On the morning of May 10, 1945, Yang Botao's 11th Division was advancing towards the main battlefield of the battle in Xiangxi at a fast speed of 80 miles a day. Suddenly, he received a telegram from the commander of the 18th Army, Hu Lian, : The troops changed their original plan to go to Anjiang, and turned around and advanced rapidly towards the direction of Xipu (now Huaihua, Hunan). Cooperating with the troops of the 74th Army and the 100th Army, intercepted the 109th Japanese Regiment that was fleeing to Xuefeng Mountain. No mistakes must be made!
(Shi Zhongcheng, commander of the 74th Army)
1. Pre-war situation
The battle between the west of Xiangxi had entered the second stage. In the first stage of the battle, Wang Yaowu, commander of the Fourth Front Army of , still adopted the tactic of "retreatment and decisive battle" .
That is, when the Japanese army assembled and launched an offensive battle against Zhijiang in early April, although the Chinese army had the advantage in the battlefield (200,000 vs. 80,000), Lao Wang was first showing weakness, relying on the favorable terrain of Xuefeng Mountain, he fought step by step to lure the Japanese army into the deep area.
The main attack force of the Japanese army was still the 116th Division, which was very rampant in Changde battles and Hengyang battles and . However, at this time, the division had transferred from the infamous 11th Army to the command of the newly formed 20th Army.
The 116th Division was the 120th Division, Lieutenant General Heida Motoshiro, the commander of the 116th Division, with a three-unit system, with a command of the 109th, 120th and 133rd Infantry Regiment, with a force of about 20,000. The old Japanese Regiment divided the three corps into three left, middle and right routes, and came arrogantly towards the hinterland of Xuefeng Mountain:
The left route is the 120th regiment of Kotaki Tadao , and advances towards the entrance of the cave in the southwest of the mountain gate; the middle route is the 120th regiment of Kagawa Katsuyong, and the front of the army is directly aimed at the Shanmen Town at the foot of Xuefeng Mountain; the right route is the 109th regiment of Colonel Takiji, and the target is Keidou Northwest of the mountain gate.
(Wang Yaowu of the Fourth Front Army)
According to Wang Yaowu's order, a few days before the battle in western Hunan started, Han Jun's 73rd Army and Li Tianxia's 100th Army of and Li Tianxia's 100th Army of were fighting and retreating, intending to let the Japanese army enter the mountains in person. Therefore, the units of the 20th Army and the 116th Division of the Japanese invaders "progress smoothly" at the beginning of the battle, and the Japanese were extremely proud.
However, since April 17, the battlefield situation changed suddenly. As Shi Zhongcheng's 74th Army joined the battle group, Wang Yaowu ordered the troops to start a counterattack. The three armies and eight divisions of the Fourth Front Army were converted into defense to offense in the Xuefeng Mountains.
Various Chinese troops used their superior forces to encircle the enemy in front of each other. The battle of Xiangxi entered the mid-share stage, and all Japanese troops were severely attacked. From April 29th to the right wing battlefield, the 19th Division of the 100th Army, which is also known as the "Three Five Forces" (the division is the old foundation of the Hunan Army and has the jurisdiction of the 55th, 56th and 57th Regiments), used rocket launcher and heavy machine guns to open the way, and suddenly captured the Qingshan Realm, the highest point of Xuefeng Mountain.
This mountain is the rear position of the Japanese 109th Regiment, which means that the 109th Regiment of Takiji was surrounded by Li Tianxia's 100th Army.
(Yang Yin, 19th Division)
In order to eliminate this 109th Regiment, Wang Yaowu ordered to strengthen the offensive force and temporarily allocate the nearby 74th Army Zhou Zhidao's 51st Division to the command of the 100th Army.
So Li Tianxia led the 19th Division, the 63rd Division and the 51st Division of the unit, and launched an encirclement and annihilation operation against the Takinsi Regiment from April 30 with absolute superior force and firepower.
The Japanese army fought to the death. However, under the strafing of US automatic firepower and under the fierce bombing of planes in the sky, there was no power to fight back. The vanguard team of Takiji corps was more than 800 people, and more than 400 people were killed in just one day.
Colonel Takiji Saburo was a little awake and urgently called the 116th Division to report the battle situation. Finally, he added a sentence: enemy planes repeatedly attacked, shooting and bombing, extremely rampant.
Lingtian Division Commander was also in a daze. According to the front battle reports of the three regiments, he was surprised to find that the left and right sides of the division had been dismembered, and the 133rd regiment in the middle was also surrounded. Wang Yaowu made it seem to be trying to eat the entire stance of the 116th Division, so he urgently reported to the 20th Army Command stationed in Shaoyang .
