Chapter 877: All are Experts

“Who told you to kill prisoners? I’m asking, who let you kill prisoners at will? This is an immoral act of war! The Japanese are beasts. Are we beasts too?” an officer asked, looking at the floor littered with the bodies of Japanese soldiers. He sized up the two regimental commanders under him with a strange look. “This is chaos! Is there no organization and discipline at all?”

“Sir! The hometowns of some of these soldiers were completely slaughtered by the Japanese devils. If we don’t let them vent a little at a time like this, I… I won’t be able to lead these men anymore,” a regimental commander said, taking off his hat and scratching the back of his head, his voice tinged with emotion as he retorted.

“You! You! At a time like this, you still talk back to the division commander…” a staff officer said, pointing at the regimental commander with a look of disappointment. “You shut up and let the division commander finish!”

The regimental commander lowered his head, still unconvinced, but did not dare to say another word. The division commander looked at his subordinate and laughed. “International law explicitly forbids the mistreatment of prisoners. We are soldiers of the Allied nations. We must pay attention to our image, to the international impact.”

As he spoke, he looked at the Japanese soldiers opposite them, who were being forced to sit on the ground at bayonet point. These Japanese soldiers, with their dejected and sallow faces, were also sizing up the Chinese Expeditionary Force officer who had just arrived. They did not know what their fate would be and could only wait in silence.

That’s how it is on the battlefield. As soon as you hand over your weapon, your fate is in the hands of others. The Chinese soldiers had once handed over their weapons, and what they had received was slaughter by the Japanese army. Now the Japanese soldiers had handed over their weapons, so they could only wait for the Chinese army’s judgment.

The reason the Chinese army had been able to achieve this great victory was because of a secret piece of intelligence. Where this intelligence had come from was no longer known, but after reading it, Chiang Kai-shek, far away in Chongqing, had immediately convened a war council to discuss the possibility of intercepting the Japanese 15th Army.

In the council room, Chiang Kai-shek, for some unknown reason, had insisted on carrying out this counter-attack plan and had been certain that the Chinese army could easily win in the Burmese jungle, defeating the elite of the Japanese army that 100,000 Singaporean British troops had failed to defeat. After rebuking Wei Lihuang, who was worried about failure, the council had approved Chiang Kai-shek’s operational plan, because since Chiang Kai-shek had come to power, he had never proposed such a detailed and feasible operational plan.

The entire plan included where to set up defensive positions in advance, at what time to cut the Japanese 15th Army’s supply lines, and when to close the net and launch a counter-attack. Even the commander of the force to carry out the counter-attack had been recommended—the commander of the New 38th Division, Sun Li-jen.

Only a few people in the world knew where this counter-attack plan had really come from, and these people all knew that the reason this plan could be so detailed was because it had been drawn up by the world’s most powerful operational command center—the German Army General Staff. Fourteen German army generals, including Brauchitsch, had taken the time to complete it, using the 1st Romanian Army, which was of a comparable combat effectiveness, as a model, and had tailor-made it for the Chinese Expeditionary Force.

In addition, the frontline commander was Sun Li-jen, the most experienced division commander in the Nationalist army in fighting the Japanese. The details were left to the frontline commander to perfect, which made the entire plan perfect.

And this plan was a feast that made Chiang Kai-shek feel deeply satisfied. It had scratched an itch for China at this stage, from the inside out. In addition, with Seeckt’s reputation in the background, the cooperation between China and Germany had left a deep impression, which had fundamentally moved Chiang Kai-shek.

The Chinese army had not lightly trusted Germany, which was theoretically in a hostile state. They had given up the first phase of the plan to cut the Japanese supply lines, and the rainy weather in Burma had helped to complete the first step of kicking them while they were down. Immediately after, the Japanese rout, which had been confidently predicted in the operational plan, had really arrived, which had made the Chinese Expeditionary Force determined to fight this large-scale blocking action.

To say it was a blocking action was, to put it bluntly, no different from a highway robbery. The Chinese army had collected the strategic materials that the Japanese army had abandoned along the way, including ammunition and weapons, which had made up for the gap caused by the American cutoff of aid to China. Although the Expeditionary Force no longer had any use for these weapons, to ship them back to the country to arm some of the second-line units was still a very good thing.

This division commander, who had just been cursing his subordinates, was the overall commander of this campaign, General Sun Li-jen. He finally gave his order. “The mistreatment of prisoners is not allowed by international law. This is a principle we must adhere to… However, this time, we are not taking any prisoners. Let all these Japanese soldiers go.”

