Tiger Troops: The 74th Army of the Kuomintang Anti-Japanese Ace

Chapter 24 Death's Paradise (Battle of Changsha, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Western Hubei) (3)
In the melee until midnight, the position of the spy company was breached by the Japanese army, and the division command post was forced to withdraw southward.Because there was no guide, and after walking not far, they encountered the Japanese army, the division headquarters was dispersed, and the 51st Division became even more chaotic.

The night attack launched by the Japanese army was originally a smack in the face, and they did not expect to go deep into the army. However, stimulated by the continuous victory, no one considered what was conventional or irregular, and a large army directly rushed to Huanghua Town by night.

Break through
The terrain in northern Hunan is the same as that in northern Jiangxi. It is dominated by mountains and lakes. In addition, the ninth war zone will completely destroy the roads in every battle, making mechanized and motorized arms basically useless. The only ones that can increase the speed of movement of the Japanese army are cavalry. .

In the Battle of Northern Hunan, the Japanese cavalry gave full play to its surprise attack role.When fighting against the Tenth Army belonging to the Chinese Ninth Theater, the cavalry regiment of the No. 11 Army of the Japanese Army took a rugged path and launched a night attack on the frontmost battalion of the Tenth Division of the Tenth Chinese Army.The officers and soldiers of the battalion were snoring and sleeping in the camp, when the Japanese cavalry rushed in and hacked and killed 300 people overnight with knives.

In addition to raiding the front-line troops, the cavalry also targeted the Chinese command organization.The dispatch of the first army depends entirely on the command. Once the command organization is raided and the communication is destroyed, the command intention cannot be issued. When the army has no leader, it often encounters the enemy and has no intention of fighting, so it can only retreat blindly.

It was the brigade of Japanese cavalry that attacked Huanghua Town.At that time, Wang Yaowu was negotiating with Lieutenant General Gao Shen and Shen Jiuzheng, who was dispatched by the Commander's Department of the war zone, to discuss the retreat.The troops directly under the army were dispersed immediately. Seeing the approach of the Japanese army, Wang Yaowu and Shen Jiuzheng hurried into the woods beside the road.

Wang Yaowu's platoon of guards sacrificed their lives to cover it. The platoon leader of the guards was hacked to death by the Japanese cavalry with sabers, and Wang Yaowu himself was only a few steps away.

The night was cloudy and moonless, and it was dark. There were advantages and disadvantages for the breakouts. The biggest disadvantage was that they did not know the direction and did not know which correct path to retreat. After the headquarters of the 51st Division was dispersed, Li Tianxia and her staff were forced to break through separately.Li Tianxia had guards by her side, so the situation was relatively better, and ordinary staff officers could only rely on their own luck.Huang Youheng, a staff member of the division staff office, held a pistol and carried a briefcase on his back, and climbed up a hill covered with bushes. The voices of Japanese soldiers talking, eating and asking passwords were heard from the village below the mountain, but he did not dare to go down the mountain casually. .

Huang Youheng waited until dawn and sunrise, when he could see the direction to the south clearly, then Huang Youheng set off.After walking for more than ten miles, he ate something at a farmhouse and burned all the briefcase, including the documents and bags.Because he knew that he was not completely out of danger, the only way to prevent important documents from falling into the hands of the Japanese army.

Sure enough, when approaching the Liuyang River, Huang Youheng encountered the Japanese army again. He wanted to climb the mountain to avoid it, but it was too late.Two Japanese soldiers followed closely behind and failed to hit him twice with bayonets. Huang Youheng jumped down the steep slope, then ran to the Liuyang River, and jumped into the river desperately to swim south.

The Japanese army fired several shots on the shore, and Huang Youheng dived into the water in a hurry. The Japanese army thought he was shot and sank, so they stopped firing.

After Huang Youheng climbed to the south bank, he went through untold hardships to reach the north of Liuyang City.The deputy division commander Zhou Zhidao is already containing the troops, and the division commander Li Tianxia has also arrived at the south bank of the Liuyang River and is setting up a defense line to cover the entire army to contain them.

