Section 156 The Great War Begins

With the first news of the military situation, in the next few days, all the troops in the entire Ninth Theater became nervous, Dayun Mountain was lost under the onslaught of the Japanese 6th Division, and the most cutting-edge positions on the battlefield in northern Hunan were lost, which surprised the troops of the national army, and for a time all the units were ready to deal with the devil's southward movement.

However, on September 10, the 6th Division of the Japanese Army, which occupied Dayun Mountain, retreated in the direction of Taolin, but the officers of various departments of the National Army were a little confused for a while, and they did not know what tricks the devils were doing.

However, when the Japanese 6th Division retreated, its subordinate 13th Wing was blocked by the 102nd Division and the 59th Division that arrived with reinforcements. Subsequently, the 60th Army and the newly formed 10th Division of the 37th Army rushed to the battlefield, because they had absolute superiority in parts, and the national army command immediately ordered the encirclement and annihilation of this Japanese army.

The 6th Division of the Japanese Army is one of the most elite units in the Japanese Army's A Division, and it is also the main participating and implementing unit of the "Nanjing Massacre", which can be called one of the most hateful enemy units of the National Army. When the fierce battle was in full swing, the Shigematsu Detachment of the 40th Division of the Japanese Army arrived for reinforcements and coordinated the withdrawal of the 13th Wing. The Japanese army in order to meet the 13th Wing, also continued to send reinforcements, and the battle between the two sides also became more and more intense.

However, until this time, the commander of the Ninth Theater still could not judge the combat intentions of the Japanese army, after all, after the Japanese 6th Division took the front line of Dayun Mountain a few days ago, it only destroyed the defense line of the national army and did not attack south. Now the continuous increase in troops is also because the 102nd Division and other troops are chasing after the 13th Wing of the Japanese army, and the actions of the Japanese army are more like pulling out a thorn stuck in the throat than like actively seeking a breakthrough. Based on the current situation alone, it is really difficult to conclude whether the Japanese army had the idea of attacking Changsha in the south.

On September 15, the Japanese army transferred the Araki detachment from northern Jiangxi to reinforce the battlefield, and the situation was obviously somewhat unexpected by the commanders of the national army, they found in vain that the northern Hunan region had unknowingly gathered the strong strength of nearly four divisions of the Japanese army, and already had the capital to attack Changsha in the south, at this time, where could they still take care of this 13th wing? Commander Xue issued several orders in succession, urging the main forces of the 27th Army to return to the defense line of the Xinqiang River to prevent the Japanese army from moving south.

Compared with the battle in the 28th year of the Republic of China, the situation of the enemy and our armies facing each other in northern Hunan has changed greatly. At the beginning, the commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army was Okamura Ninji, but in that battle, the 11th Army, which had the strongest combat power of the Japanese army, did not take advantage of the direct army of the central government of the national army, and there may still be a big gap between the two armies in terms of weapons and equipment, but the direct officers, especially the young officers represented by the Huangpu students, had a strong will to fight and a tenacity of the will to resist the war, which was unimaginable to the Japanese army.

After Okamura Ninji, Kazuichiro Enbe took over as the commander of the 11th Army, but the good times did not last long, and the heavy losses of the 33rd and 34th Divisions made Kazuichiro Enbe lose his position as commander, and then took over as the current commander of the 11th Army, Anami Yuji, who is the commander of the current battle.

Compared with the frequent transfer of Japanese commanders, the commander of the Ninth Theater of the National Army is still Xue Yue, and he has also been promoted from acting commander to a regular position. With the battle in the 28th year of the Republic of China as the foundation, the Ninth Theater has made sufficient preparations for the Japanese attack, even including the reversal of the war situation caused by the attack on Yingtian, and the 99th Army was also arranged in the vicinity of the camp at this moment.

The Japanese army suddenly gathered four divisions in the northern Hunan area, so that the commander of the national army realized that the Japanese army's march in the early stage should be to adjust the strength of the suspicious formation, and the battle on the front line of Dayun Mountain was simply *, after they woke up, they also made adjustments and responses in the shortest possible time, and immediately ordered all units to enter various fronts to meet the enemy.

To the north of Changsha, the national army has three lines of defense, the outermost line of defense is still based on the Xinqiang River, along the line of Rongjiawan, Xinqiang and Yanglin, and the defensive forces are the 4th Army, the 58th Army and the 20th Army of the flank defense; To the south of the Xinqiang River, the second line of defense is the defense line of the Miluo River, west to Yingtian, Miluo, and Xinshi, and east to the Wengjiang River, and the defensive force is the 99th Army and the 26th Army that can be reached at any time on the flank; The third line of defense is the last line of defense on the periphery of Changsha, which is composed of Gaojiafang, Fulin and Gaoqiao; After these three lines of defense, there is the Changsha position, which is composed of Laodao River, Shizipu and Chunhua Mountain, among which the commanding heights of Chunhua Mountain and Changsha are also the most important point of Changsha's offensive and defensive warfare.

