Quartermasters can also fight the devils

Chapter 660: The Progress of the Japanese Army on Three Route

In order to prevent the Provisional Sixth Division from being surrounded by the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army in Nuanshui Street, Commander Wang of the Tenth Army, after completing the order issued by Commander Sun, acting commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government, to hold on for three days, ordered the Provisional Sixth Division to abandon its defensive position in Nuanshui Street and retreat immediately.

After receiving the retreat order from Commander Wang of the Tenth Army, the Provisional Sixth Division immediately began its retreat. However, at this time, troops of the 13th Division of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army had appeared on the side and rear of Nuanshui Street. The Provisional Sixth Division could only retreat while fighting hard. Finally, it broke through the interception of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army and retreated to Bantan Bay.

As the Provisional 6th Division withdrew from Nuanshui Street, the attacking force of the central route of the Japanese 11th Army finally completed the first phase of the Changde Campaign formulated by Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the Japanese 11th Army, after ten days of fierce fighting.

When the 11th Army of the Japanese Army was attacking in the middle, the offensive of the Japanese attacking forces in the north was also very fierce. However, the 11th Army of the Japanese Army had fewer troops in the north than in the middle.

The 39th Division of the Japanese 11th Army, which was responsible for the northern attack mission, also began its attack from Mituo Temple on the opposite bank of Shashi at dusk on November 2 according to the combat plan formulated by Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the Japanese 11th Army.

The 39th Division of the Japanese Army belongs to the Type B Division of the Japanese Army. The combat strength of the entire division is 14,000 people, which is much less than the 20,000 people in each Type A Division of the Japanese Army. However, in terms of heavy weapons, the 39th Division of the Japanese Army is still good. The division is equipped with a lot of light and heavy machine guns, flat-fire cannons, mountain cannons and other heavy weapons, and it also has strong combat effectiveness.

The 39th Division of the Japanese Army also participated in the Zaoyi Campaign and the Hubei-West Campaign, and had a lot of combat experience with the Chinese government's army.

The 233rd Regiment of the 231th Division of the Japanese Army went southwest via Wangjiaqiao and Guanyin Temple and arrived at Chayuan Temple in the evening. The st Regiment went west via Weijialing and arrived at Tianzi Bridge in the evening.

That night, the 233rd Regiment at Chayuan Temple was attacked by the 233th Division of the th Army of the Chinese government. The rd Regiment of the th Division of the Japanese Army repelled the sudden attack of the th Division only after suffering heavy casualties.

Subsequently, Lieutenant General Sumita Yoshishiro, commander of the 39th Division of the Japanese Army, ordered his troops to advance to the east bank of the Yuyang River and occupy a line from Yuer Mountain south of Yuyang Pass to the northeast of Tizikou, Renheping, Xiongdu, Niejiahe, Xiaojiayan, Sideqiao to Zhijiang, and then built fortifications to cover the safety of the northwest direction of the Japanese 11th Army's attacking forces attacking Changde.

In addition to the 39th Division of the Japanese Army in the north, the Koga Detachment led by Major General Ryutaro Koga, commander of the 52nd Infantry Brigade of the Japanese Army, which was drawn from the 58th Division of the Japanese Army, also participated in the battle, which brought the total offensive strength of the Japanese 11th Army in the north to 20,000.

In the first phase of the offensive operations against the Japanese 11th Army in the north and center, the performance of the various units of the Chinese government's 10th Army was very good, although Nuanshui Street and Wangjiachang as well as the flank Taiping Street Renheping were all occupied by the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army.

However, the Tenth Army of the Chinese government, with a strength of only more than 30,000 troops, alone resisted three Japanese divisions and several attached detachments. Its strength was only one-third of the Japanese offensive forces, but it still relied on the rugged terrain and fortifications to hold out for a full ten days. After completing the combat tasks assigned by the Sixth War Zone Command, it was able to retreat in an orderly manner to a slightly farther defensive position to defend again. Moreover, the various troops of the Tenth Army still maintained considerable combat effectiveness, which is extremely commendable.

In the following two days, the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army launched fierce attacks on the defensive positions of the 10th Army several times, but they were unable to break through the defensive positions of the 10th Army. For a time, the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army and the 10th Army were in a stalemate.

Compared with the 10th Army Group responsible for defending the center and north routes, the 29th Army Group of the Chinese government responsible for the southern defense line also fought quite well.

The attacking forces of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army on the southern route were also relatively strong. The commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, arranged the 116th Division and the 68th Division of the Japanese Army on the southern route.

On November 2, the troops of the 116th Division of the Japanese Army crossed the Wuqi River from Jiwukou and Shakou in Gong'an and launched an attack according to the combat plan formulated by Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army. At noon on the third day of the attack, the troops of the 116th Division of the Japanese Army arrived at the Sancha Nao line south of Nihu.

Although the 116th Division of the Japanese Army was also a Type B division of the Japanese Army, and the 116th Division of the Japanese Army was not formed until 1938 in Kyoto, Japan, but the 116th Division of the Japanese Army was formed by drawing officers and soldiers from the 16th Division of the Japanese Army, which was a Type A division. It was called the shadow division of the 16th Division within the Japanese Army.

Although the 116th Division of the Japanese Army only arrived at the Chinese battlefield during the Battle of Three Towns, it participated in almost all the battles organized by the 11th Army of the Japanese Army. The officers and soldiers of the division also have rich experience in fighting against the Chinese army, and their strength should not be underestimated.

When Colonel Heiichi Kurose, commander of the 133rd Regiment of the th Division of the Japanese Army, led his troops to attack towards Li County, he was also troubled by the network of water and swamps.

The river near Sanzhinao is 133 meters wide and the water is fast-flowing. The Chinese army also set up a series of firing points ten kilometers on the opposite bank of the river, which resulted in several forced crossing operations by the rd Regiment of the th Division of the Japanese Army ending in failure.

The commander of the 133rd Regiment, Colonel Kurose Heiichi, had no choice but to ask the commander of the 133th Division, Lieutenant General Iwanaga Wang, to mobilize all the artillery of the division. Then he used all the artillery of the division to bombard the Chinese army's defensive positions on the other side of the river. After spending a whole day almost flattening the Chinese army's defense line within a depth of two kilometers, the commander of the rd Regiment, Colonel Kurose Heiichi, finally commanded his troops to barely break through the Chinese army's defense line.

However, the subsequent attacks by the 116th Division of the Japanese Army were still not smooth. The southern route of the Japanese Army's attack was full of swamps and water networks. When the 116th Division of the Japanese Army attacked the Hongmiao area east of Li County, the Chinese defenders even dug up many river embankments, forming a large swamp area.