During the entire Period of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, twenty-two large-scale battles were fought between our army and the Japanese army, and one of them became the most influential battle for China's military and civilians since it was invaded by Japan.
Similarly, this battle was also the first large-scale battle jointly planned by the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China, regardless of previous suspicions; it was also the largest battle in scale, the largest number of participants, the widest scope, the largest number of enemy annihilations, and the longest time consuming since China entered the War of Resistance Against Japan.
This battle not only completely smashed Japan's attempt to "win a quick victory," but also became a turning point in the real sense of the War of Resistance Against Japan, lighting the first torch of confidence in the victory of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression for the Chinese military and people.
Next, let me lead you to understand the Battle of Wuhan, which occurred in the second half of 1938 and spread across the four provinces of Anhui, Henan, Jiangxi and Hubei.
At that time, because the Japanese army captured Nanjing, a trend advocating "quick victory" spread rapidly among the Japanese army invading China, and friends in the audience who know it should remember that Japan had threatened to completely encroach on China within three months.
Although such ignorant so-called wild talk was shattered in the indomitable battle with the anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians of our country, the covetousness of the Japanese militarist government for our country was not extinguished, but on the contrary, after the fall of Nanjing, it once again burned up.
Moreover, due to the defeat of the Kuomintang army in the Songhu battlefield, the port of Shanghai, as an important material transportation port, fell into the hands of the Japanese.
Therefore, the Kuomintang had to adjust its strategy and change the transportation of strategic materials to the port of Guangzhou in Guangzhou, and then transport them to the interior by land through the Guangdong-Han Railway.
This strategy of the Kuomintang made the Determination of the Invading Japanese Army to Capture Wuhan City as soon as possible, and in the eyes of the Invading Japanese Army at that time,
As long as the city of Wuhan is encroached upon, the city of Wuhan can be used as a barrier to cut off and control the railway. As long as the railway is controlled, it is equivalent to cutting off the strategic material supply of the local army.
In this way, the invading Japanese army only had to wait for the Nationalist government to send the surrender letter to their headquarters.
The abacus of the Japanese army invading China was very loud, but China's anti-Japanese army was not vegetarian. After the fall of Xuzhou, the Nationalist government had already made arrangements for Wuhan, an important city of the country.
In May 1938, after the end of the Battle of Xuzhou, the Military Commission of the Nationalist Government decided to adjust the operational sequence of the entire theater with Wuhan City as the center in order to enhance the command structure and combat capabilities of the various armies.
Moreover, after the military readjustment, Wuhan City was also included in the newly established Ninth Theater, and the army of the Fifth and Ninth Theaters established by the Kuomintang firmly protected Wuhan City.
At this time, around Wuhan, fourteen group armies, including the air force and navy, and fifty conventional combat regiments had been assembled, and the total investment force reached an astonishing 1.1 million people.
At the same time, the movement of the Kuomintang army was also known to the Invading Japanese Army, which immediately gathered nine divisions of the Second and Eleventh Armies of the Japanese Army, and about one hundred and forty brigades were laid out for Wuhan City. According to statistics, in this battle, the Japanese army invading China invested about 250,000 troops in the battle at one time.
On June 11, the first shots of the Battle of Wuhan were fired in Anqing City.
This Surprise Attack on anqing City of The Japanese Detachment came from taiwan, led by Japanese Army Lieutenant General Shigeichi Hakata, at that time, the Botian Detachment from Wuhu City up the river, took advantage of the heavy rain on the night of the eleventh day, and overnight crushed the troops of Yang Sen, commander of the 27th Army of the Sichuan Army.
This battle really caught the Nationalist government by surprise, and Chiang Kai-shek was angry and scolded Yang Sen after learning that Yang Sen had "surrendered" Anqing overnight
"Abandon the famous city, laugh at the friendly countries"
。
Yang Sen also felt very helpless, and the Twenty-sixth Army on the same front as him was defeated by the attack of the Japanese Sixth Division, and soon exposed the flank of the Twenty-seventh Army of the Sichuan Army to the artillery of the invading Japanese army.
When the Japanese invading Japanese army led by Hada Shigeichi captured Anqing City, it continued westward with naval ships directly from the Yangtze River section of Anqing City, and in just about ten days reached the outside of the blockade line of the Jiangfang Fortress in the town of Madang in Jiangxi Province.
Unlike the river defense fortress in other parts, the River Defense Fortress in Madang Town was designed by German military advisers, cost countless dollars, and operated by the Nationalist Army for several months under the hands of the Nationalist Army, and its solidity was beyond doubt.
When Chiang Kai-shek learned that the Botian detachment that had captured Anqing had reached the blockade line of the Madang River Defense Fortress, he thought that the river defense fortress in Madang Town could stop the footsteps of the invading Japanese army for a month.
Moreover, in the water of the Madang section of the Yangtze River, there are countless mines, shipwrecks, and artificial reefs, which directly cut off the possibility of the Japanese invasion of China with naval ships, and because of the existence of artificial reefs, the Japanese naval minesweepers simply could not carry out mine clearance work on the river.
The commander of the Sixteenth Army stationed near the Fortification fortress of madang River was Li Yunheng, and judging from Li Yunheng's leading performance between 1920 and 1935, a military attack on a detachment with naval support was simply an anti-aircraft artillery to hit mosquitoes, and it was too much to use.
However, when the invading Japanese army approached the Madang River defense fortress by land, Li Yunheng also pulled a group of officers and local local squires to get drunk.
