Chapter 37 3. Walking on the corpses of Chinese soldiers

In Japan's war history, there is a record of the 11th Army Command that commanded this large-scale offensive operation. I don't know if it will help shorten the distance between reality and imagination. The weather in Hunan and Hubei is just like the military weather forecast: "Continuous cloudy days with light rain from time to time."This did not hinder the advancement of the 11th Army's operations.The rice has just been transplanted, the seedlings are about 15 centimeters long, and they have not yet taken root, swaying feebly in the breeze that brushes across the water.All the paddy fields have been planted, which may be an instinctive expression of the farmers' sense of time pressure.

The Combat Command of the 11th Army is centered on the war room, and is scattered in the farmer's homes at intervals of 50 to 100 meters on the slopes between the valleys.Only radio communication is used for communication and command, and the equipment is extremely simple.Staff officers and executives of various ministries went to the departments in charge to give on-site guidance, so it was very quiet here, only the not too strong roar of the single-engine plane responsible for search and contact broke the fragrant air of early summer. ...However, in this quiet valley filled with the fragrance of the fields in early summer, each battle order turned into radio waves and reached the Japanese troops one by one, and then turned into thunder and lightning, blood and fire.

On May 27, the Japanese army marched southward in three directions.The 3rd and 13th Divisions on the East Road came from Tongcheng to the south in the early morning; the 68th and 116th Divisions on the front of the Xinqiang River were the middle roads, and began to break through this famous river at noon; the 40th Division on the West Road was at dusk It began to cross the Yangtze River and Dongting Lake marsh water network, and went straight into Mishui. The difference in the attack time of the various routes made the Japanese attack line form an obvious slope, pressing the Chinese army in front of them to the west.A large number of light ships of the Second Fleet of the Japanese Navy, loaded with two infantry regiments, departed from Yueyang to Yingtian at midnight on the 27th, preparing to land here and cut off the retreat of the first-line Chinese defenders.After the offensive began, the Japanese army did not attack violently as before, but fought steadily and steadily, pushing southward at a leisurely pace, with an attitude of knowing that they were confident and winning.

But on the 28th and 29th, when it didn't seem to be in a hurry, Yang Hanyu's 20th Army defending the front line of Xinqiang River was surrounded by Japanese troops who broke through Xinqiang River and Japanese troops coming from the direction of Tongcheng. On the morning of the 30th, Yokoyama ordered: encircle and wipe out the 20th Army! On the 30th, those unhurried Japanese troops suddenly and violently attacked the 20th Army troops besieged between Guanwang Bridge and Pingjiang.Army commander Yang Hanyu led the army to follow the new 20th division, one of the two main divisions of the army. He commanded the 133rd and the new 20th divisions to cooperate with each other to break through a gap in the encirclement of the Japanese army. The Department and the new 20th Division broke out to the south, but the 133rd Division was surrounded by the Japanese army in the mountains around Pingjiang and fell into a desperate situation.

The headquarters of the 20th Army, the headquarters of the 27th Army Group, the communication station of the Ninth Theater, and several radio stations frequently called the code name of the 133rd Division. In the vast sky, there was no answer... In the early morning of June 2, it was drizzling.Zhao Zili walked out of the war room of the Ninth War Zone Combat Command set up on the top of Yuelu Mountain with a tired face.He stood facing the foggy downtown of Changsha, and took a few deep breaths of the moist and cool air in the mountains, but he couldn't feel any relief. The theater command was formed on the 28th. Xue Yue led most of the staff of the command during the third Changsha battle, and returned to the place where the command was set up.But after only two days, people felt that this time was very different from the last time.Just judging from the input of troops by the Japanese army, the battle was not easy to fight. On the 30th, the 20th Army was encircled and annihilated by the Japanese army, and the first line of defense was breached. The Japanese army marched calmly while letting civilians build roads.Cars dragging heavy artillery moved forward with the troops to assist the infantry in attacking the second line of defense on the Miluo River.Due to the investment of heavy artillery, the first-line defense of Miluo also quickly collapsed. In addition, the Japanese army successfully landed in the camp, and the second-line troops could only retreat instead of leaning on both sides like the last Changsha battle to avoid being surrounded.

