The 77th Army was formerly part of the Northwest Army Song Zheyuan, and after the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the department was expanded into the 77th Army, with Feng Zhi'an as its commander.
Deng Wangxi served as a staff officer of the 111th Brigade of the 37th Division of the 77th Army.
The 38th Division of the 29th Army and the Tianjin Security Corps were ordered to withdraw from the Tianjin area and regroup in the areas of Jinghai County and Qing county south of Tianjin. After the Japanese army occupied tianjin and the Huangu area, it was busy organizing the traitor group and arranging the army, and did not expand large-scale beyond the outskirts of the city for more than a month. Therefore, outside the southern suburbs of Tianjin, there were no major battles between the Chinese and Japanese troops except for small-scale contacts.
The 29th Army, the 37th Division, and the 132nd Division, which had withdrawn from Beiping, the special forces of the military department, two brigades of Shi Yousan's security forces, two brigades of Gao Shuxun, and Zheng Dazhang's Ninth Cavalry Division were deployed at the Yongding River to prevent the Japanese army from invading the south and stationing them in Baoding. After reorganizing the area south of the Yongding River and north of Baoding, the troops under his command handed over the defensive land to sun Lianzhong's 26th Route Army. The 37th And 132nd Divisions moved to the northern section of the Jinpu Line to deploy in jinghai, Dacheng, Qing, and Hejian counties.
The 111th Brigade of the 37th Division deployed from the west bank of the canal to the south of the Zhao Fu on the west bank of the Ziya River, with the brigade headquarters stationed in Wangdianzi, Qingxian County; the 25th Brigade of the 37th Division stationed in Jinghai County to replace the Tianjin Security Corps; the 132nd Division along the west bank of the Ziya River, north of Wangkou Town, Ziya Town, and Yao Madu, and built field fortifications on the riverbank, with a total length of about fifty miles, and the division headquarters was stationed in Dacheng County.
In August 1937, the former 37th Division and the 132nd Division were organized into the 77th Army, with Feng Zhi'an, commander of the 37th Division, and Liu Zizhen and brigade commander of the 111th Brigade (after Liu Zizhen was promoted to deputy commander, Zhang Lingyun, the former commander of the 25th Brigade, was promoted to commander of the 37th Division, Wu Zhensheng was the commander of the 111th Brigade, and Wang Xixian was the commander of the 25th Brigade; Wang Changhai, commander of the 132nd Division; and He Jifeng, commander of the 179th Division.
The former 38th Division led the Tianjin Security Brigade to move to the area east of Cangzhou south of the Reduction River, and was ordered to change to the 59th Army, because Zhang Zizhong did not return to Ping, and the post of commander was temporarily replaced by deputy commander Li Wentian. It administers the 38th Division, with division commander Huang Weigang; the 180th Division, division commander Liu Zhensan; and the Ninth Cavalry Division, division commander Zheng Dazhang. The western end of the 59th Army occupied Tangguantun, connecting with the Position of Liuhe Town of our 111th Brigade, and defending the coast from the Minhe River to the Qikou In the east. Our 77th and 59th Armies held all the northern sections of the canal and the Jinpu Line.
After the Japanese army gained a foothold in the Jintang area, it sent a company to attack the county seat of Jinghai. The people of the villages and towns in the Jinghai area immediately sent letters to our troops, reporting on the number, whereabouts, weapons and equipment of the Japanese army. The 132nd Division, stationed at Wangkou, immediately dispatched a reinforced battalion to the east to attack the enemy rear. The enemy suffered many casualties and fled back to the southern suburbs of Tianjin. It was the season of the green yarn tent, which was easy for us to hide. The 25th Brigade and the 132nd Division of the 37th Division decided to cooperate with guerrilla warfare with trench warfare and maneuver with the enemy. Under the guidance of this operational policy, we fought with the enemy many times and won victories.
As far as the Japanese troops who tried to attack south along the Jinpu Line were concerned, there were the troops of our 37th And 38th Divisions on the front, and on the right, along the west bank of the Ziya River, there were three strongholds of Wangkou Town, Ziya Town, and Yao Madu held by our 132nd Division, and the front line was more than fifty miles long, and the right wing could be attacked at any time. Therefore, it is necessary to break through and occupy the positions of our army on the Ziya River and force us to retreat to the border of Wen'an County in order to relieve the threat to the south.
