Chiang Kai-shek, who was far away in Chongqing, saw this newspaper and his face was deformed with joy. Soldiers in the Ninth Theater deserve to be brave, and Xue Yue, a tiger, deserves his trust and has given him the most powerful theater.
After the Japanese army occupied Wuhan, its combat power has reached its limit. If it wants to launch another big war, it must borrow troops from the garrison in various places and realize the relative concentration of troops. Moreover, if the Japanese army sends troops from Wuhan to attack Chongqing, whether it is on the Han River or the Yangtze River, it must be blocked by two heavily armed groups of the Kuomintang army.
The handsome flag of Li Zongren's fifth war zone is inserted in Laohekou, just like a "hammer" hanging over the Japanese army; The ninth war zone in Xue Yue is more like a "steel knife" that can cut off the Yangtze River channel at any time. This knife and hammer were overwhelmed in Ningzi, a port village in Wuhan.
Therefore, since 1939, the Japanese army launched the "Sui-Zao Campaign" in the fifth theater and the "Hunan-Jiangxi Campaign" in the ninth theater, in order to eliminate the main trump cards of these two theaters, namely, the Tang Legion with 13 army as the backbone and the Guantuan with 74 army as the backbone. In JiNing's mind of Gangcun, as long as the two directly affiliated forces of the Central Army headed by the officers of the Huangpu Department of the Kuomintang are eliminated, the other forces of the miscellaneous army will either give up resistance or voluntarily surrender.
What the invaders didn't expect was that their wishful thinking was wrong. Those troops with miscellaneous brands who should have given up resistance in his plan not only failed to do so, but fired bullets of hatred at them. Take Wang and Xu, the generals of Sichuan Army, for example. They are two extremely extravagant people in life, but even when the Japanese army is surrounded and the whole army is out of food, the two generals can dig roots and eat bark like ordinary soldiers and refuse to surrender.
In the so-called "perfect" plan of the invaders, the integrity of China people was just ignored!
Xue Yue, commander of the ninth theater, was originally a semi-clique, and Chiang Kai-shek wanted to use him to guard against him. Fortunately, with Chen Cheng's strong recommendation, Xue Yue had the opportunity to sit on the throne of the commander of the ninth theater.
Among the major war zones during the Anti-Japanese War, the ninth war zone was the strongest, with nearly 500 thousand people, almost all of whom belonged to Chiang Kai-shek's Central Army. This is an important armed force in War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, and Chiang Kai-shek is willing to put Xue Yue in the ninth war zone, which shows that Chiang still trusts Xue Yue.
Xue Yue lived up to his expectations. Since taking office, he has repelled three large-scale Japanese attacks in succession, especially the third Changsha Battle. Xue Yue successfully used the "Heavenly Furnace Tactics" and won a total victory, annihilating more than 60,000 Japanese troops, which was the only victory of the world anti-fascist camp in full swing. As the British media commented:
"At this time, the Far East is overcast, and only the clouds over Changsha are really dazzling."
1In the summer of 944, the Japanese army stopped for nearly two years after the third Changsha Battle 1 1 prepared to act again and wanted to attack Changsha again. This is because since the outbreak of the Pacific War, especially the attacks on India and Myanmar, the Japanese supply lines have become longer and longer. In order to use Chinese mainland as a springboard, open the Xiang-Gui line and establish the most convenient transportation line, the Japanese army launched the Yu-Xiang-Gui campaign in the summer of 1944.
It is worth noting that in this campaign, the Japanese troops in the same area surpassed us for the first time. The total strength of the Japanese army is 360,000, and our army is only over 300,000. The reasons for this are:
First, Chen Cheng reorganized the Sixth Theater in Enshi, Hubei Province, and a large number of elite troops originally belonging to the Ninth Theater were transferred.
Second, in the ninth episode, the sectors vacated by the troops transferred to the expeditionary force were filled by the troops transferred to the theater.
Third, after Changsha's third victory, the ninth war zone generally held the idea of underestimating the enemy, believing that a "heavenly furnace tactic" could not be cracked. It is better to use a large number of elite troops in more important places than to idle them in the ninth war zone.
Fourth, the Japanese army's combat power has declined. From 1943 to 1944, the Japanese army can't compare with its heyday in terms of personnel quality and weapons and equipment. So, in the eyes of Chiang Kai-shek and Xue Yue, there are more than 300,000 troops left to resist 1 1 Japanese troops stationed in Wuhan.
It is true that the Kuomintang's judgment on the enemy's situation is reasonable, but what they don't know is that since the outbreak of the Pacific War, taking 1944 as an example, the Japanese army has expanded its army by1000000, and in order to win the battle of Henan, Hunan and Guangxi, the Japanese army has drawn its main force from the Kwantung Army to participate in the war, which the Kuomintang failed to grasp. So before the campaign was launched, the number of Japanese troops and Japanese troops directly used in Changsha reached 200,000.
