Quartermasters can also fight the devils

However, the orders and arrangements issued by Commander Sun, Acting Commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese Government, and Chief of Staff Guo of the War Zone were all a step too late, and the speed at which the 29th Army was defeated exceeded everyone's expectations.

By the time the orders from General Sun, acting commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government, and Chief of Staff Guo of the War Zone reached the 73rd Army, Xin'an, which was defended by the 77th Division, had already fallen, and the Lishui defense line had been completely broken through by the troops of the 13th Division of the Japanese Army.

Commander Sun, acting commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government, and Chief of Staff Guo of the War Zone could only order the Provisional Fifth Division of the 73rd Army to defend Shimen at all costs to buy time for the Changde War.

Starting from the 14th, the Japanese 3rd Division launched a fierce attack on the last position outside Shimen County. The officers and soldiers of the temporary 5th Division struggled to hold on under the attack of the three regiments of the Japanese 3rd Division, and the battle was extremely fierce.

The officers and soldiers of the Provisional Fifth Division also defended every inch of the position. At the Hongtupo position outside Shimen County, the officers and soldiers of a reinforced battalion of the Provisional Fifth Division had successively repelled more than ten attacks by the offensive forces of the Japanese Third Division.

When the attacking force of the Japanese 3rd Division saw that they could not break into the last defensive position of the Provisional 5th Division, they released a large amount of poison gas. The officers and soldiers of the Provisional 5th Division were not equipped with gas masks, so they could only wet towels with water and cover their mouths and noses with them to block the gas.

However, this simple anti-gas measure still caused some officers and soldiers to be knocked out by the poison gas released by the Japanese Third Division. The Japanese Third Division launched several fierce attacks on the Hongtupo position with the support of poison gas bombs. Finally, after suffering considerable casualties, the offensive force of the Japanese Third Division finally occupied Hongtupo, and nearly a thousand people of a reinforced battalion of the Temporary Fifth Division responsible for the defense here were almost all killed.

As the battle continued, the Japanese 3rd Division, with its absolute superiority in manpower and firepower, broke through all positions of the Provisional 5th Division outside Shimen County. The offensive forces of the Japanese 3rd Division also approached the city of Shimen, and some of them even rushed into Shimen County.

Commander Peng of the Provisional Fifth Division personally led the troops in Shimen County and engaged in a fierce hand-to-hand fight with the Japanese Third Division troops that had rushed into Shimen County, successfully annihilating all the offensive forces of the Japanese Third Division that had rushed into the city.

However, as the offensive forces of the Japanese Third Division began to launch a fierce attack on Shimen County, the artillery of the Japanese Third Division bombarded Shimen County fiercely. The shells rained down on Shimen County, causing heavy casualties to the officers and soldiers of the Provisional Fifth Division.

The battle lasted until dusk of the next day, when a part of the attacking force of the Japanese 3rd Division even set up ladders and rushed into the city of Shimen County. Prior to this, the officers and soldiers of the temporary 5th Division had successively annihilated two small groups of Japanese 3rd Division troops that had rushed into the city of Shimen County.

But at this time, facing the attacking force of the Japanese 3rd Division that rushed into Shimen County, the Provisional 5th Division had fought to the point of exhaustion, with casualties of officers and soldiers of the entire division reaching as high as 70%. It was no longer able to drive the Japanese troops that had rushed into the city out of the city. The Provisional 5th Division could only start repeated street fighting with the attacking forces of the Japanese 3rd Division in the city.

After the fierce battle lasted until dark, the attacking forces of the Japanese 3rd Division finally stopped their day-long attack, allowing the remaining officers and soldiers of the Provisional 5th Division to rest for a while, and take advantage of the darkness to consolidate the positions that had been torn apart by the attacking forces of the Japanese 3rd Division, and carry some wounded officers and soldiers to the rear for treatment.

Although Shimen is still in the hands of the Provisional Fifth Division, Commander Wang of the 73rd Army knows that the attacking forces of the Japanese Third Division have already entered Shimen City. Shimen is actually in danger, and the Provisional Fifth Division can only hold out in Shimen County for one more day at most.

Even more terrible was that at this time, the 44th Army of the 29th Army on the east side of the Lishui River, in order to preserve its strength, arbitrarily retreated to the south of the Lishui River when the Japanese offensive was not fierce. This allowed the attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army to cross the Lishui River. In addition, the Japanese 11th Army that had crossed the Lishui River had already sent a part of its troops to begin to outflank the 73rd Army in the west.

In the 73rd Army, most of its officers and soldiers have been killed or wounded. The key point is that the new recruits have no fighting spirit and the army is on the verge of collapse. If it is surrounded by the attacking forces of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, the 73rd Army will probably be wiped out in a short period of time.

However, Commander Sun, Acting Commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese Government, and Chief of Staff Guo of the War Zone knew that the current situation was very dangerous for the 73rd Army. But they also knew that the 73rd Army must not retreat without authorization.

First of all, once the 73rd Army abandoned Shimen and withdrew, the Lishui defense line would be completely destroyed. As long as Shimen was still in the hands of the Chinese army, neither the Japanese 3rd Division that was attacking Shimen from the front, the Japanese 13th Division on the side, nor the Japanese 116th Division would dare to attack southward recklessly. This would buy a lot of time for the deployment of the Changde Battle.

Secondly, judging from the current situation of the 73rd Army and the marching speed of the Japanese offensive forces, the marching speed of the Japanese offensive forces is obviously higher than that of the 73rd Army. It is probably difficult for the 73rd Army to retreat to the second-line defense position. It is even very likely to be pursued by the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army on the way of retreat, resulting in a complete collapse of the entire army, with even greater casualties than defending the positions. Commander Sun, acting commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government, and Chief of Staff Guo of the War Zone feel that instead of doing this, it is better to let the troops of the 73rd Army hold certain positions. Perhaps the 73rd Army may still have a chance of survival.

There is actually nothing wrong with the views of Commander Sun, Acting Commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government, and Chief of Staff Guo of the War Zone, but unexpectedly, someone jumped out to disrupt the situation at the critical moment.

Since the top government leaders were attending the important Cairo Conference when the Changde Campaign began, Xu Shichang was temporarily in charge of the Military Commission, while the real power was held by Deputy Chief of Military Affairs Liu Fei.

According to battlefield rules, the Battle of Changde was commanded by General Sun, acting commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government. Even the Military Commission and the top government officials themselves could not interfere.

However, Deputy Chief of Military Affairs Liu, who believed that he had great military talent, actually intervened after analyzing the situation on the Changde battlefield. From a general military perspective, he believed that the 73rd Army was in a very dangerous situation. If it did not retreat at this time, it would probably be surrounded by the Japanese offensive forces and then wiped out north of the Lishui River.