The "Beginning of Sun Tzu's Art of War" says, "Soldiers, devious ways also." That is to say, fighting with soldiers is a kaleidoscopic and unexpected technique, and it is necessary to use various methods to deceive opponents. In the early stage of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, because our army was inferior to the Japanese army in terms of weapons and equipment and combat quality, the War of Resistance was very difficult, and in the stage and later stage of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Eighth Route Army, which was fighting behind enemy lines, adopted flexible and diverse tactics such as "mine warfare," "tunnel warfare," and "sparrow warfare" to strike at the enemy. However, the cunning Japanese army did not shrink back and wait to be beaten, they were also good at disguised as the Eighth Route Army and mixed with the common people, sneaking into the Eighth Route Army, and also bringing a lot of losses to our side.
The footprints of the Japanese "advance team" revealed the horse's feet
The Japanese army was also familiar with the "Art of War" of Sun Tzu. They disguised themselves as the Eighth Route Army and went deep into our rear to carry out sabotage. But the cunning fox still showed its tail.
On February 1, 1941, the Japanese army implemented the "solemn operation" plan, and the Japanese troops stationed in Shanxi formed a "general offensive force" with a scale of 10,000 people to carry out large-scale sweeps of the anti-Japanese base areas under the control of the Eighth Route Army, such as Jinchaji, Jidong, and Ji'nan, in an attempt to crush the will of our Eighth Route Army and the anti-Japanese soldiers and people.
In order to deal with the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army, which was frequently active in this area, the Japanese army transferred the "advance team". This Japanese army was a special forces force that spoke fluent Chinese, dressed in the costume of the Eighth Route Army, used the same weapons as the Eighth Route Army, and disguised as the Eighth Route Army. Infiltrate the hinterland of the base area, search for the location of the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, and carry out harassment and sabotage.
One day, the cook of the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army went to the river to fetch water, and suddenly, he noticed that some special footprints appeared on the ground. These footprints resemble both cow's hoof prints and horseshoe prints, and judging by the walking marks of the footprints, this is a team. This was no small matter, and the cook rushed back to report it. Zhou Xihan, chief of staff of the 386th Brigade, personally came to inspect these footprints, and he recognized at a glance that these were the toe shoes worn by the Japanese mountain combat troops, which must have been a Japanese army. He immediately ordered the commander of the 16th Regiment to lead the 1st Battalion in pursuit along the footprints.
The 1st Battalion of the 16th Regiment followed the traces of the footprints, and after crossing two mountains, the sound of machine guns was heard from the front. Commander Cheng picked up the telescope and looked down the mountain, and immediately exploded. I saw a group of troops dressed in the uniforms of the Eighth Route Army burning and looting in the village, and then saw that the soldiers of this team were wearing split-toe shoes on their feet.
Commander Cheng ordered the first company to face the enemy to carry out a feint attack, and the second and third companies attacked left and right to encircle and annihilate this Japanese army. After more than an hour of fighting, most of the more than a hundred Japanese troops were wiped out, and the remaining small part escaped into the mountains.
The Japanese army's split-toe shoes are the japanese adopted toe design, the thumb and the other four toes are separated, the Chinese people call it cow hoof rubber shoes. These shoes are convenient for mountain marching and are widely equipped for the Invading Japanese Army and puppet troops. It is also this special place that makes people distinguish between true and false Li Kui at a glance.
A lump of horse dung "betrayed" the cunning Japanese army
During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the people's lives were not good, and the Eighth Route Army was even more upset, often without enough to eat. The people have to rely on farming to support themselves, and the horse manure, cow dung, pig manure, and chicken manure in the countryside will not be lost, which are all fertilizers and will be used to fertilize the fields. A common man found a problem while picking up manure.
In a village behind the Eighth Route Army came a detachment of the Eighth Route Army, which was a cavalry detachment. Horses want to, and a common man picks up the manure and leaves it for fertilizing the crops. This attentive common man found many undigested corn kernels in horse manure. Corn is the best grain, the Eighth Route Army eats bark and wild vegetables, who has the ability to give horses corn? That doesn't make sense. The common man hurried to report to his superiors. After careful screening, this cavalry team of the Eighth Route Army was indeed a fake, and the end was naturally completely suppressed by the Eighth Route Army.
The headquarters of the Eighth Route Army was attacked by the Japanese army, and Zuo Quan was sacrificed
The cunning Japanese army learned its lesson, carried out rectification, and continued to send special forces to infiltrate the areas controlled by the Eighth Route Army to carry out sabotage.
After the Eighth Route Army launched the Hundred Regiments War, Peng Dehuai, deputy commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army, Zuo Quan, deputy chief of staff, and Luo Ruiqing, director of the Political Department, led the command organization of the department into the Matian area southeast of Liaoxian County to command the Operations of the Eighth Route Army in North China.
In May 1942, the Japanese army carried out a "C-battle plan", that is, "The Jin-Hebei Yu Border Region Solemn Operation", and the Japanese army sent the Mashiko Advance Team and the Dachuan Advance Team to our rear, the main task was to "capture the enemy's leader, disrupt the enemy's command center, and report the direction of the enemy's main force retreat." It is to find the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army.
In late May, a force of more than 100 people came from the southeastern mountains of Liaoxian County, wearing gray native cloth uniforms and leggings, with a kind attitude, buying things and paying according to the price, and helping the people clean the yard. In the eyes of the people, this is "our team". Unlike other Eighth Route Army units, they spoke very little.
The kind people were deceived, this unit was not our team, their real identity was the "Special Advance Into The Team" (Mashiko Advance Team) led by Lieutenant Mashiko Shigeo of the Japanese 36th Division. They infiltrated the area controlled by the Eighth Route Army in disguise, targeting the General Headquarters of the Eighth Route Army.D. At the same time, another special advance team led by Oikawa Momoyoshi also infiltrated the base area and searched around for the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army.
The Japanese Ministry of Defense released the historical materials of the "Summary of Lieutenant Mashiko's Battle Experience" to unveil this unit. Mashiko Shigeo graduated from the Army Non-Commissioned Officer School and is brave and resourceful. Mashiko's advance consisted of 124 men dressed as the Eighth Route Army and armed with heavy machine guns and radios. Due to their proper camouflage, they managed to sneak into the rear of the Eighth Route Army.
On May 22, Zuo Quan, deputy chief of general staff of the Eighth Route Army, learned that there were signs of a large number of Japanese troops encircling the Matian area, and with the consent of General Peng, the various organs began to break through to the east. Because there are more non-combatants in the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army and the organs of the Northern Bureau, the action is relatively slow. On the 24th, in the narrow cross ridge, the headquarters and the logistics and cover troops crowded together, and the movement was even slower. On the 25th, the Japanese Mashiko advance team pursued to the west of Cross Ridge, attacked our cover troops, and blocked the breakthrough road of the Eighth Route Army. It attracted a large number of Japanese bombers to bomb indiscriminately, and the Eighth Route Army suffered heavy deaths. When Zuo Quan was commanding the breakthrough, a shell exploded next to him and he was killed on the spot.
In order to avenge General Zuo Quan, the Eighth Route Army organized a "special task force" to find this Japanese army unit. In December 1942, the Eighth Route Army's "Special Detachment" mostly wiped out the Japanese "Mashiko Special Advance Team" that was loosely guarded. After that, the Japanese disbanded the team. Until August 15, 1945, Japan announced its unconditional surrender, and no special operations units were formed against the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army.