As we all know, in the War of Resistance Against Japan, it was very difficult to capture Japanese prisoners. The famous Pingxingguan victory, the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army annihilated more than 1,000 enemies, but not a single Japanese prisoner was captured. The most time the CCP captured the Japanese army, before May 1944, which was it?
Most people don't know.
It was the Battle of Cheqiao in March 1944.
This battle was fought by Su Yu commanding the 1st Division of the New Fourth Army.
Cheqiao is a large town 20 kilometers southeast of Huai'an County, Jiangsu. In the spring of 1943, the Japanese puppet army "swept up", and the Kuomintang Han Deqin Department collapsed without a fight, and the bridge fell under the iron hooves of the Japanese army. The Japanese troops stationed at Cheqiao were a squadron of the Shanze Brigade of the 65th Division of the North China Dispatch Army, with about 40 people, and the puppet army was a regiment of Hao Pengju's division in Huaihai Province. The Japanese puppet army entrenched in Cheqiao, built 53 strongholds, and also built a large enclosure around the city that was two miles long, one mile wide, and one zhang five miles high. The enemy spewed out wild words: "If the New Fourth Army breaks the bridge, I will withdraw from Central China!"
Because the bridge is located in the strategic maneuver position at the junction of the Soviet Union (1st Division of the New Fourth Army), Northern Jiangsu (3rd Division of the New Fourth Army), Huainan (2nd Division of the New Fourth Army), and Huaibei (4th Division of the New Fourth Army). The Japanese puppet army occupied Cheqiao and divided our base areas in central Jiangsu, northern Jiangsu, Huainan, and Huaibei. Take the axle, and the four base areas can be connected. So, Su Yu aimed at the axle. His tactics are centered on the axle, attracting the devils around him to come to its attack point to help.
On the evening of March 4, the New Fourth Army secretly arrived at the bridge in a small boat. In the early morning of the 5th, Ye Fei, commander of the front-line field command, gave an order, and the 7th Regiment, which was the main attacker, divided the troops into two routes, swam over the outer trench that was one zhang five feet wide and seven or eight feet deep, and secretly approached Daweizi. In the sound of explosions, the enemy pillboxes either collapsed or blew up. The warriors leaped forward. At dawn, 42 enemy pillboxes were blown up.
The battle lasted until 2 p.m., and only two small Japanese soldiers remained on the bridge. Ye Fei said: "The devil can't run. ”
After the battle of Cheqiao began, the Japanese troops in Huai'an City were immediately reinforced. Lujiatan is the only way from Huai'an to Cheqiao. The 1st Brigade and 1st Regiment of the New Fourth Army, the Special Service Battalion of the Third Service Division, and the 1st Battalion of the Taizhou Independent Regiment were led by Liao Zhengguo, chief of staff of the 1st Brigade and commander of the 1st Regiment. They lay in ambush at Lujiatan, waiting for enemy reinforcements to arrive.
Because the telephone line of Cheqiao had been cut by the militia, Yamazawa Dazuo in Huai'an City learned about the Battle of Cheqiao in the morning of the next day. He immediately used a car to assemble the Japanese puppet troops in Huaiyin, Zhun'an, Siyang, Lianshui and other places, and drove to the bridge.
At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Yamasawa Dazuo led the first batch of seven trucks to Lujiatan. The car stepped on the mines planted by the New Fourth Army, and the stumps and arms of the Japanese puppet army flew into the air, causing most of the casualties. Soon, the second group of Japanese troops also arrived, and Yamasawa Daisa immediately commanded his soldiers to get out of the car and charge the New Fourth Army. But they rushed to the front of the fortifications, and there was not even a shadow of the New Fourth Army, so they climbed into the car and continued to move forward, and then stepped on the mines, and the Japanese got out of the car again and walked cautiously forward, but still did not see the New Fourth Army.
Yamazawa led the car team to speed towards the bridge, but the convoy encountered a mine again, "boom, boom", the wheels flew into the sky, and the Japanese soldiers on the truck were killed and wounded. The Japanese troops in the truck behind were about to retreat, when Liao Zhengguo commanded the New Fourth Army on the hills on both sides to open fire.
Fierce fighting ensued.
The fighting continued until dawn on March 6. The Japanese troops at Lujiatan were completely annihilated. Yamazawa was wounded in the abdomen, his hair was burnt, and he became a prisoner. After he was captured, he lay on a stretcher with breath and pain, and he died after a hoarse scream.
By this time, the battle for the axle had already ended. In this battle, the New Fourth Army annihilated 460 Japanese troops, captured 24 prisoners, and annihilated more than 800 puppet troops.
The next day, Chen Yi, commander of the New Fourth Army, sent a congratulatory telegram from Yan'an. Subsequently, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, in the name of Deputy Commander-in-Chief Peng Dehuai, announced:
"The Battle of Cheqiao, in the history of the Anti-Japanese War, was the largest number of Japanese soldiers captured by our army in a battle before 1944. ”
After the victory in the Battle of Cheqiao, in the military headquarters of the New Fourth Army, Rao Shushi was sulking, pacing around the house, and kept saying: "Su Yutai has no one in his eyes, is unorganized and undisciplined, and makes decisions without permission, which is too disagreeable. "
It turned out that Su Yu did not report to the military department for instructions before researching and launching the bridge battle, and Rao Linshi was kept in the dark. It was not until the victory that Su Yu sent him a telegram of victory.
Rao Shushi held the telegram in his hand and said angrily: "Su Yu launched the battle of the car and bridge, exposing the strength of our army prematurely, stimulating the enemy, and incurring the enemy's counterattack. Su Yu must take all the responsibility!" He angrily sent a telegram to Su Yu, severely accusing Su Yu of being "unorganized and undisciplined".
"A deep written examination is to be made."
Su Yu received the telegram, his eyebrows furrowed slightly, and then he smiled calmly. He handed the telegram to Ye Fei and the others to circulate, and said: "Obediently, it's so angry, fortunately I didn't report it in advance, otherwise, don't think about this battle!"
Ye Fei and the others listened to it, looked at each other and smiled, and they all admired Su Yu for being like a god.
It turned out that before launching the Cheqiao Campaign, when everyone was discussing whether to ask Rao Shushi for instructions, Li Yu said: "Rao will never agree, and the generals will not suffer from the lives of the troops abroad! In order to fight this battle well, let's do a prelude first!"
However, the Cheqiao Battle won the approval of the central government, the whole country praised it endlessly, congratulatory telegrams were sent from all over the country, Rao Shushi's accusations naturally disappeared, and Su Yu's review was also gone.
In this Cheqiao Battle, the New Fourth Army rarely captured 24 Japanese prisoners, setting a record. Later, the Japanese base camp in Tokyo had to admit in frustration: "The Battle of Chebashi marked the beginning of the counteroffensive of the New Fourth Army, and the Japanese army slid downhill from there. ”
Chen Guanren's book "The Ten Marshals of the Chinese People's Liberation Army: The Little-Known History of the Ten Commanders of the People's Liberation Army" published by the CPC History Publishing House recounted the incident, which is the society's annual bestseller and once ranked first on China's military bestseller list (pictured).