Chapter 3 3. Changsha fell

The main core part of the "Operation No. 1" plan formulated by the Japanese base camp is the second phase of the campaign, and its combat area is in the Hunan area.In charge of this phase was the Japanese 11th Army.This army is the only field army that Japan has put on the Chinese battlefield. It has 8 divisions and 1 brigade under its jurisdiction.In order to ensure sufficient troops to fulfill the second phase of the "Operation No. 1" mission, the Japanese base camp transferred two infantry divisions, four brigades, the third tank regiment, and four artillery brigades from other areas. The total strength of the 11th Army reached nearly 200,000.This is a unique scale in the history of the Japanese army. The establishment of an army almost reaches the number of the front army.

The reason why the Japanese base camp strengthened the strength configuration of the 11th Army was considered.Changsha is located in the lower reaches of the Xiangshui River, south of the Dongting Lake, and at the junction of the Guangdong-Han Railway and the Beijing-Diannan National Highway. The Hunan-Jiangxi, Hunan-Guizhou, and Hunan-Guizhou railways run across the south, and military strategists have never paid much attention to it because of its low-lying terrain.However, in China's strategy of protracted war of resistance, Hunan became the supply place of food, soldiers and industrial resources for the war of resistance, which was crucial to the future of China's war of resistance and became a strategic center in the south-central region.

In addition, since the Anti-Japanese War, the Chinese army has fought three major battles with the Japanese army here.From a geographical overview, the lakeside alluvial belt to the north of the Yangtze River is flat. Although it is not a place for war, there are Shogunate and Wanyang mountains in the east, and Xuefeng Mountain in the west. It forms an angle with Changsha. Carry out interception and side attack; there are Xinqiang River, Miluo River, Laodao River, and Liuyang River in the front, which can carry out persistent resistance and form a natural capsule-shaped position as a whole.Therefore, according to the characteristics of the terrain, the Chinese army adopted a strategy of resisting steadily, consuming the enemy, and retreating for a decisive battle.It was based on this strategy that the Chinese army tied the Japanese army in the first two battles and kept Changsha.

At the end of 1941, the Chinese and Japanese armies fought the third battle here.Xue Yue, commander of the Ninth War Zone, based on the experience of the previous two battles, formulated a lure and suppression strategy called "Tianlu Tactics", which caused more than 56,000 Japanese casualties. His impressive record shocked the world. Xue Yue's "Tianlu Warfare" was invented based on the topographical characteristics of the Changsha area. Its main features are: destroying the middle road when retreating, implementing strong walls and clearing the field; deploying troops in depth in the ambush area, luring the Japanese army to the Changsha city, so as to change the situation between the enemy and ourselves. The comparison of strength, finally encircling the Japanese army from all sides wiped out the enemy like melting iron in a furnace.This tactic is actually very similar to the Eighth Route Army's method of luring the enemy deep, concentrating superior forces, and encircling and annihilating in divisions.In the third battle of Changsha, the Japanese devils suffered a big loss.

The Japanese general who carried out the second phase of "Operation No. 1" was Lieutenant General Yokoyama Isamu, commander of the 11th Army.Before attacking, he repeatedly studied the reasons for the failure of the past three Changsha battles.Lieutenant General Heng Shanyong is familiar with military books and is good at summing up battlefield experience.From the study of maps and sand table models, he summarized General Xue Yue's strategic thinking and combat characteristics, carefully analyzed Xue Yue's personality and life preferences, and based on this, he formulated a combat plan to deal with the "Tianlu Warfare".

Lieutenant General Heng Shanyong was not fooled by Xue Yue. He divided his troops into two echelons to attack forward and backward, attacking and advancing alternately in waves, which not only ensured the continuity of the attack, but also ensured the safety of logistical supplies.Even if the front team goes deep, the rear team can rush to help and keep the troops from being at a disadvantage, so that they can flank and flank the Chinese army that destroys the communication line. To Xue Yue's surprise, the cunning Lieutenant General Yokoyama deployed elite troops with strong combat effectiveness on the two wings of the Japanese attacking force, which became a special weapon against Xue Yue's deep ambush.In this way, the mobile corps of the Chinese army in the mountains and jungles on both wings was in a state of being flanked, losing the role of the mobile corps on the outer line, and the Japanese army could take the initiative on the battlefield.

After Yokoyama Isao's careful planning and deployment, his colleagues were all in admiration.He yelled arrogantly: "Attack with two wings, advance in waves, and Xue Yue's sky furnace must be smashed!" The Japanese army, led by Lieutenant General Heng Shanyong, marched towards the ninth theater in three ways.The left army marched southward from the mountainous area along the border of Hunan and Jiangxi in Chongyang County; the middle army broke through the Kuomintang 20th Army's defense line from Yueyang area and went straight to Changsha; the right army attacked south from the waters of Dongting Lake.All armies are equipped with powerful second-line corps.

