introduction
The idiom "impenetrable" describes a defense that is very strong and difficult to break. It comes from the book "The Biography of Hanshu Putong" by the famous historian and literary scholar Ban Gu in the Eastern Han Dynasty, in which Ban Gu described the heavily guarded city wall as follows: "All are golden city soup ponds, and they cannot be attacked." "In fact, in the War of Resistance Against Japan, China also had such an impregnable area, which experienced more than 20 attacks from the Japanese army and withstood the number of bombings second only to Chongqing, but under the stubborn resistance of the military and the people, it held the defensive line, which is Shaanxi.
01
If it is said that during the War of Resistance Against Japan, China was the most fiercely attacked by the Japanese army, many people may subconsciously mention Nanjing, Wuhan and other places. But in fact, there is a place that, from 1938 to 1945, with more than 20 tentative attacks by the Japanese army, was even targeted by the Japanese army, and once bombed continuously for a whole year, but it has never completely fallen by virtue of its precarious terrain conditions and the coordination of the army and the people. This "hard" area is Shaanxi.
▲The struggle between The Forces of China and Japan in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression
Perhaps because of Shaanxi's "impregnable", many people thought that the Japanese army had not launched an attack on Shaanxi. In addition, Shaanxi at that time was not a major grain producing province, and its use value was not large enough for Japan to deliberately turn the spearhead against Shaanxi, so many people mistakenly thought that the Japanese army did not want to occupy Shaanxi. However, this is a misconception, as the location of Yan'an, the core stronghold of the Eighth Route Army, Shaanxi is of course the area where the Japanese army most wants to disintegrate.
▲China Anti-Japanese Military and Political University
Invading Shaanxi will not only solve the Problem of the Eighth Route Army, which is the most headache for the Japanese army on the anti-Japanese battlefield, but also destroy a large number of local military academies in Shaanxi, such as the well-known "China Anti-Japanese Military and Political University" and the Huangpu Military Academy Branch School, cut off the transportation of military talents on the anti-Japanese battlefield, and enable the Japanese army to drive straight into the invasion of China. Obviously, the Japanese army was very eager to capture Shaanxi, but in the course of the battle, the Japanese army only briefly captured the area around the fugu in northern Shaanxi, and after a few hours this area was restored by our army.
02
Therefore, if someone asks: During the War of Resistance Against Japan, why did the Japanese army not choose to attack Shaanxi? Then the expert will definitely answer: the Japanese army does not have that skill! To discuss how the Japanese army "did not have that ability", we must also start from the innate constraints of Japan. The narrow territory of Japan has long been trapped in the lack of population and material resources, and in the case that it is difficult to supply its own resources to show demand, Japan has adopted the tactic of "feeding the war with war".
▲The Japanese army in the war of aggression against China
For example, after Japan captured Korea on the eve of the War of Resistance Against Japan, it did not immediately launch an invasion of China, but used the chassis of Korea to rest and crush resources, and made sufficient preparations before launching a large-scale attack on northeast China in 1932, resulting in the fall of all of northeast China. Japan, which was defending the northeast, did not immediately expand the scope of its aggression, but instead created a puppet state of Manchukuo, which it used to make up for its military power for a period of up to five years. In 1937, after being ready, it launched a full-scale war of aggression against China.
▲Chinese anti-Japanese forces counterattacked the Japanese army
Although the Japanese army is fully prepared, but due to the needs of supplementary military strength in the early stage, its combat target is focused on the relatively developed cities concentrated in the eastern and southern regions of China, resulting in the consumption of a lot of manpower and material resources in these areas, with the expansion of the scope of aggression, the vast territory of China is far beyond the control of the Japanese army's military strength, and the growing Chinese anti-Japanese armed forces are also constantly attacking the Japanese army, and the Japanese army wants to defend the southeast coastal cities is very reluctant, let alone go deep into the hinterland of China to attack Shaanxi.
03
In addition to the innate deficiencies of the Japanese army itself, Shaanxi's inherent advantages have also made Shaanxi an easy place to defend and difficult to attack. Shaanxi borders Shanxi to the east, and if you want to attack Shaanxi, you must pass through Shanxi. In Shanxi at that time, there were two armies that annoyed the Japanese army, that is, the Eighth Route Army and the Jin Sui Army of Yan Xishan. In order to defend the territory of their homeland, the two armies abandoned their previous suspicions and cooperated, the Jin Sui Army was responsible for a frontal attack on the Japanese army, and the Eighth Route Army was responsible for the division of the bottom of the cauldron. Although the Japanese army had already occupied parts of Shanxi, it could not go any further.
▲Hundred Regiments Battle
The local people also actively provided more than 100,000 troops, disturbing the defeat and retreat of the Japanese army, such as the famous Hundred Regiments War and the peaceful Guan Dajie, which occurred in Shanxi. In addition to the defensive role of Shanxi, the terrain conditions of Shaanxi itself were also difficult for the Japanese army to overcome. The Japanese army, which relied on highly mechanized armaments on the plains to rapidly advance the war, could not do anything in the mountainous areas. The further west we went, the steeper the mountain road became, and the narrower the road became, making it difficult for the Japanese army to exert its strength, and the armament gap with our army gradually narrowed.
▲Schematic map of China's terrain
However, our army has the advantage of being familiar with the terrain of our country, relying on the changeable terrain and changeable tactics, so that the Japanese army will never be able to gain a bargain on this battlefield. Further weakening the Japanese army, there are also the people of Shaanxi, they actively pay grain to support the army's combat, according to relevant data, during the War of Resistance, the people provided 4.6 million stones of grain, which also boosted the morale of the army, so that the soldiers who defended the country felt more honor and mission on their shoulders, and vowed to drive the invaders out of our land.
epilogue
Shaanxi was able to hold out for a long time during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, not only due to the natural shortage of resources of the Japanese army, but also because the troops and people of different local forces could twist into a rope to defend their homeland and resist foreign enemies together. In the "Chinese Zhou Yuxia", it is said: "Unity of will", it is this spirit of unity of purpose and unity that is the real reason for Shaanxi's "impenetrable".