In 1937, after the outbreak of the Lugou Bridge Incident, the Japanese army drove straight into the hinterland of Northern China, and the Pingjin area quickly fell, but the Japanese Kou Iron Hoof did not have the intention of stopping, and the Nationalist government at that time and the forces of the Northwest Army stationed in the Pingjin area did not think that Japan would invade China in an all-round way, so the Pingjin area, which has been the throat of North China since ancient times, gave way.
After the Japanese army occupied Pingjin, the troops divided into three routes, one along the Pinghan Railway to the south, attacking Shijiazhuang in Hebei Province, and then entering Henan; one way along the Jinpu Railway, threatening Shandong; and the other along the Pingsui Road to the west, invading Shanxi, Chahar and other places.
Whether the Japanese army is advancing westward into Chahar, Inner Mongolia and other areas outside the Country, or attacking the North China Plain to the south, it must take Shanxi, a strategic place.
An important strategic location in Shanxi
Let's take a look at the geographical location of Shanxi, located east of the Loess Plateau, to the north is the vast Saiwai region, to the west is the North China Plain, and to the west can enter the Guanzhong region. Since ancient times, Shanxi has been an important border plug in the north of the Central Plains Dynasty, and an important barrier against the northern nomads going south. If you want to go out of the plug, you must occupy Shanxi, and if you want to control the rich North China Plain, you must also occupy the important barrier of Shanxi, so Shanxi is known as the "Key to North China".
Looking at the strategic position of Shanxi during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, controlling Shanxi, the Japanese army was able to ensure the operation of the three major railway arteries of Pinghan, Pingsui and Jinpu, and provide logistical support for its subsequent invasion to the south. With logistical support, the Japanese army could sit back and relax in the Guanzhong area along the Longhai Road, attack Henan, Hubei and other Chinese hinterlands along the Pinghan Road, sweep east China along the Jinpu Road, and meet the Japanese troops who landed in Shanghai.
At this time, the Japanese army in the North China Plain was like a no-man's land, and the Chinese army along the Pinghan and Jinpu Roads was on the verge of collapse, because there was no danger to defend on the North China Plain, and the Chinese army suffered defeats one after another, resulting in low morale. Therefore, North China cannot be defended. Although the Japanese army was able to quickly occupy north China, as long as Shanxi was still in the hands of the Chinese army, it could pose a serious threat to the Japanese army occupying north China, and the initiative on the battlefield would always be in the hands of our army.
Why? Through the map, we can see that Shanxi is flanked by the North China Plain, separated by the tall and dangerous Taihang Mountains, so Shanxi is easy to defend and difficult to attack, and it is condescending, and can flank the Japanese army invading North China at any time. Although the Japanese army can easily occupy North China, if it wants to defend and control North China, it must take Shanxi.
Japanese ambitions!
In the early days of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, Shanxi naturally became a place of contention between China and Japan. The Japanese side had two different voices about the capture of Shanxi,
Kanjo Ishihara, Mijiro Umetsu
Others believe that it is not appropriate to expand the war quickly, and that Japan can just occupy Pingjin and then slowly encroach on Chinese territory.
Hideki Tojo
And the chief of staff of the Kwantung Army
, Commander of the First Army of the North China Dispatch Army
Seiji Katsuki
He firmly believed that Shanxi must be seized quickly, otherwise after the intervention of the central army of the Nationalist government in Nanjing in northern China, it would damage or even threaten Japan's interests in northern China as a whole. At that time, the puppet Mongolian regime and the puppet Manchu regime supported by Japan will be affected.
Although the Pingjin area was nominally under the jurisdiction of the Nationalist Government in Nanjing before 1937, in fact the Nationalist government had no actual control over the entire vast area north of the Yellow River, before the July 7 Incident, the pingjin garrison was only the 29th Army of the Northwest Army, the central army of the Nanjing government had no control over the Pingjin area, and Shanxi was the territory of the Tu Emperor Yan Xishan, and his Jin Sui army would not allow other forces to enter Shanxi.
Yan Xishan
North China is in danger, and it is difficult to go to the country together!
On August 26, 1937, Chiang Kai-shek also saw the ambitions of the Japanese army and gave orders
Tang Enbo and Wei Lihuang led six divisions of the 13th Army and the 14th Army of the Central Army to North China.
Simultaneous commands
Sun Lianzhong of the Northwest Army 26th Route Army
Marching towards the outskirts of Peiping, it was intended to prevent the Japanese army from moving south and preparing to retake Pingjin. meantime
Also order
Fu Zuoyi
He led 3 cavalry divisions and two infantry divisions to attack the outside of the cyprus and expel the Japanese support
The puppet army of the puppet Mongol regime
Successively, it regained Huade, Shangdu, Zhangbei and other places, and controlled the Pingsui Railway Traffic Line.
At the same time, the Red Army in northern Shaanxi, under the call of the Party Central Committee, joined forces with the Nationalist Government to resist Japan. National difficulties are in charge', unanimously external! The Red Army was reorganized into the National Revolutionary Army
Eighth Route Army
, which was later renamed
18th Army
It has three main divisions under its jurisdiction: 115, 120 and 119. After the emergency in North China, on August 25, the Eighth Route Army went to the battlefield to cooperate with friendly forces to defend Shanxi.
In August, the Sichuan Army swore an oath to march, Deng Xihou led the 22nd Group Army of the Sichuan Army to the north to shanxi, rushing to the aid of the North China Battlefield, the Sichuan Army generals wore straw shoes and single clothes walked more than a thousand miles to the battlefield; at the same time, the 26th Route Army of the Shaanxi Army, the Second Cavalry Army of the Northeast Army, the 3rd Army of the Dian Army and other units all arrived in Shanxi one after another.
In the face of the great national righteousness, the Chinese will always be unanimous to the outside world, and in the past few years, the armies of these different factions have to fight each other to the death when they meet. But now they will fight side by side, because when foreign enemies invade, whether it is the Sichuan Sichuan Army, the Shaanxi Shaanxi Army, the Shanxi Jinsui Army, the Yunnan Dian Army, the Central Government Army, the Northern Shaanxi Red Army, and the Northeast Northeast Army, they all have a common identity - Chinese soldiers.
North China cannot be let go, and Shanxi must be defended
Therefore, in the face of the ambitions of the Japanese army, we must not flee without a fight like in Tohoku in 1931, because Japan wants to destroy our country and destroy our species!
North China cannot be let go, and Shanxi must be defended.
At this point, a conference battle began in North China, and the Battle of Songhu in Shanghai in early August had just begun, and almost at the same time, North China was also in a hurry, and the Battle of Taiyuan was also launched at the same time. At the same time, the north and south lines were filled with smoke, north and east China were both in a hurry, China almost transferred all its dynamic troops up, and In the two battles, China invested more than a million troops.
Compared with the Battle of Songhu, the reputation of the Battle of Taiyuan is indeed much lower, and the vast majority of people do not know much about it, or even know about this battle, and I will tell the battle process of the Battle of Taiyuan in detail in the next issue.