On September 20, 1937, after leading troops to capture the county seat of Lingqiu County, Major General Toshishi Miura of the 21st Brigade of the Japanese 5th Division suddenly moved south and launched an attack on the mouth of Tuancheng, which was defended by the 17th Army of the Kuomintang Army.
On the 22nd, more than 2,000 japanese 21st brigades attacked the northwest highlands of Dongpaochi, where the officers and men of the Kuomintang army desperately resisted.
As long as the East Running Pond is lost, the Japanese army will be close to Pingxing Pass, so Zhu De, commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army, and Peng Dehuai, deputy commander-in-chief, issued an order to the 115th Division: "The 115th Division should immediately move between Pingxingguan and Lingqiu and move sideways to attack the enemy attacking at Pingguan."
Pingshiguan Battle Map
Therefore, the 343rd Brigade of the 115th Division immediately assembled covertly from Daying Town to the Shangzhai Town area southeast of Pingxingguan, at the same time, Nie Rongzhen, deputy commander of the 115th Division, also led the 344th Brigade and division headquarters from Mount Wutai to the town of Shangzhai to meet Lin Biao.
On September 23, 1937, in Shangzhai Town, 10 kilometers southeast of Pingxingguan, Lin Biao and Nie Rongzhen held a meeting of cadres at and above the divisional company level, at which Lin Biao and Nie Rongzhen issued operational arrangements, with two regiments of the 343rd Brigade as the main attack, and one regiment of the 344th Brigade cutting off the enemy's retreat route north of Pingxingguan.
At the same time, the 6th Army of the Nationalist Second Theater of Operations, in order to cooperate with the 115th Division, attacked the Japanese army east of Pingshi Pass.
On a road of more than 10 kilometers from Pingxingguan to Guangou to Donghenan Town, on the edge of the mountain on the south side lurked most of the main force of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, the 686th Regiment of the 343rd Brigade was located near Baiyatai, the left was the 685th Regiment, the right was the 687th Regiment of the 344th Brigade, and at the bottom of the pocket was the Independent 8th Brigade of the Jin Army, the 687th Regiment broke the enemy's retreat and was responsible for reinforcements, and the 688th Regiment was the reserve.
At that time, the main purpose of adopting such a deployment of troops was to intercept the enemy's vanguard, cut off the enemy's retreat, carry out an intermediate assault, and divide and annihilate the enemy.
In order to act covertly and give full play to the suddenness of the operation, Lin Biao ordered all the participating units to leave at 00:00 on the 25th, take advantage of the night to enter the Ambush Position of Pingxingguan, and asked all units to complete their combat preparations before dawn the next day.
Lin Biao
However, the sky was not beautiful, that night in the Area of Pingshiguan was raining autumn, the mountain area was even colder at night, and the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army dressed in summer clothes marched in the wind and rain, their clothes were soaked, and they could only rely on their own body temperature to dry their clothes.
In the early morning of September 25, under the command of Lin Biao and Nie Rongzhen, the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army was ready to covertly wait for the ambush positions on both sides of Pingxingguan, when the motor sound of cars was heard in the direction of Running Machi, and the main force of the 21st Brigade of the Japanese 5th Division and the heavy troops of the division marched into the pocket formation of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army of Pingxingguan.
When watching the little devils enter the line of sight one by one, and go away one by one, the soldiers of the 687 Regiment hidden in the mountains are not in a hurry, but the offensive order has not yet been issued, and no one dares to act rashly, as mentioned earlier, the 115th Division is arranging a pocket formation here, the 685th Regiment is responsible for the vanguard of the Japanese army, the 686th Regiment is responsible for the onslaught in the middle section, and the 687th Regiment is responsible for cutting off the enemy's retreat, and the 115th Division's command post is waiting, waiting for the enemy to enter the ambush circle.
At about 7:00 a.m. on September 25, the Japanese had all entered the pre-ambush area of the 115th Division, with cars and horses in a line, and the sound of motors and horses' hooves filling the ravines.
Nie Rongzhen
At the beginning of the battle, the first few cars of the Japanese army were destroyed, blocking the narrow exit, and then the cars behind them were also shot and caught fire, and the entire convoy was crowded in the valley and could not move, and Lin Biao, commander of the 115th Division, quickly adjusted his tactics and ordered the troops to rush down the ditch road and cut the enemy into several sections and annihilate them.
