Devil's Army

After seeing off General Xue and his men, Division Commander Tan had no reason to want to chat with the regiment commander. He was very glad that his defense zone had added such a powerful troop.

He invited the regiment commander and squadron leader Liu to a small restaurant for dinner.

"Your commander said the Battle of Changsha would happen. Did he say when it would happen?"

"He said early September, but he didn't say a specific date."

……

Guan Linzheng's 52th Division of the 195nd Army still followed the order of the th War Zone: all the rice fields from Xinqiang River to Miluo River were filled with water, and all the paths were dug up, leaving only pedestrians to pass.

9月14日晚，日军第106师团向驻会埠的中国第60军第184师阵地发起进攻，次日突破该阵地。

The Battle of Changsha officially begins!

Subsequently, the Japanese army split into two routes, one advancing westward and the other advancing southward. On the 18th, they surrounded the 60th Army and the 58th Army.

The 60th Army broke through, the 58th Army retreated westwards, and the 32nd Army abandoned Gao'an.

On the 19th, the Japanese army occupied Gao'an. Xue Yue ordered the 32nd Army to recapture Gao'an.

On the 22nd, the 32nd Army recaptured Gao'an. On the 23rd, the main force of the Japanese 106th Division began to advance westwards towards Xiushui, and the two sides engaged in a seesaw battle in the areas of Shangfu, Yecheng, and Ganfang.

9月18日，日军第6师团，奈良支队向新墙河关麟征52军守军阵地发起猛攻。覃师长带着195师顽强抵抗。

Under the fierce bombardment of airplanes, tanks and artillery, the Japanese Nara Detachment and the 6th Division built a pontoon bridge and attacked the south bank of the Xinqiang River.

While the Japanese planes were returning, the artillery of the 6st Regiment of the st Army launched a fierce bombardment on the Japanese th Division that was crossing the bridge, destroying the pontoon bridge that had already been built.

Then they fiercely bombed the Japanese 6th Division soldiers who had already crossed the river. Soldiers of the 195st and 6nd Regiments of the st Army and the th Division took the opportunity to counterattack and annihilated all the Japanese th Division soldiers who had crossed the river on the south bank of the Xinqiang River.

The Japanese 6th Division's crossing of the river was temporarily blocked, and artillery was used across the river to fiercely bombard the positions of the 195th Division.

The 195st and nd Regiments and the troops of the th Division temporarily withdrew to avoid the fierce bombardment of Japanese artillery fire.

On September 9, the Japanese army changed the direction of attack, and 20 people from the Nara Detachment attacked Caoxieling on the north bank of the Xinqiang River in northern Hunan.

Shi Enhua, the battalion commander of the 195rd Battalion of the 1131st Regiment of the 500th Division, led a reinforced battalion of people to rely on the Caoxieling position to tenaciously block the enemy and successfully blocked the Japanese army at the foot of the mountain.

September 9: More than half of the battalion suffered casualties, but no one retreated.

In the evening, the commander of the 195th Division, Tan Yizi, told Shi Enhua that the mission had been accomplished and if they could not hold on, they could retreat eastward as a last resort, but Shi Enhua decided to continue to hold on.

September 9: In the early morning, the Japanese army, under the cover of artillery, attacked Caoxieling in several directions. Shi Enhua led the entire battalion in a bloody battle with the Japanese army until three o'clock in the afternoon. All 23 defenders of the battalion died heroically.

In order to preserve his strength and continue fighting the Japanese army, Commander Guan ordered his troops to retreat to the south bank of the Miluo River.

On September 9, the Japanese Nara Detachment and the 23th Division broke through the Xinqiang River defense line and continued to attack the Miluo River defense line. However, they were constantly attacked by the 6st Regiment, the 195nd Regiment and the th Division along the way, and suffered terribly.

This was actually General Xue Yue's counter-circumvention tactic against Okamura Yasuji's circumvention tactic. He continued to attack during the retreat to weaken the Japanese army's strength.

At this time, the road from Xinqiang River to Miluo River had been destroyed by officers and soldiers of the 195th Division. Japanese tanks, trucks, and artillery were moving on the muddy road filled with water, and their advance was very slow.

Worse still, the vanguard of the Japanese 106th Division wore pigskin shoes, which swelled up when exposed to water. It was difficult for the Japanese soldiers to even lift their legs, let alone march.

At this time, the troops of the 52st Army volunteered to stay behind to cover the retreat. The 195th Division of the nd Army crossed the Miluo River in advance and set up an ambush with the main force on the south bank of the Miluo River.

Division Commander Nakai ordered the soldiers of the 106th Division to continue pursuing the Chinese army.

When the vanguard of the Japanese Nara Detachment marched near Dayun Mountain, it was severely bombarded by the artillery of the 1st Army and 1st Regiment which retreated to the Dayun Mountain area.

Japanese planes attempted to bomb the First Army's artillery positions, but Dayun Mountain was high and densely forested, making it impossible to find the First Army's artillery positions.

Japanese planes could only carry out heavy bombing on the approximate location of the First Army's artillery positions.

Fierce and continuous explosions were heard around the First Army's artillery positions.

As soon as the Japanese planes left, the 1st and 2nd Regiments immediately launched a fierce attack from all sides of Dayun Mountain on the Japanese Nara Detachment soldiers who had just recovered.

A funny scene appeared on the battlefield. Many Japanese soldiers had difficulty lifting their feet because their pigskin shoes were soaked with water and too heavy. The Japanese soldiers took off their shoes and fled barefoot on the mountain road.

The follow-up troops of the Japanese Nara Detachment arrived, stabilized the rout of the vanguard troops, and continued the attack towards the Dayun Mountain area.

The soldiers of the first and second regiments fought and retreated, and returned to the Dayun Mountain position to confront the Japanese army.

The follow-up troops of the Japanese Nara Detachment continued to attack the soldiers of the First Army at Dayun Mountain. The soldiers of the First Army fought and retreated.

When a part of the Japanese Nara Detachment entered the path of the Dayun Mountain Canyon, it was suddenly bombarded fiercely by a regiment of artillery.