Quartermasters can also fight the devils

We are about to enter the cold winter weather of December, and even the area north of the Lishui River in the north of Changde City has begun to snow. However, the temperature in Changde City is over 40 degrees due to the fire.

Even the officers and soldiers of the 11th Japanese Army on the Changde city wall felt the high temperature unbearable. They were sweating profusely and had dry mouths. The officers and soldiers of the attacking forces of the 11th Japanese Army took off their cotton coats one after another and fought in shirts.

Even people in Deshan, ten kilometers south of Changde City, could see the flames rising from Changde City.

The city of Changde is now engulfed in flames. All burnable items in the city are burning continuously, even the steel in some bunkers has been melted. The thick smoke in Changde City makes it difficult to breathe. In many places, the thick smoke makes it impossible for two people who are several meters apart to see each other.

The attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army also suffered several accidental attacks due to the thick smoke from the fire. Among them, two squadrons of the Japanese 11th Army's attacking forces engaged in fierce fire with each other for two hours before they realized that the people they were fighting with were their own people.

The pilots of the Chinese and American joint air forces who were responsible for the bombing and airdrops that day also sent a telegram to Commander Sun, acting commander of the Sixth War Zone of the Chinese government, and Chief of Staff Guo of the War Zone, reporting that Changde City had now become a sea of ​​fire and thick smoke, and no bombing targets could be seen from the air. The city of Changde was filled with flames of explosions.

However, what the attacking force of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army never expected was that the officers and soldiers of the 57th Division of the Chinese government were still fearless in the purgatory of Changde City. All the officers and soldiers were determined to die. In the fire in the whole city, the officers and soldiers of the 57th Division moved to the houses that were not on fire and continued to shoot at the attacking force of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army. Some officers and soldiers of the 57th Division even jumped into the trenches and fired tenaciously.

Under such circumstances, the attack speed of the offensive force of the Japanese 11th Army became even slower. The burning houses and streets in Changde City caused great obstacles and troubles to the offensive operations of the offensive force of the Japanese 11th Army.

By the 30th, the Japanese 11th Army's troops responsible for attacking Changde had experienced a bloody battle in Changde for twelve days. Nearly half of the officers and soldiers of all the main regiments of the Japanese 11th Army attacking Changde were killed or wounded, and some regiments suffered more than 80% casualties. Moreover, the proportion of casualties among middle and senior officers in the attacking forces was also very large. In addition, the ammunition of the Japanese 11th Army's attacking forces was gradually exhausted in the continuous attacks, and the officers and soldiers in the various attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army were already very tired, which made the combat effectiveness of the various attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army gradually weakened.

According to the timetable for the Battle of Changde drawn up by Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the Japanese 11th Army before the war, the attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army should have been able to occupy the city of Changde by November 30th at the latest. After all, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the Japanese 11th Army, and the staff officers in the Japanese 11th Army headquarters all believed in the pre-war maps and sand table simulations that their 11th Army had an eight to ten times advantage in terms of troop strength. Facing a city of Changde defended by only one division, it would be a win no matter how the battle went.

Starting from the daytime of the 30th, the sound of gunfire began to get closer and closer and very dense from the direction of Deshan, more than ten kilometers south of Changde City. The 57th Division's Commander Yu knew that the reinforcements from the south, Li Yutang's Corps, had already attacked Deshan. This was great news for the 57th Division's defenders in Changde City.

However, on December 1st, the South Gate and the South Gate of Changde City were breached by the attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army. The attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army also attacked Changde City from all sides. The 57th Division is currently in Changde City. At this moment, including the lightly wounded who can hold guns, all the combat officers and soldiers are less than 500 people. Even if all the seriously wounded are included, there are only 1,000 people in the 57th Division in Changde City.

The fire that had been burning in Changde City for a day was now mostly extinguished. More than 5,000 wooden buildings in Changde City had been destroyed in the fire. The attacking forces of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army attacked Changde City from all directions. For a time, Changde City was full of the attacking forces of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army.

Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Japanese Army, saw that the attacking forces of the 11th Japanese Army had not gained any advantage in the street fighting with the 57th Division of the Chinese government in Changde City. So, Lieutenant General Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the 11th Japanese Army, ordered the attacking forces of the 11th Japanese Army to push all infantry artillery, flat-fire artillery and even 75mm caliber mountain artillery into Changde City, to carry out direct artillery bombardment at the front line of the battle, destroying the bunkers built by the 57th Division of the Chinese government in Changde City and the civilian houses from which they were firing.

On December 1st, the attacking forces of the 11th Army of the Japanese Army pushed artillery of various calibers into Changde City, using various types of heavy weapons to carry out indiscriminate and comprehensive bombardment on the buildings and bunkers in Changde City.

The small city of Changde was almost completely wiped out by the saturation bombardment of the Japanese 10th Army's attacking forces. Even the more than 1,000 brick and stone buildings that escaped the fire of the Japanese 11th Army's attacking forces were completely destroyed by the Japanese artillery fire.

The attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army advanced step by step in Changde City under the cover of flat-fire artillery and other types of artillery, while the officers and soldiers of the 57th Division held on to every house that was not on fire and every undestroyed bunker. As long as there was an officer or soldier of the 57th Division alive in every pile of rubble and debris, the attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army would not be able to break through quickly and smoothly.

Even though the attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army had powerful weapons, especially the support of flat-fire cannons and various artillery pieces, they still advanced very slowly in Changde City under the desperate resistance of the officers and soldiers of the 57th Division. In particular, the attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army advancing along the streets were often subjected to sudden strafing fire from all sides by the officers and soldiers of the 57th Division, which resulted in heavy casualties on the attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army.

The attacking forces of the Japanese 11th Army were helpless and could only be forced to rush into the houses on both sides of the street, digging through the walls of the houses to move forward.