At dawn on May 27, in the Dongting Lake area in northern Hunan, where the water network was dense, the commander-in-chief of the Japanese army, Isamu Yokoyama, issued an order to attack.

The Japanese offensive strength was as high as eight divisions and one brigade, with a total strength of 360,000 troops, and it had an unprecedented absolute superiority in combat strength. In Yokoyama's military command career, this was the first time he commanded such a powerful offensive corps. The Japanese army's campaign plan was astonishingly appetizing, and the Nationalist army seriously underestimated it, believing that the battle was at best the Fourth Battle of Changsha. In fact, Yokoyama Isa's gaze has long passed over Changsha, and in his eyes, Changsha has long been in the bag, and there is no suspense about this. The operational depth of the Japanese offensive corps this time should be extended to the south of Hengyang according to the plan, including the occupation of Hengyang. Therefore, in terms of troop superiority and combat scale, Yokoyama Yong has already surpassed the structure of Xue Yue's "Heavenly Furnace Tactics".

According to Isamu Yokoyama's battle plan, the front-line corps, composed of five fully equipped divisions, launched simultaneous attacks in three directions. The Left Route Corps, composed of the 3rd and 13th Divisions, started from Chongyang, attacked south along the mountainous area of the Hunan and Jiangxi borders, and made a great detour to the southeast of Changsha, first capturing Liuyang, and then outflanking the rear of Changsha. Its purpose was to bring Xue Yue's outer line corps into the circle, and at the same time, it could also prevent the national army troops in Jiangxi from crossing the border to support the Ninth Theater. Even more insidiously, the left corps was followed by a second echelon of the 27th Division, which set off along the same route as the attacking troops, separated by only one day.

The Middle Route Corps, composed of the 68th and 116th Divisions, moved south along the Guangdong-Hanzhou Railway, broke through the frontal defense line of the 20th Army of the Nationalist Army from the Yueyang area, and went straight to Changsha. The rear of the Central Corps was also followed by the second echelon, consisting of the 58th and 34th divisions.

Isamu Yokoyama's presence of such a large number of troops on the central line conceals a major strategic intention. As Cai Jigang expected, Yokoyama Yong decided to carry out a long-distance attack on Hengyang while the Japanese army surrounded Changsha, and took advantage of the national army to defend Changsha with all its might, and captured Hengyang by surprise in one fell swoop.

The composition of the right corps is relatively mixed, consisting of the 40th Division, the 106th Independent Infantry Wing, the 17th Independent Mixed Brigade, the 5th Independent Brigade, the Navy Fleet and the Marine Corps. The tactical value of the right corps is to bring Xue Yue's left flank outer line corps into the circle, and at the same time, it can also block the national army in the direction of Changde.

Yokoyama Yong is worthy of being a general, he is worthy of the two gold stars on the collar badge, while arranging troops and organizing an unprecedented large-scale offensive, he also carried out large-scale strategic deception operations through various means, and he deliberately revealed that the Japanese army's combat goal was to advance west along the Yangtze River, attack Chongqing, or prepare to attack Changde again. This strategic deception operation has basically achieved its goal, and it is difficult for the people of Chongqing to distinguish the truth from the false for a while, so they have to pay attention to it. Chiang Kai-shek specially placed the elite garrison troops in the Sixth Theater as a new force to defend Chongqing, so he did not fully support the troops of the Ninth Theater in terms of troops. This move is exactly what Yokoyama wants, and this is what he wants.

At dawn on 27 May, the powerful war machine of the Japanese army was in motion, and 360,000 Japanese soldiers like wolves and tigers, with tanks, mechanized troops, and cavalry units as the vanguard, formed a multi-way assault corps under the cover of a large formation of aircraft in the air, and spread out in Hunan like a flood.

Once the curtain of war is opened, even God will not be able to stop it, and the Chinese army in the ninth theater will be wiped out.

Cai Jigang was assigned by Xue Yue to stay in Changsha to supervise the battle, the headquarters of the Ninth Theater Commander had been transferred to Leiyang, 200 kilometers south of Changsha, two days earlier, and Zhao Zili, chief of staff of the Theater, led a special battalion to stay in Changsha and prepare to command the battle to defend the city.

At this time, Cai Jigang was listening to a quarrel in the room of the president of Hunan University in Yuelu Mountain. The people who quarreled were Chief of Staff Zhao Zili, Commander of the 4th Army Zhang Deneng and Commander of the Theater Artillery Wang Ruoqing. This matter had to be blamed by Xue Yue, the commander of the theater, who appointed these three people to be responsible for defending the city when he evacuated Changsha, but did not specify who among the three was the commander, and as a result, none of the three people was convinced, and they all thought that they were qualified to be the commander.

If the three of them are compared according to their military ranks, Zhao Zili and Zhang Deneng are lieutenant generals, and Wang Ruoqing is a major general. If you compare it according to the position and role, it is not easy to compare. Zhao Zili is the chief of staff of the theater, and he is regarded as the commander of the theater, and his position is of course higher than that of Zhang Deneng, a lieutenant general. But Zhang Deneng also has a reason to be the commander: Changsha City is mainly defended by the 4th Army, and the main forces in the city are from the 4th Army. And Wang Ruoqing's reason seems to be very convincing, without my artillery as the backbone of firepower, what are you going to do to defend the city? Take the Heavy **?

