Chapter 66 Chapter 66 Outer Puzzle 1

It was a difficult moment when the Hengyang defenders were fighting bloody battles to hold on to the crisis.The peripheral situation has always been as incomprehensible as a mystery. The troops used in the originally planned battle of Changsha were scattered in Liuyang, Pingxiang, and Liling, fighting on their own.The Japanese army's three-way troops quickly crossed the small-scale entanglement of these troops, and quickly advanced to Leiyang, Anren, and Chaling. When the 20th Army, 26th Army, 44th Army, 72nd Army, 37th Army, and 58th Army Wait, these regular legions have fallen into a guerrilla warfare situation.Most of the water network and large and small roads in Hunan Province were controlled by the Japanese army. Such a large number of regular army groups were forced into the mountains, and there was no logistical support. The transportation of supplies, artillery, grain and ammunition consumes a lot of combat power of the troops.

When these troops received orders from the theater and the Military Commission to go south to Hengyang to participate in the battle, their actions were restrained everywhere, and they had to drill through the gaps between the heavy Japanese army groups, or go to deep mountains and old forests to find paths.Such a large army came back from the enemy's rear, and fought a lot of battles, but they were all encounters or fortified battles in which losses outweighed gains, exhausted the troops, and lost all their heavy weapons.They are no longer a fresh army ready to go. But these troops cannot be said to be useless. Together, they still pose a great threat to the Japanese army on the east bank of the Xiangjiang River. They still control the southeast flank area that attacked the Japanese army in Hengyang.

At this time, there were still 7 armies belonging to the fourth, sixth, seventh, and ninth theaters in the west bank of the Xiangjiang River.These seven armies are the 74th Army, 73rd Army, 79th Army, 99th Army, 100th Army, 46th Army, and 62nd Army.They should be the new and main force participating in the Hengyang Defense Battle.However, in the process of clearing the siege, the mistake of using troops successively has not been avoided.When the two regiments of the 62nd Army rushed to the southwest suburbs of Hengyang, the 79th Army, which was supposed to actively cooperate, remained stationary north of Zhengshui, failing to achieve the effect of a pincer attack.When the 10th Army repeatedly called for help and reached the west side of Hengyang, the 62nd Army had been overwhelmed by the Japanese.All the Japanese reinforcements turned around to deal with the 79th Army, so the 79th Army was not stable and suffered heavy losses.

On July 27, when the 46th Army from the Fourth War Zone arrived near Santang, the northwest suburb of Hengyang, it became an isolated army again, and was attacked by the Japanese army on both sides.The 74th Army is one of the most capable units of the national army. It performed well in the battles of Wuhan, Changsha and Changde.However, when participating in the relief operation of Hengyang this time, he fought fiercely with the Japanese reinforcements alone in Jiwoshan, a suburb of Hengyang, and did not join forces with other reinforcements to attack. After conquering the Jiwoshan position, he suddenly withdrew.The 62nd Army can be said to be the most powerful reinforcement army. It captured Yumu Mountain twice, but failed because there was no friendly army to support it.At that time, there was the 100th Army 60 miles north of the Hengbao Highway on the north side of the 62nd Army, but the two armies belonged to two different theaters and did not form a coordinated operation.The various support armies belonged to different command systems, and they were sent out from many branches. They were deeply afraid that the lone army would go deep, and no one would rescue them, and they would fall into the Japanese army's siege. With such concerns, the combat strength can be imagined.

The famous American journalist Bai Xiude, who was warmly received by the generals and academies of the 62nd Army, recorded in detail in his book "China After the Thunder" that he went to the front line of the 62nd Army to observe the counter-offensive operations of the 62nd Army in early July.He said: After getting off the train, he walked for 45 kilometers and saw "one of the three Chinese soldiers was carrying a gun, and the rest were carrying supplies, telephone lines, machine gun accessories, etc. But each of them had a few grenades, attacking the forward front The division has two 75 field cannons, which are still relics from the First World War. The cannons are equipped with 200 rounds of shells, and they are as stingy as misers counting gold coins when shooting.

The Japanese army was entrenched under a higher hill in the southern suburbs of Hengyang, while the national army was on a lower hill.The national army hoped to rush to the Japanese positions with rifles and bayonets.However, from 3:30 in the morning to the morning, the Chinese soldiers could only climb to the halfway up the Japanese highlands. Mortars roared into the sky, and machine guns and rifles chattered after a long interval in the hot summer air. There was no one on the entire front. people in action. " "...We found that what we saw was counterattack, and that the battle would have no other consequences, and we returned to the rear."

