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

Chapter 28 Man Lives on Hope (Battle of Changde) (2)
Before the war came, Yu Chengwan naturally put the protection of the lives and properties of the common people in Changde as the first priority. When the situation became increasingly tense, he, with the cooperation of the county government, mobilized the residents in the city to evacuate.

Ever since Changde was bombed by Japanese planes in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, rich businessmen and wealthy households in the city had moved to the countryside with their families, and the only people left in the city were government officials, the poor, and small merchants.Yu Chengwan's request was that all the people should be evacuated this time, no one should be left in the city, and if they refused to leave, they would be forced to evacuate.

In order to evacuate quickly, the 57th Division also sent soldiers to help the elderly and weak residents carry supplies, during which they did not charge the people a penny.The south of Changde City is the Yuan River, and you need to cross the river to get out of the city.Soldiers from the 57th Division were also on board the river crossing boats to maintain order, with one soldier per boat. The boat owners were not allowed to be greedy for money and overloaded, and they were not allowed to take the opportunity to extort more boat fares from passengers, so there was order when crossing the river.

The county government gets along well with the 57th Division, and the personal relationship between the county magistrate Dai Jiufeng and Yu Chengwan is also very good.Dai Jiufeng not only tried his best to assist the 57th Division in deploying defense and preparing for battle, but also said to Yu Chengwan: "You guard Changde, and I will fight the enemy with you. We will live and die together with the city."

Dai Jiufeng did what he said.After the secretary of the county chief led the county government personnel to evacuate out of the city, he, the chief of police, Yue Qilin and a hundred police stayed behind to assist the 51st Division in defending the airports inside and outside the city.

As of November 11, the people in the city had been evacuated. The officers and soldiers of the 10th Division were stationed at the first and second lines of defense at their respective positions. They only set up guard posts at Dou Wharf and Xiaoximen.

On the night before the encirclement by the Japanese army, Yue Qilin, who was in charge of the airport, entered the city with a special pass in order to ask Dai Jiufeng for instructions.At this time, the whole city was pitch black and eerily quiet. He used a flashlight to shine a light on it, and found that green moss had grown in some places on the street because no one was walking.Under such circumstances, no soldier dared to break into houses or steal property without authorization.

fight poison with fire
During the third battle of Changsha, Wang Yaowu organized a staff group to learn from the experience of the Tenth Army guarding Changsha. After two years, the 57th Division, which is good at defense, also took on the role of city guard.

All the troops garrisoned in Changde had their own set of fortifications, overthrowing the original ones and rebuilding new fortifications, and they liked to stretch the defense area far away.In the eyes of defense experts, this is a stupid approach: starting from scratch, while costing people and money, the position is not necessarily stronger and more durable than the original one; if the defensive position is too wide, it will only dilute the defensive force and increase the gaps of the enemy's attack.

Yu Chengwan simplified the complexity. He concentrated the main forces of the three regiments he belonged to and allocated them to three sides respectively—Changde’s defense was to fight against the water, and the Yuan River in the south of the city was a natural danger. To a certain extent, the defensive pressure was reduced. North key fortification can be.

The defensive position is mainly divided into three levels: the first level is the outskirts of the city, the second level is the core position of the city wall, and the third level is the streets from east to west in the city.According to the experience of the Tenth Army defending Changsha, many reinforced concrete bunkers were built in various strongholds.

From dawn on November 11, the Japanese army began to approach the suburbs of Changde. The Engineer Battalion of the 18th Division laid a large number of landmines on the suburban roads in advance, which caused the Japanese army to suffer casualties one after another during the march, and also slowed down its advancing speed accordingly.

Before the battle started, Yu Chengwan personally inspected the outer positions.When he came to the Marsh Nihu position in the northwest suburb, he said to Shangguanying, the company commander of the [-]th Regiment: "The persistence of the Marsh Nihu position is very important to the defense of Changde. I hope that your company must stick to it and be brave. The spirit of killing the enemy and the determination to live and die with the position."

Shangguanying replied generously after hearing this: "Please rest assured, commander, no matter how cruel the battle situation will be in the future, as long as I survive, the officers and soldiers of the whole company will fight the enemy to the end."

