Chapter 52 Little Known Winter Offensive

In about a year from the end of 1938 to the outbreak of the European War, the main force of the Chinese army withdrew from the front-line theater to the rear for recuperation, reorganization and supplementation, and the second phase of training has been completed.Chongqing began to seek to change from passive to active in military affairs. From April, July, and September 1939, it tentatively launched three offensives against the Japanese army in spring, summer, and autumn, but all of them had little effect. After the first Battle of Changsha, optimism arose in the Chongqing High Command, believing that China might have reached an excellent time to switch from defense to offense, and planned to launch a full-scale general offensive to recapture important cities and strongholds in order to gain an advantage on the battlefield. On October 10, the Military Command Department of the Military Commission submitted the "National Army Winter Offensive Operation Plan" to Chiang Kai-shek, which was approved by him.

In the winter of 1939, in order to organize a winter offensive, the Chongqing High Command made a lot of logistical and other preparations in advance, mobilizing nearly half of the country's troops, with the second, third, fifth, and ninth theaters as the main offensive, and the rest of the theaters In order to assist, it is planned to capture 14 large and medium-sized cities including Wuhan and Nanning.To boost morale, bounties of varying amounts were proposed. In November, Chiang Kai-shek secretly issued a winter offensive order.The Japanese military radio station deciphered the Chinese offensive plan, and the Japanese military headquarters in Wuhan quickly grasped the details of the offensive attempt and action, and notified the troops to prepare.

Beginning in November 1939, China’s third, fifth, and ninth war zones took the initiative to launch offensives against the frontal Japanese army. There were more than 1.2 million troops responsible for the attack mission. The number of people participating in the battle and the breadth of the war zone involved had never been seen since the Battle of Wuhan. of. The Japanese army in central China was scattered in various strongholds. Once they were divided and surrounded by the Chinese army, they could only stand by and wait for help. However, the Japanese Eleventh Army had to control a vast occupied area at that time, and there were almost no decent mobile troops, so they could only move eastward and westward. Exhausted, for a while, the Japanese troops in various places under attack were in a precarious situation and were almost wiped out.

The troops of the fifth theater dealt heavy blows to the main forces of the Japanese 3rd and 13th divisions on Xiangyang, Huayuan Highway, Yingshan and Xinyang Highway, especially Zhang Zizhong's Department of the 33rd Group Army completed the attack mission brilliantly.The third theater is the main theater of attack, and the task given to it by the Chongqing Command is to rush to the banks of the Yangtze River, cut off the traffic on the Yangtze River, and isolate the Japanese troops in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in Hunan, Hubei, and Jiangxi.After the attack began, when the third war zone faced only one division of the Japanese army, Guo Xunqi, who was in charge of right-wing operations, stood by when the central group started the main attack, and retreated first after the attack was frustrated.Gu Zhutong, the commander-in-chief of the third theater who was in charge of commanding the counterattack of the third theater, only ordered Guo Xunqi to be dismissed and investigated. The entire theater retreated without a fight after only a few days of fighting.The cessation of the offensive in the third war zone affected the entire winter offensive and exposed the inherent weaknesses of the Kuomintang army: the various ministries lacked coordination and aggressive spirit in the offensive, and could not follow through on orders, resulting in the final failure of the winter offensive.

In Suiyuan, Fu Zuoyi, the deputy commander of the Eighth War Zone, decided to attack Baotou, a strategic town occupied by the Japanese in Suiyuan, in order to cooperate with the offensive on the Yangtze River and prevent the Japanese troops from North China from being transferred to Central China.The Japanese army built strong fortifications inside and outside Baotou City with reinforced concrete blockhouses. Outside the city, trenches were dug around the positions outside the city, each 4 meters deep and 4 meters wide, and barbed wire fences were installed outside the trenches.Fu Zuoyi planned to attack Baotou by means of a surprise attack.In order to confuse the Japanese army and conceal his intentions, he deliberately moved the headquarters from Wuyuan to Shanba, retreated more than 100 kilometers, and built fortifications everywhere to show that he was only satisfied with defense and avoiding war.

On December 19, Fu Zuoyi's troops rushed to Baotou at night. When they arrived at the city of Baotou, they found that the Japanese army outside the city had not found our army's whereabouts at all, and had not entered the established position at all.When An Chunshan, the leader of the vanguard, led his troops close to the northwest gate of Baotou, he met Wang Youliang, a young man pulling a camel. He saw the Chinese army coming to attack the city, so he volunteered to lead the way and found the easiest place to enter the city.It was dawn at that time, and the Japanese army in the city was still sound asleep. Two Mongolian and puppet soldiers at the city gate found the siege troops, so they joined Fu Zuoyi's army and attacked the Japanese army together.By the afternoon of the 20th, two-thirds of Baotou City had been occupied, and fierce street fighting with the Japanese army had begun.However, the Yan Xishan Department of the Second War Zone launched the Shanxi Incident and was busy attacking the new army in Shanxi, but did not launch an offensive in the southwestern and northern Shanxi as planned.Thousands of Japanese soldiers were killed in this battle, including the killing of two Japanese coalition leaders, and the destruction of 4 tanks and 60 military vehicles.

