Outside of Yichang, the Chinese army did a very good job, encircling the Japanese troops on all fronts. The Performance of the Chinese Army, which cut off the Lines of Communication of the Japanese Army, can only be said to be bad or not bad. Li Mi, the honorary 1st Division of Zheng Dongguo's 8th Army, led his troops to raid Shashi, while He Shaozhou's 103rd Division also cut off the road from Wuhan to Jiangling.
Although the Japanese army has some strongholds, the strength of the Chinese 5 divisions can not be taken down at all, but because of the Japanese army on the outskirts of Yichang, there are only a small number of troops of the 3rd Division, and on the whole, it can be regarded as cutting off their contact with Yichang.
Now all the focus is on the main battlefield of Yichang.
Outside Yichang City, Chen Cheng used the split encirclement tactic, and the Japanese troops outside the city besieged one by one, telling them not to support each other, and in such a situation, they sent attacking troops to pass through the middle of the encircled Japanese stronghold and directly into Yichang City.
Late on the night of October 2, Chen Cheng said that Chiang Kai-shek sent an order: within three days, at any cost, take back Yichang.
Three days? It is no small challenge for the Chinese military.
Although the Chinese army besieging Yichang reached fourteen or five divisions, it was only a total investment force, and there were naturally not so many troops under Yichang. In order to take Yichang as soon as possible, Chen Cheng transferred all the artillery regiments that could be mobilized at hand, and finally concentrated nearly 150 artillery of various types.
Hidetaro Uchiyama, there was also a big problem there, and in the case of insufficient troops, some chain reactions also appeared, such as artillery. The artillery wing of the 13th Division had a total of 48 field and mountain guns. As for the 4 infantry companies, each company had four mountain guns, plus a rapid artillery squadron. The infantry brigades below, each with two infantry guns.
During the War of Resistance Against Japan, artillery had a very great impact on soldiers, it was an offensive weapon, and when Japan attacked, it was generally used intensively. However, now that the 13th Division was on the defensive, the artillery was dispersed and the firepower was weakened.
Under such circumstances, could the Chinese army seize the weakness of the Japanese army and the weak artillery strength and directly clean up the 13th Division?
In the early morning of October 3, Chen Cheng ordered Li Yannian's 9th Division of the 29th Army to be the main force and let it enter Yichang through the gap between Japanese positions before October 5 and May. In order to let the 9th Division exploit the loophole, it was necessary to strengthen the attack on its own stronghold, only in this way could it attract their troops, so Chen Cheng transferred Peng Weiren's 73rd Army Han Jun's 77th Division back from the outskirts of Yichang to attack Yaqueling.
By this time, the Japanese had clearly become honest.
A few days earlier, they had attacked their positions from time to time, and after October 3, they began to shrink the defensive line and could not hold it. Hidetaro Uchiyama really felt the crisis, and before that, he had always believed that the Chinese army attack was only symbolic, looking at the Changsha battlefield.
I did not receive it before, regarding the crisis in Yichang, Uchiyama Hidetaro did not explain its seriousness to the eleventh army command. It was not until after October 5 that Yichang completely lost contact with the outside world, and at this time, he sent a few telegrams to Anand explaining the situation.
On October 7, Hidetaro Uchiyama told the above situation to the third flight regiment that remained in Wuhan, Nagato Saburo Nagato. The general meaning is that the 13th Division is ready for jade fragmentation. However, the 13th Division was one of the most important strategic forces of the Empire in China, so if they were killed, it would hurt the morale of the whole army. Nevertheless, he was ready to die in battle, and he talked to him face to face about the matter.
At this stage, we can see that the Japanese 13th Division has been forced into a desperate situation by the Chinese army. But what did Uchiyama Hidetaro want to do when he looked for Saburo Ito? Is it really just talking? Next article, let's talk about it in detail.