During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the anti-Japanese force led by the Communist Party of China in the north was the "Eighth Route Army", whose full name was first the Eighth Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army, and later changed to the Eighteenth Group Army of the National Revolutionary Army, which was the predecessor of the Chinese People's Liberation Army. In the battle sequence of the Eighth Route Army, there were 3 divisions under its jurisdiction, the 115th Division, the 120th, and 129th Divisions, and a direct subordinate unit of the headquarters; there were more than ten columns in the subordinate organization. The 386th Brigade of the 129th Division, a strong force in the anti-Japanese battlefield in North China, was the main force of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army. The brigade commander of the 386th Brigade was none other than the famous Chen Geng.
The people of the North China Plain love the 386Th Brigade as a unit very much, and they often have honor with the glorious achievements of the 386th Brigade, and they all refer to this unit as "our team". The Japanese army and traitors in North China hated and feared the 386 Brigade very much, and even posted the slogan "Specializing in Attacking Chen Geng's 386 Brigade" on the armored vehicles of the troops, which emboldened the Japanese soldiers below, and it was also a superficial threat to the 386 Brigade. This threat is a kind of fear in disguise.
The 386th Brigade is a familiar name for both the Chinese and the invading Japanese, and there is no other reason for the fame of an army, but simply because this unit is brave enough and good at fighting, and its achievements are dazzling enough. The 386th Brigade created countless glorious achievements in the North China Battlefield, which was inseparable from the wise leadership of the commander of this unit, Chen Geng. War is cruel and bloody and violent, but it is also a special art, and the commander uses his strength through his own strengths and weaknesses, and knows the enemy well enough to predict most of his actions.
Therefore, a good commander needs qualities such as organic spirit, reason, carefulness, and boldness, and it just so happens that Chen Geng has all of this
"War Artist"
。 The Japanese army in North China greatly hated Chen Geng's 386 Brigade and unleashed harsh words that specialized in fighting the 386 Brigade, which was a "masterpiece" of the 386 Brigade's countless glorious achievements, and behind this "masterpiece" was inseparable from this battle -
Shentou Ridge Ambush Battle
。 The Shentouling ambush battle can be said to be the fame battle between the 386th Brigade and Chen Geng, just like the famous works of every great artist.
At the end of 1937, the national War of Resistance had just begun, and the anti-Japanese situation had changed almost to the point of destruction. On November 8, the important town of Taiyuan in Shanxi fell, and hundreds of thousands of Kuomintang troops in Jiaodong and East China basically collapsed, and they were beaten by the Japanese army and desperately ran to safety. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the Japanese army began to attack Shandong in a big way. In north China, the frontal regular war with the Kuomintang as the main body has basically come to an end, and the guerrilla war with the Communist Party as the main body has begun to take the stage as the protagonist.
At the beginning of 1938, the Kuomintang diehards began to passively resist Japan, standing still on the battlefield in Shanxi, and not knowing what they were waiting for. The Japanese army mobilized the garrisons on the three railway lines of Pinghan, Tongpu, and Daoqing, and cooperated with the Japanese troops on the Jinpu railway line to launch a frenzied attack on the southern and western Jinxi regions, regardless of casualties. Changzhi, Linfen, Fenglingdu and other places were soon lost. Just as the Japanese army was rampaging in the land of western Jin and southern Jin, the Kuomintang army had nowhere to escape after a little resistance, and only hated their parents for giving birth to two legs less.
Under such a situation, the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, under the command of division commander Liu Bocheng and political commissar Deng Xiaoping, bumped headlong into the back of the unscrupulous Japanese Kou, and after several days and nights of bitter fighting, it dragged the enemy who was eager to go south, giving the common people in western And southern Jinxi a chance to breathe. The anti-Japanese base areas in southeastern Jin have also made great progress under the influence of public opinion and the results of the battle.
In order to restrict the Japanese army from attacking the Yellow River, and in order to coordinate the 115th And 120th Divisions in defending the rear areas in western and northwestern Jin, the 129th Division, under the leadership of Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping, concentrated its troops on the orders of the Party Central Committee
Squeeze it
In early March 1938, a fist moved south to Wuxiang and Xiangtan, waiting for an opportunity to attack the Japanese troops on the Handan Road and try to destroy the enemy's communication line. Handan Dao, from Handan, Hebei on the Pinghan Railway Line in the east to Changzhi in Shanxi in the west, crosses the Taihang Mountains, passes through Wu'an, Xiangxian and Lucheng, and is connected to Lintun Kilometer.
