A few years ago, there was a TV series, but it was not very popular, called "Blood Lonely City", starring Lü Liangwei, the background was that during the Battle of Changde, when the Nationalist army resisted the Japanese army during the War of Resistance, Yu Chengwan led the Fifty-seventh Division of the Nationalist Army to defend Changde with about 8,000 people, with fewer enemies and more enemies, waiting for help, but in the end, the reinforcements on the outskirts of the Nationalist army dropped the chain, Yu Chengwan was forced to abandon the city and flee, and the entire Fifty-seventh Division was almost killed or injured.
During the Battle of Changde, according to the pre-war arrangements, the Zhou ZhiDao Department of the Fifty-first Division guarded Taoyuan, the Fifty-eighth Division Zhang Lingfu was in the area of Cili Shimen, which was the first line of defense, and the Fifty-seventh Division guarded Changde, which was actually the second line of defense. The Seventy-fourth Army was considered by both the Nationalist Army and the Japanese Army to be the most effective unit of the Nationalist Army at that time, and it was placed in western Hunan to cover the safety of the southwest.
According to the operational plan of the Nationalist army at that time, if the Japanese army attacked Changde from western Hunan Province, then the Fifty-first Division and the Fifty-eighth Division would retreat to the outskirts of Changde after resisting the Japanese army one after another on the first line, and then the Fifty-seventh Division would hold firm in Changde and wait for the Japanese offensive to be frustrated, and when the reinforcements from the outskirts of the Nationalist army arrived, they could encircle the Japanese army from the outside and annihilate them with the tactics of the Third Battle of Changsha. This was also a more common method of warfare used by the Nationalist army at that time.
However, the Japanese army is also familiar with this method of warfare of the Nationalist Army, so the Japanese Army will often encircle the Nationalist Army from the left wing or from the right wing while attacking head-on, thus competing with the Nationalist Army for the outer line. However, if the Japanese army attacked with superior troops, the Nationalist army would be defeated and retreated before it could turn to the outside line, and the nationalist tactics would be broken. Especially after the third Battle of Changsha suffered a loss, the Japanese army learned its lesson and no longer easily abandoned the outside line when attacking.
Therefore, in the Battle of Changde, after the Japanese army began to attack, it quickly repelled the Fifty-first Division and the Fifty-eighth Division, and Wang Yaowu also confirmed that these two divisions retreated to the outskirts of Changde, but failed to effectively support The Rest chengwan of Changde. Why? Because at this time, Xiangxi belonged to the Sixth Theater, there were not many troops in this area, except for the Seventy-fourth Army, there was only the Twenty-ninth Group Army, but it was quickly defeated by the Japanese army, so it could only wait for Xue Yue of the Ninth Theater to send reinforcements.
However, at this time, Xue Yue was unclear about the intentions of the Japanese army, and always believed that the Japanese army was attacking the east from the west, and the west of Xiangxi was only pretending to attack, and the key target of the campaign was still in the direction of Changsha. Therefore, Xue Yue did not send the Ninth Theater troops to reinforce the direction of Changde at the first time, until the Japanese army had broken through the first line of the Nationalist army and arrived in Changde to start attacking, Xue Yue determined that the target of the Japanese army was Changde, and only then began to send troops to Send reinforcements to Changde.
The reinforcements sent by Xue Yue were the Tenth Army, which had previously played a major role in the Third Battle of Changsha, plus rao Shaowei's troops of the provisional Fifty-fourth Division. The Tenth Army was originally resting and replenishing in the area of Hengyang Hengshan in Shonan Province, but immediately chose the marching route after receiving the order. Because the military situation was urgent, xue Yue gave the Tenth Army a relatively tight time, and after the Tenth Army's premonition, it chose a relatively close route, but because it had to cross the mountains and mountains, when the Tenth Army reached the outskirts of Changde, the time was catching up, but it was too late to pay attention, nor was it too late to reconnoiter the enemy's situation, so it was ordered to advance to the designated defense area.
At this time, Xue Yue ordered the provisional Fifty-fourth Division and the 190th Division of the Tenth Army to be under his direct command, and Fang Xianjue could only command the Third Division and the Reserve Tenth Division to advance towards Deshan. However, the whereabouts of the Reserve Tenth Division were discovered by the Reconnaissance of japanese aircraft, and The division commander Sun Mingjin did not pay attention to it and did not adjust the marching route, resulting in the troops being suddenly ambushed by the Japanese army during the advance, and the troops suffered heavy casualties, and Sun Mingjin himself was also swept by the Japanese aircraft during the retreat and died on the spot.
The Third Division also encountered the Japanese army on the march, and Zhou Qingxiang immediately threw down his troops to escape, resulting in the Third Division being defeated by the Japanese army. Fang Xian felt that he knew and immediately called the 190th Division for reinforcements, but the division commander Zhu Yue refused Fang Xianjue's request in the name of Xue Yue giving him another task. Fang Xianjue called Xue Yue to discuss, xue Yue also refused, and the two had a big quarrel. After the Tenth Army retreated, it was able to stabilize the situation and confront the Japanese army, but the reinforcement of Changde Liu could not be said.
In addition, the Fifty-first Division and the Fifty-eighth Division were blocked by the Japanese army on the outskirts of Changde and could not break through the defensive line, and the Tenth Army collapsed in its entirety, and Yu Chengwan's death battle in Changde actually did not have much significance, but he still did not retreat. It was not until the eight thousand men of the fifty-seventh division had been sacrificed to only four or five hundred men, and Yu Chengwan was completely desperate for reinforcements, that he made up his mind to break through, and he ordered his subordinate regimental commander Chai Yixin to lead a part of his men to retreat, he left behind to block, Chai Yixin insisted that he himself stay to block, and Yu Chengwan crossed the Yuan River under the escort of a small number of troops and fled.
If there is responsibility in the Battle of Changde, then the greatest responsibility is first of all Xue Yue's wrong judgment and slow response, followed by Zhou Qingxiang's first escape of the Qi army after contact with the Japanese army, Yu Chengwan retreated only when the death battle was until the foreign aid was cut off, and the casualties of the troops were close to the total annihilation, but after the war, in order to cover up the problem of command, Yu Chengwan was once ordered to be sent to Chongqing for a military trial, and only after the collective intercession of the remnants of the troops did he revoke the order, and the commander of the Tenth Army, Fang Xianjue, was removed from his post, and it was also temporarily retained after Li Yutang's activities. Acting Commander.