Chapter 6 The most exciting battle since the sixth quarter of the Anti-Japanese War

The Battle of Shanggao, "the most exciting battle since the Anti-Japanese War" Wang Yaowu became the second commander of the 74th Army Although China lost ground and lost troops in the offensive and defensive battle of Nanchang, the 74th Army stood out in Gao'an and showed its strength. Its record was praised by the Ninth War Zone and awarded by the Military Commission. Even more promising. 2 months Later, in July 1939, Yu Jishi was transferred to Chiang Kai-shek's side and served as the director of the attendant room. Three days later, a letter of appointment from the Military Commission came down, and Wang Yaowu took office as the second commander of the 74th Army.At this time, the establishment of the 74th Army was also adjusted: the 57th Division officially belonged to the 74th Army, and the commander was Shi Zhongcheng; Li Tianxia was promoted to the commander of the 51st Division; Assist teacher Liao Lingqi. The 74th Army began to become a team built according to the American style, with a total strength of more than 31,000 people.

During this period, the appearance of the 74th Army has changed a lot under the hands of Wang Yaowu.Wang Yaowu is famous for his "strictness" in leading troops, which is almost "cruel".Soldiers who are disheveled are punished to stand; those whose shoelaces and belt buckles are not fastened tightly are punished to stand.He focused on "fighting" against officers.When gathering one day, he was talking, but a certain battalion commander peeked at the two playful birds on the nearby tree from time to time.When Wang Yaowu found out, he immediately pulled out the battalion commander and kicked him three times.Every time someone was promoted, he would find an excuse to beat and scold before announcing the appointment.Although this method has the taste of feudal warlords, Wang Yaowu believes that it is simple and effective, and can cultivate the sense of obedience of officers and soldiers.Of course, he did not fully use the method of "beating" and "punishing". He once provided three months of his salary to the wounded soldiers to improve their lives. , Fight tough battles.

In the blink of an eye, 1940, this year, according to the U.S. "China Aid Act" agreement, Chiang Kai-shek began to use U.S. loans to purchase American equipment and arm the elite of his central army. The 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 74th armies served as The four preferred armies first achieved a head-to-toe replacement.Its equipment is not only unmatched by troops in the national army, but also rare in the Japanese army. Wang Yaowu clenched his fists and said to his subordinates, "We will fight a few beautiful battles to win honor for the principal and add luster to this olive color." The uniforms of the Central Army are still gray, but the dark green of the 74th Army is very special, and it has become a symbol of honor.

"These American products are really exciting!" Li Tianxia was triumphant, beaming with joy. Now it's time for the Japanese soldiers to scratch their heads.Due to the development of the guerrilla activities of the Communist Party in North China, the strength of the Japanese army in this area was obviously insufficient. The headquarters of the Japanese Expeditionary Force in China decided to transfer the 33rd Division from the Central China Expeditionary Army to support the "mopping up" in North China. The 33rd Division was originally stationed in northern Jiangxi. Once the division is transferred, there will only be one 34th Division in Nanchang to take on this heavy defensive task. The head of the 34th Division, He Mao, was full of fear. The commander of the army, Enbe Kaichiro, suggested that before the 33rd Division was transferred to the north, launch an attack on Luo Zhuoying and other troops around Nanchang, so as to reduce the pressure on him to defend the city in the future.

Luo Zhuoying's 19th Army has nearly 100,000 people. Yuanbu suffered a lot from several confrontations with Luo. Now that the 74th Army in the 19th Army has been armed with American style, this makes Yuanbu even more uncertain. The transfer order is about to leave office, so he is not very willing to launch this operation, but Ohga Shigeru insisted on one hundred and twenty. The 20th Brigade arrived in Nanchang to make up for the lack of troops in this area after the 33rd Division left. In this way, there were about two and a half divisions in Nanchang. action plan. On March 14, 1941, the Japanese army in Nanchang launched the "Poyang Lake Sweeping War" against the 19th Army in three groups.15,000 members of the 33rd Division on the North Road went straight to the Chinese defenders in Fengxin from Anyi Wuning; more than 8,000 members of the Ikeda Brigade on the South Road set out from Yidu Street to cross the Jinjiang River and attacked the Chinese troops in Shanggao from the back; More than 20,000 people from the 34th Division dispatched troops to Xishan and Dacheng in an attempt to capture the Chinese camps of Gao'an and Shanggao in one fell swoop to the west to ensure the "public order" in western Jiangxi.

