Chen Geng, Wang Xinting, and Zhou Xihan, the three main commanders of the 386th Brigade of the 129th Division, were hidden on a hilltop, and Zhou Xihan looked at the telescope and watched the Japanese troops rushing by below the heights, and at the front of the Japanese troops were more than a dozen tanks.
Zhou Xihan whispered, "Chen Lame! You look! The little devil's tank seems to have writing on it! ”
When Chen Geng heard this, he also looked through the telescope, and he read it out word by word after seeing the words on the tank: "Specializing in the 386 Brigade!" ”
Chen Geng laughed after reading it, and Wang Xinting, who was wearing thick lenses, also stretched his neck vigorously to see this diorama, Chen Geng smiled and said: "Wang Is blind! Don't you bother, such a long distance, can you see clearly with your eyes? The little devil's tank is written to fight the 386 Brigade! ”
Wang Xinting smiled and said, "It seems that these little devils are coming for our 386 Brigade!" ”
Zhou Xihan also smiled and said: "Still writing big slogans on tanks, do they think that they can defeat us by writing down the 386th Brigade?" It was a dream! ”
Chen Geng continued, "Do you know what this strange sight means? It shows that the little devils are scared by us, and it shows that they are weak-minded! If you write a slogan, you can win the battle! I even put a sign on my face! ”
Wang Xinting and Zhou Xihan both laughed after listening to Chen Geng's words.
At this time, the place where Chen Geng and the three of them were hiding was called Shentou Ridge, and Chen Geng and the soldiers of the 386 Brigade had been ambushing here for two days.
Seeing this, many people must have guessed that the famous Ershentou Ridge Ambush Battle was about to start! In March 1938, the Japanese army dispatched more than 30,000 people to advance by separate routes, and carried out a "nine-way siege" of the southeast of jin of our Eighth Route Army, and the whole of Shanxi became a pot of porridge, and most of the troops of the 129th Division and the 120th Division of our Eighth Route Army participated in this battle.
When Chen Geng saw that the Japanese army below Shentou Ridge was almost halfway through, he said to Wang Xinting and Zhou Xihan: "Let everyone not be allowed to act rashly!" Wait until the last part of the little devil's men and horses have passed, and then we will launch a general attack! ”
Liu Bocheng, commander of the 129th Division, repeatedly called on the commanders of the whole division to learn from Chen Geng's ambush tactics, and a year ago, Chen Geng twice commanded the ambush battle in Qiqi Village to win, which also alarmed Chairman Mao at that time, and Chairman Mao praised Chen Geng and said: "Chen Geng is becoming more and more capable of fighting!" Winning an ambush battle in the same place twice was based on Chen Geng's understanding of the enemy's situation! ”
Chen Geng fought many ambush battles, which really made the Japanese army very frightened, so that when many Japanese troops in northwestern Jin were marching at that time, as long as they encountered the terrain with high ground on both sides, they would consider one thing, that is, whether Chen Geng's 386 Brigade would ambush here, so that later directly wrote the slogan of "Specializing in the 386 Brigade" on the tank.
After all the tail men and horses of this japanese unit entered the Shentouling area, Chen Geng issued an order for a general offensive, and in this battle our army concentrated its absolute superiority and used all the main forces of the 386 Brigade to annihilate the enemy's support troops with all its might.
This is a classic tactical application of "siege and reinforcement", Liu Bocheng, as the commander-in-chief of this battle, he came up with a detailed battle plan very early, which was simply summarized as the following three main contents:
Chen Xilian led the 385th Brigade to attack Licheng, and at the same time made a big noise between Licheng and Lucheng with the strength of two independent regiments, attracting reinforcements from the Japanese lucheng and county-related sides to support Licheng.
Chen Geng's 386th Brigade lay in ambush in the Shentouling area, waiting for the enemy's reinforcements to arrive, and immediately aimed to strike at the enemy's reinforcements and quickly annihilate the enemy's reinforcements.
