As an outstanding proletarian revolutionary, statesman, and military figure of the older generation of our army, Su Yu has displayed outstanding military boldness and command ability in the protracted revolutionary war, especially his ability to command and fight in the encirclement of the fire and the large corps that annihilated the enemy in the movement is breathtaking, and it is one of the best in our army. In fact, Su Yu's ability is not innate, as early as the War of Resistance Against Japan, Su Yu took the initiative to continuously try the implementation and practice of this strategy and tactics! Below we will play back and forth through the wonderful plot of the documentary "Beacon Huai'an" to understand that Su Yu took the initiative to carry out the battle to liberate the bridge according to the actual situation of the War of Resistance Against Japan at that time.
The splendid course of turning from guerrilla warfare to mobile warfare was the first change in our army's guerrilla tactics, and it also laid a solid foundation for him to shine in the combat ability of the large corps in the War of Liberation in the future!
In light of the favorable situation in the War of Resistance Against Japan, Su Yu decided to encircle the points for assistance and to conquer the bridges during the campaign in order to consolidate and expand the soviet-Chinese anti-Japanese base areas
Xuyi Huanghuatang New Fourth Army Headquarters
One day in September 1943, su Yu, commander of the First Division of the New Fourth Army and commander of the Soviet Central Military Region, after attending the rectification meeting of the military headquarters, was preparing to leave Huanghuatang, the headquarters of the New Fourth Army, when he said to Yan Zhenhang, chief of the reconnaissance section accompanying him, "When we don't come to the southern front, this time we will go back to the northern front!" Su Yu's decision made Yan Zhenheng nervous for a moment; when they came to the Headquarters of the New Fourth Army for more than two months, Commander Su Yu took a detour from the southern front for more than a month in spite of the danger, and this time when he took the northern front, the enemy situation was even more serious, Yan Zhenheng felt a heavy responsibility, and pinched a handful of sweat for the safety of the chief, at this time he and his entourage did not know that in Su Yu's heart, a battle idea with the goal of capturing the bridge and Jingkou was brewing! Su Yu led his entourage to stay overnight and traveled between the enemy-occupied areas... He looked at the terrain, explored the roads, inspected the enemy's situation, asked about the situation, focused on the enemy's car bridge and Caodian stronghold, and conducted detailed and meticulous investigation and study, especially the military terrain and landforms, which Su Yu personally inspected, and made careful records and analysis.
Su Yu during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression
Cheqiao is located 20km southeast of Huai'an County, between Huai'an City, Jinghe Town, Jingkou Town and Caodian Town, and is a strategic town with extremely important geographical location. In February 1940, in order to avoid the attack of the Japanese army, the Kuomintang Han Deloitte department collapsed to Cheqiao, where he camped and built a deep ditch and high fortress, but in the face of the Japanese army's large-scale sweep, Han Deloitte collapsed from cheqiao without a fight... After the Japanese army occupied the bridge, on the basis of the original defense, more than 50 more strongholds were added, which became a big nail inserted in the middle of the four base areas of our army in central Jiangsu, northern Jiangsu, Huainan, and Huaibei.
Su Yu believes that there are three advantages to capturing the axle and jingkou:
First, it is possible to expand the links between the four base areas of central Jiangsu, northern Jiangsu, Huainan and Huaibei;
Second, this is the combined part of the 64th Division of the Japanese Army in Yangzhou and the 65th Division of the Japanese Army in Xuzhou, and the cooperation between the two divisions of the Japanese Army is poor in peacetime, and it is more difficult to coordinate during combat, and it is necessary to make full use of this weakness of the enemy;
Third, after our army succeeded in the Cheqiao area, the two divisions of the Japanese army would blame each other and wait and see, and would not concentrate their forces to "sweep up," which would allow us to obtain a relatively stable area.
In the spring of 1944, the world anti-fascist war had entered the stage of large-scale strategic counteroffensive, and in January 1944, the US army captured the main islands of the Marshall Islands, broke through the Japanese frontal defense line in the Pacific, and was advancing towards the Mariana Islands and the Philippines, and bombed the Japanese mainland, endangering the safety of Japanese maritime traffic!
