After receiving the order from Wang Haitao to put all the guard brigades into battle, Tangshan Leopard immediately personally led the three regiments of the guard brigade to rush to Hengyang City. The Japanese troops in Hengyang City were also fully prepared for street fighting, with barricades and fortifications on every street, and Japanese soldiers were more or less stationed. Moreover, there are many buildings in Hengyang City, and most of these buildings have become strongholds of the Japanese army.

The three regiments of the 271st Brigade of the 90th Division, which had entered Hengyang City in advance, had already engaged in street battles with the Japanese army, and the tactics they used were the same as those in the previous street battles, that is, they were broken into pieces, and the troops were divided into dozens of combat groups in squads, and they quickly penetrated into the center of the city in separate and combined attacks. The night caused inconvenience to the attack, but it also affected the Japanese defense.

When the Tangshan Leopard Guard Brigade rushed into Hengyang City, the farthest gunfire was several hundred meters away from the Ximen City Wall, which also showed that the attack of the 271st Brigade was still relatively smooth, and it had begun to develop towards the center of the city in a short period of time. Now, if the Guard Brigade follows the 271st Brigade and attacks, not only will it not be able to reap any benefits, but it will also easily cause misunderstandings in the dark night.

Tangshan Leopard thought about it for a while, and decided to bypass the attack route of the 271st Brigade of the West Gate, and the troops turned to the direction of the South Gate, and after taking the city wall of the South Gate from the city, they launched an attack from the South Gate to the center of the city. After deciding on the attack plan, Tangshan Leopard called his three regiment commanders over and said to them: "I have decided to let the troops attack the center of the city from the south of the city. But first of all, it is necessary to deal with the Japanese troops on the walls of the South Gate. I ordered: Sun Linhai led the third regiment to capture the south gate wall, and the first and second regiments attacked the center of the city with a battle group after arriving in the south of the city. ”

The order was quickly conveyed, and the 1st and 2nd regiments were immediately put into action, and the soldiers were quickly dispersed and grouped together according to the equipment of the combat group, and the whole operation was rapid and effective. It took only a few minutes for thousands of officers and men of the two regiments to complete the integration, and then the two regiment commanders gave an order, and the combat groups quickly advanced forward, and immediately dissolved into the darkness of the city.

In the same place, only the officers and soldiers of the Third Guard Regiment lined up in formation under the leadership of the regiment commander Sun Linhai, and did not move. After waiting for the 1st and 2nd regiments to attack the Japanese army, the 3rd Guard Regiment attracted the attention of the Japanese army and rushed straight to the south gate wall. Not far ahead, there was a sudden fierce gunshot, and Sun Linhai knew that the attack of the first and second regiments had begun. Sun Lin Haima sent an order to go down and prepare for the attack.

After the Tangshan leopard passed down the order, he paid attention to the actions of the first and second regiments. Seeing that their movements were fast and accurate, without the slightest dragging, showing the skills they usually trained, a satisfied smile appeared on their faces. When the gunfire rang out from the front, Tangshan Leopard knew that the time had come for the three regiments to attack, so he did not hesitate to give the order to the three regiments to attack.

The position outside the South Gate and the city wall of the South Gate were garrisoned by two infantry wings of the 68th Division, and after two days of attack by the guard brigade, the two wings had lost more than half of them, and when they were barely supporting, the guard brigade suddenly stopped attacking, which made the Japanese troops stationed there breathe a sigh of relief. But then the bad news spread to the troops one after another, making the entire garrison panic.

The commander of the 68th Infantry Regiment, Major General Naojin Yamaguchi, who was in charge of directly directing the defense of the troops, had been restless since the Chinese troops stopped their offensive in the evening. Sure enough, at eight o'clock in the evening, fierce cannon fire came from the direction of the west gate city wall. The artillery fire lasted for a long time, and Major General Naojin Yamaguchi knew that the Chinese army was preparing to attack the city overnight.

The Chinese army outside the south gate also found a reason for stopping the attack, either they were transferred to the direction of the west gate to concentrate on attacking the west gate wall, or they were lurking in the shadows and preparing to find an opportunity to sneak attack themselves. After Major General Naojin Yamaguchi ordered the troops stationed on the city wall and outside the city to strengthen their vigilance to prevent a sneak attack by the Chinese army, he made a slight decision in his heart. But there were not many cannons in the city, and Major General Yamaguchi's heart rose again, and before the critical moment, Lieutenant General Sanben Yamao would not easily use these artillery.

Sure enough, bad news came one after another, first the artillery fire of the Chinese army returned fire directly hit the city defense headquarters, and his boss, the division commander Lieutenant General Sakuma, was seriously wounded in the shelling; then the Chinese army broke through the wall of the West Gate and entered the city and engaged in street fighting with the rest of the 3rd Division and the 39th Division. At this point, Major General Yamaguchi Naojin began to feel chills in his heart.

Now that the Chinese army has entered the city, there is no point in stationing the positions outside the city, and Major General Yamaguchi Naojin, as the supreme commander of the 68th Division, immediately ordered all the soldiers on the positions outside the city to withdraw to the city, and only two infantry squadrons were placed on the wall of the south gate to continue to garrison. Just when Major General Naojin Yamaguchi was uneasy in his temporary command post, fierce gunfire suddenly came from the direction of the south gate wall.

