In 1939, the Japanese expressed their condolences in the Asahi Shimbun with the headline of a japanese lieutenant general who died, and they wrote: "The flowers of famous shoguns withered on the Taihang Mountain. In the main text, it is also stated: "Since the establishment of the Imperial Army, there is no such example of the sacrifice of lieutenant generals. ”
This person known as the flower of the famous general of the Japanese army is called Abe Norihide, in the war of aggression against China, he was placed high hopes by the Japanese army headquarters, but he did not think that before it bloomed, he was bombarded by a small soldier of the Eighth Route Army and killed on the Taihang Mountain.
1. Norihide Abe
Born in 1886 in Aomori Prefecture, Japan, Abe graduated from the Japanese Army Non-Commissioned Officer School in 1907 and began his criminal war of aggression against China.
After graduating from a famous school, he also had some brains, and rose through the ranks of the army step by step, and in 1937, he was promoted to major general of the army, and was sent by the Japanese army to garrison the Sun Wu area of Heilongjiang Province, China.
In 1938, the Japanese army's Changgang Kuanzhi was killed by the Eighth Route Army in Zhangjiawan, Hebei Province, and Abe Norihide was ordered to take over the post of Changgang Kanji. In 1939, because Abe Norihide was good at using "new tactics" and "mountain warfare", he was highly expected by the Japanese military high command, believing that he was "the flower of famous generals", and was officially promoted to lieutenant general, but he did not want to, his brilliant year was also the last year of his life.
2. The war situation
In the spring of 1939, the Japanese army's war of aggression against China was even more impatient, and the arrogant Japanese army has been trying to eat the big cake of China in a quick victory.
Although since 1937, the two parties have unanimously left the outside world, but in the face of the well-armed Japanese army, the Kuomintang on the frontal battlefield has been defeated and retreated, and the anti-Japanese sentiment has become more and more depressed, unable to confront the Japanese army. Only the forces led by the Communist Party of China still resisted vigorously, often giving a fierce blow to the enemy's back.
The senior generals of the Japanese army believed that the Kuomintang, which had better weapons and equipment and a large number of people fighting against the invasion of the Great Japanese Empire, could not compete with the Japanese army, so the "Tu Eight Road" in their eyes was even more unconcerned.
Therefore, in accordance with their policy of "quick battle and quick decision," the impatient Japanese army put forward an ambitious operational plan of "taking Guangzhou in the south, Wuhan in the middle, and encircling wutai in the north."
Once this plan succeeded, the blow to the anti-Japanese masses in our country was devastating, but at this critical moment, the Eighth Route Army under the leadership of the Communist Party taught the Japanese army a good lesson and made them pay a bloody price for their arrogance.
3. Pre-war preparations
The Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region was the first anti-Japanese base area created by our army at the end of 1937. The CPC Central Committee and Mao Zedong praised it as "a model anti-Japanese base area behind enemy lines and a model area for the united front."
Headquartered in Fuping County, Baoding City, Hebei Province, at the foot of the Taihang Mountains, it comprehensively coordinates the military forces of our Party in most of Hebei Province and the border areas of Shanxi Province and Chahar Province.
Norihide Abe, known as the "Flower of Famous Generals", was sent here.
Before the arrival of Abe Norihide, the Japanese army thought that the Chinese army was vulnerable, so it kept attacking us with the mentality of quick victory.
No, the Eighth Route Army, which went deep behind enemy lines, united with the masses and used guerrilla tactics to beat the Japanese army to the point of confusion and suffered heavy losses. This result was completely different from what the Japanese army had thought at the beginning of the invasion, and it also made the high-ranking generals of the Japanese army very angry, hoping to make Abe Norihide restore the dignity of the imperial army.
Arriving in Laiyuan, Hebei Province, Abe Norihide could not wait to establish military merit and immediately discussed the next battle plan with his generals. When he learned that his opponent was the famous Nie Rongzhen, he did not panic at all, and once threatened to give Nie Rongzhen a good look. It was the beginning of November.
