readx; General Headquarters of the Expeditionary Forces. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Gao Fei held He Shaozhou's hand tightly and said: "The counteroffensive battle laid the foundation for victory in the Battle of Songshan, and the Eighth Army should be the first credit, you have worked hard, I thank you!" ”

He Shaozhou said in a heavy tone: "The subordinates are fortunate not to be dishonored, and it is all thanks to the good command of Junzuo, and the soldiers use their lives as one, and they should not be praised by Junzuo." Now that the Matsuyama attack has ended, his subordinates only make one request to Junza. ”

"Well, I'll try to satisfy you as much as I can."

"Please report directly to the commission: The Eighth Army was ordered to attack Songshan and sacrificed more than 8,000 soldiers, which is one-third of the Eighth Army; In addition, there were more than 4,000 lightly and seriously wounded, which was one-half of the Eighth Army; Together with the first phase of the attack of the new 28th Division, more than 3,000 soldiers were killed and killed, and more than 1,000 were seriously wounded, with a total of nearly 20,000 soldiers killed and wounded. Our losses are six times greater than the enemy's! From the first phase of the attack to the total annihilation, it took two months and four days! ”

Gao Fei was silent for a long time, then endured his grief and said, "This is indeed a sad number. However, the chief of staff should report the summary of the battle report to the Military Commission. ”

He Shaozhou said very stubbornly: "No, my subordinates ask Jun Zuo to report to the commission in person. This is because our staff officers are accustomed to deceiving their superiors and subordinates, exaggerating the results of battles, minimizing losses, and pleasing the commissioners, so that the commissioners cannot distinguish between right and wrong. The subordinates thought that only by letting the commission understand how much our army had paid in the counteroffensive would they have the determination to punish those derelict generals who had retreated in Burma in the past and then defended on the east bank of the Nu River without doing anything! ”

Gao Fei smiled bitterly: "Do you think that the commission doesn't understand the situation?" Myanmar has failed, and some generals have already been punished"

"Yes, yes, it was punished, the number of the 66th Army was revoked, and Zhang Zhen was dismissed; The Sixth Army was defeated, and Gan Lichu was dismissed; The Fifth Army was also defeated, Du Yuming became the commander of the light pole, returned to Kunming, and became the commander-in-chief of the Fifth Army! Can this be said that the commission understands the situation?"

What can Goofy say at this time? He patted He Shaozhou on the shoulder and sighed, "Please forgive me, I can't explain many things to you." I can only assure you: I will comply with your request - personally prepare a telegram to report to the commission on the situation of the battle in Songshan. ”

In fact, the Eighth Army paid heavy casualties, and the victory was a fluke. Because the Burmese side sent a force of several thousand men to support Song Mountain. It was destroyed by a surprise attack by the U.S. Air Force on the way.

Otherwise, this is the same as the arrival of reinforcements, and the Eighth Army does not know how much it will cost!

When the army launched a large-scale attack on the expeditionary force at Longling, the two strategic points of Songshan and Tengchong had been restored, and the "broken operation" plan of the army to take a defensive position in northern Burma and an offensive in western Yunnan had lost its meaning.

On October 29, the various units of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, with the coordination of artillery and air force, launched the third general attack on Longling. On 1 November, the attacking forces encircled the center and, with the coordination of 300 artillery pieces and the U.S. Air Force, captured Guanyin Temple, the core stronghold of the Japanese army in the city. The next day, occupying the commanding heights in the west of the city, the remnants of the Yue army fled along the Yunnan-Burma Highway to Mangshi under the siege of the expeditionary force on three sides. The expeditionary force regained Longling.

Huang Jie wrote in his commentary on the Battle of Longling: "I have had three raids in this campaign, and the enemy has also had two reinforcement counterattacks, which is the longest, most troop and most tragic battle in the whole campaign. The enemy suffered 10,620 casualties and 28,384 casualties, about 1 to 2.7. ”

On the twenty-seventh day of the new year, the cheers of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, the Indian Army, and the Allied Forces converged, and the three teams met in Mangshi.

The Battle of Western Yunnan lasted for eight months and 16 days, completely annihilating the Songshan Division and some of the Second and 53rd Divisions of the Chinese Army, and killing and wounding 21,057 of the Army. More than 160,000 people from 14 divisions of seven armies and other special reading regiments were dispatched by the squadron, and 67,463 people were killed or wounded. The ratio of casualties between the army and the expeditionary force was one to three.

On January 28, the Chinese Expeditionary Force and the Chinese Army stationed in India passed through Miaosi, a small town next to the Sino-Indian Highway, and held a meeting ceremony here. The Chinese Expeditionary Force erected a white cloth banner on the road to the motherland: "Welcome the triumphant return of the new army stationed in India!" At the bottom of the flagpole, Goofy and Solden each said a word that lifted the Allies and made him shudder.

