Section 55 Heavenly Furnace Tactics

To be honest, if the troops stationed on the front line of the Xinqiang River were the 74th Army commanded by Wang Yaowu, I am afraid they would not let go of such an opportunity to encircle and annihilate the main force of the Japanese army of more than 10,000. You must know that at the beginning of Wanjialing, the situation was even worse than the current one, but the encirclement and annihilation of the Japanese 106th Division was fought extremely resolutely, and the final result, although the 106th Division escaped with two or three thousand people, it also caused great casualties and fought a hearty victory. Although the Shangcun detachment of the Japanese army is now attacking Yingtian with amazing combat strength, in the case of being cut off from retreat by Dongting Lake, even if the price paid is a little bigger, it can completely eat them all.

However, the departments of the 15th Group Army are not the 74th Army after all, and the troops commanded by Chief Guan are enough to fight, but compared to the 74th Army, which is known as the most capable of fighting in the whole army, it is still a lack of ruthlessness, after the loss of Yingtian, the troops on the front line are about to be in a desperate situation of facing water and being surrounded by Japanese troops on three sides. The whole of Changsha has been directly under the front of the Japanese army.

Although the Nationalist troops have always believed that the victory of the Japanese army stems from the sharpness of their aircraft and artillery, in fact, whether it is intelligence gathering, the quality of the soldiers, or the command ability of the officers, the ability of the Japanese army in the war is far from being comparable to the national army. The officers of the Nationalist Army, on the other hand, cowered in the face of the myth that the Japanese army was almost invincible, and often had fighters to destroy the enemy, but they would also be afraid of loss because of hesitation and hesitation.

On the battlefield, it is not only a contest of strength, but more often, it is also a battle of courage. This is an eternal truth on the battlefield, but unfortunately, those who have the confidence to die are often ordinary soldiers, and most of the officers cherish their own lives. There are also some officers who do not hesitate to die, but often this kind of person is too rigid and lacks flexibility, let alone go to the horse, so the official position is often very low, and it cannot change the overall situation on the battlefield. Just as the Japanese army landed in the Yingtian area this time, if the officers and commanders of the 15th Group Army had the heart to fight to the death, the enemy troops who were holding the front line of the Xinqiang River and dragging down the frontal defense line, and then transferring a part of the troops to encircle and annihilate the Shangcun detachment together with the troops stationed in Changsha, would be a defeat for both sides, and the results would be much better than letting the Japanese army break through to the vicinity of Changsha.

There are not so many ifs in the world, and things can only develop according to the established facts. Fortunately, General Xue Yue, the acting commander of the Ninth Theater of Operations, has been entangled with the devil's 11th Army for nearly a year, although he has lost a lot of cities, but it has also dealt a heavy blow to the Japanese army, and has played an indomitable momentum of the National Army's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.

In view of the current situation, Chief Xue proposed to "retreat and fight a decisive battle and fight for the periphery." According to the topography of Hunan, leaning on Dongting Lake on the left and Mufu Mountain on the right, the four rivers of Xinqiang River, Miluo River, Laodao River, and Liuhe River were used as the basis for delaying the Japanese army, and the practice of "turning roads into fields and transporting grain up the mountains" was thoroughly implemented to eliminate the mobility of the Japanese army's mechanized troops. While rebuilding the position in the north of Changsha, it also sent a large number of troops to continuously flank the mountains around the four rivers, compressing the enemy's activity space, and constantly consuming the living forces of the Japanese army, dragging them into the quagmire of melee, and when the time is right, they will cut off the enemy's retreat route with heavy troops, and encircle and annihilate the Japanese army advancing into northern Hunan around Changsha.

This is the combat experience summed up by General Xue based on the continuous battles with the Japanese army over the past year, and his "Heavenly Furnace Tactics" have also been continuously upgraded and improved in actual combat. At this moment, with the retreat of the 15th Group Army, the Japanese army had broken through the two strongest lines of defense on the northern Hunan front. The 33rd Division and the Nara Detachment in southern Hunan finally did not need to face the layers of resistance from the National Army, and at this moment they had successfully converged with the 6th Division. After the merger of the two battlefields, the strength of the Japanese army at this moment was nearly three divisions, although the Japanese army in northern Jiangxi was delayed, but the troops that concentrated nearly half of the 11th Army were still very strong.

In this case, it is undoubtedly a very irrational thing for the Japanese army to face each other head-on, not to mention that the powerful firepower of nearly 200 field artillery and mountain artillery of the three divisions of the Japanese army alone is not at all something that the national army can resist, and in a head-on battle, no matter how strong the fortifications are, no matter how many soldiers, I am afraid that over time, they will be drowned in the Japanese artillery fire, not to mention that once the situation is unfavorable, the Japanese army will still have reinforcements from air planes.

