In the spring of 1944, in order to open up the land communication line from northeast China to the Japanese occupation zone in Southeast Asia, the Invading Japanese Army was ready to launch the so-called "Operation No. 1" in a desperate bet. In order to carry out this operation, the Japanese army mobilized troops everywhere, and its troops stationed in Shandong were also withdrawn quite a bit, which greatly reduced its strength in directly encircling and blocking the base areas behind the enemy lines, and created conditions for our army to launch a local counteroffensive.
▲ The Japanese army fought along the railway line
Xiazhuang, about 30 kilometers southwest of Juxian County in the Luzhong region of Shandong, was an important stronghold of the Japanese army on the Taiwei Highway. The Japanese army used Xiazhuang as the center to build artillery towers, checkpoints and posts everywhere along the road to block the connection between the various base areas in our Rizhao area, and at the same time split the two major areas of Binhai and Luzhong. There was originally a small group of Japanese troops and a squadron of puppet troops, plus some pseudo-self-defense regiments, a total of more than 200 people. After the spring, most of the Japanese squad was transferred, leaving only 1 detachment of recruits, and its overall combat effectiveness was greatly reduced, and the Coastal Military Region was determined to seize the opportunity to capture this stronghold.
The Japanese army, under the guidance of its reconnaissance personnel, shot at our army
In March 1944, the Juzhong Independent Battalion of the Coastal Military Region received orders to quietly come from the base area to the vicinity of Xiazhuang, and after meeting with the local troops, the two sides discussed the method of attacking the Xiazhuang stronghold. In the end, it was decided that the 4th Company of the Independent Battalion would carry out the main attack, with the 3rd and 5th Companies as reserves, the 1st and 2nd Companies, and the county brigades and fraternal units cooperating with the operation to take on the task of blocking the enemy's reinforcements. The main attacking company was then organized into a fire brigade, an explosives group and a commando team according to the specific requirements of the mission.
▲ The japanese puppet army stronghold that was conquered
On March 9, our army began to act according to the original plan, first of all, our internal line invited the Japanese squad leader and the puppet army squadron leader of the Xiazhuang stronghold to "be a guest", these 2 guys heard that there was a meal, immediately had no vigilance, left the troops and went out of the stronghold to the banquet, the result was drunk and drunk, and then easily taken down by our enemy workers.
In the evening, the 4th Company of our Independent Battalion bypassed the enemy's sentries and patrols, secretly reached the northeast corner of the stronghold, and then lay in ambush in a ditch. At about 21:00 p.m., the battle began! The 4th Company concentrated its forces to carry out a surprise attack from the northeast corner of the pseudo-district office, and the puppet army in the stronghold initially thought that it was guerrilla harassment, but actually counterattacked our army, only to collapse after being hit head-on, and the 4th Company then quickly crossed the wall and occupied the pseudo-district office along the street.
▲ The artillery tower of the Japanese puppet army
The 4th Company then pursued the scattered enemy all the way to the Sanguan Temple, which was close to the enemy's core stronghold, where there were some puppet troops. The 1st and 2nd squads of the 1st platoon of the 4th Company surrounded the courtyard, and the company commander led 3 squads to carry out a surprise attack on the courtyard, but the enemy desperately resisted, and the two sides launched a fierce battle, our army shouted while shooting, shaking the puppet army, and the puppet army blindly shot at the outside of the gun tower under the suppression of some hardcore traitors, and the 4th company commander was unfortunately shot and killed when shouting. The 1st platoon was enraged and threw grenades at the puppet army, and in the smoke of the explosion, the 1st platoon rushed into the house where the puppet army was guarding with a white blade, killing dozens of enemy people, and the remaining 30 people were completely frightened by the momentum of our army and raised their hands to surrender.
▲The Eighth Route Army raided the Japanese stronghold
Then the 4th Company launched an attack on the pseudo-garrison stronghold, and the puppet army was demoralized under the political offensive of our army, but the pseudo-district commander Li Huairang was a stubborn traitor, who not only refused to surrender, but also threatened others to resist our army with him. Seeing that the time was getting longer and longer, in order to avoid the arrival of enemy reinforcements, our army was determined to blast the bunkers. The explosion of our army blew open a large hole in the enemy's turret, and the enemy inside was either killed or wounded, and the rest were also stunned, and the 4th Company rushed into the turret, and after killing several enemy officers, the rest of the puppet army all raised their hands and surrendered.
▲ The Japanese puppet army that went to the countryside to sweep up
When the Japanese detachment on the edge of Xiazhuang was attacking the puppet army by our army, because most of them were recruits, and the squad leader was captured by our army, he had no command, and even sat by and watched our army annihilate the puppet army. After the total annihilation of the puppet army, the devils could not stand, and on the 11th, they broke through and fled back to Juxian County, and at this point the whole battle was victorious, and our army killed and wounded more than 200 puppet troops, captured 1 Japanese squad leader alive, and captured 5 machine guns, more than 200 rifles, 1 grenade launcher, and a large number of supplies. At the same time, the Luzhong base area has been expanded, and the connection between the coast and the two major base areas in Luzhong has also been opened.
Editor/Zhou Hongxin
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