In fact, long before the Japanese army took action, Luo Zhuoying learned the lessons of the last Nanchang offensive and defensive battle, and had already prepared for the possible surprise attack plan adopted by the Japanese army.He placed the 74th Army stationed in Gao'an in the middle, and placed Li Jue's 70th Army and Liu Duoquan's 49th Army on the left and right wings of the 74th Army, protruding in front, so as to lure the enemy in retreat and wipe out the enemy in motion.Luo Zhuoying's idea is: when the enemy is lured to Wanzai, Shanggao, east of Fenyi, and west of the Ganjiang River, gather the forces of all ministries to annihilate them.

At the beginning of the battle, it was carried out according to the Chinese idea, but after the Ikeda brigade occupied Qujiang, they stationed in Shanggao and Gaogao. An's 74th Army was directly under the attack of the Japanese army. Wang Yaowu was quite surprised and ordered Li Tianxia to lead his troops to resolutely block it. When the 51st Division had just been replaced with American equipment, Li Tianxia's Mountain Artillery Battalion and Maxim's Heavy Machine Gun Company were thinking of testing their power on the battlefield, so after being ordered, their car brigade took the troops from a distance of 120 miles within an hour. The place was pulled to the south bank of the Qujiang River and ambushed.

March is when the spring water rises, and the winding river flows eastward.More than 2,000 people from Ikeda's headquarters were coming from the upper reaches of the Qujiang River to Hougang on four large ships.And just when they were forgetting about the mountains and rivers, a screaming sound they were all too familiar with came from the clouds and mist in the mountains. Before they could react, these whistles turned into earth-shattering explosions, in the water, in On board, splashing through the crowd. "Bageya Road", a commander who looked like a regimental captain brandished a sword to organize the Japanese troops on board to counterattack, but when a shuttle Maqqim shot across it, the commander fell headlong into the river and disappeared.The firepower on the shore was too fierce. As four large ships were bombed and sunk one after another, more than 2,000 devils barely made any resistance and most of them became water ghosts.

Ikeda got the report and stared at the river in a daze. He didn't dare to take the water again. He turned westward to Ligang and Zhangjiashan. Unexpectedly, as soon as they arrived at Chongzhen Temple, the Jiangxi Security Corps gave them another blow. Ikeda was caught in a dilemma and stuck in the Qushui Bridge area for many days without moving. "These American products are really exciting!" Li Tianxia, ​​who likes to show off her achievements, was beaming with joy after such a brilliant annihilation battle. Before the battle was over, he reported the good news to Wang Yaowu.

Of course, Wang Yaowu was also happy to win the flag, but the aggressive arrival of the enemy's main force, the Dagamo Division, made his brows a little more heavy. After the 20,000 troops of the Ogamo Division were dispatched on March 16, they first defeated Yu Xiangfuguan of Song Zhongying's Department of the 107th Division of the 70th Army, and then captured Gao'an City guarded by the division. Finally, they chased the division to Tiannanxu with cavalry. Sharp, almost unstoppable. Kamiko, where the 74th Army is stationed, has become a sight in Ogamo's eyes. On March 18, General Wang Yao deployed the troops of the 74th Army as follows: Yu Chengwan of the 57th Division (Shi Zhongcheng was promoted to the deputy commander of the 74th Army) took Longwangling, Yanggongxu, and Huangfengling as the forward positions, and insisted on Beheaduling and Suotouling. The main positions at Zishan, Xiacaogang, etc.; the Liao Lingqi Division of the 58th Division defended the first-line positions such as Qiaotou, Guanqiao Street, Tangpu, and Huangjiapu; the Li Tianxia Division of the 51st Division still mainly dealt with the Ikeda Independent Brigade on the south bank of the Jinjiang River The task is to temporarily deploy defenses on the front lines of Quangang Street, Hookshui Ridge, and Shitou Street.

