Human history can be said to be a history of war, and the Second World War of the last century was the largest world war of mankind, in addition to the European battlefield, China as the main battlefield in the East, the Chinese army and people carried out a fourteen-year long war of resistance, and finally won victory.
The nation is in danger, and the pirate is responsible. On the vast land of China, every inch of mountains and rivers is an inch of blood, and the sons and daughters of China see the Qing government incompetently handing over land and silver to foreigners, and they are angry and raise the banner of resistance.
Although the disparity between the strength of the Chinese army and the people and the strength of foreign invaders is too great now, it is precisely by relying on the firm determination of all people that we have won one war after another, which has made foreigners look at China with astonishment.
There was a war in which 400,000 Japanese troops attacked for 3 consecutive years, losing 110,000 elite troops but still failed to capture, which was the defense of Changsha.
Hunan Is the hardest province to fight in China
In China's modern and modern history, the land of Hunan has produced many great people and heroes, such as Chairman Mao, Zeng Guofan, Zuo Zongtang and so on.
They have played an important role in China's modern history and made outstanding contributions to China's independence and self-determination. Needless to say, Chairman Mao's "Xiang Army," which was established at the end of the Qing Dynasty, also played a very huge role in the War of Resistance. It is no wonder that people think that Hunan people "eat bitterly, bully wildly, and be patient and annoying."
Hunan is a very famous granary in China, rich in grain, able to provide a steady stream of military supplies for our army in the War of Resistance.
Hunan is located in the dangerous place connecting the north and the south, once Hubei Hunan is lost, the vast southern region of China is equivalent to the loss, the Japanese army can drive straight in at any time, from the strategic point of view, after the loss of Wuhan, How Hunan will also be held to the death.
If the Japanese captured Hunan, it would be equivalent to holding the rear supply station of the Chinese army and directly cutting off the grain and grass back road. This is also why during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, both China and Japan worked Hunan, one to hold on to the death, and the other to attack.
In 1938, a fire broke out in Changsha, Hunan Province, known historically as the "Wenxi Fire". Because the Japanese army captured Guangzhou, Wuhan and other cities, the next turn was Changsha, the Nationalist government in order to avoid the military materials stored on the field by the Japanese occupied, cheapened the Japanese army, so it adopted a scorched earth policy, a torch to burn all these materials.
The fire not only burned military supplies, but also destroyed Changsha's urban buildings, making Changsha one of the most damaged cities in World War II.
From this, we can also see how important the terrain of Hunan is, and it is this granary province that makes it the main battlefield of the Sino-Japanese War, and taking it is very crucial to the Sino-Japanese war situation.
As a result, battles were fought on this land, including three wars waged by the Japanese army in Changsha, Hunan Province, from September 1939 to February 1942, all of which were resisted to the death by the Kuomintang and Communist Allies.
The first two battles of Changsha killed the Japanese army in their march south
In the First Battle of Changsha, the Ninth Theater quickly made a judgment that the next target of the Japanese army after taking Wuhan would be Changsha, so it decided to lure the Japanese army to the vicinity of Changsha and form a siege to annihilate it.
In September 1939, the Japanese army sent the 106th Division regiment Nakai Ryotaro to take the lead in launching the war, and our army put up a desperate resistance. The Japanese army underestimated the strength of the Chinese allies and the people's will to resist, and in the end the Japanese army could not make a breakthrough in the attack and had to retreat from the battlefield.
In this battle, our army suffered 40,000 casualties and 30,000 Japanese casualties, and our army successfully delayed the pace of the Japanese army's southward attack.
In April 1941, after a brief period of integration, the 11th Army, led by the Japanese army Anan, once again sent troops to attack Changsha, and on September 7 of the same year, the Second Battle of Changsha officially began.
The Japanese army once captured Changsha, Zhuzhou and other places in this war, which made Anan only taste the "sweetness", so he decided to attack further, but due to the desperate resistance of our army, Anan's only few troops fell into a situation of running out of ammunition and food, and they needed to rely on airdrops to survive.
The Chinese allies eventually recaptured these lost territories, curbing the pace of further Japanese invasions and greatly weakening the international influence of the Japanese army.
The Third Battle of Changsha Xue Yue used the "Heavenly Furnace Tactics"
Xue Yue, nicknamed "Tiger Boy", was a famous general and military figure during the Republic of China period.
In 1909, he joined the League, was admitted to the Baoding Military Academy in 1916, and after graduation went to Guangzhou to serve as the commander of the first battalion of Sun Yat-sen's guard regiment, after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, he was appointed commander of the Ninth Theater, and in 1939 he was also the chairman of the Hunan Provincial Government, and presided over three battles to defend Changsha.
In this campaign to defend Changsha, he created the "Heavenly Furnace Tactics", the most crucial of which was to lure the enemy deeper, first disperse the troops until the enemy entered the depths of the Heavenly Furnace, and then slowly surround the troops, presenting a situation of total encirclement, and then through ambushes, tail blows, etc., to consume the enemy's strength, gradually drag down the morale of the enemy, and then annihilate the enemy in one fell swoop, it will not be effortless.
The Third Battle of Changsha followed, which was to use the "Heavenly Furnace Tactics" to let the scattered allies continue to ambush the Japanese army, etc., to consume the energy of the Japanese army and resist the Japanese army's attack from the south on the frontal battlefield, so that the Japanese army finally had to give up the attack.
After Anan was forced to issue a reversal order, when the Japanese army retreated, our 4th Army intercepted the Japanese army, causing heavy casualties for the Japanese army. This battle further expanded the achievements made at the Battle of Changsha.
brief summary:
In the three battles of Changsha, the Japanese army has invested 400,000 elite troops, of which 110,000 elites were buried here, 90,000 soldiers of the Chinese troops were sacrificed, and the Japanese army even transferred a number of generals to command the battle, but they failed to win.
Among them, our army successfully defeated the Third Battle of Changsha by the Japanese army using the original "Heavenly Furnace Tactics", which greatly boosted the morale of the Chinese army and the people in the War of Resistance.
As a whole, this was the first victory of the Allies in the continued defeat of the Pacific War. Britain's Times also spoke highly of this and accelerated the implementation of the US aid program for China.
Xue Yue, a famous general who guarded the Changsha Theater, also had the name of "Tiger of Changsha". At the same time, this campaign also defended the key areas of Hunan, making the situation in the rear area of southwest China relatively safe, and also making Hunan an important base for China's War of Resistance, and Hunan was considered a very difficult province to conquer in the eyes of the enemy, which made the enemy army dare not launch another attack on Changsha for several years.