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

Chapter 26 Death's Paradise (Battle of Changsha, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Western Hubei) (5)
Seeing that the Japanese army began to besiege Quzhou, the Chinese Three War Zones judged that the plan to attract the enemy with Quzhou as the core had been basically implemented, so they decided to carry out a decisive battle the next day. The task of the 74th Army was to switch from defense to offense, oppressing the Japanese army on the south bank of the Qujiang River and annihilating it.

Unexpectedly, Chiang Kai-shek sent an urgent telegram to the third war zone that night, ordering to abandon the original plan for a decisive battle in Quzhou.The reason was that he had received news that the No. 11 Japanese army was dispatched. The Japanese army was too strong. If the original plan was still implemented, not only would it be difficult to win, but the 74th Army and other elite troops would also suffer unnecessary heavy losses.

The actual situation at this time is indeed not that you can attack if you want to attack, or wipe out if you want to.In the past, like in the battle of Shanggao, the pressure faced by the flanking troops was very small, but now there is a Japanese division in front of the 74th Army, and other troops are also suppressed by the Japanese army with considerable strength, and no one can help anyone.

On June 6, the No. 4 Second Division of the Japanese Army launched another attack. At noon, they even detoured the position of the 20th Division in an attempt to break through the defense line from the south. Zhang Lingfu, the commander of the 58th Division, sent the reserve team up in time to repel the Japanese army.

On June 6, the 5th Regiment of the No.20 Second Division of the Japanese Army launched a fierce attack on the 86nd Regiment of the 58th Division stationed in the mountain position.The Japanese infantry followed the "Plaster Flag" and rushed forward like crazy. The officers and soldiers of the [-]nd Regiment jumped out of the position and threw grenades.

When it was the turn to fight the bayonet, the position was a bit troublesome. Zhang Lingfu hurriedly dispatched the 86rd Regiment, and finally repelled the Japanese attack at dusk.Many Japanese soldiers were killed in this battle, and Lieutenant Shimada Renjiro, commander of the [-]rd Battalion of the [-]th Regiment of the Japanese Army, was killed on the spot.

On June 6, Zhang Lingfu received an order to retreat.At this time, the enemy and the enemy are fighting fiercely, fighting for every inch of land. If they retreat immediately, the Japanese army will definitely follow and pursue them.

According to the agreement in advance, as soon as the trumpeter blew the charge horn, there were shouts of killing everywhere in the position, and all kinds of weapons blared together.When the dust in front of the position was enough to cover the enemy's sight, the charge stopped immediately, and the officers and soldiers jumped out of the trench without waiting for orders, and the wounded soldiers on their backs withdrew from the position.

On the way to retreat, another accident happened, and the 58th Division was ambushed by a group of Japanese troops.Zhang Lingfu personally stepped forward to observe the enemy's situation, but in a hurry, he made a low-level mistake. Instead of looking for a concave position or using the artillery mirror to observe, he lay directly on the edge of the embankment.

Seeing people who looked like senior officers looking around, the Japanese army immediately aimed at the target and launched an attack.At this distance, the sniper does not have enough range, and only a mortar or hot hatch can reach it.If Zhang Lingfu was standing on a mountainside or in a pit, he would probably be fine, because the mortar shells fly in a parabola, and it is unlikely that they will land exactly where he is standing, but the embankment is different, as long as the shells fall behind, The shrapnel would shoot to the edge of the embankment, and the people lying there had nowhere to hide.

When the mortar shells were about to fall, Zhang Lingfu's adjutant had already noticed that he rolled over and fell on Zhang Lingfu.When the shell hit the ground, the adjutant had a leg broken and more than a dozen shrapnel embedded in his back. Although Zhang Lingfu survived, his hands were also badly blasted.

Except for the blocking battle before and after the abandonment of the decisive battle plan, the battles that the 74th Army participated in afterward were all guerrilla warfare, and it was difficult to achieve a decent record.When Wang Yaowu organized a staff group to visit the Changsha battlefield, everyone still looked down upon the No.20 Army's style of play, but now they have no choice but to do so.

It should be said that the decision of the Chinese High Command to abandon the decisive battle in Quzhou to avoid the loss of the main force was not wrong. In mid-August, the No.8 Army and No.11 Army of the Japanese Army retreated respectively, but at this time the 13th Army was transferred to northern Fujian, away from the front lines of Zhejiang and Jiangxi.Without the 74th Army, most of the troops left in the third war zone lacked the strength and will to chase and wipe out the enemy. In addition, the Japanese army had stricter defenses and vigilance, so the latter part of the Zhejiang-Jiangxi Battle did not expand the results as before.

Among the previous battles that the 74th Army has participated in, this is probably the most lackluster one. Fortunately, the future is long, and as long as they are willing, the "Tiger Army" still has opportunities to win the flag and make contributions.

Awe-inspiring tiger
Chen Cheng once inspected the 74th Army. When he lectured to the officers above the battalion, he said: "Wars broke out in the third, sixth, and ninth theaters. The chairman (referring to Chiang Kai-shek) first looked for the location of the 74th Army on the map. Why? When necessary, Use your troops!"

In mid-May 1943, the 5th Army, which was training in Hengshan, Hunan Province, received a telegram from Chiang Kai-shek himself, requesting to travel day and night to the Sixth War Zone in western Hubei for emergency treatment.

As early as a year ago, the No.11 Japanese army stationed in Wuhan was preparing to attack the sixth theater, but it was only delayed because of the outbreak of the Zhejiang-Jiangxi battle.A year later, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, the new commander of the No. 11 Army of the Japanese Army, finally took military action.

