Chapter 32 11. The 57th Division was annihilated

In two foreign cities thousands of miles away from Changde, the battle of Changde became the focus of attention at the same time.The date is November 28, 1943. Tokyo, Japan.Emperor Hirohito summoned the Chief of Staff Sugiyama Moto and the Chief of the Military Command Nagano Shoushen. He was very angry at Changde City, which had been defended by three divisions for a long time and only one division was defending. He ordered that Changde must be occupied within two days, otherwise those useless generals would be shot. . In Cairo, the capital of Egypt, an ancient civilization located on the beautiful banks of the Nile River, the 28th was the second day of the summit meeting between the leaders of the United States, Britain and China.

Winter in the Mediterranean is as warm as spring, like the mood of several politicians who have seen the dawn of victory.When introducing the battle situation on each battlefield, Chiang Kai-shek introduced the ongoing Changde Battle as an example of the Chinese army's heroic and tenacious resistance to the Japanese invaders to Roosevelt and Churchill. The leaders of these two major powers praised the outstanding contributions made by the Chinese military and civilians to the World Anti-Fascist War. Roosevelt also asked in detail the serial number and the name of the commander of the defending troops, and wrote them down in his notepad.

"The surname of the commander of the 57th Division is Yu and his name is Cheng Wan. Cheng Wan comes from the ancient Chinese saying 'Pengcheng Wanli', which means lofty and endless flight." Chiang Kai-shek introduced to Roosevelt through an interpreter, with a lot of pride and pride in his words. It was on the evening of December 1 that the leaders of the Allied Powers praised the 57th Division for its tenacious defense against the enemy.Encouraged by this good news, there are less than 500 soldiers left in the 57th Division. Sun Jinxian, head of the 170th Regiment, Du Ding, head of the 171st Regiment, and Jin Dingzhou, head of the Artillery Regiment, almost became "bright commanders". At this time, they fought the Japanese army with guns like combat soldiers.

Acting division chief of staff Pi Huanyou and division chief of staff Long Chuyun led the agency staff to join the division's special agent company with weapons in hand. At this time in Changde, most of the defenders fought in groups of three or five. Among the ruined walls, under the shelling, shooting, poisonous gas and fires of the Japanese army, they fought every minute and every second. Resist, hold on.At this time, the slogan of the whole division was "There is a house to guard the house, and there is a trench to guard the trench", until the death of the battle. In the city, not only were all the orderlies and handymen mobilized to the battlefield, there were several key points, and even many of the dead also "participated in the battle" again.They were either placed as if they were still shooting to confuse the enemy, and some were used as materials to build fortifications and bunkers, forming a veritable Great Wall of flesh and blood. "The continued battle of the martyrs" became the eternal climax of the Battle of Changde and even China's War of Resistance Against Japan, which made the author want to cry for a long time when he was looking for his hometown decades later.

At 4 o'clock in the morning on December 2, the Japanese army pushed into the central bank building from around the city.Yu Chengwan deployed his only troops at the intersections of Wenchang Temple, Xingjiekou, Daximen, Shangnankou, Guanyinlin and other intersections around the core position of the division headquarters. The defensive circle was compressed to a narrow area of ​​only 600 meters in length and width. At dawn, the Japanese army had entered the urban area with about 30,000 troops.The Chinese and American Air Forces took off more than 10 planes from Hengyang Airport to support the defense of the city. When the telegram asked the 57th Division to indicate the bombing target, Yu Chengwan called back and said: With the central bank as the axis and a radius of 400 meters, no matter how hard it is to bomb It will blow up to its own people.

At 9 a.m., eight fighter jets from the Japanese Air Force and the Chinese and American Air Forces each launched an air battle over Changde.One Japanese plane was shot down, and the Chinese plane dropped some ammunition, food and newspapers that published domestic and foreign articles in support of the Changde battle, but only a small part fell within the defenders' positions. After opening several boxes of precious ammunition that fell from the sky, it was found that half of the machine gun and mortar shells were of wrong specifications and could not be used. At 10 o'clock in the morning, more than 30 Japanese mountain artillery were placed in place at various intersections defended by the defenders, that is, to destroy the fortifications, roadblocks and buildings leading to the Central Bank layer by layer with fierce direct-point shooting.

