In 1938, the New Fourth Army established the Maoshan Anti-Japanese Base Area
After the fall of Shanghai on November 12, 1937, the Japanese army invading China advanced rapidly to the west, the Japanese and Kou drove straight in, the Kuomintang army was defeated and retreated, and a large area of Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou fell.
In order to combat the arrogance of the Japanese army, according to the instructions of the Cpc Central Committee, in May 1938, the New Fourth Army drew more than 400 elite personnel from the first, second and third detachments to form the Anti-Japanese Advance Detachment of the New Fourth Army, and under the leadership of Su Yu, deputy commander of the Second Detachment of the New Fourth Army, marched east to the rear of the enemy in southern Jiangsu and created an anti-Japanese base area centered on Maoshan Mountain. Subsequently, the main forces of the first and second detachments of the New Fourth Army also advanced into southern Jiangsu, consolidating and expanding the base areas.
Yanling Ancient Town is the center of activities of the Maoshan Anti-Japanese Base Area, and it is also an important passage for the New Fourth Army to "advance east" and "go north", and it is a place where soldiers and families must fight.
In early November 1939, the Japanese troops in the Danyang, Erling, Jintan, and Baoyan strongholds concentrated their forces and repeatedly invaded the Yanling area and repeatedly swept through. The First Regiment of the Second Regiment of the New Fourth Army, the New Sixth Regiment, and the Danyang Independent Detachment, etc., roamed in covertly and waited for the opportunity to annihilate the enemy.
Anti-Japanese slogan
The Japanese swept through and fell into the ambush circle of our army
5 kilometers away from Yanling is Hejia Village, only more than 60 households, dense ditches and ponds, complex terrain, Danyang independent detachment is stationed nearby. On the morning of November 8, 1939, the scouts reported that Lin Shengguo, the deputy leader of the detachment, had reported that dozens of Japanese troops in the Baoyan stronghold were preparing to return to their old nest along the same road after raiding Yanling at night. Lin Shengguo realized that this was a good opportunity to annihilate the enemy and began to dispatch troops.
A large group ambushed in front of Talutou Village to block the Japanese army; the second brigade hid on the west side of the village; sent a reinforcement squad to cross the river and block the enemy's retreat. At the same time, he informed the New Sixth Regiment of the New Fourth Army of the enemy situation in a timely manner, requested support, and encircled the Japanese army.
At 8:00 a.m., the Japanese army swung from Yanling and entered the ambush circle. A large group of people shot, killing and wounding more than 10 ghosts. At that time, the Japanese army was well trained, immediately retreated, seized the chenghe mountain east of Hejia Village, and resisted desperately. At this time, the second brigade on the west side of the village also opened fire, and the Japanese machine guns and grenadiers fired wildly, and the two sides were deadlocked.
The Japanese army went to the countryside to sweep
Our reinforcements arrived in time, and the Japanese army became a turtle in an urn
Suddenly, the New Sixth Regiment of the New Fourth Army appeared behind the Japanese army and attacked fiercely, surrounded on both sides, the Japanese army saw that the situation was not good, panicked and abandoned the city and mountains to break through to the west, and fled to the village of Hejia, trying to rely on houses to resist and wait for reinforcements.
At about 12:00 noon, the gunshots in the west of Hejia Village were loud, and reinforcements from the Japanese army at the Baoyan stronghold came. After the Japanese army met, they organized a counterattack and reoccupied the city and rivers and mountains. At the critical moment, the Second Regiment of the New Fourth Army arrived in time under the leadership of regimental commander Wang Bicheng and also took part in the battle. Wang Bi became known as Wang Laohu , a well-known member of the New Fourth Army , and he led the Second Regiment to fight Xinfeng and attack Jurong to frighten the enemy.
The soldiers of the Second Regiment and the New Sixth Regiment finally withstood several counterattacks from the enemy, and the Japanese army had to retreat back to the village of Hejia, arranging machine gun positions in a circular shape, digging scattered pits, and chiseling gun holes in the ancestral hall of the village, intending to serve as a final stronghold and hold on to help.
In the evening, heavy rain fell suddenly and the wind was fierce. Colonel Wang Bicheng thought this was a godsend. He ordered the warriors to light the wet straw and, under the cover of thick smoke, burst into the village of Hejia, and the follow-up troops broke in one after another. The Japanese army could not see the target of the attack, fired indiscriminately, and could not exert its superiority in firepower, so it had to hide in the houses and stubbornly resist, and the New Fourth Army launched a street battle, fighting house by house, compressing the Japanese position into the ancestral hall in the southeast corner.
The New Fourth Army ambushed the Japanese
The final general offensive annihilated the Japanese army
At 4:00 a.m. on the 9th, under the order of the commander, the general offensive began, and a platoon of the second battalion of the second regiment crawled forward. Approaching the ancestral hall, the Japanese troops buried in the grass suddenly attacked, and the two sides began a fierce battle. The battle was fought until 9 a.m., eliminating most of the Japanese troops, and the remaining Japanese troops were poisoned by the spirit of Bushido and refused to surrender, and they huddled in the ancestral hall, using the high wall as a cover, dying and struggling.
The soldiers tied the grenades into bundles, and the bundles of grenades were so powerful that they blew up the walls of the ancestral hall, and the remnants of the Japanese army fled towards the north gate in a hurry, and the warriors of the New Fourth Army fought with them in a white-knife battle, simply stabbing them to death.
Japanese prisoners
This battle was the famous "Great Victory in Yanling," which annihilated 168 Japanese troops and took 3 prisoners, played a mighty role in the New Fourth Army, and the news of victory spread ten to ten hundred times, inspiring the anti-Japanese fighting spirit of the people in southern Jiangsu, consolidating and expanding the anti-Japanese base areas, and praising them by telegrams from the Yan'an headquarters and the New Fourth Army Headquarters.