The distance between the south bank of the Laodao River and the city wall of Changsha City is only 15 kilometers, and in this distance of 15 kilometers, the 271st Brigade has set up a total of four lines of defense, the first is the position on the south bank of the Laodao River, the second is the Wujialing position, the third is the Kaifu Temple position, and the last is the position of the market town outside the city of Changsha City. Tang Yikuan, commander of the 271st Brigade, placed the three main regiments on the first three positions, and the last line of positions was jointly garrisoned by the brigade headquarters, the brigade guard battalion, the brigade heavy artillery battalion, the brigade reconnaissance battalion, and the brigade baggage battalion.

The four positions seem to be separated, but they can support each other, and the artillery of the regimental field artillery battalion can directly hit the front of the position on the south bank of the Laodao River to the 544th Regiment on the second line. With the support of the brothers, the defenders on each position were full of confidence and morale. On the afternoon of 2 January, the Japanese 3rd Division arrived at the north bank of the Laodao River, and the commander of the division, Lieutenant General Takahashi Taga, ordered an attack position to be set up, and the artillery wing set up an artillery position and carried out artillery strikes on the defenders' positions on the south bank, while the infantry wing camped and rested to launch an attack on the south bank of the Laodao River early tomorrow morning.

Seeing that all the troops under his command were in place, Anan Wei was extremely excited, and immediately sent a telegram to the headquarters of the Chinese Dispatch Army, reporting to the above that his 11th Army would soon capture Changsha City. At this time, the Japanese military department's attention was all focused on the battle to invade Southeast Asia, and the reason why the 11th Army was allowed to attack Changsha was also to hold back the Chinese army and prevent the Chinese government from sending troops to support the southeastern coastal areas, including Hong Kong and Austria.

Now that the Chinese government is mobilizing troops to reinforce Changsha City, and the strategic objectives of the 11th Army have been accomplished, whether or not they can capture Changsha City is of little significance. The Chinese Dispatch Command also knew that the Chinese government would definitely go all out to defend Changsha City, the gateway to Chongqing, and that most of the elite Japanese troops had recently been transferred to the Southeast Asian theater, and that most of the divisions in China were stationed in the B category.

The command of the Chinese Dispatch Army was not optimistic about this campaign of the 11th Army, but it could not lose the face of the only generals Anan too much, so it sent a telegram back: "The attack on Changsha should be instructed by the General Army in accordance with the instructions of Tokyo and the situation on the southeast coast. But it doesn't have to be eliminated. This telegram gave Anan Wei's generals a slap in the face.

This is a very slippery telegram, on the one hand, the headquarters will consult Tokyo, and only according to the situation can it decide whether to capture Changsha City. On the other hand, he encouraged Anan Weiji not to be passive, which is an attitude of "attacking is okay, but you are responsible for what happens". This reply made Anan Wei and the generals a little confused.

After thinking about it for a long time, Anan Wei's generals were really reluctant to get Changsha City, just like a gambler who got a good hand, and frantically pressed down the biggest gambling capital. However, he had no idea what kind of cards his opponent was in his hand, so he had no idea about the risks ahead. With the decision, General Anan continuously urged his troops to speed up their preparations for the attack and strive to occupy Changsha City in the shortest possible time.

This decision contributed to the defeat of the Eleventh Army under the city of Changsha, where they were destined to meet and bleed. Anan Weijun couldn't have imagined that it was because of his crazy decision after a fever that it would be a big mistake and a tragic failure. The 11th Army was not without understanding, and Major General Akizaburo Futami, the deputy chief of staff in charge of Houle, sighed when he learned of the decision of the commander, General Anami Yugi, and said, "This is the battle of self-abandonment!" At this moment, he already realized the outcome of the defeat of this battle.

The reason why Futami Akizaburo was so pessimistic was that he knew very well that the rear was seriously underprepared to capture Changsha City, and the amount of logistical supplies was difficult to support such a large-scale battle. Despite this, he coordinated various departments in Yuezhou, especially the commander of the flying unit, and was more likely to deliver ammunition and supplies to the troops at the front.

The troops at the front were ignorant of the poor logistical supply, and the ammunition and supplies they carried did not consume much, and now they were relatively adequate. Like the 3rd Division, they were shelling the defending positions on the south bank of the Laodao River with artillery fire, regardless of whether such an artillery bombardment would be effective. To say that the effect is still a little, there are few soldiers on the defenders' positions, and those fortifications are somewhat damaged in the artillery fire.

Early in the morning of 3 January, the Sixth Infantry Wing, led by the 3rd Division, completed its formation on the north bank of the Laodao River. The division commander Takahashi Tagaji was also in a relaxed mood, and a big river like the Miluo River could not block his division from going, not to mention this small Laodao River.

Before the 6th Wing crossed the river, the old rules of artillery first bombarded indiscriminately, and then an infantry brigade braved the bitter cold to rush into the water. The defenders in the fortifications on the south bank did not move when the Japanese entered the river, and as the Japanese soldiers were trudging towards the south bank of the river, one soldier shouted and jumped up in the water, and then one soldier after another shouted and jumped in the water.

