 8th, the Five-phase Meeting of Japan formulated the "Countermeasures against China's Current Central Government", which further affirmed: " will use all the country's efforts to focus on eliminating the current central government of China or bringing it to submission. " … The "War Guidance Program Centered on Autumn Operations" formulated on July 31, 1938 determined: "Seize the opportunity to end the war", "Hankou operations must be large in scale", and "The purpose of Hankou operations, It lies in destroying the last unification center of the Jiang regime-Wuhan Three Towns ". Judging from these documents, Japan believes that taking Wuhan can completely defeat China and destroy the will of the Chinese people.
Wuhan people held an event to commemorate Sun Yat-sen and the anti-Japanese parade
(4) The Japanese base camp also believes that the capture of Wuhan can divide the cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. At that time, Zhou Enlai and others were in Wuhan to cooperate with the war of resistance on the frontal battlefield. At that time was the best period of cooperation between the KMT and the Communist Party? One of Japan’s top think tanks, the Showa Research Institute Institute of Chinese Studies, put forward the "Fundamental Ways to Deal with the Chinese Incident" after the Battle of Xuzhou, It said: Although our army won a great victory in the Battle of Xuzhou, the defeated National Government is still clamoring for resolute resistance against Japan and has no intention of surrendering... Hankou is the communist army and its main control with the northwestern provinces as its sphere of influence. It is the joint point between the Kuomintang forces in the southwestern provinces, and the wedge of cooperation between the two parties . ...So, it is absolutely necessary to take Hankou. Because of the occupation of Hankou, the ties between the two parties can be severed and the two parties may split.
In summary, the importance of Wuhan is as follows: (1) The core base for China to continue the war of resistance; (2) It is located in the Central Plains, a transportation hub, an international aid channel for China, and a place where the Japanese mainland traffic must pass; (3) Abundant resources, political and economic center, have an important influence on the confidence of the people across the country in the War of Resistance.
China cannot easily abandon Wuhan. It is imperative to defend Wuhan.
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