Chapter 22 Chapter 22: The Nu River Is Roaring (2)

hardest march The counter-offensive in western Yunnan is moving towards the track Wei Lihuang predicted, that is, it will be easier first and then difficult, and it will become more and more difficult.After the 20th Army crossed the shore, it was blocked by Gaoligong Mountain. The 56th Division has figured out that you are going to pass here, so they have built many stronghold groups in dangerous places to block them.Fighting in such a place, the mountains are high, the roads are narrow, and there are steep slopes everywhere. It is not easy to climb the slopes, let alone deploy troops. The troublesome rainy season made things worse. The continuous rain made the mountain road steep and slippery, and the large troops could only call for a pause.

It's okay to stop, but it's more difficult to stop. The U.S. military liaison team in charge of logistical support initially thought that airdrops could be used to replace military depot supplies, but they did not expect that the mountainous climate is very complicated, and it can change as soon as it is said. The mountains are high and rainy, and people on the plane often cannot see the airdrop signs on the ground, so it cannot be implemented accurately. airdrop. Airdrops are not possible, and only mules and horses can enter the deep mountains, and those mountain roads are difficult for people to walk, and mules and horses are not strong enough, so the supply is intermittent and unsustainable.

In the attack, if you want to break the deadlock, the most effective method is undoubtedly to outflank, and Wei Lihuang has already chosen the circuitous path. Before counterattacking west Yunnan, he was looking for a secret road to bypass Gaoligong Mountain, but this could not be found on the existing Chinese military maps, and probably not on the Japanese military maps. How to do it?Wei Lihuang thought of aerial reconnaissance. There was no such condition before, but it is different now.After submitting the application, the Air Force of the Expeditionary Force flew over Gaoligong Mountain to take pictures. The rainy season had not yet entered at that time, and there was no obstacle in the field of vision. As a result, only two weeks later, a high-definition map was drawn.

On this high-definition map, there is a faint mountain road stretching in between. The staff went to the folks to check, and the result of the check is that no one has ever walked this road, the younger generation has not, the older generation, and even the previous generations have never heard of it. It is just a story passed down by word of mouth among ethnic minorities. There seems to be traces of this road in here. Wei Lihuang believes that there is a door, and the ethnic minorities lack the technical means of written records, and what is handed down from their mouths is history, and from the map, this road is not a dead end, and it can be passed.

After selecting the route, Wei Lihuang notified the Air Force of the Expeditionary Army, requesting that no planes be sent to fly in that area, so as not to attract the attention of the other side. The detour troops were selected from the 53rd Army, the "weakest army" in everyone's eyes. There is no natural useless talent in the world, it only depends on whether you can use it.After the Battle of Nanchang, the 106th Division not only got rid of the notoriety of "the weakest army", but also broke through the defense line composed of four Chinese armies in the first battle of Changsha. Xue Yue was forced to transfer to the 74th Army to survive. Stabilize the situation.

The same is true when it comes to the 53rd Army. After crossing the river, the "weakest army" won the first victory, and his mental state was completely different immediately, and there was no longer any sorrow and despair on his face. Knowing that detours are a painful and tiring job, the whole army happily took over, and the army commander Zhou Fucheng sent a vanguard division to open the way. It was only after this walk that I realized that it was not a little bit of suffering, but it turned out to be the most difficult march in the entire western Yunnan counterattack. The landslides along the way are steeper than those in other places. When you walk all the way, you will not be able to walk straight. The only advantage may be that it is deserted, and even the Japanese army can't think of it.

After climbing over the main peak of Gaoligong Mountain, which is 4,000 meters above sea level, the pioneers came to the back of the mountain. But at this time, they made the same mistakes they used to make. They found that the Japanese army's stronghold behind the mountain was very strong. The division commander softened and retreated to the main peak. This retreat did not matter, and almost pushed the 53rd Army to the brink of annihilation. After marching all the way, the officers and soldiers ate up all the food they carried.The top of the mountain was full of clouds and fog, and the planes could not drop food by air, so everyone had to dig wild vegetables and bamboo roots to satisfy their hunger, just like the Fifth Army did when they crossed Savage Mountain.

