As everyone knows, Founding Marshal Luo Ronghuan was not known for his military command in the history of our army, but was known for being good at doing political work, and was praised as a "great master of political work" in our army.
In fact, Luo Ronghuan was deeply familiar with military strategy, and he not only created the famous "flanging tactics", but also personally commanded many battles and fought many beautiful victories. The Battle of Baiyan in February 1940 fully demonstrated the depth of Luo Ronghuan's strategy.
At that time, the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, led by division commander Chen Guang and political commissar Luo Ronghuan, entered the Lunan area and sent the 686th Regiment to conquer Baiyan Township, a necessary place for Lunan to pass through the Yimeng Mountains.
When our army was victorious, Zhang Renchu, commander of the 686th Regiment, suddenly received a military order from Luo Ronghuan: to demolish all the fortifications in the town.
This puzzled zhang Ren's junior regimental battalion cadres: This military order was really strange! If all the fortifications are demolished, then once our army is attacked by the Japanese army, it will not fall into an extremely passive situation.
However, no matter what they gave, Luo Ronghuan insisted that the Sixth and Eighth Regiments obey the order, and although the cadres were puzzled, the military order was as follows and could only be followed.
Subsequently, with the support of the local masses, the troops carried out a thorough inventory and rectification of the town, inside and out, in the corners and corners.
The military and the people are united in their power. Bai Yan soon changed his appearance, and the trenches dug by the enemy were filled in, the strong walls of the fortress were demolished, and the bunkers were destroyed.
It can be said that all kinds of facilities that could be used for combat no longer exist, and the entire town of Baiyan has become a living area suitable for civilians and trade only.
This series of measures has been enthusiastically supported by the people, large and small shops have resumed trading, and more people have come and gone on the streets, especially the Eighth Route Army has helped fellow villagers cultivate land, water gardens, carry water, send dung, and be close to their fellow villagers.
In just a few days, the Children's League, the Women's Rescue Association, and the Peasant Rescue Association were all established, and the anti-Japanese government was also working. The hearts of the people are the scales, the eyes of the common people are shining, and they can distinguish what kind of troops are really helping the poor.
After that, Luo Ronghuan sent many groups of scouts around to inquire about intelligence, and learned that after our army liberated Baiyan, the Japanese troops in various strongholds such as Liangqiu, Chengqian, and Chenghou in the vicinity closed the gates of the village tightly, and they could not hold out and did not move.
Some cadres believe that this shows that the devils are scared by our army and will not attack Baiyan for the time being.
Luo Ronghuan did not think so, reminding everyone: "Everyone must not take it lightly, the enemy has not taken action for the time being, but is just mobilizing troops, we must step up our precautions and be ready to fight at any time!" ”
After receiving the mobilization order, the troops stepped up training, practicing shooting, bombing, assassination, and platoon attack and defense. The military technology and tactical level of various combat units have been significantly improved, and even many new recruits who have just put on military uniforms have also been rubbing their fists.
When the common people heard that the enemy was about to fight, they also took active action to prepare for war. According to Luo Ronghuan's instructions, they completely fortified the walls and cleared the wilderness, leaving no grain for the enemy, and bagging their daily necessities and rations. With just one order, you can move into the mountain at any time.
Sure enough, the enemy finally launched an attack a few days later. They gathered more than 1,000 people from strongholds such as Teng County, Dapingyi, Chenghou, Liangqiu, and Fei County, and attacked Baiyan again in three ways.
Luo Ronghuan was not in a hurry, and ordered the troops to cover the masses in the town and calmly move to the mountains.
Immediately afterward, Luo Ronghuan made elaborate combat arrangements: the special task force ambushed the enemy from Dapingyi in the northwest of Baiyan; the Sulu detachment ambushed the enemy from Liangqiu in the south of Baiyan; and the Lunan detachment ambushed the enemy attacking from the city at Chaishan, southwest of the town.
The battle was first fought by the Lunan detachment, who seized the favorable terrain on Chai Mountain and caught the Japanese puppet army from behind the city by surprise. After repelling the enemy's fourth charge, the Lunan detachment drove them down the hill in one breath, and then pursued them to the Yellow Grass Slope, eliminating most of the enemy.
Taipingyi's enemies, under the repeated resistance of the secret service regiment, were able to join Liangqiu's enemies with difficulty, and it was not until the afternoon that they entered Baiyan.
But what about Bai Yan? There was nothing there—the deer blocks, the bunkers, the barbed wire were all torn down, the trenches were all filled, and there was no place for the enemy to be fortified.
The enemy wanted to arrest the people, but they searched the whole town, but they could not catch any ordinary people.
The enemy wanted to eat, and he couldn't find half a grain when he dug three feet into the ground, and the cows, sheep, chickens, ducks, and geese couldn't even fish for a hair; when they wanted to drink water, they found that the wells in the town were filled...
In the middle of the night, the enemy had just closed his eyes, and the first battalion touched Bai Yan again, stirred up the intestines and stomachs inside, and fought with the Japanese army house by house, killing and wounding many enemies and then immediately moving.
This method of warfare, which came and went without a trace, made the Japanese army dizzy and miserable, and could only shrink into a ball, like a frightened hedgehog.
This night really tossed the enemy enough, and as soon as the sky was dark, they could no longer hold on, and quickly left the empty market town and fled in the direction of Taipingyi.
At this time, Luo Ronghuan gave an order, and sent a company of the Sulu detachment to pursue the retreating enemy together with a company of a battalion and drove out for several miles.
Only then did the commanders and fighters of the various units realize the mystery of The demolition of all the fortifications in Baiyan Town ordered by Political Commissar Luo -- the fortifications were gone, leaving the enemy with no danger to defend, and our army went in and out at will, giving full play to the advantages of guerrilla warfare, avoiding the disadvantages of attacking strong points, thus inflicting effective casualties on the enemy, and at the same time saving themselves, and the results of the battle were much better than fighting hard.
After all, Zhang Renchu was the leader of the regiment, and he understood it more thoroughly——
The superiority of our army does not lie in defensive battles at all, but in guerrilla warfare. If the fortifications in the town are not demolished, our army will have the mentality of sticking to this place, and it is likely to fall into the enemy's heavy siege, and the consequences will be unimaginable.
This battle also made him convinced of Luo Ronghuan's military command ability: "Don't think that the political commissar can only engage in political work, he is also of first-class standards in fighting!" ”
Reference historical materials: "The Battle History of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army and the Shandong Military Region", "The Record of the Conquest of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army" and so on