It is worth mentioning that at this time, although the 33rd Division under the command of Amakasu Shigetaro conquered Fengxin, it also paid the price of more than 2,500 people for the continuous battle. Li Jue's Pre-9th Division, 19th Division and Jiangxi Security Division The regiment's troops, like a nightmare, sometimes stalk them to death, and sometimes go far away and disappear without a trace, which makes Amakasu Shigetaro hate his teeth and have nowhere to speak. They are impatient and have no confidence to fight when they are about to transfer to the north. this battle.Therefore, the 33rd Division withdrew to the Anyi defense area alone on March 19, ignoring Ogamo's request. Ogamo decided to bite the bullet and fight the Chinese army. Fang Jun fixed the gun position, calibrated the angle, visually measured the distance, loaded the gun and fired the gun. "Boom", with a "hissing" sound, an enemy plane flying towards him burst into flames, a black smoke, and "buzzed" into a pond! On March 19, the forward troops of the 34th Division first launched an attack on the front positions of the 57th Division in the Yanggongwei area.The supplementary regiment of the 57th Division was stationed at Yanggongxu and Longwangling. This supplementary regiment was composed of military academy cadets. Although it was the first time to participate in the war, the mood was high.At the beginning of the battle, the Japanese army "cleared obstacles" with artillery, and then organized a group charge on the mountain, followed by brigades one by one, and wave after wave.Seeing the locust-like Japanese soldiers climbing up the mountain panting, Fang Jun, the head of the supplementary regiment, gave an order, and the heavy machine guns around him roared and opened their mouths first, and the swarms of devils receded like the tide at sunset. Seeing that the charge was blocked, the Japanese army called in planes to straf and bomb Longwangling at ultra-low altitude. What the Japanese plane dropped this time was not bombs, but extremely powerful napalm bombs, which burned a large area and connected each other. In an instant, it was burned into a large volcano. Fang Jun was commanding the battle on Yanggongwei. Seeing the fire on Longwang Ridge, he knew something was wrong. On the one hand, he asked the division headquarters for reinforcements, and on the other hand, he mobilized light and heavy machine guns to deal with the enemy planes flying towards him.Fang Jun is a graduate of the artillery department. He was fiddling with a mortar and was about to try to shoot a plane. Unexpectedly, the azimuth had not been adjusted yet, and the enemy plane had already roared in. Yang Gongxu was blown into darkness all of a sudden. The first battalion commander They were killed by the shock, the third battalion commander was blown away, and the company platoon commander and soldiers died even more. The ground was covered with bloody broken arms, human heads and torsos, and the bare branches were splattered with blood, dangling. Hanging the intestines and lungs of the deceased.The brothers who had fought side by side just now turned into pieces of meat in the blink of an eye. Fang Jun was so angry that he beat his chest and cried loudly.He helped up the fallen mortar, fixed the gun position, calibrated the angle, visually measured the distance, loaded the mortar and fired. "Boom", with a "hissing" whistle, an enemy plane flying towards him suddenly burst into flames, a black smoke, and "buzzed" into a pond!Seeing that the situation was not good, the rest of the enemy planes quickly restrained their madness and climbed far away. As soon as the enemy plane flew away, the Japanese infantry rushed towards Yang Gongxu screaming again. There were less than 20 people around Fang Jun who could hold guns even if they were lightly wounded. The situation was extremely critical.Fortunately, the reinforcements from the 57th Division arrived at this time, and Yang Gongxu was saved from danger. At the same time, Liao Lingqi's 58th Division also fought fiercely with the main force of the 34th Division in the area of ​​Guanqiao Street.Ogamo's more than 10,000 people fought in the front of the 58th Division, and most of them outflanked the hills on its two wings. Wang Yaowu saw that the situation was serious, and quickly ordered the 58th and 57th Divisions to retreat to the front line of Surabaya. At this point, Luo Zhuoying had to revise the original combat plan centered on Gao'an, and instead moved the various ministries upwards and contracted centripetally.At the same time, in order to ensure the encirclement and annihilation of the "lone wolf" Ogamo, the Ninth Theater urgently dispatched the New 14th and New 15th Divisions of the 72nd Army to Jiangxi for reinforcements. To completely surround the main force of the enemy's 34th Division, it is necessary to cut off the threat of Ikeda on the South Road. On March 20th, the 51st Division took the initiative to attack the Ikeda Department, which was huddled in the Qushuiqiao