This article is "An Inch of Mountains and Rivers and An Inch of Blood: 22 Large-Scale Battles of the War of Resistance" 11: The Battle of Zaoyi
The country has reached such a point that there is no other way but for me to die for it; and I believe even more that as long as I can make this determination, our country and the nation of five thousand years of history will never die at the hands of the three islands. The determination to die for the country and the nation, the sea will not dry up and the rocks will not rot, and it will never change in the slightest. ——Zhang Zizhong
01 Japanese hoax
Yichang is located in central China, the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, the southwest of Hubei Province, known as the "Gateway of the Three Gorges" and "The Throat of Sichuan". It is only 480 kilometers away from Chongqing, the center of the Anti-Japanese War.
For the Japanese army, whether it could occupy Yichang for a long time, as long as it attacked Yichang, it was a huge threat to the Chongqing government at that time —and this may have accelerated the surrender and submission of the Chang Kaishen government, at least the Japanese thought so. Ending the Chinese war as soon as possible and concentrating on breaking into Southeast Asia can not only obtain the rice, oil, rubber and other materials that Japan urgently needs, but also harvest the British and French spheres of influence in Southeast Asia. After all, at this time, Britain and France were taking care of themselves under german tanks.
The commander of the 11th Army was replaced, and Lieutenant General Kazuichiro Okamura succeeded Ninji Okamura. Kazuichiro Enbu mobilized more than 200,000 troops to prepare for a large-scale operation.
This battle was later known as the "Battle of Zaoyi".
In the plan of Yuanbu and Ichiro, in the first stage, the Japanese army will launch a fierce attack on the northern Hubei region, annihilate the main force of the 5th Theater of Operations, and then compress our army west of the Han River to Yichang for annihilation; in the second stage, the Japanese Third Division will go south to Dangyang and cut off our army's retreat; the 39th Division will encircle Yichang, and the 13th Division will cross the river from Shayang Town east of Yichang, waiting for an opportunity to attack Yichang.
And in order to make us believe that the Japanese army still fought like the last few times, we went back,
The Japanese deliberately lost a confidential document with a post-war return to the same place. Chang Kaishen believed this information, believing that the Japanese army would not capture Yichang, and asked Li Zongren to seize the opportunity, harass the Japanese rear, and lay the main force on the Japanese attack path.
The garden department and Ichiro are hoping to see such a situation.
On May 1, 1940, the Japanese army launched a large-scale attack on the 5th Theater, and the Japanese troops advanced in three directions and quickly broke through the first-line defensive positions of the 5th Theater. The 5th Theater Army resisted slightly
change
At the beginning of the retreat, the Japanese army had limited strength, there was space everywhere on the encirclement, how fast the Japanese attacked, how fast the 5 theaters retreated, and the main force withdrew from the Japanese encirclement almost instantaneously. A week after the offensive, the Japanese did not consider the first phase of the operation to be very successful.
Subsequently, the Japanese army began to retreat southwards — Chang Kaishen believed that this was the same as the previous Battle of Suizao , and he insisted that Li Zongren and his troops launch a fierce counterattack and no longer have a situation in which the retreating Japanese army did not struggle to attack during the Battle of Changsha.
However, the Japanese army did not retreat south, but gathered south to prepare for the second phase of the operation and capture Yichang.
The troops of the 5th Theater of Operations launched a fierce counterattack, and the speed and intensity of the counterattack were unexpected by the Japanese.
On 12 May, Sun Lianzhong and Tang Enbo attacked the Ishimoto detachment of the Japanese 3rd Division and the 40th Division and split it in half. The Japanese army fell into a bitter battle, and the rear supply line was cut off by our army. It was not until noon on the 15th that the Japanese army, under the cover of tank troops, broke out of the encirclement. The 5th Theater of Operations thinks
"The Japanese 3rd Division had more than 20,000 troops when it set out from Xinyang, and only more than 7,000 people were left when it retreated on the 15th."
