Battle of Wuhan

Defend the purpose

Wuhan is the junction point of the Pinghan, Guangdong-Hanzhou railways, and the hub of east-west, north-south water and land transportation, and its strategic position is very high

Significant. Since the fall of Nanjing, it has become the political, military, economic and cultural center of the country.

The course of the battle

The Japanese invaders tried in vain to capture Wuhan and control the Central Plains, After June 1938, China and Japan launched a major war on the periphery of Wuhan. The Japanese army, with the commander of the Central China Command Army Commander Toshiroku Hata, divided its troops into five routes to attack, and sent the Pota Detachment and the Marine Corps to cooperate with the Navy's 3rd Fleet to move west along the Yangtze River. In order to defend Wuhan, our army was commanded by Chen Cheng, commander of the 9th Theater, and relied on the Mufu Mountain, Jiugong Mountain, Lushan and other mountain ranges to build a land defense; in Jiangbei, under the command of Li Zongren, commander of the 5th Theater, it relied on the Dabie Mountain, Fujin Mountain and other mountain ranges to build a land defense; and fortified at Madang, Hukou, Wuxue, Tianjiazhen and other river defense fortresses．

On June 11, 1938, the Japanese army traced the Yangtze River west and attacked Anqing. On 26 July, the Japanese army captured Jiujiang, and the 29th Army Corps of our army retreated to both sides of Lushan and completely annihilated the 145th Wing of the Japanese Army. In early October, Xue Yue's Corps annihilated four more wings of the enemy, thwarting the Japanese army's attempt to break through the Nanxun Road．

effect

The Battle of Wuhan lasted four and a half months, and the battle line was as large as thousands of miles in the four provinces of Anhui, Henan, Jiangxi, and Hubei. After the battle, due to the extension of the battle line and the lack of troops and resources, the Japanese army had to give up the attempt of "quick victory", and the War of Resistance against Japan gradually entered the stage of stalemate.

Battle of Changsha

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During the stalemate phase of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Japan launched three battles of Changsha, but all of them were defeated.

The course of the battle

In mid-September 1939, the Japanese army attacked Changsha from northern Jiangxi, southern Hunan, and northern Hunan with the support of ships and planes with more than 100,000 troops. Xue Yue, acting commander of the 9th Theater, commanded about 200,000 troops to participate in the battle, taking advantage of the favorable terrain of northern Jiangxi, southern Hunan, and northern Hunan to block the attack, and thwarted the Japanese attack with the tactics of flanking with powerful troops. By early October, the Japanese army suffered heavy losses and retreated northward. In this battle, the enemy suffered more than 20,000 casualties.

In September 1941, the Japanese army attacked Changsha for the second time. The Japanese army gathered 120,000 men and divided them into two routes. Its left flank outflanked the main force of our army's 9th theater from Pingjiang to Zhuzhou, and attacked Changsha head-on along the Yuehan Road on the other road. Xue Yue, commander of the 9th Theater of Operations, commanded about 170,000 men in 13 armies, took advantage of the favorable terrain to resist in the front one after another, lured the main force of the Japanese army in front of the mountains northeast and east of Changsha, counterattacked and annihilated it, and at the same time threatened the flank and rear of the Japanese army on the left flank with the heavy army group of 7 armies, and the Japanese army fled in disarray. In addition, the troops of our 5th and 6th theaters also launched a counteroffensive against Yichang and Jingmen on the front line west of Hankou. As a result of the battle, the Japanese suffered more than 20,000 casualties and had to withdraw to their starting point in mid-October.

Results

In December 1941, the Japanese army attacked Changsha for the third time, mobilizing more than 120,000 troops. The 9th Theater of Operations has 13 armies and about 170,000 troops. On October 24, the Japanese army forcibly crossed the Xinqiang River and attacked southward; After crossing the Laodao River, he stormed Changsha on January 1, 1942. Our Changsha defenders repelled the onslaught of the Japanese army for 3 days in a row, and the battle was unprecedentedly fierce. The Japanese suffered heavy casualties and ran out of food and ammunition. At this time, our troops on the periphery of Changsha closed the siege of Changsha. The Japanese had to give the order to break out of the encirclement. Our army took advantage of the victory to block the attack, flank attack and tail pursuit, expanded the victory of the battle, and achieved a great victory in the Battle of Changsha.

