preface
During the Japanese invasion of China, the brutality of the Japanese army was well known, and every place occupied would torture and kill prisoners of war and civilians.
However, there is one place where the Japanese army did not kill prisoners of war and civilians after occupation, that is, Hengyang, and all this is attributed to the commander of the 10th Army, Fang Xianjue.
After the Japanese army captured Changzhou, it turned its attention to Hengyang, which accounted for the third largest proportion of the national tax revenue, and there were many arsenals relocated from Changsha, with convenient transportation and a very important strategic location. Fang Xianjue knew the importance of sticking to Hengyang, so he fought a tragic battle.
Fang Xianjue's early life
Fang Xianjue was born on November 22, 1905 in Fangjiazhai, Jiangsu Province, his father was a Xiucai of the late Qing Dynasty, so he received a private school far superior to his peers when he was a child. At the age of 19, Fang Xianjue was admitted to Shanghai Hosei University.
It happened that at that time, the Whampoa Military Academy was secretly enrolling students in Shanghai, and Fang Xianjue gave up his studies after hearing about it and turned to Rong. In 1925, Fang Xianjue was successfully admitted to the Whampoa Military Academy and became a cadet in the third phase.
As a result, at the end of the year, he was withheld by the director of the Quartermaster Department because he could not stand the food, so he took the lead in beating him, and he was expelled from school.
At the beginning of the next year, Fang Xianjue entered the Third Division of the Nationalist Army as a probationary platoon leader, where he worked for 5 years until he was promoted to battalion commander in 1931. Not long after he was promoted to battalion commander, the Nationalist army opened a cadre training class with a German-style training method, and Fang Xianjue entered this class as a battalion commander to study. It was his study here that laid the foundation for him to cultivate The most effective Chinese troops.
Background of the Battle of Hengyang
At that time, Fang Xianjue led his troops to fight the Battle of Hengyang, which directly shocked the Japanese military and political up and down, forcing the Japanese cabinet Tojo Hideki to step down. A battle to this extent is also very rare in history. This battle also made Fang Xianjue and his 10th Army famous.
In 1939, in order to completely destroy China's determination to resist Japan, the Japanese army organized the Kwantung Army to attack Changsha in Hunan Province, and launched a decisive battle with the Nationalist general Xue Yue in the Ninth Theater of Operations - the Defense of Changsha. After three large-scale offensive battles, China annihilated more than 100,000 Japanese troops, which made the Japanese army's battle plan "aborted", and even made the Japanese army appear pessimistic and war-fearful.
Fang Xianjue led his troops as a vanguard in the Ninth Theater of the Battle of Changsha, and had struggled to resist many Japanese attacks, and then received orders to hold Changsha.
When guarding Changsha, Fang Xianjue's troops had launched a fierce white-knife battle with the enemy, and the craziest thing was that both sides constantly organized death squads to fight with each other with explosives, fighting to see who had more people and who consumed energy.
In the end, the Japanese army was unable to defeat the 10th Division, and took the lead in holding out and was defeated. Thus contributing to the subsequent victory of the Third Battle of Changsha.
This victory in battle can be said to be the first large-scale victory won by the Allies in the Asian theater since the outbreak of the Pacific War, and it was also the first military victory in the Pacific War. Britain's Times reported:
"On December 7, the only decisive victory of the Allied forces was the Battle of Changsha by the Chinese army."
After the war, Fang Xianjue, who had made great achievements, was also promoted from the commander of the 10th Division (with the rank of colonel) to the commander of the 10th Army (with the rank of major general).
By 1943, the Japanese army, which had suffered three defeats, was particularly in need of a large-scale victory to mobilize morale. Therefore, after absorbing the experience of defeat at the Battle of Changsha, the Japanese army replaced the commander Anan with the commander-in-chief of the Western Military Region, Isamu Yokoyama, and mobilized the strategically powered 11th Army to continue the southward attack
。 In addition, the Japanese army also changed its tactics, began to use both soft and hard, while buying and attacking, and soon surrounded Changde.
As a result, the Japanese immediately got into trouble—Fang Xian felt that the 10th Army had been ordered to support Changde. The 10th Army, which rushed to the battlefield as if ignoring the Division of the Japanese Army, rushed forward in one fell swoop, directly tearing open multiple openings in the enemy's defensive line, a move that called Yokoyama Isamu a chill behind his back. It was the first time he had learned the power of the 10th Army, but not the last.
During the battle, Xue Yue suddenly crossed the ranks and mobilized the troops of the 10th Army, resulting in insufficient strength of the 10th Army, and the rescue troops went deep alone, which eventually made the rescue fail.
Sun Mingjin, the commander of the 10th Division, personally led his troops to occupy the bridgehead after losing 5 consecutive charge attempts, and Sun Mingjin was unfortunately killed in the battle, and other regiments also suffered heavy casualties. Since then, Fang Xianjue and Xue Yue have "formed a bond" because of this matter.
Xue Yue
Subsequently, with the support of other Chinese troops, the Japanese army surrounding Changde began to rout, and eventually the Nationalist army won the Battle of Changde. In the panic, Yokoyama had to personally cut down the leader of the 34 coalition forces who had the most serious rout to prevent the rout of the troops. At this time, Japan was worried about the US military bombing the Japanese mainland with heavy long-range bombers, and had to change its strategy - destroying Sino-US air bases and opening up the communication line from the mainland to Vietnam to ensure the safety of the Japanese mainland.
Yokoyama became the "protagonist" for a time, and he first sent his own soldiers from the 11th Army to cooperate with the 12th Army to open the Pinghan Railway Line. After that, 2 divisions and 2 brigades were organized to start a desperate attack on Changsha.