(Li Tianxia, 100th Army)
Lieutenant General Sakanichi Kazura, the commander of the 20th Army, received an urgent telegram from the 116th Division, hesitated and couldn't figure out what the real battle situation on the front line was. Is it really as miserable as Lingtian? This guy just came from Kwantung Army , and he didn't have a deep impression of what Wang Yaowu and what the 74th Army were.
However, a piece of information transferred from the Sixth Front Army suddenly made Kazuya Sakanichi's eyes turn black: Liao Yaoxiang's new sixth army was airlifted back to Kunming from the northern Myanmar battlefield, and it is currently arriving at Zhijiang Airport in batches, which is an elite unit with full US equipment; Wang Jingjiu's 10th Army in the Sixth War Zone also has the opportunity to go south to participate in the war.
Sakanichi Ichiro woke up like a dream and was scared to death: Wang Yaowu is going to mobilize the army to wipe out the 116th Division and his 80,000 troops! At this time, the two detachments of the 47th Division and the 68th Division also sent emergency telegrams, claiming that they were surrounded and attacked by the Chinese army, and the situation was serious.
After basically figuring out the battlefield situation, Sakahiro issued an order to move into defense on May 4 and asked each unit to "tidy up the situation". In fact, it was just about preparing to run away, but unfortunately it was too late!
2. Hu Lian came
Just on May 4, the Chief of Staff of the Fourth Front Army Qiu Weida summarized the situation on each battlefield and determined that the Japanese army was at the end of their strength. If they didn't stop the fish, they would miss the net. So he made a suggestion to Commander Wang Yaowu:
"The Japanese army is already in a dilemma. I should take advantage of the opportunity to immediately turn into a counterattack situation and order the 18th Army to move south quickly. New Sixth Army should also organize a mechanized column to wait for attack in Anjiang, and a complete victory is just around the corner."!
Wang Yaowu expressed his agreement and immediately issued a counterattack order to all the Fourth Front Army and the Third Front Army participating troops. At the same time, he urgently sent the 18th Army on standby in Changde area to move south quickly and then closed the Japanese army's retreat.
Hu Lian's 18th Army had just been included in the battle sequence of the Fourth Front Army. In fact, the 18th Army came a little slow, mainly in the He Yingqin , who was in charge of Zhijiang, was not willing to let the 18th Army participate in the war at first.
This involves the problem of Commander-in-Chief He of the Army and the boss of Minister Chen of the " Civil Engineering System ". Therefore, He Yingqin tends to transfer Wang Jingjiu's army to come. After Wang Yao fought hard, he finally agreed to what he asked, and the faction's stubborn disease really made a mistake.
After a while, Hu Lian's movements were half a beat slower. Finally, after receiving Wang Yaowu's order, he took the 11th Division as the forward. The team then followed up and drove at full speed towards Xuefeng Mountain.
(He Yingqin, Commander-in-Chief of the Army)
So Yang Botao led the 11th Division to cross Chenxi , and then received the new order from Front Army transferred by Hu Lian. He quickly rushed to the front line of the gate of Xuefeng Mountain. In the afternoon, he arrived at the "Majestico" area about 20 kilometers northwest of Shanmen Town. The vanguard immediately caught fire with the Japanese army.
Regarding this place name, some military history writers have written it as "Mattibi". The author searched through the Xiangxi map, but did not find this place. After searching and confirming it several times, it should actually be the "Maneguao" in Jishou County, Xiangxi.
The valley in this area is like a horse's neck, so it is named after it. It belongs to the current " Majej'ao Town " in Jishou County. There is also a "Aikou Village" at the end of the valley. The two place names show the danger of the terrain.
"Majestico" is of course a must-pass place for the Japanese army to enter and exit Xuefeng Mountain. In order to protect the main force of the 109th Regiment to escape Xuefeng Mountain, the 116th Division Headquarters sent all the troops that could be collected in advance.
The Japanese army stationed at "Majieao" was a battalion of the 116th Division's baggage and a small team of the 120th Regiment. It looked like about 4 or 500 people. Under normal circumstances, it is basically no problem to withstand the attack of a regiment or a miscellaneous division of the Chinese army.
However, what hundreds of Japanese soldiers met was the "civil engineering" guardian army full of American equipment, which was destined to suffer a lot.
(Hu Lian of the 18th Army)
As the top brand of the 18th Army, the 11th Division has been fully equipped with American equipment at this time, and has been equipped with 9150 rifles and pistols, submachine guns, 22370 submachine guns, 8 American 105mm howitzers, 48 American 75mm mountain cannons, 24 32mm flat-fire cannons, 212 22mm machine cannons, 108 chariot defense cannons, and 84 81mm mortars. With such equipment level as
, it is naturally no problem to fight the Japanese baggage troops. The 11th Division took the 33rd Regiment as the main attacking force, and tore open the Japanese defense line in just one charge. The regiments quickly seized the hills near the pass, and set up machine guns, , mortars, , and were ready for battle.
