The Battle of Pingxingguan was a battle in which the Eighth Route Army took the initiative to attack the Japanese army.
At that time, the Japanese army was invading China on a large scale, and China lost its divisions and lost its land, and the troops were in a frenzy, and the whole country was in mourning. The Eighth Route Army faced the Japanese army, bravely showed its sword, and gave the Japanese army a blow in the head. It dealt a fierce blow to the arrogance of the Japanese army and greatly boosted the enthusiasm of the Chinese to resist the war.
It was the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army that attacked the Japanese at Pingxingguan. This is an extraordinary force. In the era of the Red Army, the commander of the division was rapidly promoted, became a senior general, and knew the way of using troops; most of the officers and men had traveled a 25,000-mile long march, had rich combat experience, and were resolute in their will to resist the war; and the regimental commanders were even more extraordinary.
At that time, a total of 3 regiments of the 115th Division participated in the battle, namely the 685th Regiment, the 686th Regiment, and the 687th Regiment, and the regimental commanders were Yang Dezhi, Li Tianyou, and Zhang Shaodong. They were all excellent generals who grew up from the most basic level, and they were the backbone of the command of the Eighth Route Army, but later they walked out of a different life.
Yang Dezhi, the leader of the 685 regiment, is a native of Zhuzhou, Hunan, a typical poor farmer, who followed his brother to pick coal in the Anyuan Coal Mine at the age of 14, picking more than 100 pounds each time, without stopping from morning to night. Later, he was oppressed and joined the Red Army led by Zhu De, gradually rising from an ordinary Red Army soldier to a regimental commander.
During the Long March, Yang Dezhi has always served as a pioneer in the road, and has fought bloody battles on the Xiang River, rushed to cross the Wu River, and forcibly crossed the Dadu River, making great contributions to the Long March.
In the Battle of Pingxingguan, the 685th Regiment commanded by Yang Dezhi served as a head-stopper.
His position faced the Japanese troops and bore the brunt of it.
If the whole position of the flat type pass is compared to a pocket, his position is the bottom of the pocket.
When the battle began, the Japanese army rushed to Yang Dezhi's position in desperation, trying to pierce the bottom of the bag and escape the fate of annihilation. The Japanese troops who rescued them outside also desperately attacked, trying to rescue the besieged Japanese troops. But when he met Yang Dezhi, it was like hitting the iron wall of the copper wall, and he was beaten to the head and bleeding.
Yang Dezhi later moved to Shanxi, Hebei and other places, and succeeded Xu Haidong as the brigade commander of the 344 brigade. Throughout the War of Resistance Against Japan, a large number of Japanese troops were eliminated. When the whole country was liberated, he was already the commander of the corps with more than 100,000 people under his command, and he first participated in the battle to liberate north and northwest China. During the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, he led his troops into Korea, was the main force in the Fifth Campaign, and served as the commander of the Volunteer Army after the Korean Armistice.
In 1955, Yang Washi was awarded the rank of general.
In 1979, Yang Dezhi was almost 70 years old, still wearing a battle robe, and together with Xu Shiyou, he commanded the self-defense counterattack against Vietnam and taught little Vietnam a lesson.
The leader of the 686 regiment was Li Tianyou, a native of Guangxi. At the age of 15, he participated in the Baise Uprising and served as a company commander of the secret service company. Very brave in battle, known as the "Little Tiger" company commander.
During the Battle of Pingxingguan, Li Tianyou was responsible for the surprise attack on the waist of the Japanese army. After the battle began, he rushed the Japanese army in one fell swoop, leaving the Japanese army in a separate battle. Later, he seized the old temple of the commanding heights and suppressed the Japanese army to death with fierce firepower.
After Japan surrendered, Li Tianyou accompanied Lin Biao into the northeast. In the two battles to attack Siping, they were the main commanders, and summed up a set of tactics to attack the stronghold, which were comprehensively promoted in the Northeast Field Army.
In 1955, Li Tianyou and Yang Dezhi were awarded the rank of general.
Zhang Shaodong, the commander of the 687th Regiment, was a fierce general under Xu Haidong. He joined the Red Army in 1930. In the battle of Eyuwan, he was promoted from an ordinary soldier to regimental commander, and later arrived in northern Shaanxi with Xu Haidong's Long March. In the Battle of Pingxingguan, he was responsible for cutting off the Retreat route of the Japanese army and preventing the Japanese army from turning back and fleeing.
After the battle began, he quickly seized the strategic points at the end of the Japanese army and blocked the retreat of the Japanese army with fierce firepower. Then command the troops to compress the Japanese army to the middle so that they can be annihilated.
Generals like Zhang Shaodong were supposed to shine on the anti-Japanese battlefield. Unfortunately, he could not resist the temptation, and fled soon after, and finally did not know the end.
In addition to the above three regimental commanders, the 115th Division also had two regimental commanders.
One was Chen Jinxiu, the leader of the 688 regiment, who was also a fierce general. Due to the barrier of flash floods, he was unable to participate in the Battle of Pingxingguan. The only regret is that he died in a battle with the Japanese army in 1938.
Another regimental commander is more famous.
He is the famous Yang Chengwu.
Yang Chengwu is a native of Fujian and has been in charge of political work in the Red Army. During the Long March, he served as the political commissar of the Red 4 regiment and was also a pioneer in the road, fighting bloody battles on the Xiang River, attacking Loushan Pass, rushing to cross the Wujiang River, flying to seize the Luding Bridge, climbing the snowy mountains to explore the way across the meadows, and attacking the dangerous Lazikou.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he was appointed as the commander of the Independent Regiment of the 115th Division for his outstanding military achievements, thus changing from politics to military. During the Battle of Pingxingguan, he stood at the waist to block Japanese reinforcements and was solely responsible for a separate battlefield.
Yang Chengwu, like Yang Dezhi and Li Tianyou, was awarded the rank of general in 1955 and became the dazzling general star of the republic.
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