General Yang Yong is one of the famous "Three Yangs" of the People's Liberation Army. During the Red Army period, Yang Yong was known for his bravery and good fighting, during the Long March, he was a pioneer and was wounded twice in the Battle of Xiangjiang and the Battle of Tucheng; Yang Yong was a famous general of the Eighth Route Army' War of Resistance, and in the first great victory of the Battle of Pingxingguan, he fought with the Japanese army in a white-knife battle and was wounded again.
After the Battle of Pingxingguan, in March 1938, because the commander of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, Lin Shi, was accidentally wounded by Yan Xishan's Jin Sui Army while walking on his horse, the division commander was replaced by Chen Guangdai, the commander of the 343rd Brigade, the commander of the 343rd Brigade, Li Tianyou, the commander of the 686th Regiment, and Yang Yong was promoted from deputy commander of the 686th Regiment to regimental commander and political commissar.
On March 17, Yang Yong led the 686th Regiment to ambush the Japanese transport team west of Noon City, killing more than 200 Japanese and intercepting 6 vehicles. That night, with the coordination of two companies of the 685th Regiment, Yang Yong commanded 3 battalions to attack noon and annihilate a Japanese unit. The next day, Yang Yong commanded the 686th Regiment, in coordination with the brother troops, to ambush more than 800 cavalry and 1 company of artillery of the Japanese 108th Division through Puxian To aid Daning in the west through Puxian County, and the fierce battle continued until the morning of the 19th, annihilating more than 700 Japanese Kou. The two battles of Wucheng and Jinggou annihilated more than 1,000 enemy troops.
In late March, in order to take revenge, the Japanese army organized more than 1,000 troops to counterattack, and the Japanese army met the troops of Wei Lihuang, deputy commander of the Kuomintang Second Theater of Operations, in Daning. Wei Lihuang's troops were unable to defeat the ferocious offensive of the Japanese army, and they rushed to the support of the Eighth Route Army. Chen Guang, the acting commander of the 115th Division, took the overall situation as the most important and ordered Yang Yong to lead his troops to cover the eastward advance of friendly forces.
Yang Yong sent the 10th Company of the 3rd Battalion to quickly occupy the favorable terrain near Baierling and build up the field fortifications, and the Japanese army launched several fierce attacks on the positions of the 10th Company under the cover of aircraft artillery. The commanders and fighters of the 10th Company, with the determination to coexist and die with the position, fought fiercely for more than 3 hours, stubbornly blocking the attack of more than 800 Japanese troops, and only suffered more than 20 casualties.
During the battle, Wei Lihuang observed the fierce blockade of the Eighth Route Army through telescopes in the rear position, and asked Yang Yong: "The combat effectiveness of your army is really strong!" May I ask Commander Yang how many troops your army is fighting the blockade battle in the front? ”
"Only one company of the 686 regiment," Yang Yong replied.
"Impossible, right? A company is so powerful? Have such a strong fighting force? Wei Lihuang didn't believe it.
"That's true, I don't believe you can count them yourself when they take them down."
In the evening, when Wei Lihuang saw with his own eyes that the troops of only more than 200 people were withdrawn from the front line, he had to be satisfied and sincere, and issued an exclamation of admiration: "Your army is really invincible all over the world." If only I had such a regiment. ”
"General Wei, every regiment of our Eighth Route Army, like the 686 regiment, has real strength from the people, from millions of awakened toiling masses..."
This incident enabled Wei Lihuang to have an extremely profound understanding of the Communist Party and the Eighth Route Army.