He waved his hand magnanimously and glanced at his two regimental commanders who were about to speak up and protest, signaling them not to speak. He then continued, “Releasing them is out of humanitarian consideration for international law. But so that these Japanese soldiers will not continue to be the enemies of the peoples of the world, let’s break their left legs before we let them go!”

“Cough, cough, cough, cough…” Hearing his general speak such shameless words so seriously, the regimental commander who had just been about to protest was choked by his own saliva and began to cough violently.

“…” The other regimental commander felt that the matter of killing prisoners he had just been discussing was simply too idiotic. It was clear that the scholar who had graduated from Tsinghua University had more experience in this matter. Look at our division commander, he had so quickly thought of a way that did not violate that damn international law. He was truly a learned man.

In this situation, to let this group of Japanese soldiers, who had been starved into skeletons, walk back to their occupied territory was no different from killing them. It was estimated that not one in ten would be left… Now, if they were to have their bones broken, it would be a blessing from God if this group could even walk a few miles.

After this Battle of Imphal, the Japanese offensive in the direction of Burma was completely crushed. The 15th Army no longer had the ability to attack to the west, and the British war situation in India had improved for a time. However, compared to the Chinese Expeditionary Force, the British side was not the biggest beneficiary of this battle.

The Chinese Expeditionary Force had annihilated about 15,000 Japanese soldiers and had picked up enough arms to equip almost 50,000 men for free. This had alleviated the damage caused to the Chinese theater by the American reduction of material supply.

Because the Japanese army had suffered heavy losses in western Burma and had successively lost important strategic strongpoints, the three B-class divisions that the Japanese army had originally intended to send as reinforcements to the Pacific region and the Chinese theater had all in the end canceled their trips and had remained in the Burmese region to participate in the action of consolidating the defense line. The entire Japanese strategic plan had been completely disrupted, and the entire Pacific theater was developing in a direction favorable to the United States.

Akado was having dinner with a middle-aged man of about 50. He was cutting a piece of steak and, without looking up at his guest, he said as he cut, “Mr. Dominis, I have, according to old August’s plan, sent the documents through a special channel to Mr. Chiang Kai-shek of China. But I still don’t quite understand why old August is in such a hurry to have the Americans gain an advantage in the Pacific theater.”

This middle-aged man before him, named Dominis, was one of the several successors that August had chosen, and he was also August’s most prized student. In him, Akado seemed to be able to see a lot of August’s shadow, which made him, as the Führer, have a rather good impression of Dominis.

What made Akado feel even more helpless was that this Mr. Dominis was also a thorough monarchist. In other words, like old August, he was one of those “capable men” who constantly urged Akado to proclaim himself emperor and compared himself to a future chancellor. The only shortcoming was that this Dominis paid more attention to internal affairs and lacked a bit of the old man’s essence in analyzing the international situation.

Dominis took a sip of red wine before answering the Führer’s question. As a typical Prussian new aristocrat, to maintain his elegant demeanor at all times was a very important study. He spoke slowly, in a calm tone to Akado, “My Führer, I only have a general understanding of this matter.”

He put down his wine glass and continued, “The report provided to Chancellor August by the intelligence department has confirmed that about 700,000 American troops have been armed and are now boarding ships to be sent to the various war theaters around the world. Chancellor August believes that at a time like this, it is necessary to have the United States commit more of its troops to the Pacific, rather than the Middle East, where we are about to take action.”

“Is old August being a little too worried?” Akado asked, looking at Dominis. “Intelligence shows that about 300,000 American troops are about to be sent to Australia. To stab Japan twice at this time seems a bit premature.”

“My teacher, Chancellor August, feels that to assist the Chinese army in Burma is not to help the Americans end the war sooner, but on the contrary, it is to begin to lay the groundwork now. My ability in this matter is limited. My teacher has handed over the specific implementation to Ribbentrop of the Foreign Ministry,” Dominis replied elegantly.

After he had spoken, he added a few more sentences. “To block the Japanese army’s southward advance and to force them to return to the path of attacking the Soviet Union to the north is a necessary effort for us to end the war on the Eastern Front… Of course, to support a pro-German China in the Far East is also very much in Germany’s interests.”

“Are you saying that that group of Japanese idiots, because of their failure in the southward Imphal campaign, might turn their attention back to the north?” Akado’s eyes lit up as he asked.

“Yes, my Führer. That is what my teacher told me,” Dominis nodded and replied. “For the specific details, you will have to ask Ribbentrop, who is in charge of this matter. He is a talent in foreign affairs and is also a future foreign policy expert that my teacher has reserved for the Empire.”

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