Cai Jigang is an outsider, and it is not good to help anyone, so he had to talk to the mud, and finally decided to discuss with the three of them. It seems that this fight is a white quarrel, since it is discussed, it means that no one said it, Cai Jigang said in his heart, after arguing for a long time, things are back to the original point, I knew it was so, what kind of quarrel?

Seeing that the quarrel had settled, Cai Jigang proposed to go to the artillery position on Yuelu Mountain to have a look, and the three of them agreed, so they climbed Yuelu Mountain together.

Yuelu Mountain, which faces Changsha City across the Xiangjiang River, is actually a small mountain, its main peak elevation is only 300.8 meters above sea level, it stretches around the distribution of Phoenix Mountain, Tianma Mountain, Taohualing and other nine small hills, Xu Lingqi, a Taoist of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, wrote in the "Nanyue Chronicle": "Nanyue is around 800 miles, the Hui Yan is the head, and the Yuelu is the foot. "This famous mountain, which is close to the ancient city of Changsha, has one of the best-preserved ancient academies in China at that time, the Yuelu Academy of the Northern Song Dynasty.

Cai Jigang is very familiar with this academy, before the war, due to work, he often came to Changsha, and every time he went to Changsha, he had to go to Yuelu Academy to see. He likes the strong cultural atmosphere here, but he is very disapproving, and thinks that the ancient Chu people are suspected of boasting, and how can a huge China and a 5,000-year-old civilization be "only Chu has talent"?

The cultural relics left by the past dynasties on this road are all over the place, with the Lushan Temple in the early Jin Dynasty, the Sui Relic Pagoda, the Tang Li Yonglu Mountain Temple Monument, the Ming Yunlu Palace, and the Qingai Evening Pavilion are the most famous. This place of literati and artists since ancient times, because it lies in the west of Changsha city and has a panoramic view of Changsha City, makes it an extremely important military commanding height to guard Changsha.

Thinking that this famous cultural mountain and thousand-year-old monument was about to fall into the flames of war, Cai Jigang felt sad for a while, and he didn't know if these thousand-year-old monuments would still exist after the war?

The 80 cannons of the artillery brigade were placed on the artillery position on the top of Yuelu Mountain, and Cai Jigang carefully observed these artillery pieces with an insider's eye. There are only three types of artillery, including the "Bufus" 75-mm mountain gun produced by the German Krupp Arms Company and a small number of 150-mm ** guns, and more Russian-made 76.2-mm field guns. Cai Jigang recognized the factory date on the barrel, and the words 1914 were faintly visible on it, and he smiled bitterly: "Oh my God, eighty percent of the artillery during World War I was pulled from the Soviet History Museum." ”

Zhao Zili snorted: "If you want to eat, you can't be hungry, it's good if the Russians can give it, they themselves still count on the materials of the US "Lend-Lease Act", these old guns can be regarded as meaning for the allies, to contain some more Japanese troops, and to relieve some pressure on their Far Eastern borders." If you look over there, there's an 1898 factory, a 19th-century antique. ”

Cai Jigang knew that this batch of Russian-made field guns was supported by the Soviet Union in 1941, a total of 200 pieces, and the national army used this batch of artillery to supplement and equip seven artillery regiments, which is obviously insignificant for the Chinese army, which has more than 3 million troops. There is no way, since July 1938, under the restrictions of the Japanese-German alliance, Germany's military advisory group left China, and the door for the national army to obtain German-made weapons has been completely sealed. In the middle of the Anti-Japanese War, the bulky Russian-made field artillery was saved and became a sweet spot for the artillery units of the national army. As for the US "Lend-Lease Act" materials, China received very little quota, and the US weapons were mainly used to equip the Chinese garrison in India and the expeditionary force. After all, in the eyes of the Americans, the role of the Chinese theater is only to contain the 1 million Japanese army, and it does not play a decisive role in the course of the war, and they are most concerned about the European and Pacific theaters.

The Russian artillery of the First World War was extremely heavy, and it required six horses to pull it on a flat march and eight horses when encountering uphill slopes, so such a bulky thing is really not suitable for modern warfare. Fortunately, the firing range of this kind of artillery is still relatively satisfactory, and for the Chinese battlefield that lacks artillery, Russian-made field artillery has gradually replaced the increasingly attritional "Bufus" mountain artillery.

Seeing that Cai Jigang was watching the cannon, Wang Ruoqing came over and said with a smile: "Brother Yunhe, do you still like cannons?" ”

Cai Jigang said: "If you are a soldier, you don't like artillery, the god of war, if there are more of these things, our infantry casualties will be much less." Brother Ruoqing, have the shooting elements of nearby targets been calibrated? ”

Wang Ruoqing was taken aback: "Brother, expert, you are an infantry person who still knows how to calibrate and shoot Zhuyuan?" ”

Cai Jigang replied: "According to the standards of military academies in Western countries, infantry officers must know artillery knowledge, otherwise they will not be able to cooperate with infantry and artillery. ”

"Oh, come to think of it, you went to an American military school, no wonder you know more. Didn't you ask about shooting Zhuyuan? In this way, after the Second Battle of Changsha, I personally took a few surveying and mapping officers to survey and map the area around Changsha, and measured in detail the buildings that could be called landmarks in the suburbs of Changsha and in the city, and made a punctuation map of 1/25,000. By the time of the Third Battle of Changsha, our artillery was like a fish in water, and at the request of the infantry commander, it opened fire according to the shooting elements on the punctuation map, and the effect was surprisingly good. Wang Ruoqing said proudly.

