As soon as the counterattack meeting in Youxian County ended, Tang Longzai reported the counterattack plan to Wang Haitao in detail. At this time, in order to attract reinforcements from Youxian County, the attack on the Japanese army in Hengyang City was basically stopped, and the 90th Division and Guard Brigade in the city only surrounded the remaining nearly 20,000 Japanese troops on three sides in an area centered on the Japanese Hengyang City Defense Headquarters.

The Chinese army almost stopped the offensive, which made the three division commanders breathe a sigh of relief, and the first reaction of Lieutenant General Mitsuo Yamamoto, the commander of the 3rd Division, who was in charge of the command, was that the Chinese army had also reached the end of the crossbow. So Lieutenant General Mitsuo Yamamoto ordered the troops to organize a counteroffensive on the one hand, and on the other hand, continued to urge reinforcements to Commander Isamu Yokoyama, while the fortifications were being strengthened as much as possible.

Wang Haitao was also a little anxious waiting for the news from Youxian, he was not worried that the two main divisions would not be able to stop the attack of the 50,000 Japanese troops, he was worried that Youxian would let go of the 50,000 Japanese troops, so that the troops' next operation to capture the entire Hunan would encounter more resistance and variables. Tang Longzai's telegram came over, and after Wang Haitao read it at a glance, he couldn't help but perk up.

Now this telegram is a timely rain, and Wang Haitao believes that under the command of Tang Longzai, it is a sure thing to inflict heavy damage on the 50,000 reinforcements of the Japanese army. Without the involvement of Youxian, he can finally let go of his hands and feet to deal with these Japanese troops in Hengyang City. Wang Haitao immediately notified Tang Yikuan and Tangshan Leopard to come to the headquarters, and it didn't take long for the two to hurry over.

Wang Haitao said to the two people who rushed over: "I have good news for you, Tang Longzai is going to do something to the Japanese reinforcements in Youxian County." After speaking, he repeated the contents of the telegram to the two of them. After listening to Wang Haitao's words, Tangshan Leopard shouted excitedly: "Great! Finally, I can really do something to the little Japanese in the city. ”

Tang Yikuan smiled and said: "Mountain Leopard, I don't think it's the soldiers who are itching, but your Tang Brigade Commander can't help it!" Tang Shanbao blushed and counterattacked: "Yikuan, don't talk about me, aren't you in a hurry?" Wang Haitao stopped the two from arguing with a smile and said, "Okay, I decided to launch a general attack on the Japanese army in the city at one o'clock in the afternoon." Let little Japan taste our heavy artillery first, and the next attack will depend on the two of them. ”

After speaking, Wang Haitao looked at his watch and continued: "Time is running out, you go back to prepare immediately, I hope to hear your good news as soon as possible." "At one o'clock in the afternoon, at the same time as the artillery fire of the Youxian counterattack began, all the heavy artillery outside Hengyang City also began to shell, including the 130 heavy cannon regiment, which was easily not used, also carried out a ten-minute artillery bombardment.

Heavy artillery shells ruthlessly tore apart the fortifications that the Japanese army had built with all their might, and shrapnel flying everywhere harvested the lives of the invaders. The entire area defended by the Japanese army trembled under artillery fire, and in the city defense headquarters, Lieutenant General Mitsuo Yamamoto and the other two division commanders were also at a loss. Such a powerful fire attack made the three division commanders feel a kind of despair.

After the shelling, two brigades and six regiments of the 90th Division, and three regiments of the Guards Brigade launched a surprise attack on the district city where the Japanese troops were located from all directions. The bewildered Japanese soldiers who were bombed by the artillery could not stop the Chinese army from attacking at all, and the area occupied by the Japanese army was shrinking little by little. After two hours of assault, the area occupied by the Japanese army was reduced by half, and at this time, the relatively concentrated Japanese army resisted with all its might, which slowed down the attack of the Chinese army.

In the Hengyang City Defense Headquarters, Lieutenant General Sano Yamamoto has completely lost confidence in continuing to hold Hengyang City. After sending a telegram to Commander Isamu Yokoyama, he received an order from Commander Isamu Yokoyama to agree to lead the rest of his troops to withdraw from Hengyang City. So how to withdraw from Hengyang City now has become a problem in front of the three division commanders.

The current Hengyang City, in addition to this small area that is still in his hands, only the north gate is still in his hands, but it is extremely difficult to break through from the north gate. Although the north gate has not been lost, it has been attacked from two sides, and there are no troops left on the city wall, and it may be lost in the next minute. And if you want to break through from the north gate, you must first break out of the siege of the Chinese army, think about the terrifying artillery fire of the Chinese army, and the three division commanders do not have the courage to break through.

Then the only way to go now is the Xiangjiang waterway, on the pier by the river, there are two gunboats parked, and there has not been a report of a Chinese army assault in the direction of the pier. However, the two gunboats are fully loaded and they can't take many people with them, so what should the remaining officers and men do? Do they just give up on them? Even if they escape from Hengyang City, what awaits them?

Just when the three of them were all worried, Lieutenant General Sakuma, the commander of the 68th Division, spoke, and said in a heavy tone: "Yamamoto-kun, Chengtian-kun, I have decided to stay in Hengyang City and lead these Yamato warriors to fight to the death against the Shina army! The two of you will take the guards and board the boat from the Xiangjiang River and leave Hengyang City!" Sakuma's words as a lieutenant general surprised Yamamoto Sano and them.

