The 11th Division of the Eighth Route Army, as one of the three main divisions led by the Communist Party of China during the Anti-Japanese War, had a staggering high leadership configuration. Among the 115th Division, Yang Chengwu Independent Regiment is known as the "highest match" of the 115th Division, because out of it came out of the 9 founding generals, who are these 9 generals, and what battle did they fight together?
Yang Chengwu Independent Regiment
In August 1937, in order to carry out an active and effective all-out war of resistance, the main forces of the 1st and 15th Army Corps of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army and the 74th Division of the Red Army in southern Shaanxi were combined to form the new 115th Division, with Comrade Lin Biao as the commander of the 115th Division, Comrade Nie Rongzhen as the deputy division commander, Zhou Kun as the chief of staff, Luo Ronghuan as the director of the Political Training Office, and Xiao Hua as the deputy director.
The head of the independent regiment under the 115th Division was Yang Chengwu, Huang Yongsheng was the deputy commander, and Luo Yuanfa was the director of the Political Training Office.
Although the Yang Chengwu Independent Regiment at that time did not even have a regular number due to the establishment reasons, it is undeniable that the Independent Regiment was still the highest configuration of the 115th Division, because there were nine founding generals from it, namely General Yang Chengwu, General Huang Yongsheng, Major General Xiong Botao, Lieutenant General Luo Yuanfa, Major General Zeng Baotang, Lieutenant General Yuan Shengping, Major General Xiao Siming, Major General Li Shuiqing and Major General Qiu Wei.
It can be said that such a command lineup is enough to make Yang Chengwu's independent regiment proud of the entire 115th Division.
Stagecoach Ridge Resistance Battle
As the most representative battle of Yang Chengwu's Independent Regiment, the Yimaling Resistance Battle also had a huge impact on the victory of the war.
It not only represents the first shot fired against the Japanese army represented by the Eighth Route Army in the early days of the Kuomintang-Communist Cooperation Anti-Japanese War, but also lays a solid foundation for the subsequent victory of Pingxingguan.
In early September 1937, after the defeat in the Battle of Datong, the Second Theater launched the Battle of Pingxingguan in order to prevent the Japanese army from continuing to move south. There is no doubt that the outcome of the Battle of Pingxingguan will directly affect the changes in the situation of the entire Anti-Japanese War.
Therefore, the 115th Division commanded part of the two military strategies to carry out coordinated operations, one was to set up an ambush in Qiaogou with the strength of the four main regiments, and the other was to lead the independent regiment to Yimaling to stop the reinforcements of the Japanese reinforcements.
On the morning of September 23, 1937, the pre-war mobilization meeting of the 115th Division was held in Lingqiu County, and all cadres above the company level were asked to participate.
On the afternoon of September 23, the independent regiment marched smoothly to camp in Beiquan Village, but what Yang Chengwu did not expect was that before the arrival of the independent regiment, Beiquan Village and nearby villages had been looted by the Japanese army.
From the mouths of these old people, Yang Chengwu learned the truth that the village was empty, it turned out that the vicinity of Beiquan Village was not only burned and killed by the Japanese army, but even the defeated Kuomintang also robbed along the village when passing here, and the only remaining young people in the village were robbed, so before the Eighth Route Army arrived in the village, they all hid in the mountains to ask for a way to live, only these old people in the village were inconvenient, so they could only resign themselves to their fate to stay in the village, and hide for a while.
After Yang Chengwu learned the ins and outs, he retold several old people about the military discipline and military regulations of the Eighth Route Army, and even arranged for his soldiers to help the villagers clean the yard and carry water and chop firewood.
On September 24, Yang Chengwu's Independent Regiment continued to march rapidly in the direction of Yimaling, but because the troops were not familiar with the terrain, they could only entrust a villager from Beiquan Village to lead the way.
In order to rush to Yimaling as soon as possible and complete the blocking task assigned to the independent regiment organizationally, Yang Chengwu made a quick decision and asked his soldiers to discard the heavy materials and equipment, and then went into battle lightly and jogged in the direction of Yimaling.
However, just when Yang Chengwu's independent regiment was about to arrive near Yimaling, the sharp knife platoon of the independent regiment collided head-on with a small group of Japanese soldiers, and before the Japanese soldiers had time to react, when they were stunned, the commander of the sharp knife platoon immediately made a decision and immediately led his soldiers to attack this Japanese army.
Because of this, Yang Chengwu quickly realized that the Yimaling Heights had been occupied by the Japanese army first, and in order to continue to complete the blocking mission, Yang Chengwu ordered his soldiers to quietly occupy other mountains on both sides of Yimaling, hoping to continue to complete the task of blocking the Japanese army's rescue at Pingxingguan.
However, because the altitude of Yima Ridge is as high as 1,500 meters, and the nearby mountains are not at such a height, it is also very difficult for the independent regiment to successfully complete the blocking mission.
At about 4 p.m. on September 24, the scouts of Yang Chengwu's Independent Regiment received news from the front that a Japanese army wing had set off from Luanyuan City, and the destination was in the direction of Yimaling, where Yang Chengwu's unit was located. At that time, the Battle of Pingxingguan had not yet begun, and the sudden march of the Japanese army made Yang Chengwu feel very alert.
After careful analysis, Yang Chengwu believed that the Japanese wing that set off from Luanyuan City should have come because of the previous small-scale encounter of the sharp knife platoon of the independent regiment, Yang Chengwu deduced that they would probably arrive near Yimaling at night according to the marching speed of this Japanese wing, but the real time of the battle between the two sides would probably be in the early morning of the next day.
