Chapter 33 12. Lost for six days, occupying Changde again

Japanese military history records: The General Command of the Chinese Expedition Army believed that through this operation, most of the enemy who had attempted to transfer to Yunnan was restrained in this area, making it difficult for the enemy to launch a counterattack against Burma.Therefore, judging that the capture of Changde has basically achieved the purpose of this operation, it was decided to let the 11th Army withdraw from Changde in time. Chinese War History contains: On the 9th (December 1943 - author's note), the Ouzhen Corps defeated the Japanese army from the east and west sides of Changde and entered the city. The Japanese army began to retreat.

The fifth, sixth, and ninth theaters were ordered to restore their original situation in early January of the 33rd year of the Republic of China (referring to 1944), and the Battle of Changde came to an end. The bloody battle of Changde ended in such a hurry.A few days after the Japanese army withdrew from Changde, the base camp asked the 11th Army to reoccupy Changde out of strategic considerations, but Yokoyama refused on the grounds that "the troops were extremely tired".In order to investigate whether the order was properly issued and why Yokoyama Isamu did not execute the order, the chief of staff of the headquarters, Tahisa Matsui, flew to Nanjing, and then arrived at the 11th Army Changde Combat Headquarters in Shashi, Hubei with a senior staff officer from the headquarters of the Chinese Expeditionary Force. Understand the situation and inspect the troops.

A few days later, the Emperor of Japan listened to the base camp's report on the Battle of Changde, and immediately issued an imperial edict of "fight bravely" to the participating troops.On the same day, the base camp revoked the order of the 11th Army to occupy Changde again. One day in late December 1943, Fu Neng, second lieutenant and platoon leader of the 2nd Battalion Machine Gun Company of the 570th Regiment of the 190th Division of the 10th Army, walked into the Yiyang 10th Military Hospital. The Battle of Changde ended in victory when the Chinese army recaptured Changde and Japan retreated.The division of the 10th Army made a triumphant return and returned to the original station of the divisions near Changsha.Passing by Yiyang, Fu Neng thought of his classmate, platoon leader Chen of the 4th company of the same battalion who was injured in the battle to reinforce Changde.

Victory celebration slogans were also pasted on the gate and walls of the military hospital. Doctors and nurses were busy shuttling through the wards. Fu Neng asked a doctor how the platoon leader Chen was injured. Not long, like yesterday.The military doctor slowly said to Fu Neng: Platoon Leader Chen was treated by me. It's a pity that he has already died for his country... Fu Neng remembered that they were both 18 years old when they were admitted to the military academy together.Tears could not stop flowing down, Fu Neng thought, he is only 22 years old! After an unknown amount of time, a female nurse came over and told Fu Neng that Platoon Leader Chen was seriously injured, with several broken intestines, massive blood loss, and stopped breathing before he was on the operating table.The nurse was also in tears.

He bid farewell to the military doctors and nurses, not far away, his comrades were marching.Fu can run to catch up with the team. Some people died, but we won, this is the War of Resistance Against Japan - Fu Neng thought. On another day in late December, Fang Xianjue, the commander of the 10th Army, accompanied the wife of Sun Mingjin, the commander of the 10th Division, to the Yangshan slope next to Zhaojiaqiao Village.On this day, Sun Mingjin's body will be moved to the Martyr's Shrine built at the foot of Hengshan Mountain for re-burial. This tomb was built by the Japanese army to supervise the prisoners of the 10th Division. It has a fir coffin and the tombstone is engraved: Chinese General Sun Mingjin.

Although the coffin is thin, it is still intact because of the short time. Mrs. Sun lost her voice while touching the coffin, and some surviving officers and soldiers of the 10th Division were also weeping. A shed was built on the spot to wash and change the clothes of the martyrs, and the remains were moved into a pair of high-quality golden nanmu coffins.More than a dozen soldiers carried the coffin onto the truck. Fang Xianjue was in the front in a jeep, and two carts of armed soldiers were in front of and behind the hearse. The memorial ceremony was held in Yiyang. In Yiyang District, on the street where the hearse passed, residents stood silently along the road to mourn, and many families set up incense tables and sacrifices in front of their doors.The hearse was everywhere, people kowtowed and bowed, the old man cried bitterly, and the teachers and students of the school sent elegiac couplets and hung them on the car.