Lieutenant General Sumita Ryoshiro still wanted to persuade him, but Lieutenant General Sakuma stood up, straightened out the lieutenant general's uniform on his body, and then said, "I will do my best to block the attack of the Shina army, and the two of you can prepare to leave." After speaking, he turned around and strode out of the city defense headquarters. Lieutenant General Yamamoto Sano could only look at the back of Lieutenant General Sakuma leaving with mixed feelings.

On the defensive positions of the Japanese army, the resistance suddenly became fierce, and the Japanese held out on many positions until the last person was killed, and then the positions fell into the hands of the Chinese army. In such an attack, although the Chinese army had absolute superiority in numbers and weapons, it could not avoid an increase in casualties. After the extremely fierce resistance of the Japanese army was reported to Tangshan Leopard and Tang Yikuan, although the two were strange, they did not have a very good solution.

It was already evening, the last rays of the sunset in the sky fell on the walls of Hengyang City, and after half a day of resistance, the remaining 10,000 or so officers and soldiers of the Japanese army had been compressed into an area of less than two square kilometers centered on the city defense headquarters building. At this time, the commander of the 68th Division, Lieutenant General Sakuma, and his chief of staff, Harada Sadazaburo Osa, were sitting in command of the battle in the city defense headquarters.

Lieutenant General Mitsuo Yamamoto and Lieutenant General Tsukita Raishiro had already hurriedly boarded two gunboats parked on the riverside dock with their officers and guards in the afternoon, and fled from Hengyang City from the Xiang River. The Chinese troops outside the North Gate were so focused on the enemy surrounding and annihilating the North Gate city wall that they did not notice the two gunboats rushing out of the Xiang River.

On the outskirts of the Japanese City Defense Headquarters, the two brigade commanders of the 68th Division, Major General Shimizu Masao and Major General Ota Sadamasa, were directing the battle on the front line. Except for the strength of the two infantry brigades left in the building of the city defense headquarters, the rest of the troops were arranged on the periphery of the city defense headquarters.

Major General Shimizu Masao led more than 2,000 men to guard a four-story reinforced concrete building, a fortified building second only to the City Defense Headquarters building, which was originally the warehouse of the Bank of France, and after the Japanese occupied Hengyang, it became the headquarters of the 68th Division. Major General Ota Sadamasa led more than 1,000 people to stay in a three-story building, which was originally a large hotel.

Tang Yikuan and Tangshan Leopard met and discussed and decided that the 90th Division would attack the four-story fortified building and the guard brigade would attack the three-story building. After the division of labor was completed, the 90th Division and the Guards Brigade both launched separate operations.

The first thing to do was to clear the Japanese strongholds on the periphery of the building. Under the full force of the 90th Division and the Guard Brigade, the strongholds on the periphery of the two buildings were soon cleared. It was completely dark, but the headlights of the chariot illuminated the two large houses as if it were day, and not far from the building, a group of bazooka squads and countless light and heavy machine guns, as well as a sharpshooter, were all aiming at the windows on the building that were used as firing points, and the two assault teams were also lurking not far from the building, waiting for the order of the assault.

Tang Yikuan and Tangshan Leopard gave the order for a surprise attack almost at the same time, and one after another armor-piercing fire and arrow shells went towards the windows of the two buildings*, and the vehicle-mounted artillery on the chariot also fired shells at the doors and windows of the buildings. At the same time, several light and heavy machine guns were fired at the same time, and every window in both buildings was tightly sealed by machine guns. Under such a dense blow, the Japanese firepower points were almost useless, and only sporadic bullets were fired from the building.

The assault team finally began to move, and under the cover of heavy weapons, they quickly approached the two buildings, and in a short time, the two commandos broke into their respective buildings. Outside the building, heavy weapons except machine guns stopped firing, and the chariots roared close to the building. Just after the assault team burst into the building, heavy gunfire rang out inside the building.

Tang Yikuan and Tangshan Leopard are anxiously waiting for the result, time passes little by little, Tangshan Leopard's side is better, the gunfire has been transferred from the first floor to the second floor, but Tang Yikuan's side, the gunfire has always been fierce on the first floor. Raising his hand and looking at his watch, Tang Yikuan gritted his teeth and called Li Changqing, the head of the division's reconnaissance regiment, over.

The divisional reconnaissance regiment is one of the most elite units in the 90th Division, and it is all personally trained by the instructors of the reconnaissance brigade, and its strength is no worse than that of the reconnaissance brigade. Tang Yikuan, the elite of the reconnaissance group, would not be used easily, but now the battle of attacking the building is the strength of the reconnaissance group, so Tang Yikuan called Li Changshen and ordered him to select an assault team from the reconnaissance regiment to cooperate with the commando team that rushed into the building first to capture the building.

Soon the assault team formed by the reconnaissance group also rushed into the building, and the effect was obvious, and after the gunfire on the first floor continued to ring for a while, the surname shifted to the second floor. The battle lasted for nearly two hours, and the good news came from Tangshan Leopard's side first, the guard brigade successfully captured the building, killed the Japanese major general brigade commander Ota Sadamasa, and completely annihilated more than 1,400 defenders.