The temperature difference between the upper and lower mountains in western Dianxi is huge. When crossing the Nu River, I was still sweating profusely, but on the main peak, it was like a severe winter. Even wearing thick cotton clothes, it was cold, and it was even worse when it rained. When setting off from Baoshan, the officers and soldiers were all wearing single clothes, and they were shivering from the cold. Some people put on a layer of American rubber raincoats, but the raincoats were wet and stuck to the skin, and the cold was also striking. On the top of the mountain, hundreds of pioneers froze to death and starved to death. Zhou Fucheng was very anxious after learning about the situation, worried that the troops would collapse at any time.

He immediately reported to Wei Lihuang to dismiss the division commander who was responsible, and at the same time followed up with another division, attacking with the whole force of the army, and finally destroyed the stronghold behind the mountain with one blow. The success of outflanking and outflanking means that it is no longer a problem to solve the problem of defending Gaoligong Mountain. As long as it is under your control, there is plenty of time to cut slowly. Anyway, move left and right until the stronghold group is completely cut. The 56th Division stationed in Gaoligong Mountain was very stubborn, and not many voluntarily surrendered. After the war, the mountain was full of dead Japanese soldiers and horses. The blood plasma was mixed with the soil after the rain, and a dark black mud was regenerated.

The capture of Gaoligong Mountain was to open the passage to Tengchong, which was the strategic stronghold of the "Dragon Corps". "Buffalo" exerts force Due to being attacked everywhere, the strength of the Japanese "Burmese Front Army" is quite tense. The 18th Division of the "Ju Corps" is about to be wiped out in the Menggong River Valley, and other troops are also unable to escape. Only the 56th Division can be used to guard Tengchong A wing of the regiment, the leader of the wing is Zang Zhong Kang Mei Dazuo. Zangzhong Kangmei didn't have many people in his hands, so there was really no way for him to abandon Jiangfang and shrink the key points.

