Chapter 63 Awe-inspiring tiger

Chen Cheng once inspected the Seventy-Fourth Army, and when he lectured the officers above the battalion, he said: "Wars broke out in the three, six, and nine theaters. The chairman (referring to Chiang Kai-shek) first looked for the location of the Seventy-fourth Army on the map. Why? ? When necessary, use your troops!" In mid-May 1943, the Seventy-Fourth Army, which was training in Hengshan, Hunan, received a telegram from Chiang Kai-shek himself, requesting to travel day and night to the Sixth War Zone in western Hubei for emergency treatment. As early as a year ago, the 11th Army of the Japanese Army stationed in Wuhan was preparing to attack the Sixth Theater, but it was only delayed because of the outbreak of the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Battle.A year later, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, the new commander of the Japanese 11th Army, finally took military action.

The combat effectiveness and fighting will of the troops in the Sixth Theater were relatively weak. Under the heavy attack of the Japanese Eleventh Army, they soon fell into a complete collapse.Originally, the geography of western Hubei was good for defense but not good for attack in military terms. Especially in the areas west and north of Yichang, there are mostly high mountains and rugged roads. In some places, only deep valleys can pass through. There are cliffs on both sides. Walking at the bottom of the valley is like being in a well. generally.If the defensive troops can take advantage of the dangers, it can be said that "one man guards the gate, ten thousand men are invincible", but the sixth theater also failed to take advantage of these favorable geographical conditions to attack the enemy.

Seeing the tense battle situation, Chiang Kai-shek asked Chen Cheng, who was planning an expedition to western Yunnan in Yunnan, to rush back to western Hubei to take command, and at the same time urgently dispatched the 74th Army to help in order to prevent the Japanese army from entering the eastern Sichuan gate. On May 24, the Seventy-Fourth Army advanced to Taoyuan, Hunan.According to Chen Cheng's order, except for the 57th Division who stayed to guard Changde, the rest of the troops moved north to the border of Hunan and Hubei to attack. After many years of running-in, Wang Yaowu has completely mastered the personalities and combat expertise of his subordinates, and basically formed a fixed pattern for the use of his subordinates' three divisions.Yu Chengwan, the commander of the 57th Division, is calm and experienced, and the division is also good at defense. Wang Yaowu mostly uses it to stick to the key points. For example, this time he arranged for the division to guard Changde.

The 51st Division is the old foundation of the 74th Army and is known for being good at attacking. However, in the frontal war of resistance, most of the time the enemy attacks and we defend. Therefore, Wang Yaowu often uses this division as a reserve team, together with the troops directly under the army. action.Li Tianxia, ​​the former commander of the 51st Division, has been promoted to deputy commander, and the post of division commander is replaced by deputy division commander Zhou Zhidao. Zhou Zhidao's personality traits are similar to Qiu Weida's. After being scolded, he went back to sleep and went back to normal after waking up.

Among the three main divisions, the 58th Division has both offensive and defensive capabilities. It can both attack and retreat. The division commander Zhang Lingfu is also known as "Meng Zhang Fei". . Prior to this, the Japanese army had already attacked Shipai, known as the first gate of Chongqing.The original plan of the Sixth Theater was to use the stone tiles as the base, and after the 74th Army and other heavyweight reinforcements arrived, they would launch a north-south attack on the Japanese army. However, the Japanese army quickly began to retreat after failing to attack the tiles.Not missing the opportunity, Chen Cheng immediately issued a pursuit order.

On June 2, the Seventy-Fourth Army began to join the pursuit army.As the vanguard, the 58th Division first wiped out a small group of Japanese security forces in northwestern Hunan, then broke out of Hunan, and continued to rush towards Songzi and Gongan in Hubei together with the 51st Division that followed. After the Battle of Zhejiang and Jiangxi, in view of the fact that the Japanese army was familiar with the designations of the Chinese army and successfully deciphered Chinese intelligence, the Seventy-Fourth Army re-named the designations of each department. , the 58th Division is "Yulin", and the 57th Division is named "Hu Ben" according to the honor of "Hu Ben Master" it has won.

Because of this effort, although the 11th Army of the Japanese Army paid great attention to the 74th Army, which it regarded as the "No. The battlefield in western Hubei, but I don't know its exact location, let alone that the army is secretly marching towards the Mopanzhou area south of Songzi. In order to counterattack the trailing troops in the sixth theater, the Japanese independent mixed 17th Brigade, which had been preparing to withdraw to its original station, was ordered to return to the rescue. About ten kilometers southwest of Mopanzhou, it suddenly encountered the 51st Division, and the two sides fought fiercely. fight.

After the infantry received the fire, the 1st Battalion of the Army Artillery Regiment attached to the 51st Division began to shoot at the Japanese positions.The first battalion belongs to the mountain artillery battalion, equipped with twelve Soviet-style 76.2mm mountain artillery, all of which were equipped when refitting the attacking army.In order to prevent the Japanese army from counterattacking, they fired each shot for more than four hours, that is, they switched to a new position and started shooting again. When the Japanese army was beaten dizzily, Wang Yaowu ordered the 58th Division to reinforce it.The 58th Division plunged in from the flank of the Japanese army and joined forces with the 51st Division to attack. After several rounds of slashing, the Japanese 17th Brigade was basically defeated.

The 17th Brigade of the Japanese Army was the unit that lost the most in the entire battle in western Hubei. Three captains of the five infantry brigades were killed. The "Tiger Force" appeared in Songzi so quickly and showed its majestic tiger power, so that the headquarters of the Japanese Eleventh Army had to order all troops to withdraw from the battlefield as soon as possible to avoid losses. The 74th Army was still chasing after it. On June 13, the 58th Division pursued to the Hudu River west of Gong'an, and quickly occupied various key points along the west bank of the river.

The tiger wanted to cross the river, but the Japanese army had burned all the ferry boats. The division commander Zhang Lingfu ordered the division engineering battalion to build a pontoon bridge. The whole division crossed the river in the early morning of the next day, and recovered most of the public security areas by noon.Two weeks later, the 58th Division captured Yanglin City again, drawing a more satisfactory end to the journey of the 74th Army.