In June 1940, the 120th Division's "Combat Newspaper" "Miyu Town Battle" (Reporter: Wen Lu)
On 16 June, the Murakami Brigade, the enemy's most elite lightly armed unit, penetrated into Miyu Town by Jingle light cavalry in an attempt to launch a surprise attack on the guerrilla forces and political organs in our area, so as to begin a large-scale "sweep" of the northwestern part of Shanxi.
Our commander seized the opportunity of this lone army to penetrate deeply, sent a battalion of troops to destroy the Jinglan Road, making it difficult for the enemy to reinforce the enemy, and concentrated the main forces of the 4th Regiment, 6th Regiment, and 2nd Detachment in a favorable mobile position, and prepared to carry out a battle of annihilation with the mobile tactics of winning more and waiting for work at leisure.
The enemy pounced on the town of Miyu, and in a fit of rage they committed bestial rape and robbery against the town, and the next day they turned and returned with their heads held high.
At the same time, our main force was vigorously advancing towards Miyu, and in anticipation of the encounter, we encountered the enemy in Guolian Village, which was five miles away from Miyu.
The silence of the early morning was broken by the sound of machine guns, and the three companies of the four regiments, one battalion and three companies of our vanguard troops, stopped the enemy with fire near the village. The enemy evacuated the troops in a big way by virtue of the Guolian Village and calmly fired at us, and in their eyes, the "guerrillas" were vulnerable.
At this time, most of the main force arrived, and the 4th Regiment quickly extended 1 battalion into the enemy's flank and seized the hill to the south, while the other and the 2 battalions of the 6th Regiment occupied the high ground in the north. When the stupid enemy discovered our move, their main forces desperately climbed the hill to the north, but it was too late. They had just climbed a more favorable hill when the shells of our 6th Regiment were light machine gun...... It fell intensively on the enemy's positions. Falling to the left, the enemy dodged to the right, and suddenly more intense artillery fire swept to the right like a storm, and the enemy's limbs fell in piles in the smoke of shrapnel bursting, and then scattered and flew up. On another hill to the east, they launched a charge on the hill occupied by the 4th Regiment, which was also resolutely beaten down by the special service company. The screams and groans began, and it was then that they were amazed at the sudden encounter, and threw away the toad-like arrogance, and took up a serious mood to look at the unpleasant situation.
But our bombardiers did not give the enemy a minute to catch their breath and think, and under the cover of heavy artillery fire, they boldly approached the enemy's position, and the grenades pounced like black falcons, and the loud explosions were close to each other, and the deafening thunder thundered, and the enemy could not lift his head in the flying dust and smoke, and they could not lift their heads; they held their breath, heard the fierce shouts of their own men in the sound of bombing, and found that one of the hands or a piece of scalp that they were most familiar with had fallen in front of them. In the midst of this thrilling moment, our warriors suddenly appeared in front of the enemy's position, and many shining bayonets destroyed the last vestige of confidence in holding on to this position. They collapsed and retreated to another low hill, and we now completely occupied the high mountains north and south of Guolian Village.
Of course, for this advantageous terrain, the yellow beast is not willing to give up easily. They straightened out the ranks, and with hideous faces again, they rushed forward with a pretentious gesture. The commander of the first platoon of the 11th Company, Chodenko, calmly controlled the team, constantly encouraged morale, insisted on holding the position, brought flowers himself, and refused to get out of the line of fire. The brave, loyal and amiable fifth squad leader also calmly explained to individual backward soldiers in the fierce artillery fire, stirring up the mood of the whole class. When the enemy was about to rush to the top of the mountain, the soldiers suddenly stood up, and a burst of grenades knocked the enemy to the ground and retreated. The enemy rushed up in several groups one after another, and they were repulsed again. Disillusioned with the attack, the enemy slowly built up his new positions and stood for reinforcements. At the same time, because we had to adjust our troops after fighting for three hours, the battlefield was temporarily silent. There was only the sparse sound of a rifle, and it occasionally stimulated a little loose nerves.
The sun was gradually turning to the west, and by three o'clock in the afternoon a fresh force of ours appeared from behind the mountain, and the second detachment and a battalion of the sixth regiment were all approaching from the other road, and the disparity between the forces of the enemy and us was even greater, and it became an absolutely favorable situation for the enemy to be heavily encircled.
Before the new operation, the large forces were resting, constantly harassing the enemy with a small number of personnel, increasing the enemy's consumption and fatigue, and the enemy's life, energy and ammunition were seriously decreasing.
The order for a general attack has been announced, and a lively mobilization meeting is being held. Comrades who signed up for the bomb throwing class and the bayonet squad emerged, the machine gun squad of the fifth company volunteered to participate in the bomb throwing class, the leader of the fifth squad of the 11 th company organized the whole class to participate, and a soldier of the machine gun squad of the second battalion rolled up his sleeves and said, "I'm going to kill!" When it came to the bayonet squad, two young soldiers of the third battalion also stood up, "I am too!" The atmosphere was very warm, and the commander smiled gratefully beside him. After all the organization and preparations were completed, everyone eagerly waited for the order to charge. It's an unbearable nervousness!
