Chapter 11 Section 1 Battle Plan No. 1

After Joseph Needham left, the small town of Lizhuang returned to calm.With the changes in the international situation, China's war of resistance has shifted from strategic defense to strategic counterattack. All kinds of news from avenues and small roads have come to this ancient town at the end of the Yangtze River. On June 18, 1943, Chiang Kai-shek ordered the 400,000 troops of the Kuomintang Hu Zongnan, who was defending against the Japanese army in Luochuan, northern Shaanxi, to be transferred to the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region to encircle the People's Government and the army of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region where the CCP sat on the spot.

From September 6th to 13th, Chiang Kai-shek presided over the Eleventh Plenary Session of the Fifth Central Committee of the Kuomintang and delivered a speech, pointing out that "the final victory is now in sight" and emphasizing that "during this plenary session, we must focus on the issue of nation-building in order to obtain A perfect solution."This meeting elected Chiang Kai-shek as the chairman of the National Government (Note: The original chairman Lin Sen passed away on August 1 of this year). On November 23, Chiang Kai-shek, as the dignified head of state of China and a world-class political giant, attended the Cairo meeting of the leaders of China, the United States, and the United Kingdom.During this period, he held separate talks with Roosevelt, mainly discussing the return of the areas of Chinese territory occupied by Japan.The two sides agreed that the three northeastern provinces, Taiwan, and the Penghu Islands would all be returned to China after the war, and that the Ryukyu Islands would be jointly administered by China and the United States; whether or not the Japanese emperor system should be maintained should be determined by the Japanese people; and the independence of Korea could be guaranteed.

On December 3, the famous "Joint Declaration of the Cairo Conference" in the history of the Anti-Japanese War and the World Anti-Fascist War was announced simultaneously in Chongqing, Washington, and London.On this day, the Japanese invaders captured Changde, Hunan Province with the superior force of four elite divisions in response to the Pacific battlefield and India-Myanmar operations.The soldiers of the 57th Division of the Kuomintang garrison fought bloody battles, but in the end they were outnumbered. Only 321 of the 8,529 troops in the division broke out, and the rest were all killed. Four days later, the Chinese army joined forces with the Fourteenth Air Force of the United States to recapture Changde in one fell swoop, and the Japanese army that besieged the entire southwest of China retreated across the board.

On January 1, 1944, Chiang Kai-shek delivered a radio speech to the military and civilians across the country, pointing out that China’s victory in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was in sight, and China’s national reputation was growing day by day. Just when the dawn of the Anti-Japanese War illuminated the eastern horizon and radiated to the vast sky, the situation changed suddenly, and the Japanese base camp, which was about to collapse completely, decided to use up its last ounce of strength to fight to the death to open up the mainland communication line and strive to "one-stop" Fight to restore the demoralized morale of the people" and survive from death.The strategic concept formulated by the Japanese base camp is to take the "Bawang City" on the south bank of the Yellow River as the base point, first conquer the southern half of the Ping-Han Railway, and then capture Changsha, Hengyang, Guilin, Liuzhou, and Nanning, and open up the Hunan-Guangxi and Guangdong-Han railways Line, a total of 1400 kilometers.