If it were not for the fact that the Second Brigade of the Han Army, which was stationed in the core position of the Jiangfang Fortress, had a complete structure, and had repelled the three group charges organized by the Botian Detachment under the command of its commander-in-chief Bao Changyi, the Jiangfang Fortress in Madang Town would have been equivalent to "ceding" to the Japanese.
In the face of the menacing offensive of the Botian detachment, Bao Changyi, commander of the Second Marine Corps Brigade, knew that he could not count on the help of the Sixteenth Army, and directly made a phone call to Xie Zhegang, who was far away in Wuhan. Without any hesitation, Xie Zhegang not only immediately sent a telegram to Chiang Kai-shek, but also applied to Chiang Kai-shek for air support.
After receiving the telegram, Chiang Kai-shek immediately gave an order to Bai Chongxi, who was inspecting the work in Tianjia Town.
Bai Chongxi contacted the 167th Division at Pengze through the location on the layout map, and asked Xue Weiying, commander of the 167th Division, to immediately lead the army to support, in order to reach the battlefield of Madang Town faster, Bai Chongxi also specially told Xue Weiying to march along the road.
At this time, Li Yunheng made a phone call to Xue Weiying's hand and issued an order that clashed with Bai Chongxi. Li Yunheng demanded that Xue Weiying lead his troops from the small road to the direction of Madang Town.
This made Xue Weiying, the commander of the 167th Division, confused, but because Li Yunheng was his superior, and he himself had some personal opinions about Bai Chongxi, he chose to obey Li Yunheng's orders and march on a small road.
Not surprisingly, the Second Marine Brigade, which had held the core position of Madang Fortress for two days, had reached the point of running out of ammunition and food, and had not yet seen the shadow of the 167th Division.
By the time Xue Weiying led the 167th Division to the town of Madang, the Botian detachment had rebuilt the fortifications in the Madang Fortress. In this way, the Madang River Defense Fortress, which was originally thought to be able to support at least a month, finally did not hold on to it for even a week.
When Chiang Kai-shek, who was far away in Chengdu, learned that the Fort fort of Madang River had been captured in just a few days, Chiang Kai-shek immediately ordered Chen Cheng to retake Madang.
However, at this time, the Botian detachment was already fully familiar with the key points of defense of the Jiangfang Fortress, and no matter how the Nationalist army attacked, it was stubbornly resisted by relying on the fort's strong first-level national defense combat readiness fortifications.
Faced with an irreparable battle situation, Chen Cheng had to order the abandonment of the attack and the entire army retreated to Pengze County.
Pengze County, on the other hand, was also captured by the Botian Detachment in conjunction with the Japanese 106th Division in the ensuing battle. At this time, Chen Cheng once again conveyed the order to counterattack Peng Ze to the Sixty-fourth Army stationed in Hukou County, but the commander of the Sixty-fourth Army, Li Hanling, was a "literary scholar" who was devoted to Buddhist philosophy, and in several tug-of-war battles with the Japanese army, not only did not take back Pengze, but also lost Hukou County.
In the face of the nationalist army that was almost "vulnerable", the Japanese army, which had long been exhausted, actually repaired in Hukou County for more than ten days.
On July 22, Jiujiang City, another important town of River Defense, fell in the attack of the Botian Detachment and the 106th Division.
·
At this point, the battle of Wuhan was fully tilted to the detriment of the Nationalist army.
The entire Battle of Wuhan was fought from June to October, and the real decisive battle that determined the Battle of Wuhan was hailed as a turning point in the War of Resistance Against Japan.
On July 26, after the Invading Japanese Army fully occupied Jiujiang City, the soldiers detoured to De'an and Nanchang in three ways, and prepared to make a long-distance detour around Changsha and cut off the Guangdong-Han Railway.
The Japanese 106th Division, led by Japanese Lieutenant General Juntaro Matsuura, was sent to march in the direction of Tokusei and Ruiwu around September 20 after assisting the Hata detachment in laying the favorable situation on the south bank of the Yangtze River.
A few days later, the Japanese 106th Division directly encountered the Sixty-sixth Army and the Sixty-seventh Army with Xue Yue as the command center. After a brief confrontation between the two sides, Xue Yue realized that in Wanjialing, a land rich in ferromagnetic minerals, the 106th Division had become a headless fly.
Therefore, Xue Yue immediately issued an order to the surrounding garrison, transferred more than 100,000 troops, and firmly wrapped the 106th Division in the center of the encirclement.
On October 10, the Japanese 106th Division was completely annihilated at Wanjialing by Xue Yue, acting commander of the Ninth Theater
。 The Battle of Wanjialing lasted for a total of twelve days, and the Japanese 106th Division was killed by more than 10,000 people, and only 200 or 300 people escaped in the entire division.
The Battle of Wanjialing inspired the bravery in the blood of China's anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians in one fell swoop, although due to the lack of timely follow-up pursuit, the Japanese army returned to the land and won a side victory with the strategy of surprise attacking Guangzhou, thus successfully occupying Wuhan City, but the Battle of Wanjialing still planted a seed of desire for victory in the hearts of our military and people.
It can be said that without this Battle of Wanjialing and the face of the invading Japanese army that "broke through the bamboo", one day the mentality of China's anti-Japanese army and people would have been forced to collapse alive.
However, such a peaceful battle of the same level as the Battle of Guandajie and the Battle of Taierzhuang was like the terrain advantage of Wuhan, and the determination of the sons and daughters of China to pay everything for victory was supported by the momentum of "three legs standing".
This is also the reason why the Battle of Wuhan will be called the turning point of the War of Resistance Against Japan in the true sense.