In the summer of 1938, Tang Huaiyuan, commander of the Third Army of the National Revolutionary Army, was ordered by Chiang Kai-shek to garrison the Zhongtiao Mountains in southern Jinnan, which are located on the north bank of the Yellow River, surrounded by Lüliang Mountain, Taihang Mountain and Taiyue Mountain, which is an extremely important barrier in Shanxi, and has always been a place where soldiers and families in history must fight.
Since 1938, the Japanese army has repeatedly invaded the positions of the Third Army, and the commander Tang Huaiyuan personally came to the front line and repelled 13 large-scale attacks of the Japanese army with friendly troops.
On May 7, 1941, the Japanese army gathered 3 divisions and a cavalry independent brigade to kill the Zhongtiao Mountain, tang Huaiyuan led the Third Army received a fierce attack from the Japanese army, when the third army position aircraft roared, the battlefield was full of smoke, the artillery was endless, under the bloody battle of the soldiers, the forward position was still attacked by the Japanese army who was not afraid of death.
At 8:00, the Japanese attack was more fierce, the nationalist 43rd Army position was completely broken, resulting in the Zhongtiao Mountain position was divided into two halves, the situation of the 3rd Army became precarious, the Japanese army after capturing the strategic sijiao village of Zhongtiao Mountain, all the way westward occupied the 7th Division's garrison Wangjiahe, division commander Li Shilong led the troops to break through.
The loss of Wangjialing left the Third Army directly exposed to Japanese artillery fire, and the commander Tang Huaiyuan was forced to lead the troops to move to the Wenyu area, and in the afternoon of the same day, the commander of the theater issued an order to retreat, and other friendly troops broke through, but the Third Army was not ordered and still fought alone.
A day after the time passed, Tang Huaiyuan continued to command the troops to kill the enemy bravely, at that time the positions changed hands repeatedly, the battle situation was very anxious, as a military commander Tang Huaiyuan was always fierce soldiers on the front line, he said: "We must preserve the personality of the country and the nation, and save the righteousness of heaven and earth!" Seeing that the Japanese army was increasing, the continuity of the various units of the Third Army was also interrupted, but Tang Huaiyuan still did not flinch and insisted on fighting until the end.
On May 10, 1941, the Third Army received the order to retreat, the commander Tang Huaiyuan led the troops to break through, the troops in the retreat to the Wenyu area, suddenly ambushed by the Japanese army, at that time because of the sudden situation of the battle, countless soldiers were martyred, for a time did not break out of the Encirclement Circle of the Japanese Army, on the 11th, the Third Army fell into the Japanese army on all sides, in the absence of ammunition and reinforcements, many soldiers did not eat a mouthful of food for several days, the troops also suffered more than half of the casualties, Tang Huaiyuan urgently called three division commanders to hold a temporary meeting, decided to break into zero, Disperse breakouts.
Before leaving, Tang Huaiyuan warned the three subordinates that China only had the fallen commanders and division commanders, and there were no captured commanders and division commanders, and it was impossible for the Third Army to begin, and as soon as the meeting ended, Tang Huaiyuan led the 13th Division to break through, and as a result, he did not go far, he encountered Japanese resistance, and as soon as the gun sounded, he attracted a large number of Japanese troops to come, and several fierce battles were frantically intercepted by the Japanese army, and Tang Huaiyuan's road to Xianshan became a dead end.
When the time reached the 12th, Tang Huaiyuan only had a few signal soldiers and operators left around him, and when he retreated to a house on the top of the hill in Fanjiagou County, Tang Huaiyuan, who had broken through three times, did not succeed, and he indignantly wrote down the final stroke: Yu was deeply favored by the country and entrusted with the heavy responsibility of the three armies, and today's soldiers were killed and injured, the two parts of the general army lost contact, and after Yu's death, The commander-in-chief and chief of staff of Wangyu zhi cleaned up the remnants of their own army and continued to resist the war, and Yu's death was also blind! After stopping writing, he directly drew his gun and committed suicide at the age of 55.
On the same day, the commander of the 13th Division of the 3rd Army, Inch Sex Qi, led the troops to fight fiercely with the Japanese army at a high and low level of water bones, and the news of the commander's martyrdom was already known, and the inch Sex Qi was unfortunately shot in the chest during the fierce battle, but still gritted his teeth to command the battle, on the 13th, his right leg was blown off by artillery fire, and when he led his troops to retreat to the area of Maojiawan, he was surrounded by heavy Japanese troops, at this time, the left leg of inch Sex Qi was also broken, and at the last moment, he ordered the regimental commander Huang Xiangu to lead the troops to break through, and he used the last sword to commit suicide and martyrdom.
After the death of the division commander, none of the divisions withdrew, and the Japanese army fought until the last breath, everyone was martyred, the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain, the Third Army fought alone for 7 days, and in just 2 days, the commanders and division commanders were killed one after another, which was really tragic, but unfortunately, this battle is now little known.