Chapter 17 Chapter 17 Pre-War Trend 4

The formation of the two armies has been completed.Both the command headquarters and the front-line military officers are fighting wits and courage.In ancient and modern wars, the battle of wits and courage is a very important factor in defeating the opponent on the battlefield.Both Heng Shanyong and Xue Yue have this condition.Now, the key is who occupies the initiative on the battlefield.Yokoyama is fighting three-dimensionally, of course he will not give up this condition.If Xue Yue wants to win in a disadvantaged situation, although he has conditions, they are not as sufficient as Yokoyama's.But the battlefield is in the Hunan-Hubei area, and even if the Japanese army temporarily takes the initiative, it will not be stable.The Japanese army will eventually lose this condition.However, things did not develop as Xue Yue imagined.

Isamu Yokoyama, the commander-in-chief of the Japanese First Army, was very happy to see the national army waiting in line. His wish for many years was to find the main force of the national army for a decisive battle. Now that the opportunity finally came, how could he give up.So, he sent troops to Changsha in three directions.On the first route, he ordered Watanabe to be the commander.Command two divisions to leave Puqi and Chongyang to advance east of Changsha.This army marched in a sweeping manner, and the places they passed were scorched earth.This road is Isamu Yokoyama's left-wing column.The second route is the central column, commanded by Commander Sakata, leaving Yueyang and advancing towards Changsha.This route is the most elite division of the Japanese army.With the cooperation of the plane, it is mighty and mighty, covering everything.The third route was the 40th Division of the Japanese Army, which left Shishou and Huarong and headed towards the west of Changsha.

Since Xue Yue put his main force on the Yuehan Road, the opportunity to confront the Japanese army has been lost.Now that the enemy's situation is clear, it is difficult to mobilize the army again.Seeing this, Xue Yue sent an urgent telegram to Yang Sen, Commander-in-Chief of the 27th Group Army, to lead his troops day and night to rescue Mishui, but it was too late.Even if Yang Sen accepted the order, it would take at least three days to catch up under the circumstances at the time.Just imagine, on the ever-changing battlefield, what will it be like in three days?Only God knows. When the central column of the Japanese army came to Mishui, Yang Hanchen was waiting in formation.The Chinese and Japanese armies entered a state of deadly battle from the very beginning.With the cooperation of planes and tanks, the Japanese army launched a fierce attack on the position of the Mishui National Army.Yang Hanchen used the reserve team after only supporting for three hours.After repelling the three Japanese attacks, Yang suffered heavy losses.Xue Yue received Yang Hanchen's request for help, and he had no nearby soldiers to transfer, so he had to order to stand firm until the arrival of reinforcements.But it is not easy to hold on. Yang Hanchen struggled for two days in front of an enemy several times stronger than himself, and the main position was broken through.Yang Hanchen led the guards to rush forward, and after killing the enemy bandits, he took the initiative to withdraw from the position under the cover of night.

After the Japanese invaders occupied both sides of the Mishui River that day, they gained momentum and attacked all the way, reaching the north bank of the Laoli River in Changsha on June 6. The 40th Division of the Japanese right-wing army divided into two groups and went straight to Yiyang.The garrison of Yiyang City is the 114th Army of Wang Lingji.Seeing the high walls of Yiyang City, the Japanese army summoned more than a dozen planes to bomb them in turn.As soon as the plane flew away, dozens of tanks from the Japanese 44th Division opened the way and launched a fierce attack on Yiyang City.At dusk, the defenders withdrew from Yiyang.The north of Changsha has been exposed to the guns of the Japanese army.

Zhang Deneng of the 4th Army was in Changsha, and when he learned that Yiyang had fallen, he quickly telegraphed Xue Yue, requesting to send planes for support.Did Yokoyama Yongneng unexpectedly have this move?As soon as the nine Chinese Air Force planes took to the sky, they met the Japanese planes flying from Wuhan.Both air forces immediately went into battle.Half an hour later, three Japanese planes were shot down, and our air force lost two, and each flew back. Seeing this, Xue Yue immediately telegraphed Wang Yaowu's corps for reinforcements.But at this time Wang Yaowu wanted to take back Yiyang and solve the crisis in Changsha, how could he do it.Xue Yue watched helplessly as the Japanese army marched towards Changsha, but could not send troops to reinforce it.Unexpectedly, after the 44th Division seized Yiyang, they did not move. Zhang Deneng guessed wildly, but he didn't know what to do.Two days later, he received news that Ningxiang had been breached by two divisions commanded by the Japanese invaders Watanabe.

Misfortunes never come singly. Ningxiang was occupied by the Japanese army for two days, and the Japanese 34th Division captured Yuelu Mountain.Changsha is at stake. Now there are only two paths before Zhang Deneng, either to fight bloody with the Japanese army, and the city is destroyed;After careful consideration, he telegraphed Xue Yue and led his troops to withdraw from Changsha. An important town in central China, the hub of the Yuehan Road——Changsha fell.Chongqing shook, and the whole country shook. The arrogant Japanese chief Heng Shanyong commanded three armies and surrounded Changsha from the east, west and north. Seeing that the Chinese defenders had withdrawn, he entered the city to reward the troops.Three days later, they continued southward.On June 23, the Japanese Thirteenth Division captured Leiyang, and the most important support point of the Guangdong-Han line and the Hunan-Gui line - the south of Hengyang was separated.At the same time, the 68th Division set out from Changsha and went south from Yuehan Road to attack Hengyang.On the 27th, Hengyang Airport was occupied. Seeing this, Fang Xianjue, the commander of the 10th Army, was in no hurry to shrink his troops and stationed them in the outskirts of Hengyang.At this time, the Japanese 116th Division had reached the northwest of Hengyang.Like Changsha, Hengyang, a strategic city, is at stake.

The news of Hengyang being trapped reached Chongqing, and two people felt very anxious.One is Chairman Chiang of the Military Commission, and the other is Lieutenant General Chennault, the commander-in-chief of the US Fourteenth Air Force. Since the national army went into full-scale war, the chairman has held five high-level military meetings, four of which were held in Hengshan, Nanyue, Hengyang.Therefore, he has a special feeling for Hengyang.More importantly, Hengyang is the junction point connecting the Guangdong-Han Railway and the Hunan-Guangxi Railway.Without Hengyang, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hunan and Hubei were joined together by the Japanese army.That is to say, the plan of the Japanese north-south rendezvous will be realized.Therefore, the chairman of the committee ordered Xue Yue to destroy the invading Japanese army in the Hengyang area.

What about Chennault?At this time, he was also worried, because he commanded more than 600 American fighter planes and more than 500 transport planes.He is not only responsible for the continuous transportation of US aid to China, but also performs air cover and combat tasks for transportation.And Hengyang is one of the main bases of the Fourteenth Air Brigade.Of course, he is also strongly in favor of keeping Hengyang. While Xue Yue ordered Fang Xianjue to defend Hengyang, he also dispatched troops and generals, preparing to gather a large number of troops on the northern front lines of Liuyang, Liling, Yiyang, and Ningxiang to find the main force of the Japanese army for a decisive battle.But Xue Yue did not defend Hengyang with heavy troops.The current Hengyang garrison is only guarded by the 10th Army of Fang Xianjue, Li Yutang's subordinate.The three divisions of this department were all put into battle with less than 20,000 people, and the Japanese army attacking Hengyang consisted of three divisions.No matter how Fang Xianjue prepared for the battle, he could not escape the fate of defeating the army.Because the Japanese invaders were well equipped and determined to win.

The defense of Hengyang, which shocked the whole country and attracted the attention of the world, kicked off against such a background.