During this entire army retreat, the situation of the 51st Division was not bad. Most of the regiments, battalions, and company commanders controlled one or several troops in the chaos, and they all brought the troops back.Among them, the artillery battalion is the best preserved. Liu Bingjun, the deputy commander of the battalion, returned to search for each company and fired at the pursuing enemy with fierce artillery fire.Under the unknown situation, the enemy did not bite and pursue, so that the artillery battalion returned safely without any loss.After the war, Wang Yaowu gave a speech in the 51st Division and praised Liu Bingjun in public for his calmness, wit and bravery in the face of powerful enemies.

Among the three divisions, the 57th and 58th divisions suffered the most. The 57th Division suffered 40.00% casualties, and the 58th Division suffered even more serious injuries. Only 85 officers were killed in battle, and 140 people were injured or missing. The total casualty rate was close to half of the officers and soldiers who participated in the battle.

The broken halberd at Chunhua Mountain was one of the few defeats in the history of the 74th Army.Although they were defeated and retreated, they still showed their true colors as an iron army. Not only did they wipe out a considerable number of Japanese troops, but also because of their effective containment, they left Anan with the biggest hidden danger behind him-Pingjiang.

On September 9, the Japanese army occupied Changsha, and on September 28 they captured Zhuzhou. On October 9, Anan believed that he had achieved his goal and ordered a northward retreat along the original offensive road.At this time, Yang Sen commanded the No.29 Army and other troops to fight out from Pingjiang, carrying out side attacks, tail attacks, and blocking attacks, which caused the Japanese army to suffer a lot of casualties and seized a large number of horses, guns, and ammunition. The main reason for the "Second Great Victory in Northern Hunan".Afterwards, Isamu Kinoshita, Chief of Staff of the No.10 Army of the Japanese Army, recorded in his diary: "The commander of the Anan Army believed that not occupying Pingjiang was a major mistake of the army."

During the retreat of the Japanese army, the Chinese Ninth War Zone carried out a full-line pursuit, and the 74th Army was also among them. However, the so-called pursuit of "recovering" the lost ground after the Japanese army was exhausted in this way was not necessary for a team that never relied on opportunism to obtain it. For the heroic troops with honor and military exploits, it doesn't have much practical significance, they just follow orders.

When Wang Yaowu received the order to deploy the pursuit, he didn't know where Liao Lingqi, the commander of the 58th Division, was now. Therefore, the 58th Division did not pursue the pursuit with the 51st and 57th Divisions.

Liao Lingqi did not disappear during the battle, which means that the possibility of death or capture is unlikely, but it is very likely that he fled to the rear.This kind of thing was not uncommon in the Anti-Japanese War, but it happened to the 74th Army, but it was unimaginable. Wang Yaowu hurriedly called the Minister's Ministry to investigate, and the investigation results were ridiculous.

Delicate relationship
Liao Lingqi had returned to his hometown of Qiyang, Hunan by train, and was preparing to organize militias to fight guerrillas, and asked the local county magistrate for assistance.The county magistrate called the Hunan provincial government, and the provincial government forwarded the call to Xue Yue, who was also chairman of the Hunan provincial government at the time.As soon as Xue Yue heard this, he immediately ordered the Qiyang county government to arrest Liao Lingqi.

Another theory is that Liao Lingqi met a senior officer from the Ninth War Zone unexpectedly on the train, and it was this senior officer who reported Liao Lingqi to Xue Yue.

Why did Liao Lingqi do this? Some people said that he was scared out of his wits in front of the collapse of the whole army, and even panicked, flinched and left the troops behind.However, some people think that Liao Lingqi has always been known for his bravery among generals, unlike a rat who is greedy for life and fear of death, there must be another reason for leaving the team and going home without authorization. At the time, Yu Ji took great pains to adjust the personnel of the 58th Division. It turned out that the senior principal and deputy division commanders were transferred away, and Liao Lingqi, who had less seniority in Whampoa, was reassigned to facilitate Wang Yaowu's control of the 58th Division.Unexpectedly, Liao Lingqi was not a fuel-efficient lamp. He worked in the No.80 Eighth Division of the German Armor Division in his early years. He once participated in the "Jan. He has been a brigade commander, and he has made great military exploits before joining the 88th Army.

