In November 1939, the Suwan detachment of the New Fourth Army, under the leadership of commander Tao Yong and secretary Lu Sheng (both of whom were founding lieutenant generals), entered the Yizheng, Liuhe, and Tianchang areas of Jiangsu Province, and opened up anti-Japanese base areas.
Tao Yong is shrewd and decisive, Lu Sheng is generous and easy-going, and the two can be regarded as a golden pair. After leading their troops to continuously uproot dayi town, Ganquan Mountain and other enemy strongholds, they moved to the Yuetang area in mid-December.
In the early morning of December 18, the scout suddenly came to report: "Commander Tao, the devil has touched it!" ”
Originally, more than 800 Japanese puppet troops in yangzhou, Liuhe, Yizheng, and other directions were collectively dispatched, equipped with grenadiers, light and heavy machine guns, and other weapons, and pounced on Yuetang in two ways.
After a while, someone came to report that more than 500 people from the Kuomintang Yizheng County Brigade were also moving here.
That is to say, the newly established Suwan Detachment of the New Fourth Army had to deal with the Japanese, pseudo-japanese, and stubborn enemies at the same time, and the atmosphere suddenly became tense!
"This time the enemy is coming very fiercely, and we can't come hard, old Tao." Lu Sheng reminded.
Tao Yong thought about it for a moment and quickly made a decision: "I think the same thing - the main force withdraws from hiding, sets up an ambush to counterattack, and you lead people to stay and organize the masses." ”
A few minutes later, the main force withdrew, and Lu Sheng evacuated the masses while sending people to warn the Yizheng County Brigade not to take advantage of the fire and robbery.
When the enemy arrived at Yuetang Town, it was already noon, and the town was silent, with no people or animals, so angry that the enemy set a few fires and immediately pursued them to the south.
Tao Yong hid behind a grove of trees, saw the enemy getting closer and closer, and suddenly shouted: "Fight! ”
Three companies opened fire at the same time, giving the Japanese a surprise blow, but the Japanese soon took advantage of the large number of people and the terrain to pounce back, and the grenadiers and several machine guns sounded in one piece, so that the soldiers could not lift their heads.
Tao Yong was angry and anxious, and scolded a few words fiercely. He knew that the warriors did not have many bullets in their hands, could not spend time with the enemy, and had to fight quickly.
When the Japanese gunfire faded, Tao Yong immediately ordered two platoons to attack in two directions and kill the area where the Japanese army was unprepared.
The battle entered a critical moment, an 18-year-old young warrior's intestines flowed out of his body, he tucked his hands back, still staggering towards the enemy with amazing perseverance.
The Japanese retreated into a large temple and once again organized fire resistance.
Tao Yong saw that he could not attack for a while, and ordered the attack to stop and the troops to rest in place.
At this time, the cooks came with hot meals, and the soldiers were already very hungry, and there were three or five people in a pile, sitting on the ground and devouring them.
In the middle of the moon, Tao Yong once again issued an attack order.
Who knew that when our army was about to attack, they heard the temple gate "squeak" open, and then saw the enemy swarming out from inside.
"What a coincidence, call me back!" Tao Yong thought to himself that it was really incredible that our attack time actually collided with the breakthrough time of the Japanese army!
This happy coincidence made the warriors happy one by one: "Hahaha, the enemy took the initiative to open the door to send him to death!" ”
Originally, the Japanese army retreated in the temple, relying on the tall courtyard wall and fierce firepower to resist desperately, the commanders and fighters of the New Fourth Army had to rely on the simple weapons in their hands to eliminate them, which was very difficult, and it was even possible to pay a small casualty price.
However, due to this coincidence in the timing of the attack between the two sides, the difficulty of the New Fourth Army to solve this hard battle was greatly reduced.
The enemy wanted to take advantage of the Slack of the New Fourth Army to quietly break through, but he did not expect to collide with the New Fourth Army at this time to launch an attack, and the psychological blow made the enemy fall behind before firing.
Coupled with the fact that the enemy opened the temple gate, it was equivalent to opening a passage for the New Fourth Army to launch the easiest attack, and the battle was of course much more convenient.
The commanders and fighters of the New Fourth Army, on the other hand, had already eaten, drunk, and prepared themselves very well, and when they saw the enemy taking the initiative to open the temple door to send them to death, they would still be polite to them, and all kinds of weapons immediately opened fire at the same time, immediately killing the enemy in a large area.
Subsequently, the frontal troops charged violently, and the detour troops launched an offensive from both flanks, causing the Japanese army to be confused, many people were hit by stray bullets while fleeing for their lives, and the living enemy surrendered. I thought it was an uphill battle, but I didn't expect it to be solved so easily.
At the end of the battle, fine snowflakes began to fall in the night sky, and the warriors were cleaning the battlefield, and in the distance were the dim lights of thousands of homes. Tao Yong and Lu Sheng stood in front of the great temple, looking at each other and smiling.
Although the scale of this battle in the entire history of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression is not large, it has a very special significance.
This was the first time that the Suwan detachment of the New Fourth Army had engaged the Japanese puppet army head-on, and it won a victory in annihilating more than 100 enemy troops, opening the curtain on the anti-Japanese struggle in the Tian(Chang) Liu (He) Yi (Zheng) Yang (Zhou) area.