The core of the pass is Tengchong, and there are three passes. If you can pass the first pass, you may not be able to pass the second or third pass. The so-called first way is Gaoligong Mountain.The second road is also a mountain, but it is the four high mountains that directly guard Tengchong, which is equivalent to the natural outer city wall of Tengchong. While Zangzhong was busy deploying more troops on the mountain, Lieutenant General Yuzo Matsuyama, head of the 56th Division, suddenly sent a telegram requesting that troops be drawn from Tengchong to reinforce the main force of the division. I can hardly get rid of this wicked thing, and he has to catch more rice out there. But the division commander's orders had to be carried out, and they had to be carried out earnestly, Zang Zhong had to call out a brigade, and the number of defenders who were originally small was now even smaller. Simply, let’s make sense of it, so some mountains are not guarded, and some teams have dozens of people there to fill up the numbers, anyway, they are dead and pulled down. On June 27, the 20th Army first cleared the four high mountains defending the enemy, and three of them were quickly taken down. Only Laifeng Mountain to the south of Tengchong could not be breached. In Zangzhong's view, this is the most important mountain, because its peak is more than 100 meters higher than the city wall of Tengchong, and it can directly overlook the city. In a siege battle, if you can occupy an important place outside the city that is higher than the city wall, it is often fatal to the defenders. The classic example is the stakes of Zijin Mountain or Yuhuatai in Nanjing in the Nanjing Defense War. No matter how few Tibetans there are, any mountain can be abandoned, but Laifeng Mountain is the only one that refuses to abandon it. The elite soldiers he was willing to put on the outskirts were all on Laifeng Mountain, and a total of four fortresses were built. Inside the fortresses were artillery, machine guns, and veterans with rich experience in mountain warfare. On July 23, the 20th Group Army launched its first general attack on Laifengshan. Huo Kuizhang, commander-in-chief of the group army, also knew the value of Laifengshan, so he did not hesitate to take out all the reserve divisions and invest in four regiments to attack Laifengshan, but the battle reports he got were not good news, but one after another casualty reports. For three days, nearly a thousand casualties were paid, but there was no progress. Huo Kuizhang graduated from the Whampoa Phase I. He has a nickname called "Buffalo". He said that he has a simple and honest personality and rarely gets angry. Let me ask you, if you launch a second general attack, are you sure of success? The subordinates told the truth: "The fortress is too strong, there is no heavy firepower, and we are still not sure." Heavy firepower, that is, special equipment, it seems that the "buffalo" has to stick out the two horns on its head. On July 26, the second general attack. This time, Huo Kuizhang showed his "Huojia boxing method": as many as fifty-seven planes of the expeditionary air force dropped bombs in the sky, and the target was towards a small Laifeng Mountain, and as many as five bombs were dropped in one day. More than a thousand pieces. The Japanese fortress in Laifengshan was indeed strong, but it couldn't bear such a violent blow, and more than half of it was blown up immediately. Of course, there are plane bombs that can't be solved, so you have to use the Death Squad. After the death squads crawled to the blind corner of the fortress, they stuffed explosives and cluster grenades into the gunholes of the fortress to blast. Expeditionary Air Force Raids the Japanese Fortress In the ensuing battle, Huo Kuizhang adopted wheel tactics, and the troops took turns to attack without stopping, in order to prevent the Japanese army from having time to breathe and repair the fortifications. On the evening of July 27, an expeditionary force had arrived between Fengshan and Tengchong. Seeing that even the people in the mountains would be lost, Zangzhong had to abandon the people in the mountains and withdraw the remaining soldiers into the city. Attack. steel general Among the 20th Army, it was the 54th Army led by Huo Kuizhang that could really fight tough battles. The "Civil Engineering Department" of the 54th Army ranks second only to the Eighteenth Army in the "Civil Engineering Department". The new and old army commanders Huo Kuizhang and Que Hanqian are also generals with "civil engineering" backgrounds.In terms of fame, these two may not be as good as Huang Wei and Hu Lian, but they can also be called a pair of great people. Huo Kuizhang, the big "buffalo", looks taciturn, but he is a master of martial arts. Que Hanqian is good at another set of kung fu, that is calligraphy, and his achievements even surpass Zhang Lingfu, who is famous for his beautiful handwriting. In addition to fighting, Que Hanqian's hobby is to practice calligraphy, and he even refuses to let go of the interval between commanding and fighting. If he doesn't write a few strokes on the table, he feels exhausted. Even during the Luodian period of the Battle of Songhu, Que Hanqian could still practice his calligraphy in the house. The Japanese artillery shells fell on the rice fields outside the house, and the people around him