Chapter 19 4. The Japanese army was defeated and surrounded by hundreds of miles

On the night of January 4th, Xue Yue adjusted his deployment again according to the changes in the enemy's situation. The troops of each group army quickly arrived at the designated position, and began to encircle and kill the Japanese army retreating from Changsha. Luo Zhuoying personally led the headquarters of the 19th Army and the 26th Army to Pailoupu, 20 kilometers east of Changsha. He commanded the troops of the 4th, 26th, and 73rd Army to advance from south to north; Yang Sen commanded the 20th Army under the jurisdiction of the 27th Army in Pingjiang He and the 58th Army moved from north to south from the Fulinpu area, looking for the way of the Japanese army to block them; Wang Lingji commanded the 37th and 78th new forces of the 30th Army to sweep from east to west; Fu Zhongfang, the commander of the 99th Army, led the whole army to sweep from west to east; Li Tang, the commander of the 140th Division, sent his troops deep into the enemy's rear and intercepted and killed the retreating enemy on the Xinqianghe line.

This combat situation is reflected on the map, showing a fierce and unstoppable momentum.After painstaking exploration and exploration in several battles and more than ten days of bloody life and death since the start of this battle, Xue Yue finally pushed this majestic drama to its climax. On the morning of the 4th, Li Yutang received a telegram sent directly to him by Chiang Kai-shek: The enemy went deep alone, the rear was cut off, and at the same time, our main force was besieging the enemy from all sides. If our 10th Army can hold on to the determination to live and die with Changsha, it will definitely destroy the powerful enemy and gain supreme glory!

The news spread to all positions in Changsha, and the public was excited. The Political Department of the Army put forward the slogan of "fight hard all night, repel the enemy, defend Changsha, and return to the army commander". At 9 a.m. on the 4th, Toyoshima ordered the 18th Regiment of the division to suddenly change its attack direction from the south of the city to the east gate, namely Liuyang Gate. Zhou Qingxiang, the commander of the 3rd Division, personally stood on the city wall to direct the counterattack. When the soldiers at the front of the division saw the enemy's "meat bombs" coming up, they went up to them and blew grenades to detonate the explosives on the Japanese soldiers.Amidst several loud noises, the soldiers who rushed up and the Japanese death squads were bloody and bloody at the same time.People saw that a bloody neon appeared in the sky at that moment.

Immediately afterwards, another group of defenders rushed out of the position and started a hand-to-hand fight with the Japanese army rushing in front of Liuyang Gate.After an hour of bloody melee, most of the soldiers on both sides fell in a pool of blood.The blade of the enemy battalion captain Yokota's saber was dripping with blood, and he himself was pierced through the throat and left side by two bayonets, and died with his eyes wide open. The 18th regiment was forced to retreat to the south of the city. The commander of the regiment, Nobuo Ishii, was seriously injured by the mortars of the defenders on the way.During the rescue, he couldn't speak, was in great pain, and died with tears streaming down his face.

At 11:00 noon, Fang Xianjue went to the 29th regiment's position and announced to the regiment leader Zhang Yuequn that the Chongqing Military Commission had promoted him to the rank of major general.At 6:00 p.m., Fang Xianjue brought good wine to the command post of the 28th Regiment to condolences to Ge Xiancai and encouraged him to complete the final perseverance. At around 12 noon, Japanese aircraft dropped ammunition and supplies on the ground troops.Several large white flower-like parachutes descended from the sky.The parachutes were fluttering, and most of them landed within the defense positions. The Japanese soldiers were so angry that they cursed at the sky.

While the soldiers of the two armies watched together, a miracle happened: a supply box was hit in the sky by artillery from the Yuelu Mountain artillery position of our army, and a whole box of canned food, rice balls, military kettles filled with drinking water and other items exploded all over the sky. flowering.The soldiers of our army cheered loudly when they saw this, and the shouts lasted for several minutes, and their morale was greatly boosted.Veterans who participated in the defense of the city all mentioned this matter when they recalled the past decades later, and it was cited as a spectacle on the battlefield.Afterwards, the artillerymen also fought for this "honor".