area. the rear.The Japanese army's formation was chaotic, and they crossed the Jinjiang River in the dark that night and joined Ogamo. The sudden change in the situation once again provided a good opportunity for the 19th Army's encirclement plan. On March 21, Luo Zhuoying ordered the new 14th division, the new 15th division, and the 58th division to stick to Shangdao Castle in order to realize the four-wall encirclement of Ogamo and Ikeda. Ogamo, who got into Luo Zhuoying's net, still fought a trapped beast, hoping to kill the blood and return to the lair. Yu Chengwan jumped into a machine gun bunker, rolled up his cuffs, and replaced a machine gun shooter, shooting skillfully On March 22, Ogamo dispatched more than 30 planes to attack the Yuntou Mountain position defended by the 57th Division.Yuntou Mountain is the highest mountain in the northeast of Shanggao. It and Baimao Mountain in the northwest form the horns of each other, and together constitute the natural barrier of Shanggao City. Standing on a high slope surrounded by a large number of officers, the thin and thin Oga Shigeru, holding a saber, admired the madness of their planes. His grievances over the past few days were vented in the ups and downs of those fighter jets. , Gained satisfaction and pleasure! "Yasi!" Ogamo exclaimed triumphantly, stretching out his thumb. The command post of the 57th Division was set up in a cave. Yu Chengwan was holding the microphone next to the telephone, pressing it close to his ear, and kept shouting in a hoarse voice: "Scatter and hide, disperse and hide!" Okay, hit me, hit me hard!" There were explosions outside one after another, blasting the sand and stones in the hole, and a puff of smoke and dust drifting in, choking Yu Chengwan coughing non-stop: "Go! Go to the 183 regiment Look!" he said to the guard. The defense line of the 183rd Regiment is near Yuanshan Temple, which is the forefront of the 57th Division. Yuanshan Temple has long been bombed into ruins by Japanese planes. The current battalion commander was suddenly promoted from the company commander.When Yu Chengwan arrived at the 183rd regiment, the bombing of the enemy plane had just stopped, and Ogamo's infantry was advancing step by step with the support of artillery fire; the 183rd regiment had no time to bury the dead comrades in arms, and it was too late to transport the seriously injured brother, and simply repaired the trenches Then went into battle. During Yu Chengwan's studies at the Whampoa Military Academy and the Army University, he studied infantry. He is very familiar with infantry weapons and likes them very much.When the Japanese attacked, bullets whizzed by his ears. The head of the 183rd regiment, Wang, urged him to move to the rear with an anxious face. Provoked all of a sudden, he simply jumped into a machine gun bunker, rolled up his cuffs, replaced a Maxim machine gunner, fell on the ground, and fired skillfully.The heavy machine gun position was the focus of the enemy's artillery fire, and the casualties were particularly high. Seeing that he couldn't stop the division commander, Commander Wang simply squatted beside the division commander and acted as a loader for Yu Chengwan. The head of the division commander personally participated in the battle, which greatly encouraged the officers and soldiers of the 183 regiment. Before, the fallen Japanese were spread everywhere like dried fish, and the furious Ogamo had no choice but to grit his teeth and retreat, looking for another breakthrough. Zhang Lingfu scolded sharply: "Mingcan, touch your crotch to see if your eggs are still there?" On March 23, Ogamo used the 216th Infantry Regiment to contain the Chinese defenders in Yuntou Mountain, while the 34th Cavalry Regiment, the 34th Artillery Regiment, and the 217th and 218th Infantry Regiments went all out to descend the bridge, Baimaoshan and other Chinese 58th divisions rushed here. The two sides have not yet joined forces, and the Japanese planes first strafed and dropped bombs back and forth on the 58th Division's position like wild bees. The trunk of the tree sizzled like a candle, emitting bursts of blue smoke. The 58th Division no longer has a complete fortification, but after the bombing, those soldiers seemed to emerge from the soil, blinking their eyes, dusting off the dust all over their bodies, adjusting their military uniforms and caps, and holding guns one by one Aim at the enemy ahead. The downhill bridge defended by the 172 regiment is the focus of Ogamo's attack. Ogamo's wishful thinking is: from the downhill bridge to the back of Baimao Mountain, so as to attack Baimao Mountain from the front and flanks.After taking Baimao Mountain, go straight to Shanggaocheng, or directly open the gap from the west, and then join the 33rd Division that went south from Wuning and return north. In this way, the battle around the downhill bridge was particularly fierce. After three fights, Ming Can, the head of the 172nd regiment, had less than 200 men with minor injuries. He called the division