In November 1943, Changde, Hunan Province, ushered in a severe test, and the commander of the Japanese 11th Army, Isamu Yokoyama, as the commander, gathered more than 100,000 people from 5 divisions and regiments, and attacked Changde. For a time, the situation was in jeopardy.
Yu Chengwan, commander of the 57th Division of the Nationalist 74th Army stationed in the Changde area, did not have a ripple in his heart. The 74th Army is known as the "Anti-Japanese Iron Army", and this 57th Division has a resounding name - "Tiger Ben Division".
At that time, Chiang Kai-shek was in Cairo, Egypt, and he assured US President Roosevelt that he would be able to defend Changde. Turning around, Old Jiang sent a telegram to Gu Zhutong and Wang Yaowu at home: "We must keep Changde, and the garrison must coexist and die with the city." ”
According to the original establishment, the 57th Division should be around 12,000 when it was full, but now Yu Chengwan only had more than 8,000 people in his hands. 8,000 to 100,000, one word - difficult!
However, Yu Chengwan had no choice. Because he is a soldier, he has the responsibility of defending the land and defending the country, and dying in battle is his greatest glory!
Yu Chengwan was the first student of the Whampoa Military Academy, ranked 11th when he graduated, and later at the request of his father, he was admitted to Peking University of China, graduated with the 3rd place, and then entered the Army University for further study.
As a soldier, with such a resume and achievements, Yu Chengwan can be called a complete man of letters and martial arts, and defending Changde has brought his military talents to the extreme.
At that time, the Japanese did not have much hope in the situation in China, and only by attacking Chongqing could they solve the situation in China and concentrate on dealing with the Americans, so we would see that in the face of a small Changde, they actually invested 5 divisions and regiments!
When Yu Chengwan saw old Chiang Kai-shek's telegram, he replied only with one sentence: "Defending Changde, the officers and men of this division feel extremely honored, and they all have the heart to coexist and die with Changde." ”
In the "Bulletin of the Headquarters of the 57th Army Division", there are several passages: "Changde is adjacent to Dongting Lake in the north and Yuanshui in the south, and it is a place where it is left to die and born later, which is not conducive to sticking to the fortification in tactics, but the duty of the soldiers is to protect the country and defend the people, and we must not waver because of the unfavorable terrain of Changde, and the order does not allow anyone to make the slightest discount." At the end of the message, Yu Chengwan wrote: "No matter how much pressure the enemy exerts, our answer can only be blood!" Is dead! ”
Soon, the defense of Changde began.
This was a battle that the Japanese army was determined to win, so the offensive was very fierce, the first stop tujiahu, Yu Chengwan suffered heavy losses, and then at Deshan, Deng Xianfeng, commander of the 183rd Regiment of the 63rd Division, was timid, escaped from the battle, Deshan was lost, two days later, Hehuan Mountain also fell into the hands of the enemy, Changde really became an isolated city, surrounded by the Japanese army.
Immediately, the Japanese army began a fierce siege of the city, and Yu Chengwan sent a final telegram to Sun Lianzhong: "Bullets are exhausted, aid is exhausted, there are no people, the city has been destroyed, the deputy division commander, the division attached, the director of the political department, and the director of the general staff department are stubbornly guarding the bank, and the regimental commanders divide the areas, each guarding a room, making the last resistance, vowing to die, and wishing victory, long live the 74th Army." ”
Then, there were 6 days and 6 nights of street fighting. Sen Jin qianqiu, a veteran of the Japanese 11th Army, recorded in "Changde Combat, The Raiders of Chongqing": At that time, for every 10 meters of advance of the Japanese army, an average of 4 people were killed and 3 wounded.
However, after all, the difference in strength between the two sides was too great, and Changde eventually lost, and Yu Chengwan chose to break through, failing to fulfill his oath of "coexisting and dying with the city".
After returning to Chongqing from Cairo, the first thing Old Jiang said was to shoot Yu Chengwan. Sun Lianzhong, Wang Yaowu, and Yu Jishi all interceded for him, and the people of Changde spontaneously signed his signature to intercede for him, and Yu Chengwan saved his life and was finally sentenced to two years in prison.
Although the defense of Changde was defeated, the famous writer Zhang Hexhui wrote a special book "Long Live the Tiger", which wrote in the preface: "I have always been exposed more than praise in writing novels, but this book has an exception, and there are few exposed places. In the Battle of Changde, the defenders could not say that they were without weakness, but we knew that these eight thousand people had really done their possible strength. The first division defended the city, and only eighty-three people died in battle, which is a difficult thing to find in the history of the Sino-Japanese war, and I am willing to pass on this book through the heroic spirit of the martyrs of the Fifty-seventh Division, and no longer let the next generation and future generations have a slightly bad impression, so I have changed my style. ”