Eighty-one years ago today, on June 23, 1944 (May 3, 1944), the Japanese carried out a devastating attack on Hengyang. When the Chinese army withdrew from Hengyang, they blew up the ground facilities first to avoid falling into the enemy. On June 23, 1944, the Japanese attacked Hengyang in three directions, and were tenaciously resisted by 17,000 Chinese defenders, with Fang Xianjue's Kuomintang Tenth Army as the main force. In order to capture Hengyang as soon as possible and realize its strategic intention, the Japanese army carried out a devastating attack on Hengyang at all costs. At the beginning of the battle, in addition to bombarding Hengyang with aircraft and artillery, the Japanese army also blatantly violated international law by using tear gas and erosive poison gas to attack the defenders and force cross the Lei River. After that, the Japanese army used poison gas bombs many times in the attack, which poisoned many officers and soldiers defending the city. After the Japanese army suffered repeated setbacks in the offensive, they launched a fire attack. They used planes to throw a large number of incendiary bombs. The incendiary bombs fell, the fire raged, and the whole city was in a sea of fire. The grain bombs stored by the defenders were burned, and countless injured soldiers and civilians were burned to death. The Loyalty Society with the Red Cross flag as a field hospital was not spared. Thousands of seriously injured soldiers and civilians died in the fire. Under the continuous bombardment of Japanese artillery and the repeated bombardment of aircraft, Hengyang was razed to the ground.