At 10:30, more than 10 officers and soldiers of the 1st Battalion of the 169th Regiment on the defense line of the Wenchang Temple in the north of the Central Bank rushed out of the position under the leadership of battalion commander Yang Weijun to launch a suicide counterattack against hundreds of Japanese troops. All Chinese officers and soldiers died heroically. At 11:10, the defenders of Daximen ran out of ammunition, and Lu Kongwen, deputy head of the 171st regiment, ordered the charge horn to be sounded. More than 40 people charged the enemy with rifles and bayonets.After a fierce hand-to-hand fight, deputy commander Lu and most of the officers and soldiers were killed, and the Japanese army also retreated.

At 12 o'clock, Jin Dingzhou, the commander of the Artillery Regiment, led He Zengpei, the commander of the 3rd Battalion of the Artillery Regiment, and more than 30 soldiers to violently counterattack the hundreds of Japanese troops who broke into the Guanyin Nunnery.These soldiers were originally artillerymen, and after the shells were exhausted, they became infantrymen. At this time, each of them charged and threw more than a dozen grenades.The Japanese army was attacked, turned back and retreated, trampled on each other, and dozens of people died of grenade explosions.During the fierce battle, Jin Dingzhou was wounded, and He Zengpei and most of the officers and soldiers were killed.

At 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the Japanese army compressed the defense circle of the defenders to only a place with a diameter of 300 meters, and almost only a central bank building was left.Fortunately, the structure of the building is solid, and the reinforced concrete walls are more than one meter thick, so it is not afraid of fire and small arms shooting.The Japanese army rushed towards the core fortifications one by one, and the defenders occupied the window fortifications on all sides, using machine guns and grenades to fight tenaciously. At 2:40, more than 200 Japanese soldiers approached quietly from Shuangzhong Street. Sun Jinxian, the commander of the 170th Regiment, led more than 20 officers and soldiers to jump out of the fortifications and fight towards the enemy.The division commander Yu Chengwan personally used a light machine gun to shoot fiercely at the retreating enemy in the fortification on the second floor, killing one of them, and the rest retreated.

After 3 pm, the Japanese offensive stopped. For several days and nights, the sound of guns and guns continued, and the sudden silence was even more depressing.There was a sound of aircraft motors in the sky, and red, green and green papers floated down. To the generals of the 57th Division: The Imperial Japanese Army has completely surrounded Changde County. The Chongqing 10th Army was completely wiped out by the imperial army north of Huangtudian. Army Commander Fang Xianjue and division commanders were killed. Other Chongqing Army reinforcements to Changde were also blocked within tens of kilometers. In addition, there is no point in continuing to come so far.The complete annihilation of your Ministry is close at hand. I hope that your generals will stop making unnecessary resistance, abandon the old and make new ones, and return to the great cause of peaceful nation-building.The imperial army will forgive all those who raise the white flag or defect to peace with this notice.Regardless of whether it is an officer or a soldier, whoever captures Yu Chengwan alive will be rewarded with 500,000 yuan, and whoever kills Yu Chengwan with his head will be rewarded with a reward of 300,000 yuan.

