The Blue Ants Read online

  First Published in 1962 by Robert Hale as The Blue Ants

  Published by Digit Books in 1963 as The Blue Ants

  Published in 1970 as Vuur Over Chao in Dutch by Luitingh (Tijgerpocket)

  This version is based on the Luitingh (Tijgerpocket) edition

  Translated fron the Dutch Edition

  Vuur over chao (Fire over Chaos)

  by AI translator

  31-12-2022

  As this is a machine translation there will be slight differences due to:

  (1) - Translation from English to Dutch..........

  (2) - Translation back from Dutch to English

  I could not frind a digital edition in English

  This book was produced for my personal use

  I managed get the covers from the internet and the publication details and title page etc from the same source.

  Other Digit Titles:-

  WEDNESDAY’S CHILD Carol* Saunders 2/6

  *

  RANDOM RENDEZVOUS Oliver Anderson 2/6

  *

  LIEUTENANT BONES Edgar -Wallace 2/6

  *

  HOUR OF THE RAT Jon Manchip White 2/6

  *

  SHAME Emile Zola 2/6

  *

  THE GLASS KEY Dashiell Hammett 2/6

  *

  WITCHWATER G. M. Wilson 2/6

  *

  THE BLUE ANTS

  The first authentic account of the Russian-Chincse war

  of 1970

  By

  BERNARD NEWMAN

  BROWN, WATSON LIMITED

  LONDON

  THE BLUE ANTS

  A Digit Book

  First published by Robert Hale Limited 1962.

  Digit Edition 1963.

  This Book is copyright. No portion of it may be reproduced without written permission.

  © Bernard Newman 1962

  Digit Books are published by Brown, Watson Ltd

  Digit House, Harlesden Road, London, N.W.10

  Made and Printed in Great Britain by

  Thomson Printers Ltd.,

  at Charles Birchall & Sons Ltd., Liverpool,

  and Withy Grove Press Ltd., Manchester

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Ninteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Chapter Forty-Five

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Chapter Fifty

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  Chapter Fifty-Seven

  Chapter Fifty-Eight

  Chapter Fifty-Nine

  Chapter Sixty

  Chapter Sixty-One

  Chapter Sixty-Two

  Chapter Sixty-Three

  Chapter Sixty-Four

  Chapter Sixty-Five

  Chapter Sixty-Six

  Chapter Sixty-Seven

  Chapter Sixty-Eight

  Chapter Sixty-Nine

  Chapter Seventy

  Chapter Seventy-One

  Chapter SEventy-Two

  The opening pages from the dutch edition

  Chapter One

  I'm a bit dubious about where to start this chronicle.

  Personally, I only came into contact with the prelude to the Sino-Russian conflict in 1958, and that still very indirectly.

  I then gave a lecture to an auditorium of Russian students in Moscow. Friendly and intelligent people, but their ignorance of the West was appalling.

  "Do you have schools in England?" was the first question after my presentation. Other questions were less amusing.

  For example, we have hundreds of thousands of donors, who simply donate blood for civic reasons available to their fellow human beings in need. I was amazed at the Russian explanation of this: Our blood donors were not acting civicly at all — they were exploited workers who, in order to get food, had to sell their blood!

  In my audience were three younger members of the Party: They started me attack on NATO. Admittedly friendly, but if you are attacked in Russia, a counter-attack is best.

  So I waited for a good moment and then said, “I would if I were you Don't be too hard on NATO. There may come a time when you Russians come running to our West looking for allies against China.”

  I have given lectures in more than sixty countries, but never has a single statement had such an effect. If my audience could certainly be called animated: now it looked as if someone had hit it on the head with a sledgehammer. So I made use of it: “Look at it this way: Russia has 210 million souls, with an annual population increase of three million. China has a population of about 700 million, a number that grows by no less than fifteen million every year. By 1980, China will be home to at least 1,000 million. Repeat, a thousand million intelligent and industrious people in a country that will then be fully industrialized. That means that by 1980 China is necessarily the number one communist state and Russia is second coming."

  With that, of course, the meeting ended. The Russians could freely discuss anything with a foreign guest, except China.

  But it was quite clear that these bright young people did have their own thoughts about China... My chairman was a professor of journalism at Moscow University. He was silent as we walked to his office. There he brought out vodka, plus "Soviet champagne" and a simple Russian mineral water. Mintov immediately started on the vodka.