American troops broke through the Japanese Pacific Line
Before and after this, the Chinese Expeditionary Force and the British Army were launching a large-scale counteroffensive against the Japanese army in the Indo-Burma battlefield.
The Chinese Expeditionary Force counterattacked
In order to eliminate the threat of US long-range bombers to the Japanese mainland, destroy the Sino-US air bases in southern China, and open up the mainland communication line from China to Vietnam, the Japanese army dispatched more than 400,000 troops from North China, Central China, and South China to carry out operations to open up the mainland communication line. Among them, 8 of the 14 divisions of the Japanese army in central China were drawn to participate in the operation of opening up the mainland communication line, which created conditions for the New Fourth Army to carry out large-scale offensive operations and strategic counteroffensives.
The Japanese army drew troops to engage in the so-called opening of the mainland communication line
In February 1944, Su Yu convened a meeting of cadres at and above the regimental level of the First Division of the New Fourth Army to study and formulate a specific combat plan for the Cheqiao Campaign, and everyone agreed that after several years of development, the anti-Japanese armed forces in the Soviet Union and China had reached more than 20 regiments, and the main forces had concentrated on winter training, and the tactical level had been newly improved.
The Soviet-Chinese anti-Japanese armed forces have reached nearly 30,000 guns
At this time, the morale of 30,000 soldiers was high, and as long as they could be well organized and commanded, the victory in the Battle of Cheqiao was very certain. Everyone's opinions coincided, and Su Yu was very happy in his heart, and he immediately decided to form the Cheqiao Campaign Field Command, with Deputy Division Commander Ye Fei as the commander of the Field Command, responsible for the frontline battlefield command work, and Su Yu himself was in charge of the overall situation!
Ye Fei was in charge of frontline battlefield command
At this meeting of the Party Committee of the Central Soviet Union, the Battle of Cheqiao was proposed, and Su Yu proposed three plans at that time. Su Yu wrote in "Recalling the Battle of Cheqiao" that at that time, three combat plans were proposed for analysis and comparison:
The first is from east to west, first attacking the Jingkou and then attacking the bridge;
The second is the simultaneous attack of the bridge and the jingkou;
The third is to attack the bridge first, and then take the mouth.
Faced with the unfolded map, the participants had a fierce debate, and finally studied and decided to adopt a third plan, first attacking the bridge and then taking the mouth. Ye Fei, as the commander-in-chief of the former enemy, made specific arrangements, ordering Tao Yong to lead the Seventh Regiment of the Third Brigade to attack Cheqiao, Liao Zhengguo and Zeng Ruqing to lead the First Regiment of the First Brigade, the Third Military Subdistrict, and the Taizhou Independent Regiment to be responsible for providing assistance in the direction of Huai'an, Chen Ting and Li Ganhui to lead the 52nd Regiment of the 18th Brigade, the Jiangdu Gaoyou Independent Regiment to be responsible for guarding the direction of Caodian and Baoying, and the Special Agent Regiment of the Fourth Division and the First Battalion of the DivisionAl Instruction Regiment as reserves.
Before this, the First Division of the New Fourth Army fought guerrilla warfare against the Japanese army, and this time concentrated the strength of five regiments, as well as the cooperation of local armed forces and militia.
There was no precedent for a guerrilla war to hold an offensive operation of such a scale against the Japanese and the Kosovars by combining guerrilla warfare and mobile warfare.
Whether the breakthrough in the offensive attack of this campaign can be successful or not, and whether the attack and blockade are smooth, have become the focus of the calculations of Ye Fei, the commander-in-chief of the former enemy.
"The taxi bridge is not a small battle, attacking the car bridge stronghold, the enemy puppet army's stronghold fortifications are very strong, and reinforcements have been concentrated, concentrating the main forces of the three regiments of the First Division of the New Fourth Army!" In his later years, Ye Fei recalled the Battle of Cheqiao in that year.
