EBE Chapter 749 After Hengyang
Chapter 749 After Hengyang
At five o'clock in the afternoon on August 7, the commander of the Tenth Army of the Chinese government had to raise the white flag in Hengyang City in order to save the lives of the 7,000 wounded and sick soldiers of the Tenth Army. Hengyang, which had been defended for forty-seven days, finally fell.
When the Japanese officers and soldiers of the 11th Army's attacking force entered the city and saw the white flags rising continuously, many of them burst into tears involuntarily. The Battle of Hengyang was like purgatory for the officers and soldiers of the Chinese Army and the 11th Army of the Japanese Army. The so-called victory or defeat was actually just a matter of a thin layer of paper.
In the Battle of Hengyang, the 10th Army of the Chinese government suffered about 15,000 casualties, including 8,000 killed and 7,000 wounded.
As for the casualties of the Japanese 11th Army's attacking forces, it was far greater than that of the Chinese army. Among them, the Japanese 58th Division dispatched 14,000 officers and soldiers to participate in the Hengyang offensive. After the end of the Hengyang Campaign, only more than 7,000 officers and soldiers were left in the Japanese 58th Division.
After the Battle of Hengyang, the 120th Regiment of the 116th Division of the Japanese Army had only more than 300 officers and soldiers left in the entire regiment. You should know that the total strength of a Japanese regiment should be around 3,000 people. It can be seen how heavy the losses of the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army were.
The casualties of the 40th Division of the Japanese Army, which was responsible for blocking the reinforcements of the Chinese Army on the periphery, were even more severe. When the city of Hengyang was occupied, among all the infantry companies of the 40th Division of the Japanese Army, the company with the largest number of remaining officers and soldiers had 24 officers and soldiers left, while the company with the least number of remaining officers and soldiers had only two officers and soldiers left. It can be said that the 40th Division of the Japanese Army was almost wiped out.
On August 8, Fang Xianqie, commander of the 10th Army of the Chinese government, Zhou Qingxiang, commander of the 3rd Division, Rong Youlue, commander of the 190th Division, Ge Xiancai, commander of the 10th Reserve Division, and Rao Shaowei, commander of the Provisional 54th Division, formally surrendered to Lieutenant General Tsutsumi Sanshuo, commander of the 68th Division of the Japanese Army, at the Catholic Church in the south of Hengyang City.
At the same time, some Chinese army officers and soldiers who were unwilling to surrender continued to resist in Hengyang City, and eventually all of them died for their country.
At this point, the Changheng Campaign ended. In this battle, the Chinese government's Ninth War Zone suffered more than 90,000 officers, soldiers, and prisoners of war, and the Japanese 11th Army also paid the price of more than 66,000 officers and soldiers.
After the offensive forces of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army occupied Hengyang in August 1944, they began to prepare for the Guiliu Operation, known as "Operation No. 1", and made adequate preparations for attacking and occupying Guilin and Liuzhou in Guangxi Province.
In order to successfully attack Guilin and Liuzhou in Guangxi Province, the Japanese China Expeditionary Army also sent out its elite troops. The offensive force responsible for the northern line was the Japanese 11th Army commanded by Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the Japanese 11th Army. Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the Japanese 11th Army, also concentrated six divisions, including the 3rd Division, 13th Division, 34th Division, 37th Division, 40th Division and 58th Division, with a total force of nearly 130,000.
In order to contain the Chinese government's troops in Guangdong Province, Lieutenant General Tanaka Hisaichi, commander of the 23rd Army of the Japanese Army in South China, commanded the 22nd Division and the 104th Division of the 23rd Army of the Japanese Army, as well as two mixed brigades with nearly 50,000 troops, and assembled in Zhaoqing area in central and western Guangdong. The combat objective of the offensive force of the 23rd Army of the Japanese Army was to destroy the Chinese army in Guangdong Province, and then go north to join the offensive force of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army commanded by Lieutenant General Yokoyama Isamu, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, and then attack the Guiliu area together.
The defense area of the Fourth War Zone of the Huaxia Government is mainly the Guangdong and Guangxi regions, and the Guilin and Liuzhou regions belong to the defense area of the Fourth War Zone of the Huaxia Government.
The former commander of the Fourth War Zone of the Chinese Government was Commander He, who was replaced by Zhang Fakui after the Battle of Yangcheng. After the Battle of Southern Guangxi in 1940, the Military Commission of the Chinese Government established the Seventh War Zone of the Chinese Government in Guangdong Province. In this way, the defense area of the Fourth War Zone of the Chinese Government became the Guangxi Province area.
China's Guangxi Province is the hometown of Commander Li and Commander Bai. Commander Li, as the commander of the Fifth War Zone of the Chinese government, has been fighting the Japanese army at the border between Henan Province and Hubei Province. Commander Bai serves as the deputy chief of staff of the Military Commission of the Chinese government and has been controlling the Guangxi army in Guangxi Province.
As a result, Commander Zhang, the commander of the Fourth War Zone of the Huaxia government, is basically sitting on the bench in the Fourth War Zone. Now the Huaxia government's troops stationed in Guangxi Province are mainly two armies of the Sixteenth Army Group of the Guangdong faction. Among them, the 31st Army is stationed in Nanning and the Beibu Gulf area near Vietnam, and the 46th Army is stationed in the Guiliu area.
The defense between Hunan and Guangxi was relatively weak. In order to strengthen the defense between Hunan and Guangxi, the top leaders of the Chinese government transferred the 93rd Army of the Chinese government from Guizhou Province to the Fourth War Zone of the Chinese government in Guangxi Province. Moreover, in August 1944, after the Changheng Campaign, the 62nd Army of the Chinese government also retreated to the Liuzhou area and was under the command of the Fourth War Zone Command of the Chinese government. In this way, the Fourth War Zone of the Chinese government had four regular armies.
While the Japanese Chinese Expeditionary Force was preparing to attack the Guiliu area, the Chinese government's Fourth War Zone defensive combat plan was officially completed under the guidance of Commander Bai, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Chinese Government's Military Commission, and approved by Commander Zhang, Commander of the Chinese Government's Fourth War Zone.
After obtaining the approval of the highest level of the Chinese government, the Fourth War Zone of the Chinese government ordered the 31st Army to garrison Guilin, the 93rd Army to garrison Quanzhou and Huangshahe, the 62nd Army to garrison Liuzhou, and the 46th Army to garrison Yangshuo and Yongfu areas.
In early September 1944, as the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army completed their rest and replenishment, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the Japanese 11th Army, ordered the 13th Division of the Japanese Army to attack Jeonju from the north. The 93rd Army of the Chinese government was responsible for garrisoning Jeonju in the Fourth War Zone of the Chinese government.
Quanzhou is the northern gateway of Guilin and its geographical location is very important. The Military Commission of the Chinese Government and the Fourth War Zone Command of the Chinese Government ordered the commander of the 93rd Army, Chen Munong, to guard Quanzhou for one month.
Under normal circumstances, the defense focus of the 93rd Army of the Chinese government in Quanzhou should be to control the bank of the Huangsha River. However, the commander of the 93rd Army of the Chinese government, Chen Munong, gave up the advantage of the river and kept all the troops of the 93rd Army in Quanzhou City. This clearly showed that he did not attach importance to this battle.