Quartermasters can also fight the devils

The attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army basically completed the combat plan formulated before the war within the first phase of combat time stipulated by Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the Japanese 11th Army. Although the attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army suffered heavy casualties in the first phase of combat, the overall performance and progress still made Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the Japanese 11th Army, relatively satisfied.

Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Japanese Army, commanded the offensive forces of the 11th Japanese Army and adopted a pincer attack method. In the first phase of the operation, the 11th Japanese Army mobilized a total of 17 infantry battalions of offensive forces. After fierce fighting, they successively captured Anxiang and Nanxian, achieving the combat objectives of the first phase of the Battle of Western Hubei set by Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Japanese Army.

After the attacking forces of the 11th Japanese Army captured Nanxian and Anxiang, the commander of the 11th Japanese Army, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, ordered the attacking forces of the 11th Japanese Army to begin implementing the second phase of the combat objectives, preparing to launch a feint attack on the troops of the 44th Army of the Chinese Government stationed in Jinshi and Lixian, and transferred a part of the troops to continue the sweep in Nanxian and Anxiang areas to ensure the rear security of the occupied areas.

Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Japanese Army, ordered the attacking forces to attack Jinshi and Lixian, mainly in an attempt to tie down the troops of the 29th Army of the Chinese government here and prevent the 29th Army from going north to participate in the battle on the north bank of the Yangtze River.

At the same time, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, ordered the main force of the 11th Army, the 3rd Division, to begin to assemble in the Donggang area, and ordered the Nogou Detachment and the 13th Division of the Japanese Army to assemble from the Jingmen area to the opposite bank of Zhijiang and Yangxi near Zijinling, 13 kilometers northeast of Yichang, in preparation for the second phase of the Battle of Western Hubei in accordance with the combat plan formulated before the war.

The second phase of the Hubei-West Campaign, set by Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, was to capture and annihilate the troops of the 10th Army of the Chinese Government between Zhijiang and Gong'an.

On May 9, all the troops of the Japanese 11th Army participating in the second phase of the battle had assembled at the designated combat site in accordance with the order of the commander of the Japanese 11th Army, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama. Therefore, the commander of the Japanese 11th Army, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, issued an order to start the second phase of the Battle of Western Hubei.

In the order, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the Japanese 11th Army, stipulated that all troops would begin the second phase of the Hubei-West Campaign on May 12.

According to the second phase combat plan of the Hubei-West Campaign formulated by Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the Japanese 11th Army, the 3rd Division of the Japanese 11th Army launched an attack on Xinhe City and Gong'an in two routes. The 13th Division of the Japanese Army was responsible for cutting off the retreat of the Chinese army on the west bank of the Songzi River, and then quickly entering the vicinity of the sluice gate, attacking from the north side of Dayan and advancing to Guanshanpo line to support the attack operations of the Japanese 3rd Division.

The Nogou Detachment attacked towards Xinhe City to support the attack of the Japanese 3rd Division. The 17th Independent Mixed Brigade of the Japanese Army left a part of its forces to be responsible for the defense of Dazhongyan and Rudongpu and to guard against the Chinese army in Jinshi. The other main forces attacked towards Gong'an to support the attack of the Japanese 3rd Division.

In addition, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, also ordered the Hariya Detachment to attack toward Gong'an along the Taiping Canal, the Toda Detachment and the Koshiba Detachment to carry out mopping-up missions in the occupied areas of Sanxian Lake and Anxiang, and the Matsumoto Detachment to attack toward Gong'an from near Mituji Temple.

The second phase of the battle plan of the Japanese 11th Army Commander Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama in the Battle of Western Hubei was actually to find the Tenth Army of the Chinese government located in Gong'an and Songzi areas for a decisive battle and completely eliminate the Tenth Army of the Chinese government in this area.

At the same time, the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army occupied Gong'an, Songzi and the hilly areas to the south, in order to prepare in advance for the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army to enter the western mountainous areas to fight.

The combat method of Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, was to use a main division and a brigade attached to cross the Yangtze River from the Zhicheng area, and then attack southward to capture Songmuping, Liujiachang, Nuanshui Street, Zhakou, and Guanshanpo near Dayandang, forming a north-south isolation line to prevent the troops of the Tenth Army of the Chinese Government to the east of the isolation line from retreating to the mountainous area in the west, and cooperate with the troops attacking from the east to encircle and annihilate the Tenth Army of the Chinese Government. At the same time, another division and attached troops advanced westward from the Anxiang area to encircle the troops of the Tenth Army of the Chinese Government from the east and west.

On the morning of May 12, the Japanese 3rd Division first launched an attack from Donggang on the defensive positions of the 11th Division of the 87th Army of the Chinese Government's 10th Army at Baiyangdi and Wangjiazui. In the evening of the same day, the Japanese 13th Division also crossed the Yangtze River under the cover of fierce artillery fire and engaged in a fierce battle with the 55th Division of the 94th Army of the Chinese Government between Zhijiang Town and Shipai.

That night, the offensive forces of the Japanese 3rd Division, with the support of a large number of aircraft, broke through the defensive positions of the 11th Division at Baiyangdi, and took advantage of the situation to advance rapidly westward. At the same time, the Japanese Nogou Detachment also forced a crossing to the south bank of the Yangtze River from the southwest of Dongshi and captured Yangxi. With the three offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army advancing in unison, the Chinese army was forced to retreat.

On the second night after the Japanese 11th Army began the second phase of the Battle of Western Hubei, the attacking forces of the Japanese 3rd Division successfully captured Mengxi Temple and Sangmupu. The 87th Army of the Chinese government's 10th Army, which was responsible for the right wing defense, came under fierce attack from the Japanese army, and the casualties among the officers and soldiers of the army were extremely heavy.

Among them, the 352th Division of the th Army suffered the heaviest casualties. Not only did more than half of the officers and soldiers suffer casualties, but even Commander Xue of the nd Regiment of the th Division was killed in the battle. Under the fierce attack of the offensive forces of the Japanese th Army, the rest of the th Division's troops all retreated to the area west of Xizai and Dayan.

After two days of fierce fighting, the 94th Army, which was responsible for the left-wing defense of the 10th Army of the Chinese government, continued to retreat under the fierce attack of the 13th Division and the Nogou Detachment of the Japanese Army. Among them, the 55th Division was dispersed by the offensive forces of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army, and the 55th Division lost contact with the headquarters of the 94th Army and the 10th Army.

The 43rd Division of the Chinese government was also forced to abandon Gong'an and retreat westward under the attack of the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army. The offensive forces of the Japanese 3rd Division then successfully occupied Gong'an.