bookrebus Chapter 742 Losing Control
Chapter 742 Losing Control
On May 27, 1944, after seeing that all the troops of the 11th Army participating in the second phase of "Operation No. 1" had been assembled, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, ordered all troops to begin to act according to the combat plan, and the Fourth Battle of Changsha in the Hunan-Guangxi Campaign broke out.
The Japanese 11th Army's offensive force first attacked the direction of Liuyang. The Chinese government's 9th War Zone was responsible for the defense mission in the Liuyang direction, mainly composed of the Sichuan Army's 58th Army, 72nd Army, 20th Army and the 44th Army that was defeated in the Battle of Changde.
However, after the farce of the combat plan of the Military Affairs Department and Commander Xue, the commander of the Ninth War Zone of the Chinese government, everyone with a discerning eye could see that Commander Xue, the commander of the Ninth War Zone of the Chinese government, had lost the trust of the highest level of the government.
When Commander Xue, the commander of the Ninth War Zone of the Chinese government, had not lost the trust of the highest level of the government, these generals of the Sichuan Army, although not in harmony with Commander Xue, the commander of the Ninth War Zone of the Chinese government, did not dare to offend him. Moreover, in the first three Changsha battles, these Sichuan Army troops fought well.
But what kind of people are these Sichuan Army generals? They are all "old foxes" who have experienced many storms. After learning that Commander Xue, the commander of the Ninth War Zone of the Chinese Government, has been suspected by the top leaders of the Chinese Government and has lost the trust of the top leaders of the government, how can these Sichuan Army still obey the command of Commander Xue, the commander of the Ninth War Zone of the Chinese Government?
In fact, Commander Xue of the Ninth War Zone of the Chinese government had already lost control of his troops. Therefore, after being attacked by the offensive forces of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, the commanders of the four armies did not have the determination to fight to the death with the offensive forces of the Japanese Army as before, but led their troops away from the battlefield without authorization.
Among them, the 44th Army, which was defeated in the Battle of Changde, performed particularly poorly. With the strength of an army, the 44th Army could not even hold the Liuyang County for a day and had to retreat in a hurry.
After capturing Liuyang, the attacking force of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army divided its forces and continued to attack southward, successively capturing Liling and Lukou, completely blocking the road from Changsha to Hengyang for the troops of the 9th War Zone of the Chinese Government.
Almost at the same time, the offensive forces of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army also captured Ningxiang. At this point, the two important towns on the central axis of the "Tianlu Tactics" of Commander Xue, commander of the Ninth War Zone of the Chinese government, had all fallen, and Changsha became precarious.
The Ninth War Zone Command of the Chinese Government judged that the offensive forces of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army might soon launch a large-scale attack on Changsha. Therefore, Commander Xue of the Ninth War Zone of the Chinese Government ordered the Fourth Army of the Chinese Government to concentrate on Changsha's defense in accordance with the combat plan of the Military Affairs Department.
Commander Xue of the Ninth War Zone of the Chinese Government ordered the 59th Division of the Fourth Army of the Chinese Government to be responsible for the defense south of Liuyang Gate, along the southern suburbs to the bank of the Xiangjiang River, with the division headquarters located near Tianxin Pavilion. He also ordered the 102nd Division of the Fourth Army to be responsible for the defense of Changsha City to the east and north, and the 90th Division of the Fourth Army to be responsible for the defense of Yuelu Mountain and Taohua Mountain on the west bank of the Xiangjiang River.
After learning that the Japanese 11th Army's offensive force was dispatched from northern Hunan, the Ninth War Zone Command of the Chinese government issued an evacuation order for citizens, requiring that all citizens of Changsha be evacuated within three days.
Commander Zhang of the Fourth Army of the Huaxia Government pulled out the 177th Regiment from the 59th Division as the general reserve, which was commanded by the military headquarters and directly under the command of a 75mm caliber mountain artillery regiment and a heavy mortar battalion for urban defense.
In addition, the Fourth Army also has a battalion of four 150mm howitzers for the defense of Yuelu Mountain.
After arranging the defense of Changsha City, Commander Xue of the Ninth War Zone of the Chinese Government led the headquarters of the Ninth War Zone of the Chinese Government to move to Leiyang in southeastern Hunan. However, in order to assist Commander Zhang of the Fourth Army in commanding the operations, Commander Xue of the Ninth War Zone of the Chinese Government specially left Chief of Staff Zhao Zili of the Ninth War Zone of the Chinese Government stationed on the west bank of the Xiangjiang River.
On June 3, Commander Xue of the Ninth War Zone of the Chinese government ordered the 58th Army of the Chinese government to assemble in Puji City and Jingangtou area on the south bank of the Liuyang River, and commanded the 20th Army and the 162nd and 95th Divisions to attack Liuyang and the nearby 13th Division of the Japanese Army on the south bank of the Liuyang River.
After receiving the order from Commander Xue, commander of the Ninth War Zone of the Chinese government, the Chinese army immediately formulated an attack plan, with the 58th Army as the main attacking army, the 20th Army as the left-wing attacking army, the 95th Division as the right-wing attacking force, and the 162nd Division as the mobile force, preparing to launch an attack on the Japanese 13th Division.
At dawn on June 4, the 58th Army launched a fierce attack on the Japanese 13th Division troops towards Yuelong City and Liuyang, the 20th Army launched an attack on Jiangbei and Xiaonu City, and the 95th Division launched an attack on Gaoping. After several days of fierce fighting, the Japanese 13th Division was finally forced to retreat to the north bank of the Liuyang River, and the two sides confronted each other with artillery battles across the Liuyang River.
On June 7, in order to strengthen combat forces, the 183rd Division of the newly formed Third Army of the Chinese Government was dispatched to Liuyang under the order of the Ninth War Zone of the Chinese Government and was under the unified command of Commander Lu of the 58th Army.
At this time, the situation on the battlefield also changed. The main force of the Japanese 13th Division attacked Shangli City to the south and attempted to attack Pingxiang. Therefore, Commander Xue, commander of the Ninth War Zone of the Chinese government, immediately ordered the 58th Army to pursue the Japanese 13th Division's attack to the south.
The 58th Army immediately and quickly pursued the Japanese 13th Division's attacking troops to the south. After fierce fighting along the way, the attacking troops of the Japanese 13th Division also fled south and north, east and west along the way, giving the 58th Army's troops no chance to entangle them.
On June 9, Zhang Tianju, the supervising officer sent by the 58th Army to the 183rd Division, was killed in action. The commander of the 183rd Division, Yu Jianxun, was shot in the thigh and wounded. The troops were represented by the division chief of staff Wang Shaocai.
On June 11, the offensive forces of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army attacked the Laodao River line in the suburbs of Changsha. In order to capture Changsha and continue to advance towards Hengyang, the offensive forces of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, according to the combat plan, first occupied Liuyang, Ningxiang, Zhuzhou, Liling, Xiangtan and other places on the 130-kilometer front line of the Xiangjiang River east-west line, and then launched a full-scale attack on Changsha.
On June 14, Liuyang, Ningxiang and Yiyang were all occupied by the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army. At this point, the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army formed an encirclement of Changsha city.