[Anti-Japanese Iron Blood King] Chapter 831: The Key to the Battle of Changsha (Ask for Subscription!) , ask for a monthly pass, ask for everything! ）

This time, the Japanese government has created a big problem for the base camp, and the Chinese battlefield is already like that, and it may make a breakthrough in a short period of time. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

In addition to the First War Zone and the Second World War Zone, Okamura Ningji also had to face the strong pressure of Ma Zheng's department, so the strategy of relying on the North China Front to achieve the goal of killing chickens and monkeys is obviously different.

What's more, after the Battle of Wuhan, the 11th Army under the Central China Dispatch Army has always been the main force of the Japanese invasion of China, as the vanguard of the Japanese invasion of China, the strength of the 11th Army is also extremely strong, as high as 7 divisions and 2 brigades, a total of nearly 300,000 people. Moreover, the 11th Army was the most well-armed and well-supplied, and the navy, land and air forces were extremely powerful.

But the area where the 11th Army was located was very bad! After reluctantly occupying the empty city of Wuhan at a heavy cost, the 11th Army was the main force of the three theaters of the Nationalist Government, except for its own rear Anhui Province in the east, and the main forces in the south, west, and north. In fact, as far as Anhui Province is concerned, the Japanese army only controls part of it, and there are quite a number of regular Kuomintang troops and a large number of guerrillas stationed in the province.

However, the previous commander of the Eleventh Army, Okamura Ningji, was indeed a handsome talent, this old devil was quite smart, at the end of the Battle of Wuhan, he still gritted his teeth and advanced south despite the exhaustion of his troops, and finally broke through to the north of Hunan Province and occupied the Yueyang area!

At the same time, it concentrated 100,000 main forces and launched the Battle of Nanchang first, making a breakthrough in using armored clusters as the vanguard, and under the cover of the air force, breaking through the water defense line of the Nationalist Government in one fell swoop and occupying Nanchang in a short time. This armored blitzkrieg was more than 1 year earlier than the German army. However, Xue Yue's troops in the Ninth Theater had not recovered due to heavy losses in the Battle of Wuhan, and were caught off guard by the Japanese army's new tactics, so in order to avoid the main force being surrounded by the Japanese army, they were forced to abandon Nanchang and retreat.

As a result, Okamura Ninji's southeastern base camp was much safer, maintaining a safe distance of 200 kilometers from the Nationalist government.

After several major battles, Okamura Ninji believed that although there were Kuomintang troops in Henan to the north of the Japanese army, it was not easy for the enemy troops here to move south because of the distance between the Dabie Mountains and the containment of the Japanese troops in Henan. As for Jiangxi in the southeast, after the Japanese army occupied Nanchang, the two armies had a safe distance of more than 200 kilometers after all, and the threat to the Nationalist Government was relatively small.

Therefore, if you look carefully, the biggest threat at present is the Xue Yue Ninth Theater in the Hunan region south of the Japanese army. Because the Ninth Theater gathered heavy military groups, especially the Central Army, which was the most powerful theater of the Nationalist Government, the Japanese army wanted to seize Hunan as early as the time of Okamura Ningji.

After Ananwei took office, in order to make corresponding merits and complete the tasks assigned by the base camp, he launched an attack on Changsha, and the Battle of Changsha broke out.

Therefore, the current Battle of Changsha is not only related to the future strategic layout of China and Japan, but also related to Japan's international layout, especially Japan's layout in Southeast Asia.

If Japan wins the war, then the Thai side will certainly not dare to show its teeth and will obediently cooperate with the Japanese Government, then the Japanese Government will gain a foothold in the southeast, especially in the Indochina Peninsula, and will even establish a military base, which can be advanced by Thailand to Yunnan, China, to cut off the Yunnan-Burma road, and retreat to the United States, Britain, and the Netherlands, which can attack Southeast Asia, and even the French troops that are close at hand.

However, if the Japanese army loses the battle in the direction of Changsha, the Thai government will not give in easily, otherwise it will put itself in danger, and if the Japanese cannot achieve the final victory in the war, then as an ally of Japan, it will inevitably be regarded as an accomplice.

Japan can ignore the Chinese government, but Thailand does not dare, after all, there is a long border between Thailand and China, once the national government is angry, it does not need too many troops, only need to send a group army to Bangkok, so the Thais are also waiting.