November 7 is the two-year festival of the birth of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, the Eighth Route Army is immersed in a festive atmosphere, because it has to face battles from time to time, the Eighth Route Army will continue to move, from the masses they do not want to move the people's needle and line, life is very bitter.
This time, I was able to take advantage of the birth celebration to relax a little, eat something good, and the warriors felt very happy.
In order to celebrate this celebration, while summarizing the victories won in the anti-Japanese struggle over the past two years and drawing some lessons from the defeats, we will prepare for the next struggle. Commander Nie Rongzhen specially invited Peng Zhen, secretary of the Northern Branch of the CPC, He Long, commander of the 120th Division, and Guan Xiangying, political commissar of the 120th Division, to exchange views and discuss together.
A few days before the festival began, all the important leaders invited by Nie Rongzhen arrived at the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, and a group of old friends were happy to meet. Nie Rongzhen invited everyone to the place where the guests were received, and these could not wait to start talking about the current anti-Japanese situation, where another big victory was achieved, and the development of the future anti-Japanese resistance, and everyone was full of confidence in China's repulsion of the invading Japanese army.
Since the Battle of Wuhan in 1938, the Japanese army's dream of quick victory has been completely shattered, and the Nationalist army has slowly begun to take the initiative to attack.
At the same time, Peng Dehuai had been preparing for the Hundred Regiments War in 1940, when all the top brass of the organization had received the news and knew that it was not far from overthrowing the Japanese invaders.
Just when everyone was discussing in Xingtou, Yang Chengwu, commander of the First Division, broke in and interrupted everyone's conversation, because usually all the commanders were preparing for the anti-Japanese resistance in their own place, even if they rushed to the headquarters for the celebration, the itinerary was also full of arrangements, at this time Yang Chengwu was not very polite to break in, Nie Rongzhen understood that there must be something important.
However, Nie Rongzhen, who was in a good state of discussion, did not want to terminate the topic so quickly, but only temporarily stopped the discussion and asked Yang Chengwu: "Coming in so anxiously, there must be something important to say!" ”
Yang Chengwu replied anxiously: "Yes Commander, according to the reliable information we have received in the front, under the command of the newly arrived Japanese Lieutenant General Norihide Abe, the Second Independent Mixed Brigade of the Japanese Army has sent more than 1,000 Japanese troops and Japanese puppet troops from Zhangjiakou into Laiyuan. ”
Yinfang Town is located in the southeast of Laiyuan County, bordering Yi County to the east, Shunping County to the south, Tang County to the west, and Baishishan Town to the north. The horse station and the silver square are connected, both belong to the laiyuan key area, after being captured by the Japanese army, the Japanese army can quickly expand the results of the battle, which is not conducive to the next situation.
After Nie Rongzhen got the news, he thought silently for a while, stood up, and walked to the battle map next to the table. Peng Zhen, He Long and others also came here together. Then, Nie Rongzhen looked at Yang Chengwu and asked, "Do you have any ideas?" ”
Yang Chengwu felt that this was an opportunity, and if conditions permitted, we could completely annihilate all the Japanese troops who had attacked.
Nie Rongzhen asked him to elaborate on the plan. Yang Chengwu pointed to the battle map on the table and began to give Nie Rongzhen and several other generals a comparison: "From Laiyuan to Yinfang, there is a road that is lofty and steep, the Japanese army has no way to go, outside Laiyuancheng all the way to the Baishikou of the Ancient Great Wall, and to the south is Yansu Cliff and Yinfang. ”
Nie Rongzhen looked at it and nodded, signaling Yang Chengwu to continue. Then Yang Chengwu said: "You see that there is only one mountain road in the middle that can be walked, other places are too steep to pass, as long as we can use the geographical advantage to let us fight an ambush battle, annihilating the Japanese army is like probing for things." ”
Nie Rongzhen took a look at it, if the intelligence was true, it was indeed possible to completely annihilate this Japanese army that was trying to attack and greatly increase the morale of our side, but he was still a little worried about whether the intelligence was true, because if the intelligence was wrong, this battle would not be fought beautifully, and it would add to the blockage of the upcoming celebrations, and it would also lose face in front of other important leaders.