Chiang Kai-shek was sober. He knew very well that the Japanese army would immediately start the second phase of the battle after the battle on the Ping-Han line was over.The Xianggui battle was first in Changsha and Hengyang, followed by Guilin and Liuzhou, and the battle of Changheng was the key to the Japanese army's battle.As a result, Chiang Kai-shek also stepped up to increase troops to the ninth theater.He hoped that Xue Yue could build up his prestige in the three battles and hold back the Japanese offensive on the Hunan battlefield.Chiang Kai-shek and Soong Meiling prayed for Xue Yue in Changsha in the Catholic Church, and may God bless Changsha with peace, and it is best to achieve a great victory and take the shame of the Central Plains.

With the support and cooperation of the Third Theater, the Fourth Theater and the Sixth Theater, the Ninth Theater assembled 400,000 elite troops of the Kuomintang Army.However, in terms of troop deployment, the generals disagreed. The party headed by Zhao Zili, the acting chief of staff of the Ninth Theater, believed that the scale of the Japanese attack was unprecedented. Coupled with the lessons learned from the three battles in Changsha, a new strategy should be adopted this time. , can no longer continue to use the past "Sky furnace tactics". Xue Yue, the commander of the Ninth War Zone, won three victories in the Changsha battle. In actual combat, his "Tianlu tactics" wiped out more than 56,000 Japanese troops, so he was very proud. underestimate the enemy.Acting Chief of Staff Zhao Zili stood aside but could see clearly.

The generals of Xue Yue's faction believed that although the Japanese army was fighting with a large corps this time, it was not as scary as you said, and it would not reach an "unprecedented scale" at all.This judgment on the enemy was completely intimidated by the failure of the Henan Battle. If you don’t believe me, just wait and see what the little devil can do to Changsha? Zhao Zili and the others argued with reason, but it was useless. After all, Xue Yue's "Tianlu Warfare" had been tested on the battlefield, and it was a good way to defeat the Japanese army.Zhao Zili believes that because of this, Yokohama must have done careful research on it, and probably has a solution to it, otherwise this old and cunning Yokohama would not be so bold and reckless.

