After the July 7 Incident in 1937, the main force of the Chinese War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression fought fiercely inside and outside the Great Wall.
In late August, Zhangbei and Nankou fell one after another, and the defenders Liu Ruming and Tang Enbo were forced to retreat south. The Japanese army drove straight in and pursued them relentlessly.
Subsequently, the main force of the Japanese army marched from Nankou, Zhangbei, and Chaigou Fort in an attempt to encircle and annihilate the main force of the Chinese War of Resistance in chahar province.
Under such a situation, hundreds of thousands of anti-Japanese troops were at risk of being surrounded by japanese troops, and the situation was extremely critical!
In order to preserve the anti-Japanese forces and safely transfer the various Chinese anti-Japanese troops in Chahar Province to their existing positions, the High Command urgently ordered all departments to send some troops to block the Japanese army at a critical moment and cover the retreat of friendly troops.
The 251st Brigade of the 84th Division of the Seventeenth Army was ordered to block the Japanese in the shacheng area.
The 251st Brigade, which had just withdrawn from the battles of Jing'ergou and Xifeng Zhaizhai, endured the pain of returning to the division, marched more than 200 miles in a day and night, and preemptively occupied the favorable terrain along the Chang'an Ridge and Shacheng for several hours ahead of the Japanese army.
On August 27, the vanguard of the Japanese army engaged the 251st Brigade.
In the early hours of the morning, the fog engulfed the positions of the two armies, which was beneficial to the blocking troops. The enemy could not see the target clearly, so he fired cold artillery indiscriminately to prevent the 251st Brigade from giving half a moment to breathe.
The sound of the cannons appeared dull and precipitous in the fog, and the landing points were chaotic. However, the Japanese artillery was so numerous that the fierce artillery fire and soaring air waves split the fog.
The 251st Brigade fought a single branch against a combined attack by enemy infantry, armored troops, artillery, and air force. In terms of strength, the enemy is outnumbered, and the enemy is superior and inferior in equipment. Everything is uneven, indicating that this contest will be extremely cruel!
The Japanese army fought with its superior equipment and violently charged at the 251st Brigade with infantry and fighting vehicles, and under the bombardment of its superior artillery fire and the continuous explosion of the air force, the Japanese infantry fighting vehicles swarmed up. The two sides began a fierce fight...
After a few rounds, the Japanese suffered heavy casualties, but the officers and men of the 251st Brigade also suffered heavy losses, and several of the first commanding heights were once captured by the enemy.
After more than ten hours of fierce fighting, the 251st Brigade's blockade line was scarred, and it was difficult to withstand the huge pressure of the powerful japanese offensive and fell into a desperate situation.
At a critical moment, Gao Jianbai, commander of the 251st Brigade, firmly warned the regiments: The friendly troops are moving, and they must hold their positions at any sacrifice to block the enemy's advance! Never take a step back without an order!
The 251st Brigade was the "pawn" who crossed the river, and could only advance, not retreat.
The Japanese army's several times superior strength and powerful offensive seemed to overwhelm the thin defensive line of the 251st Brigade, and despite the stubborn resistance of the 251st Brigade, the Japanese first-line infantry still rushed up...
It is seen that the defensive line of the 251st Brigade will be like a sloping building, collapsing at once. At this moment, any hesitation to retreat means death! It's not just the blocking troops that die, it's also the whole picture!
At this critical moment, Gao Jianbai, a brigade commander who was born in the army, picked up a large knife and came to the forefront. He jumped out of the trench and flashed his sword in the air: "Brothers! I'd rather die for the anti-Japanese than a slave to the country! Kill! ”
The officers and men of the 251st Brigade were all infected by this tragic heroic feat, and they rushed into the enemy position with large knives and spears, and engaged in deadly hand-to-hand combat with the enemy...
The more brutal the fierce battle, the more it can show the power of the spirit, the more it stimulates this spirit, and the more it can increase the strength to kill the enemy. And the power of the spirit is immeasurable.
A miracle has happened! The Japanese army was shocked by the spirit of the officers and men of the 251st Brigade, and their will collapsed in an instant.
Under the desperate struggle of the officers and men of the 251st Brigade, these Japanese officers and men who advocated the spirit of "Bushido" could not resist and were defeated one after another.
A sloping defensive line rose again on the eastern horizon. The officers and men of the 251st Brigade paid a heavy price, and they built a new line of resistance with their flesh and blood. This is a line of defense forged by flesh and blood and spirit!
There was a pre-war silence on the position again, and only the fireworks on the battlefield burned with wisps of green smoke from decaying wood, which made people feel miserable. The crater-laden positions lay on the sides of countless officers and men who had died in battle.
After miraculously repelling the Japanese army in a desperate situation, the 251st Brigade won an opportunity to leave the battlefield.
Gao Jianbai knew that it was not easy to fight fiercely with the main force of the Japanese army with a brigade, and it was not easy to get out of the battlefield. But at this time, a large number of friendly troops were crossing the Sangan River and retreating to the established positions. If you leave the battlefield, the main force of the friendly army will inevitably be attacked and encircled by the main force of the Japanese army!
However, if it did not leave the battlefield at this time, after the Japanese army launched a new charge, the 251st Brigade, which had already suffered heavy casualties, would no longer have the strength to continuously resist and would never have such a good opportunity to escape.
Gao Jianbai's thinking was full of contradictions, and everyone knew the significance of mastering military power and preserving strength in Chiang Kai-shek's army, but a passion for defending the country, a spirit of dedication to the battlefield, and a concept of bearing the overall situation in mind strongly impacted him.
At this crossroads of life, which is related to life and death, Gao Jianbai abandoned his selfish distractions and finally chose the tragic and magnificent road of dying on the battlefield!
He sacrificed himself and preserved the main force of the anti-Japanese resistance.
He abandons the part and chooses the whole.
At this time, Gao Jianbai and his 251st Brigade were like a "pawn" who had disappeared. When the whole game of chess was in danger, as a pawn, he once again made the tragic choice of "losing the pawn to protect the car".
The japanese army that failed the attack became angry and organized a new attack at dawn on the 28th. Some of the enemy's forces attacked the 251st Brigade from the front, and the other two roundabout troops divided into two routes, interspersed with detours from the two wings blocked by the 251st Brigade.
The 251st Brigade was attacked by the enemy in three ways and unfortunately fell into an encirclement.
At this time, the main force of the friendly army crossed the Sanggan River one after another under the cover of the 251st Brigade's blockade, and the 251st Brigade completed the blockade task. However, it was impossible for the 251st Brigade to leave the battlefield under the heavy encirclement of the enemy, and they were facing an enemy besieged on all sides, and they were facing a desperate struggle without any retreat!
The Japanese army launched an attack on the 251st Brigade from all sides, and more than a dozen bombers bombed fiercely over the blocking positions, and the sound of artillery and gunfire was deafening, and the sounds of fighting and shouting were earth-shattering...
Under the frenzied attack of the enemy's superior forces, the encirclement circle became smaller and smaller, the resistance became weaker and weaker, and in the evening of the fierce battle, the officers and men of the 251st Brigade shed the last drop of blood under the slogan of "preferring to die in battle than to be a slave to the country"! Only the brigade commander Gao Jian white belt dozens of people luckily broke through the siege.
Brigadier Gao Jianbai, at the cost of sacrificing his own part, ensured the safe retreat of the main force and made a tragic and magnificent act of "losing the pawn to protect the car", which made the world admire!