This combat concept is the famous "Operation Plan No. 1" in the late period of the Anti-Japanese War. According to this plan, the Japanese brats, who had already killed red eyes before the total collapse, officially launched an offensive from the northern front in early April, and successively launched a series of large-scale decisive battles such as the Battle of Central Henan, the Battle of Changheng, and the Battle of Guiliu.Although the Kuomintang troops fought tenaciously on various battlefields, they suffered successive defeats. On April 18, 148,000 Japanese troops gathered in the Central Plains with Neiji Okamura as the commander-in-chief began to attack nearly 400,000 people from the eight Chinese garrison armies with Jiang Dingwen as the commander-in-chief of the first theater.The Japanese offensive was fierce and invincible.The national army retreated in a row, losing a city every day, and the Japanese forwards approached Luoyang, the last important town in central Henan, with unstoppable momentum.According to the battle plan of the Japanese base camp, after the capture of Central Henan, continue westward, cross Tongguan, send troops to Xi'an, capture Baoji, and then go south along the Sichuan-Shaanxi Highway, approaching Chongqing, the wartime capital, and China will surely perish.In order to frustrate its sharpness and prevent the Japanese army from advancing westward, Chiang Kai-shek secretly ordered the first war zone to exchange fire with the Japanese army for one month, and the main force retreated westward in a planned way to Tongguan for defense.From May 25th, in 37 days, the national army stationed in central Henan lost 38 cities.Luoyang, where Jiang Dingwen, the commander-in-chief of the First Theater Command, finally fell after more than 10 days of hard defense.When the city was broken, the three divisions defending the city were almost sacrificed, and only a thousand people broke out.Fortunately, when the Japanese army advanced to the front line of Tongguan, they encountered desperate resistance from the officers and soldiers stationed in the first war zone. shattered.

Although the Japanese army was blocked in Tongguan, they had captured the entire strategic location in the Central Plains.Since ancient times, military strategists have had the wonderful theory that "to win China, you must first win the Central Plains". As long as the Japanese army has a firm foothold in the Central Plains, the two major battles of Changheng and Guiliu will be possible to win, and then the Hunan-Guizhou line will be opened. The "Battle Plan" can be completed, the Japanese army will be reborn, and the entire Far East war situation may turn around. On the third day after the fall of Luoyang, an important town in the Central Plains, that is, on May 27, the Japanese army launched a siege on Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province, from the left, the center, and the right. 300,000 Kuomintang troops fought fiercely. On June 16, the Kuomintang defenders suffered heavy casualties and were unable to support themselves, and Yuelu Mountain fell. On the 18th, the Fourth Army responsible for guarding Changsha was surrounded by the Japanese army and was bombed and strafed by more than 30 enemy planes. Finally, "the army's morale was shaken and it was difficult to control it", and Changsha fell.Zhang Deneng, the commander of the Fourth Army, collected more than 1,300 remaining members of the army and broke out. Although Xue Yue explained the battle and Bai Chongxi, the deputy chief of staff, asked for a lighter punishment, Zhang Deneng was still ordered to be shot by the angry Chiang Kai-shek.

After the capture of Changsha, the Japanese army joined the first-line operations with its second-line corps, and quickly went south in an attempt to take Hengyang in one fell swoop and achieve the strategic goal of joining forces with the troops in Guangxi.Facing the crisis, the General Headquarters of the Kuomintang Military Commission hastily dispatched troops to block the attack in three directions. The most tragic battle centered on Hengyang in the history of the Anti-Japanese War kicked off. On June 20, China and Japan invested 300,000 and 350,000 troops respectively within a 50-kilometer radius around Hengyang, and fought fiercely ahead of the outer line.By the end of July, four elite divisions of the Japanese army approached Hengyang, the strategic center.The Xianjue Department of the Tenth Army of the Ninth War Zone of the Kuomintang guarded Hengyang and resisted the fierce Japanese attack.The Battle of Hengyang was the largest battle in the late period of the Anti-Japanese War. It was called by Chiang Kai-shek as the last life-and-death struggle "about the survival of the country, the greatest honor and disgrace of the nation".The Japanese army base camp was brightly lit. Generals and staff officers at all levels studied and watched the battle day and night. Beat down and crush.Mao Zedong, the leader of the Communist Party of China in the cave dwelling in Yan’an in northern Shaanxi, while paying close attention to the war, pointed out with the wisdom and attitude of an outstanding strategist: “Hengyang is more important than Changsha. The connection point of two railways is also the center of the southwest highway network. Its loss means that the southeast and southwest are cut off, and the rear of the southwest is under direct military threat. The airport in Hengyang is the middle of the air base in the southeast of our country The liaison station, its loss will make the hard-working Southeast Air Force Base useless." Not only that, "Hengyang is located at the confluence of the Xiangjiang River and the Leishui River. Relying on these two rivers, Hunan Province can concentrate on exporting 30 million shi of rice every year. The extremely rich minerals are concentrated here. These are extremely important to the military food, people's food and military industry in the rear area. Its loss will deepen the economic crisis in the rear area. In turn, it gives the enemy the ability to "support war with war". possibility".

