Although China won a complete victory in this aerial bombing initiated by the Japanese army, there were losses both inside and outside Hengyang City!
There are traces of bombing on various positions in the south of the city. Although after more than a month of digging tunnels, the air defense alarm was sounded five minutes in advance, and the officers and soldiers hid in the air raid shelters. However, due to the power of the heavy Japanese aerial bombs,
There are still losses after all.
For example, an air-raid shelter at the foot of Yueping Mountain was completely destroyed by a 500-pound aerial bomb, and the entire air-raid shelter was completely sealed with soil. Inside, there were 70 staff members and soldiers of the observation post directly under the 10th Army Headquarters.
When the air defense battalion of the Fourth Army Regiment began to fight back with all its strength, the officers and soldiers in the surrounding areas who noticed this phenomenon began to excavate and rescue the air raid shelter, but it was still a little too late.
After spending more than an hour digging out the soil, most of the people in the cave died due to depletion of oxygen, including a lieutenant colonel staff officer and an army captain company commander, leaving only 18 people alive.
Also suffering losses was the lookout and observation post of the 10th Preliminary Division. This observation post is hidden in a forest behind the main highland side of Zhangjiashan. It can clearly see the entire southwest of the city from a high position, and can avoid artillery fire.
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However, the heavy aerial bomb dropped by the Japanese aircraft did not have an anti-slope. An aerial bomb landed just above the observation post bunker. It was supported by a 2-meter-thick soil layer and steel plates on top of logs.
The bunker was strong enough to withstand the bombardment of 150-meter heavy artillery, but it was as fragile as an egg shell in front of such heavy aerial bombs, and the entire bunker was destroyed.
Officers and soldiers of a communications squad of the Pre-10th Division who were on duty inside and Lieutenant Colonel Liu Dengcai, deputy chief of the Operations Section of the Pre-10th Division Staff Headquarters, died on the spot.
The final statistics for the entire south of the city showed that in this bombing, 232 officers and soldiers were killed, 358 injured, and almost an infantry battalion was lost.
But the most serious thing is in Hengyang City!
Before the Hengyang Defense Battle began, the Hengyang Command originally formulated a fire protection plan under the leadership of Zhao Dengmai, and planned to demolish every other house, so that even if a fire broke out, it would not burn down the company camp. Unexpectedly, in the end, it was still
A hundred secrets and a sparse.
All the fire brigades that were established evacuated with the city government, and most of the 50,000 young people who were left behind were ordinary people in the city. It was their home. How could they bear to demolish their own home? The demolition progress was extremely slow, and in addition
The Japanese army was approaching step by step, and digging various fortifications was the first priority. In the end, the original plan of "demolition of houses and fire isolation" was not fully implemented.
In this way, the incendiary bombs dropped by the Japanese bombers showed their effectiveness and burned the entire Hengyang City into a sea of fire.
The soldiers were on the front line and could not take care of these things. They could only hand it over to tens of thousands of young men hiding in the city. Without any handy tools, tens of thousands of people could only shuttle through the sea of fire, using very simple artificial tools such as buckets.
This method is used to put out fires. You can imagine how inefficient this is.
Fortunately, critical supplies such as ammunition and food had been ordered by Tang Dao to be placed in 10-meter-deep underground tunnels or air-raid shelters, which avoided larger accidents and preserved the ability to continue long-term operations against the entire city of Hengyang.
Otherwise, the monstrous fire that ignited nearly one-half of the city would have prevented 70,000 soldiers and civilians from holding on for three days.
Fang Xianjue was also extremely lucky that he listened to Tang Dao's suggestion and gave the basement of the Central Bank where his headquarters was located to the field hospital, otherwise the losses would have been unknown.
It turned out that during the nearly month-long battle, the field hospital received more than 1,800 seriously injured soldiers, which was obviously not something that could be accommodated in a basement.
Several air-raid shelters dug around the field hospital could not accommodate all the wounded. Zhao Junmai, who was in charge of logistics, had no choice but to temporarily use a factory building as a ward in an area 300 meters away from the field hospital.
We had 300 wounded soldiers. We originally planned to move these 300 wounded soldiers away after one of the air raid shelters was completed.
As a result, the Japanese bombing came.