The Japanese army, with the cooperation of the air force, attacked our 25th Brigade with fierce firepower, and after several days of fighting, occupied the county seat of Jinghai. The 25th Brigade retreated to the area south of Jinghai County, and under the cover of the green gauze tent, launched a guerrilla war to block the enemy. At that time, the troops were too tired, and they were ordered to cross the river from Ziya Town, Yao Madu, and Southern Zhao Fu to the Hejian County area to reorganize.
The Japanese army concentrated its superior land and air forces to attack the town of Watou on the east bank of the Ziya River, and the officers and men of our 132nd Division engaged the enemy with large knives in a white-knife battle. Two days later, the bridge through Wangkou Town was seriously damaged by enemy aircraft, and our army withdrew to Wangkou Town at night. Enemy aircraft then bombed the embankment from Wangkou Town to Ziya Town. Considering that after the embankment was blown open, Wangkou Town was in danger of forming an isolated island, the troops shortened the battle line at night, abandoned Wangkou Town, and withdrew to Ziya Town for defense.
At this time, the enemy planes bombarded the river embankment non-stop, and finally blew up a section of the river embankment from Wangkou Town to Ziya Town, and the full tank of river water poured into Wen'an County and Dacheng County. At this time, the embankment held by the 132nd Division was only a section of Yao Madu to Southern Zhaofu, which was about 25 miles long. The 132nd Division thus coordinated with the 111th Brigade of the 37th Division to defend the enemy.
The 111th Brigade of the 37th Division was ordered to forcibly occupy the gate of Liuhe Town, and both attacks were unsuccessful from dawn until 10 a.m. At the forward command post of our brigade headquarters, I saw a flat house on the north bank of the gate with a Japanese flag on the roof and four or five light and heavy machine guns on it to control the gate. I said to the commander of the mortar company, "Tell the soldiers to quickly find two large piles of bricks, expose the water (the water is deeper than the knee), and shoot at the roof sun flag quickly." "Two more machine gun companies (at that time only the regiment had a heavy machine gun company) were ordered to find the terrain and cover the infantry with blazing fire to capture the gate and the town of Liuhe. The fire from the enemy houses was quickly destroyed, and the infantry immediately launched an onslaught, and in less than an hour, they repelled the enemy and occupied the gate and the town of Liuhe. We suffered seventy or eighty casualties, and the enemy suffered about twice as many casualties as ours. Our Zhang Zijun regiment commander Deng (name forgotten) was killed.
In the course of more than a month of fighting, for more than twenty days it rained heavily, the flat ground was kneeless, the trenches were full of water, and the officers and men were covered in muddy water and insisted on fighting. The Japanese army used the gas raft to cover the infantry to invade our army, because the ground was full of sorghum, which was convenient for concealment, the enemy could not find the target, and was afraid that the gas raft would be penetrated by bullets, and did not dare to get too close to our side, so the enemy's invasion was repelled.
Our side used the Ziya River to use boats to take in the wounded and sick officers and men and the injured people along the way and send them to the rear hospital. The local people all praised us as a team of anti-Japanese resistance and love for the people.
The 37th Division and the 132nd Division of the 77th Army had been fighting the Japanese army for more than a month in the Jinghai and Ayutthaya areas, and the troops were very tired, and their superiors immediately ordered Wu Keren's 67th Army, which had built a second-line defensive fortification between the rivers, to change the defense. After Wu Keren's troops took over the defense, because most of the position was in the water and the defense was difficult, they only held it for one day and night, that is, they withdrew to the hejian area the next morning to hold the second line fortifications originally constructed. At this point, all the positions of our army in the Jinghai and Ayutthaya areas were occupied by the enemy.
Through the memories of Staff Officer Deng Wangxi, we learned about the difficult years of the War of Resistance, and finally wished the veterans health and longevity. In the future storm, please let our younger generation bear it.