Goofy said in front of all the soldiers, "Today is the beginning of the meeting in Tokyo. ”

At the same time, Sölden said: "Go to Tokyo and let the national flags of the two countries fly over Tokyo." ”

Their speeches were drowned out by the shouts of the officers and soldiers. At the end of the ceremony, the Chinese Expeditionary Force set off for China. In order to ensure the safety of the Sino-Indian highway, the Chinese troops stationed in India returned to attack Lashio. In the past three years, the Yunnan-Burma War has attracted the attention of the world, and this time it has finally come to an end

At this time, the initiator of the Pacific War, said Ben, was already exhausted, and defeat was inevitable. The military's sea lines of communication have been seriously threatened, and they may be cut off by the US military at any time. It is said that Ben's army of 500,000 or 600,000 in the south is in danger of falling into a war without a rear. In order to reverse the defeat, he hastened the formulation of the so-called "No. 1 Operational Plan" in an effort to destroy the main US air bases in central and southern China while opening up the mainland's lines of communication.

It is said that the army is trapped and the beast is still fighting, and it is desperate.

As soon as he arrived in 1944, Emperor Kamoto approved the "Draft of Operation No. 1" for the Chinese Dispatch Army. On January 24, Hideki Tojo issued the No. 1 combat order. The army planned to launch the Pinghan Line around April, which lasted about a month; The Xianggui operation was launched from Wuhan around June, and from Guangdong around August. The total strength of the troops participating in the battle was about ten to twelve divisions and two aviation divisions, and the time was about five and a half months. If the situation permits, in early 1945, it will occupy the vicinity of Nanning and open up and secure the communication from Guilin to Lang Son in Vietnam.

By the beginning of April, the army had successively transferred from Uchiyama Eitarō's 12th Army, Yoshimura Sadachi's 11th Army, Yokoyama Isa's 11th Army, and Nagatsu Sabi's 13th Army, totaling about 150,000 men, under the command of Okamura Ninji, commander of the North China Front.

At 0:00 on April 18, Yuichiro Nagano's 37th Division and Tetsushiro Taga's 7th Brigade crossed the Yellow River in the area of Zhongmu west of Kaifeng, Henan, and launched a fierce attack on the garrison of Jiang Dingwen's 1st Theater of Operations. Liu Changyi's army and the 2nd and 3rd brigades retreated to the northwest of Xuchang, the army occupied Zhengzhou on the 23rd, captured Mixian on the 24th, and Wu Shaozhou's 85th Army moved to the western mountains to block the attack of the army.

In northern Henan, Hayashi Yoshitaro's 110th Division and Yoshio's 62nd Division launched an attack on Wu Shaozhou's army, which was defending the Bishantou position, on the morning of April 19. On the 21st, after breaking through the river defense position, he invaded Guangwu and Bishui, and on the 22nd, he captured Xingyang. On the 24th, the Lin Fang Division of the Yue Army, which was moving south from Xingyang, and the Changye Division of the Yue Army, which was advancing west from Guodian, occupied Mi County and continued to attack in the southwest direction. At this time, Sun Weiru in the First Theater and the troops defending the place of the Fourth Army retreated to the line from Hujiao Pass to Majuling, west of Xingyang and Mi County, to prevent the army from advancing westward.

On the 25th, the two brigades of the 13th Army attacked Fuyang from Zhengyangguan and Fengtai in Anhui Province and made a posture of attacking Luohe in Henan Province in order to contain the central [***] team in eastern Henan. After the army opened up the Pinghan Railway, they withdrew by the same route.

From the 26th, the [***] team of the Central [***] team counterattacked the Yue army near Mi County with the main force of Wang Zhonglian's 31st Group Army, forcing the Yue army to change to a defensive position. By the 30th day of the fierce battle, the 27th Division of Takeshita Yoshiharu, the 3rd Chariot Division of Hideo Yamaji, and the 4th Cavalry Brigade of Shigeru Fujita had assembled in the Mixian and Zhengzhou areas, and quickly attacked Yuxian, Xiangcheng, and Xuchang, and engaged in fierce battles with Li Xianzhou's 28th Group Army and Wang Zhonglian's Group Army. On May 1, the army captured Xuchang and advanced to Xiangcheng and Jiaxian with the Mountain Road Division and the Fujita Brigade. In the early morning of the 3rd, the army invaded and occupied Jiaxian and Yu County, 4th captured Linru, and 6th captured Dengfeng, Baofeng and Lushan, and the vanguard of the army entered the vicinity of Longmen south of Luoyang. In order to block the Yue army that was advancing towards Longmen, the Sixth Theater urgently transferred Liu Huan's corps to the areas of Longmen, Yichuan, and Songxian, temporarily stabilizing the battle situation.

