Chapter 72 Abandoned Fish and Shrimp

In most siege battles, the defenders will try their best to defend in the early stage. Once the city is broken, their defensive will will collapse immediately.However, the 57th Division did not suffer a fundamental impact from the breakthrough of the city defense in the northwest corner. The defenders at the north gate seemed to have just changed their combat positions and retreated to the city to defend. On the road leading to the city, there are defensive bunkers everywhere. The 57th Division resisted tenaciously with the help of the bunkers. At the same time, the Chinese and American United Air Forces also fired from the air. It was difficult for the Kurose troops to make progress once they entered, so they had to avoid them as much as possible. The road, rushing forward through the houses.

Of course, the private houses in Changde City were not used to make bulletproof vests for the Japanese army.The tenth army's effective fortification construction method in the third battle of Changsha was successfully used again in Changde. Kurose's troops suffered heavy casualties in succession, and the progress was extremely difficult. At the east and west gates, the defenders still did not retreat a single step.As Yu Chengwan said in the circular, "No matter how much pressure the enemy puts on us, our answer is blood, death, and glory."The battalion of the 170th Regiment in charge of guarding the east gate had less than one squad left, and the company and platoon leaders at the west gate were all dead, so all the troops filled up all the personnel that could be filled. The adjutants, quartermasters, military doctors, clerks and miscellaneous soldiers all went into battle with guns.

As early as the 27th, the 57th Division had consumed 85% of its ammunition.When the supply line was cut off and the bullets were insufficient, the officers and soldiers used grenades, bayonets, butts, and even stones and city bricks as weapons to knock down the Japanese troops on the long ladder from the top of the city.Mortar artillerymen were ordered to block the breach with artillery fire and at the same time cut off the influx of Japanese follow-up troops. Under the bombardment of the Japanese infantry artillery, there was a gap in the east gate city wall, and the Japanese army rushed into the gap.At the critical moment, the mortar soldiers didn't even have time to build a base plate position, so they opened fire at the enemy by direct aiming.

With choking smoke, the shells flew towards the gap in the city wall, one after another, the speed and density continued to increase, making it impossible for the Japanese army to enter. The only place where a fierce battle did not break out was Nanmen, because Yokoyama made a new decision. When the Japanese military history described the situation of the various ministries attacking Changde, they repeatedly lamented that they encountered "unexpected and tenacious resistance" and "the enemy's resistance in street fighting in the city was extremely tenacious".The Japanese Eleventh Army Headquarters at the time was also extremely surprised by this. Isamu Yokoyama judged that the tenacity of the 57th Division was probably due to being forced too hastily.Think about it, the surroundings of the house are completely surrounded by you, and there is no way out, so why don't you play with your life?

As the commander of the army, Heng Shanyong can't just look at the battle of Changde from a tactical perspective. He must also jump out of Changde and see beyond Changde—whether the Wang Yaowu Corps to the west of Changde or the Tenth Army sent by the Ninth War Zone to the south of Changde The army is pushing hard to the central area of ​​Changde. From a strategic point of view, reinforcing Changde is not the only purpose of the Chinese High Command. It is more likely to achieve the effect of killing two birds with one stone, that is, use the 57th Division to contain and consume the siege troops, and at the same time mobilize the main forces in the west and south of the city to fight in the field. The way to encircle and consume the Japanese army that detoured Changde.

After researching with his staff, Yokoyama decided that in order to eliminate the fifty-seventh division with a strong national concept and a high reputation in China, not only would he have to pay several times the price of casualties, but he would also prolong the combat time and affect the The overall strategy is a very bad deal. To put it simply, fish is delicious, but you can't let your throat get stuck because you want to eat fish.Heng Shanyong decided to abandon fish and fish for shrimps, that is, he no longer aimed at completely annihilating the 57th Division, and as long as he occupied Changde City, he would withdraw his troops quickly.

On the same day, Yokoyama Isamu issued an order to Iyanaga Wang, who was in charge of the siege, to open one side of Changde City so that the 57th Division could withdraw.According to the order, Yan Yongwang withdrew the Sixth Regiment of the Japanese Third Division, which was attacking the South Gate, to the East Gate, giving up the area around the South Gate. In the battle on the 28th, in order to cope with the dangerous situation, the 57th Division used up all the shells it had, whether it was artillery or mortars, all shells were used up.A cannon without shells is a pile of scrap iron and is useless. The artillerymen can only remove the breech block, remove the scope, and then disassemble the barrel and mount, and bury them all in the ground.

Yu Chengwan ordered all the artillery, engineering and division personnel in the city to be formed, led by the 171st Regiment, and replaced with infantry equipment to participate in street fighting. Without artillery, Yu Chengwan knew how long the street fighting would last. On November 29, he sent the last telegram to the Sixth War Zone: "The ammunition is exhausted, the aid is exhausted, and the city is broken. The deputy commander, commander, division attache, director of the political department, director of the staff department, etc., stick to the central Banks, the heads of the regiments divided the areas, guarded a room, made the last resistance, swore to the death, and wished victory. Long live the 74th Army, long live Chairman Jiang, long live the Republic of China.”