A total of six divisions of the US military participated in this battle with nearly 50,000 people. The most famous of them was the 6th Cavalry Division, called the Cavalry. In fact, this unit was a standard mechanized infantry organization, with two combat brigades and An air support group is clearly infantry but is called cavalry. This originates from the tradition of the British and American countries. For example, in the British army, there is a certain cavalry division, a certain dragoon regiment, and a certain lancer regiment. But in fact, there are basically no such troops in these troops. There are no horses, and the mechanization of the troops is quite high. The top commander of this US military is Lieutenant General Wainwright IV, who has received special training as a cadet army in Taiwan. In terms of this personnel appointment, China likes it the most In fact, it was Sharp who had worked with Guo Kui for a long time. However, it was precisely because Sharp had a good personal relationship with the top brass of the Cadet Expeditionary Force that it aroused MacArthur's suspicion. MacArthur insisted, and in the end Wainwright was promoted to the position.
The defeat of the Second Battle of Guadalcanal, which enabled the Xuebing Army to truly dominate the Pacific War, was naturally a shame in MacArthur's view. From now on, he would be under the command of a Chinese woman, which in his view was more like being directly A slap in the face, which is why he was grumbling in private and believed that women should stay away from war. MacArthur was at fault because of male chauvinism, which made it difficult for MacArthur to turn around on this matter. Therefore, as long as the plan formulated by Bai Liusu was issued, He would instinctively respond to orders given, as if otherwise he would not be able to demonstrate his brilliance.
The battle plan for the Battle of Grasse was naturally once again strongly questioned by Bai Liusu because it was proposed by Bai Liusu. What made him most suspicious of the plan was that Bai Liusu ordered the 6th U.S. Cavalry Division to outflank the plan, but he failed to do so. He ordered the Third Division of the First Marine Corps of the Chinese Expeditionary Force to hold on to a seemingly insignificant place far away from Grasse. In the end of the argument, he agreed that the Sixth Cavalry Division would be responsible for the outflanking mission, and at the same time pointed out that a single Sixth Cavalry Division The force seems to be a bit weak, and it is suggested that the third division should also be used to outflank: "Is it necessary for Bigla to defend? I don't believe that the Japanese will choose to break out from here."
The top brass of the Allied Pacific Theater Command are far from as harmonious as they appear on the surface. The disputes between senior Chinese and American military officers have almost never stopped. However, in terms of personality, MacArthur and Bai Liusu have similarities. They often behave in a different way. They were very stubborn, so often what was originally a small dispute would become magnified when it came to them. Ouyang Yun and Roosevelt once had to play the role of mediators, frequently criticizing, comforting, or persuading MacArthur or MacArthur. white tassel,
Bigla is far away from the Coral Sea, and the terrain heading east is very complex and not suitable for troop movement. Therefore, in MacArthur's view, even if the Japanese army finally breaks through from Bigla, they will choose to take the coastal route. He believes that he has the control On the side of truth, however, he encountered a leader who seemed a bit arrogant and unreasonable. He talked endlessly about a lot of truth, but in the end, Bai Liusu said, "Are you the commander-in-chief or am I the commander-in-chief?" One sentence left me speechless,
Bai Liusu is the commander-in-chief, so her words are the most authoritative.
When the battle started, because of the argument between MacArthur and Bai Liusu, when the 6th U.S. Cavalry Division was conducting an outflanking operation, the middle and lower-level officers and soldiers complained a lot, "Sir, why do Chinese women do this?" Let the Chinese army watch the mountain scenery in Bigla, but let us travel a long distance to outflank the Japanese retreat, is it just because she is the supreme commander?"
"To allow a Chinese, or a Chinese woman, to be our commander-in-chief, I think this is the extreme irresponsibility of Congress towards our front-line soldiers."
"Son of a bitch, why are we the ones carrying out the outflanking mission instead of the Chinese? Aren't the Chinese invincible?"
…
The commander of the 6th Cavalry Division is named Dane. He is a fat man in his forties who likes to smoke cigars. He is also unhappy about rushing to this mission, but compared to the middle and lower-level officers and soldiers, he obviously has a better sense of military honor, so , although he also had opinions in his heart, he would never say them out. When he heard the discussions among his men, he remained silent at first. Finally, when he felt that it might affect morale and marching speed, he shouted: "Shut your mouths. Well, you also know that the Chinese are invincible, so wait until they win the battle and show results before ridiculing the Chinese. The winner is always king on the battlefield, and now the Chinese have a better record than us, so we just You can listen to Chinese people, and you have to listen to a Chinese woman.”
Bai Liusu's arrangement made it easy for people to doubt her intentions. They would think that she was favoring one over the other and wanted to preserve the Chinese troops while using the Americans as cannon fodder. This suspicion was especially true on the ninth day of the Battle of Grasse. very,
Bai Liusu used an elite Japanese tank division as bait and successfully attracted two other Japanese divisions and five Co-Prosperity Army divisions to join in for reinforcements. Then he hunted dogs behind closed doors and took advantage of the super strength of the US Sixth Cavalry Division. With their maneuverability, they completed the encirclement of the Japanese army. Once the Allied forces' strategic intentions were exposed, it naturally triggered a fierce counterattack by the Japanese army. Under Koizumi's dispatch, more Japanese troops and the South Asia Co-Prosperity Army rushed over, hoping to complete the attack first. On the ninth day of the siege of the 6th Cavalry Division, the 6th Cavalry Division was attacked from the east and west. The total enemy force it faced was nearly 100,000. The full strength of the 6th Cavalry Division's ground troops was less than 10,000. If one was equal to ten, it would be natural to fight. It was extremely hard, and when it was most dangerous, Dane went to the front line and became a tank gunner.
"We need support."
"We can hold on for at most three hours."
"Son of a bitch, where are the reinforcements?"
... Dane has already gone to the front line, so there will naturally be no shortage of telegrams from the 6th Cavalry Division asking for help. You know, American soldiers are famous all over the world for "loving life and cherishing life."
From a strategic point of view, once the Sixth Cavalry Division was destroyed, the Battle of Grasse would be a declaration of failure for the Allies. How could MacArthur not be anxious? He first asked Bai Liusu if he would immediately implement the second plan. After receiving a negative answer, he directly sent a telegram to the White House, asking Roosevelt to put pressure on Ouyang Yun to save the 6th Cavalry Division that might be completely destroyed. "It is a mistake to let a woman serve as the supreme commander of the Allied Pacific Theater Army." ." At the end of the telegram, he did not forget to include this sentence,
MacArthur looked at people through colored glasses, so he couldn't understand Bai Liusu's painstaking efforts. Why did Bai Liusu let the 6th Cavalry Division take on the outflanking mission? Wasn't it just because of the division's superior mountain marching ability? As for whether doing so would There may be such a danger that the Sixth Cavalry Division will be eaten first, but if you don't take some risks and don't let the Japanese see hope, how can you deceive the Japanese army into continuing to increase their troops? What MacArthur didn't know was that from then on From the beginning, Bai Liusu planned to fight a beautiful encirclement and annihilation battle and become famous in one battle. She wanted to use a super beautiful victory to rectify her name and also rectify the name of women all over the world.
Women, not only can go to war, but they can do it better than most men,