On the outskirts of Changde, the three regiments basically defended their positions in such a company or even a row, but what they faced was often an enemy of a brigade or a strengthened brigade.The only way to defend the army in battle is to do everything possible to save troops and improve combat efficiency.

When the Japanese army tried to destroy obstacles such as barbed wire fences and deer villages, the officers and soldiers were generally not in a hurry to shoot. They waited for most of the Japanese soldiers to pass through the gap before crossing and attacking with side and oblique firepower. "Don't hit" principle, that is, don't hit if you can't see it, don't hit it if you don't aim it correctly, and don't hit it if you can't kill it.In addition, various tactics and combat tips in defensive warfare have also been brought out one by one and used repeatedly, including counterattack warfare, night attack warfare, hand-to-hand combat, grenade warfare, etc., everything that one expects to find.It was rumored afterwards that when the battle was urgent, the cooking soldiers who went to the front line to deliver food even used ropes to tie grenades to the shoulder poles, and threw the grenades with the poles, and they were able to throw tens of meters to injure the enemy.

On the front line of the mud lake alone, the Japanese army assembled a reinforced brigade and launched nine consecutive attacks, but they were all suppressed by the dense firepower net and could not move forward.In the other directions of the periphery, it was equally difficult to make progress in the offensive. The Japanese army couldn't help but marvel: "The defenders resisted very tenaciously."

I couldn't figure out the trilogy, and thought of poison gas.From dawn to dusk, Japanese planes took turns bombing and dropping tear gas bombs.With the current scale of the 74th Army, it is impossible to be fully equipped with gas masks. Some troops don't even have officers, let alone soldiers.Although it is possible to cover the mouth and nose with a wet towel, many people still experience tearing, coughing and even shortness of breath.Yu Chengwan then ordered to collect charcoal from the whole city, ignite it with mountain grass, and use the fire to blast the poisonous gas into the air.This is called the method of fighting poison with fire. It was discovered and adopted by the friendly army as early as after the first Changsha battle, and it was gradually promoted throughout the army.

As time went on, more and more Japanese troops gathered outside Changde, and the offensive became more and more fierce.The fortifications of the defenders were often blown up. Before the war, the officers and soldiers prepared some wood for thickening and covering. At this time, they used all their strength to repair it while it was dark.

The bombing of Japanese aircraft and cannons caused serious logistical difficulties, and the tea and dinner gradually became unstoppable.The soldiers could only satisfy their hunger with the fried rice they carried with them, and when they were hungry, they would grab a handful and stuff them into their mouths.

Drinking water has also become a big problem.There used to be a clarification pond nearby, but due to the continuous falling of shells and bombs into the pond, as well as floating dead bodies, the clean water has become stinky.In this case, the smelly water must be scooped out and settled for a while, and the sundries below must be poured out before drinking the water above.

All combat units communicate with their superiors, mainly relying on telephone lines.During the battle, many telephone lines were blown up. At first, the troops organized emergency repairs for the lightly wounded, but later the wounded went to fight, and no one repaired them. As a result, squads, platoons, and even positions were transformed into individual battles. There are "isolated islands".

The casualties are still increasing.There are more than a hundred officers and soldiers in the Shangguan company that sticks to the mud lake. Now, including the company commander Shangguan Ying, there are only seven people left. Some battalions have less than a hundred people, and it is not enough to form a company.

The 57th Division had to reorganize the peripheral units.Yu Chengwan braved the artillery fire and inspected the outer positions again. He told everyone: "Now the army commander has led the 51st Division, the 58th Division and the [-]th Army to the outskirts of Changde to fight fiercely with the enemy. It is hopeful that we will join forces victoriously, and we must persist A few days."

Bravery in the Army
Yu Chengwan was looking forward to joining forces with Wang Yaowu's Corps before November 11. At that time, he could still vaguely hear fierce gunfire from the northwest corner of Changde, but after November 22, he could no longer think so.Because on this day, the main forces of the 11st and 22th Divisions were forced to withdraw from Cili, and the door to the west of Changde was wide open.

On November 11, the 22th Regiment of the [-]th Division of the Japanese Army attacked Hefu, and the [-]nd Battalion of the [-]st Regiment guarding Hewei repelled eight Japanese assaults in one day, leaving only [-] people in the battalion , had to withdraw from the position.The [-]th Division of the Japanese Army occupied Hefu and completed the left encirclement of Changde.

