Since the September 18 Incident, what most painfully caused Chinese was that the Japanese invading army attacked the city strategically and was invincible, and the northeast, Pingjin, Huning and other places fell one after another, and it was difficult to achieve a great victory in Taierzhuang, but it quickly lost Xuzhou, and then Wuhan also fell into the hands of the enemy.
Ordinary people do not understand the great principle of "exchanging space for time", only know that China's most prosperous and wealthy big cities have fallen one after another, and their hearts cannot help but ask: Is there no city in China that can stop the Japanese army?
It was not until September 1939 that the city finally appeared – Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province. After the fall of Wuhan, Wang Jingwei, the number two figure of the Kuomintang, openly surrendered to the enemy, and the whole country was in an uproar. The invading Japanese army seized the opportunity to launch an offensive against the Ninth Theater of Operations defending Hunan in an attempt to force chiang kai-shek's government to abandon resistance.
The Japanese army invading China took Okamura Ningji's 11th Army as the main force of the attack, and the 100,000 troops were divided into two roads, the main attack was the 3rd, 6th, 13th, 33rd and other four divisions, and the other auxiliary attack was the 101st and 106th divisions, which launched an attack on Changsha from northern Gan and southern Hubei at the same time.
The "Complete Records of the Frontal Battlefield Archives of the War of Resistance Against Japan" records that the acting commander of the Ninth Theater is Xue Yue, a famous anti-Japanese general from Guangdong, who has just assumed the position of commander of the theater just after his infatuation.
There are 15 armies in the Ninth Theater, which seem to be strong and strong, but they bring together almost all the miscellaneous armies of Sichuan, Yunnan, Hunan, Guangdong, Jin, and Northeast China. Taking the Sichuan Army as an example, the guns used range from domestic manufacturing to imported, and they themselves describe themselves as the "Eight-Nation Alliance".
Just as Xue Yue was concentrating on formulating a defense plan for Changsha, he received a telegram from Chiang Kai-shek: "If the dynamics of the enemy's advance into Changsha have been exposed, it is better for our army to abandon Changsha instead of making tough resistance in front of Changsha..." Obviously, Chiang Kai-shek has no confidence in the Ninth Theater and is unwilling to consume valuable troops in Changsha in vain.
Xue Yue, who had always been obedient, rejected Chiang Kai-shek this time, his reason was that "the general will be outside, and the king's life will not be affected", determined to hold Changsha and repel the Japanese invasion. Chiang Kai-shek choked up and had no choice but to ask Chen Cheng and Bai Chongxi to persuade Xue Yue, both of whom were Xue Yue's immediate superiors, and when they arrived in Changsha, they demanded that Xue Yue abandon Changsha.
Xue Yue was not at all moved: "It is still the responsibility of the soldiers to defend the territory, and they cannot bear to retreat lightly... In this way, I can't go up to the central authorities and I can't go down to the people of the country, and I don't dare to wear military uniforms anymore! Seeing that the Japanese army was gradually approaching, Chiang Kai-shek called Xue Yue nine times in one night, and Xue Yue was still determined to stick to Changsha
Why was Xue Yue's determination to defend Changsha so firm, and he did not hesitate to bump into Chiang Kai-shek one after another? In the final analysis, it was because he was sure of defending Changsha, and although the various armies under his command were not the most elite, everyone's determination to resist Japan had never wavered.
More importantly, changsha's terrain was very suitable for defensive warfare, and Xue Yue had already drawn up a battle plan, the core of which was the eight words "retreating to the decisive battle and fighting for the outer wing." Taking advantage of the longitudinal mountains and rivers in northern Hunan Province, from north to south, we relied on the Xinqiang River, the Miluo River, and the Liuyang River to build three lines of defense, and blocked the Japanese army step by step.
From mid-September onwards, the two Japanese armies were officially launched, and the First Battle of Changsha began. The Japanese offensive was fierce, and in addition to the frontal assault, they also used marines to land on the side of the Chinese defenders and break through the New Wall River defense line in only ten days.
On the 25th, Chiang Kai-shek and Bai Chongxi sent a telegram ordering Xue Yue to prepare to abandon Changsha, but Xue Yue ignored him. On the Miluo River defense line, the 52nd, 37th, 79th and other armies fought together, so that the Japanese army could not advance one step.