Wang Ruoqing is an old qualified artilleryman, he was born in the eighth artillery section of the Baoding Military Academy, and served as an artillery regiment commander and artillery brigade commander. In May 1940, the headquarters of the 4th Artillery Brigade was reorganized into the 9th Theater Artillery Command, and Wang Ruoqing changed from an artillery brigade commander to a theater artillery commander. He was an artillery victory theorist, and his views were rather extreme, and he always believed that the decisive factor in winning or losing a war was the strength of artillery firepower.

As the two were talking, Zhao Zili and Zhang Deneng over there argued again.

Zhao Zili said in a fierce tone: "Changsha can only be used as a lasting defense point to drag down and consume the enemy's vital forces, so as to gain time, which is conducive to the assembly and decisive battle of our outer line corps, and must not be defended to the death." In my opinion, two divisions of the 4th Army should be placed in Yuelu Mountain, and the other division should be placed in the city. As long as the position of Yuelu Mountain is not lost, Changsha City can be preserved, even if it is the worst plan, in case Changsha City cannot be kept, if the main force of our army is still in Yuelu Mountain, we can also cover a division in the city to cross the Xiangjiang River to the west to avoid being annihilated by the Japanese army and retreat to the west and south. ”

Zhang Deneng fiercely opposed: "I don't approve! The main force should be placed in the city, Yuelu Mountain is a commanding height, easy to defend and difficult to attack, it is difficult for the Japanese army to deploy troops to capture, and it will not make great efforts under Yuelu Mountain. I think that the main force of the Japanese army will attack the city with all its might, and if our army is weak in the city, once it cannot withstand the loss, the mobile troops on the periphery will lose their combat core and run their own way. Besides, the 4th Army placed the main force in the city, which was also what Chief Xue meant. ”

Zhang Deneng took out the trump card of Chief Xue to suppress people, and Zhao Zili naturally had nothing to say.

Cai Jigang agreed with Zhao Zili's opinion in his heart, the commanding heights of Yuelu Mountain must be defended, once lost, it means the disappearance of artillery, without the cover of artillery fire, it is difficult for infantry to hold their positions only with light weapons. Moreover, if the Japanese army occupies Yuelu Mountain, they can condescend and use artillery against the defending troops, and the troops in the city are about to face annihilation. can think so, but Cai Jigang didn't say anything, because no one asked for his opinion, he was just a war supervisor, and he didn't seek politics if he was not in his position. What's more, Cai Jigang has a more secret idea in his heart, he privately concluded that Changsha will not be able to hold it no matter what, this is his judgment from the general trend of the battlefield, no matter how the troops are arranged, the result will be the same.

Zhang De can be stubborn, only Xue Yue can control him, and of course Zhao Zili is still on fire, and he doesn't take this chief of staff very seriously. So he acted according to his own ideas, placing the 90th Division on the side of Yuelu Mountain, personally leading the 102nd Division and the 59th Division into the city, and the army headquarters was located in the basement of the Central Bank.

Zhao Zili here was also angry, he returned to the command headquarters and called Xue Yue, and only asked one sentence: "Chief Xue, if I stay here, can I command the 4th Army?" ”

Who knew that Xue Yue's answer was intriguing: "You don't command!" ”

This can make Zhao Zili so angry that he wants to go crazy, he said in his heart, since you have no command, then what are you sending me to Changsha for? Fortunately, Zhao Zili had more eyes, and he foresaw the serious consequences that would inevitably occur, so he dodged Xue Yue and told Chiang Kai-shek that he could not command Changsha to defend the city through his old friends Wang Yaowu and Shangguan Yunxiang. Zhao Zili's meaning is obvious, since he doesn't give me command, if he loses the battle, he won't do my business. Later facts proved that Zhao Zili's phone call saved his life, which is a later story.

A few days after the Japanese attack, the situation deteriorated for the Chinese army.

The Japanese army's right-hand corps broke through the Dongting Lake system and occupied the Yuan River, just in time to block the Wang Yaowu Group Army, which had gone south to rescue the Sixth Theater, in the Yiyang area, while its main force continued to move south, occupying Ningxiang, a strategic point west of Changsha, in mid-June.

The 3rd and 13th Divisions of the front-line corps of the Japanese army in the middle of the road suddenly surrounded the main force of the 20th Army of the National Army, the 133rd Division and the headquarters of the 27th Group Army, in a pincer offensive. The 27th Group Army was deployed here by Xue Yue in order to encircle the troops attacking the Japanese army, why was it surrounded by others in a daze? Li Yutang urgently ordered the other two divisions of the 20th Army to come to the rescue, and he led the headquarters of the 27th Group Army and the 133rd Division to desperately break through the encirclement and retreat from Pingjiang County to the Liuyang area. In this way, it was in the arms of Isamu Yokoyama, who had no intention of eating the 27th Army, but just wanted to drive it away. The 27th Group Army was the core force of Xue Yue's "Heavenly Furnace Tactics", and this force was driven far away by Hengshan Yong and left Changsha.