It is precisely due to the irreplaceable important strategic position of Hengyang and its surrounding areas in the military, from the fall of Wuhan to the siege of Hengyang by the Japanese army in 1944, in nearly six years, the war in this area has never ceased as the main battlefield of the Sino-Japanese war Pass. In 1939, among China's top ten war zones, the ninth war zone with Hunan as the main battlefield had the most troops, reaching 54 infantry divisions at its peak, accounting for more than a quarter of the country's total troops. During the period from 1939 to 1945 when the Anti-Japanese War was won, there were 12 heavyweight battles on the frontal battlefield, namely: the first battle in Changsha, the battle in southern Henan, the battle in Shanggao, the battle in Zaoyi, the battle in southern Shanxi, and the second battle in Changsha The battle, the third battle of Changsha, the battle of Zhejiang and Jiangxi, the battle of western Hubei, the battle of Changde, the battle of Henan, Hunan and Guangxi, and the battle of Zhijiang in Laohekou.Among them, 6 major battles were launched in the Hunan Theater.After the July 7th Incident, the Japanese army originally planned to conquer China in March, but in Hunan alone, the national army held on for 5 years. After many battles, the Japanese army never made it one step further. This shows the importance of Hunan's strategic position. And the high level of the national army attaches great importance to this theater and the strength of its troops.

At this time, the Tenth Army of the Kuomintang stationed in Hengyang, formerly known as the Whampoa Teaching Corps, was expanded into the Third Division of the National Revolutionary Army during the Northern Expedition, or the "Old Three Division". Its generals were Qian Dajun, Li Yutang, Jiang Chaoxiong, and Fang Xianjue. , Ge Xiancai, Zhou Qingxiang, etc., and most of the previous commanders of the Tenth Army were former members of the "Old Third Division".The anti-Japanese army flourished, and the Tenth Army became one of the five main forces of the Kuomintang, which was characterized by being good at defensive operations.In the eight years of the Anti-Japanese War, the number of times the Tenth Army fought tough battles and the indomitable fighting spirit it displayed was no less than that of the trump card Seventy-fourth Army known as the "Tiger Ben" division and the "Anti-Japanese Iron Army" (reorganized into the Seventy-fourth Division after the Anti-Japanese War, the division commander Zhang Lingfu).The most outstanding battle of the Tenth Army was from the end of 1941 to the beginning of 1942. It served as the defense of Changsha in the third battle of Changsha.The commander of the army at that time was a first-year student in Whampoa, Li Yutang, known as one of the "Three Heroes of Whampoa" and "Three Lis of Shandong" (Li Xianzhou, Li Yannian, and Li Yutang).At this time, Li's headquarters was located in an ancestral hall in front of Yuelu Mountain. Facing the Japanese army besieged like migratory locusts, Li calmly commanded.One day at noon, Li Yutang was holding pancakes in one hand and eating kohlrabi with chopsticks in the other. Suddenly, an enemy bullet flew in and smashed a jar of pickles containing green onions and shrimp paste in front of him. Li was unmoved.In the blink of an eye, another bomb flew over, splitting the chopsticks in two.Li cursed a little angrily, "His mother!" and grabbed the kohlrabi to eat.The subordinates persuaded Li to change the command position. Li thought that the flying bullets were stray bullets, which did not affect the overall situation, so he did not move the headquarters.Inspired by Li Yutang's example, the soldiers of the Tenth Army fought bloody battles with the enemy at Yuelu Mountain and Changsha City, causing heavy casualties to the Japanese army. On January 1, 1942, the Japanese army once again launched an attack on Changsha. The Tenth Army also made up its mind to live and die with Changsha City. Continuous long-wave bombings caused heavy casualties to the defenders, and the Japanese army had the upper hand.On January 4th, the 30th Regiment of the Pre-10th Division of the 10th Army, which was ordered to guard the outside of the south gate of Changsha, had a hand-to-hand fight with the besieging enemy.With the cooperation of the planes, the Japanese army attacked fiercely, and Changsha City was in jeopardy.Colonel Guo Xiancai, who was born in the fourth phase of Whampoa and the head of the 30th regiment, saw that the casualties of his subordinates had surged and the situation was critical. He feared that Changsha would fall into the enemy's hands before dusk.All of a sudden, more than