The Battle of Xiangdong took place in May 1940 as the first stage of the Battle of Zaoyi. The main purpose of the Japanese attack on Xiangdong this time was threefold:
First, in retaliation for the all-out attack launched by the Chinese government army against Japan at the end of 1939, that is, from Mongolia in the north to Guangxi in the south, that attack dealt a great blow to the Japanese army and won the Battle of Kunlun Pass.
Second, it is an attempt to use military offensive to alleviate the threat of the Chinese army to the Japanese army on the Wuhan side, mainly in the Fifth Theater.
Third, more importantly, they vainly attempted to break through the main force of the Fifth Theater with a military advance, take Yichang slightly, and knock on the gate of Chongqing, so as to destroy China's anti-Japanese confidence and achieve the purpose of inducing the Chinese Government to accept the "peaceful" conditions for the subjugation of the country.
On April 7, 1940, the Japanese Eleventh Army finalized its battle plan: "Since the beginning of May, it has been moving rapidly, first in the area north of the first line connecting Suixian and Xiangyang, to eliminate the main force of the enemy's Fifth Theater Corps, and then compressing the enemy on the right bank of the Han River to the Yichang area to eliminate it." ”
In order to implement this battle plan, the Japanese Eleventh Army invested more than three integrated divisions and regiments. The three reorganized divisions were: The 3rd Division, commander of the division, Lieutenant General Masataka Yamawaki; the 13th Division, commander of the division, Lieutenant General Shizukazu Tanaka; and the 39th Division, commander of the division, Lieutenant General Keisaku Murakami.
On 12 April, the Japanese Eleventh Army issued a centralized order, requiring the above-mentioned main forces to secretly assemble at the Xinyang, Suizhou, and Zhongxiang fronts by late April. The operational headquarters of the Japanese Eleventh Army was located at Yingshan.
The fifth theater defense line of the Xianghe (Hanshui) basin centered on Xiangfan has an important strategic position. Since the west bank of the Xiang River (Han Shui) is a plain terrain, once the Xiangfan Defense Line falls, the Xiang River (Han Shui) is not protected, and the gate of Yichang is naturally opened. On 14 April, the Fifth Theater received a secret report from the Shanghai side that the Japanese army was attempting to "attack the Fifth Theater in general, and its strategic target was Xiangfan," and immediately telegraphed Chiang Kai-shek. On April 19, Chiang instructed the Fifth Theater: "Recently, the tactic of the Japanese army is to advance and retreat quickly, and return to the original situation within a week, so it should pinch and intercept its retreat and destroy the enemy." At the same time, the Fifth Theater actively adjusted its deployment and prepared to meet the enemy.
The Fifth Theater invested about 40 divisions, and the three group armies of the left, center, and right were deployed in the first line, stretching from the area north of Xinyang to the west bank of the Xiang River (Han River) through Suixian and Anlu. The specific circumstances are roughly as follows: the Left Group Army defended the area north of Tongbai Mountain with Sun Lianzhong's Second Army, about 6 divisions; the Central Army held the Xiang (Fan) Hua (Garden) Road front with Huang Qixiang's Eleventh Group Army, about 8 divisions; the Twenty-ninth Group Army with Wang Zanxu (Xu Shaozong as acting commander-in-chief) defended the dahongshan area east of the Xiang River (Hanshui), about 3 divisions (because Wang Zanxu was not in the army, the Fifth Theater temporarily assigned the group to the command of the Right Group Army); the Right Group Army held the west bank of the XiangHe (Hanshui) with Zhang Zizhong's Thirty-third Army. About 8 divisions. In addition, about 10 divisions of Tang Enbo's 31st Army were deployed near Nanyang to serve as a flanking attack on the enemy in the west, and about 3 divisions of Liu Ruming's 68th Army and the southern Henan guerrillas in TianZhen were deployed north of the Tang River (楊源) to resist the enemy.
The general principle of operations in the Fifth Theater was: "Advance into the enemy's rear with a wide frontal division, disturb the enemy's main force, and take the camera to attack the enemy in the area south of Zaoyang Or Jing (Men) Dang (Yang) to fight a decisive battle with the enemy." "The War Zone Commander's Headquarters is at the mouth of the Old River.