The opponent of the 62nd Army was the 234th Wing of the 40th Division of the Japanese Army.They have a good evaluation of the 62nd Army.Speaking of July 31 and August 2, they "entered into combat" with the 62nd Army. The Japanese defense line was breached several times, and the Japanese army suffered heavy casualties. When the position was breached, the Japanese army gathered groom signalmen and others to counterattack the national army.It can be seen that the battle is so tragic that the reinforcements are not without opportunities. The Ninth Theater was originally a hybrid of many local forces.However, during the War of Resistance, there has always been good cooperation, mutual support, and close cooperation.Chiang Kai-shek visited central Hunan many times to hold the Nanyue Military Conference.On the one hand, it planned the military, on the other hand, it coordinated the relationship and stabilized the morale of the army. The most recent time was in February 1942.However, the Japanese Army's No. 1 Operation disrupted the deployment of the Changsha Battle of Xue Yue, commander of the Ninth Theater, and also disrupted the command system of the Ninth Theater.Xue Yue avoided the direction of the Japanese army, avoided the Guangdong-Hanzhou-Guangxi triangle area between the Guangdong-Han Road and the Xianggui Road where Chairman Jiang ordered him to go, and led his troops to the border of Hunan, Jiangxi and Guangdong.Leaving the combat center, the command function of the ninth theater to guide the Hengyang operation and the Hengyang relief operation is tantamount to paralysis, and the inherent contradictions in the theater are fully revealed.

With such a complex and ever-changing military situation, troops that do not belong to the same theater, group army, faction, or province, and have no unified headquarters close to the battlefield, how can they have unified command, unified coordination, obedience, and service? A themed campaign action.The commander who leads this arduous task and complex composition of troops must be a highly respected chief, who should pay equal attention to kindness and authority, be just and decisive, be lenient and strict with himself, and be clear about rewards and punishments.But at this time, Chief Xue Yue was self-willed, so rejoicing in his achievements that he could not avoid governing the public for personal gain, and was hard-pressed to return the public's expectations. He gradually lost his prestige in the war, and lost his authority to actually control the troops in the ninth theater.

Chiang Kai-shek was the head of state and the supreme commander. Although he was thousands of miles away, he leapfrogged his command and changed his orders day and night.However, the military situation in the Great War is changing rapidly, so there is no room for waiting.The Wang Yaowu Group Army of the Sixth War Zone went out of Xiangxi. The 79th Army under it and the 62nd Army had the same combat mission and attack direction, but they belonged to different theaters. There was no unified command officer, but they directly obeyed the orders of Commissar Chiang in Chongqing. The command of Chang and Director Lin Wei caused each to fight independently and could not form a joint force.At the end of the battle, the 79th Army had just taken over the defense of the 62nd Army's position, and was smashed by the Japanese army's onslaught, and it was defeated in an instant.

However, Bai Chongxi, the deputy chief of the staff headquarters who was ordered to guide the entire Hunan and Guangxi operations, had serious egotism, and only focused on protecting Guangxi and neglecting the Hunan war.Judging from the memories of the combatants of the 62nd Army, 79th Army, 74th Army, and 46th Army after the war, it can be seen that all the ministries are trying their best to break through the siege, although they are fighting fiercely, just like the battle of the 62nd Army's Yumu Mountain. It was very difficult, with repeated battles with the Japanese army, with several losses and several gains; the battle of the 74th Army's Jiwo Mountain was also inextricably fought, but because there was no unified command center, all the ministries were twisted into one rope and concentrated forces to break through the encirclement of the Japanese army ; Or rush into the city to increase the strength of the defenders and use them to resist the enemy for a long time.

Bai Chongxi called Chiang Kai-shek from Guilin in late July, giving up hope of fighting in Hengyang.but not explicitly stated.He knew very well that Jiang was closely combining the Hengyang operation with diplomacy and politics, so he vaguely and generally proposed that under certain conditions, "it seems possible to resolve part of the siege of Hengyang."But its strategy was to cut off the Japanese rear supply line.Bai Chongxi continued to suggest: "The highest strategy of our army is a war of attrition. Before the China-India-Myanmar Highway is opened, how to make good use of existing troops to wait for the Allied counterattack? How to ensure the key points of Chongqing, Kunming, Xi'an, and Guilin? , it has to be supported for a long time, and all ideas are in the clear mirror of Junzuo." Bai Chongxi pointed out that the Japanese army's attack will be further extended, and our side may not have enough strength to stop the Japanese army from continuing to attack.His analysis was also thorough, and he proposed a strategy for a decisive battle in Guangxi.At the time when Hengyang was about to fall, he also proposed to secure Guilin and accumulate strength for the upcoming Guangxi battle.