At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the Japanese army launched the last attack on the couch.With most of the guns out of bullets, Toyoshima ordered hand-to-hand combat.In the cold wind, hundreds of Japanese soldiers rushed forward with bare upper body screaming, while the defenders responded with shells, bullets, and grenades.The enemy fell in front of the formation row by row, and did not end this meaningless suicide attack until the ones behind stopped rushing up. At 5:00 p.m., the commander of the Japanese division still in Changsha received a stern order from Anan Keiji to withdraw from Changsha and reverse immediately.The Japanese army, who was almost out of ammunition and food, had no other choice. They set fire to nearby houses, blew up the combat materials that could not be taken away, and began to retreat.

The last offensive before the retreat of the 6th Division in the north of the city was directed at the Xiangchun Road of the 569th Regiment of Zhu Yue's 190th Division and the positions of the South China Girls' School of the 570th Regiment.The Japanese used poison gas during the battle, and depending on the direction of the wind, this was the only area where poison gas could be used in siege battles.Over a hundred defenders were poisoned and lost their ability to fight.There were very few gas masks in the regiment, and they were given priority to the machine gunners. Many soldiers urinated on towels and covered their noses to filter the poison, but they still insisted on not going to the line of fire.The Japanese army was unable to attack the defenders' positions, and returned without success after nearly 3 hours of fierce fighting.

At 6:00 p.m., the 6th Division Commander Kanda Masatsuka commanded the troops to withdraw from the position first, and seized the key point of crossing the Liuyang River - Lishi, more than 10 kilometers east of Changsha, and used this as a base to house the 3rd Division. Soldiers waiting for the 3rd Division to break out of the encirclement after they leave Changsha. When it was dark, Toyoshima led the remnants of the 3rd Division, all withdrew from the periphery of Changsha, and embarked on the road of breakthrough and reversal. It was already dark when the Japanese withdrew, and the first task facing the Tenth Army was to gather troops.After several days and nights of bloody battles, the officers and soldiers on the front line were extremely exhausted, and many fell asleep on the ground in the bitterly cold night.In Changsha City, the story of officers and soldiers lighting torches to find the living from the pile of dead people that night is still circulating.People shouted one by one: "Are you alive?" One by one, they felt whether it was cold or hot.Some soldiers did not die in battle, but their spirits suddenly relaxed when they were victorious, and they fell asleep or passed out from exhaustion, and never woke up again.

The 3rd and 6th Divisions set off from Lishi in the middle of the night on the 4th, and were intercepted head-on by the 4th Army of Ou Zhen at the beginning.In the melee, the Japanese army rushed from left to right in the middle of the night, and finally escaped. At dawn on the 5th, they were caught by the 79th Army of Xia Chuzhong and fought again. Due to delays in the communications department, it was 3 pm on the 5th when Luo Zhuoying received a telegram from the Ninth Theater about the enemy's movements, but Luo's troops dispatched in the early morning of the same day, actively looking for the retreating Japanese troops, and received the fire at noon.Xiao Zhichu's 26th Army surrounded the weak 18th Regiment of the 3rd Division and the transport team near Caojiaping and Chatang, and fought from noon to late at night, almost completely annihilating the Japanese army.