On April 28, the Japanese Eleventh Army Yingshan Operational Command began its work. Prior to this, from April 23 onwards, the 14th Independent Mixed Brigade of the Japanese Eleventh Army began to feint the area west of Jiujiang. Other units also began a frontal attack on our government forces with Wuhan as the center, the First Detachment of the Japanese Navy launched a feint attack on Dongting Lake and Poyang Lake, and the Second Combined Air Force of the Japanese Air Force bombed important areas of our Ninth Theater, thus opening the prelude to the Xiangdong Campaign.
On May 1, 1940, the Japanese army began a full-scale offensive into the Fifth Theater of Operations.
The 3rd Division of the Japanese Eleventh Army attacked from Xinyang along the northern foothills of Tongbai Mountain on that day to the left wing of the Fifth Theater Sun Lianzhongbu in an attempt to eliminate the Tang Enbo Department of the Central Army, which was controlled by the Fifth Theater. On this road, the Japanese army occupied Biyang on the 4th and the Tang River on the 7th. Sun Group's army fought fiercely with the Japanese army in Nanyang and Xinye, while the main force of Tang Group Army marched south from Nanyang and reached the area north of the Tang River on the 4th, with the tendency to counterattack the right side of the Japanese Third Division.
The Japanese Thirty-ninth Division attacked westward along the Xianghua Highway from Suizhou, attracting the main force of our army in the front of the Fifth Theater of Operations. On the 3rd and 4th, the enemy relied on aircraft and artillery fire to cover them, and attacked the positions of the Forty-fifth Army and the Eighty-fourth Army in Junchuan, Liangshuigou, Taerwan, and Wanjiadian with chariots and cavalry. Our army blocked the attack step by step, and the fierce battle was fierce. By the evening of the 5th, there were still fierce battles on the front line of Huantan, Hejiadian, Jingmingpu, Shangshidian and Jiangjiahe. Due to the enemy's advance in many places and their gradual reinforcement, on the evening of the 5th, our army "obeyed the instructions of the commander Li Telephone: to ensure Zaoyang, cover Xiangfan, coordinate with friendly forces to destroy the enemy in Xinjie, and in order to avoid enemy encirclement, we began to change positions from the time of the 6th) in caviar (transit time on the 6th). This is what Li Zongren later recalled: "I immediately ordered Huang Qixiang to quickly retreat north to avoid being surrounded." "The Japanese army occupied Gaocheng and Anju on the 5th, Zhanyangdian and Wujiadian on the 7th, and Zaoyang on the 8th.
When attacking Zaoyang, the Japanese first bombarded our positions with aircraft, attacked our positions with tanks, destroyed the fortifications, and then attacked with cavalry, and finally the infantry took turns to attack. As a result, our defenders often died out. The 173rd Division of the 84th Army served as a cover for zaoyang retreat, fought fiercely with the enemy, and most of the country was martyred. Lieutenant General Zhong Yi, the commander of the division, led his troops to fight and walk, resisted step by step, and was bombed by Japanese aircraft in the territory of Xinye County, and martyred himself.
On the afternoon of May 1, the 13th Division marched north along the Xiang River (Hanshui) from Zhongxiang and launched an attack on Zhang Zizhong's troops on the right flank of the Fifth Theater. The Japanese army on this road had more than 20 tanks, more than 40 aircraft, and was equipped with poison gas gas, and cooperated with the Japanese Division and Regiment of the North Road to attack from the north and south to form an encirclement posture on the Tangzi River Valley.
On the 2nd, the Fifth Theater ordered that "the enemy near Changshoudian should be annihilated, and the Right Army Should make every effort to restore its original position and cut off the enemy's rear road." The four divisions of the Right Army Were ordered to snipe in the area of Changshoudian, the 132nd Division and the 179th Division were southwest of Changshoudian, and the 9th Cavalry Division and the 18th O Division were southeast of Changshoudian. After the main force of the Japanese Thirteenth Division launched a full-line onslaught on Changshoudian, it took intensive artillery fire and chariots as the guide, and then bombarded them in turn with aircraft, until the front positions were repeatedly killed and hand-to-hand combat between the enemy and us, and the battle situation was very fierce. After the Japanese army broke through the Changshoudian defense line, it continued north along the Xiang River (Han River).