Soon one of his own wing commanders rushed into the command post and reported to Major General Naojin Yamaguchi in a somewhat panicked manner: "Your Excellency, the Shina army has appeared near the wall of the south gate, and is engaged in a fierce battle with my soldiers stationed in the street fortifications in the city. Yamaguchi Naojin hurriedly ordered: "You go to the forward position immediately and command the troops to block the attack of the Shina people." ”

The co-captain stood up and replied, "Hey! With that, he turned and left. At this time, the 3rd Regiment of Guards had already touched the city wall of the south gate, and the defenders on the city wall were attracted by the sound of guns and cannons from all over the city, and no one noticed in the dark night that a large number of Chinese troops had touched the city wall. After Sun Linhai arrived at the city wall, he waved his hand forward, and the troops were divided into several groups, and they quickly climbed to the city wall from several places.

It was not until the troops were about to climb the city wall that they were discovered by the Japanese sentry, who was knocked to the ground by a charge and a sharp spear after shouting: "The people of China are attacking the ......". The crisp sound of gunfire also alarmed the Japanese troops on the city walls, causing chaos. The soldiers of the third regiment did not give the Japanese time to react at all, and rushed to the city wall as fast as they could.

Intentionally and unintentionally, ready to strike fully and defenseless, this is a battle without suspense. There were only two infantry squadrons on the city wall, and after some of the Japanese soldiers who reacted were quickly killed when they returned fire, there were few Japanese soldiers still alive on the city wall, and the Japanese troops stationed on the city wall only had two infantry squadrons, which Sun Linhai did not expect.

With such a weak defense, a guard regiment was mobilized to attack, and Sun Linhai had a feeling of victory. In just fifteen minutes, the three regiments had completely annihilated the two squadrons of Japanese troops stationed on the city wall, and took the entire south gate city wall. Sun Linhai left a company to clean up the battlefield and garrison it on the city wall, and he led the main force of the regiment down the city wall to report the results of the battle to Tangshan Leopard.

At this time, Tangshan Leopard also brought his own platoon of guards to the south gate city wall. After Sun Linhai saw the Tangshan leopard, he immediately reported: "Report to the brigade seat, the third guard regiment has captured the south gate city wall, and completely annihilated the two infantry squadrons of the Japanese army on the city wall. Please instruct!" "After several years of training, Tangshan Leopard is no longer the person who only knows the impulse to personally lead the team to kill, and now he has a sense of the overall situation.

Tangshan Leopard replied: "Transfer the heavy mortar to the city wall and use it to provide fire support to the attacking troops in the city." My headquarters was also located on the city walls. You take three regiments and also disperse into combat groups to participate in the attack. Sun Linhai replied in a straight manner: "Yes, Brigade Seat! By the way, I have left one company on the city wall, is there a little less strength? Or shall I leave two more companies for Brigade Seat?"

Tangshan Leopard didn't think about it and replied: "No, one company is enough, as long as you keep attacking forward, I don't believe that little Japan will dare to send troops to counterattack the city wall." With that, he walked with his guards to the city wall. Sun Linhai first passed on the order of Tangshan Leopard, let the heavy mortar troops climb the city wall, and then dispersed the main force of the regiment into combat groups and put them into the attack.

At this time, the entire Hengyang City was already in flames, with gunfire everywhere, whirring sounds everywhere, and fires after explosions flashed in the night sky. The Japanese army was basically in a state of confusion, especially the city defense headquarters was destroyed by artillery fire, the Japanese command system was in a semi-paralyzed state, and the ineffective command caused many troops to fight on their own, and also created conditions for the Chinese side to break through.

Under the attack of the 271st Brigade and the Guard Brigade, which were extremely good at street fighting, it was difficult for the Japanese army to organize effective resistance, and as the fortifications fell one after another, the Japanese defense line was also retreating step by step. With the assistance of heavy weapons such as armored vehicles, rocket launchers, and mortars, the Chinese officers and men continued to retreat and pressed on the Japanese army step by step.

In the dark of night, the city was full of attacking Chinese troops, and some attack teams lost their way and blindly attacked forward in the dark night. An attack group of the 2nd Battalion of the 543rd Regiment lost its way and circled around the city to a compound. The team leader looked out from an alley and saw barricades pulled up by barbed wire, sandbag fortifications and two heavy machine guns at the entrance of the compound not far away.

The leader of the group made a visual inspection, and there was a small squad of Japanese soldiers guarding the gate of the compound alone. The team leader retracted his head and said to his comrades-in-arms: "This place is so tightly guarded, it must be an important place in Little Japan, but I'm afraid that our team alone won't be able to gnaw on this hard bone." Xiao Chen, Lao Li, and the two of you are going to find reinforcements, and you must have at least four or five combat teams to be sure of taking this place. ”

The two fighters answered, turned around and left quickly, while the team leader hid in the alley and monitored the Japanese soldiers at the gate of the compound. Time passed little by little, and soon twenty minutes passed, and just when the group leader was a little anxious, there was movement in the alley behind him. After a while, Xiao Chen rushed over with a team of men, led by a lieutenant company commander.

When the group leader saw that a lieutenant had led the team, he immediately stood up and said, "Liu Zhuzi, the squad leader of the third platoon of the second company of the second battalion of the 543rd brigade, has seen the commander!" The lieutenant replied with a smile: "I am Zhang Ke, the commander of the first company of the third battalion of the 544th regiment. Liu Zhuzi touched here after his combat team lost its way, but accidentally found the situation in this compound and reported it.