Hunan was the main battlefield of the frontal battlefield in the stalemate stage of China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and soon after the Japanese army occupied Wuhan in October 1938, it always deployed more than one-third of the total troops invading China, that is, ten divisions and six independent brigades, in the two theaters of Hubei and Guangdong, maintaining a pinch attack on Hunan and launching repeated attacks on western Hunan.
In order to preserve Hunan, the Nationalist government mobilized a quarter of the country's army, that is, 53 infantry divisions, to resist the Japanese invasion. In the arduous War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Chinese army withstood the Japanese attacks again and again in Hunan and defended the safety of Chongqing, the capital of The Company. In 1945, an infantry battalion of the 74th Army, which had just been equipped with American equipment, created a miracle of blocking a division of the Japanese army for seven days and seven nights.
Tiger Army 74th Army
The history of the 74th Army is not long, this unit was newly formed during the Battle of Songhu in 1937, it was first formed by the 51st Division and the 58th Division, and later joined Yu Chengwan's 57th Division. The first commander of the 74th Army, Yu Jishi, was a close confidant of Chiang Kai-shek, so this unit was very good in terms of both the quality of its soldiers and its weapons and equipment.
Although the first commander of the 74th Army was Yu Jishi, the real development of this unit and its final development into the number one main force of the Nationalist Army was still due to his second commander, Wang Yaowu. Wang Yaowu graduated from the Whampoa Phase III, but because of his shrewdness and ability, he was good at human affection, and his position was promoted faster than many Huangpu Phase I seniors.
Wang Yaowu worked as a small salesman in his early years, so he was very good at human affection, and even after he later held a high position, he still respected his former teachers and seniors. Wang Yaowu is not only polite in his mouth, but also sends gifts and allowances to the personnel of the institution that command him during the New Year's Festival, but also spares no effort to personally arrange for handling, making sure that everyone is proper and comfortable.
In terms of military command, Wang Yaowu can be called a fierce general, Wang Yaowu
Chiang Kai-shek praised this student (Wang Yaowu was the third period of Huangpu) as "good at leading troops and having the ability to command.", and even at that time people said, "I would rather touch the king of Yan than touch the old king," "Three Li is not as good as one king," and the three Li refer to Li Yutang, Li Yannian, and Li Xianzhou, all three of whom graduated from the Huangpu Phase I and all had certain military talents, but they were inferior to Wang Yaowu.
After the outbreak of the All-out War of Resistance, Wang Yaowu commanded the 74th Army to participate in all the large-scale battles, the Battle of Songhu, the Battle of Nanjing, the Battle of Wuhan, the Battle of Shanggao, the Three Battles of Changsha, the Battle of Changheng, and then the Battle of Xiangxi, each of which was very exciting, and the Battle of Wugang took place during the Battle of Xiangxi.
Wugang, an important town in western Hunan Province
At the beginning of 1945, Japanese imperialism was at the end of several decisive battles on the Pacific battlefield. However, in order to save the fate of the rout, the Japanese army decided to launch the Battle of Western Hunan with the goal of capturing Zhijiang Airport, in an attempt to destroy Zhijiang Airport in one fell swoop, ensure the smooth flow of the two railways of Xianggui and Guangdong and Han, and facilitate the Japanese army in south China to transfer into the coastal areas to deal with the LANDING of american troops.
Known as the "Gateway to Yunnan and Qian, the throat of Quanchu", Zhijiang River in western Hunan is the main road to the southwestern provinces, and after the outbreak of the War of Resistance, the geographical location here has become more and more important. By 1945, Zhijiang's army and military institutions had reached more than 200, the army gathered more than 100,000 people, in addition, the US Air Force, logistics personnel also reached more than 6,000 people, Zhijiang Airport became the most threatening to the Japanese army airport.
From December 1944 to March 1945 alone, the Sino-US Joint Air Force at Zhijiang Airport flew 783 sorties of fighter jets, inflicting heavy casualties on the Japanese army on the north-south communication line. In April 1945, the commander of the Japanese 20th Army, Ban Xi Yiliang, commanded five divisions and three independent mixed brigades with a total strength of more than 100,000 troops to launch an attack on the important town of Zhijiang in western Hunan Province.
In response to the Japanese offensive intentions, the Chinese army mobilized the Fourth Front Army plus a part of the Third Front Army to launch a counterattack against the Japanese army. The Fourth Front Was the elite force of the Chinese army at that time, the commander was Wang Yaowu, under the jurisdiction of the 74th Army, the 100th Army, the 73rd Army, the 18th Army and other Chinese troops, the New Sixth Army was also transferred back from the Burma battlefield by Chiang Kai-shek to serve as the reserve for the battle.
