In 1942, the 16th Regiment was defeated by a Japanese squad because it was not good at mountain combat. The commander of the 5th Division decided to show the 16th Regiment how to fight mountain warfare through actual combat. The "Climbing Tiger Company" was dispatched to attack the Japanese Kou mountain stronghold. After the "Climbing Tiger Company" launched an attack, it conquered the enemy stronghold in 15 minutes and defeated a squadron of the Japanese puppet army.
In 1942, the Japanese puppet army gathered tens of thousands of troops and launched a major "sweep" of the Taihang and Taiyue anti-Japanese base areas. The 16th Regiment of Southern Hebei actively covered the transfer of the masses and engaged in a bloody battle with the Japanese and Kou, and the attrition of the troops was more serious. According to the orders of their superiors, the 16th Regiment withdrew to the 5th Division of Taihang, temporarily under the command of Pi Dingjun, commander of the 5th Division.
The Japanese Kou then invaded the Taihang Mountains, and Commander Pi commanded the troops to resist the enemy while covering the transfer of the masses, and the battle was extremely hard. The soldiers of the 16th Regiment also had no time to rest, and followed the troops of the 5th Division to fight, suffering a lot. Originally, the 16th Regiment had previously fought in the Southern Hebei Plain and was accustomed to the tactics of plain warfare.
Now entering the Taihang Mountains, the soldiers of the 16th Regiment felt dizzy even when they walked the mountain road because they were not familiar with the mountainous situation. Commander Pi forgave the hardships of the comrades of the 16th Regiment, let them garrison the hinterland of the Taihang Mountains, and let the soldiers of the 16th Regiment rest well. The 34th Regiment of the 5th Division undertook heavy responsibilities, guarding the key points of the anti-Japanese base area and fighting the enemy on the front line of the anti-"sweeping".
However, in an encounter, the 16th Regiment and the Japanese 1st Squad encountered each other head-on and engaged in mountain warfare. Because of the excellent weapons and equipment of the Japanese Kou and their familiarity with the tactics of mountain warfare, they actually crushed the 16th Regiment. The soldiers of the 16th Regiment suffered defeat, their morale was severely damaged, and even some comrades had doubts about the combat ability of the troops.
When Commander Pi learned of the news, he personally rushed to the 16th Regiment to comprehensively summarize the reasons for this defeat and proposed: "The reason for this defeat is that comrades are not familiar with mountain warfare, and they will not let us go to school and learn to kill the enemy painfully and quickly." Immediately, Commander Pi specially summoned Zhi Qingyun, commander of the 7th Company of the 34th Regiment, and asked Zhi Qingyun to lead his troops to attack the outer stronghold of the Tiger Village occupied by the Japanese Kou.
The 7th Company of the 34th Regiment had the title of "Climbing Tiger Company" and was extremely good at fighting mountain offensive battles, and Commander Pi asked the 7th Company to fight a "model mountain warfare." The village of Menghu was located on the road from Wu'an to Xiangxian County, and in order to guard the road, the Japanese Kou sent 1 squadron of the Japanese Kou and 2 regiments of the puppet army to defend the stronghold of the tiger village.
On a hill outside the village of Tiger, the Japanese Kou set up another outlying stronghold and sent 1 squadron of puppet troops and 1 squad of the Japanese Kou to garrison it. The enemy's outer strongholds were equipped with 3 layers of defense, and the core position was located at the top of the hill, occupying the commanding heights around the tiger village. The next night, 7 companies of 2 platoons reached the bottom of the mountain and secretly hid it.
The company commander arranged the combat task: "I led 1 platoon to attack the hill, and the instructor led 1 platoon to stay under the hill, covering with grenadier and grenade fire." Commander Pi led the cadres of the 16th Regiment to the woods a few hundred meters away from the top of the mountain and came to watch the battle with a telescope.
According to the prior agreement, the 7th Company would launch an attack on the defending enemy at the top of the hill with the "grenade sound as a signal". In the middle of the night, there was no moon in the sky, and five fingers could not be seen everywhere. A sudden shot rang out at the top of the hill, and then the company commander led a platoon of fighters to throw grenades and rushed towards the top of the hill.
The grenadier position of the 7th Company at the bottom of the hill also began to fire, blowing up the Japanese puppet army sentry at the top of the hill, and the sentry set a raging fire. Just as the Japanese puppet army was about to organize a counterattack, the company commander and his troops had already rushed up the hill and engaged in close hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese puppet army. The instructors of the 7th Company immediately followed up, and the other 1 platoon of the 7th Company also rushed towards the top of the hill and quickly took control of the hilltop position.
The remnants of the Japanese puppet army fled to the tiger village, and in a quarter of an hour, the 7th Company won the victory in this mountain offensive. The company commander was familiar with the Japanese tactics and immediately ordered: "Take the captured booty and quickly retreat." "No sooner had the 7th Company withdrawn from the hill, the Japanese artillery in the tiger village opened fire, and dozens of shells fell on the entire hill.
Zhi Qingyun went to report to Commander Pi, who repeatedly said, "Okay, this battle is well fought." I just have a question, why did the gun go first, not the grenade? Zhi Qingyun touched the back of his head and said, "Before the battle, a comrade's bayonet touched a stone, and the sound attracted the attention of the enemy sentry. There was no way but to shoot at the enemy sentries and then attack. ”
Commander Pi praised, "Well, the command is flexible and flexible, very good." Commander Pi then said to the commanders and fighters of the 16th Regiment: "Comrades, in order to drive out the Japanese, we must continue to learn various tactics and tactics in order to become a qualified general. The 7th Company has set a good example, and the comrades must study hard and will certainly be able to adapt themselves to mountain combat very quickly. ”
Under the encouragement of Commander Pi, the soldiers of the 16th Regiment trained seriously, and in a few months they adapted to mountain combat and won successive battles. The 16th Regiment was able to fight both guerrilla warfare on the plains and in the mountains, and became the "ace unit" of the Taihang Military Region of the Eighth Route Army.