Yang Chengwu and Nie Rongzhen swore an oath: "You can rest assured, the intelligence personnel on our side have broken into the enemy's" maintenance meeting, and even some of them have penetrated into the Japanese military police, and the intelligence is absolutely reliable. ”
Nie Rongzhen was very happy when he heard this, and then looked at Peng Zhen, He Long, and others in front of him, asking for their views.
After some discussion, Peng Zhen and He Long also believed that this battle could be fought, and in order to ensure that nothing was lost, several people studied the situation in combination.
Then, Nie Rongzhen directly asked Yang Chengwu to rush back to the military region overnight, stop attending the next organizational work meeting, personally command this battle, and be sure to play the style of the eighth road and teach the arrogant Abe Norihide an unforgettable lesson. At the same time, Nie Rongzhen and Yang Chengwu said: "I will sit by the phone day and night from now on, and you will definitely report any situation in time." ”
Yang Chengwu replied "yes" and then gave a military salute to Nie Rongzhen, Peng Zhen, He Long, and others, and then hurried away again.
The next morning, Nie Rongzhen, who had been guarding the phone all night, was just about to go to dinner, when he received a call from Yang Chengwu, and after connecting, Nie Rongzhen hurriedly asked if he had encountered any problems and how the plan was progressing.
Yang Chengwu explained to Nie Rongzhen the exploration of the terrain after his return, and at the same time decided to adopt the tactics of "luring the enemy into the urn, ambushing according to danger, and containing reinforcements" according to the character of Abe Norihide, so that a small number of troops could lure the enemy, and finally catch turtles in an urn at Loess Ridge.
After Nie Rongzhen listened, he thought about it carefully and thought that Yang Chengwu's battle plan was extremely feasible and had almost no flaws, so he agreed to his plan.
He also stressed to Yang Chengwu: "Our battle plan this time can be said to occupy geographical advantages and people, not only have fighters who go deep into the enemy's place to obtain intelligence for us, but at the same time occupy a great advantage in numbers. ”
Yang Chengwu said "yes" on the other side of the phone. After hanging up the phone, Yang Chengwu continued his deployment while constantly perfecting the battle plan based on new intelligence. Nie Rongzhen on this side, except for the urgent matter of leaving the phone, personally stayed here, and even handled official business and let his soldiers send them here.
After another day, the battle officially began, Yang Chengwu first sent a small detachment of the Eighth Route Army to lure the first large group of the Japanese army that invaded Yinfang, the Japanese army was arrogant and arrogant, did not expect that there would be a trap, pursued the Eighth Route Army, and entered the place where our military first ambushed, YansuYa Gorge.
Here, the Japanese army was intercepted by the main force sent by the Eighth Route Army and completely surrounded in the Yansu Cliff.
Yang Chengwu, who had obtained the situation, immediately reported the situation to Nie Rongzhen: "The enemy has come a brigade, an artillery squadron, and a machine gun squadron, with a total number of about 600 people, who were led into the YansuYa Gorge by our army and ambushed, and now they can only hide in the two remaining positions to resist, and in some time, they can all be wiped out." ”
Nie Rongzhen, who heard this news, was very excited, praised Yang Chengwu, and instructed him to solve the battle as soon as possible to avoid the losses of our soldiers, which dragged on too long, and Abe Norihide would send troops to support him when he got the news, but he was not effective on our side.
After Yang Chengwu hung up the phone, he immediately followed Nie Rongzhen's instructions and began a comprehensive general attack.