a dozen bugles sounded, and all officers and soldiers of the regiment, including cooks, miscellaneous soldiers, messengers and other miscellaneous personnel, all threw themselves into the ranks of charge and hand-to-hand combat.The sound of bugles and shouts of killing and the awe-inspiring momentum of the entire regiment's officers and soldiers frightened the enemy, and they retreated in panic.That night, Ge Xiancai was promoted to major general by order of Chairman Jiang, and Li Yutang, commander of the army, was awarded the Blue Sky and White Sun Medal. On January 5th, General Xue Yue, commander of the Ninth War Zone, issued an order to chase, block and intercept the retreating Japanese army. The land of northern Hunan was suddenly full of killings and artillery fire. The enemy suffered a heavy price of 57,000 casualties (33,941 were killed in battle) Declaring the defeat of this battle, the Chinese army wrote the most glorious page in the history of modern warfare.The tenth army that used the most life and made the most contributions in the entire Changsha victory.He was awarded the highest honor of the National Army "Flying Tiger Banner" and was named "Taishan Army" by the Military Commission.In the third Changsha victory, the Tenth Army became famous. Li Yutang, the commander of the army, was promoted to the commander of the Ninth Theater Corps. The post of division commander was succeeded by Ge Xiancai.It was the Tenth Army led by Fang Xianjue who guarded Hengyang this time.

At this time, the Tenth Army was severely damaged by the Japanese army because of its previous participation in the Changde Defense War. There are more than 17,000 troops in the two divisions, which belong to the divisions that are exhausted from long-term fighting.In addition to the 4 divisions of the 11th Army, the Japanese army besieging Hengyang also had a total of 110,000 artillery and chemical troops directly under it. The ratio of Chinese and Japanese troops was 1:6.4. It appeared for the first time, and because of these many factors, it added a series of suspense and painted a tragic color to this war.

According to the original plan of the Kuomintang Military Commission, the main force of the national army is deployed on the outskirts of Hengyang, and more than 10,000 people from the Fang Xianjue Department attract the Japanese army to attack the city with all their strength. As long as the Fang Department guards Hengyang for 10 days, at most two weeks, the main force from the periphery will be reinforced. It became a situation of encirclement by iron barrels, and the inside should cooperate with the outside to encircle and wipe out the enemies coming to Fan in one fell swoop. The battle plan of the Japanese base camp was to lay siege to the 11th Army Corps with all its forces, and Hengyang could be captured within a day.Just when the combat order was issued, the scheming Commander of the Eleventh Corps, Yong Shanyong, saw through the strategic intentions of the high-level Chinese army and did not dare to send troops easily. The next time they besieged Hengyang, the other troops were responsible for blocking the Kuomintang reinforcements on the periphery and waiting for an opportunity to encircle and annihilate the main force of the national army.In the words of Isamu Yokoyama: "As long as the main force of the enemy's periphery is destroyed, the Hengyang defenders will not receive reinforcements. Without supplies, when their combat power is exhausted, they will be defeated." Since China's original The strategic deployment was deciphered by the Japanese army, and the progress of the war was beyond the expectations of the military leaders of both sides. In the early morning of June 23, the Hengyang offensive and defensive battle officially started. Both sides attacked each other mainly with artillery. The Japanese army mainly used heavy artillery and field artillery, and the Chinese side mainly used mortars. .The morale of the Chinese defenders was high. On the Japanese side, "the two divisions in charge of the siege, in view of the capture of Changsha, have already been taken by others, and their achievements have shocked the whole country. They want to follow suit immediately, and their war ambitions are like clouds for a while."The two powerful armies met on a narrow road, each with a fighting spirit, and fought hard. The battle lasted for nearly a month. Both sides suffered heavy casualties.Many years later, Fang Xianjue told Japan’s Sankei Shimbun reporter Kuiji Furuya: “Because of the long-term battle, there was a lack of medicines and food, and I felt extremely miserable. There was no hemostatic agent, no bandages. The wounds of wounded