On November 2, 1939, more than 1,500 people from the 2nd Brigade and the 1st Independent Infantry Brigade of the Japanese Army attacked in the direction of Laiyuan Water Fort, Zoumayi and Yinfang in three ways, in an attempt to find and annihilate the command organs and units of the First Military Subdistrict of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region of the Eighth Route Army. As early as October 30, this information was transmitted from the inside and handed over to General Yang Chengwu, commander of the First Military Subdistrict of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region of the Eighth Route Army.
Yang Chengwu quickly submitted the battle plan to Marshal Nie Rongzhen, commander of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region of the Eighth Route Army. After carefully studying the enemy's situation, Nie Shuai agreed that Yang Chengwu should use the first, second, and third guerrilla detachments of the First Military Division as the main force, and the 25th Regiment as the reserve of the battle plan, and at the same time, ordered the 2nd Regiment of the 3rd Military Division to cooperate and coordinate the 715th Regiment of the Independent 1st Brigade of the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army to contain the enemy.
The battle began on the morning of November 3 and ended at 17:00 p.m., killing and wounding more than 500 Japanese troops, capturing 6 guns of various kinds, 13 light and heavy machine guns, more than 210 rifles, more than 300 mules and horses, and 2 wireless transceivers. After the battle, the participating troops withdrew one after another, but the first regiment did not leave, they stayed behind, monitoring the enemy's movements. In the early morning of the 4th, the Japanese army gathered more than a thousand people to collect the bodies of the Japanese soldiers who died in the battle. General Chen Zhengxiang, the commander of the first regiment, held a telescope and closely observed the enemy's movements. After observation, he found that the Japanese army did not take away the japanese body, but cremated it on the spot, the purpose is very clear, that is, after disposing of the Japanese corpse, continue to march to our base area.
Chen Zhengxiang quickly reported his judgment and thoughts to Yang Chengwu, and suggested that the second and third regiments, the 25th regiment, and the guerrilla detachments, which were retreating, immediately march in the direction of Loess Ridge, and then lay an ambush, and once the Japanese army continued to attack our base area, then hit them in another ambush at Loess Ridge. Yang Chengwu felt that this suggestion was very good, and immediately ordered the retreating troops to set up an ambush at the designated location, and at 3 p.m. on the 7th, successfully surrounded this group of Japanese troops, and the battle began. During the fierce battle, Chen Zhengxiang found that a group of enemies gathered near a high ground in the distance, so he personally commanded the gunners to fire at this place, unexpectedly, a cannon killed the commander of the Japanese independent mixed second brigade, lieutenant general brigade commander, known as the "flower of famous generals".
However, because when this battle was fought, Yang Chengwu was on the outside line, so he handed over the command to Chen Zhengxiang, the commander of the regiment on the front line, but the regiment could not be connected with other units participating in the battle, resulting in the participating units fighting each other, and finally did not surround and annihilate this group of enemies, and although more than 900 enemy were annihilated, their own casualties were also more than 500. In the post-war summary, Chen Zhengxiang was severely criticized by Nie Shuai and Yang Chengwu, although after the criticism, Chen Zhengxiang was still promoted to the commander of the first detachment, from leading a main regiment to leading two main regiments, but he always did not understand the criticism, and between Yang Chengwu, there was a problem with him, in January 1940, he took the opportunity of illness and angrily left a division, this history, quite controversial, there are still people studying and discussing.