During the eight years of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the most tragic big cities, besides the disaster in Nanjing and the bombing in Chongqing, were the destruction of Changsha. The four battles between China and Japan have kept the city of Changsha in smoke. Today we will talk about the first battle in Changsha .
Okamura Nishikhi
Okamura Nishikhi on September 13, 1939, Okamura Nishikhi led the 11th Army Combat Commander's Office to leave Wuhan and quietly entered Xianning . Xue Yue at the foot of Yuelu Mountain found that there were slight signs of mobilization of the Japanese army in southern Hubei, northern Hunan and northern Jiangxi, and that the Japanese would attack Changsha sooner or later.
Since Nanchang battle , Xue Yue has been preparing for it and he drew three lines of defense. The first is Xinyunhe , the second is Miluo River , and the third is Laodao River outside Changsha, and a plan to lure the Japanese army to the triangular area between the east bank of the Xiangjiang River and the Laodao River for a decisive battle.
Zhangzhizhong
Speaking of Xinqiang River, we have to mention the fire that caused the destruction of Changsha due to a rumor. At 2 a.m. on November 13, 1938, the Chinese defenders in Changsha City mistakenly thought that the Japanese army had approached Xinhe, three kilometers outside the city. In order to implement the established strategy of " scorched earth anti-Japanese war ", the provincial government chairman Zhang Zhizhong ordered a fire, first a fire broke out in the south gate, and then fires caught everywhere in the city.
After igniting the fire, Zhang Zhizhong realized that the Japanese army was arriving at Xinqiang River, which was still far away, but the fire could not stop. Many people were burned to death this night, and those who survived by chance became homeless. The reason for this is that the people of Changsha only knew to evacuate and did not know how to burn the city.
After the fire, society was in full swing, and the media questioned it, demanding severe punishment for Zhang Zhizhong. However, Chiang Kai-shek could not shoot Zhang Zhizhong, so in the end, in order to quell the public anger, Zhang Zhizhong was dismissed from office and investigated, and the three Changsha Security Department were sentenced to death. But even so, the losses caused by the fire are still irreversible.
Later, according to official statistics, more than 3,000 people died directly from the fire, causing economic losses of up to 1.7 trillion yuan.
1939, under the command of Okamura Yasuji, the commander of the 11th Army, the Japanese army launched an attack on Changsha. The middle road is the 6th Division and the 13th Division Nara Aki Detachment, the new 33rd Division on the left side, and the right side is the 3rd Division Umura Kamen Detachment. In addition, the 106th Division in Jiangxi is responsible for restraining the Chinese army on the battlefield.
After the Japanese army began operations, 10,000 people from the 106th Division took the lead in attacking Gao'an on the periphery of Nanchang . They rushed left and right among the three armies of Luo Zhuoying , Lu Han, and Wang Lingji , and shuttled through Gao'an, Xiushui , Wuning and other places, which did play a tactically hindering role. Even though Xue Yue sent the 74th Army of Wang Yaowu to surround him later, although he was hit hard, he still successfully jumped out of the encirclement and even later participated in the Battle of Shantou. While the battle between
points was fought on the battlefield, the main battlefield was not idle either. The new 33rd Division on the left detoured east from Tongcheng, Hubei, attempting to join forces with the 6th Division and the 13th Division Nara Aki Detachment of the Xinwan River to attack the Chinese army on the south bank of the Xinwan River. Because the newly compiled 33rd Division was relatively slow to operate, it was intercepted by the Yang Sen 27th Army sent by Xue Yue.
At the same time, the Japanese troops in southern Hubei and northern Jiangxi also started to move. The Shangcun Detachment of the 3rd Division on the right took the ship , landed from Dongting Lake, and attacked Yingtian Fortress. The 6th Division and the 13th Division Nara Aki Detachment of the 6th Division and the 13th Division also began to force cross the Xinqiang River, and then attacked south along the Avenue and Guangdong-Han Railway from Yueyang to Changsha. At this point, the first Changsha battle was fully launched.
Guan Zhenglin
garrisoning the first line of defense Xinyunhe is the troops of the acting commander-in-chief of the 15th Army, including the 52nd Army of Zhang Yaoming, the 37th Army of Chen Pei and the 79th Army of Xia Chuzhong. Among them, Zhang and Xia's troops were stationed on the left and right wings of the position on the south bank of Xinqiang River, while Chen's troops were stationed at the Yingtian Fortress at the intersection of Dongting Lake and Xiangjiang River. The main force was stationed as a reserve team between Xinqiang River and the second line of defense Miluo River.
This battle was extremely fierce from the beginning. Zhang Yaoming's 3rd Battalion of the 2nd Division of the 52nd Army defended his position in Doupeng Mountain and almost all died in battle during the battle with the 6th Division. Battalion Commander Hu Chunhua was seriously injured at the beginning of the battle and was carried off the line of fire to save his life.
The 3rd Battalion of the 195th Division of the 52nd Army, led by Major Shi Enhua, also defended and refused to retreat in the Battle of Leigong Mountain. When the battle ended, it fought a bayonet battle with the enemy after less than a hundred people. After five days of bloody battle, the entire battalion died in battle. The major was only 29 years old when he died. After the Shangcun Detachment landed, the 95th Division of the 37th Army of Chen Pei in the camp started a fierce battle with him. Miao Zhenhua, the battalion commander of the 507th Regiment of the 95th Division, also led his troops to defend and refused to retreat. In the end, the entire battalion sacrificed his life for the country.
