Chapter 22 Chapter 22 Airport Competition

After crossing the Leishui River, the headquarters of the Japanese 68th Division and the 58th Brigade detoured southward. The 64th Independent Infantry Battalion (known in history as the Matsuyama Detachment) led by General Keisuke Matsuyama of the division Then he was ordered to head west.In order to wait for the artillery and heavy machine gun units to catch up, the main force of the Songshan detachment did not start attacking the Wumaguicao position until evening. But at this time, the national army had already discovered the threat of the Japanese detachment to the airport. Lieutenant General Fang Xianjue, the commander of the 10th Army, was about to dispatch the 570th Regiment of the 190th Division to immediately cross the river to reinforce the Wumaguicao position, and demanded that it must stick to it.At 18 o'clock that night, the 3rd Division returned to defend Hengyang and took over the position of the 190th Division.Fang Xianjue let all the 190th Division, which had been replaced, cross the river overnight, occupying positions on the east bank of the Xiangjiang River, and blocking the Japanese army.

At dawn on June 25, the Songshan Detachment launched a second offensive against the Wuma Guicao position. Under the cover of the brigade's artillery fire, the front-line infantry squadron began to approach the stronghold fortress of the national army. The main force of the national army guarding this line is the 570th Regiment of the 190th Division. Colonel He Guangyao, the commander of the regiment, is a third-year student of Whampoa.When the Japanese battalion guns started firing, he let the troops take cover, and as soon as the artillery fire stopped, he fired back at the Japanese infantry.The Japanese Matsuyama detachment was repelled after three consecutive onslaughts.Seeing that the Japanese attack was thwarted, the division commander, Major General Rong Youlue, warned He Tuan not to underestimate the enemy, and at the same time encouraged them to kill the enemy, telling them that the enemy had aircraft and cannons, and we also had them, and we would pull them up if necessary.

The Japanese army failed to attack repeatedly, so they increased their fire support.They also put in the American-made Qiwushan artillery seized in Changsha, and dispatched the air force to support the ground attack.The national army did not show any weakness, and immediately called the artillery in Hengyang City to counterattack. Half of the artillery battalion [six American Seven-Five Mountain Cannons with 2,000 shells], which had just arrived at Hengyang on the morning of June 25, went into battle immediately.Under the command of the artillery commander Major General Cai Rulin and the artillery battalion commander Lieutenant Colonel Zhang Zuoxiang, the powerful shells roared across the Xiangjiang River to the east bank and exploded in the Japanese front.In addition, fighter jets from the Sino-US joint air force also flew over many times and fired repeatedly, and the fighting between the two sides entered a climax.

Rong Youlue walked out of the bunker in person and directed the counterattack.During the fierce battle, He Guangyao, the head of the 570th regiment who led the commando to counterattack, was unfortunately pierced through the abdomen by an enemy machine gun bullet.While covering the wound to prevent his intestines from leaking out, he asked Lieutenant Zuo Guangya, the commander of the special agent company, to call the deputy commander, Colonel Feng Zhengzhong.Lieutenant Colonel Feng took over the command and continued to direct the troops to resist.However, the national army suffered heavy casualties, and the panic of some recruits exacerbated the casualties.In the afternoon, the department had to withdraw to the line of Fanjiaping, rubber pond, Lianhuatang, and Fengjiachong.

At this time, Major General Rao Shaowei, the temporary commander of the 54th Division attached to the 10th Army, believed that his unit was under the direct command of the Commander's Department of the Ninth Theater, and his specific task was to guard the airport.According to the predetermined plan, the airport will be abandoned immediately after the battle outside Hengyang, then the mission will be considered complete and the Hengyang battlefield should be evacuated.But he saw that Fang Xianjue Niannian refused to give up the use of the department, and he was afraid that he might not be able to turn over to Chief Xue.Therefore, Rao hurriedly asked Colonel Chen Chaozhang to lead the first and second battalions to retreat southward to Fengjiachong, cross the river with camera, retreat to Leiyang, and leave the Hengyang battlefield.But after thinking about it, I was afraid that the command would blame me, because the headquarters was designated as a unit attached to the 10th Army, and should obey the command of Commander Fang Xianjue.Therefore, Master Rao had no choice but to lead the third battalion to stay and continue fighting.

Although the Japanese army captured some positions.However, due to the lack of enough shells to deal with these ingeniously arranged stronghold positions of the national army.Therefore, the Japanese army, eager to occupy the airport, sent the 116th Independent Infantry Battalion led by Nakasa Tabe Hisajiro to support the Matsuyama Detachment in an attempt to overwhelm the national army with its superiority in strength. In the evening, Colonel Matsuyama re-analyzed the situation on the battlefield and decided to make a breakthrough from the paddy fields on the left flank of the national army.At this time, information came from the national army about lurking spies, saying that the national army in Wantang on the flank of Leishui River was not fortified. Matsuyama immediately arranged an attack and sent a small team to detour in the direction of Leishuihewantang.

