"Commission:
Our army has now run out of ammunition, and the enemy has broken through the north gate this morning, and we have no more troops to block. Life and so on are determined to repay the party-state with death, and live up to the intention of junza as a breeder, this electricity is afraid to be the last electricity, and see you in the next life.
Students Fang Xianjue, Sun Mingyu, Zhou Qingxiang, Rong Youluo, Rao Shaowei and others paid tribute. ”
At noon on August 7, 1944, Fang Xianjue, commander of the 10th Army of the Nationalist Army, ordered the bombing of the radio station after sending this "last telegram" to Chongqing, knowing that the hengyang city that had been held out for 47 days had reached the last moment of his life...
1.
In the spring of 1944, as World War II drew to a close, the Japanese army was gradually defeated in the Pacific Theater, resulting in the near paralysis of its sea traffic supply lines. In order to die, the Japanese army was anxious to open a mainland communication line, which meant crossing the Korean Strait from Japan, crossing the Korean Peninsula, entering the Chinese mainland, and after crossing the Shanhai Customs, it went all the way south along the Pinghan Railway, and finally reached Singapore, so that the Chinese mainland was connected with nanyang, and this plan was named "Battle Plan No. 1".
The Japanese army invested 500,000 troops in this operation, and began the largest offensive in the Chinese battlefield since the invasion of China, and the three provinces of Henan, Hunan and Guangxi where the communication line is located are mainly controlled by the Chinese army, so these three provinces naturally became the main battlefield of the Japanese army's attack, known in history as the "Battle of Yuxianggui".
In April of that year, the Japanese army occupied Zhengzhou, in May Xuchang and Luoyang fell one after another, and in mid-June Changsha fell, and then the Japanese army attacked Hengyang.
Hengyang is located at the junction of the two railways of Guangdong, Han and Xianggui, like a huge plug, blocking the road of the Japanese army to the south. Moreover, Hengyang was the three central cities of wartime China alongside Chongqing and Kunming, and its tax revenue ranked second in the country. This made Hengyang change from the former rear area of the War of Resistance to the focus of contention between the two sides.
On the night of the fall of Changsha on June 18, Chiang Kai-shek personally called Fang Xianjue, commander of the 10th Army stationed in Hengyang, and asked him to lead the 10th Army to hold Hengyang for two weeks to buy time for the overall situation. Receiving the task personally assigned by the Supreme Commander, Fang Xianjue was flattered and said that he would desperately defend Hengyang City.
The Battle of Changheng is the main map
Fang Xianjue was a student of the third batch of Huangpu, who participated in military operations such as the Northern Expedition, the Central Plains War, and the Battle of Taierzhuang, and was a tiger general who grew up relying on solid combat achievements. The 10th Army was also a strong force, and it performed well in several battles of Changsha, and was known as the "Taishan Army" in the Nationalist Army.
However, in the Battle of Changde, the 10th Army, which was on the task of rushing to the aid, did not arrive at the scheduled time due to the intervention of its superiors, and Fang Xianjue was also held back and dismissed, although he was later reinstated as an official, he still held his breath, and this time guarding Hengyang made him see an opportunity to prove himself again. Therefore, after Receiving the order, Fang Xianjue quickly organized troops to disperse the residents of the city and strengthen the fortifications, and the morale of the officers and men was also very high, and they all expressed that they would fight this battle well.
Fang Xianjue
However, at that time, the 10th Army was not fully formed, under the jurisdiction of the 3rd Division, the Pre-10th Division, the 190th Division, plus a provisional 54th Division (only one regiment), the nominal 4 divisions were actually only seven regiments of strength, and the total number of troops directly under the military headquarters was only about 17,000. However, the Japanese army that invaded Hengyang was led by the 11th Army led by Yokoyama Yong, with 5 divisions under its jurisdiction, a total of more than 100,000 people, and the disparity between the enemy and our troops was huge.
2.
After the occupation of Changsha, the commander of the Japanese 11th Army felt that Hengyang could be easily taken, so he ordered the 68th Division and the 116th Division to attack Hengyang first with more than 10 days of rations.
Pre-war mobilization of the 10th Army
At dawn on June 23, the Japanese army forcibly crossed the river from Quanxi City and launched an attack on the forward position of the new wharf held by the 1st Battalion of the 568th Regiment of the 190th Division, and the defense of Hengyang officially began.
