After the Battle of Wuhan, the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression entered a phase of stalemate, and both China and Japan began to adjust their strategies and tactics. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

While the Japanese army is gradually turning its attention to the occupied areas, it still believes that the troops on the front line still have a huge advantage in combat effectiveness, and it is imperative to maintain the momentum of the offensive and carry out continuous offensive operations.

Because the Japanese army understands very well that the National X Army still has a strong strength, if the Japanese army turns to defense, I am afraid that the National X Army will take the initiative to attack. Therefore, the Japanese army must maintain an offensive posture, constantly strike at and weaken the national army, and seize the initiative on the battlefield.

At that time, the main force of the Japanese invasion of China was Okamura Ninji's 11th Army. The 11th Army was the vanguard of the Japanese invasion of China, and its strength was also the most abundant, with seven divisions and two brigades, totaling nearly 300,000 people. And the weapons are the most sophisticated, the supplies are the most sufficient, and the navy, land and air force are the most powerful.

But the area where the 11th Army is located is very bad! After reluctantly occupying the empty city of Wuhan at a heavy price, the 11th Army except for its own rear Anhui Province in the east, the south, west, and north were the main forces of the three theaters. In fact, as far as Anhui Province is concerned, the Japanese army only controls a part, and a considerable number of regular troops and a large number of guerrillas are stationed in the province.

Therefore, Okamura Ningji successively launched the Nanchang Campaign and the Suizao Battle, and before the first Battle of Changsha was launched, the situation of the 11th Army had changed greatly.

Although there is the National X Army in Henan to the north of the Japanese army, due to the separation of the Dabie Mountains and the containment of the Japanese army in Henan, it is not easy for the National X Army to move south. As for Jiangxi in the southeast, after the Japanese army occupied Nanchang, the two armies had a safe distance of more than 200 kilometers after all, and the threat of the National X Army was relatively small.

And Li Zongren's troops in the west, because the losses in the battle of Suizao were not light, and they did not pose a threat in a short time, they would not take the initiative to attack.

Then, at present, the greatest threat to the Japanese army is the Xue Yue Ninth Theater in the Hunan region in the south. Moreover, Okamura Ninji believed that if Hunan Province was still under the control of the National X Army, the Japanese army in Hubei would be a great threat; If the Nationalist Government is to be completely defeated, it must occupy the core province of Hunan.

I have to say that Okamura, an old devil, saw it very accurately, and Hunan was indeed very important to China's War of Resistance at that time.

Of course, the government is well aware of this. Because after the Nationalist Government moved west from Nanjing to Chongqing at that time, tens of millions of ordinary people also moved westward, as well as millions of troops, who were basically not peasants and needed additional food supplies. At that time, the Nationalist Government controlled that except for Sichuan, which had a relatively high grain output, only Hunan Province remained.

From the Qin and Han dynasties to the Republic of China, Hunan has always been a densely populated and rich land in the south. It is also one of the provinces with the highest grain output in China, and there is an ancient saying that "the lake is ripe, and the world is full" since ancient times.

As China's largest rice warehouse, if Hunan is lost and there is not enough to eat, what war of resistance is there to speak of. If the devil occupies Hunan, he will be able to realize his plan to feed the war with war!

Moreover, once the Japanese army occupied the whole of Hunan, it basically controlled the southern part of China, and the Nationalist government was oppressed and dying in Sichuan, Yunnan, Xikang and other provinces.

On the contrary, if the Nationalist Government succeeded in controlling Hunan Province, it would be able to effectively defend Sichuan Province, the rear of the Anti-Japanese War. As long as the Japanese army could not fully occupy Hunan Province, it would not be able to attack Sichuan.

No matter from which point of view, the Chinese and Japanese armies must fight to the death for Hunan Province. Therefore, Okamura Ning occupied Hunan secondarily, and of course the preferred target was Changsha, the governor of Hunan Province. In the Ninth Theater, there are also heavy military groups of the National X Army, especially the Central Army, which is the most powerful theater of the National X Army.

In Okamura's view, although a considerable part of the 11th Army's troops had to stay in the area to undertake the garrison mission, the attacking force was already close to 150,000 people, which was already quite terrifying.

And he estimated that the number of troops that Xue Yue could use in the Ninth War Zone was no more than 25 divisions, that is, more than 240,000 people. With the superiority of the Japanese army's combat effectiveness, the National X Army needed at least 300,000 people to effectively defend against the Japanese army, and now there are only 240,000 people, and the combat effectiveness is still at a disadvantage, and the Japanese army still has a great chance of victory.

But from Clausewitz's point of view, there is room for victory in any war, even if there is a huge disparity in strength between the enemy and us. As a master swordsman famously said: In a duel, any move in your swordsmanship, the opponent actually has another move to deal with. But the merciful God wanted the slaughter to come to an end, so one of them forgot the trick of resistance.

What's more, before the Battle of Changsha began, the information Yang Tianfeng obtained from the "Japanese spies" had already been sent to Chongqing and transferred to the Ninth War Zone. Seize the opportunity without a fight, and the first Battle of Changsha was launched under such circumstances.

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Chongqing Yunxiu Tower.

Soong Ziwen, who had gone to the United States to seek a loan, had just left, and Chairman Chiang received a military intelligence telegram from Changsha in his study.

Ever since Okamura launched his offensive on 14 September, Chairman Chiang has been eagerly following the changes that have taken place on the battlefield. Although Yang Tianfeng's intelligence is timely and important, it is not very certain whether it is accurate and whether it can be used as the basis for the operation of hundreds of thousands of troops.

On the desk, there are also two operational plans drawn up by Chen Cheng and Bai Chongxi according to the situation in northern Hunan and the two operational plans of defending Changsha and abandoning Changsha on their own initiative. Chairman Chiang, however, did not make a decision for a long time and kept observing the changes in the situation at the front.

Of course, if there was no information from Yang Tianfeng, and in view of the situation when the Japanese 11th Army attacked Nanchang, Chairman Chiang was inclined to the plan of not defending Changsha. Changsha is important, but Hunan Province is even more important, if you fight hard with the enemy because of a Changsha city, once you lose the main force, how can you hold on for a long time?

Now that we are in the stage of stalemate, the main purpose of the stalemate stage is to maintain our strength, hold on to the enemy, and take a long time in the future, so as to carry out a general counteroffensive. Then, it is not wrong to try to avoid fighting to the death with the enemy, to fight for one city and one place with the enemy, and to avoid the quick victory that the Japanese army has been asking for.

In order to conceal the direction of the main attack and confuse and contain the Chinese army, Okamura Ninji first ordered the 106th Division and the 33rd Division to launch an offensive in northern and southern Jiangxi, and the main attack in northern Hunan was launched on 18 September.

Now, the three battlefields are in the midst of fierce battles, but in the northern Hunan battlefield, it has entered a critical period. Because, according to Yang Tianfeng's intelligence, the Japanese army's killing move, a surprise attack on Yingtian, will be carried out in the near future.

Once Yingtian was lost, the Japanese 6th Division was from the front of the Xinqiang River; With the Nara detachment on the right and the Yingtian Kamimura detachment on the flank, the 15th Group Army under the command of Guan Lin Zheng in northern Hunan will be surrounded on three sides, facing a desperate situation of water and in danger of being encircled and annihilated. (To be continued.) )