Just when Yang Botao ordered the pursuit of the fleeing Japanese baggage troops, the retreating Japanese 109th Regiment also arrived near the Majeao Pass. The two Japanese soldiers completed the merger and then launched a fierce counterattack on the 11th Division.
3. The trapped beasts are still fighting
Many people on the Internet boast about the "Shipai Victory" of the 18th Army all day long. It is true that the stone visa was defended in the Western Hubei Battle , but the so-called victory is false. In fact, the 18th Army fought the most beautifully in the entire War of Resistance Against Japan was the Battle of Xiangxi.
After Yang Botao discovered that the main force of the 109th Regiment arrived, he immediately organized the troops to separate the troops to block the attack. The battle became fierce from the beginning, and the entire pass was in full swing because the Japanese were going to run away in a hurry!
Although he was beaten up in Xuefeng Mountain, the 109th Regiment has not yet collapsed. At least at the beginning of the battle, Colonel Takiji was still a little confident.
By the way, the Japanese army's corps organization, , the Japanese permanent division or special division of the early stages of the Anti-Japanese War, and the infantry brigades of horse-type or pack-type, with rated soldiers of 7,800 and 7,900 respectively. Therefore, each infantry corps does have about 3,800 people, so there are still brigade headquarters.
However, the infantry gang formed later usually has only 2,600 to 3,000 people. The "Class A Division" that appeared after 1941 had an infantry gang of approximately 3,500 people, and the 116th Division was a Class A Division (upgraded from the special division in 1943).
The division is code-named "Lan Corps" and has three infantry regiments under its jurisdiction. Before the battle of Xiangxi, the division commander Lieutenant General Ryuta Soshiroshi, strengthened the artillery, engineers and cavalry units directly under the division to the three infantry regiments.
So before the division was dispatched, each infantry corps had a force of up to 4,200 people, which was the nature of strengthening the corps. However, the 109th Regiment was beaten up by three divisions of the 100th Army and
However, with the Japanese who were driven down the mountain by the 11th Division, the Japanese army still had more than 2,500 troops, which was almost one revolver. Colonel Takiji estimated that it would be no big problem to break through the blockade of a division of the Chinese army, so he ordered a charge.
The Japanese army attacked the 11th Division's position with guns and tried desperately to escape. However, in front of Thomson submachine gun , only a corpse was left behind during several attacks, and there was no progress in the breakout. By dusk, the commander of the corps, Colonel Takiji, was finally in a collapse:
He found in despair that not only could he not break through the blocking line of the 11th Division in the front, but the culprit behind also arrived, namely the 51st Division of the 74th Army of Shi Zhongcheng and the 19th Division of the 100th Army of Li Tianxia. The two Chinese troops of the entire division were chasing the butt of the 109th Army.
In other words, the three relatively strong elite troops during the War of Resistance Against Japan: the 18th Army, the 74th Army and the 100th Army, each surrounded a main force of the 116th Division of the Japanese army in a group of areas near Majieao with the strength of one main division.
The commander of the 51st Division, Zhou Zhidao, and Yang Yin, commander of the 19th Division, immediately ordered the troops to occupy the surrounding hills and smash the Takinite wing with artillery fire and light and heavy machine guns. The Japanese army immediately suffered heavy casualties.
At this time, the bomber of the Sino-US United Airlines Corps also took off from Zhijiang Airport to assist in the war, constantly dropping bombs and incendiary bombs. Some seriously wounded Japanese soldiers who were in despair began to commit suicide. In their opinion, they could not escape anyway.
4. The first brigade of the 2nd Mountain Artillery Regiment, assigned to the 109th Regiment, was also bombed and the cannon was overturned. The captain of the brigade of Pingyuan Yinan Zhongzuo found the captain of the Takiji Regiment and said helplessly: "I won't leave, fight to the death on the spot, forget it all in Majeao."
Colonel Takiji also knew that there was a lot of danger, so he immediately sent an urgent telegram to the division command, meaning that he was not ready to break through, and the whole group of "Yu Zhu" calculated the ball in Majieao.
Because the Chinese army has both strength and firepower, it is only because it is dark, so it does not rush down. The next day, it will definitely launch a general attack. If three elite divisions press down, the 109th Regiment will be cut off. Soon, Takiji received a reply from Lieutenant General Lingtan:
"In order to rescue your army, the regiment decided to draw troops to advance with all their might towards the mountain gate. I hope your army will immediately break through the enemy's siege and forcibly advance out of the mountain. There is no other way except to kill the bleeding path. In order to facilitate breakthrough, unnecessary items will be dealt with, and you should carry the wounded and sick who may accompany you, ready to break through and advance." The translation of
means to abandon the seriously injured people who cannot be carried and break through the siege. Otherwise, the entire wing would have to be buried in the Majeou Valley, and the wing flag would have to be burned.