Zhao Zili felt that the battle plan based on the aftertaste of the last victory in the Ninth War Zone was a waste of paper from the beginning, let alone turning the tide at this time. On the afternoon of June 1st, Zhao Zili wanted to talk to Xue Yue, telling Xue Yue that the war couldn't go on like this without knowing why, and he had to come up with some way! Knocking on the door of Xue Yue's room, he saw the officer packing up documents and personal belongings.Before Zhao Zili could speak, Xue Yue said, "Oh, I'll go to the rear first, you can take care of it here."

After dinner, I went down the mountain by car and went to the retreat location of the commander's department of the Leiyang Ninth War Zone. It's not that Zhao Zili has no commanding ability and is afraid of taking responsibility. The battle situation has developed so passively in a muddle. There must be an explanation and an arrangement, right? Zhao Zili worked intensely in the war room and stayed up all night. From the current situation of the enemy and us, he saw very ominous signs.With a heavy heart, he handled it carefully and watched the further development of the battle situation.

On June 3, Chiang Kai-shek finally realized the significance of the Hunan campaign from the Japanese army's overall strategic movements, and all the important members of the Military Commission were shocked by it.Jiang sent a telegram from Chongqing to Xue Yue, ordering Zhang Deneng's 4th Army to defend Changsha, Wang Zejun's 44th Army to defend Liuyang, Lu Daoyuan's 58th Army to defend Liling, and Fang Xianjue's 10th Army to defend Hengyang.Chiang Kai-shek said in the telegram: This battle is the key to the survival of the country, and it is also a good opportunity for our revolutionary soldiers to successfully establish a career. We hope that we will work together with one heart and one mind, and strive for the final victory.Where the order stipulates to stick to the position, you must not abandon it without authorization. Anyone who violates it will be dealt with according to the law, and the chief will have full power to deal with it and implement it thoroughly!

In the early morning of June 9, the 58th, 72nd, and 20th armies, which had been intensively mobilized for several days, encircled and attacked the 3rd and 13th Divisions of the East Japanese Army that had advanced to Liuyang.When the battle reached dusk, the battle situation turned into a situation where the Japanese broke through the positions of the 58th Army and lifted the siege. The 13th Division blocked several opponents, and the 3rd Division surrounded the 183rd Division, the main force of the 58th Army. The 183rd Division broke out in a bloody battle, and Yu Jianxun, the commander of the division, was shot and injured. The whole division suffered heavy casualties when it broke through the encirclement.

On the 13th, the Japanese army on the East Road went straight to Liuyang County, and Wang Zejun led the 44th Army to defend desperately.At noon, Japanese planes blew up the city, and the Japanese army rushed in. The two armies fought fiercely until the end of the day, and the Japanese army succeeded.Wang Zejun was unable to return to heaven, and led the remnants with heavy casualties to break out of the encirclement, and Liuyang fell. Among the three Japanese armies, the East and Middle Routes went smoothly despite fierce fighting. Only the 40th Division of the West Route was bravely resisted by the 73rd, 74th, 79th, and 100th Army under the jurisdiction of Wang Yaowu's 24th Army when it entered Yiyang and Ningxiang. The Japanese army could not advance any further.These troops were not ordered to retreat until all other directions were captured by the enemy.