Ye Fei in his later years
"After Japan built the bridge, there was no war for many days, and he (the Japanese army) thought that the New Fourth Army could not defeat us, did not dare to come and fight with us, (the Japanese army) went to a large pond two miles away from the (stronghold) to take a bath, and also told the Second Emperor (puppet army) that our place was very peaceful and very good!" In the film, a veteran soldier of the New Fourth Army recalls the situation at that time.
After the task arrangements were completed, Su Yu and the front-line command paid close attention to the preparations for the war, made careful plans and plans for various complicated situations that might arise, and made precise calculations and requirements for the concentrated time and place of our army's coordinated operations, the route of advance, and the time of attack, and the various units began to advance covertly to the assembly points.
In order to cooperate with the actions of the troops, the anti-Japanese government immediately mobilized more than 30,000 militiamen and masses to use the dark night to dig ditches and ponds, destroy roads and bridges between enemy and puppet strongholds, and build roads and dams in Caodian, Anfeng, and other places to facilitate the attacking troops to meet the enemy.
"What the New Fourth Army wants, we will give"! For a time, the base area households mortared rice, and the villages were supported. In a short period of time, the common people raised 50,000 kilograms of grain and millions of kilograms of firewood and grass for the troops, organized thousands of boats, and transported the troops participating in the war and the ladders and other equipment needed for the siege to the vicinity of the bridge, and the Anti-Japanese Salvation Congress sent candles, newspapers, and three major ships of kerosene for use as lighting and military fuel for the troops.
The Anti-Japanese Salvation Congress vigorously supported the front
I heard that the front line needed a mountain cannon, and more than 150 strong laborers in Huai'an County had to disassemble the cannon, carry it, carry it, cross the river and cross the lake, and send it to the front line in time... It was this cannon that exerted great power in the ensuing battle! Sun Lidao, then an organizing committee member of Jingkou District, also led 110 people of the district armed backbone militia to the front line to cooperate with the main forces.
The people of Zhiqian are on the march
On March 3, two days before the start of the Battle of Cheqiao, Su Yu suddenly received an important piece of information: more than 100 japanese puppet troops and thousands of people reinforced to the Anfeng stronghold! Anfeng was only 30 kilometers away from the garrison of the Central Soviet Military Region, and Su Yu immediately guessed that the Japanese army was trying to "sweep" the base area of our Soviet Central Military Region!
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Crash
Deciding to make a plan, attacking the west with sound, Su Yu personally led his troops to deliberately meet the enemy who was sweeping, and moved south with the enemy to contain and confuse the enemy...
On March 4, Su Yu jumped out of the gap in the enemy's combined attack, leaving the Japanese puppet army ready to encircle it. At 1:50 a.m. on March 5, three red signal flares cut through the night sky of the bridge, and the battle of the bridge began!
The Battle of the Bridge begins
There are two large and small earthen polders built around the bridge, and there are more than 600 people stationed in the puppet army, and in the southeast corner of it, there is also a small earthen polder, with more than 40 Japanese troops stationed, the Japanese puppet army not only raised the soil polder, widened the trench outside, but also erected barbed wire, built 53 bunkers, formed a crossfire network, and they also built more than a dozen strong strongholds on the periphery, arching and guarding the bridge.
Schematic diagram of the large and small earth polder deployment of the bridge defenders
Tao Yong, commander of the Third Brigade of the First Division of the New Fourth Army, personally commanded the Seventh Regiment, taking advantage of the night to covertly pass through the outer strongholds of the Japanese puppet army, straight into cheqiao town, and launch a surprise attack from both the north and the south at the same time. The Seventh Regiment of the Third Brigade has a strong ability to attack strong points, and is known as the "Tiger Regiment" within the New Fourth Army! The Tiger Regiment made a surprise attack, carried out the first coordinated infantry and artillery operations, and in only 25 minutes it broke through the Great Earth Polder, captured more than ten pillboxes, occupied all the streets in Cheqiao Town, and divided and surrounded the Japanese puppet army troops. The offensive battle to capture the key bunkers was fought from early in the morning to dawn, and the Japanese puppet army that held on to the bunkers desperately resisted...