7 Said, the Zhuxia Division of the Yue Army, which had invaded south of Xuchang, captured Yuncheng and Luohe. On the same day, the 11th Brigade of the Reading Infantry of the Yue Army, which was advancing north from Xinyang, captured Suiping. 8 It was said that the army would capture Xiping and open up the Pinghan Railway. After that, the army concentrated its main force to attack Luoyang.

The Lin Fang Division, the Benqing Division, the Shanlu Division, the Fujita Brigade, and the Duohe Brigade of the Yue Army carried out an encirclement and detour from Dengfeng, Yuxian, Jiaxian, and Baofeng areas to Longmen and Luoyang. At the same time, the 69th Division of Tadajiro Miura and the Reading Force of Ohara Kazuaki were mixed into the 3rd Brigade and crossed the Yellow River from the south of Jinnan Yuanqu, and after occupying Michi on the 9th and threatening the Luoyang side, they completed the encirclement of Luoyang on three sides.

In addition to holding Luoyang with Wu Tinglin's 15th Army and 94th Division, Sun Weiru's group army and Liu Huan's corps were ordered to withdraw to the Hancheng and Yiyang areas southwest of Luoyang to assemble in order to prepare to flank the Yue army attacking Luoyang and Luoning from Michi. On the 13th, the Yun division and the various armies of Longmen converged in the Cijian area to attack the troops of the first theater assembled on the periphery of Luoyang, and Li Jiajue's 36th Group Army and other units successively moved west from the vicinity of Mianchi, and the army immediately pursued and advanced westward, occupying Luoning on the 17th, capturing Jiaxian on the 18th, and occupying Lushi on the 20th.

At this time, the defenders of Luoyang were already in a lonely battle. In order to save the battle situation and break the offensive of the Yue army, Li Zongren's troops in the Fifth Theater and the corps of Jiang Dingwen's First Theater coordinated to carry out a counter-assault on the Yue army, and successively conquered Suiping, Lushan and Songxian, forced Baofeng, and cut off the Pinghan line. The westward advance army was threatened on the flanks and did not continue to attack in depth, so they abandoned the Lu clan, retreated to Luoning, and moved the main force to the east to consolidate the areas already occupied.

On May 19, the Yue army concentrated the main forces of the Benqing Division, the Mountain Road Division, and the Fujita Brigade and began to attack Luoyang. On the 22nd, the army attacked Luoyang Pass three times, but was driven out of the city by the Chinese defenders. On the 23rd, the army focused its attack on the north of Luoyang. Under the continuous attack of the Yue army, the defenders of Luoyang suffered heavy casualties, and only more than 1,700 people remained in the 94th Division, but they refused the persuasion of the Yue army to surrender and held their positions. At 1 o'clock in the afternoon of the 24th, the army launched a general attack on Luoyang and broke through the northeast corner of Luoyang. The defenders of Luoyang were forced to break through to the southeast of Luoyang at 10 o'clock that night. On the 25th, Luoyang fell.

Marked by the occupation of Luoyang by the Yue army, the Battle of Henan, which lasted more than a month, ended. In this battle, the army opened up the Pinghan Line, defeated the main force of Jiang Dingwen's first theater, and achieved the operational goal. The First Theater lost as many as 200,000 soldiers, lost 38 cities, and almost all of Henan Province fell. Lu Gongliang, commander of the 29th Division of Liu Changyi's Army, Yang Shangwu, commander of the 85th Regiment of the division, Li Peiqin, commander of the 87th Regiment, Hu Guangyao, commander of the 86th Regiment, He Jinghe, commander of the 87th Regiment, and all the soldiers of the 29th Division all died on the battlefield.

Li Jiajue, his adjutant general Zhou Dingming, and infantry commander Chen Shaotang were also killed in the battle

Although the Chinese [***] team has reported frequently in northern Myanmar and western Yunnan, the battle situation in the frontal battlefield in Chinese mainland is very unfavorable to China. It is a very puzzling phenomenon that the first stage of the army's "No. 1 operation" went unexpectedly smoothly in the battle of Henan-China.

In March 1944, when Hideki Tojo ordered his old boss Shunroku Hata to implement a plan to "open up the Continental Corridor", he transferred a large number of troops from the puppet Manchurians and the country to China. The Chinese defenders paid a huge price and suffered heavy losses on the south bank of the Yellow River, which was about 200 kilometers long. Jiang Dingwen, commander of the First Theater of Operations, tasted the taste of "walking in the wheat city" and wrote the most embarrassing masterpiece in his military career. Deputy Commander Tong Enbo was also removed from his post.

Naturally, the army quickly moved to the second stage of the "No. 1 operation." If it is said that the defeat of the Chinese [***] team in the battle of central Henan was due to the underestimation of the strength of the Yue army, then this time it should be vigilant, do something, and actively thwart the plan of the Yue army to advance south. However, the results of the subsequent battles of Changsha and Hengyang were even more unexpected by the Chinese people.