New Wall River is in urgent need of emergency, and Chen Pei was ordered to bring a group of troops from Yingtian to help Guan Linzheng's main force. On the other hand, under Xue Yue's order, the 70th Army stationed near Changsha sent Tang Boyin's 19th Division to support the 95th Division of Luoqi in the field. But even so, the battlefield situation is still not optimistic.
Although Guan Linzheng's army has support from Chen Pei, the combat effectiveness of the 6th Division and the 13th Division Nara Detachment are too strong. In addition, the defense line of the Yingtian has been broken by the Upper Village Detachment, and the main force of the Guan army is at risk of being surrounded by the Japanese army at any time. However, because the 33rd Division, which was invaded by Tongcheng South, progressed slowly, Guan Lin's army retreated calmly.
Middle Road After the Japanese army crossed the Xinjiang River, they crossed the second line of defense Miluo River on September 26, and three days later approached the third line of defense north of Changsha. Xue Yue originally planned to fight a decisive battle with the Japanese army south of Changsha, but under the opposition of Guan Linzheng, he finally decided to fight a decisive battle with the Japanese army north of Changsha.
Xue Yue
Xue Yue then handed over his direct troops Ou Zhen's 4th Army to Guan Linzheng's command, and Peng Weiren The 73rd Army and the 70th Army of Li's Army were also transferred to the Guanzhong headquarters. In this way, Guan Linzheng commanded six armies to prepare for a decisive battle with the Japanese army in Laodao River north of Changsha.
Before the decisive battle was over, the Japanese army's attack showed signs of decline. In Fulinpu, northeast of Changsha County, the 6th Division of the Japanese Army was attacked by the 195th Division of the 52nd Army, with hundreds of casualties. On September 30, when he forced his crossing of the Laodao River, he was attacked by Chen Pei's 60th Division and Qin Yizhi's 195th Division.
Nara Detachment of the 13th Division, after encountering the 33rd Division east of Pingjiang, was trapped in the siege of the 79th Army and the 27th Army of Yang Sen. The Shangcun Detachment of the 3rd Division on the other side was also attacked by Peng Weiren's 73rd Army. On October 1, Okamura Yasuji ordered all Japanese troops to retreat north, and Xue Yue immediately ordered the troops to follow up.
With the cooperation of infantry and artillery, the units of the 9th War Zone advanced forward, and the Japanese army continued to retreat, retreating all the way back to Yueyang on the north bank of the Xinyun River. The first battle in Changsha ended, which was the first time that the Japanese army did not occupy the city and retreated to the territory where they were stationed before the war after the beginning of Anti-Japanese War. The Japanese army did not achieve the intended purpose of defeating the main field forces of the 9th War Zone.
In fact, in this battle, China and Japan can only be considered a draw.
Why does China still promote victory? Because in China's view, the purpose of the Japanese army this time was to capture Changsha City, and under the bloody battle of the soldiers, it successfully repelled the Japanese attack and defended Changsha City, which was a victory. For this reason, the 9th War Zone Chief Command also erected a Changsha Battle monument, and said that more than 30,000 enemies were wiped out.
But in the eyes of the Japanese army, their initial intention was to eliminate the main field forces in the 9th War Zone. Whether to seize Changsha depends on the situation. Of course, the Japanese army did not achieve its goal, and in Japan, they only died or injured more than 3,000 people in this battle, and China and Japan each had their own opinions.
An important reason for the failure of the Japanese army this time was that the newly formed 33rd Division was too slow to act and did not form a siege, which gave Guan Zhenglin's troops a chance to withdraw calmly. That's because this is the first actual combat of the division, so the Japanese army is a little bit crazy and is ridiculed by friendly forces.
In fact, Okamura Yanji's personal idea was to occupy Changsha, but he had to order from the Nanjing Expeditionary Army Command. Because in his opinion, if you just attack but not take it, even if the Japanese army wins the battle, the Chinese army will take advantage of it strategically, because the propaganda agency will take the opportunity to boost morale.He believes that if he wants to make a forced land in Chongqing, he can only "chasing for relentlessly."
Let me talk about why the decisive battle changed from south of Changsha to north of Changsha? Originally, in Xue Yue's plan, he continued to consume Japanese troops with his positions and lured the Japanese army to the south of Changsha to fight a decisive battle. However, later he was opposed by Guan Zhenglin because he was all luring the enemy into depth, and there was actually not much difference between luring to the north of Changsha or south of Changsha.
However, once Xue Yue lured the Japanese army to the south of Changsha, he would be in a disadvantageous position in public opinion because there was suspicion of giving up Changsha. Even though Xue Yue did not think about giving up Changsha, no matter what the outcome of this battle would inevitably be criticized by public opinion. Finally, Xue Yue decided to fight to the decisive battle north of Changsha.
In fact, Chiang Kai-shek said that he would let Xue Yue withdraw, because Chiang Kai-shek's strategy was to fight against the war of resistance for a long time. exchanges space for time , and preserving strength is the most important thing. But Xue Yue still felt that he should fight with the Japanese army. In his opinion, even if space is changing time, he should fight with the enemy, so as to consume the enemy layer by layer. If he blindly exchanges time, he would just deceive himself.
Finally, Chiang Kai-shek agreed to Xue Yue's plan to organize a decisive battle. In fact, what Chiang Kai-shek said was not to let Xue Yue's army retreat south, but to let him turn to the two wings and maintain a side attack on the Japanese army at any time.
Although the first battle in Changsha can only be considered a draw, China is more advantageous in strategy.
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