In January 1943, the Japanese puppet army carried out a large-scale winter sweep of our Jiaodong base area, and while the main force of our Jiaodong Military Region was busy with anti-sweeping operations and the internal line was empty, the puppet army stationed in Sanduhe, Jimo County, frequently attacked the marginal areas of our base areas around Jimo and Laiyang, hunting down and killing anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians, grabbing ding, grain, and waiting for an opportunity to encroach on the base areas in order to expand the occupied areas.
▲ The puppet army is searching for pedestrians
In order to deal a devastating blow to this puppet army stationed in Sanduhe and reverse the unfavorable situation of the local struggle, our Jiaodong Military Region transferred the main force of the 15th Regiment from the anti-sweeping front and ordered it to defeat the enemy in Sanduhe. The 15th Regiment then sent scouts to reconnoiter the puppet army's Sanduhe stronghold. Through several days of observation, the scouts found a very interesting situation: the puppet army stationed in Sanduhe had to open the gate of the stronghold every morning, and then line up in the large playground outside the stronghold to carry out the ceremony of raising the "national flag" and then go out to perform morning exercises. The 15th Regiment decided, on the basis of intelligence, to carry out a surprise attack on the puppet army at Sanduhe on January 8 with 2 battalions.
Located about 20 kilometers northeast of Jimo, the Sandu River is composed of three villages, and the three regiments of the puppet army are stationed in 3 villages, forming a corner. In the early morning of January 8, 1943, the troops of the 1st and 3rd Battalions secretly drove towards the Sandu River for 15 days. Along the way, we encountered the enemy's sentry and guard troops, and our army pounced on them with rapid movements to annihilate them. There were several encounters along the way, defeating many enemy forces, but these battles failed to alarm the enemy, and the enemies of the Sandu River were all sleeping.
▲ Our army does mobilization work before leaving
Our army then, guided by a prisoner who was willing to lead the way for me, continued to plunge deep into the puppet army defense zone. Because the puppet army believed too much in the "battle achievements" proclaimed by the Japanese army and believed that our army in Jiaodong had collapsed under the sweep of the "imperial army," it did not expect that the Eighth Route Army would actually come to the door.
When the 7th Company of the 3rd Battalion was capturing a platoon of enemy guards on the periphery, while capturing and counting the captured weapons, a grenade exploded, not only wounding people, but also possibly alarming the enemy, and the commander of the 15th Regiment then ordered the troops to immediately accelerate the march and directly attack the Sandu River.
▲The Japanese army attacked the Positions of the Chinese Army
However, this explosion incident was ultimately unexpected by both the enemy and us; for the enemy, they did not expect our army to penetrate deep into the depths of the enemy, so they did not enter the preparation for battle at all, and after dragging and checking, they sent an enemy soldier on a bicycle to the place where the explosion sounded; and for our army, it was also very strange that it did not encounter the enemy's resistance.
When our army solved the Sandu River, it was already dawn, and the enemy opened the gate of the stronghold on time, gathered at the large playground outside the stronghold, and waited for the flag to be raised. My 3rd 7th and 8th Companies then took off their military coats, revealing the uniforms of the Japanese troops they had captured earlier, and then pretended to be Japanese troops, and divided into 2 columns and walked towards the playground where the puppet army gathered.
▲ The Eighth Route Army that blocked the enemy
By this time the sun had fully come out and the weather was fine. Our army quickly approached the puppet army in line, when the enemy had noticed that an unknown "imperial army" was approaching, and the line began to stir. At this time, the commander of the 3rd Battalion suddenly ordered to "open fire", and suddenly our army launched a battle formation and fired fiercely at the enemy's dense formation, and because the enemy was all crowded on the playground and had nowhere to hide, he was instantly overwhelmed by the firepower of our army, and the rest fled everywhere.
In this surprise attack, our army killed and wounded hundreds of people, captured more than 300 prisoners, captured more than 700 long and short guns, and a large number of ammunition. After suffering a serious blow, the puppet army had to request reinforcements from the Japanese army, forcing the Japanese army to withdraw its main force from the Jiaodong base area and hastily end the sweep.
Author/Zhou Hongxin