  "A thousand million...!" he muttered. "Is that a fact?"

  Well, in 1958 the Chinese estimated their population at about 450 million. But then they took a count, and the correct figure turned out to be 616 million. That same census showed that the natural increase, ie births minus deaths, exceeded fifteen million annually. So it's a matter of simple math."

  “That is justifiably worrying,” said Alexei Mintov, “no wonder Nikita Khrushchef was shocked.”

  "Chrissy frightened? From what? When?"

  "Didn't you hear that? I thought everyone knew by now. YOU know that he flew to China, at the beginning of this year.”

  "Yes, to keep the Chinese from attacking Formosa—something like that."

  “Yes, at least the islands off the coast. The Chinese did not seem to realize that such a thing could be the start of a new world war.

  Khrushchev did - and he we
nt to China to avoid that.”

  "And he succeeded?"

  “Yes, but on his return he was less relieved than you might expect.

  Apparently a comment from Mao Tse Tung bothered him.”

  "How so?"

  “In the course of the discussion, Mao pointed out that in a nuclear war, China could possibly lose 200 million people, and still remain China. But if it happened to Russia, there would be no Russia left.”

  “My goodness, that is only too true! - quite a shock for Khrushchev.”

  "Yes. It just won't get him out of his head."

  "How do you know that? Do you know him so well?" - because then I only knew Mintov.

  "Pretty good. You do know that I write his speeches from time to time?”

  In fact, I knew nothing about it, but it was an interesting piece of news.

  Mintov refilled his glass and immediately knocked it back—something he'd done every few minutes since we got home.

  “Full thousand million!” he exclaimed again. “You Western politicians are stone blind. They think we are afraid of America. Nonsense! In the technical field, especially in rocketry, we are ahead of them enough not to be afraid. Moreover, they are far too stuffy to get the world's opinion against them. Oh no, Khrushchev is not at all afraid of America, but he is terrified of China.” On my return from Russia, July 1958,1 sent a memo about this discussion to friends in both British and American diplomatic circles. Of course nobody took any notice of it.

  Chapter Two

  Now that I think about it, the year 1958 is still too recent for the beginning of my chronicle. First I need to clear up some widespread misconceptions before my story becomes clear.

  The first is that communist China would be a creation of Stalin.

  This is completely incorrect. Stalin despised the Chinese communists — he called them margarine communists, not real ones! - and in 1927 he had written them off as a negligible political factor.

  He therefore strongly supported Chiang Kai-shek and his Nationalist cause. In any case, until 1948 the communist victories in China were trivialized in the Russian press. Khrushchev has described the serious discord between Stalin and the Chino communists that year in such a way that it was only due to the serious internal tensions in both countries that there was no open rift between Russia and China originate.

  Nevertheless, Stalin had a keen eye for loot and saw in China a promising colony. In 1945 he had thoroughly plundered Manchuria— hardly an act of Communist friendship—and had no choice but to hand over that province, not to Mao Tse-tung, mind you, but to Chiang Kai-shek.

  Nor did Stalin later seem aware of the far-reaching significance of the communist victory? He gave the new China a most generous loan and in return appropriated the Port Arthur strategic base, Darien and the Changchung Railway. With the clear intention lintel; reoccupy Manchuria.

  He already had one of the Chinese provinces in his grasp. Using China's difficulties—the war against Japan and the bitter civil war—Russia had invaded the province of Outer Mongolia and thoroughly reorganized it into a Soviet satellite.

  Stalin enjoyed the greatest boon of any statesman—blind luck—and he proved that this yields more than all wisdom. Supposing he controlled South Korea - as he already does the North - his armies would have a favorable attitude towards Manchuria.

  Then, in 1950, events played into his hands. Dean Acheson, the US Secretary of State, gave a major speech on the policy of the United States on its defense chain of islands along the Pacific Ocean. In particular, he listed places that the USA considered vital for its defense. But he forgot the peninsula of South Korea.

  Stalin seized this opportunity with both hands and ordered his North Korean vassals to attack. At the same time, however, he committed an unbelievable stupidity: Shot in the wings at the umpteenth unworthy squabble about trivialities in the United Nations, he withdrew his Russian delegation from the debates. When the USA immediately proposed action in Korea, Russia failed to exercise its usual veto.