This is the only opportunity given by the imperial army to your generals, think about it again and again, don't miss this good opportunity, burn everything, and leave eternal hatred. The commander of the 11th Army of the Imperial Japanese Army printed this content on various papers, and the officers and soldiers of the 57th Division either sneered or turned a blind eye.Pi Huanyou, the chief of staff of the acting division, handed it to Yu Chengwan and said, "I also paid a price for the coordinates of the division." Yu Chengwan looked at it and said, "Is it a little cheaper?" Before dark, the observation post on the roof reported that the Japanese army was mobilizing around the core position of the division, and more than a dozen mountain artillery were pulled into the city. At 8 o'clock in the evening, it was time for each regiment to report the battle situation and strength to the division commander. Du Ding, the head of the 171st regiment, reported that there were only 70 people in the whole regiment including him, and all the ammunition was exhausted. Sun Jinxian, head of the 170th regiment, reported that there were only 43 members left in the regiment.There is not much ammunition left, and they are all found from the martyrs. Chai Yixin, head of the 169th Regiment, reported that there were still 112 people in the regiment. In the morning, 5,000 rounds of ammunition buried before the police station's evacuation were dug out from the back garden of the police station's yard, of which 2,000 rounds were usable with the same caliber. The soldiers make up 20 rounds on average, and they can still resist one breath.Yu Chengwan gathered the strength of the whole division, a total of 321. At 9:40 p.m., the plainclothes liaison officer sent by the division headquarter brought the liaison officer of Zhou Qingxiang's 3rd Division of the 10th Army, but they brought bad news. Although the reinforcements of the 3rd Division were unable to join the city after hard work, Zhou Qingxiang hoped that the 57th Division would also go out to support in his letter to Yu Chengwan. Yu Chengwan saw that the heads of all the regiments were there, told everyone about the current severe situation, and firmly stated that he was ready to die with Changde. Yu Chengwan dictated the telegram on the spot, ordering the staff to send it immediately. "Everyone smoke a cigarette." After a long time, Chai Yixin, head of the 169 regiment, broke the dullness.He tore open a pack of cigarettes and threw them one by one to the division commanders who were sitting in this room silently, thinking about their own thoughts. In the war room of the division headquarters in the basement, the two horse lanterns were as bright as beans.Vaguely heard sporadic gunshots across the city through the quiet night. The big horseshoe watch on the chief of staff's desk was ticking, and the hour hand pointed to 12 midnight in the dim light of the lantern. "I think as a soldier, death is the easiest thing." Chai Yixin said unhurriedly, "Especially in such a battle that attracts international attention, our personal glory can be said to be incomparable. gone." Yu Chengwan and the officers looked up at Chai Yixin, wondering what he was going to say next. "It's a pity that our Huben division has gone through glorious battles since its establishment, and has repeatedly made outstanding achievements..." He paused for a while, like a few treasures, "Songhu, Nanjing, Xuzhou, East Henan, Nanxun Road, Nanchang, Gao'an, North Jiangxi Winter Sweeping War, Yichang, Shanggao, Changsha three times, Zhejiang Jiangxi, West Hubei..." "Colonel Chai!" Yu Chengwan interrupted Chai Yixin's self-talking narration, and said in a stern tone, "Do you think Huben has a better choice than killing himself in this situation?!" Chai Yixin stood up suddenly, and said to Yu Chengwan and the officers present in the same strong tone: "I don't think our 57th Division can be wiped out like this. Even if a general or an officer breaks out, The 57th division system is here, and there will be another tiger in a few years!" Yu Chengwan slapped the pistol on the table and stood up from his seat. Before he could speak, Chai Yixin continued like a cannonball: "Master, I have always admired your loyalty and talent. , but at this time I want to say something to you, for the honor of this army for many years, and for the souls of tens of thousands of brothers who died in this army during the War of Resistance to have a home, please lead your troops to break through and rebuild Huben. Hu Ben is covered with the shame of destruction!" People were stunned by Chai Yixin's words, and no one spoke.Yu Chengwan paced back and forth in the room. Just now he wanted to ask Chai Yixin if he wanted to run away, and even flashed the idea of ​​shooting him on the spot, but Chai's words hit the deep pain in his heart.He sighed and said, "Why do I want this army to be wiped out like this, anyone can comment on