Chapter 100: Battle of Western Henan
The defeat at Midway did not immediately cause the Japanese army to retreat from its peak. On the Pacific battlefield, the Japanese army continued to expand towards the Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea. On the Chinese mainland, in order to strike at the thriving Northwest Army and to seize the newly built Xiangyang railway hub, the Japanese army quickly formulated a plan for operations in western Hubei, preparing to take advantage of the civil unrest in China and the faction of Chiang Kai-shek to attack the Northwest Defense Zone while it was preoccupied with its own affairs.
According to the plan, the 11th Army will use the 3rd, 7th, 33rd, 34th, 39th, 40th, 58th and 68th divisions and the 59 infantry, cavalry, artillery, engineering and black battalions of the 17th Independent Mixed Brigade, the 1st and 8th Independent Machine Gun Battalions directly under the army, two 105mm mountain artillery battalions of the 2nd Independent Mountain Artillery Regiment, and two 75mm mountain artillery battalions of the 3rd Independent Mountain Artillery Regiment.
The 13th Field Heavy Artillery Regiment has two 150mm heavy field artillery battalions, the 14th Field Heavy Artillery Regiment has one 105mm heavy field artillery battalion, and the 15th Independent Field Heavy Artillery Regiment has two 150mm heavy howitzer battalions.
A total of 120,000 troops, including the 1st Mortar Battalion, three squadrons of the 13th Tank Regiment, the 7th, 8th and 9th Independent Light Armored Vehicle Squadrons, the 1st Battalion of the 1st Independent Engineer Regiment, the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the 2nd Independent Engineer Regiment, and 22 infantry, artillery, engineering and logistics battalions supported by the 13th Army and the North China Front Army, carried out a four-pronged encirclement of the Chinese Hunan-Hubei-Bashu War Zone.
Among them, the Japanese troops in the north set out from Xinyang and launched an attack on the Nanyang area in order to contain the Hebei-Henan War Zone and the Heluo Army Group, and prevent the northwest from providing support to Xiangyang.
The Japanese troops in the middle advanced along the Sui-Zao Corridor and the Han River line, encircling Xiangfan from two routes.
The Japanese troops in the west advanced westward from Yichang, attempting to capture the Nanjin Pass fortress area while using part of their troops to capture Dangyang and Yuan'an, while another part crossed the river to cooperate with the Japanese troops in the south in attacking Zhijiang, Songzi, Changyang and other places.
The Japanese troops in the south attacked from Yueyang and Gong'an, attacking Lixian, Shimen and Cili. If the attack was successful, they would continue to attack Wufeng, Hefeng and other places.
Due to the large scale of the Japanese attack, it was impossible to block the news from the outside world. Therefore, the Northwest Front found out the Japanese combat intentions very early and informed the Hunan-Hubei-Bashu War Zone in a timely manner.
At this time, the Hunan-Hubei-Bashu war zone was roughly divided into two headquarters in the north and south by the Yangtze River.
The Northern Headquarters was commanded by General Liu Wenhui, commander-in-chief of the theater, and consisted of 9 armies, 21 divisions and 250,000 officers and soldiers, including Liu Duoquan's First Corps, Yang Sen's Eleventh Army, Sun Lianzhong's Nineteenth Army, and Liu Zhaotang's 35th Army .
The Southern Command Headquarters was commanded by Lieutenant General Wang Baoyuan, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of the Theater, and was composed of five armies, 13 divisions and 170,000 officers and soldiers, including Pan Wenhua's 28th Army, Liu Heding's 39th Army, Zhang Chong's new 3rd Army and the Nanjin Pass Garrison District.
Therefore, in terms of the number of troops participating in the war, China had a slight advantage, but in terms of technical weapons such as heavy artillery, tanks, aircraft, and the combat effectiveness of specific troops, there was still a large gap between China and the Japanese army.
The only thing to be thankful for was that after the two battles of Sui-Zao and West Henan, the Hunan-Hubei-Bashu War Zone extensively built a large number of permanent and semi-permanent fortifications on the Xiangfan line, and transferred more than a dozen independent air defense battalions and companies, which might be used to hold out.
The response plans of the two headquarters were also based on securing the key points of Xiangfan and the Nanjin Pass fortress area.
On the northern front, Liu Wenhui established an operational plan of using the 35th Army to guard Xiangyang, Feng Zhian's 77th Army to guard Fancheng, Wei Kejian's reserve 8th Army to guard Gucheng, and the rest of the troops to conduct guerrilla warfare on the periphery. He attempted to delay and consume the Japanese army's manpower with solid positions, harass the Japanese army with guerrilla forces, destroy supply lines, and ultimately force the Japanese army to lose its fighting spirit and retreat.
