At the end of 1944, the anti-Japanese base areas behind enemy lines in Shandong were actively preparing to launch a larger counteroffensive against the Japanese puppet army. In order to sabotage our army's preparations for counteroffensive and to grab grain after the autumn harvest, the Japanese puppet army mobilized troops in mid-November of that year to carry out a large-scale sweep of the Qixia Yashan area of our Jiaodong base area. In order to cooperate with the actions of the Japanese army, the recalcitrant Zhao Baoyuan also dispatched 2 regiments of more than 1,000 people to harass the Area of Guocheng in the marginal area of our Jiaodong base area. On November 16, the recalcitrant army had formed a distant echo with the sweeping Japanese puppet army.
▲The heavy machine gun position of the Eighth Route Army
In order to crush the enemy's sweep, the Jiaodong Military Region, under the command of Commander Xu Shiyou, used the 14th Regiment to block the recalcitrant army and prevent it from converging with the Japanese puppet army; at the same time, it concentrated the military region's teaching regiment and other units to meet the Japanese puppet army. On the 17th, more than 1,000 Japanese Oshima troops and more than 500 puppet troops set out from Qixia in an attempt to destroy the arsenal of our Eighth Route Army.
▲ Jiaodong my local troop soldiers
The Japanese puppet army was constantly attacked by our local troops on the way to our base area, and its marching speed was as slow as an ox, and by the time the enemy arrived at the location of our arsenal, our army and equipment had already been transferred. In desperation, the enemy army had to return to the same route, and as a result, it was chased and intercepted by the teaching regiment and other units of our military region all the way, and the casualties were very large.
▲Jiaodong our army attacked enemy strongholds
With no way out, the enemy had to change direction and prepare to retreat along the road to Laiyang. At noon on the 17th, after completing the task of containing the recalcitrant army, the main force of our 14th Regiment had reached the vicinity of the road from Yantai to Qingdao, and arranged an ambush circle to prepare to ambush the Japanese puppet army. At about 16:00 p.m., the marching column of the Japanese puppet army approached the ambush circle of our army, and our 14th regiment took the upper ground and favorable terrain nearby one step ahead of the enemy, and completed all preparations.
▲ The Eighth Route Army is raiding enemy positions
At 16:30 p.m., the Japanese puppet army brigade entered the ambush circle of our army, and our army violently opened fire and dropped bombs on the encircled enemy. When the puppet army was familiar with the terrain and our army concentrated its main force to attack the Japanese army, it first left the "imperial army" and fled north. The Japanese army was intercepted by our army, and had to lie down on the ground, arbitrarily seizing some positions and defending the generals, trying to hold on to waiting for help.
▲ Our army ambushed the scene of the Japanese battle
As soon as the Japanese army hastily built its position, the 2nd Battalion and 5th Company of our 14th Regiment had already launched a white-knife assault from the enemy's flank, and the Japanese army rushed to battle, and a fierce white-knife battle immediately broke out between the two sides. The 5th Company threw itself into battle, and in a bloody battle that lasted more than half an hour, the 5th Company captured the only commanding height controlled by the Japanese army and crushed the Japanese army into a village. During the battle, ren Changlun, the famous combat hero of the 5th Company and the deputy platoon commander of the 3rd Platoon, personally led the 9th squad to hold their positions, and they repelled 3 fierce counterattacks launched by the Japanese army in a row. When the Japanese army attacked again, the ammunition of the 9th squad had all been exhausted, Ren Changlun led the 9th squad to launch a counter-assault on the enemy, the two sides continued to carry out white-knife battles, Ren Changlun showed great bravery in the battle, stabbed 5 Japanese soldiers in a row, and finally unfortunately was shot and died.
▲ The Eighth Route Army launched a white-knife assault
During the fierce fighting for several hours, the Japanese army dropped 258 corpses and retreated into the village to defend. Before dawn the next day, the 2 regiments of Zhao Baoyuan, a stubborn army that had been spying on the battlefield, saw that there was no opportunity to take advantage of it and had to withdraw to their old nest. Losing the recalcitrant army, the Japanese Oshima troops also had to discard their heavy and heavy weapons, break through along the road to the southwest, and flee back to Laiyang, our 14th regiment pursued the enemy along the way, all the way to the vicinity of Laiyang, the enemy troops in the city had already left the city to meet, before disengaging and retreating.
At this point, the winter sweep carefully planned by the Japanese puppet army and dispatched more than 4,000 people ended in a complete failure, and the enemy not only failed to destroy the base area and did not grab grain, but on the contrary, he lost a lot of living strength.
Resources:
Haiyang County Chronicle, pp709
Editor/Zhou Hongxin
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