Glorious Mission 1937

Facing the rampant Japanese attack, the Ninth War Zone was well prepared. Under the command of Xue Yue, the 4th, 59nd, and 102th Divisions of the 90th Army and the 37th Division attached to the 60th Army were transferred to the south bank of the Xinqiang River Garrisoning, most of these troops fought through Dayun Mountain and fought against the Japanese 11th Army.

Unlike the Ninth War Zone’s hasty response to the battle in history, the Ninth War Zone had already known the Japanese army’s intentions at this time, so it began to strengthen the defensive positions on the Xinqiang River line a few months ago. The planned attack position has been reached, and the ninth war zone has not yet figured out what the target is.

Speaking of this, it is not necessary to talk about the slow reaction of the Ninth Theater in history. Although the Ninth Theater has fought against the 11th Army of the Japanese Army many times, they all remember to eat but not to fight. It is an elite field force, and it is also the only field force among the Japanese invaders that focuses on mobile combat missions.In history, since the fall of Wuhan, the Japanese army launched many attacks on the frontal battlefield. Except for the Southern Guangxi Battle, which was launched by the South China Front Army, and the Zhongtiaoshan Battle, which was launched by the North China Front Army, they were all launched by the 11th Army.

It is reasonable to say that the Chinese military intelligence work department will monitor the movements of the 11th Army more keenly and closely, but in fact, the Ninth Theater has no knowledge of this at all. Immediately, troops were transferred from western Hubei, southern Hubei, and northern Jiangxi to concentrate in northern Hunan.Such a large-scale mobilization of troops, whether it was the strategic intelligence department of the Military Commission, or the operational intelligence departments of the third, fifth, sixth, and ninth theaters, or the tactical intelligence departments of various units that had contact with the Japanese army in person, took a long time. It was not noticed for a month, and it was not discovered until a day or two before the Japanese army was about to launch a full-scale offensive that the Japanese army had assembled heavy troops in northern Hunan, which shows the paralysis and laxity of Chinese military intelligence agencies at all levels.

However, due to the unknown situation in the Ninth War Zone, it was too late to make targeted preparations for the battle. Its first-line garrison troops, the 4th Army and the 58th Army, were even attracted by the Japanese army and stuck to Dayun Mountain. Turning back to the south of the Xinqiang River, the Japanese army has begun a general offensive.The Japanese army successfully concealed the battle attempt and brought into play the suddenness of the battle. However, the ninth theater lost the opportunity in the first step of the battle, dealt with it hastily, and failed step by step in the face of the Japanese lightning attack.

Similarly, the Sixth War Zone knew nothing about the transfer of the Japanese 13th Division Pingyuan Detachment and the independent and mixed 18th Brigade.After waiting for a month, it was discovered that the 1th Division was transferred south on the battlefield in northern Hunan, and it was too late to deploy a counterattack against Yichang. When the counterattack began, the Japanese army had finished the Changsha operation, and the Pingyuan detachment was about to return to Yichang.If it can be discovered early, prepared early, and launched a counterattack several days in advance, Yichang will surely be able to recover.On the contrary, the special intelligence department of the Japanese army has deciphered the telegrams of the Ninth Theater many times, and they are well aware of the deployment of the Ninth Theater, so they can adjust the deployment in time to ensure the odds of winning.

However, at this time, the National Government had known for a long time that the Japanese army's main attack direction was in Changsha, so the Ninth War Zone was extremely calm in mobilizing troops.Moreover, a detailed battle plan was formulated, so Xue Yue was relatively calm about the Japanese attack.He believes that although the Japanese army is coming fiercely, its total strength is only [-] to [-], while he has more than [-] troops in his hands. Although he may not be able to win the battle, it should not be a problem to hold Changsha.

But in fact, Xue Yue still overestimated the combat effectiveness of the Ninth War Zone. At dawn on November 11, the Japanese army launched a full-line attack under the command of Lieutenant General Anan.After the trial of the Dayun Mountain battle, Anan Weiji already had a very intuitive understanding of the combat effectiveness of the Ninth Theater.Especially when he saw the tattered weapons and equipment of the 8th Army on the front line.Ananwei felt relieved.

In the eyes of Lieutenant General Anan.The fighting will of the Chinese government army is unquestionable. It is far more bloody than the North China army he knows and sees. When he was in North China, he could command an infantry regiment to easily defeat a division. Every time the Chinese army goes to battle, the imperial army is attacking.The Chinese were simply forced to defend themselves.It's good to win.It doesn't matter if you can't beat it. If you can't beat it today, there will be tomorrow, and if you can't beat it tomorrow, there will be the day after tomorrow.No matter how strong the fortifications are, they can't last long. Therefore, when in North China, Lieutenant General Anan looked down on the Chinese army, not only because of the low combat effectiveness of the Chinese army, but more importantly, Lieutenant General Anan believed that the Chinese army had already Without the bloodiness that a soldier should have, he is not worthy of being called a soldier at all. [

However, after the Battle of Dayun Mountain, Lieutenant General Anan clearly felt that although the fighting power of the Chinese army fighting against the Imperial Japanese Army was not very strong, and their weapons and equipment were not good, they had a high will to fight. There are not many Sichuan guys who always have an aura of fighting with us, so Lieutenant General Anan dare not take risks easily. After the artillery and aviation are in place, and after strengthening the fire support on the ground and in the air, the frontline troops of the Japanese army are fighting. With the cooperation of the car, they forcibly crossed the Xinqiang River.

