In 1939, as the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression turned to the stage of stalemate, Japanese imperialism strengthened its political inducement against the Kuomintang, and a group of senior Kuomintang officials headed by Wang Jingwei defected to the enemy and committed treason in that year; at the same time, the Japanese army intensified its attack on the anti-Japanese base areas behind the enemy lines, and the battlefield behind the enemy lines began to gradually become the main battlefield of the anti-Japanese resistance.
In early November 1939, the Baoyan Wucun Squadron of the 51st Regiment of the Japanese 15th Division regiment, which was entrenched in the stronghold of the Jiangsu Sultan, was ordered to go out to Yanling and Jiuli to carry out "sweeping" in an attempt to destroy our local grass-roots political power and annihilate our local troops. But what the Japanese army did not know was that the New Fourth Army 1 Detachment 2 Regiment 1, the New 6Th Regiment and the Danyang Independent Detachment were operating in the local area, hiding and waiting.
Soldiers of the New Fourth Army waited in the trenches
At about 8:00 a.m. on November 8, the Japanese Wucun Squadron, which had finished its sweep, came from the direction of Yanling and passed through Talutou Village to prepare to return to its stronghold, when it entered the ambush circle of our army, and our army opened fire fiercely, killing and wounding more than 10 people immediately. The Japanese army immediately retreated and organized a counterattack, seized the commanding heights of Hejia Village on the east side of the city, rivers and mountains, and frantically shot at our army with machine guns and grenadiers, and the battle formed a stalemate. At this moment, a unit of our new 6th Regiment suddenly appeared behind the Japanese flank and launched a fierce attack. After the Japanese army was encircled, it abandoned the city and the mountains and broke out to the west, entered the village of Hejia, and continued to resist and wait for help with houses and buildings and favorable terrain.
The Japanese army once controlled the commanding heights and stubbornly resisted
Group photo of some of the commanders of the New Fourth Army in this battle
At about 12:00 noon, the gunshots in the west of Hejia Village were loud, and the Japanese troops who had been reinforced arrived. After the Japanese army joined forces, its arrogance soared, and it began to organize troops and firepower to counterattack in an attempt to reoccupy the city. However, at this time, the 2nd Regiment of the New Fourth Army also joined the battle under the leadership of the regimental commander Wang Bicheng. The 2nd Regiment and the New 6th Regiment always suppressed the Japanese army with fierce firepower, and the enemy counterattacked 3 times, all of which were repelled by our army. In desperation, the Japanese army could only retreat back to Hejia Village, build a circular defense line along the village, and dig scattered pits, use machine guns to strengthen the blockade of various intersections leading to the village, and at the same time, at the ancestral hall in the southeast corner of Hejia Village, dig gun holes, so that once our army broke into the village, it would retreat to the ancestral hall and stand for help.
The troops of the New Fourth Army were ready to go
Due to the fierce firepower of the Japanese army and the release of poisonous gas, many people of our army were poisoned, so that our army could not break through the enemy's defense line for a while, and the battle entered a stalemate state. Heavy rain suddenly fell in the evening, accompanied by high winds. Wang Bicheng realized that this was a godsend opportunity to avoid Japanese fire and break into the Hejia position. He immediately ordered the 1st Battalion to light seven piles of wet straw and use thick smoke as cover to attack the village of Hejia! The Japanese army was so thick with smoke that they could not open their eyes, so our 3rd Battalion and the new 6th Regiment took the opportunity to break in one after another and engage in close combat with the Japanese army, and the two sides fought house by house, and our army compressed the Japanese position all the way to the ancestral hall in the southeast corner.
Japanese machine gunners used the terrain to shoot at our army
At 4 a.m. on the 9th, the general offensive began. When the vanguard of the 2nd Regiment and the 2nd Battalion approached the ancestral hall, they were unexpectedly attacked by the Japanese troops who were ambushed in the nearby grass pile, and the two sides immediately began to fight, and our army, with the support of the follow-up troops, advanced step by step, and by 9:00 a.m., all the Japanese troops on the periphery were compressed into the ancestral hall. The Japanese used a strong high wall as a cover for a dying struggle. However, our military used a cluster grenade to blow up the wall on the south side of the ancestral hall, and the remnants of the Japanese army fled to the north in a hurry, but they were again surrounded by the 2nd Regiment and the New 6th Regiment on the way through. After a short engagement, the Japanese army was completely annihilated. In this battle, our army annihilated a total of 168 people including the Japanese squadron commander, Captain Takemura, including 3 prisoners, captured 4 light machine guns, 2 grenadiers, more than 100 rifles, and more than 1,000 rounds of ammunition. Our army lost 94 dead and wounded more than 100 people.
The New Fourth Army launched an attack on the enemy
Newspapers in Shanghai and other places reported on the battle under the headline "The Great Victory in Jiangnan," which the people of Jiangnan called "The Great Victory of Yanling." This victory effectively coordinated the anti-Japanese struggle throughout the country and dealt a blow to the arrogance of the capitulators and diehards.
Resources
History of the New Fourth Army