At the beginning of 1939, the Japanese army began to set up a number of strongholds in Jiangsu Province, put up layers of roadblocks, prepared a large amount of ammunition, and called it "protecting Nanjing", but in fact wanted to carry out a sweep and disintegrate the local anti-Japanese forces.
Dongwan in southern Jiangsu is one of the strongholds set up by the Japanese army.
In order to crush the Japanese attempt, Wang Bicheng, commander of the Second Regiment of the First Detachment of the New Fourth Army, prepared to lead his men to raid the East Bay stronghold on February 8.
"Two battalions, plus one company of three battalions, you will enter the East Bay in two ways." Wang Bicheng orderly assigned combat tasks to the battalion commanders and company commanders, "The second and third companies of the three battalions all went to the Wujiabian Highway next to the East Bay to squat..."
"Report to the regimental commander, they don't want to squat, they also want to go to the front!" The commander of the third battalion and the second company said unconvincedly, "The Wu family is so far away from the East Bay, not even the shadow of the enemy can be seen!" ”
"Report to the regimental commander, I agree with the second company commander." The commander of the third battalion also said excitedly, "There are many enemies in the East Bay, and dispersing the strength of the three battalions is probably not good for us." ”
Wang Bicheng waved a big hand and said, "You are not in a hurry, although the Wu family's side is biased, there will definitely be enemy troops passing by, and it is indispensable for you to fight!" ”
Everyone was confused and asked Wang Bicheng one after another.
Wang Bicheng confidently pointed to the battle map and said, "You think, if we surround the East Bay and fight hard, will the reinforcements next to us not come to the rescue?" The closest to The East Bay is the Stronghold of the Tianwang Temple, and if they want to come to the East Bay, they will pass by the Wu family. ”
"That's the way it is!" Everyone said admiringly, "Or the regimental commander thinks comprehensively!" ”
That night, the second battalion launched an attack on the East Bay from the front, and the Japanese troops in the East Bay frantically returned fire, and the soldiers of the second battalion were not afraid, using grenades and machine guns to kill a bloody road.
When the two sides were deadlocked, the remnants of the second battalion and the third battalion and one company rushed into the enemy camp from the rear of the flank and surrounded the enemy.
The Japanese army did not expect that behind them was the main force, and in the face of the embattled situation, they could only concede defeat.
More excitement is yet to come. Just as Wang Bicheng expected, after hearing the news, the Japanese troops at the Tianwang temple stronghold sent 200 people to come to reinforcements in two batches.
"Kill! Brethren, it's our turn! The three battalions that had been ambushed for a long time at the edge of the Wu family won a complete victory by taking advantage of the terrain and annihilated more than 110 Japanese troops.
The Battle of Dongwan commanded by Wang Bicheng is a classic example of the New Fourth Army's "encirclement and reinforcement": encircling the enemy in one stronghold and using it as bait to attract reinforcements from enemies elsewhere, but the real purpose is to fight reinforcements of the enemy.
Since then, this tactic has been applied to many battles and has become a classic tactic that our army has tried and failed.
Wang Bicheng is not only intelligent and flexible, good at using the art of war, but also brave and good at war, is a veritable "tiger general", and people give him the nickname "Wang Tiger".
On February 18, 1939, on the night of the Chinese New Year's Eve, Wang Bicheng personally led the second regiment and a battalion to the Yanling stronghold.
Although the Japanese and puppet troops in this stronghold combined were only about 90 people, they were easy to defend and difficult to attack because there were tunnels dug around the houses.
That night, a light rain fell in the sky, and Wang Bicheng's two regiments had no intention of retreating. At midnight, Wang Bicheng led a company to attack from the front, and the Japanese fire was very fierce, and they used machine guns to strafe Wang Bicheng and others, and quickly suppressed our army.
Wang Bicheng was beaten by the dense bullets and could not lift his head, but his heart was very calm, and he continued to command the soldiers to die and resist. The Japanese army saw that it could not break out of the siege, so it had to break through the tunnels.
Who knows, Wang Bicheng had already arranged for the secret service company to ambush at the mouth of the tunnel, and under the front and rear attacks of our army, the Japanese puppet army at The Yanling stronghold was annihilated in one fell swoop.
This battle was the first battle in which the New Fourth Army attracted the attention of public opinion throughout the country, and the headlines of major newspapers published the course of the battle, which was called "The Great Victory of Yanling" in history.
According to statistics, in just one year in 1939, Wang Bicheng led the second regiment to launch more than 200 battles against the Japanese army, and, as Wang Bicheng's name said, "it will be successful in the horse, the battle will be successful", more than 200 battles have not been defeated, and the second regiment has won the reputation of the "Tiger Regiment", which makes the Japanese puppet army feel frightened.