Chapter 108 Chapter 108 Frost and Cold River 3

The impact of the fall of Hengyang was huge and profound, and the strategic situation that was stalemate and balanced was changed in an instant, and the national army that lost Hengyang, an important strategic fulcrum, suddenly fell into a passive decline.However, the highest military authority in China did not clearly reflect this incident. The 62nd Army, 73rd Army, 79th Army, 46th Army, 74th Army, and 100th Army that were responsible for the rescue mission seemed at a loss in the first day or two.Are some of the peripheral positions of Hengyang that were finally defeated still defended?Do you still want to fight forward?The high command is still in trouble, and the troops are also in trouble. The troops have not yet received a clear action order.

Whether it is defending or blocking, there should be new positions, new fortifications and new terrain; whether it is withdrawing or transferring, it should act as soon as possible to keep the distance from the Japanese army.The high command is still hesitating. Although the rescue of Hengyang failed, after several days of fighting, after all, some victories have been achieved, forming an extremely powerful attack posture. If the fulcrum is good at using and expanding this situation, the Japanese army that conquered Hengyang will inevitably become a lone army. However, if no active action is taken, these favorable situations will be lost and changed, and the initiative of the position will be lost.But all these favorable conditions can only be "tasteless" for the Chinese army at that time. These favorable situations require a large amount of military input to strengthen and consolidate.But without Hengyang, this stronghold, the strength of the two sides has undergone fundamental changes, and the Japanese army is no longer in the dangerous situation of being attacked by the enemy.This dangerous "chicken rib" that is tasteless to eat and a pity to discard should be thrown away as soon as possible. The main force of the national army should withdraw to Guangxi as soon as possible, and prepare for the next wave of Japanese attack as soon as possible.

On the second day after the fall of Hengyang, Dazuo Shimaguchi, who was known as a strategic expert in the Japanese army, had completed the first phase of his plan for the peripheral operations of Hengyang.Shimanuki has received systematic education in modern Western military theory, specializing in commanding large corps in combat, and is good at outflanking and cutting the opponent's forces, forming a large encirclement, theoretical research and map operations in mass annihilation battles. Before 1942, the Japanese army base camp sent him to investigate the successful experience of the German army in the Great War of Annihilation against the British and French Allied Forces and the Soviet Red Army in the European battlefield. After returning to China, he conducted countless war games to gather and annihilate the Soviet army in the vast wilderness of Siberia.But later, due to great changes in the international situation, the Japanese Empire could only go south to fight against the United States, and could not go north. Therefore, Shimanuki was not used. His only dream was to see if he could fight one or two opponents of the national army. Annihilation battle.

As soon as the plan came out, Shimanuki urged the headquarters of the China Expeditionary Force to implement it quickly.He only asked to perfect his strategic design, without taking into account the actual difficulties of the actual combat troops.The first phase of Shimasuke's plan is to use 15 field divisions of the national army around Hengyang to "one-pot".He believes that if these 15 divisions cannot be resolved in the near future, they will enter Guangxi and become the resistance to the next battle in Guiliu.The annihilation of this part of the Chinese army in this phase of the battle "can be regarded as solving the key to the first phase of the Hunan-Guangxi campaign, and then conquering Guilin and Liuzhou in one fell swoop in the second phase of the battle.

The base camp approved Shimasuke's report as quickly as possible.The General Command of the Chinese Expeditionary Army believes that Shimanuki is a "Heavenly Proud Son" who has been spoiled by the base camp.General Yan Jun, the commander-in-chief of the Chinese Dispatch Army, still insisted on making the exhausted Japanese army take a short-term rest. A week after the fall of Hengyang, Chiang Kai-shek finally made an arrangement: "Send the 79th Army to take over the task of defending the suburbs of Hengyang; the 46th Army is transferred back to Guangxi and returned to the fourth war zone; the 62nd Army will be assembled in Hongqiao after the defense is handed over... ..."