The Eighth Route Army in the east and southeast of Shanxi cooperated with friendly forces in the winter offensive to destroy traffic on both sides of Pinghan Road and attack the Japanese army.The 129th Division successively occupied Licheng, Dongyangguan, Shexian, Lucheng and other places in late December. Cheng Qian, the director of the Tianshui Battalion in charge of commanding the northern theaters, reported this to the Chongqing High Command, requesting the Jindongsouth Eighth Route Army. Almost at the same time as the winter offensive, the Battle of South Guangxi took place in the fourth theater.

On November 15, 1939, in order to cut off the Yunnan-Vietnam Railway, the most important international traffic line in China at that time, the Japanese army landed in Qinzhou Bay in southern Guangxi. The fifth division and the Taiwan mixed brigade.The Chinese army deployed in the Qinzhou Bay area had only one division, and failed to stop the Japanese army.The main force of the Japanese army advanced rapidly, occupying Nanning, an important town in Guangxi, on the 24th, and continued northward to occupy important places such as Kunlun Pass. Bai Chongxi, director of the Guilin camp, decided to implement the plan to counterattack Nanning. Cai Tingkai and Xia Wei were the commanders of the East and West Route Army, commanding various units to destroy the traffic behind the Japanese army, and harass, attack, and contain the Japanese army.Xu Tingyao was the commander of the Central Route Army, responsible for attacking Kunlun Pass, and then looking for opportunities to recover Nanning.The Fifth Army of the Northern Route Army was commanded by Du Yuming and mainly attacked the Kunlun Pass. It had the Honorary First Division, the Second 00th Division, and the New 22nd Division under its jurisdiction. It had the highest degree of mechanization among the national government troops.

The Fifth Army and the Ninety-Ninth Army jointly counterattacked Kunlun Pass, equipped with 54 tanks, 18 heavy artillery, and 28 field artillery.During the Battle of Kunlun Pass, the Chinese army once occupied air superiority, concentrated more than 100 planes, shot down 11 Japanese planes, blew up 15 planes, and caused serious losses to Japanese positions, airports and warehouses.Masao Nakamura, head of the 21st Brigade of the Japanese Army, led his troops to the Kunlun Pass, but was blocked by the Fifth Army at Kutaoling in Jiutang, causing heavy casualties. Masao Nakamura died of his injuries.The Japanese army alone was trapped in Kunlun Pass, constantly counterattacked, and brutally released poison gas to aid the battle.By December 31, the newly formed 22nd Division of the Fifth Army finally conquered the Kunlun Pass.

In early 1940, the Japanese army dispatched two divisions from Guangdong to southern Guangxi to counterattack, and the Chinese army also increased its troops a lot.The Japanese army bombarded Binyang frantically, and the headquarters of the 38th Army was blown up, losing its commanding ability. As a result, the communication between the various troops was interrupted, and they fell into a chaotic state of fighting on their own.The Japanese army occupied Binyang and cut off the retreat route of the main force of the Chinese army at Kunlun Pass. More than 20 divisions in the war zone were surrounded to the west of Yongbin Road.The Chinese army retreated to the mountains northwest of Wuming.

Since February 1940, the Japanese troops stationed in Vietnam began to retreat due to the loss of strategic significance in southern Guangxi. After the Chinese army found out, they took advantage of the momentum to attack the Japanese troops and recovered Longzhou, Nanning, Qin County, Zhennanguan and other places until October 30. Today, there is no trace of invincibility in southern Guangxi. The winter offensive caused the Japanese army to suffer from attacks, with tens of thousands of casualties. The 11th Army was worried that it would be completely wiped out. The strength shown by the Chinese army in the counterattack made the Japanese army feel that it is still far away to end the war in China. .As soon as the war ended, Chiang Kai-shek held a meeting in Liuzhou. At the meeting, according to the performance of various ministries in the winter offensive, Fu Zuoyi and other ministries in the fifth theater and eighth theater were praised, and Bai Chongxi, Chen Cheng, Ye Zhao, and others who were commanding the front line in southern Guangxi were punished. Xu Tingyao and a large number of senior generals.