After the 918 incident, there were millions of soldiers in uniform and armed with firearms in the mainland army. Although all but one of the most poorly equipped armies chose to remain silent in the face of the threat of aggression by the Japanese! And this special army, although poorly equipped, fought bravely and fearlessly, and was deeply loved by the people. There is no doubt that this army is the Red Army.
Although the base area where the Red Army was located at that time was far from the Japanese forces in China, they immediately issued a cry of battle, issued the famous "August 1 Declaration", and officially declared war on Japan in the name of the "Chinese Soviet"! This boldness contrasted sharply with the timid compromise of the Chiang regime and other warlords, large and small.
Since then, the Red Army considered the Japanese army an enemy! The slogan "Go north to resist Japan" increasingly appeared in documents, slogans and daily conversations of officers and soldiers of the Red Army.
However, this transformation of the Red Army was not recognized by Chiang. Chiang still chose to "conquer the outside world before securing the inside", allowing the Japanese army to run amok, and even the whole army dispatched to "encircle and suppress" the Red Army. Therefore, the Red Army had no choice but to change its strategy and began its journey to the north to resist Japan.
After the outbreak of the All-Out War of Resistance in 1937, the Red Army was reorganized into the Eighth Route Army and actively participated in the War of Resistance. Just two months later, on September 25, 1937, after the 77 Incident, the Eighth Route Army won its first major victory since the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression near Pingxingguan in Lingqiu County, Datong City, Shanxi Province.
The Battle of Pingxingguan was completed by the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, which excelled in melee and mountain warfare, and took advantage of the dangerous terrain in the Pingxingguan area to launch ambush warfare that they were good at. According to intelligence, they learned that the ambush was a heavy convoy of the 21st Brigade of Seishiro Itagaki's 5th Division, known as the "Steel Army" of Japan.
For those Red Army soldiers who had just changed into the uniform of the national army, none of them knew what kind of army the Japanese army was. These soldiers from poor peasants never imagined that there would be such a peculiar country in the world, not only with the thousand-year-old fierce "bushido", but also after the education of the military state, their army is not elite, no one is well equipped, no one is not trained, and their way of fighting is fierce and cruel, arrogant and arrogant, and they would rather die than surrender.
The Red Army has never seen such an army before, this is simply a rare "beast army" in the world!
Therefore, although at the pre-war mobilization meeting of the Eighth Route Army it was emphasized that this was a murderous army, unlike the past opponents of the Red Army. But no one can imagine the difference.
Some soldiers of the Eighth Route Army believe that it is probably more difficult to deal with than ordinary warlords. Hit harder, and the enemy will be like that, fleeing when he should escape, descending when he should fall.
Moreover, ambushes were carried out under such a treacherous terrain, and the ambushes were still the weakest combat strength of the army, according to the combat experience of the Red Army in the past, after a burst of artillery fire, after a storming trumpet, those soldiers of the Chiang Army, strong men and porters would be frightened and fled like a flock of sheep! So how could the Japanese army be different? In this passive ambush battle, do they have any other choice?
Even Lin Biao, who was trained as a Japanese instructor at the Whampoa Military Academy, was the same. Before the war, Lin Biao once said, "We should take a few more Japanese prisoners and drag them to Taiyuan City to parade the streets to show the public."
However, after the battle began, the officers and men of the 115th Division realized that they were wrong! This was indeed an army unlike all other opponents, and despite the sudden and heavy blows, the Japanese quickly entered a combat state, with rigorous and orderly tactics and no panic.
Under such unique conditions, the Eighth Route Army still fought hard and had to pay great sacrifices. In particular, some excellent combat backbones, who have experienced a long march of thousands of miles, are extremely valuable seeds, but died in this battle that should have been "the best". Some were even unjustly sacrificed!
For example, some soldiers of the Eighth Route Army saw the Japanese soldiers hiding under the cars and resisting, and as if facing the Chiang Jun and the warlords, they enthusiastically persuaded them to surrender: "Fellow countryman, come out, we will treat prisoners favorably!" However, what they were greeted with were the vicious and accurate bullets of the Japanese army!
Some soldiers found the wounded and unconscious Japanese soldiers, so they carried them on their backs and prepared to send them to the position hospital, but they were stabbed to death by the awakened Japanese army with bayonets and bitten off their ears!
Nie Rongzhen, deputy commander of the 115th Division, came to the battlefield to check after the battle, when a wounded Japanese soldier hiding under a burning car aimed at him, fortunately a soldier pushed him away, otherwise the losses would be immeasurable!
After the war, the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army who participated in the battle did not have much joy of victory. Faced with such favorable conditions, but to go through such a long battle and pay such great sacrifices! Nie Rongzhen solemnly announced at the post-war summary meeting: "We are facing an army of beasts! For them, do not have illusions and pity, and stop shouting in vain 'take the gun and do not kill'! ”
