introduction
As we all know, the Eighth Route Army during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression was an army with very backward weapons and equipment. Lack of weapons, only three people can use one rifle, only 5 rounds of ammunition, food is scarce, the troops have to personally reclaim the wasteland, cultivate land to maintain military supplies, and medical support is even more impossible to talk about.
But it was such an army that defeated the Japanese army dozens of times stronger than itself at Pingxingguan in 1937, how did the Eighth Route Army do it? Today we will talk about why the Eighth Route Army was able to win the battle of Pingxingguan.
Fight guerrillas or attack strongholds
Whether it is guerrilla tactics or offensive tactics, it is the combat strategy of an army. The general application of the two tactics is: "Guerrilla warfare when the enemy is outnumbered, and attack when the enemy is outnumbered." At the time of the Battle of Kepingguan, the number of the Eighth Route Army was 12,000, while the Japanese army was only 4,000.
Why did the Eighth Route Army, which was three times more numerous than the Japanese army, still use guerrilla tactics? Originally. The Japanese army in Shanxi is dozens of times the number of the entire army of the Eighth Route Army, and from the overall situation, if the Eighth Route Army wants to gain a foothold in Shanxi, it must know how to keep the water flowing and protect its own team as much as possible when fighting.
Faced with such a situation, before the Eighth Route Army dispatched troops to Shanxi, the chairman repeatedly instructed the Eighth Route Army: "The Eighth Route Army must unswervingly and resolutely implement the 'principle of independent guerrilla warfare in the mountains' in the front, and must not think that it has a large number of troops and will have a hard confrontation with the Japanese." ”
The Chairman's instructions were strategic. In the face of the powerful firepower configuration of the Japanese army, if during the Battle of Pingxingguan, the Eighth Route Army adopted the offensive tactics, relied on the superiority of troops, and attacked the Japanese army head-on, the result was likely to be that the Eighth Route Army would win the battle with all its belongings.
Guerrilla warfare pays attention to destroying the enemy in the movement, commonly known as "shooting a shot, changing a place", such tactics can effectively limit the firepower of the Japanese army, which is the most suitable tactic for the Eighth Route Army that lacks heavy weapons.
Adapt to local conditions
Victory in a campaign is inseparable from the commander's method of fighting. Under the premise of the determination of guerrilla tactics, it is crucial to choose a method that can play guerrilla tactics. The commanders of the 115th Division were very creative in the military deployment of this campaign, and arranged an 8-kilometer-long pocket array in the southeast area of Pingshiguan.
This 8-kilometer-long position, which seems to be too long to expose the target, is the best choice. Because these 8 kilometers of positions were all placed on a narrow road that had to be passed through in the direction of Lingqiu. When the enemy's cars pass through here, they must not only slow down, but also line up in a "one-line shape". This is undoubtedly the best ambush point.
In addition to the deployment of the positions, the division commander Lin Biao also had a very good grasp of the enemy situation in the Pingxingguan area, he knew that the Japanese army had just repelled the Kuomintang defenders, and the morale was the most inflated moment, and it was easy to paralyze the enemy. It certainly would not have occurred to me that there would be an ambush in the Pingxingguan area. Therefore, it was finally decided to set up an ambush in the Pingxingguan area.
Pre-war mobilization
The victory at Pingxingguan was inseparable from the mobilization activities of the Eighth Route Army before the war. Nie Rongzhen, deputy commander of the 115th Division, was very good at mobilizing the minds of the soldiers and knew how to enhance morale; in the pre-war mobilization, he said: "There is a reason why the Chinese army has always lost battles, and the Nationalist army does not know how to rely on the masses, nor does it dare to take the initiative to attack, and still less dare to fight behind the enemy's back, so the stronger ones will only stick to the beating, the weaker ones will collapse at a slight touch, the old and decayed people will flee when they hear the wind, and the Japanese army can run across a small number of troops." ”
Nie Rongzhen's unique analysis gave the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army sufficient confidence that their division commander would definitely lead them to defeat the Japanese.
In addition to ideological mobilization, Nie Rongzhen's mobilization of morale is also extremely inspiring, and when he commanded at the front, he said to the soldiers: "Today, the Chinese nation is undergoing a huge test. We, the Eighth Route Army, should shoulder and certainly be able to shoulder the heavy responsibility of saving the country and the people. We must fight a big battle in this area, fight a victorious battle, and strike a blow to the enemy! Give allies a cooperation! Give the people an uplift! This kind of mobilization gave great encouragement to the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army.
Defeat of the Japanese army
The Japanese army that participated in the Battle of Pingxingguan was the Japanese Fifth Division, known as the "Steel Army". This division has fought with more than 30 divisions of the Nationalist Army in China, and its division commander Itagaki Seishiro is an authentic Chinese expert, and it can be said that the Fifth Division knows the Chinese army very well.
In Shanxi, the Banyuan Division was swept away by the wind, and the defenders everywhere they went either surrendered or abandoned the city early and fled before they saw the soldiers of the Itagaki Division. Only a very small number of troops dared to fight against the Itagaki Division, but they were all wiped out in the end.
At this time, from the general to the soldier, everyone in the Itagaki Division believed that the Chinese army was vulnerable, and fundamentally considered that the Chinese army would take the initiative to attack and kill all the way to the end to capture Shanxi.
The Japanese army, which was ideologically light on the enemy, became more and more rampant in military performance. On the way to Pingxingguan, the troops of more than 4,000 people did not shy away from being discovered by the enemy, and when the convoy entered the difficult path, they did not abide by military rules and rushed the road with infantry, mules and horses. The chaotic traffic situation eventually led to the army marching extremely slowly on the small road, giving the Eighth Route Army a good opportunity to break the enemy.
Generally speaking, the Eighth Route Army's play in the Pingxingguan Campaign was extremely outstanding, and the Eighth Route Army was very successful in both military deployment and ideological mobilization. The Eighth Route Army won the victory at a very low cost, not only for the great victory of Pingxingguan, but more importantly, the Eighth Route Army proved with its actions that the Japanese were not invincible.