Text/Kingdom Building
From November to December 1943, the Chinese and Japanese armies launched a fierce offensive and defensive battle around Changde City in Hunan Province. The 57th Division of the 74th Army, which was famous for its lone defense of Changde City, fought with more than 8,000 people in the division until only 83 people were left to break through, and then cooperated with friendly forces to restore Changde City, which was occupied by the Japanese army for a day, and was awarded the highest military group honorary banner by the National Government - the Flying Tiger Banner. However, it is inconceivable that the "Tiger Ben Division" obtained the Flying Tiger Banner, while their division commander Yu Chengwan was almost shot after the war, and it was only through the intercession and guarantee of Wang Yaowu, commander of the 74th Army, that he was sentenced to two years in prison. Yu Chengwan, as the commander of the 57th Division, was sentenced at the same time that the group received the Flying Tiger Banner, what was the reason for this?
In November 1943, Yokoyama, who took over as commander of the Japanese 11th Army (commander of the 11th Army, Anan Weiji, was transferred to the Northeast Kwantung Army due to the defeat of the Third Battle of Changsha) organized more than 100,000 people from 7 main divisions to carry out a large-scale annihilation war against the main force of the Chinese defenders in Hunan, and the Battle of Changde broke out. The Japanese launched a fierce attack on the Chinese defenders in three ways, and by November 12, they had broken through the first line of defense of the Chinese defenders, causing great military pressure on the Chinese defenders. After full consideration, the Chinese Supreme Military Command and the Ninth Theater Command planned to mobilize living military forces to eliminate the Japanese army in a defensive counterattack with Changde, a major military town in Hunan, as the axis, so that the 57th Division of the 74th Army, which had strong combat effectiveness, was selected to take on the heavy responsibility of defending Changde City. In order to enable the 57th Division to hold the city of Changde, a battalion of the artillery regiment directly under the command of General Wang Yaowu, commander of the 74th Army, assigned the command of Yu Chengwan, commander of the 57th Division, and ordered the regimental commander Jin Dingzhou to personally command the battalion to assist the 57th Division in defending the city.
Why did the 9th Theater Command select the 57th Division of the 74th Army to take on the task of defending Changde City? Because the division has been stationed in Changde City since May 1943 for rest and training, it is very familiar with the strategic environment of Changde City, plus the 57th Division is the main division of the 74th Army, and more than 8,000 officers and men of the division are anti-Japanese veterans who have been in the battlefield for a long time, can attack and defend well, have strong combat effectiveness, and are more certain to defend Changde City. Having said that, Wang Yaowu, commander of the 74th Army, did not dare to entrust the army, and the artillery regiment directly under the general divided a battalion, led by Colonel Jin Dingzhou, the commander of the artillery regiment, to assist Yu Chengwan, commander of the 57th Division, in guarding Changde. The strategic vision and intention of the Chinese Supreme Command and the 9th Theater Command was to take Changde City as the axis to attract the main force of the Japanese army to besiege it, and then mobilize heavy troops to divide and encircle the Japanese troops in order to achieve the goal of eliminating and defeating the Japanese army.
On November 18, 1943, more than 20,000 men of the Japanese 116th Division and the 68th Division approached Changde City and engaged the 169th Regiment of the 57th Division, which was responsible for vigilance. In order to contain the Japanese army, the 9th Theater Command transferred the 99th Army to Hanshou to fight against the main force of the Japanese 68th Division, and at the same time transferred the 100th Army to The South of Taoyuan, echoing Changde City. In addition, the Nationalist 44th Army and the 74th Army also deployed on the line of Sun Mountain and the South Qijia River, preparing to fight the attacking Japanese army to the death. At the same time, the commander of the Japanese 11th Army, Isamu Yokoyama, also made a corresponding strategic deployment, gathering heavy troops outside Changde City, intending to launch a fatal blow to the Chinese defenders.
