Chapter 23 1. Wang Yaowu has no foresight

The Battle of Xiangxi began on April 9, and it has been more than 20 days since today.Wang Yaowu pinched his fingers and calculated carefully, the first stage of the battle was completed.Although the task was not fully completed and the expected goal was achieved, it can be said that it was basically completed.According to the combat plan, the task of the first stage was defensive operations, the purpose of which was to lure the enemy deep and divide and encircle the attacking Japanese army. The purpose of the first stage of defensive operations is to consume the vital strength of the Japanese army and dispel the arrogance of the Japanese army.This goal was basically achieved, but it also cost the Chinese army, and even the mobile unit of the 18th Army was used.Wang Yaowu knew in his heart that once this mobile unit was pulled up, they would be unable to get down, and they would never be able to move again.Now it's a radish and a hole, all the troops are used for defense, and it doesn't matter if any troops are drawn.With the success of defensive operations, more and more troops are needed.Introducing the attacking Japanese army, resisting it, and then dividing and encircling it, this encirclement required several times more troops.

A regiment of the besieged Japanese army, even a brigade, cannot be wiped out in a short while.The Chinese army couldn't eat it, so they had to drag it slowly and consume it slowly, just like selling candy on the street, knocking it piece by piece.As a front-line commander, Wang Yaowu did not know how many times he had asked He Yingqin for instructions. What accidents would happen if the Xiangxi battlefield was fought in this way, so hurry up and transfer Liao Yaoxiang's new army. He Yingqin's ears were numb from Wang Yaowu's chanting, and he could hear the cocoons from these words.Since the New Army was transported to Zhijiang City by Chennault's air force, He Yingqin himself let out a sigh of relief. With the arrival of such a strategic reserve army, there will be no major changes in the Xiangxi battle.Regarding the use of this army, the chairman of the general committee has explained in private that it can be moved as much as possible unless it is absolutely necessary.

Generalissimo Chiang has foresight.He Yingqin understood. He immediately understood Chairman Jiang's good intentions when he said this.Chiang Kai-shek's long-term concerns are also He Yingqin's worries.He Yingqin once said to the Americans that there are only two people who are happy to defeat the Japanese, one is the Americans and the other is the Communists. Americans can understand this meaning, but it means that during the eight years of the Anti-Japanese War, the Chinese Communist Party's army went deep into the enemy's rear to develop and strengthen the army's strength.Once the Anti-Japanese War was won, the army of the Communist Party became a potential threat to the Kuomintang.So Americans understand He Yingqin's thoughts. This pro-Japanese faction, who was educated in Japan, naturally has a good impression of Japanese things, such as the spirit of Bushido, Yamato's national excellence, etc. Besides, there are many of his alumni, seniors and teachers in the invading Japanese army. teacher.Coupled with the "Ho Mei Agreement" he reached with Umezu Yoshijiro, etc., especially the Southern Anhui Incident he planned, almost completely destroyed the New Fourth Army led by the Communist Party.Going forward, he personally commanded the second, third, and fourth major exterminations of the "encirclement and suppression" of Zhu Mao's Red Army, and he was doomed to be irreconcilable with the Communist Party.

When Wang Yaowu repeatedly asked the New Army to fight, he always said no hurry, no hurry!Use this to perfunctory Wang Yaowu.When the attacking Japanese army was surrounded by nests in the Xuefeng Mountains in western Hunan, and the troops were indeed in short supply, He Yingqin was still not in a hurry and spoke in a leisurely manner.Wang Yaowu was really angry, he was not like this usually, he respected Commander-in-Chief He Yingqin, honest and honest people sometimes complained. He Yingqin had no choice but to make a phone call to Chongqing to ask Chiang Kai-shek for instructions on the matter.Wang Yaowu heard what Chiang Kai-shek said on the phone very clearly. The chairman of the committee criticized Wang Yaowu for his lack of foresight and his young age.Wang Yaowu didn't dare to speak anymore, he was overwhelmed by Chiang Kai-shek's last words.

