The Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain was a humiliating battle, due to the transfer of the 4th Army Group, known as the "Iron Pillar of Zhongtiao Mountain" before the war, the lack of coordinated operations among the various units of the defenders, the lack of tactical rigidity, and the death of Yan Xishan at a critical juncture, etc., and finally 200,000 troops were defeated in Zhongtiao Mountain, tang Huaiyuan, commander of the 3rd Army, 12th Division, and Wu Shimin, commander of the 98th Army. The Battle of Mt. Nakajō has thus been called "the greatest shame in the history of the War of Resistance." So, was the Battle of Nakajō Mountain really lost so badly? The personal experience of a secretary veteran, Shi Zhongzhong, says it all.
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Captain Samurai Min
In 1939, Feng Chin-jae, commander of the 14th Army, was promoted to deputy commander of the First Theater of Operations, and the commander of the 169th Division, Shiman Min, was promoted to commander of the 98th Army. In the midst of heavy snow in the harsh winter, the 169th Division of the 98th Army was ordered to go south through the town of Dongfeng, west of Yangcheng County, to the Xuequan Ridge and participate in the defense of Zhongtiao Mountain. At that time, the post of division commander was taken over by deputy division commander Guo Jingtang, and the task of the 169th Division was to block the Japanese army from the southern Jin Dynasty along the mountains on the north bank of the Yellow River to the east, occupying the stronghold along the river to cut off the rear supply line of the Devils.
After the outbreak of the great war, the Japanese 1st Army concentrated most of its forces in the area of Houma Yuncheng, from the vicinity of Xia County to continuously attack the mountains, when the Fifth Army Zeng Wanzhongbu, the 93rd Army Liu Yuan, the 3rd Army Tang Huaiyuan Division, the guerrilla column Hua Meixuan and other 200,000 troops failed to block the Japanese attack, and finally the Japanese army captured the highest point of zhongtiao Mountain, Tangwang Mountain, and occupied the nearby Guandi Liang and other mountains. In the Guandi Liang position alone, the 93rd Army lost 2 regiments of troops, the Guandi Temple on the top of the hill was completely flattened by the Japanese army, shell fragments and bullet shells were everywhere, and the bodies of the fallen soldiers were hastily buried, which was miserable.
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Topographic map of Mt. Nakajō
After a complete rout, the commander of the 98th Army, Samurai Min, decided to fight the devils to the end, so he decided to break through behind the enemy and fight a guerrilla attack. At that time, Shi Zhongzhong was the confidential secretary of the 98th Army Headquarters, and because Shi Zhongzhong's wife Liu Mingshan and son were infected with scabies while in Xizhuang, it was difficult to move. Therefore, the commander Ofeshi Asked him to stay in Nanshan for the time being, and gave him the other old and sick and left-behind personnel of the military department to lead him, so that he could take these people with him to break through.
That night, the large army began to break through, and Shi Zhongzhong immediately led more than 30 old and weak people to touch the black tail village at night. In Kuroo Village, Shi Zhongzhong scattered the old and weak wounded, and he and his aide-de-camp Liu Xi and several slightly stronger soldiers guarded the village entrance to prevent a surprise Attack by the Japanese Army.
At that time, the whole line was routed, and the area of Zhongtiao Mountain was full of defeated soldiers, soldiers did not know the generals, generals did not know the soldiers, and in the ditches along the streets along the village, piles of corpses of dead soldiers could be seen everywhere. These heroic soldiers, sacrificed under the fire and bayonets of the Japanese army, some of them have not dried up their blood, and some of them have been swollen by the stinky water, which is really desolate and unbearable.
The Japanese attacked
On the road along the village to the north, in the wilderness, there are often scattered soldiers, wandering in groups of three and five, they rob people when they see people, they drill when they see the village, and the villagers feel more terrible when they see these soldiers than they see ghosts. That night, the scattered soldiers rushed into the village where Shi Zhongzhong and the others were staying, and the scattered soldiers snatched their only dry food, leaving only some clothes, shoes and socks to protect them from the cold.
In order to avoid the harassment of the defeated soldiers, Shi Zhongzhong led everyone into the mountain. However, the mountains are not a safe place. The devil's squad came to search the mountain many times, and after the devil's soldiers searched the mountain over and over again, they set fire to the grass and trees on the mountain, and even the leaves did not leave a piece for Shi Zhongzhong and others who fled into the deep mountain.
After dark, Shi Zhongzhong and Deputy Liu boldly went down the mountain and walked along the roadside village. They exchanged money for a few pounds of corn in a village, and more than 30 people relied on these pounds of corn for a few days. Soon after, the devils pulled out all the green corn in the field and piled it up and set it on fire. The wheat that had ripened along the edge of the ditch was also burned by the Japanese army. Not only Shi Zhongzhong and others, but even the local villagers cut off food.
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Japanese heavy machine guns
Since there was no food, Shi Zhongzhong and the others could only take advantage of the dark night to move to other mountains, and they specifically looked for ghosts to hide in the mountains where there was no fire. In the Crimson Valley Mountains, they eat wild onions and wild leeks, and they eat mulberries that are so sour that they spit out, and after the mulberries are eaten, they eat wild toons, and after the wild toons are eaten, they can only eat leaves. At that time, Shi Zhongzhong's wife and son were in the line, and the 8-year-old son was still angry at first, but after seeing that everyone ate like this, he restored his calm and followed his parents to eat leaves and drink mountain spring water.