At this time, it was the 3rd Battalion of the 569th Regiment who hurried across the river at midnight on June 24 to take charge of the defense of Wantang. On June 25, Major Huang Zhong, the commander of the 3rd Battalion, asked the 8th Company to stand firm at Wantang, and the 9th Company sent three sentries to the nearby Bachiling to guard.Once the Japanese army is found to be attacking, immediately resist and call the police, and the troops under the mountain will immediately go up the mountain for reinforcements.However, Battalion Commander Huang was negligent and did not arrange a warning in the direction of Leishui River.

At midnight that day, a small group of Japanese troops approached Bachi Ridge from the direction of Leishui River, and killed the national army guard post mentioned in the intelligence from behind.Two of them died, and the other was clever. When he heard the gunshot behind him, he immediately fell to the ground and rolled down the hillside. Although he was shot twice, he saved his life. At dawn the next day, he was rescued back to the camp headquarters.Battalion Commander Huang Zhong thought it was strange, but he never thought it was related to spies. (In fact, Huang received a notice of spies as early as June 23. It was a call from Colonel Liang Zichao, the head of the regiment at 2:00 p.m., saying that there were spies in the Ninth Company, and the military sent two staff officers to investigate. Huang When it was dark and no one was seen, I called the commander of the 9th company and found out that it had been checked, but there was no actual result. So everyone thought it was just catching up, and this negligence caused great losses to the third battalion. Huang Zhong left a lifetime of regrets.

However, on the night of June 25, the Japanese Songshan Detachment took advantage of this. After destroying the guard post, the main force charged from the narrow field ridge and easily broke through the Wantang position.Sixty people were killed in the 8th company guarding Wantang, and only one platoon leader led seventeen people to withdraw. Then the Japanese army continued to attack Fengjiachong. Since the 568th regiment guarding the area had only cadres, some recruits were hastily added before the battle.Therefore, the position was quickly torn open. In this way, the provisional regiment of the 54th Division and the troops of the 190th Division were separated.Chen Chaozhang, head of the first regiment of the temporary 54th Division, immediately led two battalions to the Leishui River, found ships and withdrew from the battlefield.

At dawn on June 26, the Songshan detachment that broke through the outer positions of the national army finally arrived at the southern end of Hengyang Airport.At this time, the national troops guarding the airport had basically withdrawn, and only the northern end remained to cover the retreating troops.The leading squadron of the Japanese army launched an attack, and a small charge of the national army repelled a small number of covering troops and seized the airport. Because the national army did not expect the Japanese army to come so early and attack so fiercely, they were unable to prepare in time for their hasty retreat.Therefore, even the airport has not been completely destroyed.Therefore, as soon as the news of the airport's fall came out, Commander Fang Xianjue ordered a counterattack, making sure to take back the airport and carry out complete destruction.

This time, Major General Rong Youlue, the commander of the 190th Division, went into battle in person, commanded the 569th Regiment, and carried out a counterattack to the airport. Although the Japanese army occupied the airport, they were in a hurry because they were not familiar with the terrain and did not expect the national army to turn to counterattack so quickly.However, the Japanese army was well-trained after all, and quickly organized an effective resistance. The firepower on the airport command tower was intertwined, causing great casualties to the attacking troops of the 2nd Battalion of the 569th Regiment. Under the urging of Rong Youlue, Lieutenant Colonel Liang Zichao, the head of the 569th regiment, charged forward in person. Encouraged by the head of the regiment, the 2nd Battalion went forward and succeeded, and finally captured the airport control tower.After five hours of fierce fighting, the 569th regiment finally expelled all the Japanese troops from the airport at the cost of more than 200 casualties. Then the 2nd Battalion quickly blew up all the facilities at the airport, and dug a 50-centimeter pit every ten meters on the airport runway, and buried one kilogram of explosives.After making arrangements, General Rong Youlue personally pressed the button to detonate the detonator. After a burst of uneven and dull explosions, the airport runway was turned upside down and the foundation was shaken loose. It was impossible to restore it for use in a short time. The leader of the Japanese Songshan Detachment learned that the airport had been lost, and immediately led his troops to fight back.In the evening, more than 1,000 Japanese soldiers wearing leather shoes or rubber shoes rushed into the airport in separate ways, and drove most of the 569th Regiment of the National Army wearing cloth shoes or straw sandals out of the airport with ease. The national army was unable to launch a counterattack at this time, and in order to preserve its combat power, Commander Fang Xianjue immediately ordered all the troops on the east bank of the Xiangjiang River to withdraw to the main urban area on the west bank of Hengyang. So far, the battle for Hengyang Airport has come to an end. When the news spread to Japan, the Tojo militaristic group was ecstatic, and the Prime Minister celebrated.Tojo personally signed the commendation order to reward the Matsuyama detachment.The Japanese troops attacking the city were even more arrogant and overbearing, scrambling to be the first to attack Hengyang City. However, they never dreamed that the soldiers of the 10th Army were waiting in full battle, preparing death traps for them!