Questions crucial to the development and outcome of WW2 are a blind spot in the conventional wisdom on, and histories of, WW2:
Why did Japan invade China & what difference did it make to WW2?
Japan intended to invade Siberia (USSR) at the time of Operation Barbarossa but attacked Pearl Harbor instead – what made Japan change its target?
What saved Russia (USSR) from having to fight – and being defeated in – a 2-front war against Germany & Japan at the same time in WW2?
Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor forced the US to join the war against Japan and Germany in WW2 – what made Japan attack the US (Pearl Harbor) instead of the USSR (Siberia)?
This saved the USSR from having to fight a 2-front war. And it forced the US into joining China, the British and the USSR in the war against Japan and Germany. This decided the final alignment of belligerents in WW2 which ultimately decided the result of WW2.
Taierzhuang 1938 – Stalingrad 1942 provides insight into this blind spot in the histories of World War 2 – the Sino-Japanese War. Lance Olsen addresses the elephant in the room in histories of WW2, focusing on the Battle of Taierzhuang.
Japan contrived the Mukden Incident to invade China in September 1931 starting the war in Asia. Germany contrived the Gleiwitz incident to invade Poland in September 1939 starting the war in Europe. In a desperate bid to break the stalemate in China, Japan extended the Sino-Japanese War into the Greater East Asia War by attacking British and US territories in East Asia and the Pacific, including Pearl Harbor, in December 1941 – merging the wars in Asia and Europe into a worldwide war of Axis versus Allies. This book puts it all into perspective.
In WW2, the basis of British and US strategy was Europe First or Germany First, but the elementary factor of the victory of the Allied Powers against the Axis Powers was – attrition – first deliberately applied at Taierzhuang. The major portion of Japan's military might was consumed in China and similarly later the major portion of Germany's military might was consumed in Russia. The Nanjing Massacre in China foreshadowed the Holocaust in Europe. Japan had its "Kill All", "Burn All" and "Loot All" (三光作戦) Policy in its Holy War (Seisen) in China, Germany had its "Einsatzgruppen" (death squads) in its Operation Barbarossa in Russia. Japan was waging Holy War by divine commandment in invading China – hence, the use of terror (for example: the Rape of Nanjing), screaming "Banzai" in suicide attacks (Banzai charges), and suicide bombing (Kamikaze) attacks. Again, this book puts it all into perspective.
However, Stalingrad is often pointed out as the turning point of World War 2, but Taierzhuang 1938 – the model for Stalingrad 1942 – is in the blind spot of WW2 histories.
This book provides a detailed insight into the Battle of Taierzhuang: how a hodgepodge of troops inferior in almost every aspect – crushed elite divisions of crack troops superior in logistics, training, equipment and weaponry. It points out the startling similarity in the modus operandi for victory between it and the Battle of Stalingrad 4½ years later.
Title:
Taierzhuang 1938 – Stalingrad 1942
Subtitle:
Insight into a Blind Spot of WW2
ISBN:
9780983843597
Format:
Paperback
Number of pages:
368
Width:
152 mm (6 inches)
Height:
229 mm (9 inches)
Thickness:
20.8 mm (0.82 inches)
Weight:
540 gm (1.2 pounds)
Publication date:
31 July 2012
Author:
Lance Olsen (numisen@yahoo.com)
Publisher:
Clear Mind Publishing
Audience:
General/trade, Academic, Reference
Dewey Classification:
940.542178
BISAC code:
HIS027100
BISAC code:
HIS027000
BIC Main Subject:
HB
Subject Code:
IS027100 (History: Military - World War II)
Subject Code:
HIS027060 (History: Military - Strategy)
Subject Code:
HIS037000 (History: World - General)
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A militarily powerful country invades a very much larger country to seize territory. The invader has had an almost unbroken string of impressive victories and the larger country seems unable to fend off the invader. The most powerful units of the invader are now tasked with cutting the larger country’s most important north-south transport route which is a waterway. A town on the banks of that waterway is the target set for the invader’s elite combat units to capture. Capturing the town would enable the invader to menace the enemy capital and force it to surrender.
The invading units attack separately on a north-south axis converging on the town. The invading units fail to join but despite that, one large powerful elite unit lunges forward into the town. It becomes mired in street fighting in which the invader’s superior firepower is nullified. The invader’s artillery, tanks and aircraft are ineffectual because the defenders are “hugging the enemy” and resorting to hand-to-hand fighting and night attacks. The invader’s vaunted tanks are not only ineffectual but also vulnerable in the confined spaces of the town. The invader is very severely mauled in capturing 80% or 90% of the town. The defenders fight tenaciously to cling desperately to the last 10% or 20% of the town because therein is the only means of supply and reinforcement from across the waterway.
Victory for the invader seems certain. Defeat for the defenders seems imminent.
Suddenly, the invaders are horrified to realize they have been surrounded by powerful fresh forces, cut off, and are under attack from all sides. The besiegers are now besieged.
