Hello, and thank you for listening to the history of World War II podcast, Episode

205, Chang Kai-Shek's, Piric Victory.

Last time, the Japanese Expeditionary Forces commander had asked Tokyo for five more divisions,

as the Chinese were proving more difficult than expected.

Still, General Matsui Iwanai had been able to expand his holdings along the coast, just

north of Chang Kai.

Yet there was one last holdout, the village and fort of Baoshan, located between Shizilin

and Housan.

Once that was taken and his reinforcements arrived, General Matsui would then be ready to push

on one large front and finally make the stubborn Chinese sea the light of reason of Japanese

dominance.

As the Japanese Third Lucky Division moved out to attack Baoshan, they realized its thick

ancient walls would present a major stumbling block, and that many lives of the Third would

be lost in trying to accomplish this task.

So rather unexpectedly, the attacking division had bombers fly over the town and fort, but

instead of dropping bombs, leaflets, asking the defenders to give up, were released.

However, as the 28-year-old Lieutenant Colonel Yao had already messaged to Chang Kai-Shek,

the town would be held to the last.

General Matsui approved the Third's plan to drop paper instead of ordinance, but

didn't have much faith in it.

It also caused him to lose faith in the Third, sometime on the afternoon of September

4th, as the Lucky Third approached the town, its leadership decided to wait until the next

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