The first and second line units of the Japanese Left Route Corps attacked in turn, flanking the mobile units of the five armies of the Ninth Theater Army in the area south of Liuyang, besieging them on the left and right, causing chaos in the formation of several armies, and they broke through and retreated to the Jiangxi border one after another. And the main force of Xue Yue's mobile corps was on standby to attack according to the structure of the "Heavenly Furnace Combat Method". The accurate attack of the Japanese army caused the "Heavenly Furnace Tactics" to collapse in an instant.

It should be admitted that Isamu Yokoyama's formation is really wonderful and surprisingly accurate.

On June 8, the 68th and 116th divisions of the first line of the Japanese Middle Route Corps arrived at the outskirts of Changsha. Unexpectedly, these two Japanese divisions flicked a shot on the periphery of Changsha, and the soldiers bypassed Changsha City and continued to the south. What Cai Jigang was most worried about before the war finally happened, and Yokoyama Yong put these two divisions in the front-line offensive troops, which was completely a strategic deception, in order to create the illusion that the opponent was attacking Changsha as the main enemy, and his real intention was to attack Hengyang directly.

Now the battlefield situation is gradually becoming clearer, the first and second line troops of the Japanese Central Route Corps are like the two fists of boxers, and the 68th and 116th divisions placed on the first line are a left hook punch made by Yokoyama Yong, and this left hook draws an arc and goes around Changsha to Hengyang. However, the 34th and 58th divisions placed in the second line were a fierce straight punch, directly hitting Changsha.

The Chinese defenders of Changsha were puzzled, why did the main Japanese army come to the city and go around the city? Without waiting for Zhao Zili, Zhang Deneng and others to figure it out, the Japanese army's second-line corps arrived again, and the Japanese army's 34th and 58th divisions followed behind quickly advanced on the passage cleared by the first-line corps, and the two divisions were abruptly separated on the way, and the 34th division met with the two detachments of the right line corps, with a force of more than 40,000 people, suddenly crossed the Xiangjiang River west from the north of Changsha and went straight to the Chinese defenders' position in Yuelu Mountain. The 58th Division drove straight into Changsha and advanced to the city of Changsha with great vigor, at which time there were no Chinese troops on the periphery of Changsha, and the two divisions of the Japanese army could attack the city with confidence and boldness.

On June 13, the Chinese troops in the entire Ninth Theater were in great disarray, and all armies fell into a situation of passive beating.

At this time, Xue Yue secretly complained in his heart, regretting that he did not listen to Zhao Zili's advice, and in a panic, Xue Yue issued a strange order to all troops: "All troops ask for the enemy to attack!" ”

This order is said to be equivalent to not being said, what is the meaning of "seeking the enemy"? Obviously being chased and beaten by the enemy, do you still use "asking for the enemy"?

Cai Jigang has been paying close attention to Hengyang since the start of the war, and when Yokoyama Yong hit a left hook, Cai Jigang was shocked to sweat, although he had been mentally prepared, but he was still shocked by Yokoyama's treacherous and changeable tactics. Cai Jigang thought, fortunately, when the war broke out in 1937, this guy was only a newly promoted major general, and he was not qualified to command a large corps to fight.

A few days later, Cai Jigang saw a report on the enemy situation from the theater commander's headquarters, which was a report by a pilot of a reconnaissance plane of the Sino-US Joint Air Force:

The 68th and 116th divisions of the Japanese army, after bypassing Changsha, attacked south to the south of Zhuzhou, and suddenly stopped, as if they were resting and replenishing on the spot.

Cai Jigang breathed a long sigh of relief, thank God! It finally stopped its offensive for only one reason, the Japanese army's supply lines were elongated, and the two divisions were almost out of ammunition and food after a long run, and needed to be replenished. It is really great news, Fang Xianjue's 10th Army is building fortifications, evacuating people and hoarding supplies in Hengyang day and night.

On June 13, the battle to defend Changsha began, and the first point of attack of the Japanese army was the Yuelu Mountain position west of the Xiangjiang River.

The 34th Division of the Japanese Army, together with two detachments totaling more than 40,000 men, suddenly crossed the Xiangjiang River to the west, and its forward troops did not pause in the slightest after crossing the river, and immediately launched a full-line attack on the Yuelu Mountain position. Under the cover of superior artillery fire, the Japanese army launched an attack formation in a large group, and launched a wave attack on the forward positions regardless of life or death.

Cai Jigang stood in the observation post of the Yuelu Mountain artillery position, observing the situation of the forward position with a telescope. In the field of vision of the telescope, Japanese soldiers wearing khaki uniforms spread all over the mountains, surging towards the position like ocean waves, wave after wave, wave after wave, thousands of Japanese soldiers chanting "Long live the emperor," and the shouts merged into a huge wave, like a mountain shouting and a tsunami overpowering the fierce gunfire and cannon.

