binnovel Chapter 426 The Second Battle of Changsha Begins
Chapter 426 The Second Battle of Changsha Begins
While the 60th and 58th Chinese Armies were fighting, they suddenly discovered that Japanese troops appeared behind them. This scared the commanders of the two armies. They had never expected that the Japanese army, with only the strength of one division, would dare to carry out such a large-scale encirclement.
Therefore, after finding themselves surrounded, the 106th Army and the th Army launched breakout attacks from two directions respectively. Although Lieutenant General Junrokuro Matsuura had a big appetite, the strength of the Japanese th Division was really limited. It was simply unable to form a tight encirclement, nor could it stop the breakout of the Chinese th Army and the th Army.
After breaking through, the 60th and 58th Chinese Armies quickly assembled in the direction of Yifeng. After the two armies joined forces, they immediately formed a new line of defense and continued to block the Japanese army.
The 106th Division of the Japanese Army took great pains to encircle and surround the two Chinese armies, but the two Chinese armies managed to escape from the loose encirclement, which made the commander of the 106th Division, Lieutenant General Junrokuro Matsuura, very depressed.
Therefore, the division commander, Lieutenant General Junrokuro Matsuura, ordered his troops to take advantage of the situation and march quickly towards Gao'an with all their might to occupy Gao'an. The 106nd Chinese Army stationed in Gao'an decided to abandon the city when it learned that the troops of the th and th Armies in front of it were unable to stop the Japanese attack together. As a result, the th Division of the Japanese Army easily captured Gao'an, the gateway to the east of Changsha.
When Commander Xue of the Ninth War Zone of China learned that the 32nd Army had handed over Gao'an to the Japanese army, he was furious in the Ninth War Zone headquarters. After Commander Xue's rage, he sent a telegram ordering the 32nd Army to recapture Gao'an, otherwise the army commander would be shot, and those who were cowardly in combat would be subject to military law.
At the same time, Commander Xue also urgently dispatched the government's 106th Army to rush to the Gao'an battlefield. After occupying Gao'an, the Japanese th Division did not hold on to Gao'an, but divided its troops and advanced westward, concentrating its forces in the Shangfu area to attract more Chinese troops to defend.
The attack launched first by the 106th Division of the Japanese Army in northern Jiangxi successfully attracted seven army units of the Ninth War Zone of China. However, Commander Xue, the commander of the Ninth War Zone, knew very well that the 106th Division of the Japanese Army was almost wiped out by him in Wanjialing before. The troops of this Japanese army unit had just been replenished. Although the offensive seemed fierce now, it was by no means the main offensive force of the Japanese th Army.
Commander Xue believed that the real intention of General Okamura Yasuji, commander of the Japanese 11th Army, was to break through the Xinqiang River in the north of Hunan Province and then advance to Changsha. Therefore, Commander Xue was also keeping a close eye on the movements of other units of the Japanese 11th Army.
Sure enough, four days after the battle in northern Jiangxi started, the main force of the Japanese 11th Army, the 6th Division, the Nara Detachment and the Kamimura Detachment launched a fierce attack on the defense line of the Ninth War Zone of China deployed at the Xinqiang River in northern Hunan.
The Xiangbei area is the northern gate of Changsha and the most ideal route for the Japanese army to attack Changsha. This area is mainly plains, and there are only three rivers for the Chinese army to defend, namely the Xinqiang River, Miluo River and Laodao River. The Laodao River is almost the moat of Changsha. Once the Japanese army attacks the Laodao River, Changsha city will face the danger of being captured.
Therefore, the two defense lines of Xinqiang River and Miluo River in the northern Hunan region became extremely important. Commander Xue had already deployed heavy troops on these two defense lines, awaiting the arrival of the Japanese 11th Army. Therefore, Commander Xue had long expected the Japanese 6th Division to attack China's defense line on the Xinqiang River.
The elite troops of the Ninth War Zone of China were stationed on the Xinqiang River defense line. In order to guard against the attack of the Japanese army, Commander Xue deployed the 15th Army Group and the 27th Army Group of the Sichuan Army on the defense line on the Xinqiang River side.
The reason why Lieutenant General Okamura Yasuji, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, sent more than 50,000 main forces, mainly from the 6th Division, to attack Xinqiang River was not only to attack the city of Changsha, but also to destroy the elite 15th Army of the Chinese government.
Commander Guan of the 15th Army Group, who is directly under the Chinese government, is no ordinary man. It is not without reason that Commander Xue of the 9th War Zone entrusted the most important Xinqiang River defense line to him. The 50,000 Japanese troops of the 11th Army, under the cover of aircraft, tanks and warships, carried out covering bombing and fierce attacks on the Xinqiang River defense line of the Chinese army.
However, after being bombarded by the Japanese army, the 15th Army, under the command of Commander Guan, fought desperately and did not retreat a single step. After several days of fierce fighting, the Japanese army still could not break through the main position on the south bank of the Xinqiang River held by the 52nd Army of the 15th Army, and the main force of the Japanese army was dragged on the north bank and unable to cross the river.
The tenacious resistance of the 15th Army commanded by Commander Guan was beyond the expectations of Lieutenant General Yasuji Okamura, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army.
Originally, Lieutenant General Okamura Yasuji, commander of the 106th Japanese Army, planned to use the 106th Division's attack in northern Jiangxi to attract a large number of Chinese troops, so as to reduce the pressure of his own attack in northern Hunan. However, although the th Division completed the task of attracting the Chinese troops relatively well, he did not expect that the Chinese army's defense force on the Xinqiang River side was still so strong.
At the same time, Lieutenant General Okamura Yasuji, commander of the Japanese 11th Army, became more determined to destroy the 15th Army commanded by Commander Guan.
At the headquarters of the 106th Japanese Army, Lieutenant General Okamura Yasuji was listening to the Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadaichi's report on the current situation: "Your Excellency, the th Division is currently fighting fiercely with the troops of the seven armies of the Chinese government in the northern Jiangxi area. As for the Xinqiang River, our troops have not been able to break through the defense line of the th Army of the Chinese government."
Commander Lieutenant General Okamura Yasuji looked at the small flags representing the troops of both sides in the direction of Xinqiang River on the sand table, and then said to Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Yoshimoto Sadaichi: "Yoshimoto-kun, order Lieutenant General Amakasu Shigetaro's 33rd Division to bypass the Chinese army along the Mufu Mountains from the east of Xinqiang River and attack the 27th Army of the Chinese government defending the east of Xinqiang River at the two defense lines of Xinqiang River and Miluo River. As long as we break through the Chinese army's defense here, the 15th Army of the Chinese government on the front line of defense of Xinqiang River will be surrounded by us, and then we can completely eliminate this elite force of the Chinese government, and at the same time open the gate to the north of Changsha."
Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Sadaichi Yoshimoto also thought about it along the lines of Commander Lieutenant General Yasuji Okamura. Indeed, from intelligence reconnaissance, he learned that the 27th Army of the Chinese government stationed here was an army from Sichuan Province. Compared with the direct troops of the Chinese government, this side was theoretically much easier to fight.