officers and soldiers were inflamed and maggots grew. Many of the officers and soldiers who could have been treated died. The blows we dealt to the enemy were also very heavy. Every day we could see the smoke and flames of the enemy's cremation. The whole city of Hengyang was shrouded in the stench of dead bodies. It was really tragic. .” Before the battle of Hengyang, the strategy of capturing Hengyang within a day planned by the Japanese base camp was in vain. Afterwards, the Japanese military history experts denounced it as "the belief that he must win is really commendable; his calculations are rough and sloppy, and there is nothing wrong with it." .The Japanese army was like this, and the Chinese army was also caught in a vortex that could not extricate itself due to poor calculations at the top.The reinforcements that the Kuomintang garrison had been looking forward to day and night in the bitter battle, were blocked by the Japanese army from outside and had difficulty in driving, and they still failed to reach the gate of Hengyang.After such a long period of consumption, Hengyang has become an isolated city with no food inside and no reinforcements outside.However, since late July, the Japanese military depots located on the outer lines can still deliver 30 to 40 tons of supplies to Hengyang frontline officers and soldiers every night.Faced with this situation, China's supreme commander Chiang Kai-shek, who personally commanded the battle, realized that the situation was serious, and ordered all the troops on the outside line to attack and advance quickly to relieve the danger of Hengyang.However, under the strong artillery fire and troops of the Japanese army, on July 20, the 62nd Army of the Kuomintang advanced to about 7 kilometers southwest of Hengyang, and the 79th Army, which was reinforced by the northwest, was only 8 kilometers away from Hengyang. The artillery fire was suppressed, and the spy battalion sent by the Tenth Army to the Sixty-second Army on the night of the 19th was also ambushed by the Japanese army, and all of them were killed.Chiang Kai-shek expected that the two armies would be able to break the siege of Hengyang by advancing 5 kilometers each, but this short 5 kilometers was like a thousand rivers and mountains. The plan was never implemented, and the reinforcements were forced to stop.Hengyang is facing a dangerous situation of running out of ammunition and food, and the city will be destroyed. Life and death have come to a critical juncture, and the final decisive battle is about to begin.Both China and Japan are fully committed to this offensive and defensive battle that concerns the survival of the country.The Japanese emperor on the other side of the sea waited eagerly, paying close attention to the war thousands of miles away.The Japanese base camp ordered the Eleventh Army to devote all its strength to the siege battle, and mobilized artillery and chemical troops to cooperate in order to take Hengyang as soon as possible.Suffering from dysentery, weakened and restless, Lieutenant General Yokoyama Isamu of the Japanese Army believed that the time had come, so he no longer hesitated, and assembled the 13th, 45th, 58th, 68th, and 116th divisions , plus the fifty-seventh brigade and heavy artillery and chemical troops, a total of more than 110,000 people, came to besiege Hengyang City.In the face of the fierce Japanese offensive, the top military personnel of the Kuomintang became even more anxious, and they all watched this offensive and defensive battle concerning the safety of the nation with a tragic mood. At this time, General Stilwell, who was sent by the United States to serve as the chief of staff in the Chinese theater, fought for the de facto supreme command of the Chinese theater, and then dominated and ruled China. He and some politicians pressured Chiang through American public opinion, forcing him to submit, and asked Chiang Kai-shek to hand over the command of the Chinese army unconditionally.Due to the pressure on Chiang by the upper echelon of the United States and the ridicule and even slander of the Kuomintang army by public opinion, Chiang Kai-shek and the Chinese army were humiliated and their international status was greatly damaged.At a critical moment when the national situation is at stake, the importance of the Battle of Hengyang not only has military strategic value, but also involves a key role in politics and diplomacy.If Hengyang's defense can win the final victory, the politics and diplomacy will be reversed; otherwise, the situation will be worsened, and the consequences will be disastrous. On July 20, Chiang Kai-shek wrote in his diary: "...Military anxiety is not enough