An artillery major beside Cai Jigang was wearing an oil-stained military uniform, holding a telephone microphone in one hand, while crouching on the artillery mirror to observe the front line. Cai Jigang heard Wang Ruoqing's calm voice coming from the microphone: "Battalion Commander Dong, our infantry has launched a counter-assault, give me a double-layer Xu Jin barrage shooting [1]

, let his son of a bitch taste the taste of moving the wall of fire! ”

The artillery major shouted: "Yes! Attention of the 3rd, 4th, 5th companies, charge No. 2, **, instantaneous fuse, all, double-layer pre-entry barrage shooting, fire! ”

The sound of artillery rang out deafeningly, and countless dark red ballistics swept over the observation post. Cai Jigang saw in the telescope that a wall of fire composed of gunpowder smoke and flames appeared about 100 meters away from the front trench, and a second wall of fire appeared hundreds of meters away from the first wall of fire, the stumps and broken arms of the Japanese soldiers were thrown into the air in the continuous explosion, the first wall of fire slowly moved outward in the retreating Japanese soldiers, and the second wall of fire moved in the direction of the position on the periphery, the Japanese attacking team was sandwiched between the two walls of fire, and the artillery fire flew everywhere in the blood. Dense Nationalist soldiers jumped out of the fortifications and launched a counter-assault on the enemy with bayonets......

The artillery major laughed loudly: "Well fought, brothers, the enemy has retreated, 1st company, 2nd company, shoot Zhuyuan as scheduled, charge No. 2, **, instantaneous fuse, concentrated fire [2]

Fire! ”

Following the major's command, two companies equipped with German-made 150 mm heavy ** guns began to fire intensively, and the first round of shells fell in the middle of two moving walls of fire, turning this area into a sea of fire in an instant. The first attack wave consisting of two Japanese infantry brigades was wiped out in an instant. The lethality of large-caliber artillery is really extraordinary.

There were cheers in the artillery observation post, only Cai Jigang was unmoved, he still calmly used his telescope to observe the enemy in depth.

Cai Jigang is not so optimistic, the battle has just begun, and he only saw two feet of mud when he came out of the water, how could he just take a small advantage and cheer? There's a lot of trouble ahead.

On June 16, more than half of the casualties of the 90th Division guarding the Yuelu Mountain position were under the heavy artillery fire of the Japanese army and the wave attack of the infantry, the densely wooded Yuelu Mountain was shrouded in thick gunsmoke, and the violent explosion blew many century-old trees to the roots.

At noon, dozens of Japanese planes took to the air and threw a large number of ** and *** at the Yuelu Mountain position, causing a fire in the mountain. The raging flames already threatened the artillery positions and ammunition depots on the top of the hill, and the artillery commander Wang Ruoqing ordered to stop firing and push the artillery into the fortifications. Without artillery cover, the infantry on the forward positions were under tremendous pressure. At 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the Japanese army organized another strong attack with infantry and artillery coordination, this time the Japanese advance had approached the position of Yunlu Palace, the main peak of Yuelu Mountain, and the commander of the 90th Division, Chen Kan, led the officers and men to carry out a counter-assault and desperately repelled the Japanese army with small arms.

Cai Jigang learned from the command that at this time, the 58th Division of the Japanese Army on the east bank of the Xiangjiang River had arrived in the southeastern suburbs of Changsha, and the strange thing was that the 58th Division did not launch an attack on the urban area, but was busy building artillery positions, setting up camp tents, and transporting ammunition, as if it had no intention of attacking at all.

What does that mean? What is the 58th Division waiting for?

Zhang Deneng stared at the map and asked, "Officer Cai, what do you think the enemy's 58th Division is waiting for?" ”

Cai Jigang glanced at the map and said coldly: "They are waiting for the Yuelu Mountain position to be lost, and when the threat of our artillery fire is eliminated, the enemy's 58th Division can rest assured and boldly attack the city." ”

Zhang Deneng was taken aback: "You mean that the enemy's main direction of attack is Yuelu Mountain?" ”

Cai Jigang was silent. Zhao Zili snorted: "The development of the war has confirmed my judgment, there is no doubt about this, the next thing we need to consider is how to hold the position in Yuelu Mountain, where there is only one 90th division, and the strength is too thin." ”

Zhang Deneng was a little panicked, he didn't expect that the Japanese army would attack Yuelu Mountain with heavy troops first, this punch was hitting his miscalculation, and then he felt that Zhao Zili's opinion was correct.

Zhang Deneng didn't care about Zhao Zili's attitude, and said anxiously: "Chief of Staff Zhao, I want to transfer the 102nd Division from the city as a reserve, what do you think?" ”

Zhao Zili asked expressionlessly, "Commander Zhang, where is your ship?" How can the troops cross the river without boats? ”

Only then did Zhang Deneng remember that all the ships along the Xiangjiang River had been sent to evacuate supplies, and there were no ships available at this time, and what was worse was that this order was also issued by himself.

Zhang Deneng sat down in a gloomy mood, and he felt an unprecedented frustration.

