Wuhan in June is already quite hot, but for China, this summer must calm down. Chiang Kai-shek ordered people to install the most advanced air conditioners in the small buildings of the neighborhood committee, which in his view was a must-do, and he could not imagine that in a sweaty place everyone could have the heart to discuss problems. It can be seen that Chiang Kai-shek attaches great importance to the detailed rules.
The meeting took a short time to review the battle between Xuzhou and Lanfeng, followed by the discussion of the next battle of Wuhan. The first speaker was Liu Fei, director of the War Office, who analyzed the enemy situation after entering the summer. This was followed by Xu Peigen, director of the Intelligence Agency, who supplemented China's latest intelligence.
Xu Yongchang, director of the Military Command Department, mentioned that the Chinese army should pay special attention to the in-depth coordination between positions this time. But his proposal was opposed by Soviet military adviser Chelepanov.
Chelepanov believes that from the perspective of offensive positions, Xu Yongchang's proposal is not a problem. However, according to the experience of the defeat of Shanghai and Nanjing, China cannot fight in an isolated city. That is to say, before the configuration of the deep position was solved, the Chinese army did not have the ability to fight with the Japanese army.
It has to be said that this Soviet proposal still makes sense, and he also reminded Chiang Kai-shek.
Chelepanov also said: If the Battle of Xuzhou was an internal battle, then the next battle in Wuhan was an external battle.
Speaking of this meeting, we have to say another person, the Chief of Staff, He Yingqin.
From the point of view of his position, he should have spoken the most at such meetings. But in fact, although he is very senior, he is a cautious person. Especially on the occasions when Chiang Kai-shek is staying, he usually rarely expresses his position, just like the role of praise in cross-talk, blindly responding to peace, and the most common answer is: OKAY.
In fact, He Yingqin also had a reason for doing so. Chiang Kai-shek had never treated her well since 1927, and despite his high official position, Chiang Kai-shek never regarded him as his own. When Chiang Kai-shek was forced into the wilderness, He Yingqin remained silent. At the time of the Xi'an Incident, He Yingqin wanted to replace Chiang Kai-shek, so Chiang Kai-shek basically abandoned him.
If there had been no 8-year War of Resistance, He Yingqin would have been a completely tragic and mediocre person, and a mere He Mei Agreement would have made him bleak for a lifetime. For more than a year since the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, it has been located in the military center of the National Government, and although it cannot see any edges and corners, it has also worked diligently. In the case of repeated defeats of the Chinese army, it has shown its will and made all the previous accusations disappear.
At this meeting he mentioned only three points: how to avoid Japanese tanks, heavy artillery and aircraft on the battlefield. He felt that the geographical location around Wuhan would be more favorable to the Chinese military than Shanghai and Xuzhou. Jiangbei is the Dabie Mountain, Jiangnan is the shogunate mountain range, which will affect the use of Japanese tanks and heavy artillery, and the Ganbei Mountainous Area on the shore of Poyang Lake is foggy and rainy all year round, which is not conducive to the flight of Japanese aircraft.
In the end, everything must also be decided by Chiang Kai-shek:
Chiang Kai-shek turned southern Henan and northern Gan into areas that clashed hard against Japan, and the eastern and northern parts of the Dabie Mountains were frontal positions, which were held by the troops of the Fifth Theater of Operations in Jiangbei, that is, Sun Lianzhong's Third Corps and Li Pinxian's 4th Corps, under the personal command of Bai Chongxi.
Xue Yue was appointed commander of the First Corps, and zhang Fakui, commander of the 2nd Corps, fought on both sides of the Yangtze River.
The Ninth Theater of Operations was established, covering the southern part of the Yangtze River in Hubei, as well as the entire northeastern part of Jiangxi and Hunan Province, under the unified command of Chen Cheng, commander of the Ninth Theater, and commanding the two corps of Xue Yue and Zhang Fakui.
The above personnel arrangement is the backbone of the Chinese army at the Battle of Wuhan.
There is a small detail here, which needs to be introduced to you, about Chen Cheng.
Chen Cheng's military ability is actually very limited, not suitable to be the commander-in-chief of the group army, the previous role of commander-in-chief, more suitable to be a theater commander who organizes the overall situation and leads the overall situation, it can be said that Chiang Kai-shek's arrangements are very in place.
In Chiang Kai-shek's Huangpu clan, except for Hu Zongnan's independence, most of the Whampoa clan was divided into two groups, one wave followed Chen Cheng, and you should not follow He Yingqin. Those who followEd He Yingqin are very loose, because there can be no more political future, and the only rupture is Wang Yaowu, who will open up relations and fight wars, and such people are really very few.
Those who followed Chen Cheng, but formed a stable civil engineering department, were hopeful people within the Kuomintang.