In the spring of 1945, the world anti-fascist situation had entered a completely new stage. In November 1943, US President Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill invited Kuomintang President Chiang Kai-shek to Cairo, egypt, to hold a meeting of the big three, which announced that China, the United States, and Britain would form an anti-fascist alliance and would jointly fight against the enemy and completely eliminate the German and Japanese fascist forces.
Wang Yaowu's Fourth Front
According to the battle plan formulated by the Allies at that time, with Chinese mainland and Vietnam as the Chinese theater, the General Headquarters of the Chinese Theater Army was established, and He Yingqin served as the commander-in-chief. In the Battle of Yuxianggui in 1944, the performance of the Kuomintang army surprised Chiang Kai-shek, and he began to reorganize the troops and strengthen the construction of the Chinese Theater Army Headquarters, and in December 1944, the Chinese Theater Army Headquarters was established in Kunming, responsible for the unified command and training of the southwest theaters.
The Chinese Theater Army Command has four fronts under its jurisdiction, of which the First Front is stationed in the Yunnan region, the commander is Lu Han, the Second Front is stationed in the Guangxi region, the commander is Zhang Fakui, the Third Front is stationed in the Qiangui Border Region, the commander is Tang Enbo, the commander of the Fourth Front Army is stationed in the Western Hunan region, and the commander is Wang Yaowu.
The weapons, equipment, and logistical supplies of these four fronts were all provided by the United States free of charge, and the United States was organized to establish a mixed Sino-US air force, open up large airfields, and actively prepare to recover China's coastal areas and expand the Pacific Theater to cooperate with the US military's offensive on the Japanese mainland.
Among these four fronts, Lu Han, Zhang Fakui, and Tang Enbo all served as theater commanders or deputy commanders of the theaters, and had deep seniority in the Kuomintang army, but Wang Yaowu, commander of the Fourth Front Army, had very low qualifications, he was only a third-term student in Huangpu, and he was a division commander at the beginning of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, but Wang Yaowu's combat achievements were outstanding during the War of Resistance Against Japan.
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Wang Yaowu served as the commander of the 51st Division and the commander of the 74th Army, and participated in almost all major battles during the War of Resistance Against Japan. When he was the second commander of the 74th Army, he led this unit to participate in the Battle of Shanggao, the Third Battle of Changsha, the Battle of Changde and other battles, and achieved outstanding battle achievements, forging an ordinary central army unit of the 74th Army into the number one main force of the Nationalist Army.
Wang Yaowu is also very good at being a man, he is very low-key, and during the War of Resistance, he also did business to replenish the materials urgently needed by the troops, so his popularity in the Kuomintang army was also very good. It was precisely because of this that Chiang Kai-shek made him the commander of the Fourth Front, which was far stronger than the other three fronts, because the strategic position of the Western Hunan region that the Fourth Front army wanted to defend was very important, directly related to the security of chongqing, and later the 74th Army, the 18th Army, and the New Sixth Army of the five main forces were all subordinate to the Fourth Front.
Dogs jumped off the wall of japanese troops
In the spring of 1945, the situation on the battlefield gradually favored our army, and at that time our army also opened a large airfield in Zhijiang, Hunan Province, stationed in a regiment of the Sino-US mixed air force formation, and took on the task of attacking the Japanese army. In addition to attacking Japanese military targets, the Sino-US mixed air force formation at Zhijiang Airport also bombed the Japanese railways in Xianggui and Guangdong and Han, blocking the Yangtze River shipping.
At this time, the Japanese army was already at the end of the crossbow, Japan was gradually defeated in the Pacific theater, and in the Southeast Asian battlefield, it was also beaten by the Chinese Expeditionary Force and the British Army, and it was also caught in the eighth route army and the new Fourth Army on the battlefield behind the enemy lines in our country. The opening of Zhijiang Airfield has also made it more convenient for our army to strike at the Japanese army, and the opportunity of the Japanese air force under the blows of our army has been exhausted, and the air supremacy of most of the national territory has been controlled by the mixed Air Force of China and the United States.
Faced with this situation, Okamura Ningji, commander-in-chief of the Japanese dispatch army in China, was obviously forced to jump the wall in a hurry, and he decided to mobilize heavy troops to directly break through the Western Hunan Defense Line of our army, and then capture Chongqing, the capital of the Republic of China, in one fell swoop, and then occupy the Zhijiang airport to ensure the smooth flow of its railways and shipping.
The geographical location of xiangxi is very important, which is the last barrier to defend the capital Chongqing, the territory of Xuefeng Mountain, Wuling Mountain two large mountains north and south, there are a number of large rivers meandering east, the most important airport of the Chinese Air Force - Zhijiang Airport, is also surrounded by the Xuefeng Mountains. Therefore, blocking the Japanese attack, defending western Hunan and defending Chongqing became the most critical task of Wang Yaowu's Fourth Front.
In order to capture western Hunan Province, the Japanese army also mobilized a lot of troops, at this time the Japanese army has not many troops, not only to fight with the Rear Eighth Route Army, the New Fourth Army, but also to fight with the Kuomintang regular army, Okamura Ningji seven pieces together, only to put together four divisions and another brigade, plus special forces, a total of more than 100,000 troops.
