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

Chapter 7 What kind of person is a warrior (Lanfeng battle Wanjialing victory) (2)
At that time, apart from Sanyi Village, the Japanese army also occupied Quxing Village.China's first-line troops are no more than 100 meters away from the village, and no more than 300 meters away.The front-line commander called his superiors and said that as long as he added some more troops, he could take Quxingzhai.

The boss only smiled wryly when he heard it on the phone: "Your suggestion is good, but how can I have troops to give you? The rest of the troops were scared away by a few shells from the Japanese army, and they were defeated. Only our regiment is available in the whole division." Yes. If you want reinforcements, you have to wait outside to send them.”

The Japanese army gathered in Sanyi Village was much larger and stronger than that in Quxing Village.At the critical moment, if some of the attacking troops here in Sanyi Village were sent to attack Quxing Village, wouldn't it be even more blind?

Despite this, some senior staff members of the rear headquarters still have hopes for the capture of Sanyi Village and Quxing Village.Gong Mengtao, then deputy director of the staff office of the Commander-in-Chief of the First War Zone and chief of the combat section, observed that the Japanese army had already dropped food bombs by air, which clearly showed that their supplies had encountered difficulties.If you persist in the siege for another three to five days, it is entirely possible to wipe out the No. 14 Division of the Japanese Army.

At this moment, the phone on his desk suddenly rang.Gong Mengtao picked up the microphone and listened. It was a long-distance call from Hankou, and the other party was the chief guard in Chiang Kai-shek's attendant room, asking Gong Mengtao to record important combat orders.

After the order was recorded, he was stunned.

meritorious deeds
This is an urgent order from Chiang Kai-shek, requiring the Eastern Henan Corps to immediately withdraw from the siege and transfer to the Longhai and Ping-Han railways respectively.The order also stated that if the siege was not withdrawn in time, "the enemy will be annihilated and the soldiers will be disgusted."

Gong Mengtao put down the microphone, picked up the telegram and walked into the room of Cheng Qian, commander of the first war zone.Cheng Qian hesitated for a while after reading it, and then asked Gong Mengtao to write an order to deploy the retreat.

Gong Mengtao said unwillingly: "Let the tiger go back to the mountain and nourish the legacy of carbuncle. In the future, we will reap the consequences!"

Cheng Qian replied helplessly: "The chairman's order must be obeyed, you should make evacuation arrangements."

Cheng Qian lamented that his efforts fell short, while Gong Mengtao did not see the overall change.In fact, Chiang Kai-shek's decision was correct.Because the Japanese army marching westward had captured Shangqiu to the west of Dangshan Mountain on May 5th, and was approaching the side of the Eastern Henan Corps.The situation on the battlefield is no longer how to eat up the No.29 Division of the Japanese Army, but that the entire Eastern Henan Corps will fall into the encirclement of the Japanese Army.

The duck, which seemed to be just one step away from being cooked, just flew away.The Eastern Henan Corps retreated immediately. On June 6, the 1th Army was ordered to withdraw to Qinyang, where they built fortifications and made repairs.

When retreating, the general soldiers were still kept in the dark, and did not understand why they took the initiative to retreat when they had not lost the battle ahead.Residents are even more puzzled.

During the Battle of Lanfeng, the people in the Central Plains gave the army selfless help and care just like the people in the south of the Yangtze River during the Battle of Songhu.Every time the troops moved to the defense, the local residents would be reluctant to part with them. Seeing that the troops could not be retained, they could only keep asking: "When will we defeat the Japanese devils? You have worked so hard to win, why do you have to retreat? You What should we do if we retreat?"

The soldiers couldn't answer, and could only curse as they walked: "Damn it, it's not that they are high officials who are afraid of death, so they ran away in a car. Usually they tell us to resist the Japanese, but they run back as soon as there is a war."

The officers knew the inside story, but they had nothing to say except pretending to be deaf and dumb.At this time, they were more worried about whether the troops could withdraw. Compared with the southern terrain, the plain area would only be more conducive to the movement and pursuit of the Japanese mechanized troops. No matter how fast two legs are, it is difficult to run on four wheels.

When the 74th Army withdrew to Qinyang, it was ready to further resist and get rid of the chasing enemy.However, this worry soon became unnecessary. When the rear cover troops of the Yudong Corps passed near Luowang Station and were about to retreat to Kaifeng, they heard the blasting sound of the engineer battalion using explosives to destroy the railway bridge.