While the Chinese and Japanese armies were fighting bloody battles on the vast battlefield north of Changsha, another "war" was going on in Changsha City. As the Changsha Defense War was approaching, the combat deployment of Zhao Zili, the chief of staff of the theater, was resisted by Zhang Deneng, the commander of the 4th Army.Zhang Deneng is the nephew of Zhang Fakui, a famous general of the Republic of China who is currently the commander of the Fourth War Zone. He is usually arrogant and few people think of him. fortifications.Zhao Zili was furious but helpless. He later recalled: "I think that according to the situation at the time, fighting on the east and west fronts is not good for me. Unlike the third battle of Changsha, Changsha should only be used as a long-term defensive line to slow down and consume the enemy's troops, so as to facilitate the subsequent decisive battle in Hengyang. It should not be defended, but The 4th Army, which was ordered to guard Changsha, used two divisions to guard Changsha and one division to guard Yuelu Mountain. I disagree, and think that one division should guard Changsha and two divisions should guard Yuelu Mountain. Yuelu Mountain fell, Changsha was hard to defend, and Yuelu Mountain was defended , is to defend Changsha. "I ordered the 4th Army to adjust its deployment. Zhang Deneng called me and said: When the commander left, I was not given your command. The commander asked me to put two divisions in Changsha and one division in Yuelu Mountain. I dare not change it. "I called Xue Yue in Leiyang at that time and asked: I stay here, do I command the 4th Army? "Xue A: You don't command. "At this moment, I was shaking with anger. I thought that an adjutant could be sent to inspect the house, and a staff officer could be sent to make contact. What is the purpose of putting me in Changsha?" Fortunately, Zhao Zili foresaw the serious consequences that would inevitably occur, and promptly informed Chiang Kai-shek through Wang Yaowu and Shangguan Yunxiang that he was unable to command Changsha to defend the city. . On June 15, the heavy artillery of the Japanese army entered the vicinity of Changsha with the troops, and the artillerymen began to shoot at the defensive fortifications of Changsha City.The earth-shattering explosion of large-caliber artillery shells opened the prelude to the battle in Changsha. At this time, most of the citizens of Changsha were evacuated, and there were two divisions of the 4th Army in the city. There was an infantry division and a military committee with dozens of advanced large-caliber artillery directly under the 3rd Artillery Brigade on Yuelu Mountain.The defense of the city deployed by the 4th Army was based on the previous battle, but this time the Japanese army was ingenious. In the plan of selecting Guan Wuzhi of Gaoshen Island in the base camp, avoiding the previous method of going from north to south, adopting a large roundabout tactic, first attacking Yuelu Mountain, to achieve the encirclement of Changsha. At dawn on June 16, the 34th Division of the Japanese Army, which had already crossed the Xiangjiang River and circled to the west of Yuelu Mountain, took the lead in attacking the top of the mountain.The officers and soldiers of Chen Kan's 90th Division defending here resisted tenaciously.The lush and beautiful Yuelu Mountain is shrouded in thick gunpowder smoke, and from time to time, shells cut a century-old tree into two pieces or uprooted it. At noon, dozens of Japanese aircraft flew into the sky and dropped a large number of bombs and incendiary bombs on the Yuelu Mountain garrison positions.For a time, the mountains were full of smoke and flames.The artillery who had shown their prestige in the last battle could not turn their cannons to the Japanese army at the foot of the mountain this time. The artillery brigade commander Wang Ruoqing sighed at the cannon and had to order his subordinates to use rifles and grenades to meet the enemy. At 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the Japanese army organized a coordinated assault with infantry and artillery.Seeing that the Japanese army approached the position of Yunlu Palace, the main peak of Yuelu Mountain, Chen Kan personally led the officers and soldiers to suppress the Japanese army to the death. The 90th Division suffered a lot of casualties in half a day, and the blood of the defenders was constantly spilled on the top of this famous mountain.Chen Kan called the army commander Zhang Deneng for emergency. He didn't know that after 9:00 in the morning, the Japanese army attacked Changsha City violently, and the heavy artillery turned the defense fortifications into living coffins.At 1:00 noon, the city defenses had been breached by the Japanese army, and the 59th and 102nd divisions in the city had fallen into a passive and hard fight. Everything was expected by Isamu Yokoyama. At this time, he was standing on a hill in the suburbs of Changsha, watching the city with binoculars.Under the hill, a few more cannons were pushed to the best firing positions. The soldiers chanted the labor chant of the Japanese folk, pushing, pulling, and carrying the heavy bodies of the cannons, and moved forward slowly.In the binoculars, Japanese soldiers were running fast in the smoke, and some people fell down from time to time, but the fighting did not stop for a moment, and the front continued to move forward.Isamu Yokoyama gave a calm and slight nod to the staff officers who came excitedly to report the progress of the battle, as if he was not very satisfied with the achievements he had made, as if all