In order to prevent a large number of enemy reinforcements from moving, blocking troops were arranged around Shentou Ridge, especially in the direction of Xiangxian County, to block the enemy's reinforcements in all directions, and only one of the enemy reinforcements was allowed to enter the Shentou Ridge ambush circle.
Before the various units of our army began to formally implement the battle plan, Chen Geng personally went to Shentou Ridge to investigate the terrain on the spot.
Chen Geng saw God
The terrain near Tou Ling is completely inconsistent with the map, the map shows that the road passes through the bottom of the ditch, but in fact it is on the bare mountain beam, and the mountain beam is narrow, and there is almost no concealment on both sides of the road, which is not only inconvenient for large troops to hide, but also difficult to deploy the attack formation. Although there are deep ditches on the north side of the road, it is not convenient for the reserve team to move, and the enemy is condescending, but it will make our side into a dilemma, and according to common sense, Shentou Ridge is not a good battlefield for ambushes.
However, after careful consideration, Chen Geng decided to fight this ambush battle in the ShentouLing area, and Chen Geng believed that the essence of the ambush battle was: "Surprise it, attack it unprepared!" "As long as our army moves fast enough, it can catch the enemy off guard."
The main force of the 386 brigade was all dispatched, all three regiments, the 771st Regiment, the 772nd Regiment, and the Teaching Regiment were all dispatched, and the deputy brigade commander of the 386th Brigade at the beginning was Chen Zaidao, at this time Chen Zaidao was transferred elsewhere, with Xu Shiyou as the deputy brigade commander, Xu Shiyou did not stay in the 386 Brigade for a long time, but during the Shentouling ambush, Xu Shiyou also participated in the command.
At this time, Wang Jinshan was the deputy commander of the 772nd Regiment, Zhang Xianyue was the regimental commander of the Teaching Regiment, Wang Xinting was the director of the Political Training Office, Li Jukui was the chief of staff of the 386Th Brigade, and Zhou Xihan was the deputy chief of staff.
Just by virtue of the commander's lineup, we can know that the combat effectiveness of the 386 Brigade is very strong, and the famous generals are gathered and the talents are abundant.
With the issuance of Chen Geng's general offensive order, the three main regiments of the 386th Brigade began to attack the Japanese reinforcements from three directions, and Chen Geng specifically instructed the commanders: "Once this battle starts, the attack of all troops must not be delayed in any way, and the attack must be launched with the strongest firepower and the fastest speed, so as to catch the enemy by surprise." ”
Therefore, the three regiments of the 386th Brigade fought fiercely and launched the charge as fast as possible, and the artillery units behind them took out most of their homes to provide fire support for the charging troops.
The narrow terrain of the road at Shentou Ridge, which the Japanese army passed, was not conducive to the Japanese attack formation, which made the attack formation of the three-man group that the Japanese army was usually good at unable to unfold.
In this battle, our army won the victory in just over two hours, annihilating more than 1,500 Japanese troops and capturing a large number of strategic materials; the tanks of the enemy that specialized in the 386 Brigade were also captured by our army.
Chen Geng said, "Let people erase the words on the tank and write me a special name for playing little devils!" ”
Chen Geng's words made many soldiers very happy, and the tactical application of the Shentouling ambush battle, as well as the exquisite cooperation between the various units of the 129th Division, was considered by Chairman Mao to be a classic example of ambush warfare during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
After the Shentouling ambush, only a few days later, under the command of Chen Geng, the 386th Brigade launched the Xiangtangpu Ambush Battle, which annihilated an officer unit of the Japanese army, and in addition to directly annihilating more than 400 enemies, it also killed a number of senior commanders of the Japanese army.
Then to the later Changle Village Pursuit and Annihilation Battle, Chen Geng's 386Th Brigade was even more powerful, directly annihilating 2200 Japanese troops, and the achievements achieved in this battle in the early stage of the War of Resistance Against Japan were comparable to those of the peaceful Guan Dajie.