The essence of the "Heavenly Furnace Tactics" is to expand the area of operations on the one hand, constantly break up into parts, and consume the Japanese army's strength through local battles. On the other hand, it is also to make full use of the advantages of the terrain and the understanding of the place, so that the Japanese army's vital forces can be lost in the quagmire of war, maximize the use of strengths and avoid weaknesses, and through the slow accumulation of advantages, finally reach the conditions that can encircle and annihilate the enemy, and give the Japanese army a heavy blow in a favorable situation. This kind of arrangement, in fact, is very similar to the original Battle of De'an, constantly through the layers of defense line to wear down the patience of the Japanese army, and constantly through the battle in all directions, so that the Japanese army continues to divide its troops, and constantly disperse its forces, until the Japanese army finally can't bear to take the risk of assault, mobilize heavy troops to encircle and suppress the Japanese troops, with the purpose of killing and injuring the living forces of the Japanese army, and not caring about the gains and losses of one city or one place.

After the battle order was issued, the troops of the national army immediately changed their tactics, and the people in various places were mobilized, giving full play to the strength of each and every one of them.

Almost all roads were damaged in just a few days, and there were potholes everywhere. Not to mention the cars, even people can't walk, stumbling is very easy to fall, and the large army marching on this kind of road, there is no way to ensure the formation, so they are very nervous to observe the surroundings, in case there is a surprise attack by the enemy. Then the trouble came out, people could pass through, but what about the carts that transported grain and grass behind? With so many troops going out to fight, all the food and ammunition they carried were really massive, and the Japanese army, who was accustomed to mechanized transportation, had no choice but to fill in the road while advancing, so that not only were people tired enough, but the effect was also limited.

In the following days, the soldiers and civilians in Changsha became even more frenzied, and the roads everywhere were turned upside down like farmland. Faced with this situation, the Japanese army could only curse while bulldozing and filling in the trenches and slowly advancing. However, fortunately, there was no resistance from the national army in front, and although their advance was relatively slow, it was far stronger than when it was difficult to advance an inch on the front line of the Xinqiang River.

News from the front continued to reach the headquarters of the Japanese 11th Army, and the Japanese commanders were quite satisfied when they heard that the battle was going well at the front. They have also heard about the situation of the Chinese army digging up the road, but for them, the Chinese army retreated in a hurry, and naturally they have to find a way to gain time to lay out a new line of defense, this means is not surprising, as long as they can smoothly advance to the city of Changsha and conquer this important town, basically Central China has all been controlled, and a large area on the north and south banks of the Yangtze River will be included in the jurisdiction, and the pace of occupying the whole territory of China is a great step.

Just when Okamura Ninji fantasized that this offensive could take Changsha in one fell swoop, the news finally came from the front that the troops were blocked. The troops that were attacked were not frontal troops, but troops stranded in Xiangyin, not far from Yingtian, because of its proximity to Dongting Lake, so it was temporarily used as a gathering place for the wounded, so as to facilitate the warships to transport the wounded to Wuhan and other places for treatment, however, in the early morning of one day, it was attacked by the national army, hundreds of wounded and medical personnel were all killed, and only a few sentinels who were far away saw the opportunity quickly and were able to survive the news to be transmitted.

What made Okamura Ningji uneasy was not the death of these wounded and medical personnel, being able to sit in his position, not to mention hundreds, thousands of people died, it was just a bunch of numbers, the lives and blood of countless people had already numbed him, and life seemed to have no meaning in his eyes. What surprised him was the appearance of the sneak attack troops, how did the enemy army get here? There are enemy troops in Xiangyin, so what about Yingtian? Could there be an enemy ambush as well?

Sure enough, as the battle reports in the Xiangyin area came up, and then the reports of the discovery of the enemy situation everywhere reached his ears one after another, which made him finally realize that the situation on the front line was probably not as smooth as before. This situation made Okamura Ningji frown, with his understanding of the national army, among the national army units, the combat power of the ninth theater unit is extremely strong, although there is still a big gap compared with the 3rd and 6th main divisions, but for some newly established divisions, the strength of one division is probably enough to deal with a wing. If it were to be replaced by troops in other theaters, I am afraid that one division could only reach one brigade at most. Therefore, seeing that the national army troops had changed their tactics, he also had to immediately consider countermeasures. On the one hand, he ordered the troops advancing to slow down the pace of their advance so as not to form a lone force to penetrate deeply, and on the other hand, he ordered the follow-up troops to expand the area under their control and annihilate the enemy troops in the occupied area as much as possible, so as not to give the other side an opportunity to take advantage of them, as long as these harassing troops were eliminated, there would be no more problems in the next attack on Changsha.

However, in the following days, the situation was greatly beyond Okamura Ningji's expectations, the national army troops were like divine generals, constantly appearing everywhere, including Sanyan Bridge, Pingjiang, Changle and other places have appeared in the figure of the national army, as little as a thousand, more than tens of thousands of troops, so that the Japanese troops guarding everywhere did not dare to have the slightest carelessness, after several battles, the Japanese army with considerable losses had to shrink the defense line and constantly ask for help from the main force, with their current strength and strength, want to attack those national troops hiding in the mountains, It's simply impossible.

Chief Xue's "Heavenly Furnace Battle Method" followed the Battle of De'an, and showed its might again!

[I wish you all a happy Mid-Autumn Festival in advance! ] Remember to eat mooncakes! 】