this was as it should be. In the last battle of Changsha, Anan was only able to advance the attack a few times, unable to carry heavy firearms, and a large number of Japanese soldiers died in front of the defenders.This attack was repairing roads while walking, carrying heavy artillery, and was invincible. It seemed slow, but it was actually much faster. Almost at the same time, the battles in the city and on the mountain stopped briefly between 11:00 pm and 5:00 am, and then started fiercely again. At noon on the 17th, Chen Kan called for help again urgently, and the battle in the city had entered a fierce stage.Chinese soldiers don't ask about the character of the officials. They only perform their duties according to their own understanding of war, morality, military orders, and military laws, and fight and sacrifice without complaint or regret.On this day, the Japanese army used more intense artillery fire to sweep away the solid fortifications of the defenders layer by layer like harvesting crops. Then the infantry stepped forward on the corpses of Chinese soldiers. At 3 pm, the battle line had been pushed to the Miaofeng Peak and Tianxin Pavilion in the center of the city. At around 3 p.m., Zhang Deneng called the division commanders and chiefs of staff of the 59th Division and the 102nd Division to hold a meeting in the basement of the Central Bank of the Army Headquarters (it seems that no matter where it was at that time, the Central Bank was always the strongest house in the local area). Zhang Deneng regretted not listening to Zhao Zili's combat deployment of defending Yuelu Mountain with the main force, guarding Changsha City with secondary forces, and retreating to Yuelu Mountain after gradually resisting.But war does not sell regret medicine. Zhang Deneng laid out the contradictions he was facing and asked the commanders to consider: not to reinforce Yuelu Mountain would be tantamount to giving up there; It is equivalent to abandoning the urban area, which is a dilemma. Lin Chaxian, the commander of the 59th Division, advocated defending the city and waiting for help, while Chen Weiguang, the commander of the 102nd Division, did not express his opinion.A few shells landed nearby, and the basement shook a little, reminding that it was not time for a meeting.Zhang Deneng patted the table and made up his mind. He said to the teachers: "If you don't guard the mountain, the mountain will perish and the city will perish. If you abandon the city and guard the mountain, the city will perish and the mountain will survive." Seeing that everyone was silent, he ordered the 58th Division to leave a regiment to defend the city to contain the main force of the Japanese army, and another regiment immediately set off across the river to reinforce the 90th Division, and the rest of the troops gradually crossed the river by boat.Just as the meeting was about to adjourn, Xue Yue sent a telegram: Whether Changsha is guaranteed or not is the key to the survival of the nation. I hope the army will tell the soldiers at all levels to fight the enemy bravely. Even if the last soldier dies, we must ensure Changsha! Zhang Deneng slapped the telegram on the table and asked the teachers to study it again.Who knows that Lin Chaxian and Chen Weiguang have a lot to do with each other!They were all silent at this moment. After a long time, Zhang Deneng stood up, and said with a serious expression: "As much responsibility as you want, I will bear it all by myself. According to the deployment just now, immediately transfer the troops and adjourn the meeting." The two division commanders led the chief of staff out of the basement of the central bank and rushed back to their respective headquarters to deploy across the river under heavy artillery fire.Zhang Deneng also asked Luo Taohan, chief of staff of the army, to organize the headquarters to evacuate the bank building.In their haste, no one thought of another matter that was as important as the decision to transfer troops, that is, how to transfer troops. Who is in the front, who is in the back, soldiers, food and ammunition, luggage, horses, boat distribution, time and place of crossing the river, who will plan, who will organize and implement a series of things, etc., no one thinks about it, everything goes with the flow. Confusion really ensued.Japanese War History contains: When the fleeing army from Chongqing tried to cross the Xiangjiang River, many people died, and more than a thousand people were drowned just by witnessing. What's more serious is that the troops crossing the Xiangjiang River did not go to Yuelu Mountain to reinforce the 90th Division, but fled without organization. Qu Huaping, the head of the 176th Regiment of the 59th Division who stayed in Changsha, knew that Changsha could not be defended, and the responsibility was at stake if he did not, so he left alone.Li Chunpeng, deputy head of the regiment, led a small number of troops to flee south of the city, but was captured by the Japanese army on the way, and Changsha fell. In the early morning of June 18, the officers and soldiers of the 216th Regiment of the 34th Division of the Japanese Army rushed to the top of Yuelu Mountain, panting.In the morning mist, the defenders could not be seen rushing to fight. Several Japanese officers looked at the map and led a squadron to the Ninth War Zone Command and the 3rd Army Command located on the south side of Yunlu Palace as if they were looking for a scenic forest path. Underground works commonly used by artillery brigade headquarters. Inside the fortifications, the lights are still on, the