At this time, the Fifth Theater telegraphed the Right Army Group to "refuse to stop the enemy's northward advance in the area south of Liushuigou and Wangjiadian on the south side of Dahong Mountain" In addition to the above four divisions fighting on the Fengle River, Liushuigou, Tianjiaji, Majiaji, and the southeast side of Dahong Mountain, there were also the Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth Divisions of the Right Group Army, and the 15oth Division, the 162nd Division, and the 165th Division of the Twenty-ninth Group Army. On the 5th, the enemy occupied the flow ditch, on the 6th, the main enemy crossed the line of Tianjiaji and Xinji, and on the 7th, it entered the vicinity of Shuanggou and cut off the Xianghua Highway.
On May 8, the Japanese troops from the north and south joined forces in the Tangbai River valley, and the middle road also occupied Zaoyang, but the main purpose of "encircling by two wings and annihilating our army south of Nanyang and east of the Xiang River" was not achieved. On the 8th, the Japanese Eleventh Army declared in an order to the troops: "The purpose of the operation on the left bank of the Han River has been completed" and demanded that the troops return to their positions.
At this point, this battle, like the Battle of Suizao a year ago, the Japanese army moved to its original garrison on the same battlefield and after similar battles. As the Japanese prepared to retreat, from May 9, the units of the Fifth Theater of Operations turned to attack. The North Road Sun Army recaptured Biyang on the 9th and Xinye on the 10th. On the same day, the Government Military Commission sent a telegram to the Fifth Theater of Operations: "The enemy in northern Hubei has been besieged by us for many days, and has run out of food and ammunition, and will certainly retreat to the original position." The Fifth Theater of Operations should take advantage of the unfavorable situation of the enemy to retreat and retreat, so as to encircle and capture with all its might. ”
On May 11, a new situation in favor of our army appeared on the battlefield. "At this time, our army stepped up its pressure on the enemy's flank on the outside line, and instead surrounded most of the enemy's troops in the plain area on the east bank of the Xiang River." On the 11th, the First Army of the Huang Group of the Middle Road recaptured Shuanggou and surrounded the main force of the Japanese Third Division with the Tang Group Army and sun group army south of Nanyang and Xinye in the area east of Xiangfan. According to Huang Qixiang's secret telegram to Xu Yongchang: "The left wing of our Seventh Fifth Army has contacted the Tang clique's troops from Zhujiaji to the south near Chengjia Village, and the encirclement situation has gradually taken shape. Sun Lianzhong also said: "In order to severely punish the enemy of the barbarian wilderness and create a siege situation with positive actions, the Benzuo clique intends to wipe out the stubborn enemies of Xianghua in the vicinity of Zaoyang. "Our army besieged this part of the Japanese army for 4 days, and although it was hit hard, the enemy still broke through. Then, our armies attacked in an all-round way, clinging to the retreating Japanese troops, and the battle took a stalemate. During this time, the enemy and we attacked and defended each other, and it was not until the Japanese returned to their original positions on May 21 that the two sides broke away from the battle.
In the Battle of Xiangdong, General Zhang Zizhong, commander-in-chief of the Right Army of the Fifth Theater of Operations and commander-in-chief of the Thirtieth Main Army, was martyred.
Zhang Zizhong was born on August 11, 1891. Since 1914, he has served in che zhen, Feng Yuxiang, and Song Zheyuan. After the "July 7 Incident", at the behest of Song Zheyuan, he temporarily stayed in Beiping in the name of chairman of the Jicha Administrative Affairs Committee and mayor of Beiping City, endured humiliation and heavy burdens, and circumvented the Sun to cover the retreat of the Song forces. After meeting Chiang Kai-shek in Nanjing in November 1939, he was allowed to return to the ministry to act as commander of the Fifty-ninth Army, and was soon assigned to the command of the Fifth Theater. After the Battle of Linyi, he was promoted to commander of the Twenty-seventh Army and commander of the Fifty-ninth Army. After the fall of Wuhan, the Twenty-seventh Army was changed to the Thirty-third Army, and Zhang Zizhong was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the Right Army of the Fifth Theater and the commander-in-chief of the Thirty-third Army.
