Chinese expeditionary force, a bloody battle in Tengchong?

1In May, 944, the 20th Army of the Chinese Expeditionary Force crossed the Nujiang Natural Barrier with six divisions and launched an all-out attack on the Japanese army that occupied Tengchong, a strategic fortress in western Yunnan, for two years. The siege of Tengchong lasted for 42 days, and the expeditionary force annihilated more than 3,000 Japanese troops and recovered Tengchong with great victory. In the battle, more than 9000 soldiers of the group army died heroically. The victory of Tengchong War strongly promoted the victory of the battlefield in Yunnan and Burma, and wrote a glorious page in the history of China's anti-fascist war, War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression's history and the world's history.

May 1944, 1 1, 20th Army of Chinese Expeditionary Force (under the jurisdiction of 53rd Army and 54th Army, ***5 divisions-prepare 2nd Division,198th Division, 36th Division and1/kloc-) The next morning, we began to attack Gaoligong Mountain. The main force of the enemy's 56th division 148 and 146, defended themselves in times of crisis, and our army violently attacked. After a bloody battle on the 9th, the Japanese army retreated, and our army captured the public houses in the north and south of Gaoligong Mountain. After more than ten days of fierce fighting, it entered Mamianguan, Jietou, Wadian and Jiangju in Tengbei. Aware of the strategic significance of losing important strongholds such as Gaoligong Mountain, Qiaotou and Jiang Yi, the Japanese army dispatched 1 13, 1 14, 146, artillery 56 and search 56 to carry out rapid reinforcement and fierce counterattack.

But the soldiers of our expeditionary force have high morale, fought bravely and fought hand in hand. After a bloody battle on the 22nd, they finally wiped out half of the enemy. Then, in pursuit of victory, they captured the bridgehead and Jiangmao, the enemy's central strongholds in Tengbei, and swept away the remnants of the enemy from the north of Gudong to Pima along the south of Longchuan River, and swept away the remnants of the enemy on both sides of Longchuan River, forming a trend of approaching and surrounding Tengchong City. At this time, all the Japanese invaders fleeing from north to south and the Japanese soldiers guarding Tengchong were combined into a synthetic wing, under the command of Colonel Zang Chong Kang Mei, the captain of the 148 unit who was guarding Laifeng Mountain and Tengchong City.

Tengchong is the strongest city in western Yunnan, with Fengshan as the barrier and the two places relying on each other. After more than two years of fighting, the Japanese army built strong fortifications and fortresses in the two places, prepared enough food and ammunition, and was ordered to defend until the end of 10, waiting for the arrival of reinforcements.

Our army decided to capture Fengshan first, and finally panic in Tengcheng to defend the enemy. At noon on July 26, under the cover of the air force, our army stormed five fortress groups in Fengshan with superior forces at the same time. The officers and men fought bravely, made great sacrifices to capture Fengshan on the 3rd, and then swept the enemy out of the south city, forming a trend of surrounding Tengchong City on all sides. Finally, the wall of Tengchong, a lonely city, is surrounded by huge stones, which are tall and thick. There are forts around the city wall, and there are large forts on both sides of the four corners of the city wall. On August 2nd, the 346th Regiment of the 53rd Army 1 16 Division launched an attack on the auxiliary yamen and the Oriental Hospital outside the East Gate, and successively captured four Japanese forts and occupied the auxiliary yamen. At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the 348th regiment was blown into the city by the air force in the southeast corner of the city, with a width of 10 meter, repelling the Japanese counterattack and holding the ground in the city. On August 3, the Japanese army in the city repeatedly attacked the gap in the southeast corner, all of which were repelled by the 348 regiment. At the same time, the gap was enlarged to 50 meters by engineering blasting.

On August 4th, the Air Force bombed the turret and the southwest corner of the city, and198th Division and 36th Division rushed into the city. After 12 days of fierce fighting, the fortress groups on the city wall were destroyed one by one.

On August 14, our army rushed into the city from the south wall with four whole divisions and launched a fierce street fighting. Due to the dense streets and lanes in Tengchong city, houses are connected, and stubborn enemies use houses to fortify and build castles in the lanes, and the fighting is extremely fierce. Every step forward will pay a terrible price. As the "20 Army Battle Minutes" said, "Siege battles, big and small battles, fierce battles everywhere. Our enemies are in melee, and the mountains and rivers are dazzling, and the potential is like lightning. Because of the heavy sacrifices, there is blood on the walls. " After 42 days of "scorched earth" campaign, the enemy troops on the defensive were wiped out, and Tengchong regained its city on September 1944. Tengchong fell for two years, four months and four days and returned to the hands of Tengchong people.

