So Chiang is worried huh?
Well he should be
December 29, 1939
You are a national leader.
Your oratory skills are legend.
Your rhetoric time and again singles out specific groups of people as immoral, even subhuman,
but what happens when some of those people are in a position to help your dreams for
your nation?
Well, perhaps then you embrace them.
I'm Indy Neidell; this is World War Two.
Last week saw German and British planes fight in the skies over Heligoland Bight; it saw
several days of heavy Soviet attacks against the center of the Finnish Lines repeatedly
repulsed; and it saw Chinese troops capturing Kaifeng, south of the Yellow River, and entering
Baotou in the far north.
This week, though, Japanese reinforcements arrive at Baotou- 8 tanks, 4 planes, 200 trucks,
and 10 big guns.
On the 24th they force the Chinese onto the defensive and a stalemate begins.
This is part of Chiang Kai-Shek's Chinese Nationalist Army offensive to retake lost
territory, but bad as his troubles are after fighting two and a half years of the Japanese
invasion, they've been made worse by what was going on in Europe the past few months.
Not just that war had broken out between Britain and France and Germany, but that PEACE had
broken out between Germany and the Soviet Union.
I like that Rana Mitter in "Forgotten Ally" calls it "perhaps the most astounding ideological
reversal of the 20th century".
The European powers are now totally focused on themselves, and while China's plight
has been a secondary concern before, now it isn't even on the back burner.
The Chinese Nationalists had actually had a relationship with Nazi Germany, and had
even received munitions from Germany in the early months of the war with Japan in 1937,
even though the Anti-Comintern Pact of 1936 had theoretically bound Germany and Italy
with Japan, and during that time Chiang could drops hints to the major powers that he might
ally with Germany, which would've been bad news for the Soviet Union, but in April 1938
Germany agreed to Japanese demands to stop aiding China.
The "friendship" between Germany and the Soviet Union is a disaster for him.
I mean, he had been- maybe not desperate, but not far from it- to involve the Soviet
Union in the fight against Japan, but now the Soviets have a pact with the Germans,
who are allied with Japan.
British support?
Well, if British PM Neville Chamberlain thought Czechoslovakia a "far off place of which
we know nothing", then China is on Mars.
No help there.
The prospects of the US helping are a little more solid.
Though the US would not impose sanctions on Japan after the Japanese invasion of China
began, once the invasion reached the more southern parts of China, it became obvious
that China could be closed to trade, so US Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau
swung China a loan of 25 million dollars last year, that's around 440 million dollars
in 2018.
But back to China and the USSR.
Even though Chiang Kai-Shek had been a rabid anti-communist, the best hope he had until
now for a strong ally against Japan was the Soviet Union.
I mean, they're in the region; they have a big army.
And for the first two years of the war the Soviets had helped the Chinese with advisors
and even pilots.
The Chinese used Soviet T-26 tanks.
The Soviets were certainly worried about regional Japanese aggression and expansion.
But all that changed the day the European War broke out.
I mean literally the very day.
Back in our first episode I talked about the total Japanese defeat at the hands of the
Soviet and Mongolian forces at the Battle of Khalkhyn Gol the same day Germany invaded
Poland, and that changed everything, for the Soviets and the Japanese not only signed a
cease fire, they signed a non aggression pact.
And two weeks ago Britain and France put forth a motion in the League of Nations to expel
the USSR for its invasion of Finland.
China is a member of the league council and did not exercise its veto power.
This made the Soviets angry and now the relationship between Stalin and Chiang Kai-Shek is one
of mistrust.
China cannot count on major Soviet help.
It seems like the Soviets could use some help of their own, though, in Finland.
Well, maybe not on paper.
Near Taipale east of the Suvanto River, Finnish recon showed that the Russian artillery batteries
there outnumbered the Finns 111-9.
On Christmas Day under cover of fog, the Soviets attack across the frozen river.
The fog betrays them, though, for their beachheads turn out to be exposed to several Finnish
machine gun nests when the fog lifts, and they are massacred.
Further north, other Soviet units have established themselves at Kelja and await reinforcements.
These units are actually behind the Finnish right and close to some lateral roads and
could cut off the whole Taipale sector.
But for 24 hours, the Finns fight the reinforcements who try to arrive, with the battle very close
and seesawing one way and the other, before the Russians can be expelled from Kelja.
In total for the Battles of Taipale and Kelja, the Soviets would lose some 12,000 men killed;
the Finns less than a 5th of that killed AND wounded.
Up in Suomussalmi on the 27th and 28th, a Finnish counterattack in minus 35 degree weather
drives the Soviets back across the border.
