During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, there were three tragedies, two of which were caused by the Kuomintang. Among them, the blowing up of the Yellow River levee is the most serious incident. As the Yellow River burst its banks, the disaster spread to the provinces of Henan, Anhui and Suzhou, displacing 90,000 Chinese people, and the tragedy was widely spread among the people.
After the july 7 incident on July 7, 1937, Japan launched a large-scale offensive against China. Countless Chinese people have also suffered many hardships as a result. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, due to Chiang Kai-shek's luck, he underestimated the military strength of the Japanese army. The Japanese army can be described as invincible in the land of China, and a famous war was also staged on the land of China.
Compared with the Japanese army that was drowned, the degree of suffering of the Chinese people was even greater, and the comparison of the data was also very painful.
The "Garden Mouth Breach" was caused by Chiang Kai-shek, but the losses of the Japanese army were rarely mentioned. Nowadays, whether this matter is worth it or not has also been questioned. Speaking of this, do many people have doubts about how many Japanese troops drowned in this operation?
First, how many Japanese troops drowned
The "Garden Mouth Breach" incident caused serious consequences and thus led to a serious disaster. For this incident, it also received a lot of negative evaluations, so this incident did not achieve the purpose of delaying the Japanese attack on Wuhan. Soon after, the Battle of Wuhan broke out.
Therefore, when everyone mentions this matter, it is very disapproving, not to mention what this matter is for, and the consequences it causes are far greater than its benefits. At that time, this incident caused 90,000 people in three provinces of China to be displaced and homeless, and the losses relative to the Japanese army were more than worth the losses.
There are also rumors that this incident only caused 1,000 japanese casualties, which is really small compared to the Chinese people. Later, it was checked that the death toll of the Japanese Second Army in this Yellow River breach was 7452.
In the Baisha area, the Toihara troops lost 700 people. A total of 2,000 Japanese troops near Wei were annihilated. This incident hindered the confluence of the Japanese army to a certain extent, but the consequences are undeniable, is this not taking the lives of the people and not taking their lives.
2. Executor - Xiong Xianyu
The "Garden Mouth Breach" incident occurred on June 9, 1938, and was caused by Xiong Xianyu, chief of staff of the 275th Division of the Kuomintang 49th Army. He is the actual executor of the excavation of the Yellow River this time. However, he was not punished afterwards.
The "Wenxi Fire" occurred on November 13, 1938, and the consequences of this incident were not small, so in order to calm the public anger after this incident, Chiang Kai-shek ordered the execution of his own cronies. The consequences of this "Garden Mouth Breach" incident are more serious than before, but no one is responsible for this incident.
Although the actual perpetrator of this incident was Xiong Xianyu, the person who commanded it was Chiang Kai-shek. Everyone within the Kuomintang even agreed that this matter could not be done. It was believed that it was necessary to save the Chinese nation, so the Kuomintang believed that this matter was correct.
Chiang Kai-shek had learned the lessons of the previous incident and knew the consequences of this incident, and the two armies themselves were very different in combat strength, and could only adopt the method of "water attack." Chiang Kai-shek also became "smart", he did not directly give orders, but found a person who carried the pot.
The Kuomintang sent troops of the Thirty-ninth Army to dig the garden mouth, but it did not dig for two days, and finally it was not allowed to let Xiong Xianyu's division carry out it. Finally, under the leadership of Xiong Xianyu, the embankment around the Guandi Temple was dug.
Because this matter is very important, Xiong Xianyu asked many people, but in order to set aside their relationship with this incident, it is also an attitude of not caring about themselves. He said in unison that he was listening to the instructions of his superiors, so Xiong Xianyu could only be the head bird and assume the role of the performer of this mission.
III. Consequences of the matter
The damage caused by the "Huayuankou dike" incident is very terrible, 900,000 Chinese people have been drowned, more than 12 million mu of cultivated land has been destroyed, and millions of people have lost their homes. The Chinese people have paid a terrible price for this incident.
The film "1942" is about the Chinese people who suffered after this incident, forced to leave their hometowns and have no place to live. Through the film, it can also be understood that this operation is undesirable and undesirable, and the degree of injury to the Japanese army is also incomparable.
After the Huayuankou embankment broke, the Kuomintang actively publicized to the outside world, but it never mentioned the 90,000 souls who died innocently, the thousands of homes that were flooded, and the tens of thousands of acres of grain fields. Provinces of Henan, Jiangsu and Anhui were hit by floods. Among them, The flood in Henan Province was the most severe, with more than 9 million mu of grain fields destroyed, 470,000 people drowned, and more than 1.4 million houses washed away.
Flooding has caused so much damage and millions of people have been displaced. After the flood, there was even a plague, and many people could not even eat, and the number of deaths was greatly increased, and the number of deaths and injuries was really innumerable.
Presumably, many people have seen the movie "1942", in which many Henan victims could not eat due to drought and flood disasters, and the grain harvest was not enough. This is best known for the Great Famine of 1942. Tens of millions of people have become refugees, and there is no way but to go out and beg, because many people can't eat themselves because of long journeys, resulting in 3 million people starving to death on the way to begging.
Chiang Kai-shek also knew that this incident was due to the Kuomintang's ineffective combat and improper command, which caused the incident to have very serious consequences. After that, the Kuomintang government allocated 2 million yuan for disaster relief, organized soldiers to go to the disaster area to receive suffering refugees, and distributed medicines for treatment. But these 2 million yuan of disaster relief funds are really pitiful compared with the suffering people.
4. Summary
Chiang Kai-shek did not have a trace of reflection on the consequences of this incident, which also led to Chiang Kai-shek's credibility in the hearts of the people of Henan greatly reduced. During the Liberation War, ordinary people everywhere rushed to support the People's Liberation Army. I don't know if Chiang Kai-shek was beaten to Taiwan Province and whether he went to reflect on it.
It blew up the Yellow River, causing the Yellow River to burst its banks. Compared with the death and injury of thousands of people caused to the Japanese army, the degree of injury of the Chinese people is far more than the number of casualties of the Japanese army, although it is of little use, but it is not lost, and the death and injury of the Japanese army is really pitiful.
The breach of the Yellow River was essentially caused by the Kuomintang's unfavorable war of resistance, which itself was a thing that could not happen and was caused by man. After the flood, they did not actively provide relief to the victims, and they also intensified their efforts to loot the people. This is also one of the reasons why the people have fallen to the People's Liberation Army, which is caused by Chiang Kai-shek's wrong decisions one by one.
After the Japanese army was repulsed, Chiang Kai-shek was repelled in the civil war, and it is not known whether he will reflect on himself. Obviously, its military strength was far superior to that of the People's Liberation Army, but it still failed. As the old saying goes, "He who wins the hearts and minds of the people wins the world", if you don't put the people in your eyes, the people won't put you in their eyes.