On the southern front, Wang Baoyuan made full use of the complex mountainous terrain in southwestern Hubei and northwestern Hunan, and formulated a combat plan in which a small unit would resist step by step while the main force would rest and counterattack. He tried to use the terrain to divide the Japanese troops and find opportunities to seize a part of the Japanese army and deal a heavy blow to it.
At 5:14 am on August 9, 1942, the Japanese 3rd Division, with 11,000 troops, launched a diversionary attack on the Biyang front line with the support of 36 75mm field guns, 12 105mm field guns, and 8 Type 99 light bombers.
On the same day, the Japanese troops in Yichang were ordered to launch a large-scale artillery bombardment on the Nanjin Pass line and engage in counter-fire with the defenders.
On August 10, the 20th Independent Mixed Brigade of the Japanese Army stationed in Yichang formed the Ogihara Detachment with the 102nd Independent Infantry Battalion as the main force and launched an attack in the direction of Dangyang.
After holding out for six hours and losing 800 officers and soldiers, the 42nd Army Supplementary Regiment of the defending army was ordered to withdraw from Dangyang on the same day.
On the day Dangyang fell, the Japanese 6th Division planned to deploy one and a half battalions from the 13th Infantry Regiment and the 47th Infantry Regiment, as well as two cavalry squadrons from the 6th Cavalry Regiment, three squadrons from the 6th Engineer Regiment, and five squadrons from the 6th Light and Heavy Infantry Regiment, totaling 3,500 people, to begin the attack on Li County with the support of 16 75mm field guns from four field artillery squadrons of the 6th Field Artillery Regiment.
Strictly speaking, the line of Lixian, Shimen and Cili was Chiang Kai-shek's defense zone. Therefore, the Japanese attack was stubbornly blocked by the Kuomintang army that had just lost Yunnan.
Faced with the tenacious fighting spirit of Chiang Kai-shek's army, which had no way to retreat, the Japanese army had to leave more than a hundred corpses behind and turned towards Songzi. On August 14, they broke through the resistance of the 3rd Regiment of the 151st Division of the New 20th Army under the 28th Group Army and captured the county seat of Songzi.
On August 11, the Japanese troops in the central route launched a large-scale attack. In just three days, they seized Suixian, Zaoyang, Yicheng and other cities along the line from the retreating Chinese troops and approached the outskirts of Xiangfan.
On August 15, the Japanese army captured Yuan'an, but the attack on Nanjinguan by three battalions of the 20th Independent Mixed Brigade and four regiments of the puppet army ended in a disastrous defeat. The Japanese and puppet troops lost a total of about 1,500 people, but only captured three forward positions, 217, 244, and 261, from the 124th Division of the Northeast Army under Chen Guanqun, and had not even reached the edge of the main position of Nanjinguan.
On August 16, the Japanese army began its attack on Fancheng. The Japanese army used 40 heavy artillery with a caliber of more than 105mm and more than 20 fighter planes to carry out a two-hour bombardment on Fancheng, almost wiping the entire Fancheng from the ground.
However, the Japanese artillery fire did not overwhelm the defenders. Feng Zhian personally commanded the 157th Division of the 77th Army to fight repeatedly with the Japanese in the preset positions outside the city. The Northwest Air Defense Forces inside and outside the city also tried their best to prevent Japanese planes from strafing and bombing.
The two sides fought fiercely for a whole day, with corpses piled up like mountains and blood flowing like rivers. In the end, the Japanese army could only sigh at the sight of the city.
On August 17, the Japanese army began to attack the mountain positions south of Xiangyang City.
The 138th Division of the Shanxi Army led by Lu Yinglin was responsible for guarding the hilltops inside the city. Although the division lacked sufficient artillery, it had supplemented it with more than 500 45mm grenade launchers and 12 12.7 anti-aircraft machine guns before the war. It was with these weapons and a sufficient number of grenades that Lu's troops repelled three consecutive attacks by the Japanese army, and with nearly 2,000 casualties, they managed to keep the Japanese army outside the city of Xiangyang.
On August 18, the Japanese army on the southern front began to invade Wufeng and other places with the support of the Japanese Marine Corps stationed in Yichang. On the same day, the Japanese army widely used poison gas bombs in Nanjinguan, Xiangfan and other places, causing heavy losses to the Chinese army.
Faced with the Japanese army's violation of international conventions, Northwest China took decisive countermeasures.
