Quartermasters can also fight the devils

Because the officers and soldiers of the Chinese army were generally very weak, it took thirty soldiers to move a mountain cannon. In order to carry shells and cannons during the war, the soldiers did not even bring quilts to reduce the weight and had to sleep in cotton coats at night.

On the other hand, the infantry of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army who participated in the Battle of Changde could at least eat rice, biscuits and canned beef. This is also the most basic reason why the officers and soldiers of the Japanese Army had the advantage in hand-to-hand combat and bayonet fighting.

Changde City is an ancient city with a history of thousands of years. As early as 277 BC, the famous general Zhang Ruo built a city here. At that time, it was called Zhang Ruo City. It was not a brick and stone structure, but an earthen city.

Because Changde City has an important geographical location, it has experienced many battles and has been destroyed many times in history. In addition, there are many ethnic minorities in northwestern Hunan, and ethnic conflicts and ethnic minority rebellions often occur. Any city here must have a certain degree of defense. As an important town in northwestern Hunan, Changde has always maintained a tall earthen wall.

In 1117 AD, the seventh year of Zhenghe reign of Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty, the Song Dynasty organized a local armed force "Changde Army" here, and the city was renamed Changde, and the name is still used today.

In the early Ming Dynasty, that is, in the sixth year of Hongwu, Sun De, the defender of Changde in the Ming Dynasty, changed the earthen city wall into a brick and stone structure. In the Qing Dynasty, the Changde city wall underwent many repairs and expansions, becoming a very solid city.

Later, due to wars, the Changde city wall was destroyed and rebuilt several times. It was still relatively intact until the end of the Qing Dynasty. However, with the emergence of modern weapons, especially heavy artillery and powerful explosives, no matter how tall the city wall was, it could not withstand long-term attacks. As a result, the city wall of Changde began to be ignored by the local government and the army.

Later, the local government demolished a lot of Changde's city walls for reasons such as flood control and transportation development, and even the north city gate was demolished. However, even so, before the Battle of Changde, Changde City still retained many ancient tall city walls, and the moat, which was more important than the city walls, played a great help to the defense of the 57th.

Facing the encirclement of the Japanese 11th Army's offensive forces, the 57th Division Commander Yu had already made arrangements for the defense of Changde City. Among them, Commander Yu ordered the 169th Regiment to defend the north of Changde City, the 170th Regiment to defend the west of the city, and the 171st Regiment to defend the east of the city.

The 3rd Battalion of the Artillery Regiment of the 74th Army, which was assigned to the 57th Division, was ordered to enter Changde City to serve as the artillery force for the defense of the city. At the same time, the 3rd Battalion of the Artillery Regiment was ordered to also take into account the defense of the south of the city. In addition, there was a flat-fire artillery platoon and an anti-aircraft artillery platoon, all on standby in Changde City.

In addition, the officers and soldiers of the 57th Division can still feel at ease with the defensive fortifications in Changde, because Changde has started to build defensive fortifications since the Japanese invasion of Hunan Province in 1938, and the construction has been going on for five years.

However, although the fortifications of Changde City took a long time to build, they still missed two major shortcomings when they were built at that time:

The first is that Changde City is backed by the 700-meter-wide Yuan River to its south, and the water flow of the Yuan River is very turbulent, so transportation can only be done by ferry. Once the Chinese army in Changde is surrounded by the Japanese attacking forces, it will be very difficult for the Chinese army defending the city to retreat to the rear.

The second point is that although Changde City is not large, most of the more than 5,000 buildings in the city are wooden buildings. They cannot be considered strong in the face of modern weapons, nor are they bulletproof, let alone artillery proof, and are especially afraid of fire. Such a small city could hardly resist the bombardment of heavy weapons and air force bombing by the Japanese attacking forces for a long time.

Moreover, since the city is not large, if the Chinese army places more defensive forces in the city, it will be difficult for the Chinese army to hide effectively. Often, before they even see the Japanese infantry attack, they will be killed by the intensive heavy weapons of the Japanese offensive forces, which is very cost-effective.

However, if the Chinese army deployed fewer troops in the city, although it could reduce casualties from the heavy weapons of the Japanese attacking forces, it would not be able to hold out for too long in the defensive battle in the city. In short, the defensive situation in Changde City was very unfavorable.

Commander Yu of the 57th Division had surveyed the terrain of Changde City repeatedly long before. Commander Yu believed that in order to defend Changde City, they must first defend the suburbs outside Changde City. As a last resort, the troops could retreat into the city and engage in street fighting with the Japanese attacking forces.

Originally, according to the battle plan for the Changde Campaign formulated by Sun Chang, acting commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government, and Guo, chief of staff of the war zone, the outermost defensive positions outside the city of Changde should have been defended by the 51st and 58th Divisions of the 74th Army respectively, and the 57th Division only needed to defend the city of Changde and the fortifications in the suburbs.

In the 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 74th Army with a strength of more than 20,000 troops is relatively sufficient to defend the defensive positions 40 kilometers deep in Changde.

Unfortunately, the 73rd and 44th Armies of the 29th Army Group on the front line were defeated so quickly by the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army that the acting commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government, General Sun, and Chief of Staff Guo of the War Zone could only order the 51st and 58th Divisions of the 74th Army to move north to reinforce and fill the gap.

In this way, the defensive positions with a depth of 40 kilometers around Changde City could only be defended by the 57th Division of the 74th Army. This was obviously not enough. In many critical defensive positions, the 57th Division could only send a company or even a platoon to garrison.

Fortunately, the defensive fortifications in Changde City and its surroundings were relatively strong. As early as after the Battle of Three Towns, the Japanese army had occupied Yueyang, the northernmost city in Hunan Province, turning Changde into a front-line war zone. From then on, Changde began to build a large number of defensive fortifications.

This led to the construction of a large number of large and small field fortifications in the suburbs of Changde, with a depth of nearly 40 kilometers. Generally speaking, it can be said that Changde's fortifications were relatively complete.

Moreover, after the 57th Division entered Changde City, Division Commander Yu, based on the actual needs of the 57th Division's forces, urgently built dozens of reinforced concrete bunkers around Changde City, near the city gates and inside the city, greatly enhancing Changde City's defensive combat capabilities.