In mid-August 1932, the Red Fourth Front advanced to Qiliping, north of Huang'an, Hubei Province, and engaged in a fierce battle with the 2nd and 3rd Divisions of the Nationalist 2nd Column, annihilating the enemy in large numbers.
After the end of this battle, the first battalion of the 28th Regiment of the Red Tenth Division was ordered to guard Baishan Pass on the border between Henan and Hubei provinces to intercept the pursuing enemy. Defending Baishan Pass was of great significance to ensuring the victory of the Battle of Qiliping and the safety of Xinji, the seat of the Eyu-Anhui Soviet.
After the battalion commander Chen Changping and instructor Xu Zeshu led the whole battalion to Baishan Pass, the local people reported to them that the enemy's troops of about one regiment entered the nearby Oil Press River after dawn yesterday and withdrew last night. It is worth noting that this enemy inquired everywhere in the Oil Press River about the road leading to the Guojian River and Qiliping, and threatened to occupy Baishan Pass.
However, the more Chen Changping considered this situation, the more wrong he became: What is the purpose of the enemy's regiment going deep alone? They threatened to occupy Baishan Pass, but the Oil Press River was not far from baishantou at all, so why did they just shout and not take action, but wasted a whole day of time? What is even more outrageous is that why should such an important military action be told to the people?
"The enemy swings the Ecstasy Array, there must be something famous in it!" Chen Changping's idea was endorsed by everyone.
However, what tricks the enemy was playing could not be concluded based on the current situation, and Chen Changping and Xu Zeshu fell into contemplation. They could not figure it out for a moment, so they could only send messengers to report the situation to the commander of the division thirty miles away.
At this time, the reconnaissance platoon came to report that it had just captured two enemy soldiers on horseback on the road from the Oil Press River to Qiliping, and after interrogation, it was learned that these two guys were responsible for delivering letters.
Chen Changping opened the letter he had found from the enemy and saw that it was originally a letter written by the commander of the Kuomintang Second Division to his regimental commander Huang Zhengjue, to the effect that after the regiment entered and occupied the Oil Press River, it would quickly occupy Baishan Pass, and the follow-up brigade would soon arrive, and so on.
Some cadres believe that the enemy's letter may have been sent in the wrong place, and some people think that it may be a fake letter.
Chen Changping said: "The letter is false, and the person who sent the letter is not necessarily fake. He believes that the letter is inseparable from the situation of the previous day and is a scam.
While the crowd was studying the situation, there was the roar of a plane in the air, which made two turns in the air, then threw a ball of things on the river beach and flew away.
The soldiers ran to the river beach and picked it up, which was a green iron cylinder with a military map with many red and blue arrows and a military order.
Like the letter that had just been intercepted, this military order was also given by the commander of the Second Division to the regimental commander Huang Zhengjue, and the military order and the markings on the map indicated that in addition to the regiment of oil squeezing river, the enemy had dispatched a total of about 10 divisions and was preparing to attack Baishan Pass.
At first glance, it may be that the enemy has suffered defeat in Qiliping and has moved to this aspect. But here's the question -- did the enemy planes send such important orders and battle maps without even typing a contact mark beforehand?
Chen Changping measured it on the map with his hand, and suddenly laughed: "This paper military order obviously does not make sense, the enemy sent out a dozen or so divisions and put them in such a small ravine to send them to death?" This is a big lie! ”
Xu Zeshu nodded: "The battalion commander is right, this is undoubtedly an enemy conspiracy, but because of a piece of military order, it was self-defeating, and you were punctured by your words!" ”
Next, he analyzed two possibilities for the enemy to do so: the first possibility was that after the enemy's attack on Qiliping was thwarted, he tried to mobilize the main force of our army through these deceptions and then launch an offensive at Qiliping; the second possibility was that the enemy tried to turn from attack to defense, mobilized troops to cooperate with the attack in another place, and deliberately used these tricks to confuse our army.
He was agreed and agreed that the second scenario was more likely.
"The enemy's play has not yet been performed," Chen Changping said, "but in the next play we will also participate in the performance, and sing the right stage play with them!" ”
At dawn the next day, the messenger who had gone to the division headquarters to deliver the letter returned, and the commander of the division instructed him to agree with the second possibility judged by Chen Changping, and the task for you was still to hold on to the head of the White Mountain and further ascertain the enemy's situation.
After dawn, Chen Changping led his troops to inspect the surrounding terrain. Coincidentally, when they reached a small hill on the west side of the Oil Press, they saw about seven hundred enemies walking along the mountain road from south to north, which should have been the strength of two battalions.
The crowd said happily, "Fortunately, we have seen through the enemy's conspiracy, and we can just take the plan into account and catch them off guard!" ”
Chen Changping immediately made a decision and issued a battle order:
Three companies and a row occupied the mountain bag more than 100 meters from the avenue in front of them with automatic rifles;
The first and second companies moved down in the woods in three directions, and after hearing the prescribed signal, launched a brave attack on the enemy;
Three companies, two platoons, and three platoons were ambushed in the South Mountain Pass, so that after the battle began, they could block the enemy's follow-up troops.
When the enemy entered the ambush circle, Chen Changping gave an order, and several automatic rifles in the three companies and one row were aimed at the horsemen in the enemy group and at the densest place, firing violently, and the commanders and fighters of the first and second companies pounced like fierce tigers descending the mountain.
Although the enemy's strength was twice as large as that of the Red Army, because the Red Army had the advantage of terrain and attacked with great determination and bravery, this head-on blow caused the enemy to turn his head, and some of them drilled into the crops, some hid in the ditches, and some knelt down and raised their guns to surrender... It didn't take long for the enemy of both battalions to be annihilated.
Because the enemies of these two battalions were put on the side of a pot, the enemy's painstakingly directed trick of "attacking the west with sound from the east" was completely smashed, which guaranteed the fruits of victory in the Battle of Qiliping and also had a positive impact on the subsequent anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaign.
To this end, the Red Fourth Front issued an order to the whole army to commend the first battalion of the Twenty-eighth Regiment.