The combat effectiveness and fighting will of the troops in the sixth theater were relatively weak. Under the heavy attack of the Japanese No. 11 Army, they soon fell into a complete collapse.Originally, the geography of western Hubei was good for defense but not good for attack in military terms. Especially in the areas west and north of Yichang, there are mostly high mountains and rugged roads. In some places, only deep valleys can pass through. There are cliffs on both sides. Walking at the bottom of the valley is like being in a well. generally.If the defensive troops can take advantage of the dangers, it can be said that "one man guards the gate, ten thousand men are invincible", but the sixth theater also failed to take advantage of these favorable geographical conditions to attack the enemy.

Seeing the tense battle situation, Chiang Kai-shek asked Chen Cheng, who was planning an expedition to western Yunnan in Yunnan, to rush back to western Hubei to take command, and at the same time urgently dispatched the 74th Army to help in order to prevent the Japanese army from entering the eastern Sichuan gate.

On May 5, the 24th Army advanced to Taoyuan, Hunan.According to Chen Cheng's order, except for the 74th Division who stayed to guard Changde, the rest of the troops moved north to the border of Hunan and Hubei to attack.

After many years of running-in, Wang Yaowu has completely mastered the personalities and combat expertise of his subordinates, and basically formed a fixed pattern for the use of his subordinates' three divisions. Yu Chengwan, the commander of the 57th Division, is calm and experienced, and the division has the characteristics of being good at defense. Wang Yaowu mostly uses it to stick to the key points. For example, this time he arranged for the division to guard Changde.

The 51st Division is the base of the No.70 Fourth Army and is known for being good at attacking. However, in the frontal war of resistance, most of the time the enemy attacks and we defend. Therefore, Wang Yaowu often uses this division as a reserve team to act together with the troops directly under the army. Li Tianxia, ​​the former division commander of the 51st Division, has been promoted to deputy commander, and the division commander is replaced by deputy division commander Zhou Zhidao. Zhou Zhidao's personality traits are similar to Qiu Weida's. It was so hard, I went back and fell asleep, and when I woke up, everything was back to normal.

Among the three main divisions, the 58th Division has both offensive and defensive capabilities, and can both attack and retreat. The division commander Zhang Lingfu is even more known as "Meng Zhang Fei", and the 58th Division often acts as a sharp knife for the entire army to open up mountains and roads.

Prior to this, the Japanese army had already attacked Shipai, known as the first gate of Chongqing.The original plan of the Sixth War Zone was to use the stone tiles as the base. After the 74th Army and other heavyweight reinforcements arrived, they would launch a north-south attack on the Japanese army. However, the Japanese army quickly began to retreat after failing to attack the tiles.Not missing the opportunity, Chen Cheng immediately issued a pursuit order.

On June 6, the 2th Army began to join the pursuit army. As the vanguard, the 74th Division first wiped out a small group of Japanese security forces in northwestern Hunan, then broke out of Hunan, and continued to rush towards Songzi and Gongan in Hubei together with the 58st Division that followed.

After the Battle of Zhejiang and Jiangxi, in view of the fact that the Japanese army was familiar with the designations of the Chinese army and was able to successfully decipher the Chinese intelligence, the 74th Army re-named the designations of each department. "Yulin", the 51th Division was named "Hu Ben" according to the honor of "Hu Ben Master" it had won.

Because of this work, although the No.11 Japanese Army paid great attention to the 74th Army, which it regarded as the "No. But I don't know its exact location, let alone that the army is secretly marching towards the Mopanzhou area south of Songzi.

In order to fight back against the trailing troops in the sixth theater, the Japanese independent mixed No. 17 Brigade, which was about to withdraw to its original station, was ordered to return to the rescue. About ten kilometers southwest of Mopanzhou, it suddenly encountered the 51st Division, and the two sides fought fiercely.

After the infantry received the fire, the 51st Battalion of the Army Artillery Regiment attached to the 76st Division began to shoot at the Japanese positions.The first battalion belongs to the mountain artillery battalion, equipped with twelve Soviet-style [-]mm mountain artillery, all of which were equipped when refitting the attacking army.In order to prevent the Japanese army from counterattacking, they fired each shot for more than four hours, that is, they switched to a new position and started shooting again.

Taking advantage of the Japanese army being beaten dizzily, Wang Yaowu ordered the 58th Division to reinforce it. The 58th Division thrust in from the flank of the Japanese army, and joined forces with the 51st Division to attack. After several rounds of slashing, the Japanese No.17 Brigade was basically defeated.

The No.17 Brigade of the Japanese Army suffered the most losses in the entire Battle of Western Hubei. Three captains of the five infantry brigades were killed. The "Tiger Troop" appeared in Songzi so quickly and showed its majestic tiger power, so that the No. 11 Army Headquarters of the Japanese Army had to order all troops to withdraw from the battlefield as soon as possible to avoid losses.

The 74th Army was still chasing after it. On June 6, the 13th Division chased to the Hudu River west of Gong'an, and quickly occupied various key points along the west bank of the river.

The tiger wanted to cross the river, but the Japanese army had burned all the ferry boats. The division commander Zhang Lingfu ordered the division engineering battalion to build a pontoon bridge. The whole division crossed the river in the early morning of the next day, and recovered most of the public security areas by noon.Two weeks later, the 58th Division occupied Yanglin City again, drawing a more satisfactory end to the journey of the 74th Army.

(End of this chapter)