From 1944, May 1 1, the 20th Army of the Expeditionary Force crossed the Nujiang River in September 14 and captured Tengchong City, which lasted 127 days. More than 40 battles were fought, and * * * captured 4 enemy officers and 60 soldiers. More than 65,438+000 officers and more than 6,000 soldiers killed the enemy's Major General Commander and Tibet Commander Major General Kang Mei. 7 field guns, 6 infantry guns, 0/0 mortars, 0/9 heavy machine guns, 47 light machine guns, more than 0/000 foot guns, more than 20 cars and 25 wired and wireless motors were seized. Our expeditionary force also suffered casualties 1.234 officers and 1.7075 soldiers, which shows the arduous and tragic battle of Tengchong and the patriotic spirit of the expeditionary force soldiers.

No war can be won without relying on the local people. Since 1944, when the Expeditionary Force began to counterattack, the anti-Japanese county government mobilized more than 46,000 migrant workers to transport ammunition and food, build bridges and roads, act as guides, rescue the wounded and engage in reconnaissance. Young people have gone up, and old, weak, women and children have not been idle. It was they who completed the task of transporting 600 thousand Jin of rations from Baoshan Hupa. Less than six days before and after, even the expeditionary force and American officers and men praised it as "unprecedented." When there is no food ration, the local people would rather not eat or eat less, and send the cooked food to the front in the rain of bullets. Recalling that year, Wei said with emotion: the counterattack against Tengchong was successful in part because the soldiers destroyed the strong with their lives; This is partly due to the strong support of Tengchong people.

People in Tengchong mountainous area never imagined that in Tengchong Anti-Japanese War, there were even a group of blond westerners fighting side by side with them. The allies joined the battle from the ground to the air. There is an American Staff Committee in the Chinese Expeditionary Force to participate in campaign planning. In the air, the Flying Tigers (later Air Force 14), headed by Chennault, participated in the Tengchong Campaign.

From1August 943 17, when the allied air force bombed the Japanese army in Tengchong for the first time, to1September 944/day, in 390 days, the allied air force * * * dispatched more than 20 times with more than 300 planes, successively in Gaoli. On August 22nd, 1944, the allied air force dispatched 60 planes in five batches to bomb and strafe the Japanese battery group in the northwest corner of Tengchong city, which created favorable conditions for the ground troops to conquer the buildings in the northwest corner. In September 10 air battle, four Japanese planes were shot down.

In the whole Tengchong Anti-Japanese War, the key targets of the allied air force attack were Laifeng Mountain and Tengchong City, which were the most heavily defended by the Japanese army. These attacks reduced the casualties of the ground troops of the expeditionary force and destroyed most of the Japanese fortresses. Destroyed a considerable number of enemy troops and won time and opportunity for the final victory of the campaign.

The Allied Air Force also undertook the airlift mission. Tengchong had an airport before the war, and five temporary airports and airdrop points were built during the war for the use of allied air forces. During the large-scale counterattack of the expeditionary force, the allied air transport was extremely busy; Flying around the clock, it transported a large number of ammunition, food and other military supplies to Tengchong to support ground operations and made great contributions to the victory of the Anti-Japanese War.

During the Tengchong Anti-Japanese War, due to Japanese artillery attack, weather factors, disorientation and other reasons, some allied fighters and transport planes crashed, some pilots died heroically, while others were rescued by ordinary people in time, helping them to heal and find soldiers, and giving them cordial treatment, which made them unforgettable. More than half a century later, a pilot specially told his children that Wan Li had come all the way to Tengchong to look for rescuers and express his gratitude. The Chinese and American people will always remember and cherish this profound friendship condensed in the anti-fascist struggle.

Another old friend of Tengchong people is General Stilwell, and the "Stilwell" Highway (China-India Highway) built under his auspices has always been the pride of Tengchong people. On this "blood line", countless precious lives of people with lofty ideals have been left behind. It has played an extremely important role in smashing the Japanese blockade strategy and ensuring the smooth flow of international aid to China, which can be called the "artery" for War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression to win the final victory.