In 1938, the Eighth Route Army experienced the most tragic battle.
In the course of the confrontation with the Japanese army, only more than 2,000 of the 50,000 troops remained, and the two deputy commanders died heroically.
In which battle did this sad scene take place, and what happened during it?
The Japanese army invaded, and the eastern Hebei uprising
In 1933, Japan invaded eastern Hebei and northern China, in a vain attempt to use this place as a gateway to the mainland. Some people don't want their hometowns to end up like the three eastern provinces.
For this reason, they responded to our party's call to resist Japan one after another, and followed the patriotic generals to resist the Japanese invasion.
Unfortunately, the army stationed in the eastern Hebei region was the Kuomintang army, and at this time Chiang Kai-shek still advocated a policy of "non-resistance", which made the people in the eastern Hebei region very resentful.
In the end, the people of eastern Hebei could only witness their hometown being invaded by the Japanese army.
However, our party did not give up, and was always looking for a way to save eastern Hebei, and for this reason we also established the eastern Hebei anti-Japanese branch. They operated under the noses of the Japanese army, passing on intelligence, transporting supplies, and putting every plan in place.
At this moment, the underground members of our party are hiding in various towns in the eastern Hebei region, and they are ready to accept the tasks of the organization. The masses also volunteered to help our party members hide their identities, and the military and the people worked together to save eastern Hebei.
While all the work was being carried out in an orderly manner, the Japanese army wantonly burned, killed and looted in various towns. Countless people with lofty ideals were filled with righteous indignation, and they felt that the time had come to set off a revolutionary frenzy.
In order to implement this plan, the Jidong branch held several meetings, and they decided to make an uprising in 1938. In order to ensure the smooth progress of the uprising, in response to the call of the organization, the Eastern Hebei Anti-Japanese Allied Army was formally formed.
After all, if you have a loose team, it is very likely that you will not be able to carry out all the tasks in place.
In addition, in order to strengthen the strength of the uprising, the Anti-Japanese Federation often promoted their ideas to the local masses. Young and middle-aged people responded, and students and workers volunteered to join.
In just a few months, the ranks of the Anti-Union have doubled, and many of them include intellectuals, merchants, hawkers, etc., who only want to save their hometown.
In July, the eastern Hebei region officially launched an uprising, and many counties responded one after another, setting off an upsurge of anti-Japanese resistance.
Our party also sent a contingent to the Japanese garrison early to take the Japanese army by surprise by means of guerrilla warfare.
In general, within the eastern Hebei region, the counties united against the Japanese army occupying the towns. On the outside, the Eighth Route Army attacked, and it was bound to break through both the interior and the periphery.
There were some puppet soldiers in the ranks of the Japanese army, who were frightened by this large-scale uprising, and hurriedly threw down their weapons and fled. Many of the people who had been oppressed by them finally straightened their backs and shed tears of excitement.
In order to keep the enemy's support forces out, our army captured the communication to the outside world as early as possible, and it can only be said that the enemy in the eastern Hebei region can only accept the fate of being surrounded and annihilated.
This action resounded throughout the country, and the enemy was shocked by the determination of the people on the mainland to resist Japan, and they did not know where our strength came from.
And our party's plan was also in full swing, and this uprising completely drove the Japanese army from the eastern Hebei region to the periphery. In a short time, the enemy forces had no chance of counterattacking.
During this period of recuperation, our army quickly established an anti-Japanese regime and trained the army. The strength of the Eastern Hebei Anti-Japanese Federation gradually increased, and the anti-Japanese base areas continued to expand.
Chairman Mao nodded with satisfaction after learning about the recent situation in the eastern Hebei region. He believed that the victory in this battle would certainly boost the morale of the Eighth Route Army in various localities and bring new hope to the whole country.
Our positions cheered, but the Japanese positions were terrified. At that time, they didn't expect the counterattack of the Eighth Route Army to come so quickly, they didn't react, so they could only deal with it in a hurry. Coupled with the lack of support, they were isolated for a while.
But when our troops rested, they had time to counterattack.
At the same time as our army's anti-Japanese base areas expanded, a counterattack against the eastern Hebei base areas was about to begin.
The counterattack was fierce and retreated
The Japanese army once again mobilized large forces to attack the anti-Japanese base areas in eastern Hebei and North China. In order to curb the development of the Eastern Hebei Anti-Japanese Alliance, the Japanese army wanted to unite with the Kwantung Army and the puppet army to encircle the Eastern Hebei Anti-Japanese Alliance.
The strength of the Japanese army is more than 100,000, and our army, including the masses, only has tens of thousands of troops, and there is a huge difference in strength.
Not only that, the Japanese army was also divided into several squads to launch an attack on our army's base area, and the artillery fire on each position was frequent, and fierce battles began.
The commander of the Eighth Route Army discovered the conspiracy of the Japanese army, and they tried in vain to lead our troops to one place with fire and narrow the encirclement. After discovering the intentions of the Japanese army, the commander immediately reported this important information to the central authorities.
At this time, the headquarters of the Eastern Hebei Anti-Japanese Federation was thinking about the battle plan.
At present, they have fewer troops than the enemy, so they cannot fight hard, and can only weaken the enemy's strength through guerrilla warfare, but where is the most suitable place to engage in guerrilla warfare? Where can we better conceal their tracks?
They had no choice but to march to the middle of nowhere, so that the enemy would not dare to rush in.
