In 1939, the history of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was not conspicuous, and after the Wuhan Battle of the previous year, the Japanese army invaded China basically stopped its large-scale offensive and turned to digesting the occupied areas and striving to achieve the realization of war to feed the war. The drawbacks of Japan's insufficient national strength have been exposed, and it is difficult to invest more resources in the Chinese battlefield.
The Nationalist Government, on the other hand, had lost the confidence it had just built up, and originally thought that the Japanese army was the end of the crossbow, so it planned to turn from defense to attack and took the initiative to attack for a while, but the result was not optimistic, with the existing combat strength of the Chinese army, it was not easy to withstand the attack of the Japanese army, and it was probably too early to recover the lost land on a large scale.
After a year of bitter fighting, both China and Japan realized that it was unrealistic to want to end this war in a short period of time, and the large-scale exchange of fire gradually decreased, and both sides put more energy into the international arena, hoping to have a change in their favor.
In fact, 1939 was not a bland year, and the same thing happened at about the same time in the north and south of China - the killing of Japanese brigade commanders, and they were all killed on the battlefield, in ancient parlance, "slashing".
In the early stage of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Japanese army has been suppressing the Chinese army to fight, and there are not a few division commanders and commanders killed by the Chinese side, and it is rare to kill the captain and squadron leader of the Japanese army. The brigade commander is equivalent to the Chinese division commander, major general rank, can kill the brigade commander on the battlefield, proving that the combat strength of the two sides on the local battlefield has been close to the equality of strength, and the Japanese army no longer has the advantage of the past.
In Guangxi to the south, the 21st Brigade of the Japanese 5th Division attacked Kunlun Pass, and the brigade commander was Major General Masao Nakamura. Defending Kunlun Pass was the Chinese army's ace 5th Army, commander Du Yuming, and the 200th Division under its command was China's only mechanized division. However, the 5th Army won the Battle of Kunlun Pass not by Soviet and British tanks and armored vehicles, but by the bloody battle of the vast number of patriotic officers and soldiers.
After the Japanese 21st Brigade occupied Kunlun Pass, the 5th Army concentrated its main force to launch a counterattack, and the wing commander in the encirclement, Miki Yoshinosuke Daisa, seeing that the position was not secure, had ordered the flag to be burned and prepared for the whole army to "crush the jade", and the brigade commander Masao Nakamura personally led the troops to the rescue.
The "Complete Records of the Frontal Battlefield Archives of the War of Resistance Against Japan" records that on December 23, Major General Nakamura Shōo, as a pioneer, wielded a command knife and led his troops to attack the Qitangkou, the Japanese army charged forward like a tide, suddenly, a bullet flew in, Nakamura Masao's left cheek was penetrated, the blood was directed, he simply bandaged the wound and continued to lead the charge.
On the morning of the 24th, Nakamura Masao and Miki had only the last three kilometers left, and they could meet as long as they crossed the road. The Honorary 1st Division of the 5th Army blocked the road with machine guns, knocking the Japanese troops to the ground in batches, and Masao Nakamura was shot again in the abdomen and fell to the ground.
At 5:18 a.m. on the 26th, Major General Masao Nakamura was killed, and the Japanese military headquarters specially promoted him to lieutenant general. Five days later, on the last day of 1939, the 5th Army recaptured Kunlun Pass and annihilated more than 4,000 men of the 21st Brigade.
Japanese newspaper
Masao Nakamura was the brigade commander of the main major general, and was promoted to lieutenant general after his death, while another Japanese brigade commander who was killed in the north was a lieutenant general before his death, and was known as "the flower of the famous general" by the Japanese military circles.
Among the Japanese troops who pay attention to seniority, Abe Norihide can be regarded as an outlier, from corporal to lieutenant general, it took only 30 years, the emperor and senior government officials liked this "flower of famous generals" with high level of military theory, so they took special care of him.
However, the elders and rough men in the army did not seem to be very kind to Abe Norihide, not to look at the rank of lieutenant general who was given him, but only let him command the independent mixed brigade of the nature of the occupation army, and did not seem to want him to make decent military achievements. Who knows, Abe Norihide not only did not make a battle achievement, but was buried under the gunpoint of the guerrillas.
In late October, the Japanese army in North China dispatched the 26th and 101st Divisions and three independent mixed brigades to sweep 2 anti-Japanese base areas, including Abe Norihide's 2nd independent mixed brigade.
The 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army in Jin-Cha-Ji was mainly born from the Red Army, commander Yang Chengwu was the pioneer of the Long March, and he commanded the capture of the Luding Bridge and the breakthrough of Lazikou.
Yang Chengwu found that Abe Norihide's Japanese army was particularly arrogant, and a large group of several hundred people dared to rampage in the base area of the Eighth Route Army. The arrogant Norihide Abe believed that the Eighth Route Army was a guerrilla force that could only release cold guns, and was bent on breaking the main force of the Eighth Route Army and making great achievements.
Abe Not only personally led the main force of the brigade into Laiyuan County, but also sent the 1st Brigade to search and suppress the Eighth Route Army, hoping to find out the Yang Chengwu Department of the Eighth Route Army. Yang Chengwu decided to satisfy Abe's request and let him see the true combat effectiveness of the Eighth Route Army.
On November 3, the 1st Brigade was wiped out by the Eighth Route Army at Yansu Cliff, leaving Abe Norihide with only 2 brigades of more than 1,500 men left. Since the Eighth Route Army can annihilate one brigade, is it safe for two brigades to go out together? Norihide Abe did not think so, believing that under his command, 1500 troops was enough, and the Eighth Route Army should hide from itself.
