Pingxingguan is a pass of the Inner Great Wall, located on the Pingxing Ridge on the dividing line between Lingqiu County and Fanzhi County in Shanxi Province. Ping-type Guancheng Tiger is located in the southern foothills of the Ping-type Mountains, in a square shape, surrounded by more than 900 zhang, with a gate in the north, south and east, and the three characters of "Ping-type Ridge" engraved on the front of the door (the door is now collected in the guanbao ruins), which can really be described as a steep mountain and a xiongguan.
On September 22, 1937, the Japanese army began to attack the main positions of the Inner Great Wall such as Pingxingguan, Dongpaochi, and Tuanchengkou, and sent tanks and aircraft to assist in the battle, but was stubbornly resisted by the 73rd Division, the Independent Eighth Brigade, and the 84th Division of the defenders of the Second Theater.
(Lin Biao)
Toshishi Miura, who was commanding the operation at Higashi-Paochi, sent reinforcements to the commander of the Emergency Electric Division, Seishiro Sakagaki. In order to prevent the Japanese from breaking through the Pingxingguan defense line, Yan Xishan ordered Fu Zuoyi to lead two brigades to reinforce, and called Zhu De (commander-in-chief) to ask the Eighth Route Army to cooperate in the battle. At this point, the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, in accordance with the instructions of the CPC Central Committee, set up an ambush in the area of Pingxingguan and fired gunfire against the Japanese invaders.
In order to fight this battle well, Lin Biao went to the area around Pingqiaogou three times to conduct on-the-spot investigation. The first time he went with his staff officers and radio. First, go to the Pingshi pass, climb up the mountain ridge on the north side of the pass, and observe the mountains, ditches, villages, and roads east of the pingshi pass against the map. Then he went down the mountain along the West Running Pond and East Running Pond Highway to Qiaogou to the east henan to inspect the topography on both sides of the canyon road; the second time he disguised himself to reconnoiter. Focusing on the terrain in front of the Laoye Temple and the mountainous landform on the south side of Qiaogou, a complete ambush battle plan was basically formed in Lin Biao's mind; the third time was after the Mobilization Meeting in Shangzhai, Lin Biao and Nie Rongzhen led the brigade commanders and regimental commanders to reconnoiter, and at the scene, they designated ambush sites for each regiment and clarified the location of the division, brigade, and regimental command posts.
(Pre-war survey)
The 115th Division, with the 685th Regiment of the 343rd Brigade, occupied the high ground south of the line from Guangou to Laoyemiao and intercepted the enemy's vanguard troops, that is, "blocking the head"; the 686th Regiment occupied the highlands on the south side of the line from Laoyemiao to Xiaozhai Village, carried out an intermediate assault, divided the enemy attacking along the road, and then developed the attack in the direction of the east running pool, that is, "cutting off the waist"; the 687th Regiment of the 344th Brigade occupied the positions of Caijiayu, Xigou Village, and Donghenan Town, cutting off the enemy's retreat, that is, "breaking the tail"; and using the division's independent regiment and cavalry battalion to enter Lingqiu to Laiyuan. Between Guangling (waist station), blocking enemy reinforcements, the 688th Regiment was deployed in the village of Dongchangcheng as a division reserve.
On the evening of the 24th, Lin Biao and Nie Rongzhen issued orders for the brigades and regiments to attack, and at 24:00 midnight, the troops marched on time. In order to hide, the ministries chose a rough path that was difficult to walk. At that time, the rain was heavy, the wind was not stopping, and the road was slippery in the dark, making it very difficult to move. The whole group's clothes were drenched, not to mention, almost all of them became "clay people". In late autumn, the night in the mountains was already very cold, and the commanders and fighters were freezing one by one.
(Pre-war reconnaissance)
Before dawn on the 25th, the 685th, 686th and 687th Regiments all entered the pre-ambush positions. The procession was hidden in the ravine south of the highway, the sky was still gloomy, the wind was blowing, and no fire was allowed, so the soldiers had to wear wet clothes in the ravine and wait for the order to fight. At the same time, the 344th Brigade entered a high ground north of the town of Donghenan with a hidden force, and the division command post was located on a hill southeast of the ditch for easy observation and command. At this moment the 115th Division was ready for battle.
(Guild Wars)
Zeng Baotang, who was then the commander of the 1st Battalion of the Independent Regiment of the 115th Division and was responsible for blocking and assisting the enemy, fired the first shot at the Battle of Pingxingguan.
The warrior shouted "Rush", "Kill", "Kill"" and the devil began a white-knife battle. One warrior fell, and another rushed up. In the fierce battle, Zhang Wensong, instructor of the 1st Battalion of the Independent Regiment (who was a pioneer soldier, hit the enemy's flank and back, and unfortunately was shot and killed), Zhang Deren, the commander of the 1st Company (who was seriously injured after stabbing and killing several devils, and rolled down the cliff with the last force to hold a ghost), and the "Ma Platoon Leader" of the 2nd Company and the 1st Platoon were martyred successively. The 1st Company and the 3rd Company of the 1st Battalion were reduced by more than half, and some squads were all killed, and many of the bodies of the sacrificed personnel were shot several times. Under the full resistance of the soldiers of the Independent Regiment, the Japanese army left more than 300 corpses at the waist station (Stagecoach Ridge area).
(Fight the enemy)
At 7:00 a.m. on the morning of the 25th, the 685th Regiment, which was responsible for occupying the high ground on the south side of the line from Guangou to Laoye Temple, intercepted the enemy's vanguard troops, that is, the "head-stopping" annihilation mission of annihilating the enemy, and the most fierce white-knife fighting was carried out on the positions of the second and third battalions. Comrade Zeng Xiansheng, commander of the Fifth Company of the Second Battalion, was nicknamed "Mengzi." Before the battle began, the troops were encouraged to say: Rely on our glorious tradition of close combat night combat, with grenade bayonets and devils, so that they can not die. After launching the charge, Zeng Xiansheng took the lead in attacking the enemy, and within twenty minutes, the whole company blew up more than twenty cars with grenades. In the white-knife fight, Zeng Xiansheng stabbed more than a dozen ghosts to death. Zeng Xiansheng's body was full of wounds and blood, and when a group of ghosts approached him, Comrade Zeng Xiansheng, the commander of the heroic company, pulled the only grenade and died with the enemy. Zeng Xiansheng's heroic behavior inspired the comrades-in-arms around him. The instructor of the fifth company was seriously wounded and still commanded the troops; the platoon leader was killed, and the squad leader took over; the squad leader was sacrificed, and the soldiers took command. In the end, there were only more than thirty comrades left in the whole company, but they still stubbornly fought with the enemy. The ninth and tenth companies of the three battalions, after rushing on the road, suffered heavy casualties, but still bravely fought with the enemy, to be ten, there was no bullet, they used bayonets, bayonets were broken, they used the butts, and when the butts were broken, they hugged the enemy and fought, even if there was only a few seconds of space, the soldiers could quickly pick up stones to smash the devil's brain shell...
(Battle Win)
This battle delayed the strategic offensive of the Japanese army, disrupted the enemy's plan to detour north China along the right wing of the Pingsui Railway, and was the first major victory fought by the Eighth Route Army since its departure.