After the three companies broke through from the northeast corner, they found that there was still a puppet army in a bunker that was constantly firing cold guns at our army; when the sixth squad attacked and advanced, the enemy blocked it with fierce fire, and after the war, Chen Futian, who was called "Flying General" by the masses, was full of grenades on his waist, carried a ladder, and braved the rain of bullets to directly attack the big pillbox. In the blink of an eye, he set up a ladder and flew up to the top of the bunker, picked up a pickaxe to dig a hole, and shoved a series of grenades into the bunker! With the sound of the explosion, smoke rose, the bunker caught fire, and the recalcitrant enemy was destroyed! The fire was red all around, and then with the cooperation of the artillery brigade, by the afternoon, our army had destroyed more than 50 pillboxes and completely annihilated the puppet army stationed in Tuwei on two roads! The soldiers then launched a final attack on the Japanese army, which was firmly entrenched in the small earth.
Chen Futian lifted the lid on the enemy bunker
At this time, the mountain cannons that the local masses had worked so hard to transport played a role, this mountain cannon and seven mortars formed a gun group, roared, the shells roared and flew towards the bunkers and tile houses that the Japanese army was trapped, and in an instant, the smoke pillars were raised in the air, more than a dozen Japanese troops escaped from the bunkers and tile houses, the New Fourth Army immediately sounded a loud charge, the commando team rushed up, the Japanese army saw the momentum of the assault fighters swallowing the mountains and rivers, scattered and fled into the traffic trenches, turtles shrank into the last three bunkers, according to the fort stubborn resistance...
A mountain cannon that has made a great achievement
As soon as the Battle of Cheqiao began, the Japanese puppet army in the nearby stronghold suddenly became a pot of porridge, and they sent out to reinforce Cheqiao.
This is precisely in the middle of Su Yu's plan to "encircle the points and provide assistance" before Su Yu has already carried out meticulous investigation and study; the enemy's two divisions and regiments are stationed in Xuzhou and Yangzhou, and both places are too far from the bridge to come to reinforcements immediately; only the enemies in Huai'an and Huaiyin can come over immediately, and Su Yu has long understood how long it will take them to reach the bridge and what kind of route they will take, and Have already made detailed arrangements. The four main regiments of our army have already set up their pockets and are waiting for the enemy to throw themselves into the net!
More than 100 Japanese puppet troops stationed in Ta'ertou and Caodian towns in Baoying City took the lead in coming out, how did they step on the mines planted by our army just after arriving at the Dashi River, and under the head-on blows of the 52nd Regiment of the 18th Brigade of the 6th Division of the New Fourth Army, they were killed and wounded, and fled back in a hurry...
Caodian's enemy was severely attacked
In the early morning of March 5, more than 700 people of the 60th Wing of the Japanese Army stationed in Huaiyin City, under the leadership of Misawa Daisa, were dispatched in batches to prepare to rush to the aid of the bridge. Misawa led the first reinforcements of the Japanese army in seven trucks, on the damaged road, from time to time by cold gun attacks, they stopped and went, until 3 p.m., reached Lujiatan near the bridge! Lujiatan, the river network was dense, the reed grass was overgrown, and the exhausted Japanese army came here, and the cannons fell into the silt and had to stop advancing. At this moment, the enemy was suddenly attacked by the first regiment of the first brigade of the first division of the New Fourth Army, and Misawa quickly commanded the Japanese army to dodge, and in a panic, entered the preset mine array of the New Fourth Army. For a time, the explosion was deafening, the enemy was full of blood and flesh, several fleeing Japanese troops fell into the mud in a panic, all the officers and men of the New Fourth Army were captured alive, the enemy suffered most casualties, and Misawa had to retreat to the nearby Hanzhuang with more than 300 Japanese troops.
