Chapter 52 Anti-Japanese Iron Army

After receiving Dahe's call for help, the headquarters of the Japanese Eleventh Army panicked.The commander of the Sonobu urgently ordered the 33rd Division, which had returned to the original station, to rush to rescue the siege. At the same time, the chief of staff of the army, Major General Isamu Kinoshita, and others hurried to Nanchang to take command. The 33rd Division of the Japanese Army set off on March 24, and had to climb over the mountains along the way, but the road had already been destroyed. The actual road could only accommodate one column. Tenacious blocking, so the progress is very slow. On March 27, the division finally opened a gap in the northeast corner of the Guanqiao encirclement and got in touch with the 34th Division.

On March 27th, under the cover of the 33rd Division, the 34th Division of the Japanese Army began to organize a full-line retreat. The troops crossed Sixi impatiently and fled to Wangmiao Village in the north. . To Dahe's surprise, they sank to the bottom of the sea just as soon as they got out of the fire pit.It was at the Temple of the Land King that the Chinese 19th Group Army completed the second encirclement beyond Guanqiao: As early as five days ago, the Ninth Division of the Seventieth Army entered the Temple of the Land King and established a central position, while on the side and rear of the Japanese army, six divisions, mainly the 74th Army, pursued in parallel.

The 34th Division of the Japanese Army carried hundreds of wounded and sick. Its marching sequence was that the division headquarters was in front, the patient transport team, field hospital, and independent mountain artillery team were in the middle, and the rear guard was covering.After nightfall, there were thunderstorms and heavy rain. All the troops were eager to get out of the encirclement as soon as possible. However, due to the muddy roads, the darkness of the night, and the need to be on guard, the marching speed was still not fast. At two o'clock in the morning on March 28, at the western end of the Temple of the Earth King, the Eighth Squadron of the Field Artillery, which was in charge of guarding the field hospital, was besieged by the Ninth Pre-Ninth Division of the Chinese side.The Artillery Brigade to which it belonged asked Dahe for reinforcements. Dahe considered that if reinforcements were sent sporadically, the retreat speed of the entire division would be slowed down and more dangerous would be incurred, so the reply he gave was very ruthless. : "Due to the urgency of the situation, the troops can abandon the Eighth Squadron and quickly advance to the brigade headquarters."

No reinforcements arrived, and the Eighth Squadron was completely wiped out.Before being destroyed, the squadron knew that it would be impossible to escape, and had destroyed all the artillery.The remaining barrel of a cannon displayed in the Anti-Japanese War Memorial Hall of the Beijing Military Museum today comes from this battle. It was not until two o'clock in the afternoon that the 34th Division of the Japanese Army broke out of the encirclement.At this time, their casualties increased significantly. Although many captured civilians had taken the opportunity to escape during the panic retreat, the large stretcher team carrying the wounded and sick was still several kilometers long.

The 34th Division was out of danger, and the 33rd Division, which served as a cover, was still suffering behind.In the early hours of the same day, the Chinese 57th Division and 58th Division approached the core position of Guanqiao one after another. The 51st Division also arrived in time after clearing the enemy on the south bank of the Jinjiang River, and launched a fierce attack on the Japanese right side.Subsequently, the 57th Division and the 58th Division rushed into Guanqiao Town, and started street fighting with hundreds of Japanese troops left behind by the 33rd Division of the Japanese Army. After fierce fighting until the afternoon, the 74th Army recovered Guanqiao and Creek, wiped out more than 600 enemies.

On March 29, the 33rd Division of the Japanese Army retreated across the board, but when it retreated to about five kilometers northwest of Sixi, it began to be flanked by various Chinese troops everywhere. Seek relief.Because of the light rescue, the 33rd Division of the Japanese Army did not carry much food and ammunition, and the officers and soldiers fell into a state of hunger and extreme tension.After many hard battles, the artillery shells of the Lianshan Artillery Unit finally ran out, and they were in a state of being unable to shoot. They could only rely on air-dropped ammunition to continue maintaining.Later, when the survivors of the 33rd Division talked about the combat situation in the Sixi area, they still had lingering fears, thinking that the miserable situation at that time was really hard to describe in words.

On April 2, the 34th Division and the 33rd Division of the Japanese Army fled back to their original bases successively. In this campaign, the Chinese army severely damaged the 33rd Division of the Japanese Army, killing and wounding 15,792 people under Major General Iwanaga, the infantry commander of the 34th Division, and Captain Hamada of the 214th Regiment, and shot down Japanese soldiers. With one plane, more than 100 Japanese soldiers were captured, ten mountain guns and mortars, and more than 1,000 rifles were captured. The biggest difference between this battle and previous battles is that the Chinese troops participating in the battle do not have a great advantage in numbers, and even in the defense of Shanggao, they were significantly smaller than their opponents. Under such conditions, they can still win a complete victory. It is commendable, and it can also be said that this is the only case since the Anti-Japanese War.Therefore, He Yingqin said in a speech to journalists: "The Battle of Shanggao was the most exciting battle in the four years of the Anti-Japanese War."

As analyzed by Lan Jieyu, the operational staff officer of the Nineteenth Army, before the Battle of Shanggao, Guangzhou, Wuhan, and Nanchang were repeatedly lost, which made most of the troops of the Nineteenth Army a little timid when fighting against Japan. In this battle, the fearful became the Japanese army in northern Jiangxi, and they no longer dared to attack casually. "The sky is dark and the wild is vast. Shanggao is a good battlefield in the northeast, and the Jinjiang River is on the banks." The victory in the Shanggao battle was certainly based on Luo Zhuoying's "retreat decisive battle" strategy, but in the final analysis, the Seventy-Fourth Army was in Shanggao. Gao vowed not to retreat, the bloody battle for several nights is the key to victory.Only the victory of the battle can guarantee the success of the strategy and tactics. As the commander of the battle, Luo Zhuoying is very aware of this. The bottom of the second bag is very strong, and the enemy was not missed."

In the entire Battle of Shanggao, the Chinese army had a total of 20,333 casualties, of which the Seventy-Fourth Army had 10,651 casualties, accounting for more than half of the total casualties. The Seventy-fourth Army deserved credit for both the price paid and the contribution it made. to greatness.In terms of rewards for meritorious deeds, the 74th Army was awarded the "Blue Sky and White Sun Flying Tiger Banner", the 51st Division was awarded the No. 1 martial arts award by the National Government, and the 57th Division was awarded the No. 2 martial arts award. Huben Division", all the officers and soldiers of the division wore the "Hu Ben" armband.

Wang Yaowu, Li Tianxia, ​​Yu Chengwan, Zhang Lingfu and other generals and meritorious officers and soldiers were all awarded medals or medals, among which Wang Yaowu was awarded the first-level Blue Sky and White Sun Medal.The above pennants and medals were delivered to Changsha by a special plane sent by Chongqing, and then sent to Shanggao by a special car, and were awarded by Luo Zhuoying on behalf of the Military Commission. Luo Zhuoying said in a speech to the officers of the Seventy-Fourth Army: "I remember that during the Northern Expedition, the Fourth Army was known as the 'Iron Army'. Now is the period of the Anti-Japanese War. I dare to say boldly that the Seventy-fourth Army is the 'Iron Army'!"

The Battle of Shanggao made the Seventy-Fourth Army famous both at home and abroad. It became a veritable "Anti-Japanese Iron Army" in the eyes of the world, and stepped into the peak stage of its development history.