Although in 1944, the combat effectiveness of Chinese and Japanese soldiers was not 5: 1 at the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War, but 2: 1 or 3: 1. According to this ratio, even if it is 2: 1, it means that the ninth war zone must have at least 400,000 troops to compete with the Japanese.
So, what kind of tactics is this "sky furnace tactics"? Is it really that powerful?
According to Xue Yue's own book The Battle of the Melting Pot, this tactic is almost as magical as taking advantage of nature. According to the description in the book:
In fact, if you can understand it, this is the tactic of "decisive retreat". In other words, when the ninth war zone is attacked by the Japanese army, the enemy's strength and morale will be gradually consumed by ambush, temptation, side attack and tail attack. Finally, when the enemy is dragged to the decisive battle area, it will be seriously surrounded.
Xue Yue's tactics did bring Hunan's geographical advantage to the extreme, because according to the defense lines of both sides before the war, if the Japanese main force wanted to attack Changsha, it was bound to pass through four rivers, namely the New Wall River, the Miluo River, the Laodao River and the Liuyang River. Nine war zones were closely guarded along these four rivers, and at the same time, personnel were organized to dig roads to irrigate fields, making roads become Zeguo, which seriously hindered the advancing speed of Japanese heavy weapons.
After the symbolic sniper, the front-line snipers retreated to the mountain, so they sniped at different levels and retreated at different levels. When the Japanese army entered the front lines of Laodao River and Liuyang River, they were basically outnumbered and exhausted. At this time, the China army hiding in the mountains bravely attacked, and the Japanese army was wiped out. The first three battles in Changsha, especially the third battle in Changsha, were basically fought in this way, which caused the Japanese army to lose its strength and failed to face Changsha for two years.
However, there is a premise for the success of the "Heavenly Furnace Tactics", that is, in the final battle, the combat power of the ninth theater should surpass that of the Japanese offensive troops as a whole. If the Japanese army is still not weak in the last battle, it is likely to become a pot of raw rice. At that time, the forces of both sides will be mixed together, and the final outcome is unpredictable.
As far as the fighting capacity of the Japanese army is concerned, even Hengyang, not to mention Changsha, may not be able to reach its limit. Therefore, the fourth Changsha battle has not yet begun, and it has already cast a shadow.
It should be said that before the fourth Changsha Battle, the ninth theater was not clear about the Japanese movement, and it was not inevitable. Just before the Japanese army dispatched troops to prepare for the attack, Xue Yue got information. A guerrilla in the Miluo River area reported that the Japanese army had been mobilized frequently recently and there were signs of attacking Changsha. Moreover, the Japanese army is strong.
Xue Yue laughed it off and thought that this group behind enemy lines made a mountain out of a molehill and highlighted its own existence value.
On the other hand, after suffering from Xue Yue's "Heavenly Furnace Tactics" one after another, the Japanese army began to seriously study "Heavenly Furnace Tactics". They think that Xue Yue's "Heavenly Furnace Tactics" is simply a must in Hunan, where the river network is densely covered. In the case of insufficient Japanese troops, it is impossible to crack it.
However, this time is different. 1 1 Army, as the main force, supported 200,000 troops with unprecedented combat power. If appropriate tactics are adopted, it is possible to crack the "sky furnace tactics" and then defeat the ninth theater to capture Changsha. Therefore, Commander Yokoyama Yong of the Japanese ArmyNo. 1 1 formulated a set of tactics, that is, the troops attacked in two waves, and the first wave attacked Changsha with all their strength, so there was no need to worry about road safety and logistics supply in the rear. China's army surrounded the first wave of Japanese troops, and the second wave of Japanese troops came out to attack China's army and surrounded the first wave of Japanese troops, so there would be a situation of internal and external encirclement.
If Xue Yue perceives his second wave of troops and does not besiege the first wave of troops, then the first wave of troops can safely capture Changsha; If Xue Yue was afraid that Changsha would fall and sent troops to rescue him, he would be surrounded by his second wave of troops.
Objectively speaking, Yokoyama Yong's tactics really cracked the "furnace tactics".
At the beginning of the battle, Xue Yue found something was wrong. The Japanese army who attacked this time ignored the rear and kept attacking, which was completely different from the Japanese army who was afraid of being copied from the rear. At the same time, Xue Yue also received the latest briefing on the enemy's situation, and learned that the Japanese forces in front of him were extremely powerful, and it was difficult to win with the troops in the ninth theater at this time.