When Yu Jishi was there, Liao Lingqi certainly obeyed, but his attitude towards Wang Yaowu, who had no historical origin, was quite arrogant.He thinks that Wang Yaowu doesn't have any real skills, and that he can make a fortune because of his connections and better opportunities.With Liao Lingqi at the center, the relationship between the officers of the 58th Division and Wang Yaowu and the military headquarters is somewhat delicate. The intention to strengthen the control of the 58th Division.

Based on this inference, Liao Lingqi probably left because he was dissatisfied with the war zone and Wang Yaowu's own mistakes.

Regardless of the reason, this is intolerable in the disciplined military system. Wang Yaowudang will report the relevant situation truthfully, and Xue Yue will report to Chiang Kai-shek for the crime of deserting, requesting severe punishment.

After the battle, Chiang Kai-shek personally presided over a high-level military meeting in Nanyue. Xue Yue was severely criticized at the meeting because of his command mistakes. Although the 74th Army was defeated, its performance was still recognized. The 51st Division and the 58th Division were awarded 5000 yuan in French currency. There are four types, and the Baoding Medal ranks second only to the Blue Sky and White Sun Medal.

Liao Lingqi was the most unlucky, and Chiang Kai-shek announced on the spot that he would be executed on the spot according to the law of reorganization of revolutionary soldiers.As soon as the announcement was over, Liao Lingqi was escorted out and shot outside the gate of Nanyue Temple.

The execution of Liao Lingqi greatly angered several regiment leaders of the 58th Division.They believed that this matter was handled unfairly. The 58th Division was equally heroic in the Battle of Yong'an.

Of course, the team leaders knew the delicate relationship between Wang Yaowu and Liao Lingqi, but it was also because of this that they felt that Wang Yaowu did not stand up to intercede for Liao Lingqi, which seemed heartless and unjust, which seemed to add insult to injury.

In grief and indignation, three of the four regiment leaders resigned collectively and quit. The other officers and soldiers of the 58th Division also became demoralized because of the death of the division commander.

Seeing this situation, Chiang Kai-shek, who has always attached great importance to the 74th Army, couldn't sit still.He made an exception and arranged for Liao Lingqi to pay the officers and soldiers who died in battle, so as to appease the hearts of the officers and soldiers of the 58th Division.

After Zhang Lingfu took office, in addition to consoling or promoting some of the original officers, he also transferred some backbones from the 51st Division to make up for the vacancies. , such as Liu Guangyu.

Liu Guangyu is courageous, knowledgeable, affectionate, and loyal, but he has the kind of mule temper that Hunan people often say, and his nature is very stubborn, which is difficult for ordinary bosses to control.Perhaps because of this reason, even though he was already an official battalion commander during the Battle of Songhu, and he made outstanding achievements repeatedly, his promotion was not particularly fast. Even if he was transferred to the 58th Division by Zhang Lingfu, he was still only a regimental commander.

After the transfer, Liu Guangyu was still arguing with Zhang Lingfu on the surface.During the training of the troops, sometimes seeing the unsatisfactory situation, Zhang Lingfu would say angrily to Liu Guangyu: "Tomorrow is Memorial Week (an institutionalized commemoration activity of the Kuomintang army), how many are in your regiment?"

What he meant was that some officers and soldiers who behaved badly could be dragged out and shot.Liu Guangyu immediately pushed him back: "There is no one in my regiment!"

Zhang Lingfu couldn't get off the stage, so he said: "There are always none in your regiment, and you must find some for me tomorrow."

Liu Guangyu simply replied: "Actually not, or you can take me to shoot."

One of the two people said yes and yes, the other said no and no, it was the same trick every time.Others thought that their superiors and subordinates were at odds, but in fact, the person Liu Guangyu admired and obeyed most in his life was Zhang Lingfu.Soldiers are straightforward and will not beat around the bush. This is their unique way of emotional communication.

With such a group of down-to-earth and outstandingly capable subordinate assistants, and Zhang Lingfu himself was not inferior to Liao Lingqi in terms of military merit or prestige, so he stabilized the morale of the army not long after he took the palm.

The 74th Army first assembled and rectified in Yichun, Jiangxi, and then went to Liuzhou, Guangxi for supplementary training. The 58th Division lacked the most personnel, with less than a hundred people per company, so Guizhou allocated some recruits.After a period of replenishment and training, the troops recovered a little.

