Chapter 305: A Different Ending

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In the morning, after seeing the new German helicopters put into use and convincing Mercedes to have their child, Akado was quite pleased wi

In the morning, after seeing the new German helicopters put into use and convincing Mercedes to have their child, Akado was quite pleased with himself for a while. His efforts were all slowly bearing fruit, and the feeling of seeing a return on his investment made him a little ecstatic.

But a document in the afternoon pulled him back to the cruel reality: in the distant Far East, the war situation had taken a sharp downturn. The Chinese army, lacking a solid foundation, had ultimately been defeated by the Japanese army, which had been meticulously preparing for war.

Although in many sectors, the Chinese 9th Army Group had fought with a style similar to the German army, had once driven the Japanese at several landing sites back into the sea, and had even compressed the main Japanese landing site to a very small area of a few square kilometers, the Japanese command had even considered the possibility of failure in the Battle of Shanghai.

At the time when the Chinese army was fighting most successfully, the main force of the Japanese landing troops, the 3rd Division, had been almost completely wiped out. The division commander, Lieutenant General Fujita Susumu, was wounded, and the division’s chief of staff, Colonel Tanokyu Toshio, had committed seppuku.

Japan had had to mobilize its strategic reserves, that is, the newly formed 10th Army, into the Shanghai-Wusong area. Only then had they barely stabilized the battle situation. Finally, they had brought in their trump card and had finally stabilized the impending collapse.

This trump card was none other than the main air force deployed in the Japanese mainland, the most elite home defense fighter unit of the Japanese Army, the 1st Air Army, which was equipped with a uniform fleet of 30 original German export-model Me-109C fighters.

Thus, an interesting little episode occurred on the Shanghai-Wusong battlefield. The main air forces of both sides, using the same weapon, engaged in three high-level air battles that shocked the world. The Chinese Air Force achieved a record of one win, one draw, and one loss, and ultimately retreated to the vicinity of Nanjing due to being outnumbered.

The grass-green paint scheme of the Chinese fighters engaged the dark green paint scheme of the Japanese fighters. The models and appearances of the fighters were identical. As a result, both sides could only rely on their air force markings to identify targets. After a few back-and-forth tests, they had sullenly returned to their respective bases. The first air battle had ended in a draw, and both sides had gone back to change their paint schemes.

The Chinese Air Force had painted two blue stripes of the Blue Sky with a White Sun flag on its wings as an identification mark. The Japanese planes had added two yellow stripes representing the chrysanthemum on their wings as an identification mark. The two sides had fought another great battle. The result was that the Japanese army had had three planes shot down, and the Chinese army had lost two.

In the third engagement, the Japanese army had dispatched 46 various fighter planes. The Chinese army had no choice but to send only 27 fighters up to meet them. The two sides had fought a fierce battle for 20 minutes. The Chinese army had had five planes shot down, while the Japanese army had lost two Me-109C fighters and two old-fashioned navy fighters that had been used as bait.

In the three air battles, the Japanese air force had lost five Me-109C fighters, while China had lost seven Me-109C fighters of the same model. However, four Chinese pilots had successfully bailed out, while only one of the five Japanese pilots had survived and had been captured by the Chinese defenders. So the combat records of the two sides were almost even.

History had once again played an international joke. The Chinese Air Force had dominated the skies over the Battle of Shanghai because of German fighters, while the Japanese Air Force had turned the tide and regained the initiative in the battle because German fighters had been put into combat. It seemed that both sides were using their own combat results to advertise to the whole world: Don’t hesitate! Come and buy German planes, the Me-109C is the best choice for your powerful air force!

Helplessly, the Chinese army, having used up all its reserve ammunition, entered a period of weakness. And the Japanese army, relying on transfusions from the home country, still maintained a high level of combat effectiveness. A turning point had occurred in the Battle of Shanghai. The Japanese army had begun to counter-attack, and the Chinese army, in order to preserve its strength, had to give up many areas that should have been defended.

Then, because of the loss of air superiority, after the Japanese air force had gained the advantage, it had begun to support ground operations. An important 150mm heavy artillery position of the Chinese 9th Army Group was destroyed, losing a dozen or so Krupp cannons that had made the Japanese army tremble with fear, which also made the situation for the firepower-lacking Chinese army even worse.

In the end, the 9th Army Group had no choice but to withdraw from Shanghai, leaving a field of ruins, where they had fought for 15 days, to the Japanese invaders. Although the Battle of Shanghai had only lasted for half a month this time, it had consumed more than 74,000 Japanese soldiers in one go. It was not until the Japanese army had committed 400,000 troops that the Chinese army had begun to retreat.

In comparison, the Chinese army had lost 100,000 men in this battle, which was more than twice as good as the terrible thirty thousand casualties in the other timeline. On the contrary, the Japanese losses were more than double. In a quarter of the time, they had achieved twice the combat results and had reduced their own losses by two-thirds. Akado had to once again admire the Chinese people. Their performance was even better than the German army’s.

Many people do not understand how weak China was during the War of Resistance Against Japan, to the point where they feel that China’s loss of cities and territory was the ultimate shame and humiliation. But if you look at the real historical data, you will know that the Chinese people have never been weak-kneed, nor have they ever disgraced the legacy of the Emperors of Qin and Han.