In the crisis, God still helped the Japanese army. In the early morning of the 6th, the sky cleared up, and the Japanese First Flying Regiment was dispatched in full force. More than 50 aircraft swooped down to pursue the soldiers at low altitude, which won the opportunity for the Japanese army to break through. At 9 o'clock in the evening on the 6th, more than 10,000 soldiers and horses of Peng Weiren's 73rd Army ran to Fulinpu.Xue Yue set up another interception line here to intercept and kill the fleeing enemy.At midnight, gunshots and explosions rang out in the mountains around Fulinpu. The Japanese military history "Changsha Operation" wrote about this unfortunate retreat: On the 4th, the whole army (Note: referring to the 11th Army) began to reverse in a tragic atmosphere.In the battle headquarters in Yueyang, all the staff of the headquarters were divided into two groups and read the "Soldiers' Edict".In order to get rid of the enemy, the frontline officers and soldiers left Changsha, which was shrouded in flames, with great regret. Late at night on the 4th, the Army Command was shocked to learn that two divisions of the Chongqing Army were approaching on the reversal road of the 3rd Division. (5th) Army Command, at 15:30, finally received the news that the 3rd Division was moving towards Lishi.Although the military staff officers were somewhat relieved, they were indeed extremely anxious during this period.The commander of the Anan Army told the staff about the experience of fighting hard in North China and encouraged them... On the 6th, the radio contact of the 3rd Division was interrupted. The Army Communication Station and the 6th Division Communication Station close to the 3rd Division were calling desperately, but there was no answer... In Dashantang (8 kilometers east of Fulinpu )'s Guichuan troops, surrounded by the 37th Army, ran out of ammunition and food, and were in a desperate duel... On the front of the 6th Division's approach, the defile of Liqiao has been occupied by the Chongqing Army.The 73rd Army and the 99th Army also drove to the east and northeast sides of Darmo Mountain, and are strengthening their counterattack posture.Because of this information, the timidity of the officers and soldiers of the 6th Division was further deepened.Coincidentally, the moonlit night was clear and the sky was bright and cold. The staff missed the front-line officers and soldiers who were going up the Hebei River from Laodao, and couldn't help hating the bright moon that was conducive to the enemy's pursuit, so they spent a dreary night... Somehow Yes, during the retreat of the Japanese army, the pursuers of the Chinese army always felt sorry for the military flag that the Japanese army regarded as sacred. Please see the following records: ... As soon as our army arrived, the Chongqing army fired flares and threw grenades at the same time, and swarmed to surround our army.The grenade fell near the flag and exploded. The Wing immediately ordered the 7th Squadron to rush into the enemy group, but the Chongqing Army surrounded from all sides in the dark did not retreat easily.The Chongqing army continued to charge, approaching the military flag within a short distance, and Colonel No Kenzaburo drew his sword and fought desperately at the critical moment.The eastern messenger squad and the military flag squad take the military flag as the center and form a circular formation to fight against the rushing enemies and protect the military flag.The military flag is in dire straits.Lieutenant Tanaka said afterwards that if the grenade throwing distance of the Chongqing Army was extended by another 10 meters, both the soldiers and the military flag would be blown up. ... At this time, the general flag of the 18th Infantry Regiment was placed in the residential house on the back bank, but suddenly an enemy mortar shell fell in the courtyard, instantly blowing up the upper body of the sentinel guarding the flag.At that time, Lieutenant General Toyoshima Futaro, the commander of the 3rd Division, was in the next room where the military flag was placed, and immediately ran out and shouted: "I will protect the military flag!" He personally took on the task of protecting the military flag. During the retreat, most of the Japanese troops ran out of ammunition and food.Unable to receive support from airdrops, the situation was extremely embarrassing. In many battles, the Japanese army could only fight blood with hand-to-hand combat. The deputy chief of staff of the 11th Army wrote in his combat diary: "On the 8th, 10 rounds of artillery shells were supplied to the 40th Division. It was really a reluctant battle!" At 3 o'clock in the afternoon on January 7, 1942, the headquarters of the 27th Army in Pingjiang.Commander-in-Chief Yang Sen received a call from Chiang Kai-shek. Chiang Kai-shek, who was far away in Chongqing, heard that the Ninth War Zone had wired communication, so he called Yang Sen the first time.He looked at a battle map in front of him that he had read almost to death in the past few days and nights, and said in a stern voice, "With