Some troops in the rear mistook it for the sound of artillery from the Japanese chasing troops, and hurriedly greeted each other: "Hurry up and keep up, don't brag, the enemy is coming!"

When the troops reached Kaifeng, the officer told everyone that it was not the sound of artillery, "The Japanese planes blasted the mouth of the Yellow River in an attempt to drown our troops in the eastern Henan area, so the above asked us to retreat."

The soldiers believed it was true, and when they arrived at their destination, they were told the truth: "Our own engineers did the embankment digging at the Huayuankou of the Yellow River in Zhengzhou. The high command believes that only in this way can the Japanese army's pursuit be prevented."

Indeed, the breach of the Yellow River blocked the advance of the Japanese army for a while, and the Chinese army participating in the Battle of Lanfeng could retreat safely, instead of suffering heavy losses like they did in Shanghai and Nanjing.Even some chasing enemies who were too late to retreat to the east were cut off by the Yellow River and were surrounded and annihilated.

But this cannot replace the serious disaster it brought to the people of the Central Plains.The turbulent Yellow River was like a wild horse, destroying countless homes. Wherever the flood passed, the plains became rivers, and people and animals became fish.A shocking "yellow flood zone" has accumulated for decades and cannot be rehabilitated.

In the face of unprecedented disasters, many soldiers who participated in the Battle of Lanfeng were reprimanded by their conscience, and kept asking themselves questions: a thousand years of meritorious deeds!A thousand years of merit and crime?

Looking at it from a high level, no matter the retreat of Nanjing or the breach of the Yellow River, they can all be regarded as part of the strategy of the War of Resistance, but in this so-called strategy, the lives of the people are always regarded as so worthless.Conversely, the common people don't know what strategy is or not. They only know that they have borne the greatest and most direct pain caused by the war. , not only was still ruthlessly abandoned, but also pushed further into the abyss of suffering.

Didn't you say that you must live and die with one city and one place, and live and die with the common people?However……

"King Luo's bloody battle destroyed the enemy, and the yellow flow flooded the middle of Henan." People's hearts were lost little by little, although this was not the responsibility of the blood-stained warriors.

Responsible

Things are always so contradictory.If only from a military point of view, the Yellow River breach is inevitable.The flood not only ensured the complete withdrawal of the Eastern Henan Corps from the Lanfeng battlefield, but also delayed the Japanese army's original plan to attack Hankou from the north for several months, giving the Chinese army a chance to breathe accordingly.

With no pursuers behind them, the 74th Army withdrew from Qinyang at night, arrived at Hankou via the Ping-Han line, and then went eastward to Jiujiang without stopping. On June 6, the troops stationed in De'an, Jiangxi, responsible for part of the defense along the Nanxun Railway (Jiujiang-Nanchang).

As ever, the time to get a break is always very short. In late July, the Japanese troops going up the west of the Yangtze River landed in Jiujiang. Due to the lack of in-depth equipment, the defenders retreated across the board when they were breached at one point.

In this case, the defense line had to be redeployed.The Sichuan army originally guarding Jiujiang retreated to Ruichang, and the Guangdong Guangdong army originally guarding along the river retreated to the front line of Jinguan Bridge (now known as Jinqiao) south of Jiujiang due to the enemy.

After occupying Jiujiang, the Japanese army continued to advance. On July 7, the 31th Division of the Japanese Army went south along the Nanxun Railway and Highway in two routes in an attempt to implement a breakthrough in the center, and its offensive was quite violent.The Cantonese Army was the first to bear the brunt. After two days of fierce fighting, the troops suffered heavy casualties, and the main position was replaced by the Hunan Army. At the same time, the 74th Division of the 58th Army was also ordered to go to the vicinity of Huanglaomen to strengthen the thickness of the defense line.

In order to prevent the enemy's advance, the Nanxun Railway had been destroyed in advance. The east of the road was Lushan Mountain, and there was no way to go. Therefore, the two brigades of the 58th Division could only take a small road to the west.Halfway through the journey, the Japanese plane came out and swooped down to drop bombs while strafing the ground.In order to conceal the air defense, there was a disconnection between the brigade headquarters of the [-]nd Brigade walking in the middle and the front guard. When the Japanese plane flew away and the brigade headquarters wanted to follow up, it happened that the [-]th Brigade crossed their waists and put them blocked behind.