Zhang Deneng is a veteran soldier, who debuted earlier than those officers who were born in Whampoa. He went to Vietnam in his early years to make a living, only returned to China at the age of 23, graduated from the second phase of Yunnan Jiangwutang in 1924, and was assigned to Zhang Fakui's 4th Army as a second lieutenant platoon commander. In the battle to seize the Tingsi Bridge, Zhang Deneng personally braved the arrows, took the lead, and was seriously wounded again, and the army commander Zhang Fakui issued an order to commend him, and Zhang Deneng and Ye Ting of the Independent Regiment became famous in this battle and became a man of the year in the 4th Army. After Zhang Deneng recovered from his injuries and was discharged from the hospital, he was promoted to the commander of the 1st Regiment of the 59th Division of the army, which was still in 1926. From platoon commander to regiment commander within two years, this speed of promotion is extremely rare in the national army. Zhang Fakui's 4th Army was known as the "Iron Army", and Zhang Deneng became the commander of the 4th Army in 1941, which is enough to prove that he is capable.

18 years ago in the battle of Tingsi Bridge, Zhang Deneng deserved to be a brave general, and his accumulated military exploits cast the two gold stars on his collar badge, he was seriously injured several times and his luck was surprisingly good, and he escaped the entanglement of death again and again. However, today, Lieutenant General Zhang Deneng's luck has come to an end, and the Grim Reaper once again raised his black wings at him, this time I am afraid that it will be difficult to escape.

Over the next two days, the situation on the battlefield became increasingly unfavorable to the Chinese defenders. In order to uproot the artillery position of the Nationalist army on Yuelu Mountain, the Japanese army mobilized more than 130 artillery pieces, of which the backbone of the fire was 16 100-mm cannons, and the two sides engaged in an artillery battle for a whole day. At the end of the day, the artillery positions of the national army were full of craters and devastation, and the artillery was heavily damaged, and it almost lost the ability to return fire in reciprocal terms.

Late at night on June 16, the outer positions of Yuelu Mountain were finally broken through, and the remnants of the 90th Division were surrounded at the foot of the mountain to fight the trapped beasts, and only the Xiangjiang River ferry was still under the control of the national army. The artillery of the national army on Yuelu Mountain has lost more than half, and the fire support in the city has been greatly weakened. At this moment, the Japanese 58th Division, which had been waiting for four days, suddenly began to attack the city, and the heavy artillery destroyed the defenders' fortifications one by one, and the defense line of the 59th Division of the National Army was instantly torn open, and a wing of the Japanese army rushed into the city, and the 59th and 102nd divisions in the city fell into a passive and bitter battle.

The Japanese artillery was organized into assault groups, and the artillery followed the infantry forward, firing at the fortifications of the Chinese defenders in a direct-aim manner, and the fierce artillery fire swept away the defenders' fortifications layer by layer like a harvester. With each fortification or barricade destroyed, hordes of infantry swarmed forward and marched on the corpses of Chinese soldiers. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the battle line had been pushed to the area of Miao Feng and Tianxin Pavilion in the center of the city.

The situation was extremely critical, and at this time, all the staff officers in the Yuelu Mountain Command Headquarters were silent, and everyone's eyes were fixed on the three commanders.

Zhao Zili picked up a Thompson***, unloaded the **, and pressed the bullets into the ** one by one. He glanced at the staff officers around him and said calmly, "What do you see me doing?" Don't panic, it's a big deal that the fish is dead and the net is broken, let's live and die with Changsha, everyone take their weapons and prepare to fight! ”

Wang Ruoqing picked up the phone: "Pass my order, all artillery shoots continuously, as long as there is still one cannon, you can't stop firing, and the rest of the personnel will pick up the riflemen ** for me, and be incorporated into the infantry to continue fighting, people are in the position, and they will live and die with the position!" ”

Zhang Deneng was pacing back and forth with his hands behind his back. He knew that it had now come to the last moment, and once the Yuelu Mountain position was lost, the 59th and 102nd Divisions in the city would have no way to retreat, and there would be no other result except to be completely annihilated.

A staff officer shook the telephone for a long time, and finally threw it down in frustration: "Report! The telephone line to the command post of the 102nd Division was broken, and now the 102nd Division cannot be reached. ”

Zhang Deneng roared: "Herald! ”

A fifteen or sixteen-year-old herald ran in: "Here! ”

Zhang Deneng waved his hand and said: "Go, tell the 102nd Division to cross the Xiangjiang River and reinforce Yuelu Mountain." ”

"Yes!" The little herald took the order and left.

Cai Jigang sighed: "Commander Zhang, I'm afraid it's too late, I'm afraid we won't be able to hold on to the 102nd Division to cross the river, besides, they don't have a boat, what can they take to cross the river?" ”

Zhang Deneng said angrily: "Let them figure out their own way, even if it is swimming, they have to swim across the river for me." ”

"Of course, it's better to be able to swim the whole division, and I hope so. Commander Zhang, Chief of Staff Zhao, I think I have to go, I just received an order to go to Hengyang, the situation over there is not optimistic, the enemy's two divisions are already in place, and they may launch an attack on Hengyang at any time, I am afraid that it will be another bloody battle. Cai Jigang was a little embarrassed when he spoke, Changsha City was in danger, and he was leaving, which would give others the impression of being greedy for life and afraid of death.