Compared with the battle of the 28th year of the Republic of China, although there is no change in several defense lines, after several years of operation, the solidity of the position has been greatly improved, and the national army also has great self-confidence in holding Changsha. However, the troops guarding the various lines of defense have changed significantly.

The outermost Xinqiang River defense line, the 15th Group Army was stationed in the 28th year of the Republic of China, speaking of the 15th Group Army, it is a well-known existence, the 15th Group Army formed in the 26th year of the Republic of China, the first commander is Chen Cheng, the deputy commander-in-chief Luo Zhuoying, under the jurisdiction of Luo Zhuoying's 18th Army, Liu Heding's 39th Army and Yu Jishi's 74th Army, is one of the strongest combat strength on the Songhu battlefield. In the following years, these three units participated in almost all major battles in East and Central China, and the performance of the 18th Army and the 74th Army was particularly outstanding, and even the 74th Army is now under the command of the new commander Wang Yaowu, and has faintly been called the First Army of the National Army.

However, the 15th Army at that time was reorganized. In the 28th year of the Republic of China, Chen Cheng was transferred to the commander of the Ninth Theater, and the 18th Army, which he started from, was also transferred to the Ninth Theater. However, the troops under it had become the 52nd, 37th, and 79th armies. After the Battle of Changsha in the 29th year of the Republic of China, Guan Linzheng was ordered to form the Ninth Group Army, and the 15th Group Army was also abolished.

In the 29th year of the Republic of China, the commander-in-chief of the First Group Army, Lu Han, commanded the most elite 60th Army of the Yunnan Army and the headquarters of the Group Army, and returned to Yunnan to accept the command of the Kunming camp, while the 58th Army and the New 3rd Army stayed in the Ninth Theater to obey orders, and Xue Yue also handed over the heavy responsibility of garrisoning the Xinqiang River defense line to the hands of the 58th Army, expecting them to be like the original 15th Group Army. Blocking the onslaught of the Japanese army from the front became a solid barrier to hold Changsha.

On September 17, after the adjustment of the Japanese troops, they did not give the Nationalist army time to react at all, and immediately launched an attack. The commander of the Japanese 11th Army, Anami Yuji, learned from the previous combat experience, and no longer divided his troops into battles, but concentrated almost all of the main forces to attack head-on, and only sent a unit of the 63rd Brigade of the 14th Brigade to launch a diversionary attack from the direction of Yingtian.

After the order to attack was issued, the entire line of the Xinqiang River fell into endless billowing smoke and dust, and countless shells whistled in, which immediately caused the national defense line to be dealt a near-devastating blow......

On the battlefield of northern Hunan Province, the news that the Japanese army gathered heavy troops to attack continued to spread to Shanggao and other places, including the independent regiment stationed in Yifeng, and also continued to get the news, and the entire 19th Group Army was nervous for a while, they did not expect that the devil's courage was so great, and it was actually organized again after a few months of the battle of Shanggao, and from the battle report sent back from the front, this time the Japanese army really made a lot of money, including the 3rd Division and the 6th Division, the two aces of the 11th Army have joined the battlefield, obviously the plot is small, and with the combat power of the various units in northern Hunan Province, can they stop the Japanese army?

The answer is obviously no, such as the 58th Army of the Yunnan Army, although these troops are very brave and brave, but in the previous big battles, the elite backbone of the army suffered serious casualties, and now the newly replenished soldiers are far from being comparable with the previous troops in terms of combat power and energy and willpower. Although the Japanese troops also suffered heavy losses, the ace units of the 3rd Division and the 6th Division, which were the best in terms of the quality of the soldiers they had replenished, did not fluctuate greatly. Before the battle began, more than 300 field artillery mountain guns launched a fierce attack, and the suppressive and lethal effects it formed on the battlefield were not comparable to any unit of the national army.

At dawn on September 18, the Japanese launched an all-out attack, and under the cover of aircraft and artillery, the Japanese attacking troops broke through the blockade of the river in a few hours, breaking through the first line of defense of the defenders, and the 4th Army and the 58th Army could only retreat to the second line of defense on the east and west sides of Changhu Lake. When the news came, the Japanese army's combat power and firepower were so strong that everyone immediately gasped, and the first battle after two years of calm on the battlefield in northern Hunan surprised them.