Xuan
Reprinted with permission from the public number re-analysis of the history of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression
【Continued from the previous part】
The Knife River, legend has it that Guan Yu's Green Dragon Crescent Knife fell into the river during the Three Kingdoms period, and the subordinate Zhou Cang chased out the seven miles against the water before fishing the knife back, hence the name. In the Republic of China period, it was also called Liuwei River, which is more than 140 kilometers long and flows into the Xiang River from east to west. Passing through Wujiadu, Yong'an City, Chunhua Mountain, Huangshidu, Fenglin Port and other places. These locations happen to be the battlefields where the 74th Army fought the Japanese on September 26-27, 1941.
As mentioned above, on September 26, the entire area east of Chunhua Mountain was a state of fierce fighting between China and Japan, and the situation described by the Japanese Nakagawa Brigade was spread throughout the battlefield. Many years later, the question was, which of the 74th Army's hard-hitting units were the hard-hitting units of almost 3 Japanese companies?
According to the detailed report of the Second Battle of Changsha in the Ninth Theater, "The Record of Achievements and Meritorious Deeds of Personnel Above the Commander of the Division in the Battle of the Ninth Theater" mentioned that "the 57th Division inflicted heavy losses on the enemy in the Battle of Chunhua Mountain, and achieved the second best results." This seems to confirm the record of the 57th Division in the Battle of Chunhua Mountain, but is this really the case?
Then from the detailed report of the 74th Army's battle, it seems that this is not the case.
It is said that on the afternoon of September 25, the 169th Regiment and the 170th Regiment of the 57th Division, the vanguard of the 74th Army, were ordered to go north through Huanghua City to seize the first-line position of Chunhua Mountain on the north bank of the Laodao River to cover the assembly of follow-up troops. However, the 74th Army issued a task to the 57th Division at 8:00 a.m. on September 26 to "prepare for an attack on the enemy in the direction of Malin Bridge and occupy the strongholds of Dingjiashan, Huangshidu, and Fenglin Port." After the arrival of the 58th Division near Mount Chunhua, its troops alternated with it and returned to the formation. ”
At dawn on the 26th, the 169th Regiment of the 57th Division encountered the vanguard of the Japanese army, and at the same time, the 173rd Regiment of the 58th Division also rushed to the eastern area of Chunhua Mountain, and the two armies cooperated to expel the Japanese vanguard and seize the key points near Chunhua Mountain. The 173rd Regiment of the 58th Division and the 169th Regiment of the 57th Division used the Changping Highway as the operational demarcation line. Near Chunhua Mountain was the defensive position of the 173rd Regiment, and west of the Changping Highway, Wenxing pass, Dingjiashan, and Liu jiachong were the defense areas of the 169th Regiment.
At this point in the article, in fact, the 57th Division of the 74th Army and the 58th Division have already had a relatively clear division of defense. The Area East of Chunhua Mountain and its east to the Laodao River, with a "few" shaped tail near Wujiadu, was the 58th Division's defensive line. Beginning on the morning of September 26, the 58th Division encountered an onslaught from the main force of the Huagu Brigade of the Japanese 3rd Division from The First Line from Chunhua Mountain to Yong'an City.
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As mentioned above, the 3rd Brigade of the 18th Wing of the Japanese Army and the 34th Regiment of the Japanese Army successively encountered the 173rd Regiment of the 58th Division at Chunhua Mountain and its vicinity to the east. The 173rd Regiment used the various strongholds to hold on to prevent the Japanese from attacking. The Japanese used aerial aircraft bombardment as a cover to launch a fierce attack on the position of the 173rd Regiment by relying on the superiority of troops, and the position of the 173rd Regiment was gradually encroached upon. At the same time, the Japanese also sent small troops to infiltrate the rear of the 58th Division to carry out nuisance and sabotage operations.
After dusk on the 26th, in the area around Chunhua Mountain, the positions of the Two Sides were intertwined, and the 173rd Regiment fell into the predicament of being encircled.
At the same time, the 18th Wing, as the main attacking force, although the 3rd Brigade was missing, its attack was very fierce. On the afternoon of the 26th, it attacked a part of the 172nd Regiment that was crossing the river and rushed into Yong'an City, while the headquarters of the 58th Division was in Yejiapu, a few miles west of Yong'an City.
The 58th Division encountered more than just the 3rd Division. At the rear of the 58th Division, the 23rd Wing of the 6th Division moved south. The 74th Army was directly cut in two from the tail of the 58th Division and the head of the 51st Division, with the 57th, 58th and Army headquarters in the west, while the 51st Division and part of the army's direct subordinate units were in the east.
During the fierce battle of the 58th Division, the actual 57th Division was not happy. Because after the 57th Division handed over the positions around Chunhua Mountain to the 58th Division, it actually extended in the direction of Changsha and occupied the vicinity of Maple Leaf Harbor to the north to block the Japanese from moving south. However, the fierce battle near Chunhua Mountain of the 2nd Brigade of the 6th Wing mentioned above was actually mainly faced by the commander of the 169th Regiment of the 57th Division, Liu Antai Regiment. However, the location of the fierce battle should be called Wenxing Pass, west of the Changping Highway, on the north bank of the Laodao River, only one road away from Chunhua Mountain.
At the same time, the 4th Division and its subordinate Hayabusatsu detachment had marched south. The flanks of the 57th Division were empty, and the front had to block the Japanese southward.