On the night of the 4th, Abe Arrived at Yansu Cliff, dug up the remains of the Japanese troops killed by the 1st Brigade, burned them into ashes, and then burned and looted several surrounding villages in retaliation. After dawn, the Eighth Route Army fired its guns from a distance, but did not engage the Japanese.
The Japanese scouts found that the Eighth Route Army had retreated towards the Loess Ridge, and the numbers seemed to be large, and Abe Norihide ordered it to go after and destroy the Eighth Route Army. After chasing for two days and one night, after rushing to the Loess Ridge, the front of the Eighth Route suddenly disappeared, and when Abe Norihide was wondering, the scouts suddenly reported that a large number of Eighth Route Army troops were approaching.
Only then did Abe realize that he had been deceived, and the Eighth Route Army's appetite was greater than he thought, and he actually started the idea of his own 1500 people. Since they had penetrated deep into the heart of the base area, the other Japanese troops could not arrive in a short period of time, and Abe Norihide could only rely on his own strength to fight the Eighth Route Army.
Although Abe Norihide is arrogant, his mind is still calm. In order to improve the speed of the march, his own unit did not carry heavy artillery, only light 92 field guns and mortars, if the Eighth Route Army concentrated superior forces, it was still in danger.
Therefore, Abe Norihide decided to withdraw to Laiyuan County, but how to prevent him from falling into the ambush circle of the Eighth Route Army on the way was a problem that Abe Norihide had to face. Known as a tactical expert and having studied the ambush tactics of the Eighth Route Army, Abe Norihide went against the norm and posed in a strange formation.
Beginning on the morning of the 7th, the Japanese army marched in a single column in a squadron, and the squadrons were separated by a large distance. In this way, the whole brigade stepped out of a very thin long snake array, which was nearly ten miles long.
This marching formation is only used for the absolute safety of the rear in peacetime, and once the two wings are attacked, there is almost no ability to resist. But this is the base of the Eighth Route Army, has Abe Norihide given up the struggle and let the Eighth Route Army slaughter it?
Of course not, Yang Chengwu, who has been in the battlefield for a long time, saw the doorway from it, and this Abe Norihide is not simple. He obviously knew that the Eighth Route Army had set up an ambush halfway through, and this was to break the Encirclement Tactics that the Eighth Route Army was best at.
The Japanese march was too long, making it impossible for the Limited Eighth Route Army to completely encircle it. If only part of the encirclement is encircled, the Japanese troops outside the encirclement circle can attack the flank of the Eighth Route Army, and the Japanese troops inside and outside the circle should jointly damage the Eighth Route Army.
Abe Norihide wanted to rely on the advantages of the strong combat effectiveness of the Japanese army to oppose Yang Chengwu's first army, and if the Eighth Route Army did not move, the Japanese army returned to the city safely; if the Eighth Route Army moved, the Japanese army would bear more casualties in the early stage, and it would soon be able to turn from defense to attack, which was not a clever move.
However, Abe Norihide still miscalculated, and he underestimated the strength of the Eighth Route Army. Yang Chengwu used the strength of four regiments, 5 times that of Abe Norihide, and he put the 1st regiment and the 25th regiment in charge of interception, and the 2nd and 3rd regiments prepared to take the bottom and patiently waited for the Japanese to enter the net.
From 7 a.m. until the afternoon, thousands of soldiers of the Eighth Route Army were lying on the yellow soil, thirsty and hungry, watching as teams of Japanese soldiers walked past, but their superiors delayed in issuing orders to open fire, and everyone was impatient and eager to rush out to kill the enemy at once. But without orders, no one will move, and they can only continue to endure suffering.
At exactly 3 p.m., the Independent 2nd Mixed Brigade spent a full six hours and finally entered the ambush circle. Yang Chengwu let out a long breath: "Fire! Suddenly, the gunshots were loud, and the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army, who had been holding back for most of the day, pulled the trigger fiercely.
Because the queue was too long, the Japanese army was quickly divided into several sections, and it was impossible to organize a strong resistance. Abe Hurriedly hid in a small village with his subordinate troops, using a separate house with a courtyard as a base, commanding the Japanese army to resist, while desperately calling for friendly support.
The old base of the Jin-Cha-Ji Eighth Route Army is the Red Army, which is relatively well equipped, with several mortars, but too few shells. Chen Zhengxiang, the commander of the 1st Regiment, noticed that there seemed to be a senior Japanese officer pointing at the village under the mountain, and decisively ordered the mortar company to prepare.
The commander of Yang Jiuxiang's company personally measured and aimed, and the gunner Li Erxi fired four shells in one breath, one of which hit the courtyard of this room, knocking down Abe Norihide, who was holding up a telescope to observe, on the spot, and even his big wolf dog did not let go.
The Japanese army, which had lost its commander, was even more powerless to resist, and by dawn the next day, most of the Japanese army was annihilated, leaving only a few remnants of the army to huddle on a few hills to resist. Unable to accept the total annihilation of a brigade, the Japanese sent a large number of reinforcements from the surrounding strongholds and rushed desperately to the Loess Ridge.
The Eighth Route Army withdrew from the battle with a large number of captured weapons and equipment, and the Battle of Loess Ridge wiped out more than 1,000 Japanese troops, and with the ambush of Yansu Cliff, most of the independent 2nd Mixed Brigade was annihilated. The news of Abe's death was learned later, making the battle go down in history.
At the end of 1939, the record of killing two Japanese brigade commanders shook the Japanese army invading China, and the will and ability of resistance of the Chinese military and people were still very strong, and the dream of ending the war in China in a short period of time could not be realized.
In particular, the Eighth Route Army almost annihilated a brigade under extremely difficult conditions, making the Japanese army feel that it was far less easy to maintain the occupied areas and achieve war support. If the Eighth Route Army could get the necessary weapons supply, there would certainly be more victories like the Battle of Loess Ridge!