to describe danger, and the decline in diplomacy with the United States is actually the biggest blow to the spirit. But if we can invite the blessings of heaven, the military will win. Then the diplomatic crisis can be turned around, and everything depends on one's own efforts." The Battle of Hengyang not only involved the gains and losses of China, but also related to Washington and General Stilwell, who was still commanding the Allied forces to attack the Japanese army in Myitkyina in northern Burma, and even more related to the entire Far East war situation and political stability. Five days later, on July 25, Chiang Kai-shek's desire to win became extremely urgent, and he did not hesitate to pray to the sky in the dark: "May the Lord grant me victory in the Hengyang war, and I will build a big iron cross on the top of Nanyue to repay the Lord's grace." Throughout the eight years of the Anti-Japanese War, Generalissimo Chiang, who held millions of troops in his hands, has experienced disaster after disaster, but he has never felt so anxious and urgent.It is extremely regrettable that even though he issued the "Twelve Gold Medals" a day, the reinforcements still could not break through the Japanese blocking line, and Hengyang's rescue was still a dream. Standing alone, Fang Xianjue, the commander of the Tenth Army, who was in a difficult situation, continued to send out urgent telegrams, urging the difficulties and dangers faced by the soldiers of his troops: "Our army has steadfastly defended Hengyang for nearly a month. It was preserved, but the evocative facts and the tragic and heroic sacrifices in it make people dare not recall!" He also said: "Since the morning of the 30th yesterday, the enemy has continued to attack, and the tragic battle is repeating itself. The crisis is hidden. It is easy to imagine that it is not because I am afraid of the enemy, nor because I am complaining, that I will never leave Hengyang! But the fact is so, I dare not hide it, so as not to miss the overall situation.” Chiang Kai-shek wrote in his diary on July 31: "It has been more than a month since the defense of Hengyang, and eight-tenths of the officers and soldiers of the Tenth Army have been killed or injured, but Hengyang stands firm. The gains and losses of Hengyang are related to the country's Survival and death are the honor and disgrace of the nation." On August 1, Lieutenant General Yokoyama Isamu, commander of the Japanese 11th Army, wearing the "Amaterasu Emperor's Great Shrine" amulet, flew to Changsha with three reconnaissance planes with his entourage. At Hengyang Airport, he personally commanded the joint operations of the Japanese infantry, artillery and other arms equivalent to seven divisions in an attempt to capture Hengyang in one fell swoop and defeat Fang Xianjue's troops. On August 2, the Kuomintang reinforcements rushed to Hengyang according to Jiang's several telegrams. They were still moving with mountains and could not break through the Japanese blockade.In desperation, Chiang Kai-shek used a plane to pass through the enemy's artillery fire and dropped an order on Hengyang, forbidding Fang Xianjue to send another message to ask for help, and at the same time told him to pay attention to serving the country with his death. , all exhausted physically and mentally, even in dreams, dare not ignore it. But the success of extraordinary career must go through extraordinary training, and there must be extraordinary magic power to hinder it, so as to test whether the person's confidence and determination are firm and stable. Strong. The gain or loss of Hengyang this time is really a matter of the survival of the country, and it is by no means comparable to ordinary success or failure. I must experience unimaginable dangers and sacrifices. Such a major event of survival has its own destiny, but we must be benevolent if we fail. Going forward with the determination to serve the country with the death, can we not be afraid of everything, overcome the magic power to break the danger, and complete the great cause of final victory, God will surely bless our Hengyang defenders with the final victory and glory." Supervise and advance", strictly ordering the soldiers of the Tenth Army to continue to stand firm and not retreat, and to defeat the enemy. Fang Xianjue carries the instruction in his heart, supports hard, and waits with difficulty.A few days passed, although I was anxious and eager to see through, it was still "up to the poor and down to the underworld, and the two places were invisible", and there was not even a shadow of reinforcements. On the morning of August 4, the Japanese army launched its third and final general attack