On the 26th, the Japanese army completed the encirclement of Hengyang, and launched the first general attack on Hengyang on the 28th, and the two sides launched a fierce offensive and defensive tug-of-war.
On the morning of the 28th, Bai Lin, commander of the mortar company of the 28th Regiment of the Pre-10th Division, searched the front of the position with a 10-fold telescope at the observation post, preparing to fire a few cannons to test the waters. Suddenly he found that on a small high ground about 800 meters to the south, there were more than a dozen devils peeking into our position, and he judged that this must be a senior Officer of the Japanese Army, determined not to test fire with a single gun, and directly ordered the whole company to concentrate on shooting.
"Boom"! The first group of shells all hit the target, and the devils were immediately blown away, and then they fired two more rounds of artillery, hitting them impartially.
Bai Lin himself did not expect that the hit was actually Lieutenant General Sakuma, the commander of the Japanese 68th Division, who was discussing the attack plan with his subordinate unit commanders on the high ground, but they were all seriously injured and sent to the rear for rescue.
In this way, the entire command system of the Japanese 68th Division was completely paralyzed. Yokoyama saw this and immediately ordered Lieutenant General Iwanetsu, commander of the 116th Division on the left wing, to take overall command and continue the attack. The Japanese then began a five-day uninterrupted attack from June 28 to July 2.
The Zhangjiashan position was an important barrier in Hengyang, and in order to capture it, the Japanese army invested a large number of troops, and the two sides repeatedly fought here, and the positions changed hands repeatedly as many as 13 times. At dawn on July 2, the Japanese launched a charge after releasing poison gas on the position, and the two high ground in the front were breached, and at this critical moment, Ge Xiancai, the commander of the Pre-10th Division responsible for the defense of the position, personally led people to organize a counterattack and directly fought with the devils with bayonets.
Although Ge Xiancai looked quiet, he was brave and brave, wielding a long gun, one move after another was fast and fierce, and the devils fell at his feet one by one screaming, stabbing one by one, he did not look, continued to pick forward, and specially picked out the tall devils to stab. The devil saw such a murderous master, knew that one was not an opponent, several were around, but the stabs came and went, that is, they could not get close to his body, on the contrary, after more than a dozen stabs, all fell down one by one.
After more than 40 minutes of fierce fighting, Commander Ge and the officers and men finally annihilated all the invading enemies. Of course, the myth of "Ge Shichang's shirtless battle against Zhangjiashan" also spread throughout the army.
Ge Xiancai
After July 3, due to repeated attacks and setbacks, the casualties were difficult to replenish, and finally changed from a comprehensive general offensive to a key attack.
This was the first general offensive launched by the Japanese army, but the casualties were more than 16,000, and the infantry companies of the 68th and 116th divisions had only 20 officers and men left on average. The Chinese troops defending the city suffered more than 4,000 casualties, only a quarter of the enemy casualties. Yokoyama Yong spent such a heavy price, except for occupying several peripheral positions, fang Xianjue's first line positions of defending the city were standing firm.
This is an unprecedented achievement since the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Chiang Kai-shek sent two commendation telegrams in a row: the first commended the officers and men of the 10th Army for "bravely holding firm"; the second commended Ge Xiancai, commander of the Pre-10th Division, for his meritorious service in restoring the Zhangjiashan position, and specially awarded a medal of the Qingtian White Sun Medal, and the officers and men of the engineer company who attacked with him were each awarded a medal of loyalty and courage.
3.
After the Japanese army changed to a key offensive, it attacked with soldiers, ammunition and grain on the other, and prepared to launch a second general offensive.
At dawn on 11 July, Japanese aircraft began to bombard the defenders in turn, and in the afternoon enemy artillery also bombarded the defenders' positions, and at dusk, the Japanese infantry launched a full-scale attack. The fighting was unprecedentedly fierce, with numerous casualties on both sides.
By the 15th of the battle, Ge Xiancai, in view of the loss of Zhangjiashan and the eastern positions, asked Fang Xianjue for his consent and ordered the officers and men to retreat to the xichan temple and the reserve positions on the front line of Zhangfei mountain before dawn. After five days of fierce fighting, the Japanese army also paid the price of 8,000 casualties.