At the same time, the second, third and fourth regiments of the No. 60 Eighth Division of the Japanese Army attacked Tokuyama.Deshan is the only commanding height on the south bank of the Yuanjiang River. If the defenders can hold on to the danger, they will surely inflict heavy losses on the enemy.Shou Deshan's unit was an infantry regiment temporarily placed under the command of the 57th Division. Although Yu Chengwan once again strictly ordered the unit to stick to it, the regiment withdrew from the position after a little resistance.

Following the fall of Hefu and Deshan successively, most of the 57th Division's outer strongholds were lost, and the rear supply line was also cut off.Yu Chengwan decided to shrink the main force to the core position of the second layer of the city wall.

When the main force was ordered to retreat, the huge city of Changde was already empty, and it was full of ruined walls left after the bombing by Japanese planes and all kinds of abandoned objects in a mess.There are indications that the situation facing the 57th Division is very serious.

People live by hope, but hope is not air, it has a source and conditions. The 57th Division has only one division, but the besieged Japanese army has the third division, the No.40 division, the No.60 eighth division, and the 57th division, a total of four divisions. Even though the 74th division has three heads and six arms, It is also very difficult to defend the city for a long time.Seeing that the contact with the main force of the [-]th Army had been cut off, Yu Chengwan could only hope for reinforcements from Changsha. Xue Yue told him in a telegram that the Ninth War Zone had sent two armies to help Changde in the starry night.

The Japanese troops invested heavily in the Battle of Changde greatly exceeded the load that the Sixth Theater or Wang Yaowu Corps could bear. Only with the participation of the adjacent Ninth Theater and the cooperation of the two major theaters could it be possible to repel and defeat the Japanese attack.

It is more than 100 kilometers from Changde to Changsha, and the road has been damaged, with potholes and potholes. Destruction of traffic is a double-edged sword, which will cause difficulties for the movement of both the enemy and ourselves.Obviously, if you want to fight across theaters, you need to deploy troops in advance, otherwise you won't be able to join the battle in time.However, before the war, Xue Yue made a misjudgment. Based on the experience of the first Changsha battle, he concluded that the Japanese army used the same tactics as when they were in northwestern Jiangxi last time. Attack Changsha from the north of Hunan.Based on this consideration, he did not immediately transfer troops from northern Hunan to western Hunan.It was not until several counties in western Hunan fell and the situation in Changde City was extremely tense that he hurriedly dispatched troops for reinforcements.

The two armies mentioned in Xue Yue's telegram should refer to the Tenth Army and the Eighth Army.When Changde was besieged, the two armies had either not set off or were still en route.

As long as there are reinforcements, there is hope. The 57th Division chose to continue to grit their teeth and persevere.Yu Chengwan issued a circular to all ministries: "Carry forward our glorious tradition of tiger and ben, and with the determination of the greatest sacrifice, fight the enemy to the last man, the last bullet!"

The military song of the 74th Army sang: "We grow up in battle, and we follow each other in artillery fire." As the Japanese army gradually approached the city wall from the outskirts of the city, the artillery regiment used to support the infantry began to play a role.

The 74th Army Artillery Regiment has a total of three battalions. Except for the second battalion, which is still stationed in Hengyang because it is a field artillery battalion, which is inconvenient for mountain operations, the other two mountain artillery battalions participated in the Changde Defense Battle.After the Japanese army entered the effective range of the artillery in the suburbs, the artillery regiment measured the shooting parameters of the Japanese army positions in the observation post, and made relevant charts.

Everything was ready, and following the command of "ready-release" from Jin Dingzhou, the commander of the artillery regiment, 24 Soviet-style mountain cannons exploded in unison, blowing up the Japanese army's position to "silence".Immediately afterwards, the eight mountain cannons among them were shifted according to the predetermined plan, firing shrapnel with timed fuzes at the Japanese assault troops, and the Japanese infantry exposed to the ground level were shot and fell to the ground.

Since the Battle of Western Hubei, the Sino-US joint air force has begun to counterattack.Under the leadership of Captain Gao Youxin, the Fourth Air Force Battalion assembled in Enshi and used the Jiangheside Airport outside the north gate of Enshi as its advance base.During the Battle of Changde, the pilots sat in the cockpit and were in a state of first-level combat readiness at any time. As soon as the signal sounded, they immediately flew to Changde.