water is still warm, and the cigarette butts have not been extinguished. Lieutenant General Zhao Zili, Chief of Staff of the theater, and Major General Wang Ruoqing, Major General of the 3rd Artillery Brigade, have just left. Only dozens of intact heavy artillery and piles of shells from the 3rd Artillery Brigade never left.It didn't take long for these things to come in handy. The 11th Army used artillery to achieve great results in the Battle of Changsha. They quickly knocked on the gate of Changsha and counted the spoils after the war. There are: 10 heavy artillery, 51 field artillery, 29 machine guns, 69 mortars, and light and heavy machine guns, rifles, grenades, various gun shells, prisoners, etc., countless. The Chongqing Military Commission immediately reacted to the loss of Changsha in such a short period of time and in such a chaotic combat organization.Chiang Kai-shek ordered to investigate the responsibility. Zhao Zili recalled: "When I returned to Bin County, Xue Yue said to me: The chairman asked Zhang Deneng to go to Chongqing to report on the battle. Go with him and help him make this report. "I went to Guilin to go to Chongqing with Zhang Deneng, and the Military Law Executive Department immediately arrested Zhang and sent him to prison. "And said to me: Officer Xue has a letter, telling you that you are not doing enough to assist Zhang Deneng in defending Changsha, and you have to find a bail to wait for trial. "The Military Commission sent Xu Yongchang, Minister of the Military Order, as the presiding judge to try the case, and signed and sentenced Zhang Deneng to five years in prison." Chiang Kai-shek commented: "Zhang Deneng was sentenced to death. Until Zhao Zili was not responsible for the command, there should be no discussion." On July 22, Xue Yue called Chiang Kai-shek to bring Chen Kan, the commander of the 90th Division, to justice on the grounds of "ineffective combat, incompetent command, abandoned troops, and personal escape".On the grounds that "when crossing the river in Changsha to Yuelu Mountain, none of them had control of the troops, so they were unable to fight", they gave Lin Chaxian, the commander of the 59th Division, and Chen Weiguang, the commander of the 102nd Division, two major demerits each.Chiang Kai-shek instructed: "These three division commanders should all be dismissed and handed over to court-martial trials, with emphasis on military discipline." The military law department of the Ninth War Zone also shot and executed a group of officers who were ineffective in combat and dereliction of duty.There are Yang Jizhen, commander of the 177th Regiment of the 59th Division, Pan Kongzhao, director of the Adjutant Division of the 4th Army, Liu Ruiqing, director of the Military Affairs Division, Chen Jiyu, chief of the Adjutant Division, and Xia Deda, director of the Changsha Ship Management Institute. The 4th Army was originally a branch of Zhang Fakui's Guangdong Army, which was a subsidiary of Chiang Kai-shek. After the Anti-Japanese War, it gradually became a strong force of Chiang Kai-shek's Central Army and participated in many important battles on the frontal battlefield.After being assigned to the Nine War Zones, Xue Yue installed a large number of cronies in it, and appointed the nephew of his old colleague Zhang Fakui as the commander of the army. Before the battle in Changsha, Xue Yue intended to let the 4th Army play the same honor as the 10th Army did last time, but things backfired.Before the war, nearly 30,000 soldiers were fully loaded. When they retreated to Yongfeng, 120 kilometers southwest of Changsha, only 2,000 remained. On June 20, Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Army, held a meeting of division heads in Changsha.He didn't sum up the battle, nor did he praise the meritorious troops. He just announced an event that happened thousands of miles away with a gloomy face. On June 16, when the divisions were fighting fiercely, the U.S. 20th Air Force, under the direct command of the U.S. Army Aviation Commander General Arnold, used 20 B-29 and B-24 bombers to fight against the harsh weather conditions. Next, it took off from the airport in Southwest China and bombed the Kitakyushu and Yawata Steel Works in Japan.This is the first time that the b-29 aircraft has carried out an air strike on an important strategic target in the country with a large fleet after it was equipped with the air force. Due to the bad weather, the local air force was unable to take off, and the US plane flew away. The bombing caused heavy losses, especially the damage to the coke ovens of the Yawata Steel Works. The losses to the Japanese steel industry will greatly exceed the direct losses caused by the bombing. Yokoyama Yong said to the generals: "Japan's military technology cannot find a way to destroy the b-29 in the air in a short period of time. The only way is to destroy the airport where it takes off, so that it cannot stand, take off, or land. And This is our task now, dismiss the meeting." According to historical records: due to the bombing of the Japanese mainland, the Chinese military and civilians were severely retaliated. Tens of thousands of Chinese prisoners of war were brutally tortured to death by the Japanese army, hundreds of villages were bloody looted, and countless Chinese civilians were killed. Whether these crimes were directly related to the 11th Army has not yet been verified by the author, but the various ministries under the jurisdiction of the 11th Army moved south immediately after the capture of Changsha.The sun flag points directly to the next target: Hengyang.