Isamu Yokoyama
On the nationalist side, because Fang Xianjue and Xue Yuelai did not deal with each other, which eventually led to the intensification of contradictions, Xue Yue persuaded Chiang Kai-shek to dismiss Fang Xianjue from his post and make Xue Yue's confidants the commander of the 10th Army.
Fang Xian felt that he was angry after knowing it, but he did not dare to throw fire at Chiang Kai-shek, so he had to go home and rest after completing the handover procedures. Just when Xue Yue thought that the 10th Army would belong to him, the Japanese army launched the Battle of Yuxianggui in May 1944. At this time, the Nationalist side was still immersed in the previous victories, and the idea of a light enemy was born of this Japanese attack, and the main forces of the Ninth Theater of Operations were also transferred to the Indo-Burma battlefield.
Therefore, on May 18, the Fourth Battle of Changsha was defeated and Changsha fell. In the face of the collapsed Nationalist army, the Japanese army began to organize two divisions to launch a fierce pursuit, preparing to capture the strategic location of Hengyang.
Battle of Hengyang
In the headquarters of the Tenth Army stationed in Hengyang, the new commander had not yet taken office, and Xue Yue saw that the situation was critical, so he had to pull down his face and ask Fang Xianjue, who was waiting for the handover at his home in Hengyang, to represent the 10th Army in the defense of Hengyang. Fang Xianjue categorically refused. Unable to do so, Xue Yue had to ask Chiang Kai-shek, and under Chiang Kai-shek's orders, Fang Xianjue re-led the 10th Army to begin defending Hengyang.
At this time, the 10th Army in the rear had only 17,000 men, and the actual combatants were only about one division (15,000 people), and Fang Xianjue, who was in danger, began to shoulder the heavy responsibility of guarding Hengyang. On June 28, the Japanese army surrounding Hengyang began to bombard the positions of the 10th Army with various bombs, and then launched a fierce attack. In the five days until July 2, the Japanese army did not lose any other Nationalist positions except for the Zhangjiashan position, while the Japanese army paid a heavy price - 1 major general was killed, the division chief of staff was severely disabled, and dozens of squadron leaders and brigade commanders were killed.
On 2 July, the Japanese, who had suffered heavy losses, had no choice but to halt their attack. The commander, Saw that the attack had not progressed for a long time, Commander Yokoyama personally went out on horseback and reorganized his troops for the next wave of attack. At this time, Chiang Kai-shek issued an order to the 10th Army:
The army was asked to hold out in Hengyang for another two weeks, waiting for the Chinese troops on the outskirts to annihilate the Japanese encirclement in one fell swoop.
On the 11th, the Japanese army began to launch a more fierce second round of attack, the 10th Army stubbornly resisted, repeatedly charging with the Japanese in some positions and grabbing some points. This time, the Japanese lost another 1 squadron leader and 6 squadron leaders, but the situation still did not progress. As the commander, Yokoyama saw that the soldiers had suffered so many casualties and the morale of the army was low, so he had to stop the attack again. The 10th Army also suffered heavy losses, with many battalion commanders killed, and the 8th Regiment killed five battalion commanders in less than a day.
Hengyang City was guarded by the 10th Army, the Japanese army could not be attacked for a long time, after a month of fighting, both sides suffered heavy losses, the front of the 10th Army's position was covered with Japanese corpses, and the 10th Army also lost more than 3,000 people, nearly half of whom were wounded.
At this time, the defense had exceeded the plan for two weeks, but the reinforcements had not been seen for a long time, and the food, grass and ammunition of the defenders had been exhausted, and finally the people had to be arranged to the front, which showed that the situation was also very critical.
When he held out for 40 days, the division commander Zhou Qingxiang planned to organize the personnel suddenly, but there were as many as 6,000 wounded and sick people in the city, and it was difficult to move, and Fang Xianjue finally ordered hengyang to die, waiting for rescue, and fighting until the last soldier. After holding out for another two days, the Japanese invaded from the North Gate, and Fang Xianjue sent a final telegram to Chiang Kai-shek and prepared to shoot himself, but was sent down by his subordinates and attempted.
Fang Xianjue later considered that the ammunition supply had been exhausted, but there were still nearly 10,000 soldiers in the city, so he decided to negotiate with the Japanese army and hoped for an armistice. And proposed to "ensure the safety of surviving officers and soldiers and let them rest;
Taking in wounded soldiers and solemnly burying the fallen officers and men" demand, while meeting the demands of the Japanese army.
The Japanese army asked Fang Xianjue to do things for Japan, and instructed Fang to become the commander of the Xianhe Army (puppet army unit). In this way, the surviving officers and men of the 10th Army avoided a massacre.
After holding Hengyang for 47 days, Hengyang City completely fell. The Chinese army fought 110,000 Japanese troops for 47 days at the cost of 6,000 dead, and killed and wounded about 50,000 Japanese troops, including about 400 Japanese officers. During this period, the Japanese army's strength and supplies were constantly replenished, which made the 10th Army give up resistance with its manpower and material resources.
After the war, the Japanese side also called this war
"In the eight-year war between China and Japan, the only bitter and memorable siege battle"
It was also the only battle recorded in Japan where Japanese casualties were higher than those of the defenders. The battle confused the Japanese for a long time.
In 1994, when Japanese veterans who had fought in the Battle of Hengyang came to China, they also asked Fang Xianjue's soldiers
"Why are those mountains in Hengyang's Wuguiling so difficult to fight?" ”
The veteran smiled and said:
"Go and ask General Fang Xianjue!"
(Fang Xianjue died in 1983)
References: "Fang Xianjue and the Fierce Defense of Hengyang", "Fang Xianjue's Biography", "Why did the famous anti-japanese general from the Whampoa Military Academy surrender to the Japanese army"