Zhao Zili patted Cai Jigang on the shoulder and said tolerantly: "Brother Yunhe, don't feel guilty, we are all soldiers, it is our duty to obey orders, and we each have our own responsibilities, your responsibility is to supervise the war on behalf of the Military Commission, not to fight, no one will say anything, I hope that when you report to the Military Commission in the future, you will truthfully reflect the battle situation in Changsha to prove that the Changsha defenders did their best and persevered until the last moment, and did not disappoint Chairman Jiang and the cultivation of the country." ”

Zhang Deneng also stretched out his hand to Cai Jigang: "Goodbye, Lao Cai, if you are unlucky, we will see you again in the next life!" ”

Cai Jigang was a little moved: "Commander Zhang, don't say that, we will meet, you must notify me when you go to Chongqing in the future, and I will pick you up and wash the dust." ”

Wang Ruoqing opened his arms and hugged Cai Jigang: "Brother, you have seen the situation of the artillery, you listen, it is still shooting, as long as there is still one cannon and one shell, our artillery will not stop fighting, tell the Military Commission, we have done our best." ”

Cai Jigang looked at the three commanders and wanted to say goodbye.

Zhao Zili said: "Brother Yunhe, if you have anything to say, just say it." ”

Cai Jigang whispered hesitantly: "Three brothers, it stands to reason...... It's not for me to say that, after all...... As commanders, we should cherish the lives of our officers and soldiers, for the country and for the army, they are all soldiers with rich experience in actual combat, and if we keep one more, we will accumulate more strength for future counteroffensives. ”

Zhao Zili nodded solemnly: "Brother, I understand what you mean, we will carefully consider your suggestion." ”

Cai Jigang stopped again when he walked to the door, he turned around and said to everyone: "The enemy's encirclement is not tight, and there are many gaps. I would also like to have a piece of advice for you: When breaking out, it is best for all units to disperse their actions in small formations, and they can engage in some tactical coordination such as counter-assault to break through from the front. In some cases, the weakest point of the encirclement may be the direction of the enemy's attack, and we should learn the lessons of the Battle of Nanjing. [3]

”

After Cai Jigang finished speaking, he solemnly saluted all the soldiers in the headquarters.

Zhao Zili, Zhang Deneng, Wang Ruoqing and others also solemnly returned the salute to Cai Jigang.

On the way down the mountain, Cai Jigang was a little sad, I don't know if I can see these three brothers in the future, maybe this farewell will be separated from their yin and yang forever.

On June 18, the battle for the defense of Changsha came to an end.

Zhang Deneng's luck was very bad, he originally wanted to make up for his mistake and sent a herald to inform the 102nd Division to rush across the Xiangjiang River and reinforce Yuelu Mountain. As a result, he made a mistake in his busyness, and the little herald was not very easy to use, and he mistook the order to reinforce Yuelu Mountain as crossing the river and retreating westward. When the division commander Chen Weiguang led the 102nd Division to the Xiangjiang River, he saw that the vast river was empty and there was not a single boat. Chen Weiguang complained bitterly in his heart, and said in his heart that the army commander was so confused, since you ordered us to cross the river, but you didn't think of arranging boats, and we are not amphibians, how should we cross the river? Therefore, Chen Weiguang also issued an unreasonable order in a hurry: each regiment, battalion, and company should find its own way to find boats or floating objects to cross the river.

It didn't matter if this unreasonable order was reached, the 102nd Division was suddenly in chaos, some companies were demolishing civilian houses and picking up wood, some companies sawed up electric poles, and another company simply robbed an auto repair shop, knocked over the boss who tried to stop it, unloaded all the car tires and tied them to the raft, and the riverside was in chaos for a while.

Facts have proved that the 102nd Division is really the main force, and it has simply completed this impossible order, and all regiments, battalions, and companies have cat roads, dogs and dogs, and the eight immortals have crossed the sea, each showing its ability, and most of the people have crossed the river. However, there were many unlucky people, some rafts were overloaded and capsized in the middle of the crossing, and soldiers who could swim desperately fluttered to climb to the opposite shore, while those who could not swim had to consider themselves unlucky and go with the waves. According to the post-war Japanese war history, "when the Chongqing army was defeated and fled to cross the Xiangjiang River, there were many deaths, and more than 1,000 people were drowned. ”

The troops who had gone ashore with nine deaths followed the erroneous orders of the small heralds, spread their legs, and fled along the road towards Hengyang at a very fast speed.

For the 90th Division on the Yuelu Mountain position, the last bit of hope was also dashed.

At this time, Zhang Deneng, the commander of the 4th Army, was still confused and kept in the dark. For several days, he supervised the battles everywhere, running before and after, and was so tired that he almost vomited blood. That night, after handing over the task of defending the city to Lin Xiancha, commander of the 59th Division, he left the military headquarters set up in the central bank of the city, and he took a few guards to cross the river in small boats, preparing to wait until the 102nd Division crossed the river, and personally led the troops to defend the position on Yuelu Mountain.