Shi Zhongzhong led more than 30 old and weak people to fight the devils in the mountains, and they sometimes fired a few shots in other ravines to attract the attention of the Japanese army and make the devils blindly shoot into the ravines. Late at night, Shi Zhongzhong went down the mountain with a few soldiers to raid the Japanese barracks and snatch the devil's supplies and ammunition. Their raids, on the one hand, hit the devils, and on the other hand, alleviated the hunger crisis.
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Japanese soldiers
The most hateful is the traitor, and The situation of Shi Zhongzhong attacking the Japanese army in the mountains was soon learned by the traitor's lackeys. The traitors in yamashita village ran to the headquarters of the Japanese army brigade in Xuequanling to report, telling the Japanese army that the secretary of the 98th Army had led dozens of people to fight a guerrilla attack in the mountain, and asked the Japanese army to send troops to encircle and suppress. The devils then sent a squadron to surround and suppress Shi Zhongzhong and the others, and the Japanese army was running around in the mountains, but after being killed by Shi Zhongzhong and others, the devils no longer dared to send troops up the mountain. Because of the complicated terrain in the mountains, the devils did not know how many guerrillas there were in the mountains, and they were afraid of falling into a siege and suffering a big loss.
The Japanese army did not dare to go up the mountain, so they used bayonets to force the Li Luta Village Maintenance Association under the mountain, and they wanted to take Shi Zhongzhong and others to the Headquarters of the Japanese Army Brigade in Xuequanling within three days, otherwise they would first kill everyone in the village, and then send heavy troops into the mountains to surround and suppress Shi Zhongzhong and others. The Maintenance Association had no idea, so the Maintenance Association sent his son Da Qiang into the mountains to find Shi Zhongzhong.
After a day's trek, Dakqiang found Shi Zhongzhong in a cave. Da Qiang used his horse to drive three bags of steamed buns and half a pig's head to Shi Zhongzhong and told him to ask Shi Zhongzhong to look at the lives of his father and fellow villagers and lead the team out of the Red Valley as soon as possible. If you really can't do it, you will first temporarily move to other ravines, and then return to the Crimson Ravine after the devils search the mountain is over.
Shi Zhongzhong knew that Daqiang's father and son were also forced to be helpless when they entered the maintenance meeting, he told Daqiang that they would never bother the villagers, and asked him to go back and tell the villagers that Shi Zhongzhong would leave the Crimson Valley with his men and horses tonight, and asked the villagers to take care of themselves and not to fight with the devils. Da Qiang couldn't help but shed tears, and after kneeling on the ground and prostrating his head to Shi Zhongzhong, he shoved the reins of the mule into Shi Zhongzhong's hand, and his head did not return to the mountain.
Block the Japanese
Shi Zhongzhong knew that these steamed buns and pork were squeezed out of the teeth of the villagers. At the moment when the devils are rampant, it is good to have a bite to eat. Shi Zhongzhong ordered everyone to eat immediately, and then packed their bags and rolled out of the crimson ditch overnight. At three o'clock that night, Shi Zhongzhong took his wife and children and his brothers to a broken courtyard in The Village of Sajiagou in Longshangpu Town. In this broken courtyard, Shi Zhongzhong took in several wounded soldiers who had fallen behind.
Early the next morning, the whole team continued through the sweeping ditch. The terrain is very suitable for guerrilla warfare, and soldiers have suggested fighting guerrilla warfare here. But at that time, there was not much to eat, and those who did not eat in this place could not last long, so Shi Zhongzhong continued to lead the people forward. On the main road of Sajiagou, there were dead people and slain livestock everywhere, and piles of corpses were everywhere in the ditch and canal, and the wind blew and the smell was disgusting.
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The Japanese army captured Taiyuan
Since all the villages along the way have been burned by the devils, there is not a single fellow. On the way to escape, hunger is the biggest enemy. Some of the heavily wounded soldiers in the procession, due to hunger and wound infection, from time to time people fell on the side of the road and died. A wounded soldier's thigh was blown up by a Japanese aircraft, and due to the hot climate without medical anti-inflammatory, the wound quickly festered after infection, and finally a large hole in the leg rotted. Because of the unbearable pain, the wounded soldier finally jumped down the ravine and ended up taking his own life.
Shi Zhongzhong and the others walked like this for more than 10 days, and no one knew who would fall in the next second, and no one would care who died on the road and what they died for. Because under the circumstances at that time, there were dead people, and everyone was used to such a scene, only concerned about whether they could get out alive.
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Kill the enemy with a big knife
After more than 10 days of arduous walking, Shi Zhongzhong crossed the Yellow River with his wife and children and wounded soldiers from Shaoyuan Street in Henan Province to Xiaogou, and finally arrived at the junction of the Yellow River Iron Gate, Shi Zhongzhong finally led the brothers out of Zhongtiao Mountain, saving the lives of his wife, children and brothers. A few days later, Shi Zhongzhong arrived in Luoyang and sent a telegram to the commander. At this time, Ishikari learned that the commander Samurai Toshi had been killed at Nakajō Mountain.
The experience of this road made Ishikari feel very emotional, and he was discouraged after learning the reason for the fiasco of Nakajō Mountain. After Liu Xicheng took over as the commander of the 98th Army, Shi Zhongzhong resigned from the military and returned to his hometown in Xi'an with his wife and children and several brothers, living a life without controversy with the world.
Nakajo Mountain Ruins
Shi Zhongzhong's experience of this road is unforgettable, and he wrote about this experience in his memoirs, recording the tragic situation of the great rout, and his record is still painful and thought-provoking to read.
[This article is collected by Barnyard Shi Hou to collect anti-war materials, memoirs to sort out and write, errors and omissions, Jingxi readers correct]