Chiang Kai-shek's order was to let the national army withdraw from the Hengyang war, but it was too late.The 79th Army just took over the positions of the 62nd Army and the 46th Army, and their foothold was not stable. The Japanese army surrounded and attacked them the next day, advancing all the way. The 79th Army's defense line was too long, and it was defeated within a day of defense. collapse.The 62nd Army had just made defense for one day before marching towards Hongqiao, and the Japanese army chased it up.The 157th Division of the 62nd Army was surrounded and managed to get out of the encirclement. They ran all the way, but the Japanese army pursued them all the way. When they reached Hongqiao, they couldn't get a foothold at all, and they had to give up the positions they had built before.Afterwards, the Japanese army took a shortcut, and the troops had no choice but to hastily fight and retreat.All the way, the Japanese army went straight to the road from Hongqiao to Qiyang. The troops only had to drill the mountain road trail, and all their luggage was discarded.A division of the 46th Army was blocked east of the railway, and the troops lost control.The situation of the 79th Army was even worse, being chased and beaten by the Japanese army all the way, and it didn't stop until the east of Qiyang.

At this time, the 79th Army and the 46th Army received an order from the Military Commission to occupy positions near the Lengshuitan Xianggui Railway and the area to the north to prevent the Japanese troops from attacking.The Japanese army did not stop, and immediately divided into three groups. The two divisions of the Japanese army on the middle route moved towards Lengshuitan along the Xianggui Railway, and the one division on the right route departed from Hengyang and marched towards Dong'an County through Luhong City on the border of Baoqing. , the two divisions on the left also started from Hengyang, went up the Xiangjiang River, and went straight to Lingling.Obviously, the defensive flanks of the 79th Army and the 46th Army were outflanked by the left and right Japanese troops. The 62nd Army had turned from the mountainous area north of Hongqiao to the direction of Wugang, and it was difficult to gather back for a while.

Therefore, the 79th Army and the 46th Army had to rush to build fortification defenses.But the respite was still uncertain. On September 2, the main force of the Japanese army had already come north along the Hunan-Guangxi Railway, and received fire from the front-line troops.After two days of fierce fighting, both sides suffered casualties.The two divisions of the Japanese army advancing towards Lingling had crossed the west bank of the Xiangjiang River in the area south of Qiyang; the vanguard of the Japanese army advancing towards Dong'an from Baoqing had already crossed Luhong City.These two Japanese armies have formed a situation of encircling the 79th Army and the 46th Army.Wang Jiaben, commander of the 79th Army, ordered all troops to withdraw from their positions and move towards Dong'an County.

On the evening of September 6, the headquarters of the 79th Army encountered the Japanese outflanking troops near Yuqiting, Dong'an County, and the army headquarters was harassed by enemy forces.Commander Wang Jiaben ordered the 292nd Regiment of the 98th Division of the army to clear the obstacles and occupy Shankou Town to ensure the safe passage of the army headquarters.However, Wang Zhuoru, the commander of the 292nd regiment, acted slowly and delayed the fighter plane. Shankou Town was preemptively occupied by the Japanese flank cavalry search troops.At this critical moment, Wang Zhuoru failed to fight back in time, nor did he report the situation to the military.

At dawn on September 7, the pistol company of the vanguard of the 79th Army had passed through Yuqiting slope and descended to the gentle area on the east side of Shankou Town.Wang Jiaben led the military personnel and the troops directly under him to follow up in a single column.Just after passing the downhill of Yuqiting, a military staff officer saw in the binoculars that there were countless tall horses galloping towards the village of Shankou Town. Although Wang Zhuoru's regiment had been ordered to occupy Shankou Town, how could there be so many cavalry? General Wang Jiaben and others stopped, feeling that the situation was not good.In an instant, the pistol company had already caught fire with the Japanese cavalry.A group of cavalry personnel standing in the military headquarters immediately became the target of the Japanese cavalry troops.Among them, Lieutenant General Wang Jiaben had the most prominent goal.The machine gun fire of the Japanese army concentrated and swept down the slope of Yuqiting. At the same time, a part of the Japanese cavalry went straight to Commander Wang Jiaben and his party.