Wugang City is an important town in western Hunan Province, naturally it is also the focus of the Japanese army's attack, Wugang City is an ancient city with a long history, which was first built in the Western Han Dynasty and has a history of more than 2200 years. Wugang County is surrounded by mountains on three sides, connected with Shaoyang in the east, Suining in the south with Xinning and Chengbu in the west, and Dongkou in the north, the geographical location is extremely important, it is the military town of western Hunan and the economic, political and cultural center of western Hunan province.
The 74th Army held Wugang
Stationed in Wugang is the 74th Army 58th Division 172 regiment 1 battalion, battalion commander Ge Dao, before the start of the battle, this unit has been fully equipped with American equipment, and increased the number of submachine guns, flamethrowers. Due to historical reasons, wugang county has completed city walls and moats, and the 74th Army's american weapons battalion used the city walls and moats to build a lot of fortifications and three blockade lines on the periphery.
In order to help the local troops guard Wugang, the people used the glutinous rice eaten in the New Year and the triad soil to establish a defensive line outside the city, making the city wall more solid. At that time, the Japanese army was responsible for attacking Wugang by the Japanese 68th Division, and except for one brigade to fight Wuyang, the remaining brigade, including the tank armored unit to which the division belonged, and a heavy artillery company, all came to attack Wugang.
When it was learned that only one battalion of the Chinese army was guarding Wugang, a bearded captain of the 68th Division said: "You can take Wugang in a few hours, and then you can shave your face in Wugang City." However, the officers and men of the 74th Army soon gave the Japanese army a glimpse of the combat effectiveness of the ace units of the Chinese army.
On April 27, 1945, the Japanese 68th Division concentrated more than ten tanks and nearly 100 cannons to shell Wugang City, but the Wugang City Wall had been reinforced before, and the Japanese shelling did not blow through the city wall. The first battalion of the 58th Division immediately launched a tit-for-tat counterattack, and the Japanese launched several consecutive charges, but did not break through the first battalion's defense line, and suffered heavy casualties.
When the commander of the Japanese 20th Army, Ban Nishi Ichiryo, learned that the 68th Division could not even take a Wugang Castle, angrily rebuked the incompetence of the commander of the Sekine Brigade commanding at the front line, and ordered them to take Takeoka within two days, otherwise the military law would be carried out. At this point, the Japanese army had to organize a death squad charge, the Japanese army at that time were just pulled up the new recruits, has long been without the kind of will to fight in the early days of the War of Resistance, after the news of the formation of the death squad came out, no Japanese army took the initiative to stand out to participate in the death squad, and finally used the lottery to form a 150-person death squad.
Each of the 150 daredevils carried a huge explosive pack on their backs, ready to detonate after approaching the city wall and blow up the city wall, most of the Japanese death squad members were killed by our army, but there were still a very small number of daredevils who ran under the city wall and blew up more than a dozen holes in the city wall.
The commander of the Sekine Brigade saw that the death squads were useless, so he used human sea fighters, and the Japanese army once set up a ladder to climb up, so the officers and men of the 74th Army burned the wooden ladder with flamethrowers and used Thomson submachine guns to shoot at the japanese troops, and the water in the moat under Wugang Castle was stained red with blood.
At the critical moment, Wang Yaowu ordered the 44th Division to go to reinforcements, and the 44th Division rushed to the rear of the Japanese 68th Division and immediately launched an attack, the Japanese army thought that the main force of the Chinese army was coming, and immediately retreated, and the defenders inside the city also rushed out of the city, and the inside and outside should be combined to form a pinch attack on the Japanese army. There were also a small number of Japanese troops who fled to the deep mountains and old forests, and it was inconvenient for the troops to send a large force into the mountains to encircle and suppress them, so they let the local militia group lead the people to the mountains to arrest Japanese prisoners, and stipulated that for every Japanese prisoner captured, a reward of 10,000 yuan would be awarded.
The local people had long hated the Japanese army to the bone, so they quickly captured more than a dozen Japanese prisoners. When the Japanese prisoners were escorted to Wugang Castle, the citizens rushed to watch. Each of these prisoners of japan had their heads bowed and sad faces, and one of the soldiers was wearing black trousers with lace that they had stolen. A second lieutenant officer, a graduate of Meiji University in Japan, was interrogated, and when he wrote the words "all done" with a pen, he was silent, and his despair and pessimism overflowed into words.
In the Battle of Wugang, a U.S. armament battalion of the 74th Army and half a division of the Japanese army with tanks and heavy artillery fought fiercely for a week, and finally they could cooperate with reinforcements to launch a counteroffensive, which had to be said to be a miracle during the War of Resistance. The Battle of Wugang was only an episode in the Battle of Xiangxi, and throughout the Battle of Xiangxi, the Chinese army crushed the Japanese army with an overwhelming advantage, causing heavy casualties to the Japanese army.