Chapter 65 Three World Wars in Changsha: The only bright spot for the Allies

From the fall of Wuhan to the summer and autumn of 1944, when the Japanese occupied Changsha and Hengyang, for nearly six years, the land of Hunan became a battle zone where the main forces of the Chinese and Japanese field forces fought fiercely.The main opponent of the officers and soldiers of the Ninth Theater is the Japanese Eleventh Army centered in Wuhan. The third battle of Changsha began at the end of 1941, and it was only two months before the second battle of Changsha. The strength and position of the Japanese army were the same as before the second battle of Changsha. Division, independent 14th brigade; Southern Hubei and northern Hunan are still the 3rd and 40th divisions.The relaunch of this battle was related to the Pacific War. The Japanese army was trying to attract the attention of the Chinese army in order to complete the attack on Hong Kong.

The Japanese army still crossed the Miluo River and began to attack Changsha about 11 days after the start of the battle.In order to wipe out the Changsha defenders in one fell swoop, the Japanese army began to attack after completing the siege of Changsha from the north, east and south.Relying on the absolute superiority of the infantry, the Japanese army risked their lives to attack and broke into the urban area.The tenth army of the defending army did not give up easily on every bunker and every building. In important areas, such as near the Bajiao Pavilion to Tianxin Pavilion, they fought street by street, fort and house with the Japanese army.Originally, the target of the bunker was clearly exposed. For example, the Japanese artillery had the upper hand, so it was not difficult to destroy it. However, the road from Xinqianghe to Changsha was completely destroyed by the Chinese. .As for the artillery of the defenders, apart from the infantry artillery, there were forty or fifty heavy and field artillery, which had an absolute advantage over the Japanese artillery and could effectively suppress the Japanese artillery.Three to five to a dozen Japanese aircraft continued to assist in the battle and dropped incendiary bombs. However, the Chinese side did not cause large-scale burning due to the pre-built fire breakers.The Tenth Army started from the battle in the advanced position, went through layers of battles in the outer positions, and when the Japanese army approached the core positions south of the west section of Zhongshan Road, Huangxing Road, Bajiaoting, Nanzheng Street, and Pozi Street, after 3 days of fighting, Although most of the city of Changsha had been lost, and about one-third of the troops suffered casualties, the Tenth Army continued to fight and its morale was strong.

At this time, the Chinese troops on the outskirts were gathering, preparing to annihilate the besieging Japanese troops.The Japanese army knew that there was not much time to attack Changsha, and the attack became more violent from the third and fourth days.Due to the lack of firepower and technology to destroy the bunker, we had to adopt the tactic of attacking the bunker, that is, to insert troops in groups into the side buildings between the bunker and the bunker of our army, block the bunker with firepower, and cut off the guards inside the bunker. diet.But the guards in the fort did not retreat because of this.In such a situation where the two armies were intertwined, it was difficult for the Japanese aircraft to assist the infantry in Changsha, so they had to bomb the banks of the Xiangjiang River and Yuelu Mountain indiscriminately.The battle in the second stage was the most intense in Bajiao Pavilion and Nanzheng Street. There were several hand-to-hand battles. Finally, the cooks and buglers of the Tenth Army took up arms to participate in the battle. The Japanese attacked for three or four days in succession. Stop outside the core position.The Chinese army launched a joint attack inside and outside, and the Japanese army had to start retreating.The Tenth Army first discovered that the Japanese army was retreating from the south of Changsha, and immediately sent a small force to attack the north and northeast of Changsha at night, which added to the confusion of the Japanese army.It was the middle of winter, and the Japanese army threw away a lot of coats and military blankets; they didn't have time to destroy the weapons they couldn't carry.The Japanese army did not abandon corpses on the battlefield unless it had to, but this time they did not have time to burn the corpses in the future.

The third battle of Changsha was the first defeat suffered by the Japanese army after the outbreak of the Pacific War.There are many reasons for the victory in this battle. For example, the roads in Changsha were completely destroyed, which made it difficult for the Japanese tanks and heavy artillery to pass through, and it was difficult to use their firepower; secondly, the battle plan of the ninth theater was perfect. Then concentrate your forces to surround and annihilate them.American journalist Foreman once went to the battlefield to interview. He wrote: "China's third victory in Changsha proved a principle, that is, if the Chinese army can be equipped with the same equipment as the Japanese army, they can easily defeat the Japanese army."