Inside and outside the Dongyang Pass of Licheng, there is a highway that is the transportation line of the Japanese Kou. The Japanese garrison here was relatively weak, and the mountains and rivers were intertwined, the terrain was complex, and the River was separated from Licheng, which was an ideal location for our army to ambush enemy convoys. Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping, based on the dotted and linear style of the Japanese army invading China in southeastern Jin, believed that this place was available
"Set up bait for fishing, suck the enemy to help"
The method of annihilating the enemy's living forces to the greatest extent possible.
so-called
In fact, it is a mixture of enticing the enemy, attacking and ambushing. Attacking the enemy troops stationed is bait, and ambushing to help the enemy is an ambush. On March 13, Liu Bocheng held a meeting on combat deployment, and the participants included Political Commissar Deng Xiaoping, Deputy Division Commander Xu Xiangqian, Chief of Staff Ni Zhiliang, Brigade Commander Chen Geng, Brigade Political Commissar Wang Xinting, Brigade Commander Chen Xilian, Brigade Commander Chen Xilian, and Brigade Political Commissar Xie Fuzhi.
After a heated discussion, Liu Bocheng, as the division commander, made a final summary:
"The comrades have expressed their views on the Long Line of Handan to draw in and aid the enemy, and to besiege which target is the easiest to mobilize the right number of enemy troops. Personally, I think that the plan is the best way to besiege Licheng, lure the enemy troops out of the city to come to the aid, and annihilate our army in the middle of the way. ”
Liu Bocheng saw that the comrades at the meeting did not fully understand their own meaning, so he went to the military map hanging on the wall and analyzed:
"Wu'an and Xiangxian are in Hebei, far from the main assembly area of our army, and if they choose to enter here, it will be a long-distance labor division that will take time and risk easily exposing our targets." Lucheng, the headquarters of the enemy's 108th Division and the 16th Division, has thousands of men and horses stationed there, and the enemy has strong fortifications.
As for Licheng, there was only one subordinate unit of the enemy's 108th Division, but there were more than 1,000 people, and it was also an important enemy base. Our army can bluff with a small number of troops to create illusions for the enemy, so it is certain to mobilize the enemy of Lucheng to quickly go out of the city to rescue. ”
After speaking, Liu Bocheng began to formally issue orders:
"Chen Xilian led the 769th Regiment of the 385th Brigade to pretend to attack Licheng and block the enemy troops involved in the county, set up bait, and lure the enemy troops in Lucheng; Chen Geng led three regiments of the 386th Brigade to set up an ambush between Lucheng and Luhe Village on the banks of the Turbid Zhanghe River, giving a devastating blow to the enemy troops who came to the aid of the enemy."
The order to set up an ambush and provide assistance was issued, and the task of deciding the crucial importance of the battle was entrusted to the 386th Brigade, and the commanders and fighters of the entire brigade of the 386th Brigade became excited and began to prepare for various pre-war preparations.
For a whole day after the order was given, Chen Geng sat in front of the military map, racking his brains to think about the arrangements for setting up an ambush and annihilating the enemy in this battle. From the various blue and red symbols on the map, it can be seen that Chen Geng already has a belly draft in his heart. Zhou Xihan, commander of the operations unit of the 386th Brigade, reported the latest reconnaissance situation in Lucheng to Brigade Commander Chen Geng:
The enemy has increased his troops at Lucheng by more than 3,000.
After patiently listening to the report, Chen Geng nodded his head to show that he knew, and then said unhappily:
"'The steamed buns are bigger,' and we don't have enough troops. If you don't find a good place, I'm afraid you won't be able to eat. ”
Chen Geng shifted his gaze from Zhou Xihan to the map. The next morning, in an open room, the 386th Brigade held a preparatory meeting for cadres at and above the regimental level. At that time, the 386th Brigade had three regiments under its command, the 771st Regiment, the 772nd Regiment and the Supplementary Regiment.
At the preparatory meeting, Chen Geng and Wang Xinting conveyed to the comrades attending the meeting the intentions of Liu Bocheng, the head of the division, and others, and analyzed the situation on the battlefield in western Jinxi. The focus of the meeting came to the choice of ambush site, and the comrades gathered around the map to express their opinions and look at the map with many blue and red symbols. More than a dozen pairs of eyes invariably stared at the same place on the map: here is a deep ditch, the highway passes through the bottom of the ditch, and the mountains on both sides of the road are dangerous, which is conducive to the concealment of our army's ambush troops and facilitates our army's rapid attack.
In the whole Handan long line, there is no better ambush battlefield than here. The comrades discussed it for a while, and finally they all focused their attention on the brigade commander Chen Geng and waited for him to make up his mind. Chen Geng did not draw conclusions about shentou ling, and asked rhetorically:
"Who has seen the terrain of Shentou Ridge?"