Daisaku Misawa fell into the Suyu Pocket Array
After dark, the New Fourth Army broke through the enemy's position, invaded Hanzhuang, and engaged in a white-knife battle with the Japanese army, annihilating most of the enemy, and Misawa himself was wounded and captured. Liao Zhengguo, the commander of the first regiment, recalled: At about ten o'clock in the night, the second battalion sent the captured seven Japanese soldiers, including a seriously wounded Japanese officer, short in stature, with blood stains on his face, and on the way to the delivery, he lay on a stretcher, still struggling to roll and roar...
Misawa's entire army destroyed 24 of his own captives below
"Then there was a Japanese man who was also injured, so he was brought back at that time, and then the interpreter told us that this was the supreme commander of Japan, named Misawa Daisa!" In the film, a veteran soldier of the New Fourth Army recalled this.
In the melee, more than 200 enemies took advantage of the darkness. Bypassing the frontal defensive positions of the New Fourth Army, sneaking from the reeds on the right wing, and trying to continue to reinforce the bridge, the officers and men of the First Regiment of the First Brigade of the First Division of the New Fourth Army discovered it and chased it to Xiaomazhuang and annihilated it all!
The Japanese army adopted the tactic of refueling, and one batch after another came to reinforcements, and Su Yu received all of them according to the order, and pocketed all six groups of enemy personnel and horses one by one.
On the morning of March 6, the Japanese army, trapped in the dark fort of Cheqiao, fled to Huai'an by taking advantage of the gap... Su Yu commanded the First Division and the subordinate units of the Soviet Central Military Region to take advantage of the victory to expand the results of the battle, and by the 13th, they had successively recovered more than 10 strongholds such as Jingkou and Caodian, and the battle was successfully over! Throughout the Battle of Cheqiao, a total of 383 people were killed and 58 people were wounded by the 6th Brigade of the Japanese 65th Division, Including Misawa Daisa.
24 prisoners were taken
In addition, 212 puppet troops were killed, 103 wounded, 168 captured, 53 bunkers were destroyed, and 53 new fourth army casualties and 174 wounded.
The Military Headquarters of the New Fourth Army and the CPC Central Committee sent congratulatory telegrams one after another to wish the Sushi Division a great victory at Cheqiao
After the victory at the Battle of Cheqiao, Chen Yi, acting commander of the New Fourth Army, and Liu Shaoqi, political commissar, sent congratulatory messages.
Commander Su, Deputy Division Commander Ye and all commanders and fighters:
The Battle of Cheqiao was won in consecutive battles
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We have brought into play the heroic and courageous fighting spirit of our First Division, set a new record for the capture of Japanese prisoners in central China, and in addition to the briefing, we celebrate your victory on behalf of the whole army!
Xinhua News Agency broadcast the news of the "Great Victory of the Axle" to the whole country:
The New Fourth Army won a great victory and recaptured the cheqiao, and our millet division fought a great annihilation war with strong troops!
Our military newspaper published news of the great victory of the axle
In addition, Yan'an's "Liberation Daily" also published an editorial congratulating the victory of the battle!
After the axle stronghold was conquered,
The areas east of Huai'an and Baoying were all controlled by our army, the strategic ties between central Jiangsu and northern Jiangsu and between Huainan and Huaibei were opened, the anti-Japanese base areas in central Jiangsu and China were consolidated and expanded, hundreds of thousands of people were liberated, the situation of the Soviet-Chinese War of Resistance was fundamentally improved, and a glorious chapter in the history of the War of Resistance behind enemy lines in central China was written!