The Thai people naturally could not hide their thoughts from Japan, and they also knew that the Thai government could only be induced but not coerced, otherwise it was likely that this rare ally would fall to the United States and Britain and other countries, so they could only urge the Japanese troops on the Changsha front to intensify their offensive, and they must set an example for the other battlefields of the Imperial Japanese Army and the "Asian ally".

Naturally, the Chinese Dispatch Army Command did not dare to slack off on the orders of the base camp, and even if the base camp did not have additional orders, they would launch an attack on Hunan in a short time, because Hunan was a place that related the war situation in the entire southern China.

Hunan Province, abbreviated as Hunan Province, is an extremely important province in southern China. As early as 400,000 years ago, there were human activities here, in the Xia, Shang and Zhou periods, and it was the southern area of Jingzhou. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, it was part of the famous Chu State. Subsequently, from the Qin and Han dynasties until the Republic of China, Hunan Province was always a densely populated and rich land in the south.

Rice was cultivated here as early as 10,000 years ago, and it is one of the provinces with the highest grain production in China.

Since the Nationalist Government moved west from Nanjing to Chongqing, tens of millions of ordinary people have also moved westward, as well as millions of troops, all of whom are basically not peasants and need additional food supplies. At that time, the Nationalist Government controlled that except for Sichuan, which had a relatively high grain output, only Hunan Province remained.

As Chen Cheng, Minister of National Defense of the Nationalist Government, wrote in his memoirs: "Hunan is the largest rice warehouse in China, with an annual output of more than 120 million stones of rice (1 stone is 60 kilograms). If Hunan is lost and there is not enough to eat, what war of resistance is there to speak of. As for the enemy's insistence on occupying Hunan, there are also economic considerations. Hunan can realize the enemy's plan to feed the war with war! ”

In addition, Hunan's population exceeded 30 million in 1928, making it the most densely populated province in Chinese.

Hunan is also one of the most martial provinces in China. Their toughness can be known from the Hunan army at the end of the Qing Dynasty! The Hunan army started with only more than 10,000 people, but due to its outstanding military achievements, by 1859 the Hunan army group had about 140,000 troops, and at its peak the strength reached more than 500,000 troops. At that time, the Eight Banners and the Green Battalion were no longer able to fight, and only the Hunan Army could still confront the Taiping Army head-on!

The Hunan army fought bravely and tenaciously, and as soon as they went into battle, they treated themselves as if they were dead, and the battle was like desperate. Once the Hunan army was surrounded by the Taiping army, it often fought to the last man, and very few surrendered and were captured.

Therefore, the Japanese army believed that if Hunan Province was still under the control of the Nationalist Government, the Japanese army in Hubei would be a great threat. Moreover, if the Nationalist Government is to be completely defeated, it must occupy the core province of Hunan.

Hunan Province is located between the six provinces of Hubei, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou, and Sichuan, and is of great military and political significance.

Once the Japanese army occupied the whole of Hunan, it basically controlled the southern part of China, and the Nationalist government was oppressed in Sichuan, Yunnan, Xikang and other provinces to be dying, and there was only one breath left if it did not die.

On the contrary, if the Nationalist Government succeeded in controlling Hunan Province, it would be able to effectively defend Sichuan Province, the rear of the Anti-Japanese War. As long as the Japanese army could not fully occupy Hunan Province, it would not be able to attack Sichuan.

Therefore, no matter from which point of view, the Chinese and Japanese armies must fight to the death for Hunan Province.

Because of this, the battle entered a white-hot stage at the beginning, from Dayun Mountain to Xinqiang River, the two sides fought for every inch of land, and the battle was extremely fierce.

But in general, the current situation is not very optimistic for the Nationalist Government, and in order to win this battle, the Japanese army has made preparations for a charge, both militarily and politically, so the attack is extremely strong.

Even in the face of the inferior forces, the Ninth Theater of the Nationalist Government was losing ground one after another, and the position on the front line of the Xinqiang River was shaky, and if reinforcements were not sent here in a short time, the Japanese army would probably have crossed the Xinqiang River within two days.

As the gateway to Changsha, the Xinqiang River will no longer have any dangerous places to defend in the area east of Changsha, so the Battle of Xinqianghe is the key to the Battle of Changsha. (To be continued.) )