There was silence at the meeting, and it was obvious that no one was watching. Chen Geng did not lose his temper, but smiled:
"Isn't that just talk on paper? Master Liu often said that as a commander, you must be bold and careful. Relying on the Map of the Kuomintang to fight a war, I am afraid that I will have to fight many defeats. I see, will drive here first, you first go to see the terrain is good? ”
At the end of the meeting, the cadres went to the Shentou Ridge behind a mountain to inspect the terrain. The sight is astonishing: the road is not in a ravine, but on a bare mountain beam miles long. The width of the mountain beam is only one or two hundred meters, and on both sides of the road, the terrain is slightly higher than the road, but there is no cover, and close to the roadside are the combat fortifications previously dug by the Kuomintang army. On the north side of the mountain beam, there is a large ravine, opposite the ditch Shenjia Mountain. To the west of Shanliang there is a small village of less than twenty families. Further west are Weizi Town and Lucheng.
Looking at the terrain of Shentou Ridge, everyone was stunned, such terrain is not conducive to the ambush of our army, the troops are not easy to deploy, the deep ditch is not conducive to the movement of the reserves, and it will be eaten by the enemy army. Chen Geng pointed his horse whip in the direction of Shentou Ridge and said:
"Well, didn't you run in vain?" The thick branches and leaves of the battlefield are meant to kill people. ”
Original hopes were dashed. Aside from here, there doesn't seem to be a suitable ideal ambush anymore.
What to do? The comrades then discussed, and some of them scolded the Kuomintang map.
Those guys, only eat and don't do good things. Fighting wars depends on these maps, and it is only when the battles are not lost that you see the devil. ”
Everyone was indignant when they were discussing and scolding, Chen Geng was still carefully observing and looking very carefully. After a long time, he smiled and called everyone back to discuss. Back at the brigade headquarters, it was already dark, and after dinner, the meeting continued, and after a long discussion, still could not find a suitable battlefield.
Finally, Chen Geng said:
"I see, this battle is still fought well at Shentou Ridge."
The comrades frowned and said in unison:
"Shentou Ridge?"
Chen Geng knew what everyone meant, so he explained:
"Yes, that's the God's Head Ridge." ShentouLing ambushed, and the general situation was indeed not ideal. But it was a good place for us to ambush the enemy by surprise. The terrain is not dangerous, the enemy is bound to be paralyzed; the fortifications are as far away as 100 meters away from the kilometer, and the nearest is 20 meters, which is again commonplace to the enemy. We hid our troops in fortifications, which were difficult for the enemy to detect. The narrow mountain beams are inconvenient for our army to unfold, and it is even more unfavorable for the enemy to deploy. So let me ask you: Who is in the best interest of fighting on a single wooden bridge? ”
Comrades suddenly realized:
"Whoever strikes first is the most advantageous."
Chen Geng slapped his big hand on the table and said:
"Yeah, we just have to fight suddenly and bravely. This unfavorable condition is the enemy's. ”
Chen Geng began to arrange specific operational arrangements, with two battalions of the 772nd Regiment placed on Shenjiashan and rushed onto the highway within 40 minutes as a fresh force and reserve; the 771st Regiment was on the left, the 772nd Regiment was on the right, the north side of the ambush road, and the supplementary regiment was ambushed in the area of shoe sole village opposite. The 3rd Battalion of the 773rd Regiment acted as a guard in the direction of Lucheng and cut off the enemy's return route.
Finally, Chen Geng asked about the change in the enemy's strength in the direction of Lucheng, and after learning that there were still more than 3,000 people, he realized that his own troops were still somewhat insufficient, so he asked the 772nd Regiment to draw a company to fight a guerrilla attack behind Lucheng. This is a tiger away from the mountain. The battle plan of the 386th Brigade was presented to the meeting table of Liu Bocheng, Deng Xiaoping and other division commanders, and was quickly approved. At 9 p.m. on March 15, the troops were pulled out. The commanders and fighters were in high spirits and entered the war with the determination to win.
But the tension was still tense, but Chen Geng had a way, one would chat with the soldiers, the other would joke with the cadres, and enliven the atmosphere. To this end, he also took out the matter of political commissar Wang Xinting's myopia and joked, telling him to be blind and beware of going downhill. Frightened, Wang Xinting squatted down and reached out to touch the ground. Everyone saw that the music was broken, and Wang Xinting did not want to show weakness, calling Out Chen Geng lame (Chen Geng had been injured three times on his leg and was a little lame when walking). Everyone laughed even more.
Passing through Shenjia Mountain, the comrades of the brigade headquarters stayed behind, because the brigade command post was located here. Chen Geng continued to walk south with most of them, personally supervising the regiments to enter the designated positions and camouflage them. After a while, the warriors were in place. In the distance, a dull rumble was heard, and the attack on Licheng by the 769th Regiment, which was on a "fishing" mission, began. Since the enemy in Licheng was unprepared, more than a thousand people were confused by the soldiers of a battalion of our army, could not understand the situation, and stuck in the house of the fortifications.