In fact, even if it is temporary, this wounded soldier resettlement site has been planted with a 'Red Cross flag' in accordance with international practice.
When the air raid siren sounded, the medical staff carried, supported, and carried them but could not evacuate all 300 wounded soldiers, and more than 100 wounded soldiers were still stranded.
As a result, Japanese fighter planes also dropped bombs specifically at the temporary camp of the field hospital with the "Red Cross Flag" flying, killing and burning more than 80 wounded soldiers on the spot, including medical staff who had no time to evacuate, and only a few 30 people survived.
Apart from being sad and angry, Fang Xianjue was even more grateful. If the field hospital was on the ground, I am afraid that the field hospital would have been destroyed by this round of bombing.
How much importance does Fang Xianjue attach to the injured soldiers? In the past, if there were not 8,000 seriously wounded soldiers in Hengyang City, Fang Xianjue’s personality would never have negotiated with the Japanese 11th Army, which was already exhausted. In the end, it was he who fought the bloody battle.
The only choice.
He didn't want those wounded soldiers who had fulfilled their duty as soldiers to die in vain, even at the risk of his own reputation and military honor.
The major results of shooting down more than a dozen Japanese fighter planes and the serious losses in Hengyang City, this kind of thing naturally needs to be reported to the superiors. If it is not done well, they can also get some airdrops of medicines and other supplies. Fang Xianjue is also well aware of this at this time.
The truth of 'crybabies get candy'.
Sure enough, the commendation telegram from the Military Commission came, and said that the medal would arrive soon.
This is also a new trick that person has been playing in the past few days. Medals are not valuable. All they have to do is order the factory to work overtime to make them. Anyway, supplies have to be airdropped. Can the medals be airdropped if they are different?
Therefore, from four days ago, every round of airdrops will include a gift package of medals. Regardless of whether you have the 10th Army, the Fourth Army Regiment, or the Hengyang Garrison Regiment, as long as it is included in the military merit report, the Military Commission will give you a large sum of money.
One wave, send it!
On average, there are 1,000 medals in each bag, and after four days there are more than 4,000 medals. According to the number of soldiers in Hengyang City, that is one medal for an average of 6 people!
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! That’s a really good guy. Each infantry squad will have one less and two or three more. If this continues, everyone will have one hanging on their chest.
It's only a matter of time.
Any good thing is worthless once there are too many of it. Many soldiers put these things that they never saw before to the company commander and asked if they could exchange them for ten or twenty yuan.
Family members.
When you have to risk your life all the time, let alone saying that the medal is worthless and can't arouse people's interest, even a big yellow croaker is not that exciting, right?
Fang Xian was absolutely helpless, and wanted to say to that person: Please calm down a little, even if you use this parachute to send more bombs to your son, it will be better than that thing. But he knew that person's temperament, if he said this
, if one is not good, everything will be gone.
But that person still had a lot of tricks up his sleeve. I heard that the temporary camp of the field hospital was bombed by the Japanese. After the commendation order was issued, he sent another telegram with instructions: "Use the bombed wooden planks to build shacks and use broken door panels.
Make the roof and use broken bricks to make the walls, which can not only protect you from wind, rain and sunlight, but also protect against bomb fragments, and don’t let our officers and soldiers sleep in the open."
The generals at the Hengyang Command could only be speechless at the micro-guidance that was so caring and detailed.
As a commander-in-chief, are you tired of paying attention to these trivial things every day? If you have this time, wouldn't it be nice for you to quickly mobilize the army to relieve the siege of Hengyang?
This kind of speechless "sacrificing the basics to the weak" is actually that person's daily life. The Chinese generals are not used to it and have to get used to it. However, Stilwell, who has served as the chief of staff of the Chinese theater, expressed his incomprehension and was greatly shocked for a long period of time.
!
For example, in 1942, when Stilwell first took over the Chinese Expeditionary Force, he demanded complete control of the army, but he soon discovered that the Chinese's words were far better than their actions.
The two deputy commanders-in-chief listened to his words 60% of the time, but they obeyed the military orders of the man thousands of kilometers away 10% of the time.
Forget it, after all, that person was at least the commander of the China Theater. But the scope of this commander's jurisdiction was so wide that Stilwell found it unbelievable.