Xue Yue laughed when he heard the theory of the acting chief of staff Zhao Zili. He said that no one could understand the truth in the "Tianlu Warfare" had yet to be born. An unsolvable question.Moreover, there are 400,000 troops in the Changsha area. The Japanese army's attack is like a scourge, and they will be blocked to death.As the old saying goes, if soldiers come to block, and water comes to cover, the Japanese army will definitely be wiped out under the city of Changsha. Chiang Kai-shek supports Xue Yue's battle plan, so the deployment of this battle is still in accordance with the "Tianlu Warfare" plan is carried out.On the second day of the Japanese army's massive offensive, Chiang Kai-shek sent a telegram to Xue Yue to "use the existing forces to prepare for a decisive battle with the southern Japanese army near Changsha." Xue Yue reported to Commander-in-Chief Jiang at the Yuelu Mountain headquarters: "Fighting in such an environment, even if the Japanese devils are ever-changing, they will not be able to escape the sky and earth net of the 'Tianlu Warfare'. Use the Changsha garrison to attract the main force of the Japanese army. Use peripheral troops to carry out anti-encirclement, and finally the inside and outside should cooperate to wipe out the Japanese army on the periphery of Changsha." Chiang Kai-shek was overjoyed: "Good job, I wish you victory!" The situation on the battlefield is ever-changing, and the Japanese army is not as stupid as Xue Yue imagined. On May 29, the situation on the battlefield changed suddenly. When the 20th Army of the Kuomintang was attracting the Japanese army from the center to go deep into Tongcheng and Pingjiang, it suddenly found that there was a Japanese left army on the left side, and they were outflanking from the rear. The 20th Army is facing a crisis! At the most difficult time, the Japanese army on the right crossed the lake barrier and landed in the camp field. For a while, the north of the Miluo River was full of Japanese troops. Xue Yue was dumbfounded, his combat deployment was completely disrupted by General Heng Shanyong, and the situation in the Xiangbei battlefield was already difficult to control.Chiang Kai-shek hastily dispatched an order to the third theater and the sixth theater to deploy an army to join the battle, and ordered the soldiers in the ninth theater: "This battle is the key to the survival of the country, and it is also the opportunity for our revolutionary soldiers to succeed in their careers. We hope that we will unite with one heart and one mind. , unanimously, strive for the final victory." When the Battle of Hunan and Guangxi was in dire straits, the President of the United States and Stilwell, the commander in chief of the Burma Campaign, kept sending calls to urge Chiang Kai-shek to order an attack on Burma.President Roosevelt of the United States did not consider China's current predicament at all. If the Chinese expeditionary force did not enter Burma to fight, it would withhold the leased supplies.This greatly hurt Chiang Kai-shek's national self-esteem, but he was weak, so he dared not speak out. Chiang Kai-shek wrote this passage in his diary: The country has no strength, but it relies on the suffering of people, so it is!But don't try to be self-improvement! ... When adversity and crisis come, only those who depend on us can rely on them, and those who depend on others, especially foreign aid, are even less reliable.If there is the slightest dependence, it is not only useless, but also becomes a slave to others!At this time, Xu Qiuqi is on my side, there is absolutely no other way of salvation except to strive for self-improvement. Chiang Kai-shek's guiding ideology is that the war of resistance so far does not require "adventures and hardships", but "long-lasting victory", which must be endured, and there is no other way to strengthen oneself except forbearance.This is the tragedy of Chiang Kai-shek, he is not like a communist, let alone Mao Zedong, the leader of the communists.When Mao Zedong was in adversity and crisis, he had a firm spirit of the Chinese nation, independent and self-improving. The pressure from the allies, the defeat in the battle of Henan, and the uncertain future of the battle in Hunan and Guangxi, Chiang Kai-shek has reached a time of domestic and foreign difficulties.Because of this, he placed high hopes on the actions of the Western Yunnan Expeditionary Force.He sent a telegram to Wei Lihuang, the commander of the expeditionary force, saying: "The victory or defeat of this cross-river attack is actually related to the success or failure of the overall situation of our war of resistance. mission." The battered Chiang Kai-shek had to cheer up to deal with the situation in Changsha.Wang Yaowu's 24th Army passed by. When the 100th Army, the vanguard of the Ministry, arrived in Yiyang, the defenders abandoned the city and retreated due to more than half of the casualties.The 100th Army immediately launched an attack and recovered Yiyang. The 74th Army was the number one trump card of the Chinese army at that time. The commander of the 58th Division of this army was the future commander Zhang Lingfu.They stood firm in Ningxiang and were responsible for covering the back of Changsha. The main force of the division was deployed on the south bank of Weishui. Ningxiang County was guarded by a battalion of the 173rd and 174th regiments, and a company of the artillery battalion of the division headquarters. Here I have to talk about the most legendary General Zhang Lingfu of the Kuomintang. He is a household name.Zhang Lingfu was born in an ordinary peasant family in Changxi, Shaanxi. He was admitted to Peking University in 1923, and later joined the army. He was admitted to the fourth phase of Whampoa Military Academy.He is a professional soldier with a stern personality. He was promoted to lieutenant colonel by Hu Zongnan because of his bravery and tenacity in combat.Soon, Zhang Lingfu made a news that caused a sensation in the whole country.After he married a beautiful Sichuan girl Wu Hailan, he has been fighting outside. When he heard that someone saw his wife watching a movie with others in Xi'an, he returned to Xi'an with a pistol without saying a word, and shot his wife to death in his home. Back garden, then straight back to the troops.Under strong social pressure, Chiang Kai-shek ordered Hu Zongnan to escort him to Nanjing.Zhang Lingfu was Hu Zongnan's favorite general. He gave him a sum of travel expenses and asked him to go to Nanjing to meet Chiang Kai-shek by himself.As a result, he played while walking, and when he ran out of money, he imitated his teacher Yu Youren's calligraphy to make money, and he arrived in Nanjing half a year later.He was free in prison and was not wronged at all. One year