Quartermasters can also fight the devils

However, the officers and soldiers of the 57th Division of the Chinese government were ordered to defend Changde City to the death. How could they retreat from Changde City just because the Japanese army retreated, let alone retreat from the enemy's position?

In addition to opening the south gate of Changde City to allow the besieged remnants of the 57th Division to retreat, the commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, also ordered the offensive forces of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army to launch the most fierce attack in other directions. This was because, in addition to being able to occupy Changde City, this fierce attack was also the best way to force the 57th Division of the Chinese government that was holding out in Changde City to escape.

Starting from November 28, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Japanese Army, ordered more than 100 artillery pieces with a caliber of 70 mm or above to be pushed directly to the range of two to three kilometers outside Changde City, and directly aimed at the city walls of Changde City to fire. At the same time, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Japanese Army, also ordered more than 20 Japanese planes of the Japanese Air Force to circle over Changde City during the day, strafing and dropping bombs everywhere.

When the commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, concentrated his troops and firepower to launch an overwhelming attack on the east, north and west directions of Changde City, the 57th Division had less than a thousand officers and soldiers left to defend Changde City. Division Commander Yu had even incorporated more than 40 policemen in the city into the combat troops to participate in the battle.

The 57th Division now not only has very few soldiers left, but also has almost exhausted its ammunition. Each officer and soldier now has only a few bullets, and there are not many grenades left. At this time, a policeman who originally belonged to the Changde government suddenly remembered something.

Half a year before the Battle of Changde, the police station in Changde City received 10,000 rifle bullets from the government in order to eliminate local bandits. Later, as regular troops were stationed in Changde City, the task of eliminating bandits was naturally handed over to the army, and the police no longer needed so many bullets.

However, because the police station was very dilapidated and did not have two warehouses to store ammunition, it was impossible to store the ammunition for a long time. Therefore, the then police chief Zhang Bingkun ordered the bullets to be buried in the cellar of the police station. Later, Changde City successively replaced two police chiefs, but neither of them took out the batch of bullets, and the matter was gradually forgotten by everyone.

After receiving the report from the policeman, Commander Yu of the 57th Division was overjoyed and immediately led his men to dig out the 10,000 rifle bullets. Although the number of these bullets was not large, each of the remaining officers and soldiers of the 57th Division could get at least ten bullets, which could play a certain role in subsequent battles.

Due to the fierce artillery and bombing by the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army in the past few days, especially the large-scale artillery attack launched by the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army on the 27th, the 57th Division's defensive fortifications on this line of the Changde City wall were almost completely destroyed. Now the officers and soldiers of the 57th Division can only use rubble, ruins and even bomb craters as cover, and struggle to resist the attacks of the offensive forces of the Japanese 11th Army.

On the 28th, Colonel Kurose Heiichi, commander of the 133rd Regiment of the Japanese Army, which was responsible for attacking the north gate of Changde City, saw that his troops were unable to break through the roads and a small number of pontoon bridges on the moat of Changde City under the fire blockade of the officers and soldiers of the 57th Division. In a panic, he ordered his soldiers to find some boats from the outskirts of Changde City.

Colonel Heiichi Kurose, commander of the 133rd Regiment of the Japanese Army, ordered the attacking troops to board these civilian ships and rubber boats to force their way across the moat of Changde City. However, the attacking Japanese troops were subjected to even more intense fire from the officers and soldiers of the 57th Division, and suffered even more heavy casualties.

After the attacking force of the 133rd Regiment of the Japanese Army launched the first wave of attack to forcefully cross the moat, one of the two civilian ships in the first wave of attack by the 9th Squadron of the 3rd Battalion was sunk by the firepower of the 57th Division in the middle of the moat. All the officers and soldiers of the 9th Squadron on the ship fell into the turbulent moat and drowned. The other ship was riddled with holes from the bullets fired by the officers and soldiers of the 57th Division. In the end, it barely crossed the moat, but many officers and soldiers of the 9th Squadron on the ship were killed or wounded, and the blood of the Japanese officers and soldiers on the ship was already above their ankles.

The 11th Squadron, which launched a forced crossing not far from the 9th Squadron, suffered even more misery. The squadron leader, Lieutenant Maeda Maonan, personally led dozens of officers and soldiers of the 11th Squadron to try to force a crossing of the moat on civilian boats. However, before the officers and soldiers of the 11th Squadron could push the boats into the river, they were strafed by light and heavy machine guns of the 57th Division at the north gate. Twenty-eight people of the 11th Squadron were shot and killed on the spot. When the 11th Squadron reached the other side of the moat, only the squadron leader, Lieutenant Maeda Maonan, and twelve soldiers were left alive.

However, on the morning of the 28th, the 133rd Regiment of the Japanese Army relied on its troop advantage to break through the 57th Division's blockade of the moat and reached the other side of the moat. But before the attacking forces of the 133rd Regiment of the Japanese Army could gain a foothold on the other side of the moat, they engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the officers and soldiers of the 57th Division who launched a counterattack.

During the fierce battle, the 1st Battalion of the 133rd Regiment of the Japanese Army, which was attacking in the front, suffered heavy casualties. The acting commander of the 1st Battalion, Captain Eitaro Iishiro, was hit by four or five grenades in succession by the officers and soldiers of the 57th Division in the melee. Captain Eitaro Iishiro, the acting commander of the 1st Battalion, kicked away three grenades that had not exploded in time, but one grenade still exploded under the feet of Captain Eitaro Iishiro, the acting commander of the 1st Battalion.

Captain Eitaro Iishiro, the acting captain of the 1st Battalion, was hit by more than 30 grenade fragments and was killed on the spot. Lieutenant Kazuo Kitada, the captain of the 4th Squadron next to Captain Eitaro Iishiro, the acting captain of the 1st Battalion, was also killed.

After an afternoon of hard fighting, the attacking force of the 133rd Regiment of the Japanese Army finally broke into the area south of the moat with its troop advantage, and the troops of the two battalions also rushed to the north gate of Changde City.

However, what the commander of the 133rd Regiment of the Japanese Army, Colonel Kurose Taiichi, did not expect was that his 133rd Regiment suffered unexpected casualties at the north gate.

In the evening, several Japanese light bombers traveled thousands of miles to the sky above Changde City, and then provided bombing support to the Japanese 11th Army that was attacking Changde City.