were flustered, but he flew like a pen. After finishing writing, he told others, " Have no fear, this is a disruptive shot." Que Hanqian is from Hunan. He fought fiercely. When he was the commander of the regiment, he threw a box of grenades to stabilize the morale of the army. Guan Linzheng praised him unceasingly. If it is a disadvantage, it is in terms of qualifications. Like Hu Lian, he is from the fourth phase of Huangpu. Before the second expedition, there was finally a chance. Stilwell's important person, the 54th Army was ordered to go to India, and Que Hanqian accompanied him as acting commander. If there were no accidents, he would be promoted to army commander. But in this world, only you can't think of it, and there is nothing you can't do.Stilwell left the soldiers, the army returned, no! As for losing face, people don't care, he is an American, so he doesn't care about you. Fortunately, although the military department "returned the goods", the 54th Army was reorganized in the country, and Que Hanqian, who was expected by everyone, was also restored by the "generation".Among the fourth-generation students of Whampoa at that time, Zhang Lingfu and Hu Lian were both deputy army commanders, and Que Hanqian was the first army commander to be promoted. Both the old Fifty-fourth Army and the new Fifty-fourth Army used to be in the role of assists. Although they did a good job, they couldn't shoot or score goals. Long, holding his breath to prove himself. The second expedition finally gave Que Hanqian and the 54th Army the opportunity to attack. From forcibly crossing the Nu River, to approaching the city of Tengchong, they attacked the city and pulled out the fortress. They were invincible. The Japanese army studied the intelligence data of the Chinese army very deeply. Even the captain of the Tibetan Chonglian Regiment knew that the military headquarters of the 54th Army was "returned". It was amazing to be able to play so bravely. After an investigation, it turned out that Que Hanqian, the commander of the army, had an extraordinary background and was ground out in the flesh and blood mill in Luodian. Zang Zhongdun regarded Que Hanqian as a strong enemy, and wrote in his diary: "A strong general has no weak soldiers under him, and the real steel general also !" Que Hanqian got the name "Steel General" because of this, but what "Steel General" saw under Tengchong City was a "Steel City". On August 2, Que Hanqian followed his experience in attacking fortifications in the mountains and concentrated the artillery of the whole army to bombard the city wall of Tengchong. According to the standard of American equipment equipment, the 54th Army is directly equipped with twelve heavy howitzers, and each of the following divisions also has twelve mountain cannons. With so many cannons added together, it is also impressive. It took half a day to use it up. As many as three thousand rounds of shells. In addition, the expeditionary air force had 60 aircraft dropping bombs in the sky, but this three-dimensional attack method did not achieve the expected effect. It is said that the Tengchong City Wall was built by soldiers from the Southern Expedition of the Ming Dynasty. They are all made of large bluestone strips. When the 54th Army crawled towards the city along the opening, the Japanese machine guns and artillery suddenly "screamed".These firearms were originally hidden in stone bunkers at the head of the city or in the corners, and the shells could not hit them. They caused heavy casualties to the troops climbing the city. Bloody Teng Chong In the early days of the Battle of Tengchong, although the 54th Army was able to rush into a part through the opening from time to time, due to the complex terrain and concealed firepower, this part of the army was simply untenable, and the casualties increased sharply. Que Hanqian had to think of another strategy for attacking the city - opening a small opening would not help, he had to open a large opening and the whole army could enter. If you want to open a big hole, you have to use your brain from the root of the wall. The Taiping army was the first to be enlightened in this regard. When it was difficult for them to break through the opponent's city, they often used the "hole siege method", that is, digging tunnels outside the city, leading directly to the city, and then blasting the city wall with gunpowder. Qing history records that the Taiping army used this method to attack the city, "everything is invincible." The Taiping Army used houses outside the city as cover to dig tunnel crossings, so the key is to find such a cover. It seems that only outside the south gate of Tengchong City met this condition. It used to be a market place for the common people. After the war, the Japanese army only demolished the buildings within 30 meters of the wall, and there were many houses 30 meters away, including some two storey old buildings. Therefore, Que Hanqian secretly built 20 bunkers with sandbags on the building, and used heavy machine guns to shoot at the city at night. Cannons can't do anything about it, and I'm still afraid of your machine guns. The Japanese army adopted an attitude of not asking, which gave the engineers who had already been lurking under the city a chance. Digging burrows, burying explosives, and pressing buttons all in one go, modern engineering soldiers