Quartermasters can also fight the devils

When Lieutenant General Kanda Masatane, commander of the Japanese 6th Division, received the retreat order from Lieutenant General Anami Korechika, commander of the Japanese 11th Army, he was extremely reluctant. His two regiments had suffered heavy losses in Changsha City. Now the troops had already attacked Changsha City. He felt that as long as he gave his troops some more time, Changsha City would definitely be occupied by his own 6th Division.

Therefore, Lieutenant General Kanda Masatane, commander of the Japanese 6th Division, sent a telegram to Lieutenant General Anami Korechika, commander of the Japanese 11th Army, in which he stated that the offensive force of his 6th Division had already rushed into Changsha City and engaged in street fighting, and that now they only needed a little more effort to occupy Changsha City, and hoped that Lieutenant General Anami Korechika, commander of the Japanese 11th Army, would give his offensive force another day to withdraw.

However, this request by Lieutenant General Kanda Masatane, commander of the Japanese 6th Division, was sternly rejected by the Japanese 11th Army Command.

The troops of the Japanese 3rd Division and the 6th Division in Changsha City also suffered heavy losses in front of the defensive fortifications of the New 22nd Army throughout the city, especially the 13th and 14th Regiments of the 6th Division, which attacked most actively. Now the casualties of the officers and soldiers of these two regiments have exceeded 60%, and the ammunition they carried is almost exhausted. When they received the order to retreat, the officers and soldiers in the Japanese attacking forces were ecstatic and wanted to start retreating out of the city on the spot.

After dark, the attacking forces of the 3rd and 6th Divisions all withdrew from Changsha City, cremated the bodies of more than a thousand Japanese officers and soldiers who had died that day, and then hastily retreated towards the Miluo River.

At this point, the New 22nd Army successfully defended the city of Changsha under the attack of the four infantry regiments of the Japanese 3rd Division and the 6th Division, and in accordance with the order of the 9th War Zone Command, attracted the Japanese army to Changsha for three days.

The next morning, the information that the Japanese army began to retreat was quickly passed to Commander Xue of the Ninth War Zone, who then issued an order to launch an attack on all fronts.

Commander of the Ninth War Zone, General Xue, ordered the 26th, 4th and 73rd Armies to pursue from south to north, the 20th and 58th Armies to block the attack from north to south, the 37th and 78th Armies to block the attack from east to west, the 99th Army to block the attack from west to east, and the 140th Division to advance towards Huangsha Street and Xinqiang, preparing to annihilate the Japanese attacking forces in this "sky furnace" they had set up.

At this point, the Changsha Battle turned from a massive attack by the Japanese 11th Army and layers of resistance by the Chinese Army to a pursuit and encirclement and annihilation operation by the Chinese Army, while the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army turned into a retreat and escape.

After learning that the attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army began to retreat across the board, the highest level of the government sent a telegram to Commander Xue of the 9th War Zone, requiring him to quickly and strictly order all units of the 9th War Zone to encircle and attack the Japanese troops near Changsha, block the Japanese army's retreat route, encircle and capture the Japanese attacking forces, and annihilate them within the preset battlefield.

The Japanese 3rd and 6th Divisions, in accordance with the order of the Japanese 11th Army Headquarters, retreated to Dongshan and Lishi respectively, attempting to cross the Liuyang River and retreat north, but were intercepted by the Chinese army on the way.

The 79th Army of the Chinese government fought a fierce battle with the retreating Japanese 3rd Division near Dongshan. The 79th Army destroyed the bridge over the Liuyang River and then occupied the ferry, forcing the Japanese 3rd Division to be trapped on the south bank of the Liuyang River and was besieged by the Chinese army. The 3rd Division, which was blocked from crossing the river, had to move closer to the 6th Division.

The situation of the 6th Division was better. On the second day of the retreat, after crossing the Liuyang River, the 6th Division, in accordance with the order of the Japanese 11th Army Command, met the Japanese 3rd Division, which was retreating in a panic, to cross the river near Li City.

As a result, the 26th Army that attacked the Japanese 6th Division and the 79th Army that chased the Japanese 3rd Division engaged in a fierce battle with the two Japanese divisions in the Li City area.

The two sides fought fiercely until the next day, when the Japanese 3rd and 6th Divisions discovered that something was wrong, so they desperately launched a breakout attack to the north. However, the Japanese offensive suffered a heavy blow from the Chinese army. Not only did the attacking Japanese troops fail to make a breakthrough, but they suffered heavy casualties.

Moreover, the 18th Regiment of the 3rd Division of the Japanese Army and the Supply Regiment of the 6th Division of the Japanese Army were all trapped in the encirclement of the Chinese army. At this time, the 4th Army and the 73rd Army of the 9th War Zone of the Chinese government were completing a parallel overtaking pursuit of the offensive forces of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army from south to north.

However, on the third day after the Japanese army began to retreat, the weather in Xiangbei, which had been raining and snowing, finally cleared up, and the Japanese planes finally got a good opportunity to operate. A bomber squadron of the Japanese Air Force that had just arrived at the front line was also sent by the Japanese 11th Army Command to fully support the retreat operations of the Japanese 3rd and 6th Divisions.

This Japanese bomber squadron carried out a large-scale bombing on the Chinese army's blocking positions, which greatly restricted the Chinese army's pursuit and encirclement. The Japanese 3rd and 6th Divisions also took the opportunity to successfully break out of the encirclement of the Chinese army and frantically retreated northward along the Laodao River.

The 40th Division of the Japanese Army, which had previously moved south from Jinjing to Chunhua Mountain to support the attack on Changsha City, also took the opportunity to begin its retreat to the north. In the evening of that day, the Japanese attacking forces finally crossed the Laodao River, but the Japanese troops were still unable to escape the blockade and pursuit of the Chinese army, and the morale of the officers and soldiers was generally very low.

Lieutenant General Anami Korechika, commander of the 11th Japanese Army, knew that he had fallen into a trap set by Commander Xue of the Ninth War Zone of the Chinese government. So, in order to get rid of the current extremely unfavorable situation, Lieutenant General Anami Korechika suddenly decided to launch an offensive against the Chinese army while the entire army was retreating northward, hoping to disrupt the Chinese army's combat plan with the attack.

Lieutenant General Anami Korechika, commander of the 11th Japanese Army, ordered the 6th Division to break through Tongpen Temple from the left wing via Kuribashi to the north, ordered the 3rd Division to enter the northeast area of ​​Fulinpu from the right wing, and ordered the 40th Division to send part of its troops to detour to the northwest to prepare to besiege the Chinese army in the north of Qingshan City.

At this time, while the Japanese 11th Army's attacking force was retreating northward, the 37th, 20th, 58th and 99th Armies of the Ninth War Zone of the Chinese Government had occupied important positions and were ready for battle, while the 4th, 73rd, 26th and 78th Armies were pursuing northward.

Now, the Chinese army of the Ninth War Zone has formed a siege on the attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army between the Laodao River and the Miluo River.

(Thanks to Wuwenxidong11, Weiguogong who loves beef jerky, Linghao who only eats dumplings without vinegar, and who likes pear psyllids for their gifts! Thank you all for your support and encouragement!)