In real history, in the first few years of the war of resistance, the number of bullets that China produced and imported was about 280,097,500 per year. After the United States entered the war, it was 312.5 million per year. If you look at the arithmetic mean, the total ammunition consumption of China during the entire war of resistance was about 300 million rounds per year. If you calculate based on the number of the Kuomintang army at that time, which was generally around 3 million, that is to say, each person had an average of 100 rounds of ammunition per year.

Many friends laugh at how a Chinese division was chased all over the place by a Japanese battalion. In fact, this was also very helpless. At that time, a Chinese division, if it was a Type A division, had only a little over 10,000 men. A Type B division had only five or six thousand men, and only a little over 3,000 rifles. But the ammunition per person was only 20-30 rounds. Even if you count it as 50 rounds, a Type B division would only have 150,000 rounds, and the ammunition carried by a Japanese battalion was no less than this number, and it could be continuously replenished. In contrast, if the Chinese army wanted to replenish its ammunition, it had to be transported from thousands of miles away. In this situation, for an ordinary unit with a not-so-strong will to fight, was there any other way besides retreating?

But Akado’s timeline was different. Under the efforts of von Seeckt and the secret help of Germany and Britain, China was producing one hundred million more rounds of ammunition per year than in the other timeline. In addition, the National Revolutionary Army had restored its actual control over the whole country earlier than before, which had saved a lot of ammunition. So in the Battle of Shanghai, China had achieved a kill-loss ratio of nearly one to one. Even in the later stages, when the main force had retreated to defend Nanjing, there had been no situation of an entire unit being encircled.

But in the final analysis, China had still lost. At a time when Japan had basically completed its industrialization, China was still a poor and backward agricultural country. Even if it had some industrial foundation, it was still an agricultural country. Akado had only realized how strong Germany’s industrial foundation was after he had come into contact with it. It was a manifestation of strength after accumulation and expansion. In stark contrast to Germany’s industrial level, even decades after the victory of the war of resistance, China’s industry still had a shabby air of a nouveau riche.

The Japanese occupation of Shanghai had destroyed the international financial center of Asia and had disrupted the gold-digging order of the world’s great powers, which had made the United States and Britain, who had originally stood on the sidelines, unable to bear it any longer. Soon, two American cargo ships had set out from Australia, transporting a full 100 million rounds of ammunition to support China’s war of resistance. And Britain had also produced 30 million rounds of ammunition from Australia and had sent them to China. If one were to also count the amount of ammunition that China produced itself, the National Revolutionary Army at this stage had at least 200 million rounds of ammunition in stock.

With the flash of brilliance in the Battle of Shanghai, Japan’s slogan of destroying China in three months had become an out-and-out joke. The bones and blood of the Chinese army were still intact, and although its strength had been slightly reduced, its main force was still there. In this situation, the defense of the Japanese Central China Area Army in the Shanghai area was still insufficient, let alone any talk of attacking Nanjing.

The Japanese Central China Area Army’s attack on Shanghai had also become a dead move. To prevent Shanghai from being retaken by the Chinese defenders, they had to deploy nearly two hundred thousand troops to defend the surrounding areas, but they were unable to immediately link up with the Japanese troops advancing south. The Shanghai that General Matsui Iwane had painstakingly captured had become a tasteless chicken rib, stuck in the Japanese army’s throat, difficult to swallow.

The Nationalist government of China announced the establishment of a temporary wartime capital, choosing Chongqing as the site. The main force retreated to defend Nanjing and swore to defend the military stronghold of Wuhan to the death. The tragic and inhuman Nanjing Massacre of history did not take place. Although the Japanese army had the upper hand on the Chinese battlefield, the Chinese troops did not show signs of a large-scale collapse.

This was also the place that made Akado most gratified. After all, to be able to prevent the recurrence of a human tragedy like the Nanjing Massacre could be considered his contribution to his distant homeland in this timeline. And what he had not expected was that Germany’s secret aid to China had won Germany a lot of impression points in the US Congress, which could be considered an unexpected reward on another level.

In the general direction of aiding China in resisting the Japanese invasion, Germany, the United States, and even Britain had maintained a high degree of consistency, which had made Germany’s diplomacy even more dynamic. Although in Europe, Britain, France, and Belgium were at war with Germany, Germany still played the joint card of Asian peace, which made it difficult for the United States to place its bets for a time.

The German ambassador to the United States had publicly stated that originally, Germany was resisting the invasion of Bolshevism for the whole world, but had then been stabbed in the back by France. Although no one believed his statement, there were still some American politicians seeking status who stood on the side of supporting Germany.

This had caused the US plan to aid Britain to be scaled down, and the plan that Congress had been preparing to expand the US Army had also been vetoed, which had delayed the progress of the United States in arming itself and had also delayed the timing of its aid to Britain.

As a result, by the evening, Akado had to deal with his own affairs. Fanny had prepared a festive speech for him, to announce to all his people that the Führer of the Third Reich, Akado Rudolph, had learned today that the First Lady of the Reich, Mercedes, was pregnant, and that their first child would be born in the future.

The whole of Germany was in a state of jubilation. To celebrate this happy event of the Führer having an heir, Rommel had broken through the French lines that very night and had advanced another ten kilometers.