But there is one point that they are in the middle of nowhere, and their food supply is not guaranteed, and they have no strength to fight if they are not fed.
Many teams of the Eighth Route Army encountered this situation, although the Eastern Hebei Anti-Japanese Union repelled the enemy's attacks many times, and even highlighted the encirclement of the Japanese army, but the grim situation in the eastern Hebei region still did not change.
To this end, the headquarters held an emergency meeting, which mainly discussed whether the Anti-Japanese Federation should continue to fight in eastern Hebei, or retreat and temporarily preserve its strength.
Everyone has a different opinion, staying in eastern Hebei to fight, it is bound to be against the enemy's strength, and at present they are not completely sure that they will annihilate all the enemy troops.
And for the temporary retreat, the destination of the retreat is Pingxi, so it is necessary to retreat westward. This is very likely to expose one's rear to the enemy, and it is far away from other troops, and if something goes wrong, it is very likely that there will be no time to rescue, which can be said to be very risky.
The two sides argued endlessly, and there was no conclusion at all.
However, if they stay in the eastern Hebei region at this moment, first, the soldiers will already be exhausted under the enemy's attack and will not be able to counterattack; second, if they are surrounded, the Eastern Hebei Anti-Japanese Federation is very likely to be destroyed.
Under the proposal to retreat, some believed that the retreat to the west would be temporary, and that they could return to the city in the following year to continue fighting the enemy.
The final result of the discussion was that the Eastern Hebei Anti-Japanese League retreated westward. They immediately reported to the Central Committee for a reply, and while they were waiting for a reply, the Fourth Column and the Anti-Japanese Union were making arrangements to retreat westward.
In order to be able to retreat quickly, the commander specially divided the troops into several teams, so that the small force marched, had strong mobility, and had a high success rate in the operation.
But this westward retreat did take place, and it was clear that it failed in the end, and suffered heavy losses.
What happened in the meantime?
Retreated to the west with heavy losses
After Chairman Mao and others learned the news that the Anti-Japanese Federation was about to withdraw westward, they immediately sent a telegram to Jidong, expressing their disagreement with this proposal.
Chairman Mao believed that if he retreated westward this time, it was very likely that the rear would be exposed to the enemy;
And their team has not been formally trained, their willpower is not strong, they have left their hometown, like rootless duckweed, if they march for a long time, it is very likely that the team will break up.
However, some people turned a deaf ear to the central government's reply and still wanted to direct the large army to withdraw westward.
They believed that a retreat to the west was inevitable, and that they could look for another place to establish a base in the process of retreating.
In this way, it can not only escape from the pursuit of the enemy, but also expand the living force, killing two birds with one stone. So everyone immediately took the troops to "pull out".
Along the way, they did encounter many enemy troops, but they were all repulsed or annihilated by our army, and they were still effective in a short time.
However, if the enemy knows the plan of our army's westward retreat, it is very likely that the enemy will send the main force to follow behind the team.
Before leaving, the central government continued to send telegrams to stop their plan, but it was still not adopted.
After the attack, the enemy really caught up, and the atmosphere of the anti-union team led by Li Yunchang, Hong Linge and others was solemn.
There were four teams retreating westward, adding up to a total of 50,000 people. Looking at these 50,000 people, Li Yunchang suddenly felt bottomless in his heart.
After that, the anti-union team ushered in a heavy attack from the enemy.
In order to intercept the resistance alliance, the enemy first intercepted Gao Yuanzhi's troops, and before the unit had time to react, the team completely collapsed. Next, Chen Yuhuan led the troops to counterattack, but failed, and the two deputy commanders, Gao Yuanzhi and Chen Yuhuan, died heroically.
The collapse of the first two teams made Li Yunchang in the rear very sad. Now he was the only commander left, and looking at the blank expressions of the soldiers, he thought that if he continued to march, he would probably be wiped out.
At this time, the strength of 50,000 people is now more than 6,000 people left.
In order to preserve the existing troops, Li Yunchang hurriedly organized the remaining people and held a brief meeting.
Most people at the meeting agreed that the current situation was not at all suitable for continuing the westward march, and that the best way was to return to eastern Hebei, which was still supported by other troops.
After some deliberation, they decided to lead the team back to Jidong. Along the way, they encountered several groups of enemy troops, all of which were repulsed. But our army still suffered casualties, from more than 6,000 to more than 2,000.
It wasn't until he returned to the eastern Hebei base that Li Yunchang breathed a sigh of relief.
But looking at the team in front of him, Li Yunchang felt more grief in his heart. Although he did not agree with the proposal to retreat westward, they led the soldiers on the road to retreat westward, and also led them to the road of no return.
After the incident, various ministries urgently held a meeting to discuss where the anti-United Nations team should go, and everyone had no bottom in their hearts.
But the best way now is to rest and regain strength in eastern Hebei.
In order to develop the ranks, the commanders of the Anti-Union united the armed forces that existed nearby. Within a few months, they restored the strength of the Anti-United Nations to seventy or eighty percent of what it used to be.
This retreat did deal an irreparable blow to the Eastern Hebei Anti-Japanese Federation, but it inspired the fighters to continue to move forward and contribute their strength to the resistance against Japan!
bibliography
[1] "On the Causes of the Great Anti-Japanese Uprising of the People's Anti-Japanese Uprising in Eastern Hebei", Hebei Academic Journal, No. 4, 1987.
[2] "The Tragic and Tragic Retreat of Pingxi", Party History, No. 12, 2006.