When the artillery regiment fired, the aviation forces of both sides also started a fight in the air. One of the Japanese planes was shot and injured, so they had to lower their flying altitude and fly close to the ground.At the moment when the Japanese plane flew low and passed the artillery position, the artillery platoon leader Tian Shaoyou picked up the light machine gun and knocked down the plane with a burst of bullets.There were cheers all around, and when Yu Chengwan heard about it, he immediately promoted Tian Shaoyou to a higher level, and reported it to the Military Commission for meritorious service.

Artillery is the courage of the army, especially in defensive warfare.Through centralized equipment and mobile use, the artillery regiment was able to effectively suppress and destroy the Japanese army.However, the shortening of the distance is also mutual. Everyone can bombard each other with artillery. In comparison, the Japanese artillery positions that have been established at the beginning are more powerful in terms of strength.

The characteristics and benefits of Soviet-style mountain cannons are relatively light. Each mountain cannon can be broken down into eight pieces, which can be carried by mules, horses or manpower. However, it is essentially a light howitzer, and its caliber and range are not as good as heavy howitzers or cannons. .The latter is called field artillery, which is mainly drawn by horses or vehicles, and was equipped by the Japanese army at the regiment level. On November 11, the Japanese army bombarded the city wall position with field artillery, destroying many fortifications, and the deployed troops (the 23th Regiment of the [-]th Division) took advantage of the situation to attack the North Gate position.

Captain's death

Li Chao was serving in the [-]st Regiment at that time, and his [-]th company was ordered to enter the North Gate position to strengthen its defense.After the long-distance bombardment by the field artillery, the Japanese army launched an air strike by planes. Bombs rained down, and the North Gate position was blown up with fireworks.

Air strikes are terrible if troops are poorly trained or prepared, but if trained and properly prevented, damage can be minimized.According to the principle of air defense, at this time, except for the observers who stayed in the position to observe the enemy's situation, the rest of the personnel entered the bunker or shelter.

After the air raid was over, the troops quickly returned to their shooting positions, when the clothed troops rushed forward.The officers and soldiers quickly pushed the bullets into the chamber and unscrewed the safety cover of the grenade at the same time.

When the distance from the Japanese army was only more than 200 meters, Li Chao found that there were a lot of opponents, and there were more than 200 people densely distributed in front of their company alone.To shoot more with less, everyone was very nervous. Everyone held their breath and held the trigger tightly with their fingers, but no one fired first without an order.

When the Japanese army approached more than 100 meters, the company commander gave the order to "fight". The whole company concentrated their firepower and swept over row by row.Except for Li Chao's squad who stayed behind at the bunker, the rest of the squad and platoon all participated in the pursuit, and they did not withdraw their troops back to the camp until they were more than 500 meters away.

The clothed troops organized several charges that day, but without exception, they were all blocked by the tight firepower net of the defenders, and the troops could not advance.At dusk, the commander of the regiment, Bu Shangzhao, decided to call the infantry captains to a meeting in the hidden place behind, preparing to launch a night attack.

Bu Shang ran to the meeting place on horseback, but unexpectedly he was within the range of the defenders' mortar fire.A mortar shell flew over, and the horse was hit directly, and Lieutenant Hiroo Tahara, the combat staff officer of the nearby division and regiment, was killed on the spot.

Yokoyama was shocked by the death of the captain.According to the original plan, the attack on Changde was commanded by Lieutenant General Yan Yongwang, head of the 11th Division of the Japanese Army, but the tenacious blocking ability of Changde City forced Yokoyama to change his mind.He returned the command to the headquarters of the No.[-] Army, and decided to launch a general offensive every other day.

On November 11, the divisions of the Japanese army began preparations for the general offensive.Unlike the previous attack, the attack on the south gate is also added to the general attack operation.

In order to prevent the Japanese army from attacking from the southern waterway, the engineer battalion of the 57th Division had taken the measure of sinking the ship in the river in advance, that is, using the river as a blockade point, the wooden boat was tied to an anchor and sank into the water.Another way is to inject oil into the river and ignite it, which can also serve the purpose of hindering Japanese ships.

(End of this chapter)