In the Caoshoe Ridge area, a platoon of soldiers of the 192nd Division of the 52nd Army repelled more than ten Japanese attacks in two days, and the platoon commanders and fighters were killed one after another, leaving only a new recruit as a company and still insisting on fighting.
The gunfire subsided, and the battalion commander sent another platoon leader to observe, only to learn that only Ren Lianzi was left. The platoon leader was very touched and said to him, "I will definitely accompany you to shed the last drop of blood!" The two men then collected grenades from their positions and repelled the attacking Japanese. The deeds of the platoon were widely circulated on the battlefield, inspiring Chinese soldiers to heroically resist the Japanese army.
Under the stubborn resistance of the Chinese defenders, the Japanese army relied on the release of poisonous gas for almost every step forward to achieve the purpose of attack. Okamura Ninji deeply felt that if the war continued, I was afraid that there would be more evil and less luck, and there would only be one way to retreat. On October 5, Chinese troops shot down a Japanese plane and captured Okamura's general retreat order.
On the same day, Xue Yue ordered a full-scale pursuit, and all the Japanese troops fled, and by the 13th, the Ninth Theater of Operations had recovered all parts of northern Hunan occupied by the Japanese army, making the achievements of the Japanese army in the past few days disappear, and the first Battle of Changsha was completely won. The Chinese announced that more than 30,000 Japanese troops had been killed or wounded, and their own casualties were about 59,000, while the Japanese only admitted to losing more than 6,000 people.
Okamura Ningji's 100,000-strong army was bent on capturing Changsha, but why did they withdraw before they could even touch the door of Changsha? Xue Yue's "retreat decisive battle and fight for the outer wing" exerted great power.
After the positions on each defensive line were broken by the Japanese army, the defenders did not retreat to Changsha, but maneuvered to the mountains on both sides to wait, and when the main Japanese army attacked Changsha, they intercepted the Japanese rear guard troops, cutting off their supply lines and retreat routes, thus forming a huge pocket array with Changsha as the base.
In order to realize this operational principle, the Ninth Theater carried out a full blockade of the Northern Hunan region, the railway road had long been completely destroyed, the farmland was flooded, and only a small road less than a foot wide could be passed in the field, and the Japanese army's movement was greatly hindered.
The troops of the Ninth Theater who were active behind enemy lines were not only able to fight regular wars, but also became masters of guerrilla warfare, because they had all given classes in the training class for guerrilla cadres, and the teachers who gave them lessons were sent by the CHINESE Communists, headed by Ye Jianying, and this was the most harmonious period of cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communists.
According to the usual thinking, the Japanese army thought that after conquering the position, it would be able to drive straight in, but before it could take a few steps, the Chinese troops who had been run away suddenly reappeared, frequently harassing and night raids, making the Japanese army exhausted and exhausted.
Coupled with the almost non-existent, muddy roads, the impassability of cars, and the inability to catch civilians and grain, the Japanese army has always faced the dilemma of serious shortage of supplies. Because of this, Okamura Ninji would abandon the offensive plan halfway through, so as not to fall into a bigger crisis.
Xue Yue resisted the pressure of Chiang Kai-shek, Chen Cheng, and Bai Chongxi, and resolutely advocated holding Changsha, making Changsha the first provincial capital city to block the footsteps of the Japanese invasion. It has greatly boosted the morale of the military and the people of the whole country, and there are also places that the Japanese cannot conquer, and there is hope for China's War of Resistance!
For the next two years, the Japanese army did not dare to move Changsha. In early 1941, Anan took over as commander of the 11th Army, and the new officer took office with three fires, and Anan wanted to break the situation of the confrontation between the two armies in northern Hunan and attacked Changsha again in early September with the strength of 6 divisions.
The Japanese army learned the lesson of the last defeat, attacked as far away as possible from the mountains, and once hit Changsha City, but still returned to the Ninth Theater of Interception and guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines. The Chinese announced that they had killed 28,300 Japanese troops, killed or wounded 35,000, and suffered 67,426 casualties (33,793 wounded, 22,667 killed, and 11,066 missing).
Although Anan lost the Second Battle of Changsha, he was not convinced, believing that the Japanese army did not lose in the frontal battle, but only had to abandon the battle plan due to the transfer of troops to other theaters. Anan was only bent on finding another opportunity to share a high and low with Xue Yue, and soon, the opportunity came.
