Speaking of General Yang Chengwu of the 55th, that is a famous general of our army, his name is inseparable from some legendary stories of the revolutionary war years. Looking at the course of General Yang's life, there was one battle that was the most thrilling, and that was the Battle of Tizigou That Occurred in the Middle of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. It should be said that the battles experienced by General Yang, such as Luding Bridge and Lazikou, were also outstanding struggles of the soldiers in a desperate situation, and their fame shook the history of the revolution, but after all, these battles were head-on duels, and with strength in their hands, it depended on how to play them. The Tizigou breakthrough belongs to a small number of troops leading a large number of non-combatants to find a way out in the enemy's heavy siege, unable to fight the enemy head-on, and all of them will be destroyed if they are not careful, but it is really nine deaths!
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Yang Shang transferred the commander of the Red 1st Division of the Red Army to the commander of the Independent Regiment of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, led his troops to march east with the main force of the division to Shanxi, participated in the battles of Waist Station, Fengjiagou, and Yiquanling, and successively recaptured Laiyuan, Guangling, Lingqiu, Yixian, Weixian, Yangyuan, and Hunyuan, thus playing the mighty style of the Eighth Route Army. After that, Yang Chengwu led more than 1,700 people of the independent regiment to open up the Jin-Cha-Ji base area with Nie Shuai, and took root in the periphery of the core areas of Beiping, Taiyuan, Baoding, Zhangjiakou, Shijiazhuang and other core areas controlled by the Japanese, and launched a protracted war of resistance against the enemy. Among them, General Yang was appointed commander of the first sub-district of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, with jurisdiction mainly in the cha-nan, yanbei and western Hebei areas west of Pinghan Road, and the main area of activity was the mountainous area centered on Guantou south of Yi County, with the 1st, 3rd, 20th, 25th, 26th, and 34th main regiments and local armed forces in his hands.
In the years 1937, 38, and 39 of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Japanese army mainly exerted efforts on the frontal battlefield in an attempt to force the surrender of the Chongqing Nationalist Government, and despised the anti-Japanese base areas behind the enemy lines. After entering 1940, the Japanese army strengthened its "sweeping" and "encroachment" on the enemy's rear base areas, but it led to the "Hundred Regiments War" launched by the Eighth Route Army, which was beaten in a hurry and had to re-examine the rear "public order" with North China as the center. As a result, after 1941, the situation underwent considerable changes, and the Japanese army launched the so-called "strengthening of public order" operation against the enemy's rear base areas in North China, and the "sweeping" became more frequent and intensive, and played many tricks, making the political, military, economic, and cultural attacks at the same time, so that the base areas behind the enemy lines encountered unprecedented difficulties.
In July 1941, Okamura Ningji was inaugurated as the commander of the Japanese North China Front, and he continued to implement the "solemn operation" plan formulated by the former commander Tada Jun, and after careful preparations, dispatched more than 70,000 Japanese puppet troops of the North China Front and the Mongolian Frontier Army to conduct multi-column, multi-echelon, and long-range detour "iron wall encirclement" operations centered on the Beiyue District of the Jin-Cha-Ji base area, in an attempt to eliminate the head organs and main forces of the Eighth Route Army in one fell swoop. This operation, also known as the "Million War," came specifically to retaliate against the "Hundred Regiments War," and in the words of General Yang, its "scale, strength, and strength are unprecedented." ”
Because of the backwardness of military strength, intelligence, logistics, mobility, and other aspects, the Eighth Route Army could not repel the enemy from the front, and could only adopt the strategy of avoiding war, and fought and walked, covering the rear organs and the transfer of the masses, in order to preserve the living forces, which was called "running back" at that time, and suffered great losses in the process. In order to defend the main organs of the military region led by Nie Shuai, who was also facing danger, General Yang sent the most capable 1st Regiment (that is, the famous "Red Regiment", later the 487th Regiment of the 163rd Division of the 55th Army of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and the infantry regiment that annihilated the most enemies in the 1979 self-defense counterattack against Vietnam) to the military region to carry out the task, and commanded several other main regiments and local armed forces to attack and harass the enemy and cover the masses to move to the mountains. General Yang also led the sub-district organs, escorted by the elite troops of 3 companies, despite fatigue, frequently moved, and went around in circles with the enemy.