The Thirty-third Army consisted of 3 corps and 8 divisions: the Fifty-ninth Army (Zhang Zizhong was also the commander), under the jurisdiction of the 38th Division, the 18o Division, and the 9th Cavalry Division; the 77th Army (the deputy commander-in-chief of the group army, Feng Zhi'an, was also the commander, under the jurisdiction of the 37th Division, the 132nd Division, and the 179th Division; the 55th Army (with Cao Fulin as the commander), under the jurisdiction of the 29th Division and the 74th Division. The General Headquarters is located in The Happy Shop in the northwest of Zhongxiang County.
In the Xiangdong Campaign, Zhang Group Army was responsible for the defense of the Xianghe River (Hanshui) River from Xiaohe Town at the junction of Xiangyang and Yicheng Counties in the north to Shipai Town southeast of Zhongxiang in the south.
The Fifth Theater of Operations and the Zhang Group Army adopted an active defensive operational policy against the Xianghe River (Hanshui). Before 7 May, Zhang's army had five integrated divisions, namely the 18oTh Division, the 9th Cavalry Division, the 132nd Division, the 179th Division, and the 38th Division, fighting on the east bank of the Xiang River (Han River). After the Japanese army broke through the changshoudian line, the 18oth Division and the Ninth Cavalry Division immediately followed fengjiaji and Xinji to the north, and fought fiercely with the enemy in the area north of Majiaji and near Xinji.
The 132nd Division and the 179th Division also pursued in the direction of Majiaji, with one of the 132nd Divisions engaging the Japanese near Pumen Chong, while the other intercepting the enemy's follow-up troops near the Hongjia Bridge and the Qingshi Bridge, and killing many enemies near Chenjiawan. Except for one unit of the Thirty-eighth Division, which continued to engage the enemy in the area east of The Liushui Ditch, the main force was engaged in a fierce battle with the enemy at Tianjiaji. After the main forces of the above five divisions followed the Japanese army to the north, Zhang Group Army sent the 85th Regiment of the 29th Division and the 19th Regiment of the 37th Division to cross the Xiang River (Hanshui) from the mouth of the Lihe River and the south of Shipai Town, respectively, and intercepted the north and south of Yangzi and Zhongjing Road, with the intention of cutting off the north-south traffic between Zhongjing Road and Yangzi.
On May 6, the Commander's Headquarters of the Fifth Theater sent a telegram ordering Zhang Group Army to "send powerful troops to quickly cross the river and attack behind enemy lines." According to Zhang Zizhong's secret telegram to Chiang Kai-shek's Yuwu (noon on the 6th), "The duty has dispatched two regiments of the Seventh Fourth Division, that is, he personally led the crossing of the river from the Dumb Mouth side and pursued and intercepted the enemy who was sneaking northwards," and a secret telegram to Chiang Kai-shek Yuhai (late at night on the 6th): Several "the duty is to personally lead the two regiments of the Seventy-fourth Division to pursue the enemy in Xinjie and Huanglonggang [file]" and other words, and it was learned that the river had not been crossed by the night of the 6th. With the Japanese already occupying the Liushuigou ferry, the main force crossing the Tianjiaji and Xinji front lines, and seizing air supremacy, thousands of troops had to cross the wide Xiang River (HanShui) at night.
A secret telegram to Chiang Kai-shek YuXi (on the evening of the 7th) said: "The Seventy-fourth Division has crossed the river from Guanzhuang and Yaowan and stationed in Zhengjiawan north of the Anding [Shun] camp. From this, it can be judged that the exact time when Zhang Zizhong and his troops crossed the river should be before dawn on the 7th.
Zhang Zizhongdong crossed the Xiang River (Han River) and fought against Japan, which could be roughly divided into two stages: from May 7 to 10, that is, to lead his troops to the north to intercept the enemy who was scurrying north. On the 8th, Zhang led his headquarters to Lijiawan near Fangjiaji, and on the 10th, he led the 38th Division and the 74th Division (two regiments) to the north to pursue Yushan and Huanglongcheng, intending to advance towards the enemy attacks at Shuanggou and Lüyan towns.