The defenders ambushed the Japanese at their positions
The Japanese attacked until the 19th, but finally stopped again due to the lack of follow-up, and Yokoyama had to change the general offensive to a focus again.
The defenders of the city also suffered heavy losses, and Chiang Kai-shek ordered the surrounding 79th Army and 62nd Army to quickly reinforce Hengyang. And on the 19th, Fang Xianjue was told: "No matter how lack of soldiers, we must form a number of battalions and attack in the direction of reinforcing friendly troops, otherwise, the enemy will not retreat because the defending troops are weak!" ”
In the afternoon of the 20th, the 62nd Army finally reached the outskirts of Hengyang. The 10th Army contacted the 62nd Army through radio, agreeing to cooperate with each other and strive to achieve internal and external cooperation. Therefore, Fang Xianjue ordered the special service battalion of the army to select more than 150 officers and men, led by the battalion commander Cao Huating, to break through the siege at night and welcome reinforcements.
After a brave battle, the commando team finally broke through the siege, but the reinforcements were resisted by the Japanese army, and they could not support the battle, and finally retreated. Cao Huating waited at the agreed place for reinforcements not to arrive, so he could only lead his troops back to Hengyang City, and when he entered the city, there were only about 20 of the 150 officers and men left!
The Japanese army played psychological warfare with the defenders at the same time as the siege of the city, every day sent planes to drop a small number of cigarettes and a large number of landing leaflets, Fang Xianjue ordered the defenders to return the cigarettes to the pickers, the leaflets must be handed in and then burned in a concentrated way, the result of the Japanese army wasted cigarettes, but no one came out with leaflets to surrender.
The offensive and defensive situation between the two sides continued to be glued, which also bankrupted the Japanese plan to quickly open the communication line, which directly led to the collapse of the Tojo Hideki cabinet in the mainland.
4.
After the Japanese army was frustrated in the second general offensive, Yokoyama Decided to concentrate the main force of the whole army to attack Hengyang, and he also flew from Changsha to Hengyang on August 1 to personally command the siege battle.
At this time, the defenders in the city were almost exhausted, with 8,000 casualties, and the light wounded, grooms, and men all went to the front. Most of the rice and salt in the city were scorched by the Japanese bombardment, and the defenders were malnourished and sick.
The defenders threw grenades at the Japanese
On August 4, the Japanese army gathered the strength of 5 divisions and regiments, and with more than 100 guns and 40,000 shells, launched a third general offensive against Hengyang City.
In the face of the crazy onslaught of the devils, the defenders used grenades and bayonets to deal with their charge, the bunkers collapsed, the weapons were destroyed, and the people were buried, but as long as one of the undead got up from the ashes, he took up the gun and the devils desperately, and all the officers and men fought with the devils to the end and died with the positions.
On the 4th, the battle ended with the sound of artillery and shouts of killing, and Yokoyama's bold words of "taking Hengyang in one day" before the battle became a bubble. On the 5th and 6th, the battle situation was even more fierce, but the Hengyang defenders did not fall.
At dawn on August 7, more than 500 devils broke through Qingshan Street into the city, the telephone lines in the city were also blown up, the defenders were fighting their own battles, they could no longer carry out organized resistance, and the fall of Hengyang was only a matter of time.
The defenders engaged in street fighting with the Japanese
At noon on the 7th, the commanders of the three divisions ran to the military command post in the central bank together after enduring hardships and dangers from all over the place. After Fang Xianjue consulted with them, he sent out the "last call" mentioned above. After sending the telegram, Fang Xianjue pulled out his pistol and tried to kill himself, but he was stopped by his subordinates.
On August 8, the city of Hengyang was destroyed, and the 47-day defense of Hengyang was over.
5.
Regarding the outcome of Fang Xianjue and others, the mainstream theory now is that he surrendered to the Japanese army in order to save the wounded soldiers in Hengyang. There are also two theories, one is the "armistice theory", Fang Xianjue and others did not surrender, but only agreed with the Japanese army to truce, in order to achieve later results, Fang Xianjue himself has always insisted on this statement; the other is "captured theory", after the Japanese army invaded the city, Fang Xianjue and others were captured by the Japanese army group.