Battle of Guinan

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In order to cut off the international communication line from Nanning to Hanoi, Vietnam, and open up an aviation base for its navy to fight inland in the Nanning area, the Japanese army landed in Qinzhou Bay on November 15, 1939. The local Chinese defenders resisted and retreated to defend the city, Qinxian County, now Qinzhou. The main force of the Japanese army landed, and on the 16th and 17th, it captured the fortified city, Qinxian, and attacked Nanning by two routes. On December 1, the Japanese army coordinated with the ground and air forces to storm the Gaofeng Pass position north of Nanning, and our defenders suffered heavy casualties and lost their positions.

The course of the battle

In view of the strategic importance of Nanning, Bai Chongxi, the director of our Guilin camp, mobilized heavy troops and supported them with part of the air force tank units, determined to regain Nanning with a counteroffensive operation. The Northern Route Army, commanded by Xu Tingyao, attacked Kunlun Pass from the Binyang side; The eastern route was commanded by Cai Tingkai, and the battle from Lingshan and Luwu to the south bank of the Yongjiang River and the Yongqin Road was carried out to prevent the Japanese army from reinforcing the army, and the western route was commanded by Xia Wei to attack the peak pass and block the enemy troops sent to Nanning for reinforcements. After repeated fierce battles, Kunlun Pass was finally conquered by our army. The remnants of the Japanese army retreated to Jiutang.

Battle results

In early January 1940, On 27 January, the Japanese army broke through the Yongjiang River from the south bank and occupied Yongchun. Our defenders fought a fierce battle with the Japanese army and recovered Yongchun. By 8 February, the Japanese army successively captured Kunlun Pass and occupied Binyang, Shanglin, Wuming, and other places. At this time, the Japanese troops were scattered, the rear was empty, and it was difficult to replenish, and they were attacked from time to time, so they began to withdraw south on 9 February. Our army took advantage of the situation to continuously deal blows to the Japanese army, and by 30 November, it had successively recovered Longzhou, Nanning, Qinxian, and Zhennanguan (now Youyi Pass). The year-long Battle of Kunlun ended.

Battle of Yunnan-Burma

After losing the battle against the Japanese in Burma in 1942, the Chinese Expeditionary Force withdrew part of it to India. Later, a part of the Chinese army was airlifted to India to receive equipment and training from the United States. At the same time, the expeditionary force withdrawn from Burma to western Yunnan was reorganized, supplemented and trained, and in April 1943, the "Commander's Headquarters of the Chinese Expeditionary Force" was established in Chuxiong, Yunnan, with Chen Cheng as the commander.In June, the General Headquarters of the Chinese Army in India was established, with Stilwell as the commander-in-chief and Luo Zhuoying as the deputy commander-in-chief.

In October 1943, the curtain of the counteroffensive in northern Burma and western Yunnan was opened. At that time, the Japanese Burma Front had 11 divisions and nearly 300,000 horses. The Chinese troops stationed in India set out from the southern area of Leduofa in India and attacked the Japanese army in Burma. After more than a year of fighting, our officers and men successively won great victories in the battles of the Hukang River Valley, the Mong Gong River Valley, and the Myitkyina.

In May 1944, the Chinese Expeditionary Force forcibly crossed the Nu River and began a counteroffensive from western Yunnan. The soldiers persisted in the bloody battle for 8 months, and even the important cities such as Tengchong, Songshan, Longling, and Mangshi that were heavily defended by the Japanese army. In late January 1945, he finally joined forces with the Chinese army stationed in India at Wan Town.

The Chinese Expeditionary Force and the Indian Army won a complete victory in the counteroffensive operation with the blood and lives of tens of thousands of soldiers. This victory opened up the Sino-Indian highway, relieved the Japanese army's threat to the western side of the Chinese battlefield, broke the Japanese army's blockade of American aid to China's materials, and at the same time relieved the pressure on the allies in the Pacific theater, and won high honors in the international community.

The famous TV series "My Regiment Commander, My Regiment" was filmed based on the deeds of the Chinese Expeditionary Force's counteroffensive against northern Burma and western Yunnan.