In 1937, the Japanese army began a full-scale war of aggression against China, because its economic and military strength far exceeded that of the mainland, coupled with sufficient pre-war preparations, the Japanese army invaded China all the way to the ground, and occupied most of North China in a short period of time.
In 1939, following the fall of Guangzhou, Wuhan and other cities, Hunan became the forefront of the War of Resistance against Japan, and the Japanese invaders planned to attack Changsha in an attempt to force the Nationalist Government to surrender by occupying this important city.
However, the Japanese army seriously underestimated the stubborn resistance of the Continental Army and civilians, and in the course of three years, Changsha experienced three major battles, and although the Japanese army repeatedly attacked, it was never able to conquer the city, and finally lost more than 110,000 troops, leaving 110,000 bones.
Today, let's talk about how this "most difficult" city in the Anti-Japanese War stood firm under the fierce offensive of the enemy.
The prelude to Hunan's resistance against Japan, the first Battle of Changsha
As mentioned above, in 1939, Guangzhou and Wuhan fell one after another, and Hunan became an important strategic area in the War of Resistance Against Japan. As the capital of Hunan Province, Changsha is not only the political center of the mainland, but also an important military and economic node of the entire southwest region.
The Japanese invaders set their sights on the city for the simple reason that they wanted to gain further control of Hunan by occupying Changsha, so that they could cut off the north-south lines of communication of the mainland army and force the Nationalist government (then in Chongqing) to surrender.
In September, the commander of the Japanese 11th Army, Okamura Ninji, planned a large-scale offensive in an attempt to quickly occupy Changsha through World War I, and then achieve the set strategic goals.
At that time, he mobilized about 100,000 Japanese troops to form a huge offensive lineup, including infantry, artillery, marines and chemical troops, to encircle Changsha from three directions: northern Hunan, northern Jiangxi and southern Hunan.
The Japanese army was ready to go, nervously carrying out the final pre-battle preparations, the artillery fire was neatly arranged on the batteries, the fighter jets were whistling in the sky, the whole army was like a huge war machine, and our army was in full array.
In the face of the approaching Japanese army, Xue Yue, acting commander of the Ninth Theater, was ordered to command the defense of Changsha. At that time, Xue Yue was a general with rich combat experience, and he had demonstrated outstanding command ability in the victory of Wanjialing.
After some research, he decided to take advantage of the terrain of Hunan, Hubei, and Jiangxi provinces to engage in a maneuver battle with the Japanese army and stop the enemy's rapid advance.
Tension pervades the streets of Changsha as residents evacuate and the walls are lined with sturdy soldiers, weapons clenched and ready for battle.
Xue Yue personally went to the front line, inspected the fortifications and boosted morale, and firmly told the soldiers: "Changsha is our last line of defense, and the enemy must not be allowed to break through!" ”
On September 14, the Japanese army began to attack according to the plan, and the Japanese artillery bombarded fiercely, and the area around the Xinqiang River in northern Hunan was instantly filled with gunsmoke. Xue Yue commanded the 60th Army and the 52nd Army to resist stubbornly here, taking advantage of the terrain to wait for work, and gradually depleting the enemy's vital forces.
For a while, the battle was raging, and the sound of artillery was deafening, and the soldiers held their positions in the bunkers and kept counterattacking...... Okamura Ninji was unable to give the order to use chemical weapons for a long time, and poison gas filled the battlefield, causing serious casualties to the mainland army.
Despite this, Xue Yue did not let the soldiers hold their positions to the death, but blocked them in echelons, so as to achieve the predetermined goal of consuming the enemy.
To put it simply, relying on the advantages of the mountains and forests, as long as the enemy captures the defensive line, quickly retreat, and lead the enemy into the next encirclement.
In addition, General Xue Yue skillfully used the original "Heavenly Furnace Combat Method", and the core of the tactics was to introduce the enemy step by step into the preset encirclement through layer by layer fortification, and then encircle and annihilate in the central area.
With the resistance of our army layer by layer, the Japanese army gradually fell into a predicament, and even Okamura Ninji himself fell into the encirclement along the Shinqiang River. When he realized that he had been ambushed, it was too late to try to retreat urgently.
Xue Yue cut off the supply lines of the Japanese army, leaving them in a predicament of running out of ammunition and food, and the enemy had to retreat after losing more than 20,000 men. In the First Battle of Changsha, the Chinese army repelled the enemy's attack and kept Changsha with tenacious will and ingenious tactics.
The Second Battle of Changsha, the Third Battle of Changsha
After the defeat of the First Battle of Changsha, the Japanese army did not give up its plan to capture Changsha, and in 1941, the Japanese Eleventh Army once again mobilized heavy troops to prepare for a second attack.
This time, the commander was Anami Yuji, who successively assembled 4 divisions, 2 detachments of the army, as well as part of the Japanese air force and navy (Yangtze River), a total of 120,000 troops, and once again launched a mighty challenge to Changsha.
The Japanese army assembled in the area of Yueyang and Linxiang, and the soldiers were in full position, and Anan Weiji drew up a detailed battle plan in the headquarters, hoping to occupy Changsha by quickly breaking through the defense line in northern Hunan.
In the Second Battle of Changsha, the Japanese army's purpose was somewhat different from the first, and it was more focused on acquiring abundant materials and strategic resources through the occupation of Changsha to support further aggressive actions.
On September 7, 1941, the Second Battle of Changsha began, the Japanese army launched a fierce attack from the direction of northern Hunan, the artillery fire poured down, the battle was extremely fierce, and the area around the Xinqiang River once again became the main battlefield, and the two sides fought fiercely for several days.