When Zhang Deneng arrived at Hunan University at the foot of Yuelu Mountain, the sky was already dark, and the exhausted Zhang Deneng fell into bed when he entered the house, and fell asleep within a few seconds.

An hour later, Zhang Deneng was suddenly woken up by the guards: "Commander, the 102nd Division did not enter the Yuelu Mountain position after crossing the river, they all ran along the road to Hengyang in the south." ”

Zhang Deneng was furious when he heard this, and rushed out with a pistol. He stopped more than a dozen soldiers of the 102nd Division on the main road by the river, and angrily fired two shots into the sky, "bang, bang", and the soldiers all stood hesitantly.

Zhang De roared hoarsely: "You bastards, which regiment are you from?" Who is your leader? Now I order you to enter the Yuelu Mountain position immediately, and those who violate the order will be killed! ”

It turned out that since the beginning of the Battle of Changsha, Zhang Deneng's luck has become worse and worse, a series of bad luck has been waiting for him ahead, so that his spirit is on the verge of collapse, and this time, he has encountered bad luck again.

These dozen or so soldiers were recruits who had just enlisted before the war, and they had rushed into the war since they were transferred from the recruit battalion to the troops, and the highest commander they had ever seen was the battalion commander, but as for what the regiment commander and division commander looked like, they had never seen it at all, let alone Zhang Derneng, the supreme commander of the 4th Army, who they didn't even seem to have heard of.

Zhang Derneng's roar aroused the disgust of the soldiers, and now is the opportunity to escape, but this guy in a woolen military uniform is blocking the road with a pistol, isn't this a lack of beating?

So the soldiers raised their rifles one after another, pulled the bolt of the gun with a "bang", and pointed the muzzle of the gun at the supreme commander of the 4th Army......

Seeing that the situation was not good, Zhang Denerg's guards hurriedly blocked the chief with their bodies, and said busily with a smile: "Brothers, brothers, you have something to say, don't move the guys, this is a misunderstanding, you guys hurry up!" ”

In this way, Zhang Deneng watched the soldiers go away, helpless.

This is already the last soldier of the 102nd Division, and just these dozen recruits almost took the life of the army commander.

Zhang Deneng's legs were weak, and he sat on the ground weakly, he held his head in his hands and shouted in despair: "It's over!" It's all over! ”

In the early morning of June 18, the officers and men of the 216th Wing of the 34th Division of the Japanese Army rushed to the top of Yuelu Mountain in breath. In the milky white morning mist, the entire hilltop position was silent, and there was no one in sight. Squadron Leader Captain Takezhong Namsin looked at the combat map and ordered the squadron to search and advance.

When the Japanese soldiers walked along the forest path to the underground fortifications of the Ninth Theater Headquarters and the Artillery Headquarters on the south side of Yunlu Palace, they found that the backup generators in the fortifications were still rotating, the electric lights in the war room were still on, and even the glass of water on the table was still warm......

Senior Lieutenant Wu Zhong Nanshin reported to the commander-in-chief of the campaign, Isamu Yokoyama, through a radio station: The 1st Squadron of the 3rd Infantry Brigade of the 216th Wing of the Army occupied the peak of Yuelu Mountain at 6 a.m. on the morning of 18 July......

On this day, with the loss of the Yuelu Mountain position, the 59th Division, which was engaged in street battles in the urban area, lost its support, and the army's morale was in turmoil. The Xiangjiang ferry was also occupied by the Japanese army, and the commander of the 59th Division, Lin Xiancha, led his troops to launch a counter-assault on the frontal enemy, desperately breaking through the city and retreating in the direction of Liuyang.

The sound of gunfire fell silent, and Changsha, the city that had been held out in the war for nearly seven years, finally fell to the ground.

[1]

Xu Jin barrage shooting is an artillery shooting term, which refers to a kind of infantry artillery coordination tactics, when the infantry is charging or advancing, the artillery extends the artillery fire in a certain order, and always hits the shells to a place hundreds of meters in front of the infantry to provide fire cover for the infantry. The Xujin barrage shooting is divided into single and double layers, and the single-layer Xujin barrage shooting usually shoots at an average rate of one salvo in seven minutes, providing a certain defense rate and defense width for the troops charging and assaulting. The width of the defense must not exceed the frontal width of the reinforced troops. Double-layer barrage shooting generally provides cover for infantry by two layers of barrage, and the latter layer of barrage mainly kills and injures enemy infantry who enter the defensive position without the first layer of barrage, and also shoots at an average rate of one salvo in seven minutes, compared with Xujin barrage shooting, the defense rate is doubled and the defense width is halved.

[2]

Concentrated shooting is an artillery shooting term, which refers to the shooting that concentrates a large amount of dense firepower in order to annihilate a specific target. It is usually planned in advance, but it can also be implemented in an offensive according to the report of the observer. This is the highest density of firepower.

[3]

In the Battle of Nanjing in November 1937, Commander Tang Shengzhi made improper measures when organizing a breakthrough, and the formation of various units was in chaos, and finally tens of thousands of troops retreated to the area around Xiaguan Wharf, and most of them were captured or slaughtered by the Japanese army. And the few troops that successfully broke through the encirclement all protruded from the front, such as Ye Zhao's 83rd Army.