When the War of Resistance Broke Out, the New Fourth Army rushed to the anti-Japanese front, lacking guns and ammunition
On July 7, 1937, the "Lugou Bridge Incident" broke out, and the Japanese army launched a full-scale invasion of China, and the Japanese army was well-equipped, with aircraft, tanks, and artillery. Driving straight in, the Kuomintang army was gradually defeated and retreated, and a large part of the country was lost. The Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army under the leadership of the CPC rushed to the front line of the Anti-Japanese War and became the mainstay of the all-people War of Resistance.
On December 25, 1937, the New Fourth Army Headquarters was established in Hankou, with Ye Ting as the commander and Xiang Ying as the deputy commander, under the jurisdiction of 4 detachments, a total of 10 regiments and 1 special service battalion. The New Fourth Army has a total of more than 10,300 people, equipped with more than 6,200 guns of various kinds, with rudimentary weapons and insufficient ammunition.
The New Fourth Army was opening up a battlefield behind enemy lines, annihilating a large number of Japanese puppet troops and capturing a large number of guns and ammunition to make up for the shortage. As the Guerrilla Song sings, "There are no guns, no cannons, the enemy makes us." ”
The New Fourth Army was reorganized
Wang Bicheng, commander of the 16th Brigade of the New Fourth Army, opened up anti-Japanese base areas and the Japanese army swept through
At the end of September 1943, in order to expand the occupied areas and ensure the strategic position of Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou, and in order to plunder the rich resources of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Anhui Border Region, the Japanese army mobilized more than 20,000 people to launch a large-scale attack on the Jiangsu-Zhejiang-Anhui Border Region from the three directions of southern Anhui, southern Jiangsu, and western Zhejiang.
The CPC Suwan District Party Committee, the Brigade Headquarters of the Sixteenth Brigade of the New Fourth Army, and the Southern Jiangsu Branch Office moved to Guangde Beixiang Brick Bridge, Hangcun, Liudong and other places, and the Japanese puppet army was restless and uneasy, in an attempt to eliminate our party and government organs.
On the morning of March 29, 1944, more than 100 people from the Kobayashi Squadron of the Nanpu Brigade of the Japanese Army and more than 300 people from one brigade of the puppet army, carrying a Mara-92 infantry cannon, surged to the sides of the road near Hangcun to "sweep up." They snatched grain, arrested people's husbands, plundered property, burned and committed adultery, and did nothing evil, the masses hated it to the bone, and the common people fled one after another. The news quickly reached the headquarters of the 48th Regiment of the 16th Brigade of the New Fourth Army stationed in Hangcun, and The commander of the regiment, Liu Beisheng, reported to the brigade commander Wang Bicheng by telephone.
Wang Bicheng immediately dispatched troops and ordered the 3rd Battalion of the 48th Regiment to plunge directly into the heights of Cigu Mountain, and at the same time ordered the small artillery platoon of the machine gun company to rush to the position of the 3rd Battalion, and he led the 1st Battalion to occupy the Niutou Mountain Highland southeast of Hangcun, forming a pinch attack on the Japanese army, and the 2nd Battalion ambushed on both sides of the northeast road of Hangcun to prevent the enemy from escaping northward, and blocked the two directions of Yuyang and Yixing to support the enemy.
Soon, the Japanese puppet army came with a large number of captured chickens and ducks, and they were full of ugly and snatched things, some of them picked, some of them had their backs, some were wrapped around their waists, some were hung on guns, and some were on horseback. The eye-catching attraction was a few large ocean horses, some pulling cannons, some carrying shells, and 2 ghost officers riding on horseback, looking ahead with binoculars from time to time.
The Japanese army was fierce
The enemy entered the ambush circle, the brigade commander Wang Bicheng ordered the firing, the soldiers fired, the Japanese puppet army was caught off guard, fell one after another, and the rest retreated to the wheat field east of Luxi Village on the west side of the road. The Japanese army was stubbornly resisting with superior equipment, and a japanese army armed with a dangling bayonet tried to organize and seize the mountain. The New Fourth Army condescended to meet the enemy with machine guns, rifles, and grenades, and engaged in white-knife combat. The enemy's morale was low, and they fled in the direction of the gate pond.
The small guns of the New Fourth Army were against the Japanese artillery
On the battlefield, the smoke of gunfire and bullets flew everywhere, and Wang Bicheng disregarded the persuasion of the guards and climbed Mount Cigu and commanded his troops to move rapidly south to chase and block the enemy. Wang Bicheng carefully observed with a telescope and found the Type 92 gun pulled by the enemy's carriage, which was a medium-caliber light artillery, with high precision and light weight, which could play a huge role in the plains and mountains, and the Japanese army could only be equipped with two guns in a brigade.
At this time, the Commander of the Japanese Army was directing the artillery to set up a position, disarm the cannon from the horse, and attempt to shell our army's position and prevent our army from pursuing the Japanese army. He immediately ordered Dai Wenhui, the commander of the mortar platoon, to "strike fast and slowly, and hit the Japanese artillery." At this time, only three shells of our mortar were left, and platoon leader Dai Wenhui quickly visually measured the distance and opened fire on the enemy. The first shell exploded three or four meters from the enemy's gun position, knocking over the enemy who was pulling the cannon, and another shell hit the war horse pulling the cannon, and the Ninety-Two Gun immediately fell into the ditch of the field path.
Wang Bicheng ordered a general attack, the loud charge horn sounded, the commanders and fighters of the 1st and 3rd battalions came out of the pine forest on both sides of the mountain, and the thunder swept through the remnants of the enemy. In more than an hour, the New Fourth Army killed more than 70 Japanese troops and captured 3 people; more than 100 puppet troops were also killed here, and some Japanese puppet troops fled to rape fields and wheat fields. The Type 92 guns, along with shells, horses, etc., became the spoils of the New Fourth Army. The property plundered by the enemy was handed over to the local anti-Japanese government and returned to the common people.
Captured Japanese 92nd infantry artillery
The great victory in Hangcun boosted the fighting spirit of the anti-Japanese soldiers and people in Jiangnan and dealt a fierce blow to the arrogance of the Japanese aggressors. After the enemy lost its artillery, the Japanese high-ranking officials were furious and ordered the local Japanese puppet army to retrieve the cannon within a time limit. These devils and traitors were restless, and sent a large number of spies and spies to inquire about the news and desperately search for cannons, but the New Fourth Army had already transferred the cannons and played a huge role in the subsequent battles.