The encircled Japanese army had long been scattered and unable to resist, and was attacked into the position by the Eighth Route Army with a charge, and after fighting for a bayonet, the enemy on a small high ground continued to resist by using the artillery advantage, and the rest of the Japanese army was completely destroyed.
In order to reduce casualties, the battle lasted until more than four o'clock in the afternoon, and almost all the Japanese troops were wiped out by the heroic Soldiers of the Eighth Route Army, and only a few escaped and 13 were captured.
The news of the victory reached the headquarters, Nie Rongzhen was very happy, but he was not carried away, he and Yang Chengwu said: "Abe Norihide will not give up, he is like a wild boar, you shoot him, he will not run, he will rush to you and bite you." ”
Subsequently, under Nie Rongzhen's orders, Yang Chengwu led the warriors to quickly withdraw from the battlefield and look for a suitable place to find, and counterattacked Abe Norihide's revenge next.
3. Abe Norihide's revenge
After Abe Norihide of the headquarters learned that the troops he sent out were all annihilated by the enemy, he was about to go crazy, but he was known as the "flower of famous generals" in Japan, and he did not look at Nie Rongzhen in the eyes, and as a result, the first battle he had just sent here was a fiasco, and how to get by.
Abe Norihide and his generals said: "The second mixed brigade is the elite of our imperial army, and it is also the pride of the imperial army." Now that my men have been defeated at the hands of Tu Balu, I have no way to accept that they are the shame of the second mixed brigade. You pass on my orders, and I will lead my own troops to destroy them, so that Chinese know that their Nie Rongzhen is inferior to mine. ”
Abe Norihide issued a battle order and led the soldiers to set off, and it was not long before the news reached Yang Chengwu's ears. Yang Chengwu quickly called Nie Rongzhen and said, "Sure enough, as you expected, Abe Norihide personally led 1,500 people to pursue us in a vain attempt to take revenge." ”
Nie Rongzhen smiled slightly after hearing this, and asked Yang Chengwu if he knew about Abe's next move.
Yang Chengwu reported the news conveyed by our soldiers to Nie Rongzhen: "Abe Norihide is now leading the Japanese army along that road again, and it seems that he wants to make a big sweep and earn back the face lost by the japanese army on the upper branch." ”
Nie Rongzhen listened and immediately conceived a new battle plan in his head to attack the Japanese troops led by Norihide Abe.
After pondering for a moment, Nie Rongzhen said, "Now Abe Norihide is very angry and must be anxious to fight, you can use this to lure the enemy deeper, first let a small army go to guide Abe Norihide to the Silver Fang, and then hide it and let them pounce."
The arrogant Norihide Abe felt that a punch was hitting the cotton, and it was easy to lose his mind, and you sent someone to appear from the back of the Silver Mill to beat them, and attracted Abe Norihide's troops to the Loess Ridge, where the terrain was very suitable for us, which could greatly reduce the losses of our army and achieve victory. ”
At the same time, Nie Rongzhen also sent 24 regiments, 25 regiments and artillery battalions to Yang Chengwu to help.
After Yang Chengwu hung up the phone, he began to act according to Nie Rongzhen's combat deployment, and coupled with the brother troops sent by Nie Rongzhen, Yang Chengwu was even more stable about this battle.
Abe Norihide first led the army to the area of Yansu Cliff, but the Eighth Route Army had already moved, and Abe Norihide, who did not see the enemy, was very angry, and when he saw the corpses of the Japanese army buried by the Eighth Route Army, he asked people to dig them all out and carry them together to push them up, Abe Norihide let people pour oil, a fire was all lit, the canyon was filled with the smell of burning corpses, Abe Norihide wanted his soldiers to see this scene and be more determined to take revenge.
Abe Norihide was led to Yinfang by a squad sent by Yang Chengwu and others in a way that fought and retreated, and the Eight-Way Warriors who were good at guerrilla warfare had long been hidden, and Abe Norihide, who could not find anyone, could only be incompetent and furious.