  As a result, Stalin, who had counted on his North Koreans overrunning the South in a matter of days or weeks, found his satellite engaged in a protracted and confused battle.

  Chapter Three

  At this stage, it is necessary to introduce to you a Chinese general named Feng Fong, then an entirely unknown figure to the West. I can boast of almost exclusive information about this remarkable figure.

  From an early age he was convinced that he was destined for posthumous fame—something he rightly saw! Once firmly on the path to fame, he kept a separate secret scribe, Hofei Yuan-pu, whose job it was to keep a daily account of his master's words and works.

  Feng Fong regularly went through and censored those notes before Hofei's chronicle was finally typed.

  I have been able to make extensive use of this archive, as well as my personal relationship to Hofei, who currently lives in Hong Kong.

  His memory is excellent, and in many places he has spoken the truth the canvases can do, as being contrary to the version, as favored by the general who had aimed primarily at the judgment of posterity.

  While I cannot vouch for the absolute accuracy of my account in all details,

  I am nevertheless assured that it is substantially correct. Certainly Hofei knew more about Feng Fong's mindset than anyone else and he is by far the best source of information about his employer.

  Since I myself discovered him, prey to a miserable existence as an exile and completely unknown to the authorities, the press and the world, I felt justified in exploiting this "find" to the fullest.

  Like most Chino communist leaders, Feng Fong was of bourgeois, perhaps even aristocratic descent. He was born on his father's lands near Tientsin, south of Beijing. His father was a wealthy man, governor of Shansi province in earlier years.

  Feng Fong was the youngest in a family of seven children. As such, he could only look forward to a meager portion of the inheritance, so he had to make your own career.

  He passed Peking University with flying colours, and it was assumed that, with his father's influence behind him, he would become a mandarin and a district administrator.

  The young man, however, had other ideas: he wanted to become a soldier, and he did was promptly given a command — in those days education was meager, it was enough if you came from the right family!

  Nor did he have long to wait for the action he craved.

  He fought as a cavalry officer against the Japanese in Manchuria. It is true that the Chinese were crushed, but the young man learned a great deal from that disastrous campaign.

  He began by applying those lessons to his own command—at the end of the war he was a captain—and his men, cursing the hard and thorough training to which he subjected them, were obeyed and respected. He was not just a strong personality, he could do anything his men could do: even subsist on starvation rations.

  Naturally, he served in the Nationalist army under Tsang Kai shek. In his own right, he always showed respect for this leader, but his comments on the people around Chiang were stinging—they were corrupt men who did not seek the national interest, but only their own advantage.

  "Tshang's mistake was too much loyalty to his friends," he explained to his secretary. “And few were worth it.”

  Some were warriors who had defected to Chiang for the better of becoming. In those days it was quite normal for a general to receive the pay for his entire division, leaving it to him to pay his men individually. Once a general lost his entire division - but still took full pay for two years.

  Another was given command of a division recently equipped with state-of-the-art American armaments—justifiably the pride of the Chinese military in the march against the Communists.

  But when Feng Fong took a closer look at their route, he was faced with one puzzle. Soon the division was surrounded by Communist troops and a tame surrender was achieved.

  Only then did it dawn on him that the general had been heavily bribed - his capitulation was done before
his advance had even begun. The moment came when Feng Fong was personally involved in such an action.

  His division was ordered to drive the Communists out of Tai-yuan. The expedition failed: the Nationalist general was completely incapable and halted at the first sign of serious resistance. When the lightly armed but highly active communist forces began to press against his flanks, the highly alarmed general ordered a general retreat.

  This did not apply to Feng Fong. His cavalry regiment was practically intact, but his colonel thought two companies were enough for the task set, namely the defense of the village of Tainan, which controlled an important crossroads. The colonel himself led the retreat of the remaining companies to the south, so that Feng became commander of the rearguard.

  The communists were still skirmishing with the main force and everything Tainan had five days of rest before the first attack.

  Feng had used every minute of this unexpected respite. His foragers had scoured the land for food and water. True, the Nationalist general had promised to return with reinforcements, but Feng was now wise enough not to believe empty words.

  His men repulsed that attack, then a second. However, the village was now completely surrounded. In the past few days of calm, troops and villagers had rushed up reinforcements: “As long as the opposing side doesn't have artillery, we're fine,” Feng said to his deputy commander.