Quartermasters can also fight the devils

General Sun, the acting commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government, is already fifty years old. In his thirty-two years of military career, he has witnessed countless brutal battles and is accustomed to life and death. Those so-called brutal battles are commonplace for General Sun and are nothing at all.

After receiving this suicide telegram from Commander Yu of the 57th Division, Commander Sun was moved by the heroic deeds of the officers and soldiers of the 57th Division and even couldn't help shedding tears. You know, even in the Battle of Taierzhuang at the beginning of the war, when Commander Sun's troops suffered as many as 90% casualties, Commander Sun remained unmoved and demanded to fight to the last soldier.

After calming down, Commander Sun, acting commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government, immediately sent a telegram to the 57th Division, telling Commander Yu that Li Yutang's Corps, which had come to reinforce from the south, had occupied Deshan and would soon arrive in the south of Changde City, and asked Commander Yu to continue to lead the officers and soldiers of the 57th Division to persevere.

After sending the telegram to Commander Yu of the 57th Division, Commander Sun, acting commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government, and Chief of Staff Guo of the War Zone sent telegram orders to all rescue corps, requiring all rescue forces to launch an attack on the defensive forces of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army in front of them with all their strength, and ordering all forces to rush into Changde City on the 30th at all costs.

In addition, the acting commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government, Commander Sun, and Chief of Staff Guo of the War Zone requested that the joint air force of China and the United States dispatch all aircraft to bomb the attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army in Changde City, weaken the attacking force of the Japanese 11th Army on Changde City, and at the same time, request the Air Force aircraft to airdrop ammunition and supplies to the 57th Division.

On that day, the joint air force of China and the United States repeatedly strafed and bombed the attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army on the Changde front line, while driving away the Japanese planes over Changde City. This move by the joint air force of China and the United States not only caused hundreds of casualties to the attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army, but also greatly boosted the morale of the officers and soldiers of the 57th Division who were holding out in Changde City.

At the same time, the joint air force of China and the United States also airdropped 6,000 rounds of ammunition, as well as more than 3,000 kilograms of medicines and dried meat that the officers and soldiers of the 57th Division in Changde City needed. Although these airdropped ammunition and supplies were far from enough to meet the actual needs of the officers and soldiers of the 57th Division, they greatly boosted the morale of the officers and soldiers of the 57th Division.

On November 30, facing the fact that Changde City had not yet been occupied, the commander of the Japanese 11th Army, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, was also furious.

In the view of Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, he had already removed the blockade in the direction of the south gate of Changde City, but the officers and soldiers of the 57th Division of the Chinese government refused to retreat from the south gate of Changde City. This was too disrespectful to him. Therefore, the angry Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army, ordered the troops to close the passage of the south gate again and demanded that the attacking forces of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army must annihilate the 57th Division of the Chinese government, which did not give him face, in Changde City.

As soon as day broke, the attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army continued to launch a fierce attack on Changde City. The main target of the attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army was the Central Bank, where the headquarters of the 57th Division was located, at the west gate of Changde City.

Since there were many bandits in China at that time, some powerful gangs dared to carry out armed robbery of local banks. Therefore, all banks in Chinese cities were built with reinforced concrete structures and were very solid. The 75mm caliber mountain cannons carried by the attacking forces of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army could hardly cause any serious damage to the bank buildings. Even the aerial bombs dropped by ordinary Japanese planes could not easily destroy the bank buildings.

With the help of the solid defense capabilities of the Central Bank in Changde City, the 57th Division Headquarters was able to hold out until the last day when the city was captured.

The attacking force of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army concentrated thousands of troops on that day and launched a fierce attack from the direction of the Xiaoxi Gate of Changde City towards the Central Bank more than 200 meters away. The attacking force of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army rushed into the Wenchang Temple at the intersection along the street, and then the Central Bank was another 100 meters ahead.

In this street, officers and soldiers of the 57th Division built several bunkers. Now the responsible persons for garrisoning here are 25 officers and soldiers including lightly wounded soldiers, led by the battalion commander of the 3rd Battalion of the 169th Regiment, Meng Jidong.

Since the street was only two to three meters wide, only horse-drawn carriages and rickshaws could barely pass through such a narrow road. Such a street could be easily blocked by firepower. The only 25 officers and soldiers left in the Third Battalion used the bunkers built on the street before and fired violently at the attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army on the street with machine guns.

The attacking force of the Japanese 11th Army initially launched an attack along the front of the street, but under the machine gun fire blockade of the officers and soldiers of the 57th Division, they could not move forward at all. Instead, the attacking force of the Japanese 11th Army suffered heavy casualties, and the streets were littered with the bodies of the officers and soldiers of the Japanese 11th Army.

The attacking force of the 11th Japanese Army was forced to concentrate and set up several Type 92 heavy machine guns to suppress the fire of the bunkers where the officers and soldiers of the 57th Division were located, and then organize the infantry of the attacking force to crawl forward to avoid the machine gun bullets of the officers and soldiers of the 57th Division in the bunkers.

After discovering that the Japanese 11th Army had changed its tactics, the battalion commander of the 1st Battalion of the 171st Regiment, Wu Hongbin, led the dozens of remaining officers and soldiers of the battalion and moved along the houses on both sides of the street that had long been broken into to the left side of the Japanese 11th Army's attacking force. Afterwards, Battalion Commander Wu directed dozens of officers and soldiers to use the commanding heights on the walls of the houses to fire and drop bombs fiercely at the Japanese 11th Army's attacking force crawling in the center of the street.

The attacking force of the Japanese 11th Army was stunned by the frontal and flank fire. In a short time, the attacking force of the Japanese 11th Army suffered more than 300 casualties. The remaining soldiers of the Japanese 11th Army were forced to retreat by the fierce fire from the left.

After a morning of fierce fighting, the Japanese troops attacking from Xiaoxi Gate only advanced a few dozen meters after suffering more than 600 casualties. However, the more than 20 officers and soldiers of the 3rd Battalion of the 169th Regiment who were defending in the front bunker were now almost all killed or wounded.