From mid-August to early September, after a painstaking battle and a relatively high price, the head organs and main forces of the Jin-Cha-Ji base area evaded the first phase of the Japanese army's "solemn operation" and broke the enemy's delusion of success in a war. The Japanese army then switched to the second phase of operations, withdrawing the main force to various strategic points and communication routes, strengthening the blockade from the periphery, and supporting some troops to continue to attack, search, and attack in our base areas, so as to capture my living forces and destroy our base areas. During this period, the sub-district organs led by General Yang encountered major thrills.
In the past anti-"sweeping" period, the Japanese army did not attach much importance to the Wolf's Tooth MountainOus Area, and its small units did not dare to go deep into the mountainous areas, so in addition to the personnel transferred to the outside line, most of the military and civilians in the base areas would drill into the Wolf's Tooth Mountain to hide, and often they could turn the danger into a disaster. Over time, this forms a mindset. However, the Japanese army changed its strategy this time, and after a large-scale "sweep", it concentrated more than 7,000 troops, with the 133rd Brigade Regiment of the 110th Division Regiment (code name B Corps) as the base unit, and under the guidance of the traitor puppet army, suddenly rushed to the Wolf's Tooth Mountain Area to encircle. At that time, except for the few troops commanded by Qiu Wei, the commander of the 1st Regiment who was recuperating here, the other troops in the Wolf's Tooth Mountains were all local organs and the masses, with 30,000 or 40,000 people, basically without combat effectiveness, and the situation was very critical!
On September 24, General Yang led the sub-district organs to Zhangjiazhuang, which was two days away from Langya Mountain, and was very anxious after receiving the enemy report from the inside. He immediately called Qiu Wei, granted him unified command, organized troops to use the complex terrain of the mountainous area to drag the enemy, and resolutely covered the breakthrough of the masses. At the same time, the 3rd and 20th regiments, which were active in the periphery, were ordered to launch an attack on the enemy with all their strength, play the main force, and strive to attract some of the enemy's troops to return to reinforcements, so as to create conditions for the breakthrough of Wolf's Tooth Mountain.
This battle can be described as thrilling, under the close cooperation of the troops of the first division, the Japanese army really made a plan, returned to the battle, and opened a hole in the Wolf's Tooth Mountains. After Receiving the intelligence from the inside, General Yang immediately ordered Qiu Wei to make proper arrangements, on the one hand, to attract the enemy with suspected soldiers, and on the other hand to lead the masses to break through from the Wolf's Tooth Mountains under the cover of night. After some twists and turns, tens of thousands of people finally managed to jump out of the enemy's encirclement. During this period, heroic feats were also played, and 5 soldiers of the 7th Company and 6 Squads of the 1st Regiment moved to cover the masses, attracting the enemy to the cliff of the chessboard crucible, and jumped off the cliff after shooting bullets. This is the "Five Heroes of Wolf Tooth Mountain" that is admired by future generations.
After the masses of Wolf's Tooth Mountain escaped from danger, Yang Shang continued to lead the sub-district organs and a small number of troops totaling more than 700 people, and began to move at the end of September. Because the enemy is swimming on all sides, it is impossible not to go. When discussing the specific directions, it was suggested that the enemy was coming towards Wolf's Tooth Mountain, and we simply faced the enemy gap and jumped north of Wolf's Tooth Mountain. It is also suggested that we go southwest to Huata Mountain, which is very remote, far from the avenue, the mountain is steep, close to the third division, and there is no hostility in peacetime. Time was pressing, considering that there were more than 100 miles to the north, everyone was too tired, so they decided to move southwest to Huata Mountain. Unexpectedly, this time he actually jumped into the encirclement circle of the Japanese army.
