In 1940, the Eighth Route Army fought two major battles in North China, one was the Great Destruction Campaign, the other was the Anti-Friction Campaign, and interestingly, the latter battle was fought uninvited by Peng Dehuai, deputy commander of the Eighth Route Army.
This time, the anti-friction campaign was fought against the Kuomintang army.
In the summer of 1939, when the Japanese army stopped its strategic offensive on the frontal battlefield, Chiang Kai-shek launched anti-communist propaganda, such as "the Communist Party made trouble", "the Eighth Route Army traveled without attacking", "did not listen to the command", and so on, and the Pingjiang Incident and the December Incident occurred successively. Zhang Yinwu, Zhu Huaibing, and others in Hebei province, carrying anti-Japanese banners, did not shoot a single shot at the Japanese, but specifically attacked the rear of the Eighth Route Army and killed local anti-Japanese cadres.
In November, Peng Dehuai traveled from Yan'an to the Taihang Mountains, and along the way, the anti-communist atmosphere of the Kuomintang army was already very tense, and even Peng Dehuai's military vehicles were stopped by the agents for inspection, and Peng Dehuai angrily detained two inspection agents and took them to Xi'an and sent them to Cheng Qian, the director of Chiang Kai-shek's camp.
After leaving Xi'an, he went to Luoyang, met with Wei Lihuang, commander of the First Theater, and visited some democrats, such as Li Xijiu. As a result, Peng Dehuai unexpectedly met Sun Dianying, the new 5th Kuomintang army commander, and told him about the anti-communist friction he had seen in the Kuomintang. Sun Dianying was born of banditry and was extremely cunning. However, he said meaningfully: "You Eighth Route Army will have a way to deal with it." "Meaning, you fight.
Peng Dehuai said, "I also want to ask you to help." ”
He said: "Act according to your policy, 'No one offends me, I do not offend.'" ”
Why did Sun Dianying say this? Mainly dissatisfied with Chiang Kai-shek and Zhu Huaibing and others who robbed him of his territory, I also hoped that the Eighth Route Army would teach them a lesson.
Later, when Peng Dehuai fought against the anti-communist and resolute Zhu Huaibing, he and the New 5th Army were really neutral, did not help Zhu Huaibing, and led the troops out as they did.
Peng Dehuai talked several times at Wei Lihuang's office. He invited Peng Dehuai to dinner several times.
Why?
Because he was a centrist during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, he was also afraid of civil war. Peng Dehuai told him about the Kuomintang's anti-communist situation, and he did not comment. It was only to persuade Peng Dehuai to endure each other and serve the country. Peng Dehuai said: "I endure, but what should the diehards do if they can't bear it?" Is there a danger of civil war? ”
He said: "Civil war cannot be fought!" Another civil war is over. ”
"If you fight another civil war, it will be over," this is the mood of the anti-war faction in the Kuomintang. Therefore, Peng Dehuai was more confident in teaching those anti-communist elements a lesson.
After Peng Dehuai left Luoyang, he went to the 10th Army to eat after crossing the Yellow River in Yuanqu, the commander of the 10th Army was Chen Tie, and his wife was from Hunan. ”
When Peng Dehuai got into the car, a young man in his thirties quietly said to him: "They are ready to attack the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army in three ways." ”
Peng Dehuai has the bottom.
Subsequently, he and more than a dozen people, including the guard squad and the translator, avoided the main road and climbed the mountain to find a small way back to the headquarters. While sleeping that night, Peng Dehuai sent a telegram to mobilize the 7th Brigade to prepare for an anti-friction campaign, targeting Zhu Huaibing and his 98th Army, the "anti-communist vanguard" in North China.
When Peng Dehuai arrived at the headquarters, the troops were ready, and Nie Rongzhen, commander of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, personally led two brigades to Wuxiang. At the end of January 1940, the Eighth Route Army began to counterattack the anti-friction campaign, and as a result, in only three days, it annihilated two divisions of Zhu Huaibing's army, Hou Ruyin's brigade and Zhang Yinwu's column, a total of more than ten regiments.
During the Eighth Route Army's great battle against Zhu Huaibing, there was a 5th Army of Chiang Kai-shek's clan in Zhongtiao Mountain, a Dian Army in Jincheng, a New 5th Army in Lin County, and an army of Sun Chu in Yangcheng. Zhu Huaibing even took his little wife as a prisoner.
After this war, TaihangShan ended the armed friction of the Kuomintang army, and Chiang Kai-shek's first anti-communist upsurge was repulsed. The Eighth Route Army consolidated the Taihang Mountain base area and ensured the connection between the Taihang Mountain base area and the plains of Shandong, northern Jiangsu, northern Anhui, and Hebei.
Peng Dehuai said: "This is a great victory. ”
This battle was fought against the Kuomintang army and was related to the united front, but what is interesting is that Peng Dehuai advocated it without asking the central authorities. Later, Peng Dehuai said in his self-description:
"I did not ask for instructions in advance for this battle. This was the first anti-friction campaign, and it was necessary to ask for instructions in advance and obtain the approval of the central authorities before proceeding, but my situation at that time was serious, and there was a possibility of being attacked at any time, and it was too late to ask for instructions. After the fact, it was reported to the central government and was recognized. ”
In fact, from the time he gave the order to the beginning of the war, there were still several days in between, and the central authorities may have time. Peng Dehuai fought uninvited, but won the approval of almost everyone except Chiang Kai-shek.