But it is not Xue Yue's wish to give up Changsha. Therefore, Xue Yue redeployed and ordered Zhang De of the Fourth Army to defend Changsha. Wang ruoqing, commander of artillery in the ninth theater, led the howitzer brigade to Yuelu Mountain. Zhao, chief of staff of the main battlefield of the theater, was responsible for coordinating the war. He led the main battlefield to contact the neighboring troops and solve the siege of Changsha.
Xue Yue left Changsha for the perimeter, not because Xue Yue was afraid of death, but because he learned from his past experience that the general staff of Chiang Kai-shek's department was wiped out by the Japanese army.
In the first stage of the battle of Henan, Hunan and Guangxi, hundreds of thousands of Chiang Kai-shek troops in Henan were easily defeated by the Japanese army. The reason is that the headquarters of Chiang Kai-shek and the General Staff were destroyed by the Japanese army at the same time, resulting in the loss of command of the Kuomintang army. In view of this, Zhao, the chief of staff of the Ninth Theater, strongly suggested that Xue Yue lead his troops to the exterior line and stay inside to command Changsha to defend the war.
But at this time, Xue Yue made a big mistake, that is, he didn't specify the command authority of Zhao, Zhang Deneng and Wang Reqing, that is to say, he didn't set the head among these three people, which brought extremely adverse effects to the fall of Changsha.
According to the position, the chief of staff of the theater should be the chief officer, and the commander of the Fourth Army should obey the command, but Zhang Deneng is the nephew of Zhang Fakui, a veteran of the Kuomintang army, and has always had a good face in the ninth theater. Moreover, Xue Yue was born in the Guangdong Army and had a good personal relationship with Zhang Fakui. Zhao is not trusted by Xue Yue like Wu Yizhi, Xue Yue's former chief of staff. Therefore, Zhao and Zhang Deneng have contradictions when talking about the specific defense deployment of Changsha City.
According to Zhao's deployment, the artillery brigade should be placed on Yuelu Mountain, with two divisions of the Fourth Army defending Yuelu Mountain and the other division defending Changsha City. When the Japanese attack the city, the artillery fire on Yuelu Mountain can support the battle at any time. Even if Changsha finally fails to hold it, as long as Yuelu Mountain does not fall, the defenders in the city can retreat with the support of artillery fire.
However, Zhang Deneng doesn't think so. He thinks that two divisions are located in Changsha and one in Yuelu Mountain. As for the artillery commander Wang Ruoqing, it turned out that he was affiliated with the Fourth Army. As long as the other two people determine the deployment, it is good to carry it out by themselves.
Since Zhao and Zhang Deneng are at loggerheads, Zhang Deneng said that it was boss Xue (Xue Yue) who meant to put the main force in the city. In this way, Zhao, who had no real power, had to obey the arrangement of Zhang Deneng.
Shortly after the Japanese army attacked Changsha, it was found that Zhao's deployment was correct, because under the Japanese attack, the defenders in Yuelu Mountain were gradually tired and the artillery support provided on the mountain was becoming more and more scarce. Therefore, Zhang Deneng decided to deploy a division from the city to reinforce Yuelu Mountain. However, the command was wrongly conveyed. The troops that should have been reinforced thought they were going to withdraw from Changsha, so they retreated after crossing the river.
Zhang Deneng was exhausted by a series of wars and fell asleep in Yuelu Mountain. When he woke up, he found that the troops had withdrawn, and then he tried to get them back, but it was too late. In this way, the city of Changsha was captured by the Japanese in just three days.
After the war, Zhao and Zhang Deneng were both recalled to Chongqing for court martial. Zhao was dismissed only because he was held aloof in this election and had no actual responsibility. Zhang Deneng was found guilty and shot in this battle.
Xue Yue made two big mistakes in this command:
First, the thought of underestimating the enemy is serious and the enemy's situation has not been accurately judged. He regarded the "cupola tactics" as a magic weapon to defeat the Japanese army, and did not make corresponding adjustments according to the actual situation of the enemy, so that he fell into a passive position at the beginning of the campaign.
Second, there was no clear responsibility for the generals who guarded Changsha, so that Zhao, as the chief of staff of the theater, was put on the air by Zhang De, which made Changsha's defense deployment mistakes and directly caused Changsha's fall.
Among these two major mistakes, Changsha's defensive deployment is particularly serious. This, Xue Yue also admitted after the war, if it weren't for Changsha's defensive deployment mistakes, Changsha City wouldn't fall so easily.
If Changsha does not fall, or persists for a long time, it will give Xue Yue and the Supreme Chief Department time to mobilize troops to clear the way, and then smash the Japanese attack. However, Changsha was captured after only three days, which made the ninth theater more passive. However, the Japanese army with undamaged combat power quickly went south and fell into Hengyang and Changde successively, which eventually led to the defeat of the Kuomintang in Henan, Hunan and Guangxi, becoming the most tragic defeat on the 1944 anti-fascist battlefield.