Guhua Mountain on the east side of Fulinpu as the boundary, and Bojian (Yang Sen's alias) on the west." Brother is in charge, and Deputy Commander Wang (Wang Lingji) is in charge of the east, and I ask you to lead all the troops to prevent the enemy from fleeing north. If a certain army flees head-on, its commander will be shot!" After Yang Sen put down the phone, he took a sip of tea, still feeling his heart beating fast.Speaking of which, Yang Sen and Chiang Kai-shek still have some relatives, but now it's time for the six relatives to deny each other. Since taking on the task of blocking the Japanese army from north to south, Yang Sen has not had a peaceful night's sleep.From 7 a.m. on the 7th, the 20th Army and the 58th Army, which were located on the blockade line from Yingzhushan to Fulinpu, entered the battlefield with the 9th Mixed Brigade that had just arrived from North China and came from the north to meet the main force of the Japanese army to break through. There was a fierce battle with the 6th Division that broke out from south to north.Yang Sen thought to himself: My two armies are caught between the two enemies from the north and the south. Sound clearer. He ordered the adjutant to prepare the car immediately and go to the 58th Army to supervise the battle. "Lao Jiang insists on tossing my old bones to pieces in order to be at ease!" Yang Sen said to the guards before boarding the car. On the evening of the 8th, the 58th Army, which Yang Sen personally supervised, and the 1st Army of the 20th Army joined forces to wipe out the Yamazaki Battalion, the assault force of the 9th Mixed Brigade that had just entered the battlefield, on Yingzhu Mountain.The Japanese military history also records: On the next (9th) day, the commander of the Anan Army was stunned when he learned that the Yamazaki Brigade had been wiped out at Yingzhu Mountain and the main force of the 6th Division had been encircled.Since the beginning of the reversal, Lieutenant General Anan has always been calm and composed. Whenever he comes into contact with a staff member who is depressed, he always tries his best to comfort and motivate his subordinates with a kind attitude. Only today he is completely in a state of anxiety. The 6th Division of the Japanese Army was surrounded and attacked by the 20th, 58th, 73rd, 4th, and 26th armies of the Chinese Army for two and a half days, causing heavy casualties. On the evening of the 10th, with the support of more than a dozen aircraft, it successfully broke through. On the 11th and 12th, all the armies chased and killed the Japanese army all the way, causing certain casualties to the Japanese army. In the early morning of the 13th, the divisions of the Japanese army arrived at the front line of Mishui, assembled in Xinshi, Changle Street and other places, and took in the Japanese troops who broke out from various places.But seeing the remnants of the defeated generals in groups of three or five, throwing away their helmets and armor, they fled northward in embarrassment. At 8 o'clock in the morning, Chen Pei's 37th Army chased him to Xinshi and pursued him hard.The Japanese army scrambled to cross the river, the order was chaotic, and many people were drowned. The 37th Army continued to pursue north after occupying Xinshi. From Mishui to Xinqiang River, Xia Shouxun's 78th Army and Li Tang's 140th Division of the 37th Army set up the last line of defense to stop the Japanese army. On the 14th and 15th, the battles between breakout and anti-breakout were fierce.Many cars of the Japanese army drove to this line and could no longer move, and more than 30 vehicles were blown up by themselves and the other side. On the 15th, a large number of Japanese aircraft covered the ground troops to break through, and a squad leader of the 140th Division swept down one with a light machine gun. As soon as they crossed Mishui, the Japanese army could see slogans in Chinese and Japanese everywhere on the walls of the villages they passed. "Hunan is the cemetery of Japanese pirates!" "Shohoku - the cemetery of the Japanese devils!" "The robbers go back to your islands!" "Slash the devil's head with a big knife!" In fact, these shocking words that shocked the defeated Japanese army had been written long before the war in northern Hunan, but the Japanese army did not pay attention to it when they came. Corpses, wounded, hungry, the footsteps are getting heavier and heavier.After chasing and cutting forward, some people who are not soldiers and people are not people appear in the flat ground from time to time.Shotguns, traps, jitters.The Japanese army couldn't help thinking: Hunan, what is it?Far away, what are you doing here? On the 16th, there were no Japanese troops on the south bank of the Xinqiang River, and the Japanese troops who retreated across the Xinqiang River occupied their original positions.The Chinese army's pursuit of the troops gradually came to a standstill. On the 18th, the theater ordered the troops to return to their original posture and adjust their deployment slightly.The third battle of Changsha ended here.