What Takiji Saburo wants is this order, because on the battlefield, abandoning the wounded for no reason will be punished, so the Japanese army organized suicide squads and began to break through the crazily at night when it was dark on May 11.
The dark night really affected the Chinese army's blockade. By dawn the next day, the 109th Japanese Regiment had escaped 3 kilometers away from Majieau and finally escaped the fate of being destroyed.
Of course, the Japanese were also beaten up very badly. When Colonel Takiji later counted the troops, he found that there were 12 infantry squadrons in the entire regiment, and no more than 20 people could fight each squadron. In other words, there were only about 300 successful breakthroughs in the remnants of the 109th regiment.
(Japanese prisoner)
, did you see it? The three direct divisions of the Central Army, the 11th Division, the 19th Division and the 51st Division, have absolutely superior military strength, firepower and air support. Although they have eliminated most of the Japanese 109th Regiment, they still failed to completely wipe out the troops.
finally let its corps headquarters and some of the remaining soldiers escape, and the Japanese army did not burn the corps flag. To be honest, it is difficult for the Japanese to fight!
: The 18th Army fought very well in this battle. If it weren't for the order to make a move later, the remnants of the 109th Regiment would still not be able to escape because Hu Lian and the 118th Division also arrived.
The current anti-Japanese dramas also include some street stall literature about the Anti-Japanese War. Eliminating one or two Japanese troops is as easy and enjoyable as playing games, which is nonsense.
(Majeaoaikou Village)
Looking at the several great victories in the Anti-Japanese War, such as the familiar Taierzhuang Victory , De'an (Wanjialing) Victory, and even Kunlun Pass Victory in the southern battle of Guilin . Although they all severely damaged the enemy, they have not wiped out any infantry regiment of the Japanese army in an established manner.
includes the Battle of Xiangxi in 1945 described in this article, and it is also the only real victory on the frontal anti-Japanese battlefield. The Chinese army destroyed more than 28,000 Japanese invaders with more than 20,000 casualties, which was very satisfying, but it still failed to wipe out any infantry corps of the Japanese army.
The 116th Division and the three infantry regiments of the country still ran away with their arms. By the way, the 109th Regiment suffered as many casualties in the Hengyang Battle as high as 80%, so the new recruits were not low during the Battle of Xiangxi, which is also very evident.
(Hold Thomson high)
5. The difficulty in the War of Resistance
There is no sign of complete annihilation. In these major victories, there was no situation where the Japanese army "burned the gang flag" and then the entire army was destroyed. It should be noted that the "gang" is the largest organization unit of the single branch of the Japanese army in World War II . Only the infantry gangs are qualified to be awarded the so-called "gang flag" given by Tianhuang. ,
In addition, it should be noted that the brigades, divisions, and military-level institutions of the Japanese combined troops do not have this treatment, which shows the important position of the infantry corps in the Japanese army organization.
During the entire War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Japanese infantry corps were completely wiped out, and only two burned the corps flag, but they all happened in the 1944 counterattack battle in western Yunnan:
Once was Songshan Battle , which eliminated the 113th infantry corps that the Japanese army was dissatisfied with. In order to eliminate 1,300 Japanese soldiers, the 8th Army and other units fought for 95 days, with more than 7,700 casualties, and the loss ratio was as high as 4.86:1.
(after the victory)
Another time was Tengchong Battle , which eliminated the 148th Regiment, which was basically full of Japanese troops. In addition to the subordinate troops, more than 6,000 Japanese soldiers were killed.
and Huo Kuizhang The 20th Army fought for this for 127 days, with more than 18,300 casualties, and the casualties ratio reached more than 3:1. The difficulty of the Anti-Japanese War was far beyond the imagination of ordinary people.
In the early stage of the Anti-Japanese War, when the Japanese army deployed an offensive battle, they often used an infantry brigade to deal with a division of a miscellaneous army to calculate the battlefield strength ratio. Then an infantry gang must be expected to face a miscellaneous army.
After all, the troops with strong combat effectiveness, such as the 10th Army, the 18th Army, and the 74th Army, are a minority. Even so, there are many cases of defeating a Japanese army regiment, and it is extremely rare to eliminate or completely wipe out.
This is caused by the many differences between the two armies of China and Japan, including weapons and equipment, logistics capabilities, training level, education level, combat literacy, discipline compliance, and the abilities of grassroots commanders, etc., and also includes that most Japanese soldiers are poisoned by militarism and brainwashed in spirit, and have a relatively tenacious fighting will.
It is not embarrassing to face the enemy's advantages. Otherwise, how could our ancestors fight for fourteen years?
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