At this time, the 18th O Division had crossed the area around Xiongjiaji and Liangjiaji and continued to pursue in the direction of Yujiawan and Shuanggou in the northwest. The 179th Division and the Ninth Cavalry Division cut off enemy communications in the area of Majiaji and Tianjiaji. The 29th and 37th Divisions have completely cut off the north-south traffic between Jingzhong Road and Yangzi.
From May 11, the 13th Division and the 39th Division of the Japanese Army moved south from Shuanggou, Zhangjiaji, Zaoyang and Xujiawan respectively, and Zhang Zizhong led his troops back to the south of the division. On the 11th, the Thirty-eighth Division and the Seventy-fourth Division encountered the main force of the Japanese Thirteenth Division north of Yushan Mountain and near Huanglongxiao, and fierce battles broke out. On the 12th, this Japanese army switched to the east, the Thirty-eighth Division, the Seventy-fourth Division and the Ninth Cavalry Division fought hard, and the Ninth Cavalry Division intercepted an enemy unit of about 2,000 people near Yujiawan, fiercely fighting for half a day, killing the enemy. On the 13th, Lan XVIII Division encountered more than 2,000 Japanese troops in the south near the Meijiagao Temple south of Trench Bay, and after fierce interception, fierce fighting until late, and won a lot.
In addition, the Seventy-fourth Division intercepted about 1,000 enemy troops near Gengjiaji. In a secret telegram to Chiang Kai-shek on 14 July, Sun Lianzhong said: "Our Zhang clique intercepted a large number of enemy heavy weights in the Yujiawan area of Xianghua Road, and their supplies have already encountered difficulties." This refers to the above-mentioned battle.
Just as the Thirty-eighth Division, the Seventy-fourth Division, and the Ninth Cavalry Division were engaged in a fierce battle with the Japanese Thirteenth Division south of Trench Bay, the main force of the Japanese Thirty-ninth Division, about 5,000 people, traveled south from Yujiawan via the east side of Yushan Mountain to Fangjiaji. In order to intercept this Japanese force, Zhang Zizhongnai divided his troops into two roads, left and right. On the left road, "the Thirty-eighth Division and the 179th Division pursued south from Geng Jiaji and the Octagon temple", commanded by Huang Weigang, commander of the Thirty-eighth Division, and directly took Xinjie and Tianjiajiduo on the right road Zhang "personally led the 74th Division and the Ninth Cavalry Division to fangjiaji to intercept". In the early morning of the 14th, Zhang led the headquarters to Fangjiaji, that is, engaged in a fierce battle with the Japanese 39th Division, which arrived at Fangjiaji first.
The enemy took turns bombing with aircraft and artillery, and then launched a charge to kill. The Seventy-fourth Division (two regiments), the Ninth Cavalry Division, and the Headquarters Special Service Battalion all participated in the bloody battle with the enemy. Although the morale of our army is very strong, because the enemy has an absolute superiority in strength and equipment, the casualties of officers and men are serious, and by the evening it has reached about 1,000 people, especially the Seventy-fourth Division. Outnumbered, Zhang Zizhong led his headquarters and the Seventy-fourth Division south into the mouth of the jar. After a brief stop at the headquarters of the Ninth Cavalry Division at Jar Mouth, he left the main road and headed for the pumpkin shop.
Pumpkin Shop is located in the territory of Xinjie Township, Yicheng County, it is east of Xinjie, south of Tongxuancheng, west of Dawangji, north out of the Jar Mouth, from northwest to southeast of the Ten Mile Changshan is located between the Canzikou and Xinjie. At about 4 p.m. on the 15th, Zhang Zizhong led the headquarters guard regiment (44th regiment) and the special service battalion to the edge of the small mountain village ditch about one mile away from the pumpkin shop. The Seventy-fourth Division (two regiments) also arrived at the Pumpkin Shop before dusk.