However, later generations generally believe that although the 3rd Division suffered heavy losses, the casualties of the 5th Theater of Operations against the Japanese army were still suspected of exaggeration.
Sun Tang and his men surrounded 1 Japanese division with two armies, but in the south of the battlefield, Zhang Zizhong and his soldiers faced two other main Japanese divisions: the 13th Division and the 39th Division.
Zhang Zizhong was also separated from his subordinates in this battle forever.
02 General Sorrows
Zhang Zizhong was a native of Linqing, Shandong, and was appointed commander-in-chief of the Right Wing Group Army of the Fifth Theater and commander-in-chief of the Thirty-third Group Army during the Battle of Zaoyi.
Since the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Zhang Zizhong's impression in the hearts of the people was not good, and people at the time called him "traitor general". Before and after the Lugou Bridge Incident, Zhang Zizhong repeatedly contacted japan for negotiations.
At the end of April 1937, Zhang Zizhong visited Japan in order to help Song Zheyuan perfunctory Japanese. In order to confuse Zhang Zizhong's political outlook, the Japanese side launched a political war of hearts, deliberately concocting news to the outside world and separating the relationship between the masses and Zhang Zizhong.
However, during the entire visit, Zhang Zizhong did not do anything to apologize to the country and the nation.
However, public opinion and ordinary people still regard Zhang Zizhong as a traitor.
This made Zhang Zizhong also have a deep sense of guilt, ready to prove himself with death in battle.
In the Battle of Zaoyi, when the Japanese army was retreating, Zhang Zizhong was ordered to intercept the Japanese army from Zaoyang.
Before leaving, Zhang Zizhong, who had a premonition of nine deaths, wrote such a sentence in his suicide note to his old subordinates
"Grit your teeth and fight this battle, we will count people in China after that."
Or count
Ghosts will be seen in this battle."
Zhang Zizhong attacked.
At this time, on the east bank of the Xiang River, except for Zhang Zizhong's 3,000 troops, there were no other friendly troops, and the rear supply line
karma
Severed. Zhang Zizhong's troops fought desperately with the Japanese army, and on the 15th, the Japanese army decided to avoid Zhang Zizhong's group of lifeless soldiers and continue to the south.
Zhang Zizhong's interception mission had actually been completed, but Zhang Zizhong found that the Japanese army in front of him had detoured south and immediately led his troops to pursue -- and the Japanese army in pursuit was the 39th Division.
The 39th Division intercepted telegrams from Chongqing and the 5th Theater of Operations, confirming that the pursuing forces were under the command of Zhang Zizhong. The 39th Division immediately turned around and surrounded Zhang Zizhong's forces.
Zhang Zizhong fell into a desperate situation, and the Japanese army concentrated more than 5,000 troops and all the artillery to fiercely besiege Zhang Zizhong's troops. Zhang Zizhong refused to retreat and led the officers and men to hold their positions.
In the fierce battle, the Japanese army attacked the small mountain bag where Zhang Zizhong was located. At this time, Zhang Zizhong sent his guards to the front line, and most of the soldiers around him had been killed in battle, and Zhang Zizhong was already wounded at this time.
In hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese army, General Zhang Zizhong fell down forever. The place where Zhang Zizhong sacrificed was called the pumpkin shop
Zhang Zizhong became the first commander-in-chief of the group army killed in the War of Resistance.
General Zhang Zizhong used his life to create fighters for the Chinese army: during the Battle of Pumpkin Shop, because Zhang Zizhong attracted the main force of the Japanese army, Tang Enbo's 13th Army took Zaoyang by false attack.
After the officers and men of the 38th Division and the 179th Division learned of Zhang Zizhong's martyrdom, they desperately launched an attack on the headquarters of the 39th Division that night to recover Zhang Zizhong's body. Zhang Zizhong's body was transported back to Chongqing, and along the way, the people were not afraid of the air raids of Japanese aircraft in the air, and they could not kneel on the banks of the Yangtze River. When the body arrived in Chongqing, Chang Kaishen greeted the spirit by the river, and the people held a bowl full of noodles above their heads—General Zhang Zizhong was a northerner.