For example, when the war in Myanmar was at its most critical, Stilwell, who was anxious on the front line, received a telegram from the mountain town, saying: "I know there are watermelons in Myanmar, and I hope you will give one watermelon to every four Chinese soldiers!"
After receiving the telegram, Stilwell was said to have not said a word for half an hour, demonstrating with practical actions what it means to be truly speechless.
Stilwell was a very pure soldier. When he sent electricity to his superiors in the United States, he commented on his superiors in China: "Slight changes in the situation may cause major changes, but the commander's order 3,000 kilometers away can guide
All kinds of actions and preparations were carried out, so many orders that could not be made based on reality seemed extremely stupid when they arrived!"
Obviously, a commander who has barely seen his soldiers on the front line but wants to implement his philosophy of "loving his soldiers like sons" is destined to be contradictory and fail.
However, Stilwell dared to say this, but Fang Xian absolutely did not dare. He could only hold his nose and telegraph that person's order to the entire army, and then called back to that person, saying that the supreme commander's concern had greatly boosted the morale of the army.
"Worri! I sleep in the air-raid shelter and it's cool and I'm not afraid of bombs. Why would Mao want to live in a shack made of scrap wood and bricks?" Luo Dahu stared at his big eyes to express his confusion.
He didn't believe that the person who had never read a book knew something that the other person didn't know.
The second lieutenant of the army who led the team could only smile bitterly when faced with the confusion of the reservists under his command, unable to answer.
Perhaps in that person's imagination, the tens of thousands of people in Hengyang City were just a bunch of fools, standing on the ground waiting for the Japanese to drop bombs!
However, those who could still stay in Hengyang City and hold on to their guns even when they knew that hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops were coming fiercely, must be a bit 'stupid'!
After this wave of ground-to-air battles ended, there was a rare calm inside and outside Hengyang City. Japanese fighter planes almost stopped coming, and the sound of gunfire became less fierce.
However, the generals of the Hengyang Command headed by Fang Xianjue all know that although the Japanese army has no major military operations currently, this is just the calm before the storm, and a more violent and cruel decisive battle may occur at any time.
The Hengyang command headquarters issued a telegram, requiring all ministries to take advantage of the rare gap to make timely repairs, adjust troop strength, strengthen fortifications, and prepare for the upcoming new round of all-out Japanese attack.
The battle has been going on for a month, and all units have been reduced in strength. The 10th Division is the main force defending the south of the city. It has sacrificed up to a thousand officers and soldiers, and suffered serious injuries of more than a thousand people. The battle losses have exceeded a quarter, and there is an urgent need to replenish troops.
The 50,000 reserve troops in the city are the best supplement of soldiers, but in order to express his respect for the Hengyang people who voluntarily stayed in Hengyang City and put in their own efforts, Fang Xianjue specifically emphasized in the military order that they could only be voluntary and not forced.
At the same time, propagandists were also sent to various reserve regiments to promote: "When the city is broken, An's eggs are intact!", and they focused on informing the reserve soldiers how heavy the Japanese casualties were.
The Chinese people who have experienced seven years of war have long understood. Wasn't the Jinling Massacre just that the Japanese army suffered 20,000 to 30,000 casualties and then carried out a retaliatory massacre against the people of Jinling?
Not to mention that the Battle of Hengyang will continue, but judging from the current casualties, once the city of Hengyang is defeated, why not kill everyone to vent their anger?
So what should we do? Shouldn’t we just do it and be done with it? Maybe if we get a gun, we have a higher chance of surviving on our own?
It is precisely driven by this mentality that many people in the reserve group are eager to try.
Each ministry immediately selected personnel from the reserve force to supplement the army. In order to attract young civilians to join, each ministry set out conditions.
For example, Commander Zeng Jing of the 28th Regiment of the 10th Preliminary Division personally staffed the recruitment office of the 28th Regiment. There are 400 places in total. The first 20 applicants will each be rewarded with 4 boxes of canned Japanese meat and a big red flower.
Those who pass the shooting assessment will be directly awarded the rank of Private.
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! In the evening, the 28th Regiment Recruitment Office was packed with people, and all 400 places were sold out. Commander Zeng was so happy that he almost burst into laughter.
The 190th Division directly sent its heroic battalion commander Yang Jihe to the recruitment office. He did not offer any rewards, but sent a special person to use a loudspeaker to talk about Yang Jihe's military exploits and achievements, including half-crossing the river a few days ago.
