At the beginning of 1941, the Chongqing Military Commission began to organize the four major "attack armies" directly under the Central Military Commission, and being included in the attack army meant that thousands of troops directly under the military headquarters, such as artillery regiments, supplementary regiments, engineer regiments, and communications battalions, were increased.
Two places in the battlefield north of the Yangtze River were quickly selected, namely Ding Delong's First Army and Li Yannian's Second Army of Hu Zongnan's system.
One of the two attacking armies in the battlefield south of the Yangtze River was quickly determined, that is, Du Yuming's mechanized 5th Army.
As for the other place, the shortlisted candidates are Chen Cheng's system, Peng Shan's 18th Army, He Yingqin's system, Wang Yaowu's 74th Army, and Li Yutang's 10th Army.
Due to Chiang's inclination and He Yingqin's strong recommendation, coupled with the dismal performance of the 18th Army in the Battle of Zaoyi, the 74th Army, which had just won the Battle of Shanggao, finally won the last place in the attacking army.
However, this also shows a problem, at least in the view of the Military Commission, the 5th Army, the 10th Army, the 18th Army, and the 74th Army in the Southern Battlefield were probably at the same level in terms of combat effectiveness, and there were not too many essential differences.
The question is, does the inclusion of the attacking forces have a decisive effect on the formation of their combat strength? Let's focus on the included 74th Army as a reference to measure the combat strength of the 10th Army that is not included.
The Second Battle of Changsha in 1941 was the first major battle in which the 74th Army participated after it became an attacking army, and the 10th Army, known as the "Taishan Army", also participated in this battle as the main force.
Here is the origin of the title of "Taishan Army".
In 1938, in the Battle of Wuhan Nanxun Line Coffin Mountain, the Eighth Army led by Li Yutang performed well, and was presented with a "Taishan Army" pennant by Xue Yue, implying that the 8th Army's defense of the Japanese army was as stable as Mount Tai, and of course it may have something to do with Li Yutang being a native of Shandong.
After the First Battle of Changsha in 1939, Li Yutang's 8th Army was merged and reorganized into the 10th Army, so the title of "Taishan Army" was also transferred to the 10th Army.
In the Second Battle of Changsha, the 10th Army and the 74th Army both encountered the Japanese army in high-speed movement, and were successively defeated by the 3rd and 6th Divisions of the Japanese army's main force, completely losing their combat effectiveness.
Both military headquarters also suffered serious damage, and the two army commanders, Li Yutang and Wang Yaowu, almost died.
The 10th Army and the 74th Army, which Xue Yue had high hopes for and hoped to turn the tide of the war, were both defeated in northern Hunan and were mainly defeated by two first-class divisions of the Japanese army, which may indicate to a certain extent that the combat strength of the two armies during this period should be almost the same.
In the Third Battle of Changsha, the 74th Army, which had recovered from rest and recovery in Guangxi, had just arrived on the Hunan battlefield, and the battle was over, and this battle was missed.
However, the 10th Army assumed the primary task of defending Changsha, the bottom of the "heavenly furnace", as the absolute main force, and fought a bloody battle with the Japanese army attacking Changsha for three days and nights, and finally repelled it, which can be said to have made the first contribution to the victory of the Third Battle of Changsha.
When it came to the Battle of Changde and the Battle of Hengyang, the roles of the 10th Army and the 74th Army were dramatically reversed: the former was the 10th Army to rescue the 57th Division of the 74th Army, and the latter was the 74th Army to rescue the 10th Army.
In November 1943, the 10th Army rushed from Hengshan to aid Changde, and the 3rd Division under its jurisdiction, especially the 10th and 190th Divisions, suffered heavy losses, and Sun Mingjin, the commander of the 10th Division, was killed in the battle, and the whole army basically lost its combat effectiveness again.
In July and August 1944, the 74th Army was ordered to rush to the aid of the 10th Army of Hengyang, which was heavily besieged by the Japanese army, but could not approach Hengyang under any circumstances.
Comparing the 74th Army's 57th Division's defense of Changde and the 10th Army's defense of Hengyang, the former held 1,000 people for 16 days and annihilated more than 10,000 enemies, while the latter 170,000 men held for 47 days, and more than 30,000 enemies were annihilated (one said that more than 50,000 Japanese troops were annihilated), and it seems that the 10th Army's defensive skills are even stronger.
Generally speaking, just talking about the period from 1940 to 1944, I personally believe that the overall combat strength and attack power of the 10th Army, which was not included in the attack army, may be slightly weaker than that of the 74th Army, but it will not be much weaker.
In terms of separation, the defense of the 10th Army seems to be greater than that of the 74th Army, and it can even be considered that the defense of the 10th Army may be able to cover the whole army in the frontal battlefield of the Anti-Japanese War.
Let's just put it this way, the 74th Army of the "Brilliant Army" and the "Tiger Army" may be called the "King of Attack", and the 10th Army of the "Taishan Army" may be worthy of the title of "King of Defense", which can be regarded as the trump card division of the frontal battlefield.