The Japanese army once broke through our defense line, crossed the south bank and occupied important positions, and in the face of the enemy's fierce attack, Xue Yue quickly mobilized the 4th, 58th and 20th armies to support and launched a fierce counterattack.
During the battle, the river on the bank of the Xinqiang River was dyed red, and the two sides repeatedly fought over the positions, and after fierce fighting, our troops finally drove the Japanese back to the north bank, which can be regarded as temporarily maintaining this important military defense line.
In the later stages of the battle at the Xinqiang River, the Japanese attempted to attack the rear of our army from the Castle Peak Storm. Fortunately, our army had been prepared for a long time, and with the support of reinforcements, the Japanese army was blocked near the mouth of the Xiangjiang River, and after a series of fierce battles, the Japanese army suffered heavy casualties and had to retreat.
The Second Battle of Changsha lasted several weeks, and the losses on both sides were not small, and our army successfully cut off the supply lines of the Japanese army by relying on its familiarity with the geographical environment, forcing the enemy to retreat and once again protecting the defense line of Changsha, and striking a blow to the arrogance of the Japanese army.
However, the two sides only had a brief three-month peace after that, and on December 8, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and the Pacific War officially began. In order to speed up the pace of invasion of China, the Japanese army decided to attack Changsha again.
This time, the Japanese army gathered 120,000 troops stationed in Wuhan, again under the command of Anan Weiji, in an attempt to take Changsha in one fell swoop through a third attack. General Xue Yue foresaw that the Japanese army would definitely take action, and decided not to sit idly by and choose to take the initiative.
According to the situation at that time, he formulated a new battle plan, preparing to implement the tactics of catching turtles in urns by introducing the enemy into Changsha City and forming a situation of encirclement.
Soon the Japanese army began to move closer to Changsha, and our army pretended to respond to the enemy and pretended to be undefeated and retreated, and the Japanese army was introduced into Changsha City step by step.
The Japanese army breathed a sigh of relief when it invaded Changsha, and the place that it had been trying to capture for many years finally got what it wanted, but it did not know that it had fallen into the heavy encirclement of our army.
At this time, the streets of Changsha City were full of fighting, the buildings were destroyed by artillery fire, and with the support of reinforcements, our army launched a fierce counterattack against the Japanese troops in the city.
The Japanese army was surrounded in the city of Changsha, many weapons could not play their due role, Xue Yue once again cut off the supply line of the Japanese army, after several days of fierce fighting, the Japanese army was in a difficult situation and suffered heavy losses and was forced to retreat, and the third battle of Changsha still ended in the victory of the Chinese army.
General Xue Yue's Anti-Japanese War History
The victory of the three battles of Changsha was an important chapter in the history of China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and Changsha's persistence not only defended this strategic place, but also greatly boosted the morale of the military and civilians of the whole country, and broke the arrogance of the Japanese army to quickly destroy the mainland.
In this battle, our army successfully smashed the Japanese offensive with its heroic and tenacious fighting spirit and won precious time for the national war of resistance.
According to statistics, a total of 110,000 Japanese troops were annihilated in the three battles, and this figure was a blow to the Japanese invaders, but it was also the price of the blood and lives of countless Chinese soldiers and civilians.
Seeing this, some people may wonder, in the early days of the all-out war of resistance, the Japanese army was useless for three months, and fought all the way from the northeast to Beijing and Nanjing, why was it difficult to break through the small Changsha city?
Changsha is located in the heart of Hunan, the geographical location is very special, with a unique terrain advantage of the power of mountains and rivers, which is very suitable for defense.
In the three battles of Changsha, our army has always been good at taking advantage of the terrain to skillfully defend, using every big river and every big mountain as a small battlefield, setting a trap of internal and external attacks to successfully annihilate a large number of Japanese troops.
As the campaign progressed, our army continued to open up a large number of ambush points, and the local geographical advantages could well meet this requirement, so that the Japanese army suffered heavy losses in the defense of Changsha, with more than 100,000 casualties.
Although Hunan's geographical advantages are not as convenient as Sichuan's, it has great advantages compared with the North China Plain.
In addition to the advantages of the terrain, the commanders of the Changsha garrison also showed extraordinary military ability, and they were able to flexibly adjust their strategies and respond to the Japanese offensive.
The Japanese army gradually became cautious after suffering a loss, but the Changsha commanders were able to use various tactics to catch the enemy by surprise and finally win the war.
One of the most noteworthy generals was Xue Yue, who was widely recognized for his military prowess and leadership skills as the main commander of the Battle of Changsha.
As mentioned above, he used the "Heavenly Furnace Tactics" to successfully repel many Japanese attacks, and in the Third Battle of Changsha, he used the tactic of "luring the enemy into depth" to smash the Japanese army's conspiracy to occupy Changsha twice.
After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Xue Yue continued to serve the country and the army, holding many important positions until his later years, and his heroic deeds and outstanding contributions are still stories that we relish.
In this protracted war of aggression against China, every inch of Changsha has witnessed the heroism and sacrifice of the soldiers, and the blood of countless soldiers has been left on the streets of Changsha, and their heroic deeds will always be engraved in the memory of the Chinese nation.
After the war, Changsha gradually embarked on the road of rejuvenation with the joint efforts of the people, and after years of construction, it has developed into a modern city, with a prosperous economy and a harmonious society, and the people live a happy life.
There is such a sentence in "My Regiment Commander, My Regiment" that "China is going to perish, and the Hunan people will die first", this sentence is not groundless, and the three battles of Changsha alone are enough to explain one or two.
What do you think differently about this?