On the night of December 31, the Japanese army attacked the outskirts of Changsha, and the city of Changsha fell into the siege of the Japanese army, and the situation was precarious.

On December 3, 1941, in the Japanese Army's Mainland Order No. 575, its headquarters stipulated that the task of the Japanese army in Central China was to "ensure communication from Yuezhou to the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and use the three towns of Wuhan and Jiujiang as bases to destroy the enemy's ability to resist the war, and its combat area was roughly between Anqing, Xinxin, Yichang, Yuezhou, and Nanchang."

At the meeting of army commanders of the Chinese Dispatch Army on November 27, the commander of the 11th Army, Anami Yuiki, also made it clear that the purpose of the Japanese army was to destroy the main force of the Chinese army in central China.

However, this policy of the Japanese army was not adhered to. At a meeting of the operational staff of the corps convened by the 11th Army on 10 December, Anan Yuiki made the following instruction: "Since the beginning of the southern war, there is a feeling in the minds of the people that the Chinese side has become a secondary battlefield, and this should be taken as a warning. At this juncture, it is necessary to adopt active means from beginning to end to exert pressure on Chongqing, at least not to slacken, prepare for the offensive posture, and concentrate on strengthening the training of the troops. ”

On December 7, the day after the outbreak of the Pacific War, the Chongqing Military Committee finally ordered all theaters to launch a full-scale guerrilla war to contain and attack the Japanese army. Accordingly, Yu Hanmou's 7th Theater of Operations attacked Guangzhou; The 5th, 6th, and 60th armies concentrated in the provinces of Guichuan and Guizhou in Yunnan, preparing to enter Burma; The 9th Army and the 2nd Provisional Army of the 4th Theater were transferred to Guangdong, and the 74th Army was transferred to Guangxi.

Under these circumstances, on December 13, the chief of staff of the 11th Army, Major General Isamu Kinoshita, considered it necessary to contain the southward movement of the Chinese army.

On December 8, Chief of Staff Kinoshita immediately summoned the chief of staff of operations, conveyed the necessary and essential ideas of the operation, and made a report to the army commander, which was approved by Anan Yuiki on the spot.

On the 15th, the 11th Army formulated a battle guidance plan, the purpose of which was to "first defeat the 20th Army on the left bank of the Xinqiang River with the 6th Division and the 40th Division in the southeast area of the Xinqiang River, and capture it near the Guanwang Bridge." Then, with the arrival of the 3rd Division, it was thrown to the right of the 6th Division and routed the 37th Army in the area on the left bank of the Mishui. "The operation began on December 22 and ended in about two weeks.

On the 23rd, Anan Yuki was at the command post in Yueyang and immediately issued an operational order.

The Japanese 3rd Division attacked all the way and advanced, and finally reached Changsha City on the 31st.

At 19 o'clock on the 31st, the 3rd Division issued an order to attack Changsha on New Year's Day 1942!

Now, the Japanese army has reached the bottom of the pockets arranged in the 9th theater, and the national army is also advancing to the flank of the Japanese army. In view of the fact that the time was ripe for the implementation of the "Tentodial Road Warfare Method," the Commander's Headquarters of the 9th Theater ordered all units on the 31st to begin an attack and advance at 0:00 on 1 January to counter-encircle the enemy on the outskirts of Changsha, and to limit the night of 4 January to the arrival line of the first attack. At this time, both sides wanted to end the fighting in the Changsha direction as soon as possible. The Japanese army wanted to take a handful and leave, and besides, the Japanese army's logistics and heavy weapons could not support long-term operations, and the Chinese army was worried that the bottom of the bag they had prepared would be chiseled through.

On the 1st, shortly after the Japanese attack, the chief of staff of the 11th Army, Isamu Kinoshita, and the reporters accompanying the army flew to Changsha to inspect the battlefield. In order to occupy Changsha as soon as possible, the 3rd Division issued a new order at 18:30 on the same day.

The Japanese attack that night was really not smooth, and the Nationalist army reacted quickly. The 190th Division counterattacked Zuojiatang in the direction of the North Gate, and the 10th Division counterattacked the army storage depot in the south, and at the same time, the 10th Division encircled and annihilated the enemy at Baishaling, and the two positions were recovered at 22 o'clock. The Kato Brigade, which had fled to Baishaling, encountered the Nationalist Army at around 2 o'clock on the 2nd, and Kato Shaosa was immediately shot through the abdomen and died soon after. The rest of the officers were killed in battle, and only Captain Ikeda fought his way to death. The Japanese then launched several charges to rescue Kato, but under the fierce resistance of the defenders, several Japanese attacks were in vain. The battle lasted until the night of the 2nd, and the surrounded Kato Brigade was completely wiped out.

From Kato's corpse, the Chinese army obtained various plans and orders from the Japanese army's dispatch and other documents, and learned about the situation of the enemy in front of them. More importantly, the Nationalist Army learned that the Japanese army lacked ammunition for this important information.

The documents captured by the Pre-10 Division were quickly sent to the headquarters of the commander of the 9 theater. Xue Yue saw that on the one hand, he informed the various departments of the situation, and on the other hand, ordered the group armies to quickly close to the periphery of Changsha and encircle and annihilate the enemy army according to the predetermined plan; At the same time, the 10th Army was ordered to counterattack.

