At the end of June 1938, Chen Yi, commander of the first detachment of the New Fourth Army, decided to send Duan Huanjing, commander of the first battalion of the Second Regiment, to lead the whole battalion to raid the Xinfeng Railway Station guarded by the Japanese puppet army according to the current enemy situation.
Xinfeng Station, located between Zhenjiang and Danyang counties in Jiangsu Province, is an important hub on this section of the main road of transportation, and if it can be conquered here, it can strike hard at the arrogance of the Japanese puppet army.
In order to ensure the victory of this battle, Guan Wenwei, commander of the Danyang County Anti-Japanese Self-Defense Regiment, took the initiative to ask for help, and will lead the self-defense regiment to break the road, railway, and telephone lines near Xinfeng Station, cutting off the enemy's communication and reinforcement lines.
After Duan Huanjing received the combat mission, he made very full pre-war preparations. He selected 36 elite fighters from the whole battalion and organized them into a commando team, led by a company commander Zhang Qiangsheng, and conducted repeated drills.
Late on the night of July 1, the internal line personnel stationed at the station came to report that except for a few sentries arranged at Xinfeng Station, most of the enemy was sleeping.
Duan Huanjing was overjoyed and ordered the commando team, which had been waiting for a long time, to immediately march towards Xinfeng Station under the leadership of the guide.
Unexpectedly, the first major mistake in this operation occurred on the way - because the stars and moon were dark that night, the guide who claimed to "walk to Xinfeng Station with his eyes closed" took the wrong road!
The commando team followed the "Ma Daha" guide and walked along the railway line for more than 20 minutes without knowing it, only to suddenly realize that it was in the wrong direction, so they had to turn around and walk back, wasting a lot of time.
After arriving at Xinfeng Station, after entering the enemy barracks, another mistake occurred, so that the battle had to start in advance.
It turned out that in order to achieve the goal of not bloodshed, Zhang Qiangsheng came up with an idea: he took a squad to sneak into a barracks of the Japanese army, secretly removed the enemy's guns hanging on the wall, and then passed them out one by one.
Supposedly, this would have been a good idea, and while it's a bit risky, it can be surprisingly effective when used well.
Unexpectedly, another major mistake was made in this operation -- a soldier accidentally touched the alarm bell installed by the enemy on the door frame when handing out his gun, and one of them rang everywhere, and the bell suddenly rang loudly, waking up all the sleeping Japanese troops.
Duan Huanjing, who was leading the soldiers to pick up guns outside the barracks, saw that the situation was not good, and immediately ordered the commandos to withdraw from the battle immediately.
But it was too late, and the well-trained Japanese quickly closed the courtyard door and blocked the retreat of the New Fourth Army with machine guns mounted on a high place.
Duan Huanjing led the commando team to rush left and right, but they could not get close to the stairs and exits, and many of the team members fell under the Japanese machine guns.
In desperation, Duan Huanjing had to order everyone to suspend the breakthrough, use the buildings around him as cover, and negotiate with the enemy.
Fortunately, the self-defense regiment led by Guan Wenwei moved very quickly, cutting off telephone lines, roads, and railways leading to enemy strongholds in the vicinity, so that the enemy in Xinfeng Station could not get reinforcements in time.
After more than an hour of stalemate with the enemy at Xinfeng Station, the commandos were still unable to resolve the current predicament.
Zhang Qiangsheng suddenly ran over and shouted at Duan Huanjing: "Battalion commander, there is a good way to rush out!" ”
"What's the solution?"
Zhang Johnson's face was joyful: "I found that these barracks can be opened, they are all gray plate clamp walls!" ”
"The method is a good way, but-- Duan Huanjing shook his head continuously, "there are no tools available now, how to punch holes?" ”
Zhang Qiangsheng scratched his head and said reluctantly: "If we delay any longer, the enemy's reinforcements will arrive, and we will all have to reimburse them." Alas, it's so much angry! ”
"Does fire work?" Duan Huan was about to curse people, but he was reminded by the four words of Zhang Qiangsheng's sentence of "rushing to the fire", and suddenly he was in a hurry: "When the Red Army was fighting guerrillas, it often used the method of fire attack to deal with the White Army, and now that everyone is in a desperate situation, can we also use fire to attack the Japanese army?" ”
Thinking of this, he immediately ordered Zhang Johnson: "If you are in a hurry to have a fart, immediately go find something that can ignite the fire!" ”
"Something that can ignite a fire?" Zhang Qiangsheng reacted quickly, and his eyes suddenly lit up, "Battalion commander, do you mean to burn the devils with fire?" ”
At this time, a commando suddenly shouted happily: "Battalion commander, do you need kerosene?" I just saw a big bucket of kerosene under the stairs, which may have been used by the devil to light the lamp! ”
"Great!" Duan Huanjing was overjoyed, "With kerosene, it is easy to do, now there is only something to ignite." ”
Coincidentally, it didn't take long for the crowd to find an idle barn containing a large amount of dried straw.
"It's a desperate time, God help me!" Duan Huanjing immediately ordered the commando soldiers to divide into two routes, one to organize fire for cover, and the other way to stuff straw into the windows, door cracks, stairs, etc. of the enemy barracks, and pour kerosene.
Fortunately, most of the enemy's barracks were made of wooden structures, and the fire was ignited with kerosene and straw, and there was no point everywhere, and soon a raging fire broke out in the entire Japanese barracks, and the tongue of fire penetrated into the barracks, climbed onto the roof, and burst into flames everywhere.
The Japanese army could not stand the smoke and fire, and rushed out to fight with the New Fourth Army. However, Duan Huanjing had already set traps at each exit, and the Japanese army came out to eliminate one by one, and fought very smoothly, so it was defeated and won!
At the end of the battle, after counting, more than 100 enemy troops were annihilated, in addition to more than 40 ghosts of the Keie Squadron of the Matsuno Wing of the 15th Division of the Japanese Army, there were also more than 60 puppet army road police, secret agents, and traitors.
Although this surprise attack battle was full of twists and turns, and two major mistakes occurred in the operation, at a critical juncture, with the clever maneuver of commander Duan Huanjing, he achieved a peak and turn, and became a proud work in the military career of Duan Huanjing, the founding major general.