Wang Jiaben and his adjutants hurriedly fought back, pulled their horses and withdrew to the east side of Yuqi Pavilion, only the aide and adjutant Wu Zhenke was left beside him, and Wang Jiaben had been shot and injured.However, he was born in the army and was proficient in pommel horses. He still fought back and was surrounded by more than 10 Japanese cavalry regiments.General Wang was wounded and fell off his horse, still fighting the Japanese cavalry to the death.When the subordinates found his body, they saw that his body was covered with many knife wounds, his face was severely wounded, and his hands were bloody from being twisted by the blade. It was obvious that he had fought with the Japanese soldiers to the last breath.Adjutant Wu also died under the knife. The officers and soldiers collected the remains of Commander Wang Jiaben and Adjutant Wu with tears in their eyes.Due to the critical situation of the war, he had to be buried hastily on the spot on the hillside behind Zhangjiachong, Bajiao Village, northeast of Shankoupu. General Wang Jiaben was 43 years old at the time, graduated from the Yunnan Lecture Hall, and was well-known in the Yunnan Army.In the Anti-Japanese War, as a high-ranking general, there were few such cases where he fought with the enemy hand-to-hand and died heroically. The 79th Army was completely surrounded by the Japanese army west of Lengshuitan; the 64th Army was wounded and fought and retreated, and moved to Wugang. Due to the sacrifice of the commander, the 79th Army broke through to the north under the leadership of the commanders of the 98th Division and the 194th Division.However, 4 consecutive impacts were unsuccessful, and the troops suffered heavy casualties.The encirclement circle of the Japanese army was getting smaller and smaller. Time was running out, so the troops turned to the east to break through. The two division commanders cooperated with each other and mobilized the Japanese troops with a feint attack. Gong Chuanwen, the commander of the 194th division, found a ditch in the northeast corner of the position, flowing from northeast to southwest , the situation is very hidden, and the Japanese army did not arrange fire to block this ditch after reconnaissance.Therefore, Master Gong immediately ordered the troops to move away from this ditch, so as not to attract the attention of the Japanese army.After nightfall, under the leadership of the local guides, led by the search battalion of the division headquarters, and walked along the ditch, the 194th Division finally broke through the encirclement.The 98th Division used commandos to attack the relatively weak areas to the east of the Japanese army. After opening the gap, they attacked on both sides to expand the gap. The Japanese called their operation the "Battle of Hongqiao".The sweeping area of ​​the Japanese army's strategic targets involved more than 10 counties along the Hunan-Guangxi Railway, southern and southwestern Hunan.The Japanese army put on a stance of fighting a big battle of annihilation, outflanking, interspersed and chasing. Wherever they went, they rampaged, as if entering no one's land.These Japanese troops are all units that have just been withdrawn from Hengyang: the 3rd, 13th, 37th, 40th, 58th, 68th, and 116th divisions.After taking down Hengyang, the combat effectiveness and mental state of these troops seem to have been quickly restored.They resumed their usual arrogance and recklessness when they fought against the national army. Their attacks and outflanking were as swift and swift as the first phase of Operation Plan No. 1, and they smashed through the three lines of defense of the national army, namely the outskirts of Hengyang. Defense line, Hongqiao defense line, Lengshuitan defense line.The 62nd Army, 79th Army, 46th Army, and 100th Army of the National Army were all severely damaged.Before this battle, these troops were fresh troops with offensive capabilities.However, after switching to Guiliu to fight, there was a shortage of soldiers, damaged weapons, missing equipment, and low morale. It was difficult to use as an independent army.However, Colonel Shimanuki's plan to fight a war of annihilation did not come true. Apart from defeating and severely injuring the national army, there was no record of completely annihilating a regiment.