Chapter 25 Chapter 25 Withdrawing from the West Bank 2

Ge Xiancai exhausted his words and finally persuaded Fang Xianjue to agree to shrink his troops and allow the 190th Division to withdraw from the east bank of the river. It was already 22:00 in the middle of the night, and Ge immediately called Pan Zhi, deputy commander of the 190th division: "Brother, the problem has been solved, and the evacuation of the east bank has begun! Execute as soon as possible according to the original plan, and try to complete the evacuation before dawn. I will tell the first Commander Zhou of the 3rd Division and Battalion Commander Zhang of the Artillery Battalion, if necessary, you can directly contact the Jiang Defense Force and Artillery Battalion of the 3rd Division."

"Understood! I will contact them immediately. Thank you, brother, our teacher will treat you to a drink then!" Vice-master Pan said. "You should arrange the evacuation first, especially the infantry coordination. Save the wine for me first!" Pan Zhi knew very well that whether the evacuation was successful or not, the suddenness of action and the coordination of infantry and artillery were very important.During the preparation period, the artillerymen have already measured and calculated the shooting points around the city. When the infantry requires artillery support, they only need to inform the location of the area and the start and end time of the artillery attack.Artillery can quickly adjust the gun position to fire.If there is a deviation in the impact point, there is an artillery observation post on the infantry position, and the artillery position can be notified immediately to correct it, which can not only avoid misfires, but also allow the artillery to exert the best fire coverage effect.

After careful deployment, at 1:00 in the morning, while Deputy Division Commander Pan notified artillery support, Division Commander Rong Youlue calmly issued an evacuation order. I saw the signal flares hissing through the night, and the army's mountain artillery battalion on the west bank fired a rapid volley. The howling shells crossed the Xiangjiang River with dazzling light and hit the enemy's position; my infantry also fired violently at the enemy at the same time, and then quickly left. The enemy army advanced rapidly on the banks of the Xiangjiang River. The Japanese army didn't know where to go, and for a while they couldn't figure out the intention of the national army. They thought that the Chinese army had launched a new counterattack against the airport.In a hurry, it took a while to stabilize the position, and hurriedly organized the defense.

When the Japanese army found out the situation, Division Commander Rong Youlue had led the 190th Division to cross the Xiangjiang River, and soon met with Commander Zhou of the 3rd Division, and took over the command of the position handed over by the 3rd Division according to the order of the military headquarters. . Subsequently, the units of the 190th Division successfully crossed the Xiangjiang River one after another, and under the leadership of the staff officers sent by the West Bank Division, they quickly drove to the predetermined area and took over the Caoqiao and Shiguzui of the original 3rd Division one by one. To the defensive position on the front line of Jiangfang.

When the Japanese army understood, they quickly sent troops to pursue and increase artillery to intercept.Unfortunately, it was too late. The captains and crews of the two ferries contributed a lot to the successful evacuation from the east bank of the river this time.They didn't negotiate the price, ignored the danger, increased their horsepower, and drove back and forth non-stop. The boat was fast and stable without any mistakes, which effectively guaranteed the troops to cross the river successfully on time. Just when our army's covering troops finally boarded the boat and set off for the ferry, Captain Zhou was shot through his left ear by the pursuing Japanese army, and his blood flowed profusely immediately.Major Zhang Ligui, commander of the 2nd Battalion, who was in command of the covering force, ordered: "Quickly, quickly help the captain into the cabin to rest!"

"Leave me alone, set sail immediately, and speed up!" Captain Zhou said loudly, "Think about those soldiers who are willing to sacrifice and fight bloody battles. What is my bloodshed? The national army was transported across the river safely!" What a man from Hunan, fearless, honest, stubborn and brave like a mule. Shortly thereafter, Commander Rao Shaowei of the temporary 54th Division followed the order and led the division headquarters and a battalion to successfully cross the Xiangjiang River to take over part of the Jiang defense positions of the 190th Division. From the battle until the morning of June 26, in order to shrink our troops and maintain our combat power, our army gave up all positions on the east bank of the river.The Hengyang Airport, an important base of the Sino-US joint air force, and the Hengyang Railway Station, the largest transportation hub in the middle of the Guangdong-Han Railway, were occupied by the enemy.

For this reason, General Chennault, the commander of the Sino-US joint air force, was so angry that he didn't eat well for several meals. Chairman Chiang was even attacked by Stilwell, who said that the government was corrupt, Chiang’s command was improper, and the national army was vulnerable. He suggested that US President Roosevelt focus his support on the India-Myanmar battlefield, forcing Chiang’s nearly 10 divisions to build a new The elite troops of the national army with American equipment formed an expeditionary force and went to the India-Myanmar battlefield to cooperate with the troops stationed in India to help the British and American coalition forces to recover India and Burma.In order not to offend the United States, in order to open up the Yunnan-Myanmar Highway and the India-Myanmar Highway as soon as possible, Jiang had to compromise and meet Shi's request.However, the unreasonable request of the United States to ask Chiang to hand over the command of the entire Chinese army was delayed and rejected.

Stilwell went further and even asked the United States to abandon Chiang and support other giants to replace him; he also suggested supporting the Chinese Communist Party to hold back the hundreds of thousands of elite Japanese army troops in China and reduce the pressure on the U.S. military on the Pacific battlefield .But objectively, the result was chaos and disorder in the command of the national army. The various factions were suspicious of each other, only cared about preserving their strength, and waited and watched. Achieve an unprecedented unity to defeat the enemy.As a result, the U.S. air forces stationed in Kunming, Chengdu and other places stood idly by, failing to provide strong air support to the 10th Army and to provide effective air strikes on the long Japanese supply line from Wuhan, Changsha to Hengyang.

The contradiction between Jiang and Shi became increasingly intensified.This created invisible pressure on the future Hengyang defense battle.Jiang hoped that the 10th Army would display its combat strength, its level, its national prestige, its new hope, and prove to the allies that the Chinese Army can fight well.The better the 10th Army fought, the more face Chiang would have in front of the allies, and the more power he had to speak.So Generalissimo Jiang called Fang Xianjue many times to find out his fighting spirit and cheer him up.And the principal's student really gave enough face at the beginning, but it's a pity that his fate was not good, and he ended up anticlimactic, exhausted and gave up the battle.Although the situation is excusable, it is really a failure!This is something.

At this time, the 68th Division, the 116th Division and the 5th Independent Infantry Brigade of the Japanese Army had completed the encirclement of Hengyang.In addition to the artillery brigade directly under the divisions and brigades, it is also attached to the 122nd Independent Artillery Wing, with a total of about 55,000 people. Previously, when the Japanese army fought against the Chinese army, usually one division had three to four armies against the Chinese army; now, with nearly three divisions and a large number of artillery, tanks and air force support, there are only 17,600 troops to deal with the broken and incomplete and poorly equipped. Isn't the 10th Army of the remaining Chinese army more than enough? Attacking Hengyang is like finding something out of a bag, catching a turtle in a urn, and it only takes one day.

Thinking of this, Commander Isamu Yokoyama, the commander of the Japanese 11th Army, naturally seemed determined to win, relaxed and proud. In the early morning of June 26, just as the 190th Division was safely withdrawing to the west bank, Yokoyama Isamu gave the order to attack Hengyang City.For a time, flares and signal flares shone through the night sky, cannons roared, gunfire was dense and continuous like firecrackers on New Year's Eve, and the explosion of mortar shells and grenades was deafening. The desperate fight between the two armies officially kicked off.