A few months later, the 74th Army was again ordered to participate in the battle in Changsha.At that time, all the ministries were stationed along the railway line south of Liuzhou, so mobilization was relatively easy, and they boarded the wagons and headed north.

Departed along the Hunan-Guizhou Railway on New Year's Day in 1942, and arrived near Xialiu City, the starting point of Hunan, on the morning of January 1.Everyone was about to get out of the car and march on foot, when the minister's department called: "The enemy who committed Changsha has retreated."

The 74th Army then assembled near Hengshan and stood by.Soon came the news of the unprecedented victory in the Battle of Changsha and the commendation order for the Tenth Army's outstanding military exploits in defending Changsha.

The Changsha battle has been fought three times. Why did the third Changsha battle go so well?How can the Tenth Army defeat the enemy and win the first battle this time?
Wang Yaowu decided to learn from the scriptures. He selected some commanders and staff from the army, division, and troops directly under the military headquarters to form a staff travel group (staff group). After reporting to the Ministry of Ministers for approval, they went to the battlefield for inspection and travel training.

nothing can be assumed
The Chief of the Ninth War Zone attaches great importance to the staff group organized by the 74th Army.Zhao Zili, Director of the Staff Department of the Minister's Ministry, personally introduced the battle and winning experience.

An American reporter once asked Zhao Zili a question, saying how the battle was exactly the same as your battle plan. Your plan was not printed after the war, right?

Zhao Zili immediately asked back: "If it was printed after a war, can it still be called a 'battle plan'?"

The reporter kept shaking his head suspiciously: "Why is it such a coincidence? Myth, myth!" Zhao Zili said that it was not a myth, but a reality, and that's exactly how we fought.

Zhao Zili did not cheat. The reason for the victory in the third battle is complicated or not. It is that he did not do it or did not do it well in the second Changsha battle. Honestly conduct command in accordance with the spirit of "retreat decisively" and "strive for outside lines".

As the absolute protagonist this time, the Tenth Army had also participated in the second Changsha Battle before, but it was defeated earlier than the 74th Army, and the enemies were still the same as before. The command ideas and methods in the theater were different, and the result was completely different.

I believe that the members of the staff group will definitely have a special feeling when they hear this: If time and space can be converted, and the 74th Army is moved to the position of the Tenth Army in this battle, what will happen?It is very likely that the 74th Army will create a glory like the Shanggao Battle, but nothing can be assumed.

Compared with the command and deployment in the theater, the staff group is more interested in the actual combat situation of each unit, which is the key content they want to investigate.There are two main battlefields to investigate, one is Yingzhu Mountain and Fulinpu positions.Fighting here is still the No.20 Army, which performed well in the second Changsha Battle, and their tactics are still flanking, tailing, and blocking the Japanese army.

According to reports, the specific way of fighting is this: when the Japanese army retreated along the main road, the No.20 Army was shooting on the mountain.Annoyed by the shooting, the Japanese sent a force to attack the hill, and the No. 20 Army retreated.To put it bluntly, it is a semi-sporty tactic of picking up cheap and not hard capping.

Obviously, this tactic does not meet the appetite of the 74th Army.There is a "Grave of Japanese Bandits" in Fulinpu, which was inscribed by Wu Yizhi, Xue Yue's chief of staff.Everyone looked at each other and laughed: You beat people when they are not prepared, and you run away when others come to beat you. Just fighting like this can wipe out thousands of enemies?

It is true to say that the No. 20 Army carried out an appropriate resistance within its own capabilities, but it is too much to say that they wiped out more than [-] enemies.Later, it was revealed that the so-called "Japanese Bandit Mass Grave" was a grave built by digging out the corpses of Japanese soldiers who had been buried in various places, and then buried them together. corpse.

Judging from the military quality and weaponry of both the enemy and our own during the Anti-Japanese War, it is absolutely impossible to wipe out more than 74 enemies without elite troops five or six times more powerful to pounce on them.According to this standard, the [-]th Army has created a miracle in the battle of Shanggao, and it is impossible to repeat the miracle repeatedly.

The 74th Army has always fought big and tough battles, and they don't know how to fight small battles. The No. 20th Army's fighting methods can't be used or learned.What really attracted the attention of the staff group was the second position, the defensive position of the Tenth Army in Changsha City.

(End of this chapter)