After all, the [-]th Brigade also passed.The brigade headquarters of the [-]nd Brigade was about to set off when it suddenly noticed a group of enemies jumping out of the ravine in front of the left.After observing with a telescope, the brigade commander immediately ordered the brigade's special agents to disperse, occupy the high ground to block the enemy, and at the same time let the three, four and three rear guards catch up as soon as possible.

Before the [-]rd regiment arrived, the spy platoon had already exchanged fire with the Japanese army.Due to being outnumbered, the spy platoon leader was quickly killed, and the brigade chief of staff was also injured.

Seeing that the situation was extremely critical, the brigade commander of the [-]nd Brigade saw that a rear battalion of the [-]th Brigade was about to pass through, so he grabbed the battalion commander and told him not to pass through, and joined the battle on the spot.

Unexpectedly, this battalion commander was very rigid in his work.He thought that his task was to advance towards the Huanglaomen, and if he couldn't keep up, he would be punished by military law—besides, you are not my brigade commander, so why should I listen to you?
No matter what the brigade commander said, he refused to obey.It's really summer insects that can't be said, and their brains are broken, so you can take him for nothing.Fortunately, a staff officer of the [-]nd Brigade had a long-standing friendship with the battalion commander, and he also stepped forward to persuade him, and at the same time wrote a simple order as proof, so the other party reluctantly stayed to join the war.

There was a battalion supporting it, and the brigade headquarters of the [-]nd Brigade supported it.Soon the [-]rd Regiment arrived and finally blocked the Japanese invasion.

The accidental attack of the [-]nd Brigade indicated that the troops of the [-]th Division of the Japanese Army had infiltrated behind the Jinguanqiao defense line.In addition to the one encountered by the brigade headquarters, another larger number of Japanese troops rushed in from the front. The [-]th regiment, which was the avant-garde regiment, encountered this group of enemies before they could disperse.

Caught off guard, the [-]rd, [-]th, and [-]th regiments did not break up. They established positions on the spot and held on for a whole afternoon, which also ensured that the defense line would not be penetrated by the Japanese army.

The blocking battle of the 58th Regiment was very fierce, and the regiment also suffered heavy casualties. Among the officers alone, the battalion commander was killed and one injured, the company commander killed three people, and the platoon leader killed four people.At dusk, the [-]rd, [-]th, and [-]th regiments were ordered to hand over the defense to the Cantonese Army, and the entire [-]th Division returned to De'an to make up for it.

Each team has its own different judgments and evaluations of victory and defeat.This kind of battle should be placed in the general army, that is, winning the battle, not chaotic in the face of danger, not changing the situation, and making up for the omissions of the friendly army, all of which can be used to invite credit and reward. The 74th Army is different. They think this is an out-and-out battle-how did the [-]nd Brigade deploy and respond during the march?It's so out of touch and chaotic like this!It's too embarrassing, you should do less embarrassing things in the future!
Responsibility is inevitable. Previously, a regiment leader was dismissed by Wang Yaowu because he flinched in the battle.But this time it is no longer a question of withdrawing the battalion commander, but to continue to pursue the matter. Feng Shengfa, the commander of the 58th Division, was reported to have removed the former commander of the [-]nd Brigade on the grounds that his ineffective command had caused the brigade's troops to fall out of control and suffered heavy losses.

Most of the Chinese army, born out of the period of warlord melee, is inseparable from sectarianism and nostalgia, even the central military system is inevitable.Taking Chen Cheng's troops as an example, Xia Chuzhong, the commander of the 79th Army, has a very strong sense of fellow countrymen, almost to the point of appointing people as "hometown".

Xia Chuzhong was from Yiyang, Hunan. It is said that two people came to him and asked for a position in the army.Xia Chuzhong asked one of them, "Where are you from?" He replied, "Yiyang, Hunan." He asked again, "What job do you want to do?" He replied, "I want to be a company commander."

Xia Chuzhong asked another person: "What about you?" The person just said: "Yiyang..." Xia Chuzhong nodded: "Ah, 'same', you also want to be a company commander. Well, I am from Yiyang, Hunan. I use them all." Immediately, the note was approved, and the two were added to the company as company commanders.

Xia Chuzhong's approach has also formed an unwritten rule in the 79th Army.The reason for recommending the head of the regiment below is actually: "So-and-so is from Yiyang, Hunan, a fellow villager of Xia Chuzhong. The 79th Army was founded by Xia Chuzhong, and it should be Xia Chuzhong's people."

