During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the 190th Division of the Chinese Army was known as the "Zhongyong Division", and the whole division, regardless of officers and men, had the word "Zhongyong" embroidered on its sleeves. The first division was also a newly formed unit in Hunan, and the source of soldiers came from the three lakes and two guangzhou areas, and after three months of rigorous training in Hunan, it came out of the mountains, with strict military discipline, no offense in autumn, and won the love of the people. During the standby period, when the grain was ripe, the officers and men of the 190th Division also volunteered to help the peasants harvest, which fully embodied the spirit of military-civilian cooperation.
The division commander Liang Huasheng was a general from the 4th Army, who had long followed Xue Yue in the Southern Expedition to the North, through the Eastern Expedition, the Northern Expedition, and the 25,000-mile Long March of the Red Army, and was Xue Yue's old subordinate. In view of the Japanese army's fear of the characteristics of our army's big knife team, Liang Huasheng specially imitated the practice of the northwest army's big knife team, equipped each of the officers and men of his 190th Division with a large knife, and invited a martial arts master to teach the fighting technique of the big knife to the bayonet.
In the Battle of Wanjialing, the "Loyal and Courageous Division" showed great might. At that time, the main force of the Japanese 101st Division first launched an attack on Dongguling, and the Japanese army first bombarded our army positions with aircraft and heavy artillery, and the entire hill of Dongguling was blown up into a rocky quarry. After two consecutive days of bombardment and shelling, the officers and men of the 101st Division thought that our army had suffered complete casualties under the artillery fire, but the soldiers of the 190th Division quickly flipped up from behind the ridge and occupied the main position, and then took advantage of the condescending advantage to form a fire network, and the Japanese army was caught off guard and suffered heavy casualties.
After a day of fierce fighting, our army only lost its forward position, and the main position was still controlled by our army. When Ito Masayoshi saw the defeat in the first battle, he bombarded it in turn with aircraft cannons, and the entire hill of The Eastern Guling Ridge was almost flattened by three points, and even used mustard gas. The Chinese defenders were poisoned to death in large numbers because they did not have gas masks. Liang Huasheng immediately ordered each of the division to wrap their faces in a wet towel dipped in "daylight soap" soapy water, and only dug two small holes to expose their eyes, which alleviated the phenomenon of poisoning. On August 25, Ito Masaki sent reinforcements from Hoshiko and increased the intensity of poison gas, but our army was out of strength and withdrew its forces to the highest mountain in the East Guling Mountains.
The Japanese army also followed up to the front of our army, Liang Huasheng ordered the generals to take out the large knives each equipped with, and launched a white-knife battle with the Japanese army, because our army had undergone special training in knife techniques, and the Japanese army had only practiced the spelling of bayonets to bayonets, but had never practiced the spelling of bayonets to large knives, and as a result, our army had the upper hand, and at this time the two sides were strangled into a ball, and the enemy's aircraft, cannons, and poisonous gas could not be used, and our army finally defended the highest hill in The East Guling Ridge. Knowing that the East Guling Ridge was difficult, the Japanese army changed its tactics and shifted the focus of the attack to the West GuLing, while taking a feint attack on the East GuLing. Because the main force of the 190th Division was in the East Lone ridge, the defense of the west lone ridge was weak, and the Japanese army was detouring around the flank of the defenders of the west lone ridge, resulting in the enemy's abdomen and back of our army. "The West Guling Ridge was attacked on the flank and back, and the reserves were all exhausted and surrounded on three sides, and Bian was still fighting in blood." In order to avoid the total annihilation of the army, Wang Jingjiu ordered Liang Huasheng to withdraw from The Western Guling Ridge and retreat to the Eastern Guling Ridge, and concentrated all the troops of the division on the Eastern Guling Ridge.
After the Japanese occupied the West Guling, they took advantage of the terrain of the West Guling to bombard the highest peak of the East Guling with heavy artillery, and also attacked with aircraft and poison gas. From 25 August to 27 August, the soldiers of the 190th Division had to hide in the fortifications, and at dawn on the 28th, the enemy finally launched its final charge. The intensity of this attack was unprecedented, and the enemy, under the cover of chariots, rushed up to our positions. Our army did not have anti-tank weapons such as anti-tank artillery and rocket launchers, so the soldiers had to collect cluster grenades and roll them into the enemy vehicle formation, detonate themselves, and eventually die with the Japanese tanks. The Japanese army was shocked by the arrogance of the "loyal and courageous division" to see death as a homecoming, and was forced to retreat. Since the 190th Division guarded the East and West Guling Ridge, it had fought fiercely with the main force of the Japanese 101st Division, causing heavy casualties to the Japanese army, and the first squadron of the 101st Wing, the second machine gun squadron, and the first squadron of the 149th Wing were all annihilated. Our army also suffered heavy casualties, and most of the casualties of the whole division had to be transferred down to make up for it, but due to the successful application of tactics, the purpose of blocking the enemy was fully achieved.
When broadcasting this field newsletter, the "Tokyo Red Rose," a heart-fighting announcer of Japan's Tokyo Radio, also had to lament: "The two units that the Japanese army encountered most feared in its invasion of China were Song Zheyuan's big knife team and Liang Huasheng's 'loyal and courageous division.'" This "loyal and courageous division" later participated in the street battle of the Third Battle of Changsha under the command of Xue Yue, defended the city of Changsha, and held Hengyang for 48 days in the 1944 Hengyang Defense War, coexisting and dying with Hengyang. It can be said that it is a heroic unit of the War of Resistance.
Resources
[1] Tan Feicheng: "Battle of Jianghan-Wuhan"
[2] Ao Wenwei: "Wonders of War and Fire - Wuhan Defense War"