Full map of the Liaodong Campaign of the Sino-Japanese War (Source: Network)
In late October 1894, under the attack of the Japanese army, the Qing army's Yalu River defense collapsed in 3 days, and the Japanese army took advantage of the victory to capture Phoenix City, and threatened to "take the fengtian to live the age". There are two ways to attack Fengtian: one is to reach Liaoyang via Caohekou, Saimaji, Lianshan Pass, and Motianling, and then go north to Fengtian; the other is to reach Haicheng from Andong, Dagushan, and Xiuyan, and then to Fengtian via Liaoyang.
Phoenix's route to Fengtian (Source: Micro Battlefield: Sino-Japanese War)
On the side of the Qing army, Nie Shicheng's Wu Yi Army, Lü Benyuan's Sheng Army and other units defended The Sky Ridge, and Yi Ketang'a led the "Zhenbian Army" to defend the Horse Racing Set, forming a defensive line of about 150 miles in length from the West to the Horse Race Set in the east on the Liaodong Battlefield.
(Source: The base map is from the "Micro Battlefield: Sino-Japanese War", with adjustments, the same below)
In order to open up the passage of the eastern line of Liaoyang, the commander of the 10th Mixed Brigade of the Japanese Army, Tachimi Shangwen, attacked the Qing army from the base of Phoenix City.
Tachimi Shomun (1845-1907), who defeated Ye Zhichao in the Battle of Pyongyang, later participated in the battles of Niuzhuang and Tiantaizhuang. During the Russo-Japanese War, the remnants of the Battle of Kurogoutai were organized to attack with bayonets and repulse the Russian army ten times larger than itself.
On 9 November, the Japanese Adachi Squadron marched towards Saimaji, where Iktanga had already occupied the precarious terrain south of Saimaji and placed artillery on the high ground. The Japanese had only one squadron, while the town border army in Iqdanga had more than 1500 men and 4 guns. When the two armies fought fiercely for three hours, the Japanese army could not support it and retreated under the cover of reinforcements from daxigou. Yiktang'a took the opportunity to lead the cavalry to attack the Japanese army, and the breakthrough of the Qing cavalry caused the entire Japanese army to collapse, 14 people below Lieutenant Yanagihara Nanji were killed, and the remnants of the Japanese army fled to Malu Dianzi in a hurry.
At the same time as the Japanese attacked saimaji, Imada's brigade began to attack in the direction of Sky Ridge, reaching Lianshan Pass on November 11. Lianshan Pass was the front pass of the Sky Ridge, and the Qing army sent horse teams to fight. After fierce fighting, but in the end outnumbered, Lianshan Pass was lost. Nie Shicheng heard of the police and could not help him, so he had to hold the mountain ridge, and put up more flags and drum horns in the jungle, and arranged suspicious troops, so that the Japanese army did not dare to rush to attack the skyscraper.
After the Japanese army captured Lianshan Pass, Tachibana Shōbun was worried that the number of troops was too small to defend, and ordered the commander of the 22nd Wing, Tomioka Sanzo, to lead a brigade to reinforce. After Tomioka arrived at Lianshan Pass, he learned of the defeat of the Japanese army in the horse race, and urgently dispatched a squadron to reinforce, only to be intercepted by Iktanga at the Grass River Ridge. At this time, the situation of the Japanese army was very unfavorable, first of all, Lianshan Pass was located at the bottom of the mountain ridge valley, which was difficult to defend; secondly, the Japanese army was attacked on both sides and was in a difficult situation. Fugang was forced to leave a small number of troops stationed at Lianshan Pass and withdrew the main force to the mouth of the Grass River in an attempt to cut off the connection between the Nie and Yi armies.
However, Nie Shicheng and Yi Ketang'a still made contact in time and agreed to jointly attack the Japanese army at the mouth of the Caohe River on November 25.
On the same day, Yi Ketang'a led the town border army and the enemy army totaling more than 5,000 people, carrying 6 cannons, and advancing in two ways to the mouth of the Caohe River; Nie Shicheng led about 1,500 people in the three battalions of Mabu and 2 cannons to attack from the west road to contain the Japanese army.
Two days ago, Nie Shicheng was specially appointed by the Qing court as a directly subordinate viceroy, and he was thrilled by this. At the meeting the day before the battle, Nie Shicheng encouraged the generals: "I Cao is not able to fight, step on Ye Shuqing (Zhi Chao), Wei Dasan (Ru Gui) Hou Yi!" "The morale of all the generals has been greatly enhanced.
Nie Shicheng (1836-1900), a famous general in the Huai Army, successively participated in the Suppression of twists, the Sino-French War, and the Sino-Japanese War, with outstanding achievements, and was killed in the defense of Tianjin in the Gengzi Rebellion.
That night, Nie Shicheng led hundreds of cavalry to raid Lianshan Pass, and the Japanese army woke up in a dream, not knowing the number of Qing troops, and fled to the watershed in a hurry. After capturing Lianshan Pass, Nie Shicheng joined forces with the Sheng army to launch an attack in the direction of the watershed.
Faced with the attack of the Qing army, Tomioka quickly ordered preparations for battle. At that time, the Japanese army had 6 squadrons of infantry, 3 squadrons of cavalry and 4 cannons at the mouth of the Grass River. Fugang used 2 squadrons with 2 cannons to hold the Grass River Ridge east of the mouth of the Grass River to block the Iktang Abe; 2 squadrons with 2 cannons to defend the watershed against the Nie army; the rest of the army was a reserve, under the personal command of Fugang.
