In April 1944, in order to destroy the US air bases located in the southwest region of China to attack Japanese territory, cover the sea traffic in the South China Sea, open up and ensure the mainland communication lines, and crush the main force of the Kuomintang army, so as to avoid the STRATEGIC east-west attack of the US military when it landed on the Pearl River Estuary, the Yangtze River Delta, Haizhou Bay, and the Shandong Peninsula along China's coast, and at the same time wanted to obtain special resources in the areas along the transportation route, especially the tungsten and lead mines in hunan and Gansu provinces, in order to strengthen the confidence of the Japanese people in the decisive battle to the end. The so-called "Battle Plan No. 1" was issued: a large-scale offensive campaign against Henan, Hunan and Guangxi in China, known in history as the "Battle of Yuxianggui".
Although the Japanese Kou campaign was a dying struggle on the eve of the rout, its frenzied degree was much more barbaric than in previous battles, and in just 4 months, it advanced from Henan in the hinterland of the Central Plains to Guangxi in the southwest region, and although the Japanese Kou paid a heavy price, the Kuomintang army collapsed even more, destroyed dozens of nationalist airfields, occupied hundreds of cities, and the factories in the three provinces of Xianggui and Guangdong, which accounted for 1/3 of the rear industry at that time, also fell into the hands of the enemy and opened up Indochina and South China.
The reasons for the failure of this campaign are of course the disparity in strength, the gap in weapons and equipment, and other factors, but the more important factors are the increasing decay of the Kuomintang rule, the low ability of the army to command and make overall arrangements, and today we only say that in the campaign, the 9 corps, 2 Guisui columns, and the first unit of the air force (217 aircraft) commanded by Zhang Fakui, commander of the Fourth Theater, with a total of about 200,000 people, fought against the Japanese army with divisional defense, and as a result, they were defeated and retreated.
What is even more bizarre is that a group of senior generals, three generals of the Nationalist Army and seven colonels of the Nationalist Army, were not killed in the battlefield in battle with the Japanese army, but were killed by the friendly "Flying Tigers".
On November 10, 1944, Guilin and Liuzhou in Guangxi fell at the same time, and Zhang Fakui led the commander's headquarters of the Fourth Theater of Operations from Liuzhou to Liuzhai Town, Nandan County. In Liujia, Bagong, Bawei and other places tens of kilometers away from the county seat of Nandan, they were full of military supplies and could not be transported, and at this time the Japanese army had entered Liujia.
In order not to fall into the hands of the Japanese and Kou in order not to fall into the hands of these already scarce strategic materials, Chiang Kai-shek approved Chen Sunong, commander of the 97th Army, to negotiate with the "Flying Tigers" (the Fourteenth Air Force of the US Army) and send aircraft to bomb Liujia, Bagong, Bianling, and Bawei, completely destroying military supplies, so that the Japanese could not catch any fish.
At that time, Zhang Fakui's troops arrived in Liuzhai, Nandan County, and soon after they were stationed, they found 16 US military planes hovering at a low altitude here in Liuzhai, and distributed a large number of leaflets from the planes, which read: "All retreating soldiers and civilians should avoid the highway and road." Because the highway is the target of bombing, it is dangerous" and so on. The Military and civilians of Liuzhai saw that it was an American plane, and the friendly troops did not think so, and as usual gathered in this small town and on the highway and near the nearby Mawei Railway Station, to deal with their retreat.
Unexpectedly, at about 3 p.m. that day, 9 "Flying Tigers" planes appeared over Liuzhai again, and then dived low and dropped countless heavy bombs. Because there was no defense at all, for a time, the cannon rumbled and cried, like the end of the world. Houses, shops, grain depots, institutions, schools, etc. in the market were instantly reduced to ashes; the dead and the injured were shocked, their limbs were scattered, and the blood flowed into rivers, which was frightening.
According to Zhang Fakui's Oral Autobiography, when the plane flew low over the town of Liuzhai, I was standing at the bus station, which temporarily served as my chief's residence. We clearly identified it as an American plane, and we rushed out to watch with pleasure. Unexpectedly, a bomb was suddenly dropped on the plane, and my guard surnamed Zhang was stopped and blown into two pieces on the spot. Luckily, I stood in the doorway, or I would have been blown up.
It seems that Zhang Fakui, who was the commander of the Fourth Theater at the time, did not understand what was going on. The accidental bombing caused heavy losses to the Commander's Headquarters of the Fourth Theater, with more than half of the special missions killed, and all the documents of the General Staff Office, including the battle plan and the military training plan, were destroyed.
What is even more distressing is that three generals and eight colonels in the Fourth Theater of Operations were also killed in the accidental bombing. The three generals they were:
Lieutenant General Chen Keqiu, formerly known as Chen Shijie, was born on March 12, 1897 in Baoqing County, Hunan Province (now Shaoyang City). At that time, he was a lieutenant general and deputy superintendent of the Infantry Supervision Department of the Military Training Department of the Fourth Theater, and graduated from the 4th Infantry Section of the Baoding Army Officer School and the 11th Regular Class of the Army University. He once served as a senator in the Military Senate of the Military Commission of the National Government, a senior staff officer of the Major General of the General Headquarters of the Fourth Route Army in Guangdong, the chief of the student team of the Fourth Branch of the Whampoa Military Academy, and the chief of the supplementary training corps.
Major General Wang Huiwu was born on April 18, 1906 in Hanchuan County, Hubei Province (present-day Hanchuan City), and was then the chief of the Staff Office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Fourth Theater. Graduated from the 6th Traffic And Military Section of the Whampoa Army Officer School and the 11th Regular Class of the Army University. He was a lieutenant colonel staff officer of the General Headquarters of the Northwest "Suppression of Bandits". Later, he was transferred to the posts of lieutenant colonel combat staff officer and colonel staff officer of the General Headquarters of the 8th Army Group, and later promoted to major general of the staff office of the commander of the Fourth Theater Commander's Headquarters.
Major General Cen Heng was born on December 5, 1906 in Cen Bian Village, Taishan County (now Taishan City), Guangdong Province, and graduated from the 5th Engineer Section of the Whampoa Army Officer School and the Japanese Infantry College. At that time, he was the commander of the Major General of the 3rd Air Defense Zone of the Anti-Aircraft Artillery, and participated in the Northern Expedition and the Songhu War of Resistance, but was only 38 years old when he was killed.
Such a huge loss naturally had to be investigated later, and as a result, the cause was ascertained, and at that time, Chen Sunong, commander of the 97th Army, clearly pointed out that the "Flying Tigers" bombed Liujia, but the translator of the airport command made a mistake in translation, translating "A" into "Zhai", a word difference, "bombing Liujia" into "bombing Liuzhai", resulting in a tragedy. The United States and the Kuomintang blamed each other, and in the end only the translator was executed.
In order to avoid the possible negative impact of this incident, Chiang Kai-shek did not publish the truth at all that year, claiming that Liuzhai had been bombed by Japanese aircraft. At the critical moment of the War of Resistance, because of a careless mistake, so many senior generals were killed by the bombardment of friendly forces, which was really regrettable! No wonder the world said that these generals really died worse than Dou E.