On the evening of June 21, 1944, the Rugao Guard Regiment of the 4th Sub-district of the New Fourth Army was transferred to camp in the area of Xiaomiaozhuang in Ruzhong, Nantong, Jiangsu Province, and as a result, a traitor secretly reported to the Japanese army stronghold in Qidong, to the east. At dawn on the 22nd, more than 100 kato squadrons of the 4th Field Supplementary Brigade of the Japanese 13th Army stationed in Licha, as well as more than 300 people from 1 battalion of the 78th Regiment of the 26th Division of the pseudo-9th Army, carrying 2 mortars and 8 light machine guns, rushed to the Ruzhong area under the cover of thick fog in an attempt to wipe out our local troops in one fell swoop.
The 4th Sub-district of the New Fourth Army in the Soviet Union is mobilizing against the Qing Dynasty
The Rugao Guard Regiment immediately organized a counterattack after being raided by the enemy, and while fighting, it led the enemy to the northwest of Gedu Township to rake tooth Ling, because the local terrain was complex, which was conducive to maneuvering with the enemy. To cover the masses and the district party committee and district government organs moved to the southwest anle bridge and Dachenzhuang. However, the Japanese army had already captured more than 10 prisoners of the New Fourth Army at that time, and felt that the task of running was basically completed, and instead of pursuing the main force of our guard regiment, it turned around and returned, and robbed all the way, and left the main road, wading in the water with the intention of returning to the stronghold through rake teeth.
The New Fourth Army was fighting the Japanese
However, what the Japanese army did not expect in their dreams was that at this time, the 7th Regiment of the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Division of the New Fourth Army, commonly known as the old 7th Regiment, was also active in the Rugao area and was moving towards the rake tooth Ling area. At about 10 a.m. on the 22nd, the 7th Regiment entered the rake area. During the march, suddenly gunshots came from the left front of the troops, and then the 7th Regiment found that the Japanese puppet army was pressed down 200 meters away in the thick fog. The heavy machine gun company of the 7th Regiment immediately seized the favorable terrain, mounted the machine guns on several commanding heights of the ambush to suppress the Japanese army, and at the same time faced the enemy with 2 battalions, 1 battalion from south to northeast from the right, and 3 battalions turned around and copied from the left, cutting off the enemy's north escape road in order to encircle and annihilate the enemy.
The Japanese brigade went to the countryside to sweep
After being machine-gun fired, the Japanese first shrank into the mass grave for observation, but in the thick fog, they saw that our army's firepower was not strong, thinking that it was a local unit, Kato immediately sent 1 small group of Japanese troops, under the cover of machine guns and mortars, to carry out a frontal assault on the 7th Regiment, and the other 2 squads came up from the left and right.
The Japanese army did not forget to rob the sheep with their hands
At this time, the 7th Regiment Teaching Team encountered the Japanese army head-on, and the two sides then threw grenades at each other across the ditch embankment, and then our army took advantage of the moment when the Japanese army was suppressed to rush through the ditch embankment and launched a white-knife charge against the Japanese army, forcing the Japanese army back to the mass grave. I instructed the team to take advantage of the situation to launch an attack on the Japanese army, at which time the 2nd Battalion arrived, and the 7th Regiment attacked in full line to divide the Japanese puppet army attacking our army separately.
The Japanese launched a death-defying assault on the commanding heights controlled by our army
The 3rd Battalion also encircled the Japanese puppet army from the left wing, and the 1st Battalion detoured behind the enemy, the Japanese army has sensed that it is engaged with the main force of the New Fourth Army, the army is in great confusion, the 3 squads are fighting for each other, desperately breaking through, our army is pressing forward step by step, a little bit compressing the encirclement, the remaining Japanese troops who are trapped in the heavy encirclement began to make a crazy surprise attack, approaching the positions of the 1st Battalion and the 3rd Battalion, and the two sides immediately launched a white-knife fight, and the battle was extremely fierce. In the fierce battle, the Japanese army gradually weakened, and some desperate wounded saw that there was no hope of a breakthrough, so they hid in the nearby thatched huts and stubbornly resisted for help, but under the siege of our army, they ran out of ammunition, reinforcements did not come, and finally set themselves on fire. The Japanese squadron leader, Captain Kato, was also stabbed to death by Qin Jing, the leader of our teaching team, in a fierce battle, and his military hat, rifle, pistol, and command knife were all captured by our army. The Japanese army was eventually completely destroyed at Rake Tooth Ridge. The 1 battalion of puppet troops that followed Kato's squadron, when they saw the New Fourth Army fighting with the devil's white blade, they were frightened and their legs were trembling, except for a few die-hard elements who fought with our army under the pressure of the Japanese army, most of them quietly hid in a village in the southwest, and when the New Fourth Army finished solving the devil's encirclement, they quickly surrendered.
The New Fourth Army displayed the captured weapons and equipment of the Japanese puppet army
The battle of Rake Tooth Ridge began at 10:00 a.m. and ended at 1:00 p.m., and lasted for more than 3 hours, completely annihilating 1 squadron of the Japanese army and 1 battalion of the puppet army, killing more than 130 people under the Japanese squadron leader, Lieutenant Kato, capturing 14 Japanese troops, killing and wounding more than 100 puppet troops, and capturing more than 200 puppet troops, for a total of more than 440 people. The New Fourth Army lost 93 casualties and wounded more than 200. Yan'an's "Liberation Daily" published an article saying: The Battle of Rake Tooth Ling launched the first cannon of victory against "expanding the Qingxiang", and it was the second great victory between The Soviet Union and China after the Battle of Cheqiao.