At dusk, our commanders completed the deployment of the general attack, and suddenly a loud military horn sounded. Suddenly, explosions shook the heavens and the earth from both the top and bottom of the mountain, and all kinds of weapons fired at the mountains and villages where the enemy was entrenched from every different side. The bombardiers, who had volunteered, rushed to a distance of thirty or forty meters from the enemy in a hurry, and saw that the enemy threw grenades one after another. The comrades of the Mencius Company of the 2nd Battalion threw their eyes straight and refused to stop, and countless comrades of the heroic bayonet squad rushed towards the enemy like a flash flood, although some comrades in front fell, but the people behind did not hesitate or be discouraged in the slightest, and pounced on the enemy with higher enthusiasm for killing. Due to the good work of the enemy's fortifications, we repeated the charge five times. The fifth squad rushed first, and the platoon leader who rolled up his sleeves and shouted that he would resolutely complete the task walked in front with bayonets, followed by two self-registered bayonet squads and the comrades of the whole company, and the first company charged the enemy five times, and half of the comrades were killed or wounded. But one after the other, our stormtroopers are like a growing tide. The enemy's line faltered, and the enemy commanders were extremely nervous with their command knives and pistols on their heads, trying to stop this tragic collapse, but the frightened Japanese soldiers could not stop the commander from rushing back as if the tide was receding. Our athletes, in the midst of the crowd of beasts rolling and crawling, raised their bayonets, fighting, pounced, captured alive, and captured alive, becoming more and more courageous the more they fought, and some comrades even forgot that the wounds on their bodies were gushing blood.
In this general attack, the 4th Regiment attacked from the south to the north, and was ambushed behind the enemy's flank, and many commanders and fighters carried forward the spirit of killing the enemy with a high degree of intensity, as if they were competing with the comrades of the 6th Regiment on the mountain. Dai Zilin, the commander of the 10th Company, was wounded and could not get out of the line of fire; the commander of the first platoon of the 6th Company was very brave in the hand-to-hand combat and was seriously wounded; the leader of the 1st squad of the 11th Company led the whole squad to throw bombs and charge, and he was always in the front, and he was not pessimistic about the remaining three people in the squad after the battle. As night fell, the general assault was over. We captured Ueno, Yamamoto, and other enemy soldiers, and occupied the last hill and village that the enemy was holding.
Some of the retreating enemies, the ants gathered in the dead corner of the foothills, trying to escape back to Jingle through Xingwang Village, taking advantage of the dark night, the commander rode his horse, and the rest of the horses and soldiers lined up behind, and the horses and soldiers did not stop, and fled south regardless of life or death. They had just reached the southern foothills, and they were like trapped beasts and burrowed headlong into our preconceived pockets. The enemy was coming very fiercely, and Li Ming, the branch secretary of the 11th Company of the 4th Regiment and the first platoon leader, and Han Qiyuan, the commander of the 2nd platoon, led the troops, and a burst of grenades blew the enemy to the heart. The devil still didn't want to be a ghost, so he turned around and ran, but unexpectedly encountered another fatal grenade near Xingwang Village in the east. So in the river, they were beaten everywhere like rats crossing the street, running around and screaming. Bullets and sparks flew in all directions, and the Japanese soldiers and their livestock were all frightened by the chase and frightened into the same madness.
"Catch it alive!" "It's an animal!" "Hold it down!" "Treat the captives preferentially!" "Catch it!" "Why did he let him run away?" "Oceania—hey, one or two ......."
When the explosions gradually subsided, the voices of our fighters were heard, and they laughed loudly. Herds of horses were led here, piles of guns were seized over there, and countless military supplies such as canned food and bedding were collected.
Except for a part of the team monitoring and searching for the remnants of the enemy, our army has camped according to the deployment of the brigade, and some of the remnants of the enemy stragglers are still hiding in the shadows as if they are fighting for themselves.
At dawn the next day, our troops found more than 100 enemies (most of them wounded) lying dormant in a compound in Guolian Village, and on the hill north of Guolian Village, there were forty or fifty scattered devils, armed with two machine guns, hiding in the fortifications, and they were also there waiting for reinforcements. According to the order: the fourth regiment fought the enemy in the village, the sixth regiment sent a force to destroy the remnants of the enemy on the top of the mountain, and the others were arranged with strict vigilance.
The sparse gunfire began in the morning light, and the earth woke up.
The devil on the mountain hid in the fortifications that had been repaired last night, with embarrassing hunger, cold and fatigue, and the situation was very embarrassing. Our fighters happily outflanked the attack from two sides, but approaching the enemy had to pass through a breakoff and a blockade of enemy fire, and after approaching, the enemy's fortifications were so good that it was difficult to kill or injure them with grenades, and the battle could not be resolved by delaying the battle. We were only twenty or thirty meters away from the enemy, and at this time we shouted slogans and sang Japanese songs. Presently four enemy soldiers stood up and looked around, as if moved, but were drunk by one of the officers and fell down again. Their machine guns shouted, and the battle began again.
