A Chinese-made mortar that has made a special merit. The heroic soldiers of the Eighth Route Army used it to kill Lieutenant General Norihide Abe, the commander of the Japanese brigade and known as the "Flower of Famous Generals", who was also the highest-ranking commander of the Japanese army killed by the Eighth Route Army. This killing has left a brilliant mark in the history of China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Tonight's night reading, let's review this victory together.
Decoding: The History of the War of Resistance Behind the Cultural Relics - The Mortar That Killed Norihide Abe (Video Source: People's Daily News)
The mortar has a simple structure, is light and flexible, and is easy to manufacture, and is a sharp weapon for our army to kill the enemy on the anti-Japanese battlefield. This mortar was manufactured by the Taiyuan Arsenal, and the barrel, gun mount, steering machine, base and other parts are well preserved.
A mortar that kills Norihide Abe during the Battle of Loess Ridge
At the end of October 1939, the Japanese army carried out a winter "sweep" of the Beiyue District in Jin-Cha-Ji. On November 3, the 1st and 4th Brigades of the 2nd Mixed Brigade of the Japanese Army attacked Yinfang and Zoumayi from Laiyuan in three ways. The Eighth Route Army had an excellent intelligence network in Laiyuan and accurately grasped the movements of the Japanese army. Yang Chengwu, commander of the 1st Military Subdistrict of Jin-Cha-Ji, ambushed the 1st Japanese Brigade that invaded Yinfang at Yansu Cliff, and all the more than 500 Japanese troops on the road were annihilated. Yang Chengwu was well aware of the law that the Japanese army would retaliate after being hit, and quickly moved after the battle.
Japanese brigade commander Norihide Abe rushed 1,500 people from Laiyuan to Yansu Cliff to rescue, and when they arrived at Yansu Cliff on November 4, the 1st Brigade had been annihilated. Norihide Abe, who had just been promoted to lieutenant general a month earlier and had been appointed military attaché to the Japanese Emperor's attendant, wanted to take up his military service in Tokyo with his military exploits on the battlefield, but was slapped loudly. Annoyed and angry, he decided to continue to the east to find the main force of our army for revenge.
Yang Chengwu suggested to Nie Rongzhen, commander of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, that the Japanese army be ambushed again, and Nie Rongzhen instructed the Japanese army to be lured to the Loess Ridge and used the favorable terrain to ambush. Before November 7, the 1st Regiment, 2nd Regiment, 3rd Regiment, 25th Regiment, and 120th Division Special Service Regiment of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region completed an ambush around the valley along the Loess Ridge-Shangzhuangzi-Zhaituo line. Under the lure of our small unit, the Japanese army entered the Loess Ridge at dusk on the 6th and camped there.
On the morning of November 7, Abe Norihide led his troops from the Loess Ridge upwards to Zhuangzi to reconnoiter and alternately cover the advance. At about 3 p.m., all the Japanese troops entered the encirclement of our army. The various units of our ambush launched a fierce attack from all sides, compressing the Japanese army into a valley about 1500 meters long and about 100 meters wide. Caught off guard, the Japanese army hurriedly seized the nearby high ground and counterattacked our positions, and the two sides launched a fierce mountain battle.
Four mortars from the 1st Military Subdistrict of Jin-Cha-Ji and three mortars from the Special Task Force Regiment of the 120th Division took part in the Battle of Loess Ridge. Chen Zhengxiang, commander of the 1st Regiment, found that on a hill in the middle of a hill south of an independent compound in the middle of the valley, there were several Japanese officers with combat knives observing us with binoculars, and immediately ordered mortar bombardment. The mortar company, led by company commander Yang Jiuping, maneuvered 4 mortars to fire and accurately hit the target.
Artillery positions of the Eighth Route Army in the Battle of Loess Ridge
The famous writer Wei Wei, who was an education officer of the 1st Battalion of the 1st Regiment at the time, witnessed the shelling: "After the smoke passed, several bodies fell, and the rest ran to the house. "At that time, our army did not know that among the Japanese officers who were killed by the bombing was lieutenant general Norihide Abe, the commander of the brigade. More than 3 hours later, Norihide Abe was seriously injured and died.
After Abe Washu was killed, the Japanese lost their supreme commander and fell into panic. The Japanese in the rear urgently sent aircraft to drop officers and supplies, barely stabilizing their positions. The next day, under the unfavorable situation that the Japanese rescue forces were about to arrive and form a counter-encirclement against our army, our army withdrew from the battle. In the two ambush battles of Yansu Cliff and Loess Ridge, our army annihilated more than 1,500 enemy troops.
On November 21, a Japanese broadcaster announced the death of Norihide Abe. On the 22nd, Japan's "Asahi Shimbun" reported that "Captain Norihide Abe died in battle", saying that in the previous Sino-Japanese war, "I have never seen a case of a lieutenant general-level soldier dying in battle" and lamented that "the flowers of famous generals withered on the Taihang Mountain".
Mao Zedong learned the news from various broadcasts in Yan'an and sent a telegram to Nie Rongzhen, commander of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, to investigate the matter and instruct the meritorious troops to be commended. Chiang Kai-shek also sent a commendation telegram to Commander-in-Chief Zhu De.
This victory shook China and Japan at the time and had three meanings. The first was to deal a heavy blow to the arrogance of the Japanese aggressors, and to warn Japanese imperialism once again with our victory and the defeat of the enemy that it is not easy to provoke the Chinese people, and that Japan is doomed to no good end by waging a war of aggression with all its military strength; second, it has greatly boosted the morale and popular will of the anti-Japanese soldiers and people behind enemy lines under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, and has further enhanced the confidence and courage to persist in the War of Resistance to the end and completely defeat the Japanese aggressors; third, it has forcefully refuted the Eighth Route Army's guerrilla guerrillas spread by some diehard elements with ironclad facts Such shameless rumors have increased the prestige and influence of the Eighth Route Army at home and abroad.
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Review: Li Tonghua
Duty Editor: Dong Jingjing
Source: Party History Study and Education