the merits and crimes of a thousand years, but breaking out now is easier said than done?" Chai Yixin walked up to Yu Chengwan: "If you can trust your leader of the 1st Huben Regiment, give me the cover task. After all, I still have more than a hundred people and two thousand rounds of ammunition." Yu Chengwan shook his head and started to pace again.The air in the room was suffocating. At this time, Jin Dingzhou, the commander of the artillery regiment, spoke. Although the artillery regiment had been attached to the 57th Division since the Battle of Changde, it was a combat group, but the artillery regiment was a unit directly under the army, and it was still a bit sparse. "Master, I think Commander Chai's opinion is worth pondering. The enemy will definitely launch an attack tomorrow morning. With the current strength and ammunition, it will be difficult to survive tomorrow. Besides, Commander Zhou also hopes that our troops can go out of the city to meet the reinforcements..." At 2 o'clock in the morning on December 3, Yu Chengwan, the commander of the 57th Division, led more than 180 subordinates, divided into 4 batches, from the south gate to the vicinity of Shangnan Wharf.The officers and soldiers were familiar with the road, and all safely escaped the Japanese sentry and came to the riverside. That night, with the help of God, the north wind howled and the bitter cold, the Japanese army retreated into the camp, but no breakout team was found.The chief of staff, Long Chuyun, led more than a dozen soldiers to touch a few small cargo ships that were hijacked by the Japanese army to transport supplies on the riverside.When the boat departed from the shore and headed southeast along the Yuanjiang River, a few machine gun bullets caught up with it, and a few flashlights flickered like flies like beans, and then it was pitch black again, only the sound of wind and water was heard.The Japanese army did not find the people on board. In the darkness, Yu Chengwan burst into tears. War history records: At 8 a.m. on December 3, 1943, the Japanese army launched a strong attack on the headquarters of the 57th Division of the Central Bank.The violent artillery fire blew up the bank building, and the Japanese army attacked the core position of the division headquarters from all sides. The head of the 169 regiment, Chai Yixin, and more than a hundred people were all killed in battle, and Changde was occupied by the Japanese army. In 1945, the author and reporter Huang Chaoru described the situation after Yu Chengwan and his party crossed the river to break through at the end of the article "Changde City Defense War Documentary".In writing this article, the author had many conversations with dozens of survivors, including Yu Chengwan. When the article was published, Yu Chengwan wrote the preface himself. When Division Commander Yu crossed the south bank, he encountered an enemy sentry. As a pre-emptive measure, he immediately killed the sentry.The enemy on the south bank heard gunshots and surrounded them on all sides. Commander Yu led more than 20 troops, and they fought and left.And the adjutant was also injured.I can't distinguish things in the dark night, and I travel four or five miles quickly, and the sky is already twilight.Turning around a village, he saw the enemy brigade approaching him, so he hurriedly hid in the houses. The guards went to the front pavilion to hide, and the adjutant was bleeding all over his body, so he pretended to be dead by the door.Commander Yu entered the back room, held a pistol, and sat in danger to wait for the enemy.The enemy team did not enter when they passed by, and when they saw the adjutant at the door, they joked, "Another one died."After the brigade passed, Commander Yu led his adjutant guards forward again.In Wuhuali, my left foot was injured, so I couldn't walk long distances, and I couldn't move anymore.In desperation, I met refugees from the nearby mountains who were evacuated from the city.Before the war, the Yu family often dressed lightly and walked alone in the city in the city, so all the citizens knew the teacher.However, after half a month of street fighting, Yu's face is already unkempt, haggard and barren, without any human appearance, but the refugees can still recognize them.Knowing that the teacher can no longer act, he is helped into the mountain village and entertained properly.Hearing the news, Hecun slaughtered chickens and sheep to feast on this national hero.At night, the villagers automatically keep watch to detect the enemy.In the past half a month, the teacher has not slept more than two hours a day, so far he has had a whole night's rest. At dawn on the 4th, the villagers prepared a blue car and sent it to Huangtudian early on a secluded road in the mountains.Afterwards, Yu talked with Yu (referring to the author) about this matter, saying that the prosperity of the villagers' feelings is very exciting.I want to cry a few words.