In Guolian Village, the battle unfolded in another form, the enemy stubbornly defended a very strong courtyard, there were houses and caves in the courtyard, the courtyard gate had been blocked, and there were gun holes around them, and they hid in it without making a sound. We threw a flurry of grenades, but we couldn't hit them. Later, the enemy engineer came and shouted to them for a long time in Japanese, telling them that we would treat the prisoners favorably and not kill them, but in other words, the enemy would ignore them under the hostage of the officers.
The time had dragged on until 2 p.m., and the last effort had been declared hopeless.
"Burn it!" said the warriors impatiently, "see how stubborn they are!"
"Let's burn it!" said the instructor, "and we'll get firewood, broken kang mats, and hay." ”
After a while, the fire was brought and the house in the yard was set on fire. At this time, the enemy shouted and screamed, and the enemy in the house rushed out at the risk of death, and was suppressed by a platoon led by the company commander Tian Youzhi, so he had to flee to the cave, but it was not safe inside, and the thick smoke and unbearable heat made them almost stunned and choked, dizzy, and thirsty. The "Imperial Army" trembled at the fate of death, and they wrote in their battle diaries: "My life will be extinct today, and I pray to return to my country and ascend to heaven." "It is impossible to return to the country, as for the ascension, then rely on his ashes to fulfill this wish!
One of the enemy commanders fired a grenade and rushed out to escape from the stone ladder to the cave, but a platoon of deputy Liu Kerang, who was waiting on the cave, jumped over and hugged the commander. Liu Ke was shot in the arm and still didn't let go, and another squad leader ran up and killed the commander. After he tied up the wounds, he said to everyone: "This is nothing, comrades!
1 room, 2 rooms, 3 rooms...... The house in front of the cave burned, and the wood cracked in the smoke. Zhao Yunqing, the squad leader of a company of machine guns, took off his clothes, was naked, held a bright saber in his right hand, and suddenly rushed into the enemy's cave with smoke, slashed two devils to death with a knife, and took out a machine gun, which shocked the enemy to quickly block the kiln door.
On the morning of the third day, the flames were still jumping, and suddenly a buzzing sound was heard, and everyone knew that it was the enemy planes coming, so they quickly hid themselves, and sure enough, it was only a few minutes, and the three enemy planes circled overhead again and again, and the enemy who was alone in the cave released a smoke column signal for help. But what kind of assistance can the enemy on the plane give them at once? In this case, the reinforcements are too far away, and death is too close!
Twenty or so enemies on the mountain, taking advantage of the unknown sky, tried to fake and escape, and rushed down from the mountain. They were so thirsty that they dragged their embarrassed bodies to the river and frantically drank water. At this time, our command post found out that there was no team in front of us, so several soldiers, correspondents, translators, and staff officers of the special service company rushed to the scene like a swarm, shouting "catch alive" while chasing. The enemy could no longer run, so he resisted at dawn by holding on to a small cemetery under the cover of aircraft.
The fire in the courtyard burned even more. We took the hay in a broken bag, lit it, and hoisted it with rope from the top of the kiln to the enemy's window, and the flame entered the window like many fiery snakes. Inside, the enemy could not hold their breath and shouted loudly, and some of them panicked and stupidly shot and stabbed at the burning windows with machine guns and knives. The barricaded door of the kiln was violently pushed open, and some of the enemy poured out of the door, where we had been "waiting" for a long time with bombs and bayonets, and sent them back to their hometowns one by one. Those who did not escape were all buried in the fire cave, and only five of the desperate captives were saved alive.
Later, the warriors, excited by the victory, hurried to extinguish the fire and hurriedly carried the corpses of the enemy and the goods of victory. At this time, a group of comrades came in.
"Why, you're here too!" "I heard you're too busy, come and help!"
"What about the enemies of the graveyard?" "Send them to see Lord Yama!" "Haha...... Haha......" burst into laughter.
From several caves, find a lot of complete machine guns, rifles, grenadiers, blankets, raincoats, leather backpacks, steel helmets, leather shoes, lunch boxes......
The soldiers sweated, talked and laughed, and carried countless victories on the cattle, and everyone carried, carried, and wore them......
The three-day battle was over, and the scattered enemy was not able to escape the fate of being killed or taken prisoner because of the unfamiliar roads, and more than 1,000 enemies could be said to have been completely wiped out.
Two hours after our team left the village of Guolian, reinforcements from all over the enemy arrived. Reinforcements have finally arrived, but what about the enemies who have been aided? The living "imperial army" is sad again!
(This article was written in 1940 by journalist Wen Lu, wife of General Cliffe, when he was the editor of the Combat Newspaper)
