Outside Hengyang City 1944

In 1944, under the guidance of Operation No. 1, The Japanese army launched the Battle of Henan, Hunan and Guangxi, and advanced with great success. Even Changsha City, which had blocked the Japanese army three times, declared its fall on the evening of June 18. Commander Yokoyama Isamu of the Eleventh Army ordered the 68th Division and the The 116th Division approached Hengyang in two ways along both sides of the Xiangjiang River, hoping to capture Hengyang City and destroy Hengyang Airport within three days. However, they never expected that Hengyang City would become a flesh-and-blood mill for the Japanese army, and it became a nightmare that will never go away in the hearts of many Japanese soldiers. In 47 days and nights, they saw for the first time how tenacious and unafraid of death the Chinese soldiers were. The Chinese people were so united and united, completely disregarding personal gains and losses. They also saw the wisdom of the people bred by a nation with 5,000 years of civilization. On August 7, the Japanese army had broken through the core position. The defenders were divided into several isolated strongholds in the city, losing contact with each other and unable to organize an effective counterattack. From the evening of August 7 to 20:00, Fang Xianjue, commander of our Tenth Army, decided to negotiate with the Japanese army after discussing with division commander Zhou Qingxiang and others to ensure that more than 20,000 people in Hengyang and more than 7,000 wounded soldiers of the Tenth Army would not follow in the footsteps of Nanjing. In the early morning of August 11, Liu Hao, Li Yishui, Fake Monk, Tao Zi, and Chen Yun crawled out of the underground pipe and mixed in with the refugees to escape from Hengyang City.