are naturally much more agile than the "earth camps" of the Taiping Army. With the sound of the explosion, the city wall was blown down in many places, and the attacking troops hidden in the bungalow shouted forward and rushed in. When the 54th Army entered the city of Tengchong, they found that there was not a single intact house inside, but only ruins, and this was mainly due to the contribution of the expeditionary air force. After the first three-dimensional attack was frustrated, the expeditionary air force felt very uncomfortable, and sent B-25 and B-29 for the second time. These are the most outstanding bombers in World War II. The B-29 is also known as the "Super Sky Fortress". It can carry nine tons of bombs at one time, and throwing bombs is like raining. On August 13, several heavy bombs happened to hit the headquarters of the regiment. Thirty-two Japanese officers and soldiers, including Zou Shizuo, were smashed to pieces. Lieutenant Ota Masato, who was the former squadron leader, took over as the commander of the garrison. In fact, it doesn't matter who the garrison changes at this time. Half of the 3,000 garrison soldiers have been wiped out, not to mention that the expeditionary forces outside the city are still pouring in. There is still a chance if he wants to slip away, but when the telegram was sent, the head of the third division Matsuyama Yusuke asked him to continue to stick to it, saying that he would stick to it until the first ten days of October, and the main force would come to help. Believe it or not, there is no way out except to bite the bullet and push on. A group of trapped beasts went mad, and the Battle of Tengchong entered the cruelest period.They jumped out from all the hidden corners of the city and opened fire, sometimes from the front and sometimes from the side, making you pay a lot for every step you take. In just one day, the 20th Army suffered more than 300 casualties, and the two sides fought for every inch of land, even to the point where corpses filled the streets and alleys and city walls were covered with blood. In order to minimize the loss of soldiers, Huo Kuizhang, the commander-in-chief of the group army, was forced to adopt the tactic of step by step, that is, to use explosives to completely blow down the walls and houses wherever he went, so as to ensure that there would be no more threatening monsters drilled in the places he passed. Japanese soldiers. Beware of attacks from the shadows every step of the way The 20th Army launched four general attacks in a row, which not only completely defeated the night attacks that Ota organized from time to time, but also slowly drove and forced them back to a corner of the city. By the fourth general offensive, the number of fighter planes of the expeditionary air force had increased to 100, and the ground troops had fired 15,000 rounds of artillery shells at the Japanese army. When Ota looked at his soldiers again, they had completely become "disabled troops", either "Tieguai Li" or "one-eyed dragon". Where is the main force, God knows, it's better to send some grenades down to benefit, at least these disabled people can still throw grenades. According to Ota's request, the Japanese plane flew over Tengchong City at the risk of being shot down, and dropped a large number of grenades and medical supplies into the city. Relying on these grenades, the remnants and defeated generals had the capital to resist again, and the fourth general offensive of the expeditionary force failed again. The battle of Tengchong could not end for a long time. Chiang Kai-shek was very anxious in Chongqing, because at the same time, the Japanese army was still advancing towards the rear of China. Can't be saved. He sent a telegram to Huo Kuizhang, "The honor and disgrace of the Chinese army really depends on you today. I order you to take back Tengchong City before September 18, which is the National Humiliation Day"! The Japanese army in Tengchong was labeled as a "disabled army". In fact, Huo Kuizhang is also close to exhaustion now. After four general offensives, the 20th Army has exhausted even its reserves. Holding the telegram from Chiang Kai-shek, Huo Kuizhang gritted his teeth and transferred a division that was originally in charge of fighting aid into the city. Leave it alone, now is the time to put all your eggs in one basket. "September 18" was like "July 7", which made every officer and soldier of the expeditionary army excited, completely forgetting what is called danger and what is called death. On September 5, the 20th Army launched the largest attack since it entered the city. Its overwhelming momentum, like a tidal wave, made the remaining Japanese troops have a terrible feeling that they were about to be swallowed or overwhelmed. After this attack, the Japanese army, including Ota, had only about 70 people left, and their fate finally came to an end. On September 13, Tengchong was fully recovered after Ota's "Yu Sui" made a suicide charge. This was one of the most tragic battles in the counterattack in western Yunnan. When the reporter entered Tengchong City, not only could he not find a good tile, but he could not even see a green leaf. After the war, at the suggestion of Huo Kuizhang, a National Memorial Cemetery was specially built in Tengchong to bury thousands of expeditionary soldiers who died in the battle of Tengchong.