Wang Chenghan was a brave and good general in the history of our army, becoming a major general in the founding of New China in 1955 and promoted to general in 1988. Throughout his life, he fought many very beautiful victories, especially the battles to liberate the Great Southwest, the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea, and the defense of the motherland's frontiers, leaving behind countless glorious examples.
What is less known is that he commanded a battle during the War of Resistance Against Japan, and although it was small, it was quite distinctive, and the essence of the sixteen-character recipe of guerrilla warfare was fully exerted.
It was in January 1944, when Wang Chenghan, then the commander of the 35th Regiment of the Henan Branch of the Eighth Route Army, led his troops to the junction of Dengfeng, Yanshi, and Gongxian in Henan, and he was determined to destroy the Japanese 100 division's Yamada Brigade's stronghold at Foguangyu Temple.
Founding General Wang Chenghan
Late that night, the soldiers were all asleep, and Wang Chenghan was still sitting alone under a small oil lamp, intently learning the sixteen-character recipe of guerrilla tactics: "The enemy enters and retreats, the enemy garrisons me to disturb, the enemy is tired and I fight..."
He studied and studied, and suddenly realized, he couldn't help but say, "Wonderful! wonderful! Wonderful! Let's let the Japanese army taste this tactic! ”
In order to exhaust the enemy and find an opportunity to take down the stronghold of the Yamada Brigade, Wang Chenghan selected five agile and resourceful fighters from the reconnaissance platoon to form a "monkey soldier" who often harassed the Japanese stronghold in a mysterious way with the cooperation of the militia and the local people.
In accordance with Wang Chenghan's instructions, they adopted the flexible tactic of "the enemy stationed in us to disturb us", sometimes firing one shot from the east and one shot from the west to confuse the Japanese army, and sometimes the sentries who killed the Japanese army turned around and left... Because they were small, their targets were small, and their actions were extremely rapid, the Japanese army could not understand their laws and suffered their hardships.
Just like these five "monkey soldiers" actually tossed a Japanese army brigade into panic and exhaustion.
Yamada and his men, fearing that the Eighth Route Army would sneak up on the stronghold, racked their brains and came up with a "brilliant plan": Every night after midnight, they secretly evacuated part of their troops from the temple and moved to Chaigou, five miles away, leaving only a squadron to hold the temple. If the Eighth Route Army comes to sneak attack, then return to the army to fight a decisive battle with the Eighth Route Army.
Wang Chenghan believed that the time was ripe and decided to make a plan and make a "tired enemy fight" on the night of Chinese New Year's Eve to completely destroy the Japanese stronghold of Foguangyu Temple.
On the night of December 31, he personally led two companies from Bailiping in the hinterland of Jishan Mountain, faced the howling cold wind, waded through the cold and bone-chilling Yinghe River, crossed the enemy-occupied area, crossed the mountains in the western foothills of Zhongyue, marched rapidly for eight hours, and suddenly surrounded the Japanese stronghold at about 4 a.m. the next day.
The main hall of the temple was dark, and the Japanese troops sleeping in the north and south wings heard a burst of purring from time to time. Under the ancient cypress tree in front of the temple, there are two Japanese soldiers dozing off with guns. There is also a Japanese watchtower on the roof of the north wing upstairs.
Commander Wang ordered the troops: Be absolutely silent and not alarm the enemy prematurely. No shots may be fired without orders, and the battle must be settled with bayonets and grenades.
In the dark night, the mountain forest was exceptionally silent, and after the reconnaissance platoon's capable captors unknowingly solved the enemy sentry, the warriors of the Eighth Company Assault Squad flew over the wall, grabbed the south wing on the second floor, and then kicked open the door, swept through the Japanese dormitory with submachine guns, and killed many ghosts.
At the same time, the second company assault squad also climbed up the roof of the temple hall with a ladder, gently uncovered the tiles, swept through the hall with submachine guns, and exploded grenades in the hall.
When the sleeping Japanese troops in the north and south compartments woke up, they all rushed out in panic, and they were greeted by grenades and bullets, and they all fell down one by one screaming.
Zhang Zhenshu, the commander of the second platoon, ordered the demolition team to immediately blow a large hole in the temple wall, and he led the whole platoon to rush into the courtyard at a rapid pace, and all kinds of weapons opened fire at the same time, so that the enemy could not lift his head. Subsequently, under the cover of fire, a ladder was erected to ascend to the north tower, and a fierce white-knife battle was launched with the Japanese army.
It is reasonable to say that the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army are far inferior to the Japanese army in terms of physical fitness, training level, weapons and equipment. Under normal circumstances, the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army could not compete with the Japanese army in bayonet fighting.
However, this sneak attack was very successful, and the Japanese army could not figure out how many people there were in the Eighth Route Army, and it was inevitable that they would be frightened, so they let the Eighth Route Army gain the upper hand.
The warrior Zhang Dayong jumped into the temple and immediately raised his bayonet and pounced on the Japanese army. He fought skillfully, moved bravely, and blinked kung fu, and the three devils screamed and fell under his bayonet.
Zhang Zhenshu was also very brave, he spelled left and right stabs, but after stabbing down a few devils, he was unfortunately stabbed in the chest by the enemy and sacrificed heroically.
The soldiers saw that Captain Zhang had fallen heroically, filled with righteous indignation, and fought against the enemy with more tenacious and courageous movements.
More than a dozen Japanese soldiers who had escaped by chance in the temple were frightened by the sudden attack of the Eighth Route Army and rushed to the temple gate in a daze, ready to take the road and flee.
Unexpectedly, Wang Chenghan had already arranged a group of strange soldiers, that is, two "Hercules" armed with battle knives and angry eyes, who specially guarded the gate and waited to slash and kill the fleeing enemy. As a result, the Japanese troops came out one by one and were split one by one, and there was nowhere to escape.
After ten minutes of fierce fighting, the battle ended in victory, and the soldiers of the Thirty-fifth Regiment completely annihilated the enemy. Wang Chenghan was holding the newly captured Japanese command knife, not being carried away by the victory, he ordered the troops: "The time is almost up, the enemy's reinforcements are also coming, according to the principle of 'the enemy advances and I retreat', the troops will be transferred immediately!" ”
Less than ten minutes after the Thirty-fifth Regiment withdrew from the battlefield, the Japanese commander Yamada did come to reinforcements with the main force of the brigade, but pounced.