In 1942, the Battle of Zhejiang was held by the 86th Army of the National Revolutionary Army.
On June 3, the Japanese launched an all-out attack on Quzhou City, at which time the enemy narrowed the encirclement and wantonly bombed the positions of the 86th Army, blowing up almost all the positions and field fortifications built in the area, and 3 radio receivers controlled by the deputy commander Chen Yiding were also blown up by enemy aircraft. As a result, the army completely lost contact with the outside world and fell into the same situation as when Yu Chengwan was stuck in Changde.
Before the heavy bombardment of Quzhou City by enemy planes was over, the Japanese could not wait to divide their troops and launch infantry attacks toward Quzhou from different directions. At about 2 p.m. on the same day, a japanese force of about a hundred people, under the cover of artillery and air fire, rushed into the city from near the south gate of Quzhou.
Guarding the core position in the city was the 64th Regiment of the 16th Division. Under the leadership of regimental commander Xie Shiyan, the officers and men of the regiment launched repeated counterattacks against the Japanese Kou, and finally drove out this ferocious Japanese Kou.
On this day's battle, the 86th Army paid a high price: the 64th Regiment of the 16th Division suffered more than 100 casualties, and the 67th Division also suffered the same number of casualties.
If the Japanese offensive was the biggest enemy of the 86th Army at present, the weather added new resistance to the 86th Army's holding of Quzhou. Since the beginning of the war, torrential rains have continued for several days, flash floods have broken out, the large and small rivers of the Xin'an River and wuxi river have swelled, and all the fortifications of the positions have accumulated water, which has brought great difficulties to the defenders.
Since the Japanese Kou launched an all-out attack, after the first attack on Quzhou City was repulsed, it seemed that they had found a route to attack the city, and the main direction of attack was selected at the south gate, and a more ferocious attack was launched the next day.
The Japanese Kou launched a continuous attack from the Quzhou Railway Station to the position of the south gate of the 86th Army. The officers and men of the 67th Division guarding this area fought under such harsh conditions and carried forward the greatest courage in fighting for the nation, and under the command of Chen Yiding, they repelled the Japanese Kou who had attacked the city of Quzhou three times in a row and stabilized the core position. However, on this day, the price paid by the 86th Army was even more severe: the 16th Division killed more than 100 officers and men under Colonel Yuan Fuchong, the chief of staff, and more than 600 officers and men under Li Shi, deputy commander of the 67th Division.
By this day, the defense of Quzhou had been going on for five days and nights, the 86th Army had suffered casualties of more than 2,200 officers and men, and what was more important was that the defenders had severed contact with the outside world, and Chen Yiding decided to summon the commanders of the relevant units on the evening of June 4 to study the next battle plan.
While the meeting was in progress, Xie Shiyan, commander of the 64th Regiment, called and said that the commander of the regiment guarding the West Gate had reported that a common man had floated from the upper reaches of the Xin'an River and said that he had something to see the commander of the 67th Division.
It turned out that this old man's name was Qiao Danian, a 26-year-old man from Qinghu Town, Jiangshan County, engaged in the shipping industry, often traveling to and from the ports of Xin'anJiang, Xin'anjiang, and Fuchunjiang, transporting goods to people.
The letter was written by Wang Jingjiu, commander-in-chief of the 10th Army, on wax paper: "New again, try to come quickly, I am waiting for you on Fenglin Street." flat.
Youxin is Chen Yiding's alias; Ping is the omission of Youping, which is Wang Jingjiu's alias.
Chen Yiding knew very well that this was Wang Jingjiu who conveyed to him the order to retreat. However, he did not understand why Wang Jingjiu issued such an order, because according to the overall battle plan of the Military Commission to fight the Japanese in the Quzhou area, the 86th Army had already dragged the Japanese Kou, and it was a good time for the other units of the 3rd Theater to annihilate the enemy, so why should they retreat? Besides, even if you want to retreat, the Japanese Kou will surround Quzhou with water, how to retreat?
He thought about it and could not make up his mind, so he consulted with Cao Zhenduo, commander of the 16th Division, Gu Hongyang, deputy commander of the Division, Qi Yongnian, deputy commander of the 67th Division, and Tang Huanan, chief of staff, and finally reached an agreement: Carry out the orders of Commander-in-Chief Wang Jingjiu, take advantage of the heavy rain and late night, throw away heavy weapons, mules, horses, vehicles, and seriously injured people who cannot walk, and prepare for a breakthrough.
The specific breakthrough arrangements were: the 64th Regiment of the 16th Division, which had originally defended the city, assigned a unit of troops to maintain contact with the enemy at the southeast gate, and all the other units were assembled at the airfield outside the North Gate, and the troops were divided into two roads, one passing through Maoping and Kongjia, and the other along the south bank of the Wuxi River, respectively, moving closer to the 74th Army defense in the direction of Xikou. Since they could encounter Japanese Kou at any time, officers proficient in Japanese were organized to walk in front of the troops on each road, preparing to answer with Japanese Kou, and organizing a group to sabotage communication facilities, responsible for cutting off Japanese Kou cable telephone lines and mixing out the enemy's encirclement.
Chen Yiding, deputy commander and commander of the 67th Division, and Gu Hongyang, deputy commander of the 16th Division, took this road on the south bank of the Wuxi River. As soon as they led their troops out of the airfield, they were interrogated by Japanese sentries. Gu Hongyang immediately replied in Japanese that the department was a certain unit of the Imperial Allied Army, and was ordered to be transferred from Hucun to Shangye, with another task. At this time, the rain was heavy, and it was so dark that I could not see my five fingers, which helped the 86th Army. The officers and men of the ministry were all dressed in raincoats and hats, and the Japanese Kou could not distinguish between the true and the false, believed it to be true, and let them go.
As a result, the retreating troops easily broke out of the Japanese encirclement. Chen Yiding led the unit to continue to advance for more than 30 miles, arrived at the front of the position of the 57th Division of the 74th Army, and after contacting the 57th Division through various contact signals, entered the position of the division.
Cao Zhenduo, commander of the 16th Division, took a different path. They also had a thrilling protrusion of the Japanese-Koso encirclement.
The 64th Regiment remained on cover duty with the 2nd Battalion, and the regimental commander Xie Shiyan personally stayed behind to command the cover troops. Under the heroic and tenacious resistance of the officers and men of the battalion, the Japanese who had occupied the city gate and the city wall were never able to enter the city and prevent the breakthrough troops. The fierce battle was until dawn on the 7th, considering that the main force had all been out of danger, the regimental commander Xie Shiyan led more than 100 remnants of the 2nd Battalion to break through from the East Gate and detour towards Qingming Town.
There were no more Chinese troops in the city, and Quzhou was now completely occupied by the Japanese.
On June 9, after the 86th Army reunited, under the leadership of Chen Yiding, it passed by Fenglin Street, which Wang Jingjiu said in his letter, and prepared to drive to Pucheng. On Fenglin Street, Chen Yiding and Wang Jingjiu met. Wang Jingjiu told Chen Yiding that the reason for abandoning Quzhou was that Chiang Kai-shek had changed his original plan based on the consideration of preserving his living forces.
In this way, the combat operations of the 86th Army in the Battle of Zhejiang and Gansu ended. However, the combat operations of other Chinese troops did not end with it, but lasted for more than 2 months until the beginning of September, when the Japanese and Kosovo firmly held the occupied areas and the Chinese army was unable to achieve results.