And the Japanese side has also reached the last moment. Due to logistical supply problems, the 3rd Division was almost running out of ammunition. The division had to fight with all its forces. On the same day, the 9th Independent Brigade arrived at Guanwang Bridge and engaged the Nationalist forces in this area and in the southern area of Hongyuandong and Sanjiangkou. The staff of the 11th Army was already overshadowed by apprehension. In order to conquer Changsha as soon as possible, the 11th Army ordered the 6th Division to go on the offensive on the night of the 2nd.

In addition to ordering the 6th Division to attack Changsha, the 11th Army also ordered the 40th Division to quickly move south to the area around Chunhua Mountain and guard the Liuyang Mountains in the east to protect the rear of the remaining two divisions.

At 9 o'clock on the same day, the 3rd Division, which was unfavorable in attack, issued an order to retreat to all units participating in the attack on Changsha in accordance with the order of the 11th Army Headquarters.

After the engagement on the 2nd, the 9th Brigade of the Independent Mixed Brigade left the 65th Independent Infantry Brigade to protect the flank of the army, and the main force moved to Mafengzui through Changle, and had an encounter with the 58th Army south of Changling on the morning of the 4th. Having routed its opponents, the brigade moved on. The 95th Independent Infantry Brigade arrived in Yuezhou on the same day, and on the same day, together with the 1st Brigade of the 218th Wing of the 34th Division, attacked and advanced in the direction of Tuanluoshan to ensure the retreat of the 11th Army.

The 3rd Wing of the 68th Division, having received the order to retreat at 15:25, ordered the troops to begin the retreat at 18:30.

The retreat of the 6th Division was relatively much smoother. After sunset on the 4th, the main force of the division began to retreat at 22 o'clock, and they did not have the rear pursuit of the national army, and by dawn on the 5th, the division had gathered through the Langli Army Bridge and formed in the area on the right bank of the Liuyang River.

At 3 o'clock on the 5th, the 40th Division began to turn along the road of Elephant Trunk Bridge - Xiangtu Bridge - Wenjiayuan - Chunhua Mountain.

On the night of the 4th, Xue Yue issued an order to pursue the whole line, and by 7 o'clock on the 5th, there was no trace of the enemy near Changsha. At this time, the 4th Army and the 73rd Army together began the pursuit.

The 6th Division of the Japanese Army retreated to Langli City in the early morning of the 5th. At 2 a.m. on the 5th, the 3rd Division was blocked by the 79th Army when it reached Dongshan. In the early morning of the 6th, it retreated to the north bank of the Liuyang River and joined the 6th Division. The two Japanese divisions retreated side by side to the north, and the Chinese troops pursued closely. In the early morning of the 7th, the two armies retreated to the north bank of the Laodao River and the Fenglin Port area.

When the Japanese 40th Division advanced from Jinjing to Chunhua Mountain, it was repeatedly blocked and flanked by the 37th Army along the way, and suffered heavy casualties, and the 2nd Squadron Leader Teruo Mizusawa, the 5th Squadron Leader Yoshitomu Miyake, and the 6th Squadron Leader Sekida Ikuyoshi were all killed.

On January 8, the 3rd and 6th Divisions of the Japanese Army continued to retreat north from the north bank of the Laodao River, and were constantly intercepted and flanked by Chinese troops along the way.

On 10 January, the 1st Flying Regiment dispatched all aircraft support, and the 6th Division continued to break through to the north, but was soon surrounded by Chinese troops.

After receiving the report that the 6th Division was divided and surrounded, Anan Weiki immediately ordered the 3rd Division, the 40th Division, and the 9th Brigade to advance to Fulinpu and the area north of Yingzhu Mountain from the east of Malin City, Xiangbiqiao, and Yingzhu Mountain, respectively, to relieve the siege of the 6th Division and concentrate their forces to break through and retreat to the north.

On January 11, the Japanese 6th Division and the 3rd Division successively broke through the interception line, and the 40th Division also withdrew north from the east side of Chunhua Mountain. It was not until the 12th that the Japanese army retreated to the north bank of the Miluo River before it was able to contain and rectify.

On January 15, the Japanese army retreated to the original defensive position in the north of the new wall.

By the 16th, the situation before the start of the battle had basically been restored. Anami Yuki also withdrew the command post of the 11th Army to Hankow.

A thrilling Third Battle of Changsha ended with the final victory of the Chinese army.

In this battle, the Ninth War Zone not only kept Changsha City intact, but also inflicted heavy losses on the enemy. Originally, the Japanese army wanted to slow down the pace of our army's southward movement and support the devil's military action against Hong Kong, but the devil's 11th Army suffered losses because of this, and the number of casualties was 2.5 times that of the attack on Hong Kong. The commander of the 11th Army of the devil, Anan Yui, is really "a dumb man who eats Coptis chinensis, and there are words of suffering".

At the headquarters of the Einsatzgruppen in Caijiazhou, Xiao Xiong and his comrades-in-arms cheered after hearing the news of our army's victory. During the entire battle, Xiao Xiong led a small but very capable unit to carry out guerrilla warfare in accordance with the orders of the Supreme Military Council conveyed by the Theater Command, and successively launched a series of attacks and harassment operations against some important targets of the devils in Jiujiang.

Although they did not carry out large-scale military operations like in the previous wars, they also actively cooperated with the military operations in Changsha in the theater of operations, causing a lot of difficulties in the supply of logistics and transportation materials from northern Jiangxi to northern Hunan and indirectly supporting the fighting on the front line.

During the Third Battle of Changsha, Li Ran and Bai Yu led all the members of the intelligence group to not be idle, but also carried out a series of activities, actively cooperated with Xiao Xiong and their battles, and also provided strong intelligence support for our army during the battle.