After the victory in the Battle of Cheqiao, the situation in the Soviet-Chinese War of Resistance fundamentally improved
The First Division of the New Fourth Army won the Battle of Cheqiao in Central Jiangsu, and soon Huang Kecheng, commander of the Third Division of the New Fourth Army, according to the improvement of the current anti-Japanese situation, also fought the Battle of Gaoyang in northern Jiangsu according to the gourd painting scoop
Gaogou and Yangkou were the key places connecting the two anti-Japanese base areas of Huaihai and Yanfu. On April 18, 1944, the Japanese troops stationed in gaogou and Yangkou strongholds retreated to Lianshui City. Gaogou and Yang Xi were respectively guarded by puppet troops, and their morale was low, and they could not live in fear. The Huaihai Prefectural Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Huaihai Naval Sub-district analyzed the situation at that time and decided to concentrate their forces on attacking Gaogou and Yangkou. The TV series "Bright Sword" was once all the rage, in which the protagonist Li Yunlong, an iron-blooded soldier, left a deep impression on the audience. Li Yunlong has many character archetypes, and it is worth mentioning that one of them is Zhong Wei, the leader of the four detachments in the Battle of Gao yang! Resourceful and composed, he led his troops to annihilate the enemy in Gaogou in only five days, and then supported a detachment to attack Yangkou, repelled Japanese reinforcements, and completed the combat task excellently.
Gaogou consisted of seven chain strongholds, with 48 large and small artillery towers, of which more than 1,000 puppet troops were stationed in Yangkou Street, Xinzhaizi and Wang Xingzhuang, and 29 large and small artillery towers.
Huang Kecheng, commander and political commissar of the Third Division of the New Fourth Army and commander and political commissar of the Northern Jiangsu Military Region, decided to concentrate the strength of ten regiments to attack the Japanese puppet army defending Gaogou and Yangkou. On April 19, 1944, the fourth detachment of the Huai Naval Sub-district attacked Gaogou and opened the prelude to the Battle of Gaoyang, which lasted until the end of the battle on May 4. In the Battle of Gaoyang, the New Fourth Army conquered a total of 14 Japanese and puppet strongholds, repelled eight reinforcements from the Japanese puppet army, annihilated more than 2,500 Japanese puppet troops, recovered the areas on both sides of the Liutang River, connected the huaihai and Yanfu districts, and greatly improved the situation of the anti-Japanese struggle in northern Jiangsu.
After the victory in the Battle of Gaoyang, the situation of the anti-Japanese struggle in the base areas of northern Jiangsu also fundamentally improved
When pulling out a dark fort, Xu Guoyin, a soldier of the New Fourth Army, organized a death squad of more than 20 people to rush forward, and when one comrade-in-arms fell, as the leader of the death squad, he desperately took the explosive package up, blocked a hole with his leg, blocked the enemy's gun hole, the dark fort was blown up, and Xu Guoyin lost a right leg forever!
Xu Guoyin sacrificed himself to blow up the bunker
Yu Jialian, a veteran soldier of the New Fourth Army, also recalled: One night, we took advantage of the darkness to dig a trench into the devil's gun tower, first "put down" the devils who were sentry, and then the soldiers lit up the explosive packages, and the devil's turret "banged" and blew up...
When attacking the stronghold of Gaogou South Xiaojie, the enemy's firepower was too fierce and too dense, and the soldiers of the New Fourth Army thought of an earthen method, and tied a long rope to each charging soldier, that is, to tie people up with a rope, and after the battle began, after the soldier was injured, he pulled the rope, that is, dragged the person down and dragged to a safe place for rescue... The local people organized stretcher teams to go to the front line to rescue the wounded, and they also sent the eggs that they were not willing to eat to the battlefield to comfort the New Fourth Army, and they also shouted slogans: "Welcome the New Fourth Army to lay a high ditch"!
The Battle of Gaoyang lasted 16 days and nights, and this victory conquered the largest stronghold in the eastern part of the Huaihai Anti-Japanese Base Area, further enhancing the confidence of the military and people of northern Jiangsu in winning the victory of the War of Resistance!
The base areas of northern Jiangsu are connected
Remember the martyrs, do not forget the original intention, and continue to move forward
Follow the footsteps of the revolutionary martyrs to the main battlefield of the battle of that year, where the monument stands to record the history that has passed!
Remember the martyrs, do not forget the original intention, and continue to move forward
The heroic souls of the martyrs are buried here, the footprints of the martyrs are often traced by future generations, and the stories of the martyrs are also passed down from generation to generation, inspiring every latecomer to follow the footsteps of the heroes, not forget the original heart, and continue to move forward!
(Picture from the screenshot in the film, invaded and deleted)