On December 7, the Pacific War broke out, and the Japanese army launched a large-scale attack on Southeast Asia, and Hong Kong was also one of the targets. In order to contain the Chinese army from moving south, Anan was ordered to attack the Ninth Theater of Operations, intending to take Changsha in shame. On December 24, the 3rd, 6th, and 40th Divisions of the Japanese 11th Army extended their claws to Changsha for the third time.
After the test of the first two battles, Xue Yue's tactics became more and more mature, and he also summed up a set of "Heavenly Furnace Tactics", which means that the entire northern Hunan region will be turned into a "Heavenly Furnace" and the Japanese troops who will commit crimes will be roasted alive.
During the first battle, the Japanese army did not reach Changsha, and it was not deep enough, which greatly reduced the results of the battle. This time, Xue Yue planned to give full play to the role of Changsha as the bottom of the furnace, attract the Japanese army, and then gather and annihilate it.
The Japanese army defeated the 20th Army of the Sichuan Army, the 58th Army of the Dian Army, and the 37th and 99th Armies of the Sichuan Army on the xinqiang River and the Miluo River defense line, and entered Changsha On the eve of New Year's Day of 42 years. Anan felt that the attack was fast and victory was in sight, but he did not know that Xue Yue intended to let them in.
The Japanese 3rd, 6th, and 40th Divisions surrounded Changsha from three directions and soon launched a siege. Guarding Changsha was Li Yutang's 10th Army, and there was also a heavy artillery brigade on Yuelu Mountain, the commanding height of the city, which was Chiang Kai-shek's precious knot, equipped with two regiments of American howitzers, condescending, capable of suppressing the Japanese attacking troops.
The "Complete Records of the Frontal Battlefield Archives of the War of Resistance Against Japan" records that Li Yutang ordered the 3rd Division, the 190th Division, and the 10th Reserve Division to each be responsible for one direction and resolutely resist the Japanese army. The 10th Reserve Division was originally a reserve, and after being ordered to cross the river into the city, the division commander Fang Xianjue ordered all the ships to be transferred, and swore to coexist and die with Changsha. On January 4, the Japanese launched a general offensive and once rushed into the city, and the enemy and we began to fight in the streets.
Commander Li Yutang was eating steamed bread and drinking porridge at the headquarters, when suddenly a bullet broke through the glass and shattered the plate on the table and broke Li Yutang's chopsticks. Li Yutang threw away the chopsticks and ate the kohlrabi dish with his hand. Seeing that the commander was so calm, the subordinates present were confident and thought that they would definitely be able to beat the Japanese out of Changsha.
At the same time that the Japanese army was attacking Changsha, Xue Yue had already ordered the "Heavenly Furnace" to be launched, and the troops of the Ninth Theater launched a comprehensive counterattack against the Japanese army from all directions. At dusk on January 4, the Japanese 3rd and 6th Divisions abandoned the siege and broke through to the north.
Wherever the Japanese army went, it would be attacked by the Chinese army. The 6th Division was ordered to attack Janssen's 27th Army to open a retreat for the whole army, but was surrounded by the 4th, 26th, and 78th Armies, and after a bitter battle, the Yamazaki Brigade of the 9th Brigade regiment was completely annihilated.
Anan only sent the 3rd and 40th Divisions to rescue the 6th Division, but these two divisions were too busy to take care of themselves and did not have the ability to rescue them. It was not until 12 January that the 6th Division escaped under the cover of a large number of Japanese bombers.
The Third Battle of Changsha ended with a great victory for China, with 29,849 casualties, 33,941 killed and 23,000 seriously wounded, and the Japanese only admitted that 1,591 were killed and 4,412 wounded. However, one figure that caught everyone's attention was that there were 139 Captured Japanese soldiers, and the highest position was squadron leader.
After so many years of fighting the War of Resistance, there were very few Japanese troops who took prisoners, no more than a few or a dozen of them fought each time, and the officers were even rarer. The fact that 139 prisoners were taken this time proved that the morale of the Japanese army was low, and the real casualty figures were certainly more than a little more than what was reported in their war reports. The Japanese army itself admitted: "This battle shook the confidence of some officers and men in victory, and it took more than a year to recover." ”
At a time when fascism was at its most rampant in the world, only the Third Battle of Changsha achieved a great victory, which made the whole world look at China's War of Resistance. Changsha, a heroic city, withstood three attacks by the Japanese army and became a symbol of China's firm resistance to the War of Resistance.