That night, the defenders of Nanjin Pass reported to the Japanese army that they had used mustard gas and poisonous shells. The Fourth Air Force of the Northwest Air Force also dispatched light bombers to drop poison gas bombs on various Japanese positions, which also dealt a heavy blow to the Japanese army.
On August 19, the Japanese Ogihara Detachment that captured Yuan'an suddenly found itself surrounded by two Chinese infantry divisions.
The shocked Japanese army immediately chose to break out, but was surrounded and intercepted by Yang Hanyu's 20th Army. After losing more than half of their troops, the Japanese army had to retreat back to Yuan'an City to defend it.
On August 20, the Japanese army's follow-up reinforcements arrived in Jiangling along the river, and immediately formed a rescue detachment with the 3rd Battalion of the 51st Infantry Regiment (15th Division) as the main force, and headed for the Yuan'an line.
But as one problem was solved, another was created. The Japanese 6th Division advancing westward from Songzi was blocked and surrounded by Pan Wenhua's troops at Yuyang Pass.
Although this group of Japanese troops once broke through the encirclement of Pan's troops and fled to the east, Pan's troops had sufficient reserve troops, which made the Japanese army lose its impact under layers of resistance. In the end, they were forced to retreat to Renheping, Quzhihe Street and other places to hold on and wait for reinforcements.
On August 21, the Japanese army formed the Nozaki Detachment with parts of the 6th Division, the 22nd Division and the 13th Independent Mixed Brigade and attacked Renheping.
On the same day, the Japanese army resumed its offensive on the Xiangfan front.
At 7 o'clock in the evening of that day, the Japanese army finally captured the outer defense line of Fancheng, forcing the remnants of the 157th Division to flee into the city and continue to defend the city with the 132nd Division and other units relying on the street forts in the city.
On August 22, the 112th Division of the 56th Army of the Northeast Army system was ordered to attack the outskirts of Jingmen, killing and capturing more than 300 Japanese and puppet troops in one fell swoop, and destroyed a military station, causing a temporary interruption of the Japanese army's supply line.
Upon receiving the warning, the Japanese army immediately dispatched reserve troops from Zhongxiang, Shayang and other places to rush to Jingmen to support and prepare to encircle the Chinese troops attacking the city.
Ma Wanzhen, commander of the 112th Division, was greedy for merit and was eager to fight. He planned to capture Jingmen and annihilate the defenders before the arrival of Japanese reinforcements. However, he was surrounded by the Japanese troops who arrived. Although he led his troops to break out later, the 112th Division suffered losses of up to 60% and temporarily lost its combat effectiveness.
On August 23, the Heluo Army Group launched a counterattack against the 3rd Division and successfully cut the invading Japanese army into three sections. The 11th Army urgently dispatched more than 10,000 reinforcements along the Pinghan Road to reinforce the Biyang front, and also diverted a part of its troops from Xiangfan to Nanyang to divide the Chinese army's momentum.
However, although Anami Korechika had a good plan, he did not expect that the Seventh Army still had some strength left. It not only blocked the Japanese reinforcements from the south, but also successfully annihilated a part of the besieged Third Division, totaling more than 2,000 people, before the reinforcements from the Pinghan Road arrived.
What made the Japanese army even more frustrated was that while trying to force the Seventh Army to split up, the Japanese army itself had to split up its troops, thereby reducing its investment in Xiangfan and allowing the 77th Army to hold out in the isolated city. On August 25, the Japanese army finally captured the mountains south of Xiangyang and set up cannons to bombard the city of Xiangyang.
But by this time, it was too late. The Chinese reinforcements transferred from the hinterland of Gansu and Shaanxi had been continuously transported to Xiangyang via the extended section of the Hankang Railway.
With the arrival of the main force of the Northwest Army, the Japanese army discovered that not only was there a clear trend of strengthening Chinese firepower on the Xiangfan line, but also that the guerrilla harassment capabilities of various Chinese troops on the periphery were also increasing. Therefore, the Japanese army concluded that China's reinforcements had arrived in large numbers.
Under such circumstances, continuing the Battle of Western Hubei would become an unacceptable war of attrition for the Japanese army. So on September 2, after Anami Korechika confirmed that the total number of Japanese casualties had exceeded 10,000, he announced to the outside world that "our army has successfully weakened the enemy's strength, and all units have returned to their original defense areas according to the established plan."
As a result, the Battle of Western Henan, which lasted for more than 20 days, ended in a whimper. Although there were still battles between the two sides in Biyang, Songzi and other places, the noisy battlefield gradually calmed down, and China and Japan fell into a new round of confrontation.
