In late May 1943, the invading Japanese army invaded Changyang, Hubei Province, in an attempt to break through muqiaoxi and Taishi bridges in the county and attack Enshi to the west. After hearing the report, old Chiang Kai-shek immediately telegraphed the Kuomintang River Defense Command, ordering them to resolutely hold the line of Muqiao Creek and block the Japanese army. Soon, the Chinese and Japanese armies fought near Muqiao Creek.
For three days and three nights from May 29 to 31, there was no gunfire in this area, especially in Xianghualing, Muqiaoxi, and Taishiqiao.
On May 29, a certain unit of the Nationalist army withdrew and fought for a while near Xiamashi on the east side of Xianghualing, first with a company of the Nationalist army guarding the Xiamashi Mountains. They fought for days, hungry, their straw shoes tattered and tired, some of them went to the mountains to pick up batches to eat, and some mended their broken shoes.
At this time, the Japanese planes poured in a burst of indiscriminate bombardment, and then a large number of Japanese troops rushed up, fell in front, followed by a rush, and finally occupied the Lower Horse Stone. Most of the people in a company of the Nationalist army were killed, and many Japanese soldiers were killed or wounded.
The villagers saw that there were many dead people here, and called it "Dead Man Zi Po", but the real name of The Lower Horse Stone was almost forgotten by people.
That night, the two sides fought a vicious battle at Xianghualing. At that time, there were only seven or eight families in Xianghualing, and there was a mountain mouth at the west end of the village that swooped down the creek from the high mountain, and Enyi Avenue went around the mountain mouth.
The Nationalists blocked the road from the highlands on the north and south sides, where the Japanese launched a series of charge, leaving behind three or four hundred corpses. Later, with the aircraft cannon, the Japanese army overwhelmed the firepower of the Nationalist army and finally rushed through Xianghualing.
Woodbridge Creek is a small town of thirty or forty families, and the main road runs through the town. There is a three-fork creek in the west of the town, and there is a wooden bridge in the creek, so it is called wooden bridge creek.
On May 30, 1943, the Chinese and Japanese armies fought fiercely here. At first, the Nationalist army fought the Japanese army in the lower reaches of Muqiao Creek, and the Nationalist army withdrew to the west bank of Muqiao Creek to defend, backed by a large mountain, and there were dense reinforced concrete fortifications on the mountain.
When more than 4,000 Japanese troops rushed to the east of the bridge, they were fiercely blocked, leaving a large number of corpses and retreating hundreds of steps, squeezing behind a mountain mouth, pouring a large number of shells at the Nationalist positions, and then launching a charge.
The officers and men of the Thirteenth Regiment of the Fifth Division of the Nationalist Army who were guarding the position west of the bridge were very brave in battle, and the soldiers in front of them were killed in battle, and the soldiers in the back rushed up to hold their positions. They saw that the Japanese army rushed to the bridge again, and quickly poured a rain of bullets to suppress the Japanese army back.
The Japanese army was ashamed and angry, and the heavens and the ground opened fire at the same time, and the planes covering the sky and the sun, and the continuous shells blew up the Wooden Bridge Creek and shook the mountain. After a burst of incendiary bombs, smoke screen shells, and small steel cannons, the Japanese army launched another charge.
At this time, Wang Song, commander of the first battalion of the 13th Regiment of the Nationalist Army, saw that his comrades in front of him had died and waved his hand: "Up"! Dozens of soldiers immediately jumped to the front position, brushing aside the bodies of their comrades, raising their guns and firing a string of vengeful bullets.
Under this angry fire net, the bodies of the Japanese army were piled up in the west of the creek into a mound of flesh, and the blood flowed into the creek, and the stream turned red; it flowed into the road, and the road was full of blood mud.
A Japanese officer let out a howl, as if ordering the Japanese to summon up the Spirit of Bushido and move forward desperately. Suddenly, shells were fired at the opposite shore.
Wang Songgao, who was directing the battle by the stream, was unfortunately shot and killed, and several soldiers who were wounded in battle, seeing that the battalion commander was killed, continued to fight with tears, and soon after, they were also shot and fell. Thus, the iron hooves of the Japanese army swept across the creek like a hurricane.
Taishi Bridge is located one mile west of Muqiao Creek. Here the north and south two streams converge here and then go east, like a "Y" word. The rocky mountain wall by the stream stands, forming a huge "Lei" character. The roads here are curved, the streams are extremely narrow, and the distance between the two banks is not more than ten meters. It is indeed a military fortress that is easy to defend and difficult to attack.
When the Nationalist army and the Japanese army fought fiercely at Muqiao Creek, the headquarters of the Fifth Division of the Thirty-second Army of the Nationalist Army went to The Old Lin Po Mountain on the west bank of the Taishi Bridge and commanded the battle.
On the afternoon of May 30, the Japanese army broke through the Muqiao Creek and directly attacked the Taishi Bridge. They began to see no confrontation between the Nationalists, and rushed straight in dense columns, turned a few corners, and suddenly the guns on all sides were raining down, and the Japanese army fell one after another.
After the Japanese army quickly retreated to yao wanzui, after some preparations, it launched another charge. When they rushed to the east of the Taishi Bridge, they saw that the stone bridge had been demolished, and between the three stone monuments standing side by side at the head of the bridge, a string of bullets was fired, and the hand bullets on the top of the hill were thrown straight down, and the Japanese suffered heavy casualties.
The sound of gunfire did not stop, the smoke did not dissipate, and suddenly a large number of Nationalist troops jumped into the narrow road east of the bridge from the dense forest and cave, and the cold and shining bayonets in their hands roared and rushed over, and the Japanese army resisted in a hurry. The two sides engaged in hand-to-hand combat, the sound of killing shook the valley, and blood stained the roads and streams red.
If in the open field, the Japanese army could charge under the cover of aircraft, but at this time, although dozens of planes came, they did not dare to dive because of the narrow valley, and could only blindly drop bombs at high altitudes and roar for encouragement.
How could the generals of the Nationalist Army let go of this great opportunity to kill and injure the Japanese army? The whole army was full of fighting spirit, and with natural danger, it struck a fierce blow at the Japanese army. The Japanese launched more than a dozen charge, getting more and more corpses of their companions.
Liu Yunhan, commander of the Fifth Division of the Nationalist Army, and Qiu Xingxiang, deputy commander of the division, personally commanded the operation at Laolinpo. The Japanese army was at a glance. By the middle of the night, the gunfire was getting thinner and thinner.
Before dawn, a raging fire broke out on Muqiaoxi Street, and the mountain wind sent a fishy smell, which was the Japanese army burning corpses. Soon the Japanese army launched an attack, Liu Yunhan judged: this is the Japanese army in a feint attack, they are about to flee, so he ordered the Nationalist army to take advantage of the victory to pursue and crush the Japanese army again.
After the three battles of Blood Flower Ridge, Muqiao Creek and Taishi Bridge, the Nationalist army annihilated more than 3,000 Japanese troops, which is known as the "Great Victory of Taishi Bridge". At this point, after the Japanese army occupied Muqiao Creek, the dream of capturing the Stone Fortress from the side rear had come to naught.
Although these three battles are little known, they are of great significance in the history of the War of Resistance. It shows such a truth: whoever wants to invade the land of China will inevitably be stubbornly resisted by the Chinese people!