CHINA VS. JAPAN- Changde Battle.part(2/2)

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• published: 02 Apr 2012
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On 2 November 1943, Isamu Yokoyama, commander of the Imperial Japanese 11th Army, deployed the 39th, 58th, 13th, 3rd, 116th and 68th divisions, a grand total of around 60,000 troops, to attack Changde from the north and the east. The Changde region was protected by the Chinese 6th war area's 10th, 26th, 29th and 33rd army groups, as well as a river defense force, and two other corps, for a grand total of 14 corps. On the 14th, the Japanese 13th division, with aid from collaborators, drove south to break through the defense lines of the Chinese 10th and 29th group armies. On the 16th, Japanese paratroopers landed on Taoyuan, a county in the Changde region. At the same time, the Japanese 3rd and 116th divisions reached Changde. The city was guarded by the Chinese 74th corps' 57th division, whose commander, Yu Chengwan, led his 8000 soldiers to fight against the overwhelming attack of 2 Japanese divisions. 11 days and nights of fierce fighting saw heavy casualties on both sides. When Chinese reinforcements arrived, the remaining 300 soldiers of the 57th division escaped the city. None of them were unwounded. On the 6th of December, Changde was lost. While the 57th division pinned down the Japanese in the city, the rest of the 74th corps, and 18th, 73rd, 79th, and 100th corps, as well as the 9th war area's 10th corps, 99th corps and Jiangxi's 58th corps arrived at the battlefield, forming a counter-encirclement on the Japanese forces. Fang Xianjue's 10th corps was first to strike, successfully retaking Deshan on the 29th of November, before attacking the Japanese positions at Changde from the south. The Japanese could not stop the Chinese attack, so they employed poison gas. The battle lasted for 6 days and nights. The Chinese 10th division's commander Sun Minjin was shot 5 times in the body and killed in action. At this time, the other Chinese units were pressing onto the Japanese positions. On the 11th of December, the Chinese army broke into the city, whereupon intense house to house fighting occurred. The Japanese army's supply lines were cut off by the Chinese. Without food and ammunition, the Japanese army retreated on the 13th. Upon leaving, their Unit 731 spread bubonic plague, while the army burnt buildings and killed people in frustration. The Chinese units pursued the retreating Japanese army for more than 20 days. By the 5th of January 1944, both sides were at their original positions prior to the battle. During this campaign, other than the 10th division's Sun Minjin, two more division commanders of the Chinese army died. One was the 44th corps' 150th division's Lieutenant General Xu Guozhang, while the other one was the 73rd corps' 5th division's Lieutenant General Peng Shiliang. General Xu was killed at Taifushan in Changde's northwest, aged 37. General Peng was killed the Taoyuan-Shimen line, aged 38. The Changde campaign had the largest participation of the Chinese air force since the Battle of Wuhan. Reporter Israel Epstein witnessed and reported on the battle. Witold Urbanowicz, a Polish pilot fighting in China in 1943, saw the city just after the battle. According to Urbanowicz, nearly 300,000 civilians died in Changde