In fact, as Yang Chengwu expected, in the early morning of September 25, the vicinity of Yimaling was covered with fog and visibility was extremely low, and the newly arrived Japanese army wing fought in conjunction with the Japanese troops who had previously occupied the Yimaling Heights, and launched a fierce artillery attack on Yang Chengwu's independent regiment.
At this time, the combat strength of the Japanese army was as high as more than 3,000 people, and all the soldiers of the Yang Chengwu Independent Regiment were only more than 1,700 people, of which the second battalion was reorganized and sent to the direction of Guangling to block the Japanese reinforcements in that direction, and the third battalion also had to bear the heavy responsibility of the independent regiment reserve, so there were only about 600 soldiers of the independent regiment who could really go to the battlefield to fight with the Japanese army at that time.
In the face of such a grim strategic situation, the independent regiment did not lose heart, and the regiment commander Yang Chengwu was even more fearless, and immediately sorted out the advantages and disadvantages of the enemy and us, and then assigned their respective combat tasks to the whole regiment in an orderly manner.
First of all, the 1st Company of the 1st Battalion of the Independent Regiment, as the main force in the battle of Yimaling, was led by the company commander to engage in a firepower exchange with the Japanese army from the front, and took the opportunity to seize the ownership of the Yimaling Heights, while the 2nd Company lurked and advanced from the mountain road on the right side of the Yimaling, trying by all means to attack the top of the hill and provide assistance to the main force of the 1st Company in the frontal direction, and the 3rd Company had to make a detour to a peak higher than the Yimaling Mountains to suppress the Japanese troops on the Yimaling Heights with firepower.
After the battle began, Zhang Deren, the company commander of a battalion and a company, took the lead in leading 7 soldiers to throw a grenade into the position where the Japanese army was located, because the equipment of the independent regiment was insufficient, in the face of well-equipped Japanese troops, the soldiers of a company could only try to save the use of ammunition, until the final ammunition ran out of food, Zhang Deren company commander led the remaining soldiers to start hand-to-hand combat with the enemy, directly face to face with the big knife, and finally the soldiers of the first company and the company commander Zhang Deren all died.
Although the soldiers of the Independent Regiment were not afraid of the enemy's intensive artillery fire and insisted on fighting bravely, due to the absolute superiority of the Japanese army at the beginning of the war, the battle at Yimaling was still very fierce and even tragic.
The soldiers of the independent regiment kept falling, and when the bullets were gone, they drew their broadswords and fought the enemy at close quarters, and when their comrades fell, another fighter continued to attack the enemy......
It is gratifying that as the war progressed, the initial advantage of the Japanese army began to disappear, on the contrary, with the repeated increase in the morale of the independent regiment, the strategic advantage began to gradually tilt towards the independent regiment.
With the heroic fighting and fearless sacrifice of the whole regiment of the Independent Regiment, Yang Chengwu's troops finally successfully completed the task of blocking the attack.
At four o'clock in the afternoon of September 25, Yang Chengwu received a call from the general headquarters of the 115th Division, which read: "At present, more than 1,000 people of the 21st Brigade of the Japanese Itagaki Division have been annihilated, and the independent regiment has successfully completed the task of sending reinforcements. Although the battle of Yimaling was not over at this time, the call from the 115th Division had fully proved that the Yang Chengwu Independent Regiment's Yimaling blocking mission had been successfully completed.
The members of the independent regiment who learned the news were once again greatly boosted, and the Japanese wing on the opposite side may have also learned of the fiasco in the Battle of Pingxingguan, and their morale was even lower, and they finally collapsed.
Seeing this situation, Yang Chengwu immediately made a decision and directly ordered the troops to pursue the victory, and finally successfully pursued the enemy for more than 20 miles, and recovered the county seat of Luanyuan City, which had been occupied by the Japanese army.
In the Battle of Yimaling, Yang Chengwu's Independent Regiment annihilated more than 300 enemy troops, creating extremely favorable conditions for the victory of Pingxingguan.
"Nameless" wins "famous"
After the Yimaling Resistance Battle, more than half of the soldiers of the first battalion of Yang Chengwu's Independent Regiment were killed or wounded, and many of the soldiers who died were all the way from the Red Army period, and they died here for the victory of the Battle of Pingxingguan.
Everyone knew that this was a hard-won victory, accompanied by the flesh and blood of the deceased, but in the final commendation order, this victory was brushed aside in a few words.
Because in the final analysis, Yang Chengwu's Independent Regiment is still a "black household" unit, and in order to unify the anti-Japanese war front, this group of martyrs can only be hidden behind in public reports.
After the victory at Pingxingguan, the Independent Regiment remained in the local area and took on the new task of opening up an anti-Japanese base area. During this period, the size of the 115th Division's Independent Regiment also increased day by day, from more than 1,700 people at the beginning to more than 7,000 people later.
Although the official report at the time mentioned that the contribution made by the Independent Regiment to the victory of Pingxingguan in the Yimaling Resistance Battle was brushed aside, the history of New China will not forget any of the battles against the Japanese invaders, and the heroes who fought desperately to defend their homeland in these battles.
At the first award ceremony after the founding of the People's Republic of China, nine founding generals came out of the 115th Division Independent Regiment, who participated in the Yimaling Resistance Battle, and then made great contributions to the country and the people in other battles, which will be remembered forever by history and the people.
Bibliography:
《平型关战役文献资料汇编》 Gao Lingshan Chinese Communist Party History Publishing House, 2012 edition
"Yang Xianwu's Memoirs", Yang Chengwu, People's Liberation Army Publishing House, 1987 edition
Wu Guoyou, Jilin Literature and History Publishing House, 2011 edition