The city was burned to rubble, and the field hospital was placed in a temple on the outskirts of Changsha. There was not enough room, so a large number of tents were set up in the green pine forest to house the wounded.
The Japanese planes came around every now and then, dropping bombs everywhere. The city of Changsha was already burned down, so they dropped bombs on nearby villages, towns and farmland.
Many rice fields were bombed with huge mud craters, and many villages and towns were devastated and leveled to the ground by the bombs.
But fortunately, the Chinese people have paid great attention to air defense. Air defense posts are set up everywhere. The Japanese planes are still far away, and the air defense sirens are ringing loudly.
The people working in the fields and the officers and soldiers in training hid in the woods or burrowed into holes when they heard the air defense sirens. The casualties caused by Japanese planes were also getting less and less.
After the Japanese planes left, people did whatever they were supposed to do, and they became accustomed to Japanese bombings.
Because the field hospital was well hidden, although the Japanese planes hovered over Changsha from time to time, they did not discover the location of the field hospital.
Although he was recuperating from his injuries, as a regiment-level official, Yang Ling also enjoyed very good treatment and had a separate house to live in.
The hospital for injured soldiers with thousands of people was filled with stench. They were brought in covered in blood and carried out with hard bodies. Brothers who were missing arms and legs were also wailing in pain. The doctors were exhausted all day long.
Although Yang Ling had a separate room to recuperate, he did not seem lonely. Many brothers in the regiment were injured in the battle at Wanjialing. When they heard that members of the regiment were injured, all those who could move came over every day to talk and play chess with Yang Ling.
Yang Ling's wound infection worsened. When he first arrived at the hospital, the doctor asked for amputation. Yang Ling refused to do anything. If he became a one-armed regiment commander, how could he lead the troops in the war? However, he finally managed to save his arm due to his persistence.
In an era when medical treatment is scarce, for busy doctors, many injuries do not require amputation. However, in order to save medication and time, amputation is performed. This is also a helpless matter.
The injured brothers came over and hung around Yang Ling all day long. The regiment leader was injured while charging on the battlefield. The brothers admired him from the bottom of his heart.
The brothers gathered around chatting, bragging, and sometimes playing chess, but it became boring after a while. Yang Ling had to ask them to get some newspapers and books when they came over to relieve Yang Ling's boredom and to understand the situation outside the hospital.
The fire in Changsha was dealt with quickly. The Chairman of the Standing Committee personally flew to Changsha to inspect the victims, and went to the 74th Army's station to express condolences. However, Yang Ling had been sent to the hospital before that, but he was not seen.
Yang Ling also learned a lot of information about the outside world through major newspapers and radio stations, allowing him to know everything about the outside world even though he was in the hospital.
The Chinese *** team fought repeatedly with the Japs in the outskirts of Wuhan for several months, consuming a large amount of the Japs' effective strength. Although Wuhan was finally captured, what they got was an empty city.
The little devils were exhausted after fighting for several months and were unable to launch a large-scale offensive in a short period of time. Although the little devils frequently succeeded in battles, they suffered a complete defeat strategically.
They first wanted to destroy China within three months. The Chinese Communist Party relied on their flesh and blood to fight bloody battles on the Songhu battlefield for three months, breaking the Japanese plan for a quick victory.
The little devils were very arrogant before the war. Their annual steel output was more than five million tons, while China only had tens of thousands tons. They produced more than a thousand aircraft annually, but China could only rely on purchasing from abroad...
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It was precisely based on the comparison of a large number of military and economic data that the little devils thought they could destroy China in a short time, but they weakened the determination of Chinese officers, soldiers and people to resist.
Millions of officers and soldiers traveled thousands of miles to the battlefield just to fight the national calamity. Just one Battle of Songhu ruined the Japanese's three-month plan to destroy China.
The Japanese base camp also proposed the Chinese government's plan to seize Wuhan and force a forced landing in an attempt to achieve their strategic intentions.
But the little Japanese were disappointed again. In four months of fierce fighting, they lost countless soldiers and spent countless weapons and ammunition resources, but what they got was an empty city. China is still resisting.
Although the Japs captured more than half of China, more than a year of continuous battles left the Japs exhausted. As the occupation area expanded and the front lines lengthened, they became increasingly unable to cope with their needs.
After capturing Wuhan, the Japanese had to adjust their strategy based on the current situation, changing from armed attack to political inducement to surrender, with armed attack as a supplement.
Politically, they constantly win over senior officials of the government in an attempt to induce the government to surrender. Militarily, they only maintain partial pressure and no longer press forward step by step. The main forces are transferred to the rear occupied areas to carry out security clearance operations.
With the change of the Japs' strategy, the Japs suspended their large-scale offensive, allowing the Chinese Army, which had suffered losses of more than a million for more than a year, to finally breathe a sigh of relief, and the two sides entered a confrontation stage.
The little devils were adjusting their strategies, and China was also adjusting their strategies. Each unit suffered heavy losses in more than a year of combat, and their weapons and equipment were even more depleted. Then they began to take turns training.
Because the 74th Army fought brilliantly in the Battle of Wanjialing, it was directly listed as a strategic general reserve by the Military Commission and placed under the direct jurisdiction of the Military Commission.
Weapons and equipment were given priority to be replenished. In particular, a group of young Huangpu officers were specially removed from the Huangpu Military Academy and added to the 74th Army to restore combat effectiveness.
Before the 74th Army, there were many units that could fight tough battles, such as the 87th and 88th German Arms Divisions and other main forces. Although their combat effectiveness was very strong, after a tough battle, after all the veterans were exhausted, they became weak.
Many ace troops on the battlefield gradually disappeared from people's sight under such circumstances. Because they could not be supplemented by high-quality soldiers and weapons, even the ace troops could not regain their glory after fighting several bloody battles.
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Fortunately, the 74th Army is a direct branch of the Central Army after all, and there are people above it who are easy to talk to. After all, the army commander Yu Jishi is the nephew of the Chairman. This time he has regained his face, and the Chairman is naturally happy.
With the addition of a large number of Huangpu officers and high-quality soldiers and weapons, the strength has not weakened, but has become stronger.
The strength of the 74th Army was strengthened under the care of the Military Commission, and their opponent, the Japanese 11th Army commanded by Okamura Neiji, was also strengthened, and three divisions were placed under the command of the 11th Army.
The number of troops under the direct command of the 11th Army has reached seven elite divisions, which can be said to be very powerful. They are pressing on the Xinqiang River and Xiushui River and confronting the troops of the Ninth War Zone. They are eyeing Changsha. The clouds of war have not dissipated.
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China, on the other hand, is actively making preparations for war. Based on the experience gained from fighting against the Japs in the first stage, the Military Commission has also made new arrangements.
Order one-third of the country's troops to be deployed behind enemy lines to fight guerrillas to contain the Japs, one-third to be stationed in the front to confront the Japs, and one-third to be deployed to the rear for rotational training. Each unit will rotate with each other, with each period lasting four months.
To enhance the combat effectiveness of the troops.
Among them, the Guangxi Army's 7th Army, 24th Group Army and 26th Group Army fought guerrillas in areas behind enemy lines such as the Dabie Mountains and were responsible for operations behind enemy lines, while the 74th Army and other units were transferred to the rear to begin training.
The war zones across the country have also undergone new adjustments and are divided into ten war zones and one war zone behind enemy lines. With General Xuezhong as the commander-in-chief, the war zone behind enemy lines has jurisdiction over battlefields behind enemy lines such as southern Shandong and northern Jiangsu.