In other words, the "September 18th Incident" broke out in 1931 and Japan fully invaded China, which heightened the Nanjing National Government's sense of crisis in preparing for war against Japan. Under the instruction of Chiang Kai-shek, Marshal Zhang Xueliang of the Northeast Army went to Europe for inspection in 1933. He made a special trip to Italy to build a bridge for closer relations between the two countries. While Zhang Xueliang was in Italy, Mussolini personally held four grand banquets for this distinguished guest from China, and each time he had long talks with the young "King of the Northeast." Mussolini hoped to obtain rare minerals from China and, by the way, gain a "little brother" who liked Italy in the East. This would obviously help Italy's established national policy of "weakening Britain." It is worth mentioning that Mussolini’s daughter Ada was an old acquaintance of Zhang Xueliang, and she strongly encouraged her father’s decision at this time.
In 1930, Ada traveled to China alone, and was warmly received by Zhang Xueliang, the then acting chairman of the Peking Military Branch in Peking. At many grand dances, Zhang Xueliang, known as one of the "Four Young Masters of the Republic of China", was so charming and suave. Ada is in love. During this period, the young marshal also violated the no-fly order in Peking and arranged a romantic air trip. It is said that there were no clouds in the sky that day, the sun was warm and the wind was calm. The young marshal put on a handsome flight suit and boarded a Boeing plane with Ada. This was the only new aircraft at Beiping Airport that year. When the young marshal flew the plane out of the clouds, and the winding and majestic Great Wall and the Forbidden City with red walls and yellow tiles appeared in front of him, Ada, who was sitting in the passenger seat, could not help but cheer...
It is foreseeable that this matter will definitely cause an uproar. Sure enough, public opinion was in an uproar for a while. Some people pointedly said: "In order to please women, Deputy Commander Zhang ignored the regulations and ignored the responsibilities on his shoulders." Others said indignantly: "The wind, flowers, snow and moon have all gone to heaven (why don't you go to heaven? Marshal: I just came down!" When Chiang Kai-shek learned about this, he was even more furious. He slapped the case and scolded: "Nonsense! It's just nonsense. There is nothing (people) that this Han Qing dares to do!" The first lady Soong Meiling was He even called the young marshal in Peiping from Nanjing to inquire about this matter. At this time, Zhang Xueliang felt that this had gone too far. After that, the young marshal began to avoid Ada. Ada invited him to travel several times, but the young marshal declined on the grounds that he was busy with official duties.
It is said that Zhang Xueliang described Ada in his memoirs in his later years: "Ms. Mussolini and I were good friends... At that time, I was the person in charge of the north. When she came to Peking, I greeted her and entertained her. That's how we met her. I went out with her to play, look around, and eat, that's it. There was no other special relationship at the time, and I didn't expect that she would like me."
Except for a few photos of the young marshal and Ada at that time, many details of the two people's relationship have been lost due to the passage of time.
But in the fusion of time and space in the plot of World War II, the Ada Mussolini in front of her is obviously full of nostalgia for the wonderful experiences in the Far East. Especially when the person next to your pillow becomes more and more indifferent to you, this yearning becomes stronger.
"Go to China for filming..." Mrs. Katie was considering the feasibility of it: "I heard that since the outbreak of the war, most of the territory of the great country in the Far East has been lost."
In the Far East in 1943, the Nationalist Government passively resisted Japan and actively engaged in civil war. To describe it in one sentence: "The front is tight, the rear is tight"; "An expert in civil war is an expert in foreign war."
Even under the influence of the so-called "curve to save the country" slogan, a large number of "National Army" members defected to the enemy and turned into puppet troops. For example, Sun Liangcheng, deputy commander-in-chief of the 39th Group Army, Pang Bingxun, commander-in-chief of the 24th Group Army and commander of the 40th Army, Sun Dianying, commander of the new 5th Army, Wu Huawen, commander of the new 4th Division, Rong Ziheng of the Shandong local armed forces, etc., are all in During this period, rebellions and surrenders to the enemy led to a surge in the overall number of puppet troops. It even exceeded the total strength of the Japanese invaders.