The route of the Iktang's army attack
Iketanga first launched an onslaught against the Japanese. The Qing army charged bravely under the leadership of Shoushan, the commander of the infantry, and Yongshan, the commander of the horse team. The commander-in-chief, Iketanga, also came to the top of the hill to direct the battle. The Qing army used mobile and flexible artillery tactics to suppress the Japanese artillery fire on the Grass River Ridge and made the Japanese artillery commander change two people in a row. The fierceness of the Qing army's attack surprised the Japanese army, and the reporters accompanying the Japanese army all sighed for it: "The enemy army does not seem to use its usual defensive means, but advances in an offensive posture, which is really strange and strange!" The enemy, unusually, marched forward courageously, climbing rocks, braving the rain of bullets, and charging at our army." The two armies fought fiercely for 6 hours, and the Qing army front continued to advance. Seeing that the Japanese army could not support it, suddenly heavy snow fell in the sky, the vision was blurred, and it was difficult to fight again. So Iktanga led his army to withdraw the horse racing set. Nie Shi's preconceptions to contain the Japanese army's purpose were completed, and he also led the army back to the camp from the watershed. In this battle, the Japanese army lost 9 people and wounded 33 people, and infantry captain Saito Masaki was killed; the Qing army only lost more than 10 people. After this battle, the Qing army's military might was slightly enhanced.
Shoushan (1860-1900), together with Yongshan, was a descendant of the famous general Yuan Chonghuan at the end of the Ming Dynasty, and the two showed bravery on the battlefield of Jiawu. Yongshan was killed in the Sino-Japanese War when he counterattacked Phoenix, at the age of 27. Shoushan guan to Heilongjiang general, in 1900 when the Russian invasion of Heilongjiang rose up resistance, the provincial capital Qiqihar fell suicide martyrdom.
After seeing the battle report at the mouth of the Grass River, Tachimi Shobun, who was sitting in Phoenix, decided to first completely solve the Iktanga of the Horse Racing Set in order to eliminate the threat of the Japanese right wing. This time, the two main companies of the Japanese 10th Brigade came out of the nest and marched towards the horse racing set.
Yi Ketang'a (1834-1899), Manchurian yellow flag man. Yi Ketang'a began as a low-level pawn, relied on his military achievements to be promoted to the general of Heilongjiang, and made important contributions in resisting Japanese and Russian aggression.
After three days of continuous marching, the Japanese army arrived in Saimajinan on 29 November. Tachimi Shofumi ordered the Japanese army to advance towards the horse racing set in the form of a marching army. However, when the Japanese army entered the horse racing set, it found that the Qing army was nowhere to be found. Just when the Japanese army was confused, Tachimi Shobun suddenly received the news that the heavy team at the mouth of the Grass River had been attacked by the Qing army, killing and wounding 8 people. In desperation, the Japanese army had to retreat to Grass River City.
On the 30th, Tachibana Shangwen discovered that the Qing army was at the White Water Temple, so he concentrated his forces to attack the White Water Temple. As a result, when the Japanese vanguard arrived at the White Water Temple, they found themselves empty again. After that, the Japanese scouts found the Qing army in Cui Jiafang in the northeast direction, and by the time the Japanese army pursued Cui Jia Fang, a total of 4 battalions of the Yiketang Army had retreated to the highest mountain in the north. The two armies faced each other on the hill and fought a long artillery battle until dusk. But by December 1, the Japanese army woke up to find that the Qing army on the opposite hill had disappeared again.
From November 29 to December 5, the Japanese army pursued the Iktanga route
At this time, the northeast was in the coldest season, the Japanese army was still wearing the summer clothes at the outbreak of war, and in the continuous march, a large number of soldiers were frostbitten. According to statistics, on December 2 alone, 455 people in the Japanese army suffered frostbite, of which 166 were completely incapacitated, and the Japanese frostbite soldiers had already lived in 100. On 5 December, Tachimi's attack on Iktanga failed and he had to withdraw to Phoenix. But the Qing army launched a counterattack at this time. Nie Shicheng led an elite of 1,000 men to ambush the Japanese army at the watershed in three ways and recaptured the mouth of the Caohe River. Subsequently, the battalions under Nie Shicheng's faction were stationed at Lianshan Pass, Watershed, Sweetwater Station, Tiger Ridge, and Qijiawei, making the Liaodong defense line even tighter.
Later, with the rear solid, the Qing army counterattacked Phoenix, although it failed, but it shattered the Japanese plan to attack Liaoyang from the east road. On December 13, the Japanese army occupied Haicheng, the center of gravity of the war shifted to Liaoyang South Road, and the Japanese army did not break through the Qing army's defense line on Liaoyang East Road until the end of the war. Li Saw that Shangwen was depressed about this, and wrote a poem lamenting: "Stay in Fengcheng for four months, and every time you hear the sound of the sword in battle." It is difficult to bear the competition for fame and fame, and the dream soul slaughters Qingjing overnight. ”
bibliography
Qi Qizhang: History of the Sino-Japanese War, Shanghai People's Publishing House, 2005.
Wang Zhenxing, "Research on the Offensive and Defensive Warfare of Liaoyang East Road in the Sino-Japanese War", Journal of Gansu Radio and Television University, No. 12, 2019.