After Yu Chengwan broke through from Changde to find the troops, on December 9, he followed Lu Daoyuan's 58th Army, which was the first to counterattack Changde, and entered the small town that had been lost for 6 days from the east gate. On the 10th, the Chinese army launched a fierce offensive against the exhausted and hopeful Japanese army.Yu Chengwan followed the regiment headquarters of the 32nd Regiment of the New 11th Division, which was at the forefront, to assist in command. On the 11th, the Chinese army completely regained Changde, and Yu Chengwan personally planted a brand new national flag on the highest point in the city - Mercury Building.At that time, many officers and soldiers saw him burst into tears.

On December 15, Wang Yaowu, commander of the 74th Army, bought wine at the military headquarters to entertain the surviving officers of the 57th Division. During the dinner, he praised Huben for winning glory for the 74th Army from time to time. When the banquet was over and going out, two strange military officers waiting at the door walked up to Yu Chengwan, holding a warrant of arrest from the Military Law Enforcement Director Department of the Military Commission, and announced that Yu Chengwan was arrested on the charge of fleeing in battle. Wang Yaowu hurriedly asked the reason, and the two said very bluntly that they had nothing to say to him.Wang Yaowu grabbed Yu Chengwan's handcuffed hand and said, "Brother Shi Jian, you must make a serious appeal!"

Yu Chengwan smiled miserably and said, "I'm guilty, and I won't appeal." A jeep waiting at the side waited for the three of them to get into the car and sit down, dragging the smoke and dust all the way away.Wang Yaowu woke up suddenly and wanted to call Chongqing when he returned to his office.Chiang Kai-shek didn't listen to his calls, and an old friend in the attendant said to him: "Yu Chengwan let the committee lose face in the world, and the committee is very angry. It's not easy to accommodate this matter, please don't bother." Just after the Spring Festival in 1944, the people of Changde saw Dai Jiufeng, the county magistrate, and several military officers wandering around the northern wall of the city, pointing and pointing.From time to time, the attendants used a ruler to measure the distance, nailed wooden stakes on the ground, and drew white roads.At the time when the people of Changde returned from outside the city one after another, they were busy rebuilding their homes, so most of them didn't care what the county magistrate Dai and the others were doing.

Gradually, people knew that a memorial cemetery for the soldiers who died in the Changde Defense War would be built here. Gradually, people discovered that what was about to rise was a very magnificent building. The entire building was not completed until November 1945, when Japan surrendered and the Anti-Japanese War was won. On November 23, the 74th Army and Changde County Government invited the provincial capital and local people from all walks of life to attend the inauguration ceremony of the cemetery. With the old city wall as the background, sitting north to south, it occupies an oval-shaped area of ​​131 mu.The main entrance is a commemorative archway, and Wang Yaowu, commander of the 74th Army, inscribed the words "Memorial Archway for the Fallen Soldiers in Changde Battle".

There are three large plaques on the archway. In the middle is "Heaven and Earth Righteousness" inscribed by Chiang Kai-shek, on the left is "Blue Blood and Heart" inscribed by Chen Cheng, and on the right is "Flag Chang Bingyao" inscribed by Bai Chongxi. A few tens of meters away from the gate is a memorial tower about three feet high, with the words "Memorial Tower of the 74th Army Army Changde Battle" written on the body of the tower.The characters are written by Wang Yaowu.Behind the tower is a memorial hall, and behind the hall is a large tomb. There is a pavilion on the left and right of the tomb, and a stele in each pavilion. Time passed and years passed. The handwriting was covered with cement and restored, and the building was demolished and said to be rebuilt. Cover and restore, tear down and rebuild, it's always like that, like history itself. After the Battle of Changde, the 58th Army that cleaned up the battlefield reported to the Military Commission that the number of buried officers and soldiers of the 57th Division in the city was 5,703, and the number of wounded in the 57th Division was recorded as more than 2,000. During the entire battle of Changde, the Chinese army killed more than 60,000 people, and the wounded and missing persons were not counted. According to the Japanese war history, the Japanese army lost 1274 troops in the battle of Changde, 2977 wounded, and 4251 counted. The Military Order Department of the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government compiled the "Review of the Battle of Changde": In this battle, a total of dozens of military officers including Nakahata Kouichi, Funoue Teruichi, and He Erkiron were killed, and the enemy officers and soldiers suffered more than 40,000 casualties.