on Hengyang with 5 heavy artillery pieces, 50 wild mountain artillery pieces, and about five divisions.According to the battle plan of the commander-in-chief Isamu Yokoyama, it is expected that within one day, he will definitely go to this city.But as the history of Japanese war says: General Fang Xianjue, the enemy's defender, is the number one brave and skilled tiger general. The three divisions of his Tenth Army all fought with the determination to die, defending every inch of land. The spirit is really admirable.My all-out attack on the first day was forced to fail again.In the fierce battle that lasted for more than forty days, not a single enemy soldier surrendered to me. This is indeed an anecdote since the Sino-Japanese War. If the enemy had not gradually reorganized the wandering troops into a regular army during the long-term war of resistance, it must be our army. The two defeats strengthened the enemy's confidence in victory! But if our army's general attack is not successful, what will we do to His Majesty!How to see compatriots!The Eleventh Army will also be reduced to a situation of being despised forever.Driven by a sense of responsibility and honor, the soldiers of the whole army are like the Naimi Army (Southern Press: Refers to the Japanese Army during the Russo-Japanese War in 1904) storming the Lushun Fortress. "From this record, it can be seen that the Japanese army, which had become red-eyed at this time, could only advance but not retreat, so they decided to put all their eggs in one basket and come to a final decisive battle. On August 6, after a fierce battle between China and Japan, the mighty Japanese 58th Division finally broke through the northern corner of Hengyang City and quickly entered the city with one unit.Under the violent bombardment of enemy planes, the defenders' positions were almost flattened to the ground, and the officers and soldiers of the positions engaged in melee and hand-to-hand combat with the invading enemy, and all died in the bloody battle soon.Taking advantage of the momentum, the Japanese army quickly attacked the Central Bank, where the headquarters of the Tenth Army is located in the city, with an elite force. Instead of participating in close combat and hand-to-hand combat, whether they were cooks or hand-to-hand soldiers, they all entered the battlefield with kitchen knives and fire sticks and fought hard. The tragic hand-to-hand combat lasted for two days and nights and half a day. On August 7, the Japanese army mobilized more than a hundred heavy artillery and field artillery to shoot violently at Hengyang City. Isamu Yokoyama once again ordered a forcible general attack, intending to conquer the city in one fell swoop.Chiang Kai-shek was well aware that the battle in Hengyang was at a critical moment, so the special governor ordered the reinforcement tank troops to rush in for reinforcements, and telegraphed the Tenth Army to inform that "the reinforcements will arrive in Hengyang tomorrow, and there will be no delay."At 3 p.m., no reinforcements arrived in Hengyang City. At this time, the support of the defenders had reached its limit. Fang Xianjue sent the last telegram to Chiang Kai-shek after consulting several senior generals under him: After the enemy broke in from Beicheng this morning, they started street fighting in the city. All our officers and soldiers were killed and injured, and there are no more soldiers to attack. I vow to serve the party and the country with my death. Sincerely.This telegram may be the last telegram, see you in the next life. Staff Fang Xianjue led the chief of staff, Sun Mingyu, division commanders Zhou Qingxiang, Ge Xiancai, Rong Youlue, and Rao Shaowei. They rushed forward and knocked out the guns, and everyone wept weepingly. While organizing the wounded and disabled generals to continue to block the attack, they still imagined that the heavenly soldiers would descend suddenly and turn the tide. Chiang Kai-shek found out through the air force that Hengyang City was in danger, and received a telegram from Fang Xianjue at about 7 pm, and almost fainted in grief.In desperation, he dictated the seven-character telegram "May God bless you", and then let out a long sigh. He leaned his whole body on the back of the chair, turned his head to one side, and closed his eyes weakly and stopped speaking.Tang Zong, the leader of the sixth team in the attendant's office and the assistant of the Military Control Bureau, who stood by Chiang Kai-shek's side, recorded in his diary that day that the head of the sixth team received a call from Fang Xianjue, "After reading this, I couldn't help feeling sad and tearful! On the 26th, the enemy forced the