The team walked all night, and at dawn they went up Huata Mountain, only to find that there were many Japanese tents around, and there were a large number of enemies here as never before! Unexpectedly, the mountain also gathered the logistics department of the Jizhong Military Region, the Bethune Health School of the Military Region and the masses who ran back, and the team of General Yang added up to more than 3,000 people. This also shows the seriousness of the enemy's encirclement, there is no way forward, otherwise those non-combatants and the masses will not retreat to Huata Mountain. At present, the 3 companies led by General Yang are the only armed forces, he is the supreme chief, and he has become the backbone of everyone.
A good general Yang, who was not in danger, relied on maps and internal lines to provide intelligence, and found that there was a ladder ditch on the east side of Shijiazhuangzi Village north of Huata Mountain, where the enemy situation had not yet been discovered. Located in the north of the Longtan Lake Scenic Area in Shunping County, Hebei Province, Tizigou is a ravine that stretches for more than ten miles, with dangerous terrain and step-by-step rise, like a ladder. Admiral Yang was very calm, observing the enemy's situation on the mountain, and the enemy did not move, nor did I move, looking for its flaws. When at noon, after the two Japanese troops swept past shijiazhuangzi village, General Yang seized the opportunity to order 2 companies to seize the north and south sides of the ladder ditch to block the enemy searching for this side, and he led 1 company to open the way in front, and the brigade stubbornly entered the ladder ditch to break through. The terrain of this road is extremely dangerous, and all the staff climb tenaciously, especially the staff of the Bethune Health School are mostly very young female comrades, thin, carrying school bags, food, and helping to carry the wounded, compared to the male comrades to pay more hardship.
After the Japanese army found that a team had entered the ladder ditch, it immediately pounced, and the 2 companies responsible for the break were resolutely blocked by the enemy under the command of huang Shoufa, the chief of staff of the division. General Yang led the team in front of him despite the danger, overcame hunger and fatigue, and finally guided everyone to climb out of the ladder ditch. The two companies after the break fought extremely hard, sacrificing more than 20 people, including Hu Shangyi, acting company commander of the reconnaissance company, and more than 20 people were wounded, completed the cover task, and also withdrew under the leadership of Huang Shoufa. The Japanese combat method was more mechanical, and after chasing the ditch, they did not enter, but continued to carry out the original mission.
Although they were temporarily freed from danger, everyone was tired and hungry, and many people could not walk. At this time, General Yang keenly judged that the enemy was not far away, but was planning to run back and forth to attack the encirclement, and it was necessary to insist on a rapid march, jump to the mountains to the north, and throw the enemy away. However, some of the units accompanying the team were not in the first division, so they did not want to follow General Yang and so on, some left on their own, some could not move, and they wanted to find a place to rest. Admiral Yang had no choice but to tell them not to stay, to leave quickly, and then to lead the headquarters to continue the transfer himself. They marched through the night, drove hundreds of miles, jumped to the Nine Lotus Mountains north of the Wolf's Tooth Mountain, and finally got rid of the enemy. Soon, however, a shocking news came.
More than 200 teachers and students of the Bethune Health School did not follow the brigade, but under the leadership of the political commissar, they found a place to rest in the southeast direction. Unexpectedly, another Japanese army detoured and intercepted, and set up machine guns to shoot at the teachers and students of the school. The teachers and students of the school did not have many weapons, and most of them were lesbians, unable to resist, and the scene was very tragic. In the end, except for more than 50 people who broke through, all the rest were heroically sacrificed. When the militia went to the scene to take care of them, they saw only the corpses piled up in the valley, the remains of the martyrs were mutilated by the enemy, and the blood flowed all over the ditch. In his later years, General Yang also wrote and inked on this matter in his memoirs, and the words of "heartache", "deep pain" and "guilt" were constantly heard. However, even if you look back, if the Bethune Health School personnel really can't move, Yang Shang will not be able to take them away, they will not dare to stay, what can they do?
This is the war, the price that the whole nation has to pay in the face of a vicious enemy armed to the teeth!
Author WeChat public account: Shen Tingxue's historical anthology
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