According to the enemy situation, Zhang Ling's Seventy-fourth Division occupied a position near the pumpkin shop, the 443rd Regiment occupied the highlands south of the pumpkin shop, and the 444th Regiment occupied Jiming Mountain to guard the southwest. The Ninth Cavalry Division occupied the east-west line of the two Rushan Mountains, maintaining the traffic between pumpkin shops and Yicheng, and the 44o Regiment occupied Almond Mountain to the southeast. At dawn on the 16th, under the cover of artillery fire, the Japanese Thirty-ninth Division launched a fierce attack on us from the west and the north, and fought fiercely with the Seventy-fourth Division and the 44o Regiment. At about 8 o'clock, the enemy continued to increase, repeatedly charging and hand-to-hand combat against us many times, and our officers and men suffered heavy casualties, and the positions of the Seventy-fourth Division were broken by the enemy. At about 9 o'clock, the attacking enemy received a briefing from the signals unit: "The headquarters of the enemy's Third And Third Army is in Gouyuan," and immediately became nervous, and quickly strengthened the offensive.
At this time, "following the enemy's continued increase from the west and north sides and a new street side, a total of five or six thousand infantry, more than ten artillery pieces surrounded and shelled our combat command post, and with many aircraft bombing and strafing back and forth, our officers and men fought bitterly." By noon, the enemy had approached our combat command post and engaged in fierce hand-to-hand combat with our special service battalion, rushing back and forth, blood and flesh, and the hills near the Luo family's squeeze house were gained and lost four times. "With the exception of the headquarters non-combatants and Soviet advisers who withdrew from the battlefield before noon, the Seventy-fourth Division and the Guard Regiment were completely disintegrated, and the command of the special service battalion and the headquarters were almost completely sacrificed.
When the enemy rapidly advanced with fire support and the encirclement circle became smaller and smaller, Zhang Zizhong always supervised the battle at the foot of almond mountain and stood still.
"Milling (16th) noon, (Commander-in-Chief Zhang) was injured in the left shoulder, or persuaded the hui to tie up, firmly back, look at ease, and constantly shout forward to kill. After being seriously injured in the chest, he drew his gun and committed suicide, which was taken by zhu Zengyuan, an aide-de-camp to his entourage, and immediately fell to the ground, whispering: 'You go quickly, I have my own way.' He also said: "The conscience of the chief is very peaceful for the country and the nation, and everyone will kill the enemy to avenge himself." 'Then the martyrdom of the eyes is lost'.
On May 18, Li Zongren telephoned Chiang Kai-shek to report zhang Zizhong's martyrdom, and the telegram said: "The national vendetta has not yet been restored, and we have lost our humerus, so we have heard bad news, and we are deeply mourned." ”
After Zhang Zizhong was martyred, the remains of Zhongzhong were transported to the Happy Shop of the Headquarters of the Thirty-third Army, wearing the general's dress and re-funeral. On the way to Chongqing, Lingxu made a slight stop along the way, and was commemorated by all walks of life. After three days of resting at Dongshan Temple in Yichang, the people of Yichang went out of their homes one after another, and the number of public worshippers increased by 100,000. At night, the fires shine, the street mourns the wild festival, the mountain head road corner, and the mourning is endless. Several old people made pasta by hand, and with sadness and tears, said: "I make northern rice for General Zhang." When Lingxu arrived in Chongqing, Chiang Kai-shek personally led military and political officials to chaotianmen to greet him, and boarded a ship to lingxu and walked around for a week to mourn. On November 16, 1940, Zhang Zizhong was buried in the sealed soil of Meihua Mountain in the north of Chongqing, and Chiang Kai-shek, Feng Yuxiang and others personally went to pay tribute.
The news of Zhang Zizhong's martyrdom reached Yan'an in early August 1940. The New China Daily immediately published an editorial calling Zhang Zizhong "an outstanding descendant of Yan Huang, a model national revolutionary soldier, and a national hero who has been living for hundreds of years." On August 15, all walks of life in Yan'an solemnly held the "Memorial Meeting of Commander-in-Chief Zhang Zizhong". Mao Zedong's elegy "Serve the country with all loyalty" and Zhou Enlai's elegy "sacrifice for the country" are hung on both sides of the middle of the spiritual hall. Zhu De and Peng Dehuai's link reads: "In the first world war, linyi was victorious, and then the victory was followed by the jujube, and the spirit of General Wei Zhao did not die; when he hit the Yalu River and built a new China, it was the responsibility of unity between the government and the opposition to survive."