later, he was asked to come out by Wang Yaowu, commander of the 51st Division of the 74th Army, and participated in the Anti-Japanese War. Everyone knows that during the War of Liberation, there was a Battle of Menglianggu in Shandong, and the movie "Red Sun" tells this story.But people rarely know Zhang Lingfu's performance in the War of Resistance Against Japan.The reason why he was promoted to the commander of the 74th Army, the head of Chiang Kai-shek's five main forces, was the result of his heroic fighting in the War of Resistance Against Japan.He participated in the Battle of Songhu, the Battle of Nanjing, the Battle of Wuhan, the Battle of Nanchang, the Three Battles of Changsha, the Battle of Zhejiang and Jiangxi, the current Battle of Changheng, and the later Battle of Xiangxi. No matter in the positions of regimental commander, brigade commander or division commander, he has been injured and is a famous general. Zhang Lingfu blocked the attack of the Japanese left army in Ningxiang County. The 24th Army fought very fiercely. They insisted on blocking the Japanese left army at the outskirts of Yiyang and Ningxiang, so that the Japanese could not approach Changsha.But the 27th Army, which was defending on the right wing, was not good. They were defeated by the Japanese right army, causing Liuyang to fall.The Central Route Army captured Zhuzhou and detoured from the south wing to Changsha. Xue Yue called Chiang Kai-shek at this time, requesting to increase the number of troops to fight the enemy near Changsha.If the chairman agrees to transfer the elite from southern Shonan to the north and regroup the troops, he has the confidence and determination to contend with the Japanese army.Of course Chiang Kai-shek would not agree to his desperate proposal for a decisive battle.At this time, Generalissimo Jiang had decided not to "adventure and make troubles." Even though Xue Yue had an excellent plan, he had no soldiers to use, so he could only watch the war continue to deteriorate.At this time, Xue Yue was not only disappointed, but also full of regret. He deeply understood the golden saying that a proud soldier must be defeated! Under the command of Lieutenant General Heng Shanyong, the Central Route Army and the Right Route Army of the Japanese army mainly attacked Yuelu Mountain.At the critical moment when the Japanese army attacked Changsha, Zhao Zili, the acting chief of staff, suggested that two divisions must be sent to defend Yuelu Mountain, because this is the commanding height of Changsha, and its gains and losses are directly related to the safety of the entire Changsha. Once Yuelu Mountain falls, Changsha will inevitably be in danger . However, Zhang Deneng, the commander of the 4th Army who stood firm in Changsha, refused to listen. He wanted to place the main force of the entire army in the urban area of ​​Changsha, and only sent a 90th Division to defend.Although Zhao Zili is the chief of staff, he can't control Zhang Deneng. One is that he is the nephew of Zhang Fakui, commander of the Fourth War Zone, and the other is Xue Yue's order.This Commander Zhang Deneng is so arrogant as to die. The Japanese army launched an attack on Yuelu Mountain with the force of a division, and captured the Tiger-shaped Mountain and Niu-shaped Mountain on the east and west sides on the same day.When Yuelu Mountain was in danger, Commander Zhang Deneng realized its importance, and quickly dispatched four regiments from the urban area to cross the Xiangjiang River to help.However, due to hasty orders and poor organization, the order was chaotic when crossing the river, and they were flanked by Japanese fire, causing many casualties among officers and soldiers crossing the river.The military discipline of this 4th Army is quite lax, just like Tang Enbo's troops in Henan, they do not get the support of the people.When the troops crossing the river heard that Yuelu Mountain had fallen, they fled. They ran as far as Shaoyang before stopping. The fact that Zhang Deneng's 30,000 defenders lasted only 4 full days in Changsha, the city of heroes known as impenetrable, was captured by the Japanese army is unbelievable.Chiang Kai-shek was very annoyed by the unauthorized retreat of the 4th Army, and he handed Zhang Deneng to court-martial. On August 25, 1944, Zhang Deneng was ordered to be executed by the Military Commission for failing to defend Changsha. Zhang Fakui, who was the commander-in-chief of the Fourth War Zone at the time, did not intercede for his nephew.On the second day after his nephew was shot, he also shot a commander of Chiang Kai-shek's direct line of troops on the same charge of "ineffective combat".But the rivalry between the two is calm.When Chiang Kai-shek was in trouble at home and abroad, he just scolded Niang Xipi, but there was no result. Zhang Deneng was resolute in carrying out Xue Yue's instructions in Changsha. He didn't pay attention to Chief of Staff Zhao Zili, just because he had a backer.As for Changsha's failure, he was just a scapegoat.To sum up the reasons for the fall of Changsha are nothing more than four points: first, Xue Yue and the officers and soldiers in the ninth war zone underestimated the enemy, thinking that they had won the first three times, let alone this time; The third is that the deployment of troops in Changsha was improper, and the chief of staff could not command Xue Yue's direct army; the fourth is that the comparison of Chinese and Japanese troops is at a disadvantage, and the Japanese army has the upper hand in both quantity and quality. Changsha fell, and Chiang Kai-shek felt that the situation was serious. In terms of the national situation, only Sichuan, Kang, Yun, and Gui remained in the rear, but they had to deal with both the east and west battlefields at the same time.According to this situation, Chiang Kai-shek and the military command made overall adjustments and deployments: "The national army aims to consolidate Chongqing and Kunming, ensure the anti-war bases and international communication lines, use the front-line corps to occupy the important places in the front, implement the strategy of protracted warfare, and the powerful corps will first Take control of Liupan Mountains, Qinling Mountains, Bashan Mountains, western Hubei, western Hunan, eastern Guangxi, and western Yunnan, and do everything possible to strengthen training, build more fortifications, strictly prevent the invasion of enemy traitors, and then turn to the offensive when the opportunity arises." Chiang Kai-shek had foreseen the fall of Changsha in advance.Just as the Japanese army marched towards Changsha, Chiang Kai-shek ordered Fang Xianjue's 10th Army to hold on to Hengyang, and specifically pointed out that the 10th Army "shall not be used in the battle of Changsha". played an important role.