When the Army General Command was established last year, the Kuomintang Army was combined into four front armies, and the headquarters considered mentioning him as the commander of the fourth front army.However, the Chongqing Military Command and the Military and Political Department thought that he was too young to be compared with the other front army candidates, let alone be ranked with them, and reported this reason to Chiang Kai-shek, so his position as commander was delayed batch down.Fortunately, Chief of Staff Xiao Yisu helped him. Chief of Staff Xiao asked McClure to telegraph Wedemeyer, who spoke for Wang Yaowu in front of Chiang Kai-shek.Within a few days, Chiang Kai-shek's approval telegram was sent to the Army Headquarters.

Now when he heard Chiang Kai-shek mention these words again, Wang Yaowu knew the weight in it.After coming down, Wang Yaowu figured out that the New Army, as a powerful force, was commissioned to deal with the Communist Party, and it was an all-American modern iron army prepared for the Communist Party.From then on, Wang Yaowu never mentioned the New Army going to the battlefield. Wang Yaowu leaned over the table and carefully looked at the military map, analyzing the current situation of the enemy and ourselves, to see if there is any place where a unit can be excavated and used as a mobile unit.He went all the way from the southern line to the northern line. After analyzing and comparing each area and each battlefield, it seemed that there was nothing he could do. He mobilized his whole body. The position of each army was very critical, and Wang Yaowu's life would be killed by any one of them.

A phone ringing startled Wang Yaowu who was concentrating on it.He grabbed the phone receiver, and it was Li Yan, commander of the 57th Division, who called. He reported that a Japanese army had launched a fierce attack on the Tieshan position.Wang Yaowu asked which unit of the Japanese army it was. Commander Li Yan said that the situation is unknown now, and the 170th regiment is blocking it.Judging from the ferocity of the Japanese attack, this force has a strong background.Wang Yaowu's heart tightened. He put down the phone and checked the battle map. Wang Yaowu saw from the red and blue circles he drew on the map that the 57th Division of the 74th Army and the 57th Regiment of the 19th Division of the 100th Army were defending the Tieshan and Qingyan lines.From the analysis of the situation of the defending troops, Wang Yaowu believed that they would be able to defend and there would be no trouble.The 74th Army was brought out by him. The 57th Division has strong soldiers, strong horses and strong combat effectiveness. It is a brave and good iron army. He has heard of the 57th Regiment of the 19th Division, and it is also very capable of fighting tough battles. The head of the regiment, Zhong Xiongfei, has repeatedly made military exploits in the War of Resistance.

The vanguard of the Japanese army consisted of more than 600 people and more than 10 mountain artillery pieces. They bombarded the defenders' positions with powerful artillery fire.The mountain guns of the Japanese army are powerful, heavy artillery, not only have a long range, but also have high accuracy, and are rarely equipped by general regiments, unless it is the mountain artillery regiment that has so many mountain guns.The 170th regiment of the defenders all hid in the bunker. The explosion of the shells was deafening, and they couldn't cover their ears with their hands.The soldiers were so dizzy from the shock that the battalion commander and company commander yelled that the enemy was coming up, but no one could hear them. They just followed what others were doing and followed.

The 170th regiment jumped into the position. The position had been overturned by the artillery long ago. The soldiers ignored it and threw grenades at the charging Japanese army.The Japanese army was really a desperado. They retreated and came up again, like leeks that could not be cut, one crop after another rushed to the front of the position. On this day, the heroic 170th Regiment repelled nine Japanese assaults in a row, each of which was extremely fierce, and each time had to pay the price of blood.Countless comrades around him fell down, familiar faces disappeared in an instant, and hundreds of wounded on the battlefield were moaning.There were one or two hundred corpses left by the Japanese soldiers in front of the camp, and among them, there were also many seriously wounded Japanese soldiers, still twitching on the ground.The bright red blood dyed the grass on the mountain purple.

Several battalion commanders and company commanders tied bandages on their arms. They were all pierced by Japanese bayonets, and the bandages were stained red with blood.The entire battlefield was in a mess, and the tragedy was unsightly.The 170th Regiment hadn't cleaned up the position yet, and the 169th Regiment's position on the left wing was rumbling again. Head of the regiment Sun Jinxian held up his binoculars and looked towards the neighboring positions. Thousands of Japanese soldiers were charging. He grabbed the phone and reported the situation on the 169th Regiment's position to the division headquarters, asking the division headquarters to support them with planes.Commander Sun's call was still very useful. Seeing that his troops had suffered heavy casualties, Commander Li Yan was heartbroken. He reported to Wang Yaowu again, please send planes to help in the battle, and save some wealth for the 74th Army.

