On December 7, 1941, the Japanese army, deeply trapped in the quagmire of China's battlefield, launched a big bet in the depths of the Pacific Ocean. In the early morning of that day, 183 aircraft taken off from six aircraft carriers , piercing through the clouds and fog, and rushed towards US Pacific Fleet station Pearl Harbor . Japan destroyed the US Pacific Fleet in just a few hours at the slightest cost of losing 29 aircraft, 55 pilots and several pocket submarines, , and seized the sea control of the entire Pacific Ocean.
Pearl Harbor's sneak attack made it easy for Japan to seize strategic materials such as oil fields, rubber, iron ore in Southeast Asia. The newly occupied areas also require a large amount of troops to defend and consolidate. However, the main force of the Japanese army, especially the huge army, was firmly restrained on the Chinese battlefield. Japan's Tokyo Base Camp urgently hopes to end the Chinese war. Therefore, in early 1942, the Japanese army launched the Myanmar Battle , aiming to cut off the last contact channel of China's Anti-Japanese War - HTML Highway . At that time, the British colonial authorities occupied Myanmar . They did not want to consume their troops in Myanmar, but only wanted to flee to India, so they asked China for assistance. National Government then formed a 100,000-man Expeditionary Force to fight in Myanmar, but it was a drop in the bucket. In addition, the poor cooperation between China and Britain led to the collapse of the war in Myanmar. The Chinese Expeditionary Force not only failed to protect the Yunnan-Burma Highway, but was followed by the Japanese army to the China-Myanmar border.
By the end of April of that year, the Japanese army captured western Yunnan , and there was a tendency to encircle the southwest from the rear. The rear of the Anti-Japanese War was in danger, and the people of Chongqing were in a state of turmoil. The National Government even prepared to move the capital to Xichang . The fast column formed by the 55th Division of the Japanese army captured Mangshi on May 3, captured Longling on May 4, and attacked to the west coast of Huitong Bridge on May 5. Huitong Bridge connects the two sides of the Nujiang River and is also the only channel for the Japanese army to attack Kunming. If the Japanese army cannot stop them in Nujiang, if the Japanese army successfully crosses the river, it will only take 10 days for the Japanese army to capture Kunming, a major southwest city with empty defense, and the consequences will be unimaginable.
Because of the importance of Huitong Bridge, the Chinese army had actually arranged explosives under the Huitong Bridge, but because it is the only passage on the Nujiang River, it will naturally not be easily blown up unless it is absolutely necessary. Moreover, a large number of military and civilians are stranded in Xi'an, Nujiang River, and they also need to evacuate from Huitong Bridge to the east. The Japanese army also knew very well that once the Huitong Bridge was attacked, the Chinese army would inevitably blow up the bridge, and at that time it would lose the excellent opportunity to use Huitong Bridge to attack Kunming. So the Japanese army put on makeup and became Chinese soldiers and refugees, mixed into the crowd, squeezed onto Huitong Bridge, and tried to seize Huitong Bridge while the chaos. The Japanese army created chaos on Huitong Bridge, causing the scene to be out of control in an instant. The military and civilians on the bridge trampled on each other, and the Japanese army took the opportunity to search for explosives arranged by the National Army and prepared to clear them. At the critical moment, Zhang Zuwu, the battalion commander of the 24th Battalion of the Independent Engineers of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, decisively ordered the blowout of Huitong Bridge, which was called "a minute to change the history of the War of Resistance" by historians! After the Huitong Bridge was blown up, the Japanese army did not give up the attack, but used a rubber raft to force the Nujiang River to cross the Nujiang River. However, due to the rapid flow of the Nujiang River and the sinister hydrological conditions, the Japanese army's large-scale crossing of the river could not be carried out, and the Japanese army's attack on the east coast could only achieve half the result with twice the effort. Thinking about it now is really terrifying to think about it carefully. If Zhang Zuwu had not ordered the blast of the bridge in time and allowed the Japanese army to occupy Huitong Bridge, the Japanese army could take advantage of the great victory of Myanmar to raid Kunming and then capture the southwest of the rear of the War of Resistance Against Japan. The entire situation of World War II would be more passive. If China's occupation worsens, the Japanese army could take the opportunity to occupy India and join the German army in the Middle East, and then the entire history of World War II would also be rewritten.
Fortunately, God blessed China. On May 5, 1942, a Chinese soldier named Zhang Zuwu avoided all this with his keen judgment.
