Hong Kong VCD
China suffered immensely during WW2. Even though
western schoolbooks doesn't
mention this and I didn't hear a word about this when I attended school.
But China along with Soviet Union suffered massive deaths in fighting the
Japanese
Imperial army and the western nazis. Soviet
27 million dead and China maybe as
much as 35 million dead counting
the whole Japanese occupation 1930-1945.
The numbers varies between different sources but there has been very few films
made or books written in the West about this "unknown" history.
Why is that? Sinophobia, Russophobia and racism or just plain Ignorance ?
There are serious attempts in western countries to erase these facts of WW2
and to
reduce the sufferings of the Chinese and Russian/Soviet people. Shameful,
even
though the fact that the Soviet Union defeated the Euro Nazis seems to be
somewhat grudgingly acknowledged by many.
What is the "real" number of deaths
in China appr. 1930-1945 due to the Japanese
occupation ? How many died due to the war between Mao's reds and nationalists?
So, when i watched this film some 20 years ago I knew almost nothing about
the
Japan - China war. This film is an epic and very well made war movie about
the
Chinese forces war with the Japanese in 1937-1940.
Japan wants to conquer the whole north of China and Shanxi (Shansi) by taking
the mountain Tai Hang.
But, in september 1937 the Red Army (Mao Zedong's communists) CPC' 8th Army
led by commander Zhu De (Chu Ten) and Kuomintang's Nationalist Army (Chiang
Kai Chek) managed to put their differences aside and unite against the japanese.
In an exceptionable bloody battle they
stopped the Japanese at the Tai Hang.
The guerilla battle tactics of the Red Army and a lot of weapons from the
Allied
forces was effective against the Japanese war-machine and Japan
never managed
to conquer the whole of China.
The film is very well made and even a bit objective as the Japanese in the
film
are shown to be skilled soldiers (and not as in Hollwood movies where the
krauts
are as magnificent as the Roman soldiers in an Asterix cartoon album, bumbling
fools that is).
Final words:
The Film comes very recommended to everyone who
manages to find it somewhere
as it depicts a part of WW2 that probably is unknown for most westerners.
IF Japan had conquered the whole of China, and IF Japan have had gained access
to a lot of fuel (which they hadn't because of the US destroying the oil refinerys
in South East Asia. Also forgotten but very important missions of the Allies
not much mentioned in war movies) - Japan would've opened
a new front in the
Russian east. That could've been to much for Russia and given Hitler
the win.
I watched this film almost 20 years ago on a
letterbox ratio VCD (Video CD, a
today forgotten format i guess) and with burnt in english subtitles
Mandarin and some japanese audio, region all
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