In addition to those who run the army as Hunan people, there are also "Guangdong guild halls" of Cantonese origin, etc., and so on, so that when the officers hold meetings, they almost all have the accent of the same place, and other officers who are not from the same place are either depressed. Unable to achieve, or have to resign and find another job.

This is not the case within the 74th Army. Since the founding of the army in Shanghai, no matter whether it is the 51st Division or the 58th Division, officers and soldiers have come from all corners of the country.Whoever goes up and who goes down between them only follow one principle, which is the "responsibility" that Wang Yaowu often puts on his lips.If the battle is not fought well, the front-line commander has to bear the responsibility and consequences for it. When the superior punishes him with confidence, the person concerned is also convinced.

It is precisely because the awareness of "responsibility" has been continuously strengthened that no matter in peacetime or wartime, as long as the officers and soldiers of the 74th Army accept the mission, they dare not be sloppy, let alone take chances.This team can always maintain a strong fighting spirit and state, rather than a flash in the pan, the secret may be here.

It seems difficult to deal with
Although the 8th Division of the Japanese Army occasionally infiltrated the Jinguanqiao defense line, it was generally difficult to break through.So the Japanese army began to try to attack in a roundabout way, copying the back route of the Nanxun line. On August 12, the 74st Division of the Japanese Army crossed Poyang Lake and landed in Xingzi Town, intending to detour to De'an, where the 8th Army was located, but was finally blocked by the Dongxiguling under the hard work of the Cantonese Army. On August 22, the Japanese army landed again in Aikou Town, south of Xingzi, and the plan was to attack De'an.

De'an City leans against Poyang Lake in the east and Lushan Mountain in the west. It is an important town on the Nanxun Line.Its gains and losses are related to the safety of the Nanxun defense line, and no mistakes are allowed. The 74th Army monitored the movement of the enemy on the surface of Poyang Lake at any time, and immediately dispatched troops to stop it after discovering it. The 51rd Brigade of the [-]st Division was ordered to fight hard. After half a day of fierce fighting, the Japanese army retreated again without success.

If the defensive terrain of the Battle of Songhu relied on rivers and ponds, the west bank of Poyang Lake not only has water and lakes, but also hills and hills with heavy fortifications. From the hills, you can clearly see every move of the Japanese army.During the battle, the 74th Army and the Guangdong Army mainly built fortifications based on the hills, and set up multiple lines of defense from the mountainside to the top of the mountain. As soon as the Japanese army advanced, bullets would pour down like raindrops, making it difficult for them to advance.

The [-]st Division of the Japanese Army knew that it had encountered the main force of the Chinese elite.As one of the main forces of the Japanese army that participated in the Battle of Songhu, the division has experienced many battles since then. Normally, the Chinese army facing them would be defeated as soon as it was attacked, but it was completely defeated on the west bank battlefield. different.In many cases, even if the defenders ran out of bullets and had to engage in hand-to-hand combat, they would never flee. If the Japanese army could occupy one of the positions, there was only one explanation, that is, all the Chinese soldiers on the position were dead.

"The enemy seems to be difficult to deal with this time!" The Japanese soldier lamented.

Yukio Komata, a Japanese military reporter who had interviewed the [-]st Division when he was in Shanghai, came to the front again this time. The familiar officers were either buried in graves in the grass by the roadside, or were seriously injured and transported to the rear.

Omata hopes to write the relevant situation into a newsletter report.A wing adjutant said in a bleak voice, "Where do I start? War is terrible, and I can't finish it even if I talk about it for a day or two!"

In this wing, the officers in many squadrons have all died in battle, and the existing officers have just been added.The adjutant opened his notebook and asked Xiaomata to record the names of the dead and wounded officers one by one with tears in his eyes.

None of the officers Komata knew was there, and all he could hear on this front were "tragic stories", and the reports from all units were generally consistent: "The enemy resisted tenaciously, and our army could not advance."

The Nanxun line was held temporarily, but at the other end, the Sichuan army defending Ruichang lost the chain.

The 74th Army and the Cantonese Army are both capable of fighting tough battles. Compared with them, the Sichuan Army in the Wuhan Theater is dwarfed in terms of combat quality. Even in the Chinese army, it can only be regarded as a third- or fourth-rate army at best.The Ninth Division of the Japanese Army that attacked Ruichang belonged to the old standing division. It had participated in two Songhu battles. The Sichuan Army could not resist this division's upward charge. On August 8, Ruichang fell, and the Ninth Division of the Japanese Army took advantage of the victory to advance to Minshan.

(End of this chapter)