When the soldiers lifted their feet from the water with the help of their comrades, sharp triangular nails were piercing the soles of their feet, and blood flowed down the punctured leather shoes. Now the Japanese army can't advance or retreat, let's move forward, how many such triangular nails are there in the water in front of the road, retreat, the troops have just entered the water, and they haven't even fired a shot, so it's really unwilling to retreat like this. The captain couldn't help but scold: "Despicable China, not a warrior!"

The captain thought for a while, and asked the soldiers to slowly move forward with their feet on the bottom of the river, so that there were fewer injuries, but the speed of progress could only be described as turtle speed. When these Japanese soldiers cautiously walked to the middle of the river, Tang Weimin, the commander of the 543rd Regiment, who was observing the Japanese army in the bunker, smiled and said to Tang Yiqiang, the commander of the first battalion under his command: "Look at these turtles crawling in the river, what a good live target, don't waste it, go and tell the soldiers to aim and fight!"

Tang Yiqiang smiled and turned around to give the order, and after a while, light and heavy machine guns, submachine guns, and semi-automatic rifles on the position were fired at the same time, and the Japanese troops in the river fell into the river one after another, and the river was dyed red in a short time. The commander of the 6th Wing, who was watching his soldiers cross the river, was startled by the sudden sound of gunfire from the defenders on the south bank, and he was immediately surprised by the intensity of the defenders' firepower.

There are dozens of light and heavy machine guns of the defenders that he can see, and more automatic weapons are also ringing, and the density of bullets on the river surface makes his soldiers powerless to fight back, plus on the water, there is no way to hide, and I saw these soldiers under his command falling in the river in pieces. The Shigenoyoshi Regiment immediately ordered the artillery and heavy machine guns of the wing to suppress the fire point on the south bank, but after a while, it seemed that the effect was not great, but an infantry brigade, half of the casualties had passed, and the Shigenyoshi Regiment could only order the troops to retreat.

This attack made Shigenobu Yoshidan's Osa realize that the defenders on the other side of the river were completely different from the Shina army they had encountered before, that this was an unusually ferocious ace of the Shina army, and it seemed that the Shina wanted to use the ace troops to prevent themselves from crossing the river. Shigenobu Yoshichi Regiment Osa immediately reported the information to the division commander, Lieutenant General Takahashi Tagaji.

While the 3rd Division was suffering from the strength of the defenders on the opposite side, the 6th Division had already faced the 37th Army at Gaoziling. The 37th Army was also a Sichuan army, although its weapons and equipment could not be compared with the 90th Army, and even compared with the 53rd Army, which was defending together, it was brave in battle and fearless of death. In this they are no worse than any of the troops.

Although the preserved Sichuan Army has also been reorganized and reequipped, the three divisions of the 37th Army have only reached 8,000 men per division, and in terms of weapons and equipment, ordinary soldiers are still mainly "made in Hanyang", and some elites have been issued with "Zhongcheng" rifles. Each platoon had one imitation Czech light machine gun, and each company had only one Mark's heavy machine gun.

As for artillery, a regiment had a mortar battery with eight 60-caliber mortars, and each gun also had only a pitiful twenty shells. Nothing else. It was such a Sichuan army unit that relied on Gaoziling, a small hill only more than 100 meters high, on the Gaoziling position, to fight a bloody battle with the elite Sixth Division of the Japanese army.

Chen Pei, commander of the 37th Army, knew that the Japanese artillery was extremely powerful, and in order to reduce casualties, only two regiments of the 60th Division were sent to the main position of Gaoziling, and the other three regiments of the 60th Division were all concealed on the anticline of the Gaoziling position, ready to reinforce the main position of Gaoziling at any time. The 95th Division was on the ridge positions extending from both sides of the main position at Gaoziling to block the Japanese army and prevent the Japanese army from dividing and encircling tactics.

There was also a 140th Division that was reduced to zero, leaving two regiments as the general reserve of the whole army, and the other three regiments went around to the rear of the Japanese flanks and attacked the Japanese supply lines to contain the Japanese attack. The entire 37th Army fought in a very orderly manner, so that the 6th Division of the Japanese army stopped in front of the Gaoziling position. The artillery fire of the 6th Division was fierce, but the 60th Division, which had been prepared for a long time, repaired the fortifications of the main position on Gaoziling very strongly, and many of the fortifications were repaired on the dead corners of the Japanese artillery fire, so that the lethality of the Japanese artillery fire to the soldiers was greatly reduced, and it was easier to defend it.

The slope of Gaoziling still has a certain angle, and it is naturally not too difficult for empty-handed people to climb up, but it is not so easy to charge with bullets on this slope. The 23rd Wing, which served as the main attack of the 6th Division, organized many charges and was repelled by the defenders, which made the wing commander Junhiko Arima extremely helpless. The Japanese attack was carried out by a few means: artillery bombardment first, small artillery and heavy machine gun cover, and infantry attack. In the case of a back-attack, the infantry can only advance upward, and cannot charge, and the ferocity of the attack is much worse.