On November 22, 1943, the Japanese army, ready to attack the city, took the lead in launching an attack on the Chinese defenders. In order to hit the attack, Yokoyama Yong did not hesitate to mobilize more than 30,000 people from three main divisions to attack Changde City fiercely. The commander of the 57th Division, Yu Chengwan, was not afraid of danger, and led 8,000 tigers to fight with the Nationalist Army and the Japanese army to the death. The two sides fought fiercely for two days and nights, and the city of Changde did not move at all, as stable as Mount Tai, and the Japanese attacking troops suffered heavy casualties. However, the course of the war was often unexpected, and the Changde City, which worried the 9th Theater Command the most, was not lost, and the defenders in charge of the periphery defense poked out a large basket. The 188th Regiment of the 63rd Division of the 100th Army defending Deshan was lost, and the only passage between Changde City and the outside world was cut off by the Japanese, and the 57th Division became a lone army. The fall of Tokuyama was extremely unfavorable to the strategic deployment of the Chinese army, and the Japanese launched a wave of fierce attacks on changde city from November 24 to 25, which had lost foreign aid, and the 57th Division finally managed to hold the city after paying heavy casualties. However, in the current form of the enemy and ourselves, if there are no reinforcements, it is only a matter of time before Changde falls.
After the fall of Tokuyama, the 9th Theater Command realized the seriousness of the situation. The 10th and 29th armies and the two armies under wang Yaowu's direct command were entangled in the Japanese forces responsible for cover and could not withdraw to rescue Changde. After Commander Xue Yue asked the Supreme Command, the Supreme Command ordered Li Zongren's Fifth Theater of Operations to take the initiative to attack the Japanese army in order to contain the Japanese army in central China and relieve the siege of Changde. After receiving the order, Li Zongren asked Wang Lingji's 30th Group Army to beat gongs and drums to march toward the Japanese-occupied areas, although Wang Lingji's 30th Group Army had poor combat effectiveness, but this move of "knocking on the dustpan to scare birds" really worked, and the Japanese army did withdraw the two divisions and regiments that were ready to be used to support the Battle of Changde, which slightly eased the pressure on the Chinese defenders in the Hunan battlefield. At the same time, the 9th Theater Command sent the 10th Army, which was resting in Changsha City, to aid Changde. The 10th Army was unable to break through the defensive line of the Japanese 68th Division when it reached the edge of Changde City, and the siege failed. In order to rescue Changde and also encircle and suppress the Japanese 11th Army, the Chinese Supreme High Command ordered Sun Lianzhong, commander of the Sixth Theater, to lead the main forces of the theater to attack in full force, continuously breaking through the blocking defense line of the Japanese 39th and 13th Divisions, and encircling the main forces of the four Japanese divisions around Changde City.
At this time, the Battle of Changde presented a strange strategic situation: the remnants of the 57th Division, which was at the core of the strategy, were heavily surrounded by four Japanese divisions and regiments in the isolated city of Changde; on the outskirts of Changde City, 210,000 Chinese troops with up to 16 corps numbers surrounded the four main divisions of the Japanese 11th Army in the Changde area; around the Hunan battlefield, hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops and air support units were eager to make a destructive attack on the main Chinese forces. This situation can be said to be that you surround me, I surround you, you have me, I have you, how to win or lose, we have to test the command art of the commanders of both sides and the combat ability of the generals.
On November 29, 1943, the 57th Division had been besieging Changde City for more than a week, and although the city was still in the hands of the Chinese defenders, the 57th Division was seriously reduced at this time, and the form was precarious. Chiang Kai-shek could no longer hold his breath and personally issued an edict to the 10th Army, strictly ordering it to break into Changde City at 10 p.m. on the 29th. When Fang Xianjue, commander of the 10th Army, received Chiang Kai-shek's edict, it was less than 12 hours before the deadline set by the handwriting, and he had no choice but to issue a death order to the troops. The 3rd Division of the 10th Army desperately rushed towards the Japanese position, once attacking the line of Dade Mountain, but it fell short because it did not have heavy weapons. In this battle, Major General Sun Mingjin, commander of the 10th Division of the 10th Army, was killed on the battlefield and martyred.