city to the 8th of this month, for 44 days, our reinforcements were still unable to attack Daheng City, and the soldiers defending the city were smashed to pieces. According to the "First Draft of President Chiang Kai-shek's Chief Compilation": At dusk, according to the air force's reconnaissance report: "There seems to be a war in the northwest corner of the city, but other symbols still point to the southwest, indicating that the enemy is attacking Zhongyun." Breakthrough, but its scope has not expanded, it is not a hopeless situation, only by urging the reinforcements, tomorrow can advance as scheduled, judging from the situation, this time the chariot's participation in the battle should be successful as scheduled." Yegong got up and prayed three times a few times Did not fall asleep also. On August 8th, it took 47 days and nights for the defenders of the Battle of Hengyang to fight so hard, so they prayed silently at 4 o'clock in the morning to turn the crisis into peace.At 5 o'clock, the Hengyang Telecom was still available. After 15 minutes of refusal, the telegram was interrupted, and it has never been connected since then!At about ten o'clock, I still received the Air Force's reconnaissance report: "There is no one in Hengyang City." So I knew for sure that Hengyang had fallen.Gongyin said from his own memory: "The grief is so real that it has never been seen before." In the offensive and defensive battle of Hengyang, the Tenth Army of the Kuomintang fought against the 110,000 Japanese army with a disadvantaged force of 17,000. They held on to the isolated city for 47 days. , more than 7,000 people were killed. Fang Xianjue, the commander of the army, was captured at the price of the chief of staff and the commander of the fourth division. More than 70,000 people were killed and injured, of which 48,000 were killed. Lieutenant General Sakuma, the commander of the Japanese 68th Division He was killed in this battle. Major General Jimo Genkichi, head of the 57th Brigade, was killed by a mortar shell piercing through his abdomen.The Battle of Hengyang was the most tragic battle in the history of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Although the tragedy of the annihilation of the Tenth Army led to Hengyang's final defeat, it also achieved the unique pinnacle of the Chinese army's defensive operations in the War of Resistance Against Japan, which is rare in the world. In one battle, the number of casualties of the Japanese army was much higher than that of the Chinese side in World War I. Such a disparity in ratio is extremely rare in the history of world wars.Japanese war history called this battle "the only bitter and memorable siege battle in the eight-year war between China and Japan", and its "sacrifice was horrifying." It is also because Hengyang could not be attacked for a long time The heavy casualties of officers and soldiers caused the Japanese military and political circles and public opinion to condemn Tojo Hideki's cabinet.Amidst the protests, the Tojo cabinet collapsed on July 18.Throughout the eight years of the Anti-Japanese War, there were only a few bloody battles that started in Songhu and ended in Hengyang. The Japanese base camp was relieved to capture Hengyang. For the subsequent battles, they ordered Hengshan to strengthen reinforcements and not to rush forward. On the other hand, they considered launching an attack on the next target—Guilin—around the Mid-Autumn Festival, and immediately launched an attack. One hundred thousand new recruits will be allocated to the Eleventh Army." With the fall of Hengyang, the strategic center, the national army on the front line of Huxiang collapsed, causing Guangxi to lose an important barrier.The Japanese army took the opportunity to mobilize superior forces, echoed the Japanese army in the southwest theater, and attacked from the north and the south. In a short period of time, the southern military towns of Guilin, Liuzhou, Nanning, and some military fortresses in Guangdong and Fujian fell one after another. The Chinese army lost more than 600,000 troops.Shortly thereafter, the Japanese China Dispatch Force and the Southern Army stationed in Southeast Asia successfully joined forces in southern Guangxi, thereby opening up the mainland transportation artery from the mainland of China to Vietnam, and completing the "Operation Plan No. 1" drawn up by the Japanese army base camp.The success of this strategic plan has greatly boosted the morale and ambition of the Japanese army. He believes: "The remarkable achievements of the No. 1 Operation can be said to have made Japan, which was trapped in a miserable and unfavorable war situation, see a glimmer of light."