During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, there was a high honor in the National Revolutionary Army at that time, that is, the Flying Tiger Banner, and it was far more difficult to obtain the Flying Tiger Banner than to obtain the Order of the Blue Sky and White Sun. During its time on the mainland, the Kuomintang only awarded flying tiger flags to 24 units. But in a battle, Chiang Kai-shek awarded three flying tiger flags to a unit, the 74th Army, and this battle was the Battle of Changde.
In 1943, the Japanese army concentrated five divisions and regiments with a total of more than 100,000 people to launch the Battle of Changde, of which the Third Division, the 68th Division, and the 116th Division attacked Changde with more than 40,000 people. At that time, only more than 8,000 tiger soldiers of the 57th Division of the 74th Army were guarding Changde, and Yu Chengwan, the commander of the 57th Division, graduated from the Huangpu Phase I, and was a talented person in the Kuomintang army who could write and fight, and his military attainments were very high. Although the battle caused great casualties to the Japanese army, the 57th Division of the 74th Army also fought very tragically, and only more than 300 of the more than 8,000 officers and men of the division survived.
Before the Battle of Changde, the two central army units of the 74th Army and the 100th Army were assigned to Sun Lianzhong's Sixth Theater of Operations. On November 22, 1943, the main force of the Japanese 11th Army was assembled outside Changde City, and the Japanese 116th Division regiment that was tasked with siege was intact at this time, and the entire division was used to attack Changde, and the 188th Regiment of the 63rd Division of the 100th Army was sent to the outer position of Deshan in Changde before the battle to serve as a defensive task, but when this unit attacked by the Japanese army, the regimental commander Deng Guangfeng only held out for one day and night and fled, resulting in the loss of Deshan. Tokuyama was the only strategic point in Changde at that time to communicate with the outside world, and the loss of Tokuyama made the 57th Division completely a lone army, losing all contact with the outside world.
On the 24th, the 116th Division launched a main attack on Changde, the 120th Regiment of the 116th Division launched an attack on the 170th Regiment of the 57th Division, the defensive positions of the 170th Regiment were broken in many places, and the 170th Regiment Commander Sun Jinxian personally led his troops to fiercely counterattack the enemy and repeatedly charged and killed the Japanese army. Zhang Tinglin, commander of the 170th Regiment, led his troops to repeatedly charge and kill the Japanese army in the position, wounded and finally martyred. Peng Youwei, another battalion commander of the 170th Regiment, saw the Japanese army enter the city and led his troops to engage in a fierce white-knife battle with the Japanese army, successfully repelling the Japanese army.
The 109th Regiment of the Japanese 116th Division attacked the position of the 169th Regiment of the 57th Division, the regimental commander Chai Yixin fought bravely, the Japanese army could not attack for a long time, and also released tear gas, Chai Yixin was resourceful to fight, according to the terrain to set up a good fire point, the 109th Wing suffered heavy losses under the precise fire of the 169th Regiment, suzuki, the operational staff officer of the 116th Division Regiment acting as the 109th Wing Commander, was killed, the third brigade leader Mamura was shot and killed indiscriminately, and the 109th Wing was destroyed by the 169th Regiment led by Chai Yixin in one day, and the loss was more than half. Retreat to the rear for repairs.
On the 25th, the Japanese sent the 120th Wing to attack the 169th Regiment, and the 120th Regiment also organized a commando team to take the lead in attacking the city, resulting in the leader of the third brigade, Katsuno, who led the attack, was killed, and the 120th Wing death squad suffered heavy losses, and finally fled in a hurry. The Sixth Wing of the Japanese Third Division was discovered by the officers and men of the first battalion of the 169th Regiment when reconnaissance of the terrain, and there was just a P40 formation of the Flying Tigers flying over Changde, Yu Chengwan immediately asked the Air Force to strafe the Sixth Wing of the Japanese Third Division, and the Japanese Sixth Regiment was killed on the spot, and the rest of the officers and men were counterattacked by the officers and men of the 57th Division, and the Queen of Cang withdrew.
On the 25th, after the loss of troops, the Japanese army became angry and put all the 116th Division, the third division, and the 68th division to attack Changde. Although the 57th Division resisted bravely, due to its outnumber, all its shells were exhausted, and it could only rely on light weapons to resist. Seeing that he could not attack for a long time, Yokoyama also sent the Third Aviation Division to throw incendiary bombs and poison gas bombs at Changde City, and half of Changde's houses were caught in flames. When the 57th Division was stubbornly resisting, except for the desperate reinforcements of the 74th Army led by Wang Yaowu, the rest of the troops were slow to advance, and the 57th Division initially accepted the order to hold Changde for two weeks, but Yu Chengwan held for 18 days, and there was no sign of reinforcements. The main force of the Japanese army also entered the city, the two sides launched a fierce street battle, and finally Chai Yixin, the commander of the 169th Regiment of the 57th Division, contained the Japanese army in the city, and Yu Chengwan broke through with more than 200 officers and men, and only 83 people were left after the siege.
After Yu Chengwan broke through the siege, he encountered a regiment of reinforcements from the 11th Division, so he immediately took this regiment back to the city and recaptured Changde. After the end of the campaign, Yu Chengwan's 57th Division survived only more than 300 officers and men. In this battle, the 74th Army Headquarters, the 57th Division, and the 74th Army Artillery Regiment were each awarded a flying tiger flag.