The guns in the direction of Licheng continued to sound, and the commanders and fighters of the 386th Brigade waited quietly, some doubting whether the Lucheng devils would send reinforcements to Licheng.
"The enemy is coming, and there are more than 1,500 enemy reinforcements from Lucheng. Has reached the town of Neutron. ”
At 8:00 a.m. on March 16, the news from the scouts made the soldiers of the 386th Brigade feel refreshed and a wave of joy welled up in their hearts:
1500 people, no more, no less, just right, our 1 brigade of Shentou Ridge, just enough to eat all. Moreover, our army has already occupied a relatively large advantage in the comparison of troop strength.
At 8:30, the enemy's vanguard troops appeared. Chen Geng judged that this was the Lin Qing unit of the Japanese 16th Division and the regimental tail unit of the 108th Division. After the enemy brigade arrived at Shentou Village, it suddenly stopped, and after a long time, more than 20 cavalry reconnaissance units came out of the village. As if the enemy had spotted something, the search team followed a sheep gut path and headed straight for the location of the 1st Battalion of the 772nd Regiment.
The sound of the enemy's horseshoe seemed to be stepping on the heads of the warriors, and the air at this time seemed to freeze, and everyone was forbidden to turn their heads. If discovered by the enemy, it will be a waste of effort, and the cooked duck will fly. In the end, the enemy did not find any trace of our army. Just as Chen Geng had predicted earlier, the enemy only paid attention to the distance, ignoring the fortifications under his feet, or not at all
"See"
。 In the distance, Shenjia Mountain did not move, and the Japanese commander ordered the troops to continue to advance.
The arrogant Japanese devils felt that most of their actions were not provoked by our army at all, so they swung and sang military songs into the encirclement of our army. At 9:30, when the Japanese rear guard also stepped into the encirclement of the 772nd Regiment, Chen Geng immediately issued an order to attack. In an instant, the calm mountain beams roared. The three regiments of the 386th Brigade attacked the enemy from three sides, and grenades exploded in the enemy pile, and the smoke and the yellow earth that exploded seemed to engulf the Japanese army.
The enemy knew that he had been calculated, but it was too late at this time, and he could only struggle needlessly. The commander of the enemy's first lieutenant, who had no time to charge, was killed by a mortar of our army. After all, the Japanese army was a strong soldier trained under the spirit of Bushido, and the successive retreats of the Kuomintang army fueled their arrogance, making them still dying and struggling even in a desperate situation.
The soldiers of the 386th Brigade fought fiercely to the death with bayonets, grenades, rifles, machine guns, stones, etc. With the rapid and rapid rush of our army, except for a small number of enemies who escaped, most of the enemy troops became the ghosts of the 386 brigade of our army. During the fierce battle, Chen Geng still carried his crutches to the Shentou Village on the front line of the battle, waving his cane and shouting at the soldiers:
"Hurry up and drive all the enemies to the mountain beams!"
At this time, a cannonball landed near Chen Geng, a thatched hut caught fire, and Chen Geng's crutches were blown away by the blast. The guards were anxious to persuade Chen Geng to go back quickly. Chen Geng shook the soil on his body, took off his glasses and wiped them, and said to the guards:
"What are you telling me?" Go and tell everyone that the enemy must not occupy a cave or a house! ”
The news that the brigade commander Chen Geng had come to the front line spread among the troops, the soldiers fought bravely, and the forefront regimental commander Ye Chenghuan was sweating heavily worried about Chen Geng's safety, but at this time the best way was to completely eliminate the enemy army, so he raised his gun and shouted "rush", taking the lead in following the enemy, and the soldiers followed the regimental commander. At 11:30, the Japanese army fled except for more than 100 people, and all of them were annihilated.
At 13:00, the enemy troops in Lucheng came to the aid of two trucks and were wiped out by the 7th Company of the 772nd Regiment of our army; at 14:00, seven more trucks came to the aid, and three were destroyed by our artillery, and the rest fled back to Lucheng. By 16:00, the Shentou Ridge ambush battle was successfully concluded by our army. The Japanese army in North China, under the heavy blows of the 386th Brigade of our army, once again experienced the strength of the Eighth Route Army.
Therefore, in the North China Plain, as long as the Japanese Kou mentioned the 386 Brigade and Chen Geng, they unnaturally felt uneasy and panicked. This led to the propaganda slogan of the Japanese army in North China that "the 386 Brigade specialized in fighting Chen Geng".