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1937 - A New Hope for the Republic July-October 1937
1937 - A New Hope for the Republic July-October 1937
...By July it was clear that the May Offensives had stalled. A new approach was needed and it was obvious that attemtpting to invade Manchuria with merely 120000 troops was a foolish one that was a result of flawed intelligence. However, it was unclear at best what could be done next. Constitutionally, the Kuomintang lacked the mandate to mobilize it's vast reserves.
...Chiang's solution was to send elements of the Standing Army to reinforce the Chinese lines facing the Yan Xishan line. To avoid the constituonal prohibition of mobilizing the Reserve Army - Chiang called for "Volunteers" - and the response was enthusiastic with 2 million men flocking to the NRA standard by the end of the month...
The National Revolutionary Army "Adam" Monster-Gun in Action.
After conferring with the informal "War council" with his foreign advisors. Chiang decided to level the Yan Xishan line using super-heavy artillery. These "Monster-guns" would be convereted from the "mine throwers" which were being used to fling mines into the ocean to forestall any Japanese attempts at invasion. The first successful conversion to the "Monster-gun" from a mine thrower was dubbed "Adam." The engineering and initial crew of Adam consisted of German and Chinese engineers and soldiers with the Germans taking the lead role. Many of the Germans serving on the "Adam" crew had experience with the "Paris Gun" which was a super-long range artillery piece that could shell Paris. The other half was a Chinese crew of a "mine-thrower battalion."
- The Second Great War: China Front
" My crew was selected to take part in the first ever conversion of our mine-thrower unit to what we would later call "Monster-guns." Truth be told, I didn't have a lot to do as most of the work was done by the Germans in demonstrating it to us. There was only a handful of Chinese who actively participated in the initial test fire...Most of us were content to watch the awesome sight of an extremely large shell being loaded with the help of the crane...once this was complete there was some slight elevation...Captain Hu instructed us to cover our ears...The gun went off with a thundrous roar, several men close to the Monster had severe ear damage despite having covered their ears...This was instrumental in later getting proper equipment such as earplugs...For now though it was a glorious sight to watch..."
- Private Dinghy Yu, Test Monster-Gun Adam Unit
From: Voices of the Second Great War
"...As a sniper, I had perhaps one of the best vantage points a sniper could ask for - an elevated position overlooking exposed trench lines. I could snipe at will from my tower without risking retribution and I often made kills of 10 or more a day... I remember very clearly that day. I had my sniper scoped to a clueless Major General who seemed to be interested in inspecting the line than for his own safety. I was about so squeeze the trigger when an almighty crash shook me from my position and flung me hard against the other side of my tower...When I came to I looked out of my tower and found that something, or someone had caused a pillbox to uproot from it's position and slam with violent force against the tower..."
- Lieutenant Yong Yi
From: A Sniper's War.
... With ADAM having proven to be successful, Chiang ordered the conversion of more "mine throwers" to the "Monster-gun" type. This combined with the increase of numbers of the National Revolutionary Army seemed poised to end the stalemate, it only seemed to be a matter of time before the vaunted Yan Xishan line could be smashed to rubble...Manchuria and her Japanese allies were looking for a speedy way to deal China a large blow to force them back to the negotiating table...
...By July it was clear that the May Offensives had stalled. A new approach was needed and it was obvious that attemtpting to invade Manchuria with merely 120000 troops was a foolish one that was a result of flawed intelligence. However, it was unclear at best what could be done next. Constitutionally, the Kuomintang lacked the mandate to mobilize it's vast reserves.
...Chiang's solution was to send elements of the Standing Army to reinforce the Chinese lines facing the Yan Xishan line. To avoid the constituonal prohibition of mobilizing the Reserve Army - Chiang called for "Volunteers" - and the response was enthusiastic with 2 million men flocking to the NRA standard by the end of the month...
The National Revolutionary Army "Adam" Monster-Gun in Action.
After conferring with the informal "War council" with his foreign advisors. Chiang decided to level the Yan Xishan line using super-heavy artillery. These "Monster-guns" would be convereted from the "mine throwers" which were being used to fling mines into the ocean to forestall any Japanese attempts at invasion. The first successful conversion to the "Monster-gun" from a mine thrower was dubbed "Adam." The engineering and initial crew of Adam consisted of German and Chinese engineers and soldiers with the Germans taking the lead role. Many of the Germans serving on the "Adam" crew had experience with the "Paris Gun" which was a super-long range artillery piece that could shell Paris. The other half was a Chinese crew of a "mine-thrower battalion."
- The Second Great War: China Front
" My crew was selected to take part in the first ever conversion of our mine-thrower unit to what we would later call "Monster-guns." Truth be told, I didn't have a lot to do as most of the work was done by the Germans in demonstrating it to us. There was only a handful of Chinese who actively participated in the initial test fire...Most of us were content to watch the awesome sight of an extremely large shell being loaded with the help of the crane...once this was complete there was some slight elevation...Captain Hu instructed us to cover our ears...The gun went off with a thundrous roar, several men close to the Monster had severe ear damage despite having covered their ears...This was instrumental in later getting proper equipment such as earplugs...For now though it was a glorious sight to watch..."
- Private Dinghy Yu, Test Monster-Gun Adam Unit
From: Voices of the Second Great War
"...As a sniper, I had perhaps one of the best vantage points a sniper could ask for - an elevated position overlooking exposed trench lines. I could snipe at will from my tower without risking retribution and I often made kills of 10 or more a day... I remember very clearly that day. I had my sniper scoped to a clueless Major General who seemed to be interested in inspecting the line than for his own safety. I was about so squeeze the trigger when an almighty crash shook me from my position and flung me hard against the other side of my tower...When I came to I looked out of my tower and found that something, or someone had caused a pillbox to uproot from it's position and slam with violent force against the tower..."
- Lieutenant Yong Yi
From: A Sniper's War.
... With ADAM having proven to be successful, Chiang ordered the conversion of more "mine throwers" to the "Monster-gun" type. This combined with the increase of numbers of the National Revolutionary Army seemed poised to end the stalemate, it only seemed to be a matter of time before the vaunted Yan Xishan line could be smashed to rubble...Manchuria and her Japanese allies were looking for a speedy way to deal China a large blow to force them back to the negotiating table...
- CCA
- Word Count: 660