Lieutenant General Anan's tactics were very successful. Although all the troops in the Ninth Theater fought fiercely, the 4nd Division of the 102th Army fought against the concentrated attacks of the 3rd and 6th Divisions of the Japanese Army. The battle was particularly fierce.After several hours of fierce fighting, one-third of the 102nd Division suffered casualties, all heavy weapons were lost, and even the division headquarters were attacked by Japanese aviation. Li Jiangong, the deputy division commander, was seriously injured, and Huang Weihua, the chief of staff, died in battle. At 8 pm on the 4th, the Japanese army successfully crossed the river and broke through the first line of defenders.

The 4th Army transferred to the second-line positions in the east and west of Changhu Lake and continued to resist.The 3rd and 6th Divisions of the Japanese Army and the Zaoyuan Detachment quickly rushed south along the areas on both sides of the Guangdong-Han Railway, and a part of the 3rd Division detoured to the side of the 4th Army.The Hirano Detachment of the Japanese Army also took naval ships and advanced along the east side of Dongting Lake to land near Qingshan at the mouth of the Xiangjiang River, and cooperated with the main force to attack the 99th Army of the defenders in this area.However, just as the Japanese Army, Army and Air Force jointly launched a joint strike, trying to defeat the Fourth Army and capture the second line of defense of the defenders, the 7th Brigade of the Northern Air Force Fighter Battalion, which was transferred from Zhengzhou Airport in Henan, arrived at the battlefield and launched an attack on the raging Japanese aviation on the battlefield. Besieged.

This air battle didn't last long, from the entanglement to the end, it was only more than ten minutes. Although the time was not long, the results were extremely brilliant.The 7th Battalion won the first battle, shooting down 32 newly-named Zero fighters of the Japanese army in one fell swoop, and wounding 9 of them. Of the 60 fighters dispatched by the Japanese army, only 22 escaped, and the rest were either shot down or injured and crashed on the way home.

With the air reinforcements from the 7th Brigade, the troops on the front line of Xinqianghe quickly grasped the air supremacy, and finally stabilized their formation, and were not defeated by the Japanese army in two lines of defense within a day.However, the Japanese army's attack during the day still scared the senior management of the Ninth War Zone into a cold sweat. Although they felt that they had overestimated the Japanese army's combat effectiveness, it now appears that the Japanese army's offensive strength was far sharper than they imagined. If it weren't for the northern air force today Arriving just in time, I am afraid that the Fourth Army will not be able to hold the second line of defense at all.

为了加强新墙河一线的防御力量，8日晚上10点,第九战区长官部发出紧急命令，令第72军从修水、三都地区西进至通城附近,并指挥暂编第54师,准备担任该方面的反击作战;令第20军(缺暂编第54师)进至王安屋、朱公桥方面,协同第58、第4军向西侧击渡河南进的日军，以加强湘北方面主战场力量。

After receiving the order from the Chief of the Ninth War Zone, Yang Hanyu, the commander of the 20th Army of the Sichuan Army, did not dare to neglect, and immediately commanded the army to rush from Taoshu Port to Zhugong Bridge, and arrived at the designated position before the evening of the 9th.In order to buy time for the 20th Army, the 58th Army fought fiercely with the Japanese army near Gaojiaqiao.Sun Du, the commander of the 58th Army, knows the current position of the 58th Army, so he must hold on no matter what, and buy time for Yang Hanyu's troops. Otherwise, the deployment of the commander's department in the theater will be in vain, and the tens of thousands of troops will be completely plunged into a bitter battle. So he personally went to the front to supervise the battle.

与此同时，第4军的第59、第60、第90师阵地也均遭到日军第40师团攻击,激战竟日,双方仍在对峙中。日军第3、第6师团快速向南突进,傍晚分别到达汨罗江北岸的石头铺、长乐街附近;第6师团还以一部从磨刀石渡河,与南岸守军第37军在颜家铺、浯口一带交战。

这时,第九战区在汨罗江南岸担任守备的部队只有第37军的第95、第140师和第99军的第92、第99、第197师。薛岳认为日军主要兵力都被牵制在了新墙河北岸，所以,薛岳打算在汨罗江两岸与日军决战，并且反击歼灭日军。

于是命令第37军(欠第60师)守备浯口至骆公桥之线;第99军的第99师守备络公桥以西、营田至湘阴之线;第92师进于三姐桥以北,占领阵地,统归第37军军长指挥,坚决阻击日军;第26军主力即由浏阳开赴金井附近;第72军改调平江,准备作战。随后,第九战区又命令第27集团军各军向汨罗江以北日军侧背的长乐街、磨刀石、归义、新市等地攻击,迟滞其南进;命令第26军由金井向瓮江进;令在衡山、渌口的第10军即向高桥、金井一带开进。

Although the battlefield of the second Changsha battle was on the outskirts of Changsha, it concerned the hearts of everyone including Lao Jiang. On November 11, the Military Commission ordered the Ninth War Zone to stick to the established positions on both sides of the Xiangjiang River and the south of the Miluo River, strengthen resistance, keep the main force on the outer flanks, and strive to attack the enemy's back; attack in response to operations in the Ninth Theater.

At the same time, the sixth war zone was ordered to actively attack the Japanese troops in Jingzhou and Yichang, and the camera recovered Yichang.In addition to clearly assigning the 10th and 26th Armies to the command of the Ninth Theater, the Military Commission also ordered the transfer of the 79th Army from the Sixth Theater and the provisional Second Army from the Seventh Theater to reinforce the Ninth Theater. (to be continued...)