Quartermasters can also fight the devils

Moreover, near the 39th Division of the 11th Japanese Army, which was responsible for defending the center, there were troops from four armies of the Chinese government's 6th War Zone, including the 18th Army and other elite troops of the Chinese government.

This created a situation where the 39th Division of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army could not hold out for too long under the attack of the four armies of the Chinese government. If the defense line of the 39th Division of the Japanese Army collapsed, the retreat route of the offensive forces of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army heading south to Changde would be cut off, forcing the offensive forces of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army to abandon the attack on Changde and retreat to the original Japanese base.

According to the plan of Commander Sun, Acting Commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese Government, and Chief of Staff Guo of the War Zone, the 29th Army Group was responsible for guarding the front line outside Changde. With the 29th Army Group's more than 30,000 troops and the solid multi-layer fortifications built before, Commander Sun, Acting Commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese Government, and Chief of Staff Guo of the War Zone expected that the 29th Army Group could hold out for at least a week.

At this time, the 74th Army of the Chinese government had already begun to defend Changde, and the 100th Army was also rushing from Yiyang. It was expected to arrive at the Changde battlefield in a week at most. By then, the 100th Army and part of the 74th Army, together with the two armies of the 29th Army Group, would coordinate to defend the second-line defense positions outside Changde, such as Cili and Linli, and it was expected that they would be able to defend against the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army for about a week.

In addition, troops from two corps drawn from the Ninth War Zone of the Chinese government have already set out from Hengyang. Together with other troops that have arrived, it is expected that by then there will be four to five armies of Chinese troops waiting in Changde, ready to engage in a decisive battle with the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army.

It can be said that there was absolutely no problem with the combat deployment of Commander Sun, Acting Commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese Government, and Chief of Staff Guo of the War Zone. It could even be said to be very brilliant. However, plans can never keep up with changes, and man proposes, God disposes. In the end, an unexpected mistake almost led to the complete collapse of the Sixth War Zone troops of the Chinese Government.

After the attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army rested for two days, the commander of the Japanese 11th Army, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, could not wait to issue an order on November 13 to start the second phase of the Changde Campaign.

In the second phase combat plan of the Changde Campaign formulated by Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the Japanese 11th Army, the Japanese 3rd Division and the Japanese 13th Division, as well as the attached troops, which were responsible for the central offensive operation, immediately turned their entire army to attack southward, crossed the Lishui River west of Lixian County, and defeated the 73rd Army of the 29th Army of the Chinese government there.

Then, the Japanese 3rd Division, the Japanese 13th Division and the attached combat troops immediately moved south quickly to occupy the second-line position of Cili, about 25 kilometers away from Shimen, and then advanced another 60 kilometers to occupy Taoyuan southwest of Changde, completing the encirclement of the west of Changde.

The troops of the 116th Division of the Japanese Army in the south immediately turned to attack southward, first breaking the defense of the 44th Army of the 29th Army of the Chinese government responsible for defending Li County, crossing the Lishui River from here, and then the 116th Division of the Japanese Army needed to quickly occupy Linli, 20 kilometers south of the Lishui River.

Afterwards, the 116th Division of the Japanese Army attacked southward along the Linli-Changde road without any stop, broke through the defense line of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government at Taiyang Mountain and Taifu Mountain, and then began to attack Changde City. It can be said that the straight-line distance of this line of attack of the 116th Division of the Japanese Army was not far. It could reach Changde City by marching 50 kilometers south from Linli.

Another division of the Japanese 11th Army on the southern route, the 68th Division of the Japanese Army, did not launch an attack from land. Instead, they boarded ships in the Yukou area south of Anxiang and used more than a thousand ships to transport them to Hanshou south of Changde. They then carried out amphibious landing operations to complete the encirclement from the south of Changde.

According to the plan for the second phase of the Changde Campaign formulated by Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the Japanese 11th Army, once the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army completed the second phase of the combat mission, the south, west and north of Changde would all be surrounded by the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army. To the east was Dongting Lake which was blocked by Japanese warships. In this way, the city of Changde would be completely surrounded by the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army.

As for the troops of the 39th Division of the Japanese Army, they followed the combat plan of Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, and stayed in Zhijiang to carry out blocking operations. They were responsible for blocking the 10th Army and the Jiang Defense Army of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government in Yichang from going south to reinforce Changde.

In order to successfully encircle Changde, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Japanese Army, dispatched four divisions and other affiliated combat troops in the second phase of the operation, with a total force of 80,000.

The distance from Lishui to Changde is only 80 kilometers. If the Chinese army does not block the Japanese offensive forces, the Japanese cavalry units can even reach Changde within one day. Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Japanese Army, believed that at such a close distance, with so many troops mobilized to fight this encirclement and annihilation battle, the Chinese army in Changde would probably not only find it difficult to break through, but even the reinforcements would not be able to arrive in Changde in time.

While the attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army were resting, the acting commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government, Commander Sun, and Chief of Staff Guo of the War Zone took this time to immediately make new deployments for the combat missions of each unit. At the same time, the Sixth War Zone Command of the Chinese government also completely shifted the center of the battlefield to the Changde line.

The acting commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government, Commander Sun, and the chief of staff of the war zone, Guo, ordered that the 29th Army of the Chinese government be responsible for resisting the attack of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army heading towards Changde from the front, and ordered the 73rd Army of the 29th Army to hold Shimen and Xin'an in the west, and the 44th Army of the 29th Army to defend Lixian and Jinshi in the east.

The acting commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government, Sun Changjun, and the chief of staff of the war zone, Guo, asked the commander of the 29th Army Group, Wang, to leave a main division to defend Shimen in the western section of the Lishui River, and another main division to guard Lixian and Jinshi in the eastern section of the Lishui River. They were absolutely not allowed to move. At the same time, they ordered the rest of the 29th Army Group to set up defenses near the Lishui River.

In the view of Commander Sun, acting commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government, and Chief of Staff Guo of the War Zone, although the 29th Army Group had fought against the 116th Division and the 68th Division of the Japanese Army on the southern front during the first phase of the offensive operations of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army.