And the feat of killing hundreds of Japanese troops.
Yang Jihe was a little uncomfortable at first, but after a while he became numb and settled down at the registration desk to be the mascot of the 190th Division.
But this trick is also very useful. The civilians are not stupid. With such a heroic battalion commander as the leader, the probability of surviving with him is obviously higher. So if you don't sign up, how long will it take?
It only took 4 hours for the 400 places in the 586th Regiment of the 190th Division to be filled.
Of course, the Four Lines Group is also recruiting people, but their quota is obviously smaller, only 300 people.
This is because the casualties of the Four Lines Regiment are not that big. Secondly, the Four Lines Regiment is different from other infantry regiments. Others use rewards, but the requirements of the Four Lines Regiment are strict. There are no restrictions on registration, but whether you can be selected is not.
It also depends on your physical condition.
Long Yan, the heroic platoon leader of the mountain infantry company, is personally in charge of the recruitment office of the Fourth Line Regiment. He puts forward two conditions for applicants: first, pick up the 100-pound scrap gun barrel and walk 20 meters; second, walk around the perimeter of about 6 kilometers.
Run a lap of Hengyang City within 28 minutes; third, be able to calculate arithmetic problems within 100.
Everyone can understand that strength and endurance are the basis for becoming an elite soldier, but the third condition is a bit strange.
In this era, perhaps less than one in ten people can afford to read. Including the soldiers of the Four Elements Regiment, less than one fifth of them can write their own names before joining the Four Elements Regiment. As a result, good guys come
The recruitment requirement requires you to be able to do arithmetic. You are not going to be admitted to the Whampoa Military Academy.
Many young people who came to admire the name of the Four Elements Group immediately started making noises.
"Who said that a soldier only needs to be in good health to fight?" Platoon Leader Long was not afraid of this. He rolled his eyes and pointed at his head. "You have to rely on your brain to fight. Without a brain, you don't know when to advance and when to retreat.
, if you go to the front line, you are going to die, so I would advise you not to go."
There was nothing wrong with what he said, and it sounded somewhat reasonable, and the noisy voices immediately subsided.
"Of course, I also understand your situation. The brain does not necessarily have to rely on arithmetic to express itself. In this way, I make the decision. As long as you can run for 25 minutes, the third item will be exempted. When you get to the army, we will do it again.
Teach you how to use your brain.
In addition, I would like to announce one more thing. As long as you pass the assessment of our Si Xing Regiment and become a soldier of the Si Xing Regiment, the military salary for the first three months will be distributed by the designated chamber of commerce to the homes you report. If your family members flee to Guilin or Liuzhou, the chamber of commerce will also
We will send people to find and distribute them." Long Yan smiled like a fox who just stole a fat chicken.
After joining the army, you will receive three months of military pay! And efforts will be made to distribute it to your home. This is undoubtedly what young people care about the most.
The young men who had come here to join the Four Elements Group suddenly became quiet, and they were all gearing up and preparing to pass this test even if they risked their lives.
"Platoon leader, you are too cruel. We can't even do 6,000 meters in 25 minutes in the training we did when we first joined the army!" a soldier muttered in a low voice.
"Stupid, there are 40,000 to 50,000 young men in this city. Why not choose the best among the best? You couldn't do it at that time, but now is when the enemy is pressing heavily. The regiment commander said that the human body has huge potential and cannot be forced.
Once forced, who knows what will happen?" Long Yan said.
"Come on, platoon leader, what is 28 plus 83? I just looked at the question for a long time and couldn't figure it out. Please teach me." The soldier scratched his head.
"Go away! If you ask me about this piece of shit, you've already proven that you don't have much brains." Long Yan kicked this brainless person away.
Isn’t this a question of which pot should not be opened? Can I run around the city for 20 minutes to show you?
Luo Dahu: I have to run for 25 minutes at all costs! For three months of military pay, for my wife and children to have food to eat in the future.
"The Chinese in the city are frantically mobilizing troops and generals!" The rumbling sound of running startled the 6th Infantry Regiment on the east bank of the Xiangjiang River.
All Japanese troops immediately entered the position to prevent the Chinese from counterattacking.
Little did they know, there were just a few thousand people jogging in the city.
