Quartermasters can also fight the devils

Commander Peng was hit by several bullets in the chest and was seriously injured. Blood gushed out from the bullet site in his chest and even washed away the bandage. Commander Peng also knew the extent of his injuries, so he said to several officers and soldiers around him: "I can be loyal to my country and filial to my nation, and I have no regrets in death!" In the end, Commander Peng closed his eyes and died gloriously for his country.

After Commander Peng died for his country, the 13th Regiment of the Provisional Fifth Division, which was responsible for the rearguard action, was almost wiped out. After the remaining officers and soldiers of the Provisional Fifth Division crossed the Lishui River, Commander Zhu of the 13th Regiment also retreated with the remaining officers and soldiers and prepared to cross the Lishui River.

However, since the boats for crossing the river were destroyed by Japanese artillery fire, Commander Zhu of the 13th Regiment could only borrow door panels from local villagers' homes and use them as ferries with more than a dozen remaining officers and soldiers to cross the Lishui River.

The desperate defense of the Provisional Fifth Division also bought precious retreat time for the remnants of the 15th Division and the 77th Division of the 73rd Army, allowing them to retreat smoothly to the south of the Lishui River.

Although the retreat of the 77th and 15th Divisions was relatively successful, as expected by Commander Sun, Acting Commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese Government, and Chief of Staff Guo of the War Zone, the 77th and 15th Divisions were now completely out of control due to too many new recruits.

Under the continued pursuit of the Japanese 11th Army's offensive forces, the 77th Division and the 15th Division could not hold their ground at all and soon abandoned their second-line defensive positions and continued to retreat to Cili. Some troops even retreated to the south of Taoyuan, 50 kilometers away, and completely withdrew from the Changde battlefield.

When Commander Wang of the 73rd Army was gathering troops in a safe area in the rear and preparing to organize a defense, what made Commander Wang collapse was that the entire 73rd Army had only gathered twelve companies of troops, which was just over a thousand people.

It can be said that the 73rd Army had completely collapsed under the attack of the Japanese 11th Army. The complete collapse of the 73rd Army was not only due to the fact that the enemy was too numerous and we were too few, but also due to serious problems in command. If it were not for the fact that the Provisional 5th Division still had a certain combat effectiveness and relied on the better built fortifications to block the attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army, and if the Provisional 5th Division Commander Peng personally led his troops to fight to the death to cover the rear, I am afraid that the 73rd Army would have been completely finished north of the Lishui River.

Moreover, after retreating across the Lishui River, among the three divisions of the 73rd Army, except for the Provisional 5th Division, which suffered more than two-thirds of casualties and could no longer participate in the battle, the casualties of the 15th Division and the 77th Division were actually only more than half.

If the officers and soldiers of the 15th and 77th Divisions had a stronger will to fight, they could have gathered their troops and continued to defend the defensive positions such as Cili on the second line.

However, the 15th and 77th Divisions of the 73rd Army collapsed during the retreat, almost disintegrating on their own, resulting in the rapid loss of the original second-line defense positions and the extreme crisis in Changde, disrupting the overall plan designed by General Sun, acting commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government, and Chief of Staff Guo of the War Zone.

After the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army broke through the 73rd Army's defense lines in Shimen and Cili, the two Japanese divisions quickly attacked Taoyuan, Bazi Road and Hujiawan. At this point, the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army controlled the areas on both sides of the Yuanjiang River upstream of Changde and completed the blockade of the west of Changde.

Since the 15th and 77th Divisions of the 73rd Army were defeated by the attacking forces of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army in just one day, only the temporary 5th Division barely held out in Shimen for four days. This made the top government leaders who were attending the Cairo Conference very angry. As soon as they learned the news, they dismissed the commander of the 73rd Army, Wang Zhibin.

At this time, according to the original combat plan of General Sun, acting commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government, and Chief of Staff Guo of the War Zone, the 100th Army, which was supposed to cooperate in the defense of Cili, still had three days to go. As long as the 73rd Army could hold Cili for three days, the 100th Army could reinforce this line and block the advance of the Japanese 11th Army's offensive forces.

But the reality was that the 73rd Army had been completely routed and could no longer defend, and the 100th Army had not yet arrived. This left the route from Lishui to Changde wide open. For the attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army, this route was almost undefended, and the situation in Changde suddenly became extremely critical.

Originally, the 74th Army of the Huaxia government was responsible for defending the Changde line according to the original combat plan of the acting commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Huaxia government, Commander Sun, and Chief of Staff Guo of the War Zone. The 74th Army deployed one division of troops in Changde City for defense and two divisions on the periphery. In this way, the 74th Army could defend the area with a depth of more than 50 kilometers around Changde.

However, the 73rd and 44th Armies of the 29th Army Group were rapidly defeated in just three days. The 100th Army that planned to coordinate the defense of Cili on the right wing and Li Yutang's Corps that planned to reinforce Changde were simply unable to reach the Changde front line.

Faced with the now tattered defense line and the 29th Army Group which had been defeated, General Sun, acting commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government, was very helpless. He could only disobey the order from the highest level of the government not to move the 74th Army casually, and withdraw the main force of the 74th Army to reinforce the western front. This was also a helpless move of robbing Peter to pay Paul.

After receiving the order from Commander Sun, acting commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government, to reinforce the western line of the Lishui River, Commander Wang of the 74th Army of the Chinese government immediately drew out the already insufficient forces of the 74th Army and began to move northward to intercept the attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army heading south.

Since the Japanese 11th Army's attacking force on the right wing was as high as two divisions with a total of more than 40,000 troops, if the 74th Army only mobilized one division with more than 8,000 people to fight, it would be tantamount to delivering food to the Japanese 11th Army's attacking force.

Therefore, facing the order from Commander Sun, acting commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government, Commander Wang of the 74th Army gritted his teeth and sent the 51st and 58th Divisions to the right to fill the gap of the 73rd Army, leaving only the 57th Division responsible for the defense of Changde. In this way, the defense force of Changde was reduced by two-thirds.

At noon on November 16, the vanguard of the 58th Division of the 74th Army encountered the attacking forces of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army at the Guandu Bridge line. At night, the troops of the 51st Division of the 74th Army also fought with the attacking forces of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army in Guanguo Mountain and other places.