The Chinese and American air forces flew planes to help the battle. The Japanese army saw more than 10 planes flying towards them, and rushed towards the Chinese defenders' positions desperately.Thousands of Japanese soldiers knew that only by engaging in close combat and hand-to-hand combat with the Chinese army could they avoid the bombing and strafing of the planes in the sky. The 169 regiment's position was full of killing sounds, and they also rushed out of the position to resist the swarm of Japanese troops with bayonets.The plane in the sky circled several times over the position, but had no chance to attack, so the plane had to rush to the rear position of the Japanese army to bomb and straf. The large-scale charge of the Japanese army was beaten back by the 169th regiment. The two sides fought a tie, with more than 200 casualties each.However, the Japanese army is bound to win. Only by capturing the Tieshan and Qingyanshan highlands defended by the 58th Division can the situation of the trapped Japanese troops such as the 109th Regiment and the 58th Brigade be effectively rescued. On the first line of Tieshan, the Chinese defenders repelled the Japanese army 15 times in a row.On this day, the 169th regiment killed more than 600 Japanese soldiers.With the all-weather support of the Chinese Air Force, they fought more and more bravely, and the Japanese army continued to increase their troops, 1,200, and at most it reached 3,000.It was learned from the Japanese prisoners that the headquarters of the 116th Division of the Japanese Army drove in. The division commander was Lieutenant General Hishida Motoshiro who had just taken office, and the division commander Iwan Yongwang had a rest.Following the instructions of Ichiro Sakanishi, this Hishida Genshiro went all out to open up the road of Xuefeng Mountain, providing an unimpeded passage for the main force to go straight to Zhijiang. After Wang Yaowu learned of this situation, he wandered around the headquarters in a hurry, without long-term considerations, there must be near-term worries.He also thought of what the chairman had said about him, and that the big thing was right now.But the current problems have not been solved, so what right do they have to think about the future?He Yingqin was not in a hurry, he smiled and said: "Yao Wu, look farther away, don't just look at the things in front of you." Wang Yaowu was angry, and said: "It's easy for you to talk, but I have to take care of everything. on." Wang Yaowu asked for a phone call and asked Master Li Yan to pull the 171st regiment up. It would be impossible not to reinforce the 169th regiment.Master Li Yan still has concerns, isn't there any reserve team left?There are still more after the bad battle, so he only sent one battalion to reinforce, leaving two battalions as the reserve team of the whole division, otherwise there will be problems. The 169 regiment received reinforcements, and the morale of the whole regiment became stronger.Under the cover of aircraft and artillery, they took the initiative to launch multiple counterattacks against the Japanese army.The 116th Division of the Japanese Army is still strong, and there are 8 regiments of infantry, cavalry, mountain artillery, engineers, and luggage.Except for the 109th, 133rd and 120th cavalry regiments trapped in Xuefeng Mountain by the Chinese army, there are still 5 regiments available.The newly appointed division commander Hishida Motoshiro thought so. But what Lieutenant General Hishida Motoshiro Division Commander did not expect was that the Chinese army had changed its appearance, why it had become so tenacious, and its combat effectiveness had also been greatly improved.It wasn't like this in the past. The Chinese troops he encountered in the past didn't need to fight at all, and they retreated with one blow and were defeated.This time when we went to fight in western Hunan, the situation was quite different. The main force of the entire division was used, even the division headquarters came to the front line, and the Chinese army was not defeated. Hishida Motoshiro hid in a forest and used binoculars to observe the positions of the Chinese army for a long time. He heard that the current army has performed extraordinary in many battles such as the Battle of Songhu and the Battle of Nanchang, and it can be said that it has made great achievements.He thought about it, since it is a hard bone, why bother to chew it?Should I change my way of thinking?Yes, you can't go all the way to the dark. So, Hishida Motoshiro came up with the idea of ​​​​a nearby Qingyan position.According to the reconnaissance report, the Chinese army defending the Qingyan position is the 57th Regiment of the 19th Division of the 100th Army.The head of the division listened to the report and spit out a good word. While not giving up the attack on Tieshan, he focused on attacking the front line of Qingyan with the main force.The Battle of Qingyan was a turning point in the Battle of Xiangxi.