On September 26, 1941, the units of the 74th Army experienced a bloody day's battle, and the Japanese attack was suspended. The commander Wang Yaowu believed that the Japanese attack had been frustrated and that his vigor had diminished, and he was determined to take advantage of the darkness of the night to carry out a counter-offensive against the Japanese army.
That night, all units of the 74th Army launched a comprehensive counterattack against the Japanese troops in front of them, and the gunfire along the Laodao River did not stop all night.
For example, the 18th Wing in Yong'an City described: "In the early morning of the 27th, the Chinese troops on the front of the wing turned into a counter-offensive in the sound of charge, repeatedly as many as three times. In the burning city of Yong'an, grenade warfare and miserable white-knife warfare were fought everywhere. ”
However, on the night of this day, although the 2nd Brigade of the 6th Wing and the 3rd Brigade of the 18th Wing were at Wenxing Pass and the Attack on Chunhua Mountain was frustrated, their follow-up troops, together with the 68th Wing of the 3rd Division, also bypassed these two places and headed west, finding a gap in the 57th Division's defense line to cross the river south.
The Japanese army, which was attacking in the face, withstood the night attack of the various units of the 74th Army, and began a more ferocious attack on the morning of the 27th. The 173rd Regiment near Chunhua Mountain bore the brunt of the attack, although the regimental commander Cai Renjie commanded Ruoding and took the lead. Personally supervising the battle, the enemy repeatedly charged unsuccessfully. However, the 1st and 3rd battalions of the regiment suffered heavy casualties, and the battalion and company commanders were killed.
In addition, Wang Boxiong, the commander of the 172nd Regiment, reported that "the regiment was oppressed by the enemy fiercely, the commander of the 2nd Battalion, Yu Guanying, was killed, the commander of the 3rd Battalion, Guo Runchu, was wounded, and the regiment was caught in a bitter battle." ”
At the same time, the 51st Division's counterattack at night was also frustrated, and the 151st Regiment attached Zhu Bingqing to his death. The 6th Division as a whole had completely divided the 74th Army in two, and the 23rd Wing, together with the 3rd Division, encircled and annihilated the main force of the 74th Army.
On September 27, Jiang sent two consecutive telegrams to the Ninth Theater, one of which sternly urged: "This operation on the Laodao River is related to the survival of the defense of Changsha and the country. Those who do not obey orders, cower and retreat without authorization shall be executed on the spot. I don't know if this is related to the later Liao Lingqi unjust case, this is an afterthought.
However, at noon on September 27, the situation of the Chinese army near the Laodao River was already very unfavorable. The main force of the 74th Army had been crucified by the Three Divisions of the Japanese Army, the 4th, 3rd and 6th, along the nearly 30-kilometer line of the Laodao River. However, the 74th Army was the best of the Chinese army at that time, and it still tried its best to fight back in this situation.
The infantry commander of the 57th Division, General Li Hanqing, commanded the reserve to launch a counterattack against the Japanese army, and the general was killed as a soldier. "The division suffered more than 3,000 casualties in the service, and the fierceness of the battle was unprecedented."
The 58th Division also sent division infantry commander Li Song to the front line around Donglin Temple to command a counterattack, attacking north with the remnants of the 174th Regiment, the division replenishing the 1st Battalion of the Regiment and the 3rd Battalion reinforcing the 173rd Regiment. The division fought fiercely until 17:00 p.m., and the japanese front was even more intertwined, completely caught in a melee.
Just when the main forces of the 74th Army were fighting back and falling into a stalemate, Wang Yaowu, commander of the 74th Army, received a call from Xue Yue, commander of the Ninth Theater, at 17:00 on the same day, and the strategic deployment had changed from encircling Changsha and fighting the Japanese army around the Laodao River to enticing the enemy to go deep and fight the Japanese army north of the Liuyang River.
Therefore, the 74th Army issued a retreat order to the various units at 17:30 on the afternoon of the 27th, hoping that the units would take advantage of the dark of the night to operate covertly.
The 51st Division and the 57th Division skillfully adjourned the battle and were not detected by the Japanese, but the 58th Division fought fiercely with the Japanese frontally, suffered the greatest sacrifices, and had to cover the 57th Division's advance and disengage at the latest. On the way back, the 74th Army was constantly attacked by the Japanese army, and by the 28th, "(the 74th Army) was harassed by the enemy left and right, coupled with the enemy's powerful air force suppressing surveillance and disturbing the operation above me, so the battle became more and more arduous, and the sacrifice became more and more tragic, that is, the army and the division headquarters were close to the battlefield of white-knife hand-to-hand combat, the fire and teeth were mixed, and the enemy and I surrounded and attacked each other.
This may be what Luo Wenlang, commander of the operations section of the 58th Division, later mentioned in the history of literature, that the headquarters of the 74th Army and its direct subordinate units were attacked near Huanghua City, Wang Yaowu led the guards to flee in a hurry, the guards platoon leader was captured by the Japanese and hacked to death, and Wang Yaowu only had a few steps away from escaping.
The 74th Army did suffer heavy losses in this battle, with the 58th Division being the most numerous, which killed 1,835 men, wounded 3,515, and lost 941. The total number of casualties and missing in the entire 74th Army reached 15,198, reaching one-third of the total number of the whole army.
Regarding the battle of the 74th Army, I will try to answer it in the sequel if you have any questions or need more details.
References: 1. Detailed report of the 2nd Battle of Changsha in the Ninth Theater
2. Detailed report of the 2nd Battle of Changsha of the 74th Army
3. Detailed report of the 2nd Battle of Changsha of the 58th Division