But in any case, it is an indisputable fact that Fang Xianjue and others became prisoners of the Japanese army after the city was destroyed.
Fang Xianjue and several division commanders were placed in the Catholic Church in Hengyang as the headquarters of the descending army. Subsequently, the Japanese army sent gambling equipment and prostitutes to play cards and spend painful time.
Fang Xianjue and the others kept their discipline in the following days, and also resisted the threats and inducements of the Japanese and false sides, did not do anything rebellious, and tried to escape from the clutches of the devil. On November 19, Fang Xianjue, who had been imprisoned for three months, finally escaped with the help of Wang Weineng, the commander of the pseudo-Hengyang County Self-Defense, and others, an operation that was personally planned and carried out by the military commander Dai Kasa. Fang Xianjue's division commanders and other generals also escaped from Hengyang to Chongqing.
After Fang Xianjue and the others returned to Chongqing, they were treated with heroic courtesy, and Chiang Kai-shek specially hosted a banquet to entertain them, followed by a grand commendation meeting and awarded them each a medal of the Blue Sky and White Sun.
After all, they were criticized by many people because of the stain of "surrender", so the Central Military Commission did not appoint them to specific positions, but announced that they were senior senators of major generals who did not work and only received salaries, and Fang Xianjue was appointed as the commander of the 207th Division of the Youth Army, but after that, until the end of the War of Resistance, he did not get the opportunity to fight against the Japanese army, which became a regret in his life.
6.
Although the defense of Hengyang will eventually surrender the city and die, in terms of the overall situation, this battle dealt a heavy blow to the Japanese Kou, played a role in national prestige, and played out the integrity and spirit of the nation's oath to die and not to be a slave to the country. In the defense of Hengyang, the 10th Army was surrounded on all sides, with no reinforcements, nor any weapons, ammunition, food, and medicine supplies, and in the land of projectiles with a radius of less than two square kilometers, it fought alone, resisting the Japanese army strength 10 times that of its own for 47 days and nights, breaking the Japanese army's original dream of taking Hengyang in one day, and pinning down the Japanese army's 5 divisions, 1 independent brigade, and 1 heavy artillery unit used to open the "mainland communication line", totaling more than 110,000 troops, which greatly delayed the Japanese army's attempt to advance south.
According to the Library of Congress, the Chinese army killed and wounded 15,000 people in the Defense of Hengyang, of which 7,400 died, while the Japanese army paid a heavy price of more than 70,000 deaths and injuries and 48,000 killed. Mao Zedong also gave a high appraisal of the defense of Hengyang in an editorial published in the "Liberation Daily" on August 12, 1944: "The defenders who insisted on holding Hengyang were heroic, and the people of Hengyang made great sacrifices."
The remains of some of the fallen soldiers of the 10th Army
However, after all, the capture of Fang Xianjue and others is incompatible with the traditional ethics and morality of the Chinese nation, and also incompatible with the national integrity of the anti-Japanese war that if it is not successful, it will become benevolent and prefer to die unyieldingly. Therefore, Fang Xianjue escaped from Hengyang and continued to engage in the cause of the War of Resistance, but his lifelong regret was that he "only owed one death" in Hengyang. Even after 30 years, Fang Xianjue is still grumpy, and he said in the article "Review of the Battle of Hengyang": "Thirty years have passed, and those who have made Yu Geng grumpy have failed to ensure Hengyang and failed to sacrifice their lives with hengyang to the enemy, and in personal terms, not only dare not say their merits, but are still ashamed of their duties, regain the favor of the country, do not investigate the responsibility of losing the land, and give great rewards, favor the life, and increase shame." "Smelling this is enough to make people sigh and move.
In my opinion, Fang Xianjue and others are by no means greedy and afraid of death, otherwise it would be impossible to bring out this steel division. Of course, when the city is destroyed, he can choose to die, but he resolutely sacrificed his honor in order to save the wounded soldiers in the city, which is even more moving, and surviving at this time may be more painful than death. Hindered by our traditional ethics and morality, his behavior cannot be accepted and propagated, so he can only gradually disappear into the dust of history and slowly be forgotten by people.
I also wrote this article to let more people know that there was such a group of people who shed blood and fought for our nation. If they can not be forgotten, that is enough.
Hengyang Defense Battle Monument
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