Although the number of Troops in the Japanese Army is quite large, the combat effectiveness is much worse than that of the previous ones, and many of the soldiers are newly added recruits, either children of fifteen or sixteen years old or old people in their sixties, and the supply of weapons and ammunition is also insufficient. However, the Chinese army is strong and strong, and many units have just been transformed into American ordnance troops, and Chiang Kai-shek, in order to ensure the absolute victory of this campaign, also transferred the New Sixth Army of the Expeditionary Force to serve as the general reserve of the theater.
Battle of Wugang
The Battle of Xiangxi was the last major battle during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and an unprecedented victory, but in this campaign, many incredible victories were achieved, and the Battle of Wugang was a typical example.
Wugang is located in the southwest of Hunan Province, is the central city of southwest Hunan Province, the gateway to Xianggui, the city is surrounded by mountains on three sides, is an ancient city of more than 2200 years, is also a strategic town,
With Shaoyang to the east, Suining to the west, Xinning and Chengbu to the south, and Dongkou to the north, the geographical location is extremely important.
On April 26, 1945, in response to the Japanese 116th Division's attack on Longtan, the 68th Division of the Japanese Southern Front launched an attack on Wuyang and Wugang, a major town in western Hunan Province. At that time, only one company of the 74th Army was guarding Wuyang, and this company blocked the attack of dozens of times its own Japanese army, and after four days and nights of fierce fighting with the Japanese army, all of them were sacrificed, and the Japanese army captured Wuyang.
When the Japanese 68th Division captured Wuyang, half of the main force was used to storm Wugang. At that time, there was only one battalion stationed in Wugang, and this battalion was
1st Battalion, 172nd Regiment, 58th Division, 74th Army, Battalion Commander Ge Dao. Shi Zhongcheng, commander of the 74th Army, strengthened the strength of this battalion in advance, making this battalion a reinforced battalion of more than 800 people, and also gave this unit all the equipment and equipment, and had a certain number of automatic firearms and artillery.
Battalion commander
Ge Dao knew that the Japanese 68th Division was coming to attack with heavy troops, and knew that with their strength, it would be difficult to block the onslaught of thousands of Japanese troops, but they were all ready to die. Wugang County has always been a strategic town in history, so there are complete walls and wide moats, the 74th Army has built a lot of fortifications and three outer defense lines near the city walls, and the local people have also taken out glutinous rice eaten in the New Year to help strengthen the city walls.
The Sekine detachment led by Kwane Kutaro of the Japanese 68th Division was the first to rush outside Wugang Castle, and when he learned that there was only one battalion guarding Wugang, he was very excited, and a Japanese captain also shouted that he could take Wugang Castle in half a day.
great victory
On April 27, the Japanese army concentrated hundreds of artillery and a large number of tanks to launch a strong attack on Wugang, but the city wall reinforced by our army was very strong, the Japanese army did not break through Wugang, the two sides repeatedly fought fiercely for three days, our army only lost the simple defense line outside the city, but the Japanese army suffered heavy losses, and a large number of soldiers fell in front of our army's position.
Commander of the 20th Army of the Japanese Army
After learning that the 68th Division had concentrated dozens of times the superior strength of our army and could not take Wugang Castle, Bannishi Ichiro severely criticized the generals of the 68th Division. Annoyed and angry, the Japanese army decided to organize a special attack team, that is, a death squad, and each daredevil was tied with explosives.
Charging upwards with a rifle with a bayonet,
Trying to blow up the city walls and open the way for the follow-up troops.
But the funny thing is that after the Japanese generals issued the news of the formation of the death squad, few Japanese troops dared to stand up, and finally decided on 150 death squad members by lottery. After the formation of the Japanese army's death squad, all the artillery fire was concentrated to bombard our army to provide cover for the death squad charge, and our army also fought back desperately, only a few Japanese troops approached the city wall and blew up several gaps in the city wall, but the Japanese army was not proud, and the gap was blocked by our army and the common people with sandbags.
The Japanese army saw that the explosion was not successful, and then used the tactic of the sea of people, and once set up a ladder to climb up, but our army quickly strafed the Japanese army with the us-made Thomson submachine gun and flamethrower that had just been re-equipped.
The two sides fought fiercely in Wugang for seven days, at this time, at Wuyang, 30 kilometers away from Wugang, they were also counterattacked by Chinese troops, and finally recaptured Wuyang. Subsequently, Wang Yaowu ordered the 44th Division to launch an attack on the flank of the Japanese 68th Division attacking Wugang, and the Japanese army was caught off guard and fled in a hurry, and our Wugang defenders also took advantage of the situation to rush out and counterattack the Japanese army.
The Japanese ran very fast, but along the way, the Japanese army was strafed by our mixed Air Force of China and the United States, and the losses were very heavy. Throughout the Battle of Western Hunan Province, our army always maintained a crushing state against the Japanese army, and finally annihilated 30,000 Japanese troops at the cost of more than 20,000 casualties, captured hundreds of Japanese troops, and captured a large number of weapons and equipment.