Soon after the Battle of Pingxingguan began, two Japanese aircraft flew along the road over the battlefield to join the battle, in order to reduce casualties and play their melee specialties, Lin Biao ordered the troops to mix with the enemy as much as possible, making it difficult for Japanese aircraft to bomb and strafe, so the soldiers of the 115th Division launched an extremely fierce and cruel white-knife battle with the Japanese army.
Just as the battle was heating up, the command post of the 115th Division suddenly found a force of Japanese troops desperately trying to seize the commanding heights of the Laoye Temple on the hill opposite the ambush position.
Temple of the Lord
The commanding heights of the Laoye Temple are crucial to winning the battle of Pingxingguan. Once the Japanese army succeeded, they could not only attack from a commanding height, but more importantly, there was a ditch in the east of the Laoye Temple, leading to the big and small cold water ridges, from which the Japanese army could completely break through.
Therefore, Lin Biao and Nie Rongzhen immediately ordered That Li Tianyou, the leader of the 686 Regiment, should seize the commanding heights of the Laoye Temple at all costs.
The soldiers of the 3rd Battalion of the 686th Regiment charged all the way, taking the lead in seizing the commanding heights of the Laoye Temple, compressing the Japanese army in the Pingxingguan Canyon, but at this time the Japanese army had been forced to a desperate situation, the commanding heights of the Laoye Temple was their last hope, and the Japanese troops with heavy casualties frantically counterattacked to the Laoye Temple, and launched a fierce fight with the 3rd Battalion of the 686th Regiment.
In the memory of the soldiers of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, the battle for the Laoye Temple Heights was the most tragic scene in the Pingxingguan Victory, they were the elite of the Red Army soldiers, who had experienced hundreds of training in the hardships and hardships of the Long March, and finally spilled a passion on the Pingxingguan, and the 686th Regiment of the 115th Division finally firmly occupied the commanding heights of the Laoye Temple after a fierce battle.
The site of the Battle of the Old Masters Temple
In order to rescue the besieged Japanese troops, Itagaki Seishiro urgently ordered the troops of the 5th Division at Wei County and Laiyuan to reinforce Pingxingguan, but the independent regiment of the 115th Division and the cavalry battalion stubbornly blocked the area north and east of Lingqiu, and killed and wounded nearly 400 Japanese troops in the waist station area, effectively ensuring the final victory of the ambush at Pingxingguan.
At one o'clock in the afternoon of September 25, 1937, the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army annihilated more than 1,000 Japanese troops, destroyed more than 100 cars, captured a large number of weapons and military materials, and the Eighth Route Army won a great victory, achieving the first annihilation victory since the national War of Resistance, hitting the arrogance of the Japanese army and breaking the myth of the invincibility of the Japanese army, but because the Kuomintang army did not attack as planned, the Japanese troops in Dongpaochi and Tuanchengkou seized the road and fled, losing the opportunity to achieve greater results.
In the memoirs of Yang Dezhi, the commander of the 685 regiment, the Battle of Pingxingguan was described as follows: "Pingxingguan is a heroic pass because it was washed and dyed with the blood of our martyrs, and Pingxingguan is a victory pass, which records the first great victory of the Chinese people against the Japanese Kou!"
This photograph was taken on September 26, 1937, after the victory in the Battle of Pingxingguan, and the original is now in the Central Archives, with the soldiers holding the captured Japanese flag and weapons and equipment, and the joy of victory is overflowing.
The war was won
According to the victory at Pingxingguan 77 days after the July 7 Incident, what was left in the autumn of 1937 was not just a victory in killing more than 1,000 Japanese troops, but also that every brother of the Northeast Army, the Northwest Army, and the Central Army who was creeping in the trenches, and every enthusiastic boy of the 115th Division, 120th Division, and 129th Division who waited for the sound of the charge horn planted a seed of victory in his heart.
Victory comes from a deep desire in the heart, and the victory of the War of Resistance urgently needs the hearts and minds of forty-five million compatriots to be united in their hearts, with the same voice, with the same strength, and with the same enemy!
In the face of the crazy Japanese army, under the situation of the Retreat of the Kuomintang Army, the Eighth Route Army won the first battle, hitting the arrogance of the Japanese army, dampening the vigor of the Japanese army, and breaking the myth of the invincibility of the Japanese army.