What is infuriating is that in order to vent his anger, Abe Norishi actually let the soldiers under his command set fire to the homes of the common people, and such an inhumane approach made the Eighth Route Army, who was hiding in the shadows, grit their teeth, but in order to wipe out this unit, they could only endure silently, and promised in their hearts that when the time came, they would give this Japanese army a fierce blow.
On November 5, 1939, the Japanese army led by Norihide Abe continued to march towards Shiraishiguchi, and by this time, his endurance had already reached its limit. Yang Chengwu also sent three squads to harass them and lure them into the Loess Ridge area.
At this time, Abe Norihide completely lost his mind, only heard that there was still the Eighth Route Army in Loess Ridge, he did not expect that he had been ambushed, and in a vain attempt to avenge him, he only wanted to quickly seize the Eighth Road and annihilate them to show his military ability not to lose to Nie Rongzhen.
Yang Chengwu truthfully reported the situation to Nie Rongzhen on the phone, and Nie Rongzhen arranged on the phone: "When the enemy completely falls into the encirclement, you will launch an attack and completely annihilate the enemy." ”
At the same time, He Long, after learning that Abe Norihide personally dispatched, also specially mobilized the 120th Division Special Task Force Regiment, Beishan to give command to the first sub-district, and the 26th Regiment and the 34th Regiment would also restrict the enemy troops who came to rescue Abe Norihide, so that Yang Chengwu had no worries.
On November 7, 1939, Abe's troops officially stepped into the encirclement of the Eighth Route Army, and when the time was ripe, Yang Chengwu immediately ordered an attack on the Japanese army. The main force of the Japanese army was all trapped in a ravine 5 miles long and 100 meters wide, and the Japanese troops who were marching and unsuspecting were all blinded, and in the blink of an eye, the formation was beaten to pieces.
After all, the Japanese army was well trained, and they quickly began to counterattack, sending several troops to occupy the commanding heights, while at the same time fighting their own weapons and equipment, constantly charging at the positions of the Eighth Route Army, in a vain attempt to break through.
4. The death of Norihide Abe
While the fighting was raging, Chen Zhengxiang, commander of the First Regiment of the Eighth Route Army, who was in charge of the blockade task, and Wang Daobang, the political commissar, received reports from scouts that a temporary Japanese command post had been found near a small village in front of Loess Ridge and Shangzhuangzi. After Chen Zhengxiang confirmed that the news was correct, he immediately ordered the artillery battalion to attack the enemy's command post, and under the command of Yang Jiuxiang's company commander, the mortar fired four shells in succession, all of which accurately hit the enemy's command post.
What no one knows is that the Japanese army's "famous general Flower" and the so-called mountain expert Norihide Abe actually died under the mortar.
The Japanese army, which had lost its leader, became vulnerable, and was gradually defeated under the command of Yang Chengwu, and finally completely annihilated. On the morning of the 8th, the Japanese headquarters urgently parachuted a new commander, and Nie Rongzhen, in order to avoid falling into the heavy siege of the Japanese army, immediately gave Yang Chengwu the order to withdraw his troops.
According to post-war statistics, our army captured a total of 4 steel guns, 1 field gun, 79 rifles, 500 light machine gun rounds, and 5,500 heavy machine gun bullets.
The Abe Norihide, who had always wanted to deal a terrible blow to Commander Nie Rongzhen, was eventually killed at the hands of an unknown 18-year-old gunner like Li Erxi. After the completion of the Military Museum of the Chinese Revolution, the mortar that killed Norihide Abe was also collected.
Norihide Abe was the highest-ranking general killed by our army during the War of Resistance Against Japan.
The Battle of Loess Ridge dealt a great blow to the arrogance of the Japanese army, effectively thwarted the large-scale attack of the Japanese army, and laid the foundation for the subsequent victory of our party.
At the same time, this war also allowed the Kuomintang troops, who had been losing in the frontal battlefield, to regain confidence and once again bravely face the invading Japanese troops.