In September 1943, the total strength of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army was only more than 470,000, with poor equipment and lack of ammunition, and no control over the country's war resources. However, the regular army of the National Government alone had more than 5 million people. It was the Eighth Route Army. and 10.6 times that of the New Fourth Army. Logically speaking, since the national army has a huge armed force of more than 5 million, and controls most of the war resources such as domestic and foreign military industry, economy, and food, and receives almost all international aid, should it also do its part to fight against the Japanese invaders? The absolute main force.
However. The cold numbers tell future generations that the Nationalist Government simply did not assume its due responsibility to protect the country. Taking Central China, the main battlefield of the frontal anti-Japanese war, as an example, the Japanese 11th Army’s more than 200,000 troops faced the National Government’s Fifth Theater (300,000 troops), Sixth Theater (more than 400,000 troops), and Ninth Theater ( 400,000 troops) with a total of 1.1 million troops, even if the so-called quality gap is "five to one (think again when I was Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, one Han was the five barbarians, it is sad that the world has been reversed after a hundred years of weakness in modern times)", these three war zones It still has a certain strength advantage over the more than 200,000 Japanese troops. It is a pity that the three theaters have never taken the initiative to recover any important city. If you can even repulse a local raid by the Japanese army, it will be reported as a "great victory". For example, Changsha, Western Hubei, and Changde all responded passively rather than actively seeking war.
It's a joke to say that the Nationalist Government has an army of 1.1 million, but the Japanese army of more than 200,000 actually controls the initiative on the battlefield. Isn't it weird?
In fact, in 1944, when the Hollywood movie "Seed of the Dragon" was released, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek suffered a huge defeat. More than 500,000 to 600,000 troops were lost on the battlefield in Henan, Hunan, and Guangxi, and 4 provincial capitals and 146 cities were lost. Among them, 38 cities were lost in 37 days in the battle in central Henan. When the Flying Tigers aiding China had already seized air supremacy, 7 Nationalist troops Three air force bases and 36 airports were occupied by the Japanese army. More than 200,000 square kilometers of land were lost, and 60 million people fell under the iron heel of the Japanese army. The national army was defeated in the Henan, Hunan, and Guangxi Army in 1944. The defeat was such that they did not even have the strength to recapture Nanjing, which directly led to the independence of Outer Mongolia.
As a last resort, President Roosevelt of the United States could only urge Stalin, hoping that the Soviet Red Army would send troops to fight against Japan as soon as possible. That was the later incident when the Soviet Union sent troops to Northeast China. In the final analysis, it is not because Chairman Chiang’s national army is so bad.
Think about it, if you had come to southern China to shoot "Dragon Seed" on location in 1943. Maybe the movie hasn't been finished yet, and even the filming location has been occupied by the Japanese army. The Chinese army couldn't even secure an airfield for American pilots aiding China, let alone a mere photography venue. The death of the Italian film crew, who had been replaced by Nazi photographers, was not a pity. Many of the European female celebrities on this train were still held in the palms of the Nazi high-level, and the "angel babies" included in the forbidden palaces almost all became the "flower girls" of the imperial army. That was truly a huge tragic event in the history of film.
Just thinking about it makes me feel that the risk is huge.
"It's exactly what you said." Ada Mussolini said calmly: "So I will try my best to help you allocate personnel and materials to ensure safety along the way."
"What exactly do you want?" Mrs. Kitty said straight to the point. It's as if MGM is owned by your family.
Wait, is it possible that the large investment of 3 million is also due to the Italian Film Department? Or, before Mussolini fell, someone at the top level of Italy was secretly communicating with the Allies in the name of making a movie? Moreover, this man joined other top fascist leaders to launch a palace coup on July 24, 1943, and dismissed Mussolini from all his posts. However, Nazi Germany intervened to rescue Mussolini from establishing a puppet regime. After being arrested, he was arrested on January 11, 1944. Count Ciano, Ada Mussolini's husband, was executed by Mussolini's firing squad on Japan under strong pressure from Nazi Germany?
"I would like to ask you to help me save a person." Ada Mussolini's eyes were firm: "He has been under house arrest for many years (tsk tsk, it really is a mythical plot that only you can control)."
