Quartermasters can also fight the devils

The detailed battle plan of Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Japanese Army, was divided into three phases:

In the first stage, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, planned to use the five divisions of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army to first break through the frontal defense line of the 10th Army and the 29th Army of the Chinese government, and occupy the Nuanshui Street, Taiping Street, and Wangjiachang line in the middle in one fell swoop, cutting the Chinese army in the area controlled by the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese Government in half.

This is because the line of Nuanshui Street, Taiping Street and Wangjiachang is located right between Shipai Yichang in the north and Changde in the south. It also prevents the Chinese government's Sixth War Zone from making a judgment on whether its 11th Army's offensive force should go south to attack Changde or north to attack Shipai Yichang, and makes it impossible to effectively concentrate its forces to defend against the next attack by its 11th Army's offensive force.

After the offensive force of the Japanese 11th Army occupied this line, it could temporarily cut off the route of the two second-line group armies of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government in Shipai and Yichang in the north and the Jiang Defense Army to reinforce southward, so as to facilitate the second phase of the offensive force of the 11th Army's operations.

The second phase of the plan by Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Japanese Army, was that after completing the first phase, the attacking force of the 11th Japanese Army would immediately turn four of its divisions southward, leaving one division of more than 10,000 troops to temporarily block the main force of the Chinese army and the 10th Army of the Chinese government in the Shipai area in the north. At the same time, the 40th Division of the Japanese Army stationed in the Sanzhen area began to feint an attack on the 9th War Zone of the Chinese government in order to contain the 9th War Zone.

Then, according to the plan of Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, the offensive forces of the four divisions of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army heading south will concentrate their forces to first annihilate the two armies of the 29th Army of the Chinese government on the Lishui defense line, and tear open the outermost defense line of the Chinese army in Changde.

In the third stage, after the offensive forces of the 11th Japanese Army broke through the Lishui defense line, they would immediately and quickly attack Changde, and then use the strength of three divisions to attack Changde. At the same time, they would send another division to cross the Dongting Lake and land from the south of Changde to block the reinforcements of the two armies of the Ninth War Zone from the south. Finally, the offensive forces of the 11th Japanese Army would encircle Changde with the strength of four divisions and completely eliminate the main forces of the Chinese army in the encirclement.

After the above three phases of operations were completed, the attacking forces of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army took the initiative to abandon Changde and began to retreat from this line before the reinforcements of the Chinese Army arrived in Changde.

Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, predicted that in this Changde Battle, if his 11th Army's offensive force successfully executed the combat plan he had formulated, it should be possible to destroy at least 50,000 main forces of the Chinese Army.

Of course, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, felt that if he was lucky, the number of Chinese troops destroyed by his 11th Army's offensive forces in the Battle of Changde might be more than 100,000. If this was the case, the Sixth and Ninth War Zones of the Chinese government would both be severely hit. It was estimated that it would take at least half a year to a year for these two war zones of the Chinese government to recover their strength.

The battle plan of Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, was extremely cunning. During the Battle of Western Hubei half a year ago, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, pretended to attack Changde in the south, and then suddenly launched a lightning attack on Shipai to the west.

At that time, China was caught off guard and failed to gather its main forces in Shipai in advance. This time, the commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, used the same trick again and made a feint to the east and attacked in the west. However, this time the goal was completely different. He really played the whole game of true and false very well.

Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, also figured out the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese Government very clearly. He was very sure that the troops of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese Government would definitely use Shipai as the first protection target. Even though he knew that his 11th Army's large-scale assembled troops might attack Changde, the Sixth War Zone Command of the Chinese Government did not dare to transfer a large number of troops defending Shipai to Changde for combat.

Because Shipai is far more important to the Chinese government than Changde now. It is related to the direct security of the Chinese government in the mountain city. The Sixth War Zone Command of the Chinese government does not have the courage to transfer all the troops to Changde to take the risk.

After rigorous sand table simulations, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Japanese Army, and the staff of the 11th Japanese Army Command believed that as long as the main force of the Chinese government's Sixth War Zone could be temporarily contained in the Shipai line in the north, and then one division could be used to block the reinforcements of the Chinese government's Sixth War Zone for about ten days, there would be no problem.

In this case, the main offensive force of the Japanese 11th Army will quickly attack southward, advance at high speed along the Changde hills, and use Dongting Lake to transport a division of troops to land on the rear side of Changde. In this battle, the offensive force of the Japanese 11th Army will have no problem destroying the 50,000 to 100,000 Chinese troops near Changde.

Compared with the very confusing strategy formulated by the Japanese 11th Army Headquarters and its commander, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, the Chinese government's Sixth War Zone was much more passive.

Although the acting commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government, Commander Sun, and Chief of Staff Guo both judged that the attacking force of the Japanese 11th Army should attack Changde, but as the commander of the Japanese 11th Army, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, judged, the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government could not ignore the safety of Shipai.

If the attacking force of the 11th Japanese Army makes a feint in Changde again, and the main forces of the Sixth War Zone are mobilized near Changde, then the attack of the 11th Japanese Army will occupy Shipai, and the 11th Japanese Army will be able to control the shipping of the Three Gorges, which will bring a great threat to the rear area of ​​Sichuan Province, and even the mountain city where the Chinese government is currently located will be in danger.

Since Shipai is far more important to the Chinese government than Changde, the Chinese government's Sixth War Zone Command and Commander Sun must give priority to the defense of Shipai, and Changde can only be taken into consideration as much as possible.

In addition, there was a more practical problem facing Commander Sun, acting commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government, which was that the troops available to the Sixth War Zone were very insufficient. The Chinese government's Sixth War Zone could only directly use four army groups and one river defense army, a total of twelve armies with a total strength of less than 150,000 troops, which was comparable to the offensive force of the Japanese 11th Army.