On June 25, 1938, Xiao Guosheng, director of the Political Office of the Second Regiment of the First Detachment of the New Fourth Army, and Duan Huanjing, commander of the first battalion (who became the founding major general in 1955), went to Danyang County, Jiangsu Province, on the orders of commander Chen Yi, to visit Guan Wenwei, commander of the Anti-Japanese Self-Defense Regiment.
All three of them had a strong idea of resisting the war and saving the country in their minds, so they talked very speculatively at first sight.
Duan Huanjing was an activist who advocated that to resist Japan, he should speak with the barrel of a gun. When he heard Guan Wenwei talk about the Japanese puppet troops stationed at the Xinfeng Railway Station between Danyang and Zhenjiang, he suddenly thought: Why not launch a surprise attack on this enemy and strike hard at their arrogance?
Although the main purpose of Xiao and Duan's visit was to visit Guan Wenwei, and their superiors did not give them a combat mission, Duan Huanjing's proposal was immediately echoed by Xiao Guosheng and Guan Wenwei: Do what you say, and strike at the Japanese Kou sooner rather than later!
Duan Huanjing was an acute son, and the next day he sent someone to report to Chen Yi on the plan to attack the Xinfeng Railway Station.
Chen Yi readily agreed, and set the time for the evening of July 1, when Guan Wenwei organized a self-defense regiment to break the railways, highways, and telephone lines controlled by the Japanese army, and Duan Huanjing and Xiao Guosheng commanded a part of the main force to besiege xinfeng railway station first and then attack.
On the early summer night in Jiangnan, the cool breeze is pleasant, and from time to time there are bursts of frogs, and the soldiers quietly approach the primary school next to the station in the night.
The scouts rushed to report that most of the Japanese puppet troops at the station were asleep.
Duan Huanjing selected 36 fighters from the whole battalion to form a commando team, equipped them with decent weapons, appointed Zhang Qiangsheng Company Commander as the commando leader, and set off under the guidance of the guide.
Who knew that at this critical juncture, something went wrong, and the guide took the wrong way!
It turned out that the guide was nervous, and on this moonless night, he lost his way, and he led the commandos one foot deep and one foot shallow to cross the railway line and go forward, only to find that the direction was wrong after more than 20 minutes, so he had to go back again, so that he wasted time on the road.
Zhang Qiangsheng took a squad to go inside first, stole out the guns hanging on the wall of the Japanese army, and then passed them out by the personnel who received them outside.
No one expected that the Japanese army had placed alarm devices at the station, and when a soldier walked out with a gun, his arm hit the alarm bell, and the alarm bell of the entire station suddenly sounded.
When the Japanese woke up from their slumber, they went to grab their guns naked, and the machine guns at the commanding heights screamed urgently.
This unexpected situation made the soldiers a little flustered, and the Japanese quickly closed the door and blocked the stairs and exits with machine guns.
The commandos rushed left and right, but they were blocked everywhere, and they could not find an exit to break through, and many fighters fell in response to the sound of gunfire.
Duan Huanjing shouted urgently: "Shout to the puppet army, let them not fight the New Fourth Army, turn the gun to fight the devils." ”
So in the mixed gunfire, several fighters began to shout from a distance.
The sound traveled in the night along the bullets flying like meteors to the station, to the puppet army of the same Japanese soldiers, pointing their guns at their own compatriots.
However, the conscience of the puppet army had been extinguished, and instead they returned to their compatriots with more fierce gunshots, and Duan Huan was so angry that he shouted and scolded.
The fighting has been deadlocked for more than an hour and there is still no major progress. The enemy stubbornly resisted in a bunker-like two-story building, and after hearing the news, the enemy troops stationed in Zhenjiang had begun to reinforce here and engage the anti-Japanese self-defense regiment led by Guan Wenwei, who was responsible for the task of blocking the attack.
Commando Commander Zhang Qiangsheng withdrew covered in blood, and said to Duan Huanjing headlessly: "The house is full of gray plate clamped walls, you can punch holes." ”
, no tools how to punch holes!
Duan Huanjing was so anxious that he wanted to scold his mother again, but he once again had a sudden whim: When he was fighting guerrillas in the Xianggan Border Region, he often attacked the White Army with fire, and this time to deal with the devils who stubbornly resisted according to the wall, why not also attack with fire?
Coincidentally, someone happened to bring kerosene that day, so they sent people around looking for hay.
Maybe it was providence, and there happened to be a pile of straw next to the elementary school.
Duan Huanjing ordered the reorganization of fire, blocking the enemy's gun holes and windows, and the fighters covering the arson squad piled straw under the barracks wall of the railway station and poured kerosene on it.
A great fire suddenly soared into the sky, and the huge tongue of fire quickly spread through the window and climbed onto the roof, and the entire barracks burned into a sea of fire.
Some of the enemy's fire points became dumb, and some Japanese troops rushed out with guns and howled to fight with the besieging New Fourth Army.
Everywhere there was the light of fire and knives, everywhere there were gunshots and tragic cries of killing, so that the night was filled with the smell of blood and the unpleasant smell of burning flesh. Two hours later, the victorious New Fourth Army quickly withdrew from the battle, killing only 4 and wounding 6.
In this battle, more than 40 people from the Matsuno Wing of the Matsuno Wing of the Japanese 15th Division were annihilated, as well as traitors, secret agents, road police, etc., a total of about 100 people, and a batch of guns and ammunition were also captured.
The self-defense regiment led by Guan Wenwei mobilized thousands of people, cut down more than 200 telephone poles, destroyed a section of railway, and cut off the reinforcement and communications of Japanese military vehicles.
Although the scale of this battle was not large, at that time it dealt a heavy blow to the arrogance of the Japanese Kou, encouraged the confidence of the Chinese army to jointly resist Japan and save the country, and became a surprise attack of special significance and great pleasure in the history of the New Fourth Army.
Duan Huanjing's two whimsical ideas are undoubtedly one of the important reasons why this battle can be carried out and won, and this battle has also become the proud work of his decades of military career.