Supply by air is attempted in vain.
A powerful rescue column fails too.
Against all expectations, the most powerful among the elite of the invader’s forces suffers a resounding and humiliating defeat. The world is shocked and the invader’s invincibility is shattered. After more years of combat, the invaded country emerges victorious as one the principal Allied Powers of WW2.
Those familiar with the Battle of Stalingrad, USSR, in 1942/43 – will recognize those events as the Battle of Stalingrad.
Very few are aware that all those events had happened 4 or 5 years earlier in the Battle of Taierzhuang, China, in 1938!
From a veteran who fought in the Battle of Stalingrad, on "Taierzhuang 1938 – Stalingrad 1942":
"As a Stalingrad veteran of German 6th Army I am very interested in this book project. The author is completely right: background and beginning of the Asia war are not so well-known to most of us.
Regarding the crucial battle of Taierzhuang, there are lots of striking coincidents to the Stalingrad battle, you can say parallels. The author has done great research and presents his results and ideas in a brilliant way.
I can recommend this publication to all interested persons."
Taierzhuang, China 1938 – Chinese troops fight the invader for every street, building and room
Stalingrad, USSR 1942-1943 – USSR troops fight the invader for every street, building and room
Taierzhuang 1938 – Chinese infantryman straps on bundles of Model 24 hand grenades (Chinese copy) to demolish Japanese tanks. Trenches have been dug across the anticipated path of Japanese tanks. The infantryman moves in the trench to a point directly under a tank passing overhead and detonates all the grenades strapped to himself to demolish the tank – a one-way mission. The attackers have a vast superiority in firepower and the defenders have to compensate for deficient firepower by this desperate measure. This illustrates the tenacity of the defenders and the ferocity of combat.
Taierzhuang is a transport hub on the Grand Canal (simplified Chinese: 大运河; traditional Chinese: 大運河; pinyin: Dà Yùn Hé), China's 1,776 kilometers long man-made river, completed in 609 during the Sui dynasty, from Hangzhou in the south to what is now Beijing in the north. Since completion it has been the most important transport route between north and south China until 1855. In 1855, the Yellow River flooded and changed to a new course in Shandong. The new course cut the Grand Canal into northern and southern sections, thereby reducing its utility. However, Taierzhuang remained a transport hub on a principal north-south transport route. The Jinpu (Tianjin–Pukou) railway, a principal railway, from Tianjin in the north to Nanjing’s Pukou district in the south was completed in 1912 – including a station in Taierzhuang.
Excerpts from interview with SearchBeat.com
14) Why are these battles pivotal to the outcome of World War II?
Before Taierzhuang Japan’s military could be certain of victory in every battle it initiated against China’s military. After Taierzhuang Japan’s military could still win battles in China but it could not be certain of victory in battle. By the time of the First Sino-Japanese Battle of Changsha (September-October 1939) the balance had tilted against Japan because the Japanese were loosing most of the battles in China from then on.
Once Japan had lost the certainty of victory in battle against China’s military it meant the war would be a long one. Japan needed to win quickly if it was to win the war at all – a long war meant defeat for Japan, which is what happened.
Had Zhukov not been called to witness China’s victory after the Battle of Taierzhuang in 1938 he might have fought the Battle of Khalkin-Gol/Nomonhan in 1939 differently to different results. As it happened he won the Battle of Khalkin-Gol/Nomonhan by a modus operandi similar to what Li Zongren had used to win the Battle of Taierzhuang.
Had Zhukov lost the Battle of Khalkin-Gol/Nomonhan in 1939 – would he have been put in command over Chuikov at Stalingrad?
Would the 2 of them have won the Battle of Stalingrad by a strategy and tactics so startlingly similar to what Li Zongren had used to win victory at Taierzhuang?
Germany’s military suffered 60% to 80% (depending on who makes the estimate) of its losses in battles in Russia. Stalingrad was the biggest single loss. Before Stalingrad the Germans were winning and the Russians were loosing. After Stalingrad the balance had clearly tilted the other way and against Germany. Had the Germans been the victors at Stalingrad, WW2 would have developed differently thereafter – perhaps, to a different outcome.
16) What makes this book any different from any other book about World War II?
Considering books on WW2 in the English language, as a rule the war in Europe is considered the main event and the war in Asia is considered a sideshow. My book puts the European war and the Asian war, especially the war in China, into perspective in WW2 for a truer understanding of WW2 as a whole.
Most people are not even aware that WW2 started in China and ended in Asia. Even those who are aware that WW2 continued in Asia after it ended in Europe, don’t realize that it had started in China more than 2 years before it started in Europe, and more than 4 years before the US was attacked. My book puts all this into perspective.
My book is the only one to explain the Battle of Taierzhuang in detail, detail the parallels between it and the Battle of Stalingrad, put the 2 into perspective relative to each other, and put the 2 into the perspective of WW2 as a whole.
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