Inside Changde City, the moment of life and death of the 57th Division came. In order not to let his cannon fall into the hands of the Japanese army, Jin Dingzhou, the commander of the Yucheng Wansheng Artillery Regiment, blew up the cannon. Jin Dingzhou issued the order to blow up the cannon with tears in his eyes, but he did not expect that after the fuse was ignited, the surviving dozen or so artillerymen actually hugged the cannon together and martyred the country together with the cannon. After the End of the Battle of Changde, Jin Dingzhou's artillery regiment received the Flying Tiger Banner, and was the only regimental unit to receive the flag during the entire War of Resistance Against Japan (the artillery regiment directly under the 74th Army).
On December 1, 1943, seeing that friendly troops were unable to reinforce Changde, Yu Chengwan, commander of the 57th Division, sent a final telegram to Sun Lianzhong, commander of the Sixth Theater: "The bullets are exhausted, the city has been destroyed, and the friendly forces are on the sidelines." Carved streets and alleys into a mess. The Chief of Staff of the Deputy Division Commander is stubbornly guarding the Central Bank. After his spare time, he was careful. On December 3, Yu Chengwan consulted with the four regimental commanders under him and planned to break through, he divided the remaining 200 people around him into two, he led more than 100 people and 3 regimental commanders to break through to find support, and the chief of staff of the division and the leader of the 169th regiment, Major General Chai Yixin, led more than 100 people to defend the city. After Yu Chengwan led his troops to break through, they fought hard for many days and joined the new 11th Division outside Changde City, and at this time the remnants of the 57th Division broke out of the siege with only 83 people. Major General Chai Yixin, who was firmly guarding Changde City, fought with more than 100 officers and men against the japanese army besieging the city, all of whom died heroically, and after the war, the Nationalist government posthumously awarded Chai Yixin the rank of lieutenant general.
On December 7, 1943, Yu Chengwan led 83 men to break through with the new 11th Division to counterattack Changde. As the Japanese army took the initiative to retreat after capturing Changde, the Chinese defenders recaptured the city of Changde. But what Yu Chengwan did not expect was that in the next few days, from the ruins of Changde City, more than 300 officers and men of the 57th Division who had been insisting on fighting hard against the Japanese army came out. After this situation was reported to the Theater Command and the Supreme High Command, everyone talked about it, and many people accused Yu Chengwan of being greedy for life and afraid of death, lying about military information, and losing the defense of the city. Chiang Kai-shek was furious and ordered Yu Chengwan to be arrested and sent to a military court for trial. In the face of ironclad facts, the Tiger Ben Division Commander could not be refuted and waited for the judgment of the military court. Originally, according to the meaning of the Theater Command, Yu Chengwan must be shot to show his example.
Sun Lianzhong, commander of the Sixth Theater of Operations, and Wang Yaowu, commander of the 74th Army, jointly interceded, saying that everyone was responsible for changde's loss, and that the 57th Division had fought alone for many days, and even if there was a mistake in command, the crime would not lead to death. Later, the case was decided by Chiang Kai-shek and sentenced Yu Chengwan to two years' imprisonment. After sitting in prison for several months, Yu Chengwan was released on bail by Wang Yaowu, but until the end of the War of Resistance Against Japan, he did not have the opportunity to regain military power and kill the enemy. However, because of its heroic performance in the defense of Changde, the 57th Division was awarded the Flying Tiger Banner, the highest honorary banner of the Military Group of the Nationalist Government after the war, which was both a comfort and an irony for The Commander of the Yu Cheng Wan Division, who was sentenced to two years in prison.
In 1944, Yu Chengwan found the famous writer Zhang Hexhui and asked Zhang Hexhui to write a novel about the heroic deeds of the 57th Division's Changde Defense War, which led to the now famous book "Long Live the Tiger". Mr. Zhang Hexhui was also quite righteous, and after the book was completed, he did not accept Yu Chengwan's honorarium, but only accepted a Japanese saber captured by the officers and men of the 57th Division as a souvenir.