Experienced people know a common sense: winning a battle can not fully show the quality of an army, the army lost on the battlefield, after being defeated and scattered, the ability to retreat, reorganize, and throw itself into battle again can truly show the quality of an army!
Throughout the ages, the famous generals who strictly govern the army can not only be good at attacking, but also be able to retreat or encounter danger. Zhuge Liang was still able to kill the Wei general Wang Shuang and shoot the famous general Zhang Guo when he was retreating, showing a superb style of army management.
In our army, Marshal Xu Qianqian's art of war command is obvious to all, he is not only good at commanding, but also good at managing soldiers.
Marshal Liu Bocheng, a famous military expert of our army, once said to Marshal Xu Qianqian many times: "The contingent you have cultivated will not be defeated!" ”
Actually, there's a little story here.
On the eve of the Battle of Xinkou, after the two columns of the Kuomintang Central Army Wei Lihuang and Tang Enbo entered Shanxi, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army once had the idea of using the main force of the Eighth Route Army to take the initiative on the flank of the Japanese army and cooperate with the frontal defense of the Kuomintang army. However, due to the rapid change in the situation, the 386 Brigade, which was also ordered to advance northward, turned to Zhengtai Road according to the original plan.
Due to the tenacious fighting between the Nationalist and Communist armies on the northern Jin front, the Japanese Sakagaki Division advanced slowly and suffered heavy casualties, forming a confrontation with the Chinese defenders on the xinkou front.
At this point, the Japanese army changed the original Shanxi breakthrough and Hebei detour to Hebei breakthrough and Shanxi roundabout.
The first unit of the Kuomintang Army withdrawn from Hebei, Sun Lianzhong's 2nd Army, Feng Qinya's 14th Army, and Zeng Wanzhong's 3rd Army, with Wei Lihuang as the front-line commander-in-chief, defended the Niangziguan front.
In order to further understand the situation, on September 21, 1937, Liu Bocheng, commander of the 129th Division, came to Niangziguan, and at this moment it was the 3rd Army of the Kuomintang Army that was acting as a frontal defense.
Zeng Wanzhong, commander of the 3rd Army, confidently briefed Liu Bocheng on the new movements of the Japanese army. He said that the Japanese 20th Division avoided the frontal position of Niangziguan, concentrated its troops and manpower to attack Xinguan on the right flank, and the Xinguan defenders defended themselves with cave-type semi-permanent fortifications and steel-boned cement permanent fire points, which gave the Japanese army heavy casualties, and the defenders of Niangziguan were also ready to attack and support at any time.
Liu Bocheng said to Zeng Wanzhong: "The Japanese army attacked Xinguan instead of Attacking Niangzi Pass, because they wanted to avoid the real and attack the virtual. If the new level is not easy to get, it is likely to detour south. In this way, the stone gate south of Xinguan must be quickly sent to occupy it to strictly prevent the Japanese army from sneaking in. ”
Zeng Wanzhong did not take Liu Bocheng's proposal seriously, so he did not send troops to occupy Shimen.
After this meeting, the development of the situation was indeed as Liu Bocheng expected. It was only Zeng Wanzhong's negligence that affected the 771st Regiment of the 386th Brigade of the 129th Division, and of course, the negligence of the 771st Regiment itself.
On September 25, 1937, after the cunning Japanese army failed to attack Xinguan, it secretly sent 5 brigades of the 40th Brigade regiment to make a right-wing detour and quickly occupied Shimen from the direction of Jingxing.
Prior to this, the 771st Regiment of the 386th Brigade had been deployed in the Shimen area according to Liu Bocheng's instructions, but it greatly underestimated the attack power of the Japanese army, and only used the old fortifications during the melee period of the old Jiang and Yan Xishan warlords to prepare for the battle. The day before, Liu Bocheng learned that the 771st Regiment had reminded them: "No, the old fortifications are unreliable." ”
That night, due to the lack of vigilance of the 771st Regiment and the lack of effective resistance to the Japanese sneak attack organization, it was suddenly scattered, and the main force of the regiment had to withdraw to a nearby hill.
After that, for nearly 10 hours, the headquarters of the 129th Division and the brigade headquarters of the 386th Brigade completely lost contact with the 771st Regiment.
After Huang Shaohu, deputy commander of the Kuomintang Second Theater, learned of this incident, he sent a telegram from Taiyuan to "comfort" Liu Bocheng. He said with a mocking tone that your Eighth Route Army only talked about guerrilla warfare and movement warfare, but you were guerrilla attacked by the Japanese.
When Tang Enbo, commander of the Kuomintang 2nd Army and commander of the 13th Army, learned of this situation, he also sent a similar "condolence" telegram to Liu Bocheng.
However, their desire to see the Jokes of the Eighth Route Army did not materialize.
After the Japanese army broke into the position of the 771st Regiment, the survivability and combat ability of the 771st Regiment were truly demonstrated. The scattered parts automatically form a new combat collective, automatically form a new command, the platoon is formed as a unit, the squad is formed as a unit, in short, each fights with their own strength, forming a fortress, and in a single fight, the firepower connection between the fortress and the fortress gradually occurs, each other cover to move to the mountain, and use the mountain to form a confrontation with the Japanese army on the mountain.
The next day, when the division headquarters was transferred to the northern capital, the scattered people of the 771st Regiment returned to the team one after another. Although they had a guilty expression on their faces, their attire was really enviable: some wore the captured Yellow Five-Star Hats of the Japanese Army, some wore the Yellow Tweed coats of the Japanese Army, some exchanged their guns for Type 38 rifles, and each of them had one or two pieces of booty from the Japanese army.
A journalist who witnessed the whole process wrote heartily: The victory they fought did not surprise us, and the defeat they fought was really admirable.
Later, when Liu Bocheng saw Xu Xiangqian, he said a sentence to him many times after saying: "The team you cultivated cannot be defeated!" ”