This goes on for another week, and over 25,000 Red Army troops meet their fate in the Battle
of Suomussalmi (Gilbert), either killed in action, or wounded and then freezing to death.
The Finns suffer fewer than 2,000 killed and wounded.
The Finns burn farms to deny any shelter to the Soviet Army.
The few roads are mined and booby trapped, and the Soviet troops start referring to the
Finnish ski troops as belay smert- the White Death.
There is one guy in particular that gets that sobriquet- Simo Häyhä.
A farmer and hunter just last month, by now he is well on his way to his total- reportedly-
of over 500 sniper kills.
This is the highest recorded number in this or any war.
He's been fighting in the Battle of Kollaa for the past few weeks, dressed in white,
and Finnish military documents credit him with 138 sniper kills by December 22nd- just
three weeks after the war began.
The Finns do suffer a large failure of their own this week, though, on the 23rd on the
Karelian Isthmus.
After the successes on defense there the past few weeks, they launch an ambitious counterattack-
a double pincer movement beyond Summa.
If this works, it will ruin the Soviet timetable for their next offensive, giving the Finns
as much as a month reprieve, during which time they can hopefully get help from the
watching world.
It does not, however, work.
William Trotter writes, "...there were so many things wrong with it that one scarcely
knows where to begin describing them."
The plan is overly complex and put into action by inexperienced troops.
There is no armor to give it speed and no communications to make it flexible; they go
into action just after a blizzard in minus 20 temperatures and the Russians might not
have been great on offense, but they can dig in and fight just fine.
The action is called off mid afternoon before it becomes a total debacle, but it highlights
that the Finnish army is, in fact, inexperienced and unprepared when it comes to conventional
warfare.
And by now the Soviet responses to the failures of December are slowly kicking into gear.
Senior officers are replaced and massive reinforcements will soon arrive.
As for the Finns- they had had three weeks supply of artillery shells for their limited
artillery when the Soviets invaded... that was four weeks ago.
As for those with whom Stalin has a pact, the Germans...
Well, it is not only Rana Mitter who thinks that pact "perhaps the most astounding ideological
reversal of the 20th century".
On the 28th (Gilbert), Fritz Thyssen, a German industrialist who'd been a staunch supporter
of Hitler during his rise to Chancellor and Fuhrer, writes Hitler a letter of protest.
He has already protested the Nazi persecution of Christians in Germany in 1937 and the persecution
of Jews the following year.
He now writes this, "Now you have concluded a pact with communism.
Your propaganda ministry even dares to state that the good Germans who voted for you, the
professed opponents of communism are, in essence, identical with those beastly anarchists who
have plunged Russia into tragedy and who were described by you yourself (in Mein Kampf)
as bloodstained common criminals."
In the occupied territory this Christmas week, this is what Hitler's men do because of
common criminals.
On the night of the 26th, two criminals trying to escape arrest kill two German soldiers
in Wawer, a town near Warsaw.
Within a couple of hours, 120 random males, including non-locals who are visiting their
families for Christmas, are tried and 114 are sentenced to death.
They are taken out in groups of ten and shot and killed; seven of them don't die and
manage to later escape.
Two of the dead are American citizens actually, whose passports have no effect upon their
fate- the Polish last name of the father is enough for him and his 16 year old son to
be killed.
And here are some notes to end the week.
On the 27th, the first Indian troops arrived in France.
On the 28th, British Minister of Food W.S. Morrison announces that starting January 8th,
rationing will include butter, bacon, ham, and sugar.
For December in the Battle of the Atlantic- German U boats sink 25 ships and lose one
of their own number.
And the week ends, with more major Finnish military successes, but also a big Finnish
failure; the Finns are worried about the future concerning the Soviet Union, as are people
in Germany, as are people in China, as is everybody; and perverted justice does not
take a Christmas holiday in occupied Poland.
The most astounding ideological reversal of the 20th century.
Is it?
It is very true that Hitler's rhetoric has always been strongly anti-communist and he
often called communists criminals.
WE know that he hasn't changed his views and has big military plans for the USSR, but
for now he is technically betraying his supporters.
As for Chiang Kai-Shek, he was also strongly anti-communist but lately he's been working
with the Chinese Communists against the Japanese.
Of course, it was his being kidnapped three years ago that forced an end to the Chinese
Civil War and created this united front, but still.
It just really goes to show that when wars break out- sometimes your deepest held beliefs
go right out the window.
Check out our TimeGhost Cribs Christmas special to find out what we are up to in the new year,
it's right here: [point].
You should definitely follow the war day by day on Instagram, link below.
And if you haven't already, Join the TimeGhost Army at Patreon or TimeGhost.tv, our war effort
needs you.
See you next time!
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