headquarters and asked to retreat to the second-line position. The call was answered by Zhang Lingfu, the deputy division commander. Zhang Lingfu hated fighting and retreating the most. Hearing Mingcan's cowardly request, an unknown fire rose in his heart, and he scolded sharply: "Mingcan, you Touch your crotch to see if your eggs are still there? You are the commander of the 74th Army, do you know that you are in the position, even if you are the only one left after the fight, you have to fight me!" Zhang Lingfu wanted to say something, but suddenly there was a loud "boom" from the other end of the phone, and no more sound was heard. After Mingcan's sacrifice, the Downhill Bridge fell immediately, and the Baimao Mountain position also fell. The situation reversed again in the blink of an eye. "You and I will take back Baimao Mountain immediately, or you will come to see me with your head up!" Wang Yaowu said to Liao Lingqi murderously. On March 24, early in the morning, Zhang Lingfu led the Death Squad, carrying all American Tom light machine guns, and came straight to Baimao Mountain. The headquarters of the 19th Army Group also sent a special battalion to help. After the artillery strike, Zhang Lingfu's death squad rushed to the front of the enemy's formation shouting in unison. The former rushed to the ground, and the latter continued. This formation, even the old warrior Ogamo, felt a little respect when he saw it.It's getting closer, it's getting closer, and it's about to step onto the forward position of Baimao Mountain. The shouts of the death squads are louder, and the bullets are more violent, but unexpectedly, dozens of milky white mist suddenly appeared in front of the Japanese army's formation, and drifted in with the wind. I'm in the death squad queue. This is a mildew mustard gas. After the human body touches it, the skin and flesh will fall off, and it will become a skeleton after a few hours.Zhang Lingfu followed behind the team and saw that some soldiers had fallen down. He wanted to order the troops to retreat, but at this moment, the wind changed suddenly, and the poisonous gas released by the Japanese army suddenly blew into their own positions. The Japanese were in chaos, unable to fight back if they wanted to resist, Zhang Lingfu's death squad accidentally regained the Baimao Mountain position. On March 5, when the commander of the 11th Army in Hankou, Enbe Kazuichiro, learned that the 34th Division was trapped, he hated Ogamo for not listening to dissuasion and acted hastily, and worried that the 34th Division would be wiped out. He couldn't explain it, so he telegraphed Ogamo to find an opportunity to break through, and ordered the 33rd Division to rescue him, and dispatched 2,000 troops from Jiujiang to the south to relieve the crisis. The Jiujiang reinforcements were quickly rejected by the 19th Army on the front line of Tangbu and Qiujia Street. Only the 215th Regiment dispatched by the 33rd Division invaded all the way westward to Qiaosha and Cunqianwei, and broke through the defense line of the 19th Division. Attempt to rendezvous with the 34th Division. But the 19th Division immediately sealed the gap, and all the Japanese troops were once again trapped in Tangpu and Guanqiao Street, a place with a radius of less than 20 square kilometers. On March 26, heavy rain fell, and Ogamo's planes and cannons all lost their effect, and the Chinese tightened their encirclement again. The next day, as soon as the sky opened up, the artillery fire of the 74th Army seemed to have eyes, blooming everywhere in Ogamo's position.At noon, the 34th Division chose a weak Chinese brigade, the 107th Division of the 70th Army, to break through to the east. After coming out, he drove Ogamo into the encirclement circle, and Ogamo sighed, "Heaven will kill me!" Major General Yanyong, Dahe's assistant, stood up and said: "Mr. Dahe, you are the commander of the division, and you have a heavy burden on your shoulders. Why don't you lead the light cavalry troops to break out of the encirclement? I will stick to my position and attract the enemy!" Ogamo thought about it, so he escaped from the Chinese trap that night with a few entourages, and returned to Nanchang in panic. On the 28th, various Chinese troops launched a final attack on the Japanese troops trapped in Guanqiao Street. Iwanaga committed seppuku and most of his subordinates died in battle. So far, the battle of Shanggao has achieved a complete victory.In this battle, more than 16,000 Japanese soldiers were annihilated, one enemy plane was shot down, more than 2,800 Japanese army horses were seized, and countless supplies were captured. He Yingqin, chief of staff of the Military Commission, will call it "the most exciting battle since the Anti-Japanese War."Chiang Kai-shek was very satisfied with the 74th Army, which was the main force of the attack, and specially awarded the 74th Army a "Flying Tiger Flag" in the name of the Military Commission, which is the highest award in the National Revolutionary Army.