03 Yichang fell
In order to complete the second phase of the operation, the Japanese sent a Matsui detachment and a mountain artillery brigade from the 22nd Division of the 13th Army, and at the same time mobilized a large number of military supplies.
On 19 May, the Japanese suddenly launched a full-scale counterattack.
The troops of the 5th Theater of Operations were caught off guard and had to quickly leave the battlefield and move westward. The troops of the 5th Theater of Operations withdrew quickly, and the Japanese army still did not keep up.
On May 30, the Japanese 3rd Division crossed the Han River without fierce resistance and quickly moved south. The 5th Theater of Operations misjudged and focused its troops on the east of the Han River, most of the troops on the west bank of the Han River were transferred to the east bank, and the 3rd Division did not encounter much resistance along the way.
On June 1, the 3rd Division took Xiangyang lightly.
On 3 June, the 3rd and 39th Divisions advanced rapidly toward the Jingmen area.
On June 4, the 13th Division and the Ikeda Detachment also forcibly crossed the Han River.
The main force of the Japanese army suddenly crossed the Han River and appeared on the flank of our defenders, attacking not the first-line positions of the Jiang defense army, but the second- and even third-line positions in the rear, and the weak defenders collapsed in an instant.
Yichang is in danger, and the entire war situation is also extremely critical.
Chang Kaishen hurriedly transported the 18th Army from Chongqing to Yichang.
On June 10, the 18th and 199th Divisions of the 18th Army arrived near Yichang. The 18th Division was responsible for defending Yichang.
At dawn on June 11, three Divisions of the Japanese Army besieged the city of Yichang in three ways.
On June 12, the Japanese captured Yichang
04 The Japanese army went and returned
In The original plan of Yuanbu and Ichiro, the Japanese army was indeed not prepared to occupy Yichang, but with the more important purpose of depleting the effective strength of the Chinese army. Therefore, on June 17, the Japanese army withdrew from Yichang.
The troops of the 5th Theater of Operations followed, and the 18th Army followed the Japanese into Yichang City.
In fact, there were serious differences within the Japanese army as to whether to occupy Yichang for a long time. For both China and Japan, Yichang's geographical location is too important. However, at that time, the Japanese army was facing a dilemma: there were not enough troops to maintain long-term combat strength, the Japanese army was ready to go south, and the base camp had decided to reduce its strength in China. After constant debate, the Japanese decided to abandon Yichang.
At this time, however, surprising news came from the European battlefield: the Germans occupied Paris and the French surrendered.
This news once again irritated the Japanese officers,
It is required to quickly end the war of aggression against China and free up troops as soon as possible to harvest Southeast Asia. The occupation of Yichang could give Chang Kaishen a greater threat and help to end the war in China as soon as possible. Therefore, the Japanese base camp revised the original order, requiring that Yichang be secured for one month.
Therefore, the Japanese suddenly turned around and rushed back to Yichang again, and after a melee, Yichang fell into enemy hands again on June 17.
The Battle of Zaoyi also ended with the Japanese occupation of Yichang.
From the perspective of the Japanese army, the biggest achievement of the Battle of Zaoyi was to occupy Yichang, but the purpose of encircling and annihilating the main force of the 5th Theater of Operations was still not achieved, with 11,000 casualties (the Japanese army's own data was 7,000 casualties); and for us, Chang Kaishen and other high-level officials from the early stage of judgment errors to the later command errors, resulting in heavy casualties in the combat troops (37,000 killed), more importantly, the loss of the strategic yichang.
The Japanese army has approached Chongqing, what is the next step in the War of Resistance?
"An inch of mountains and rivers and an inch of blood in the Battle of Henan" is expected to be updated before December 8, pay attention to my first time to see the latest content.