On 25 May, Shunroku Hatata, commander-in-chief of the Chinese Dispatch Army, and Takuma Yamashita, commander of the Fifth Air Force, flew to Wuhan accompanied by staff officers and advanced the combat command post to Hankou so that they could command the second phase of the "No. 1 operation" nearby.

Prior to this, Isamu Yokoyama had quietly gathered the main forces of his Eleventh Army along the Yangtze River. The newly recruited 100,000 additional troops, plus 40,000 war horses, have been smoothly transported from the country to Wuhan to supplement and strengthen the combat strength of the 11th Army. The 22nd Fleet of the newest Type 4 fighters, which served as air defense in Tokyo, also arrived at the airfields in Guangdong and Wuhan. In addition, the newly transferred 27th Division of Shikuro Ochiai and the 3rd Tank Division were assembled in the Wuhan area in the south.

At the headquarters of the 11th Army of the Chinese Army in Hankou, a meeting of the commanders of the units participating in the battle was held.

Hata Junroku pointed to the map and said: "The corps that our side put into Changsha and Hengyang to fight has seventy brigades of the Eleventh Army; The 37th Division of the 1st Army, the 64th Division of the 13th Army, the 5th Brigade of the Reading Infantry and three field supplementary teams, a total of 30 brigades; 1st Brigade of the 3rd Tank Division and 30 Brigades of the 27th Division of the North China Front; Twenty brigades of the South China Front. The ground army forces totaled one hundred and fifty brigades. In addition, there is the Fifth Air Force, two flight divisions, the naval fleet and the Marine Corps to work together. This is the largest operation since our army started the war against China! ”

He continued: "The enemy's troops from the Ninth Theater plus the troops that may be reinforced from the Sixth Theater will have about forty divisions at the time of our army's attack on Changsha; When our army attacked Hengyang, it was estimated that the enemy's combat strength would be fifty-five divisions. With only 55 divisions, in front of my powerful infantry and air corps, what is there to worry about! ”

"In this operation, the capture of Changsha is an important part. However, the strength of our army this time can be broken in Changsha in one fell swoop, and it is not a problem. What worries me is that after our army conquers Changsha, when it attacks Hengyang, the Chinese expeditionary force may return to the counteroffensive. Therefore, before the arrival of the expeditionary force, whether Hengyang can be captured is the key to the success or failure of this operation. All participating regiments must pay attention to the speed of combat. The army, navy and air force worked closely together, advanced rapidly, and captured Hengyang City in one fell swoop before the arrival of the expeditionary force! ”

Then, he announced that the commander-in-chief of the battlefield was Isamu Yokoyama.

Several of Yokoyama's predecessors, including Okamura and Anan, had commanded the Eleventh Army in three battles of Changsha against Xue Yue's Ninth Theater, all of which ended in defeat for the Eleventh Army. Isamu Yokoyama conscientiously studied the reasons for the first three defeats, analyzed the operational characteristics of the Ninth Theater, and formulated an operational plan for the fourth attack on Changsha and the attack on Hengyang. He decided to divide his forces into two echelons, with two sorties in front and back, and launched alternating wave attacks against the target of the attack. He wants to place powerful elite troops on both flanks, creating an emptiness and isolation in the center of the opponent's area, and attacking and seizing it.

On May 27, 1904, the Hata Navy defeated the Russian Baltic Fleet in the Tsushima Strait.

In mid-May, Luo Xiangpu, commander of the 101st Regiment of the 34th Division of the Wang Lingji Group Army, hurried to Xue Yue's headquarters and reported to him an urgent piece of information: "According to the information from Liu Lifan, the army is massing in Wuhan in large numbers, recruiting migrant workers, and preparing for a large-scale attack on Changsha. The army learned the lesson of the failure of the frontal attack in the previous three battles of Changsha, and this time it will insert a large corps from the Hunan and Jiangxi borders, point to the south of Zhuzhou, and encircle and annihilate the mobile troops of our army on the outskirts of Changsha. ”

Liu Lifan was the mayor of Wuchang under Wang's puppet regime, and he was a spy of the Yucheng military commander who broke into the puppet camp to serve the War of Resistance, and his information has always been relatively accurate. However, this did not attract Xue Yue's attention. He believed that the war situation in the Pacific was tight, and it was anxious to draw troops from China to the south. Besides, the army has mobilized troops from North China and Wuhan and is attacking the Central Henan Plain, and it is impossible for a large army to assemble in Wuhan. In addition, it is summer at present, and Hunan's rice fields, weir ponds, rivers and lakes are full of water, which is most unfavorable for the operation of mechanized troops.

Xue Yue believed that it was impossible for the Yue army to attack Changsha in this season!

(To be continued)