During the years of the Anti-Japanese War, Shanxi Province witnessed the heroic struggle of countless Chinese sons and daughters. From the Pingxingguan Dajie to the Xifengkou War of Resistance, to the Taiyuan Defense Battle and the shocking Battle of the Hundred Regiments, the mountains on the north bank of the Yellow River witnessed eight years of fierce Sino-Japanese battles, showing the tenacity and indomitability of the Chinese people.
The War of Resistance in the Jinsui area was a model of tacit cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party in the front and behind enemy lines. The numerous victorious battles proved that only by joining hands with the Kuomintang and the Communist Party can the Chinese army give full play to its potential and deal a heavy blow to the invading enemy. This historical experience deserves to be remembered.
In the Jinsui area, although the Kuomintang led a campaign, it reversed the situation of the Anti-Japanese War in Shanxi. The area has successfully repelled the Japanese army many times, but the Kuomintang suffered a major defeat here, losing by a 30:1 battle loss ratio, which is the famous "Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain".
Zhongtiao Mountain, located in the south of Shanxi Province, stretches for 170 kilometers in the southwest and is 10 kilometers deep. It is rich in mineral resources, forming strategic support with Taihang Mountain, Luliang Mountain and Taiyue Mountain, and its geographical location and strategic value are extremely important.
【Same-room maneuvering】
Since 1937, the Japanese army's attack on Shanxi has become more and more fierce, and major passes have been lost. After the fall of Taiyuan, Zhongtiao Mountain became one of the few natural fortresses in Shanxi that could resist the Japanese army and establish an anti-Japanese base area.
Since the Battle of Wuhan ended in 1938, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression has gradually entered a state of stalemate. In order to seize more strategic resources in North China, the Japanese army tried to break the stalemate and took the lead in launching a fierce attack on Zhongtiao Mountain, but the Chinese army stubbornly resisted and failed.
The brutality of the Japanese army's brutal sweep in Shanxi, in which many innocent people were brutally killed, was horrifying. In order to continue the war, they will do whatever it takes to exploit this already barren land and its people.
In 1940, the Japanese army attempted to turn the tide of the war by launching a large-scale campaign in the Zhongtiao Mountain area, attempting to occupy Jinnan in one fell swoop. However, by 1941, both China and Japan, although fully prepared for war, were bogged down in internal strife.
The Japanese War Department attempted to take advantage of Germany's war against the Soviet Union to quickly launch an offensive against Malaysia and Indonesia in an attempt to gain control of key strategic resources such as rubber.
After careful consideration, the military department decided to abandon the plan. On the one hand, they feared that the Chinese army would launch a counterattack during this period, putting the Japanese at a disadvantage during the stalemate phase, and on the other hand, they were also concerned that such a move could provoke a strong reaction from the United States, which did not have the strength to wage a full-scale war with the United States.
On the Chinese side, long before the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain, anti-communist factions within the Kuomintang were once again active, and there were frequent frictions with the New Fourth Army in the south. In particular, in the 1941 Southern Anhui Incident, the Kuomintang actually sent 80,000 troops to besiege the 9,000-strong troops of the New Fourth Army, and this fratricidal act caused the relationship between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party to fall to a historical low.
The Kuomintang suddenly provoked a civil war, which caused China to lose the strategic initiative against the Japanese army, and its bad influence continued to the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain. The Kuomintang was wary of their compatriots and fortified everywhere, and as a result, the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain ended in a disastrous defeat.
[Constraints everywhere]
In April 1941, Wei Lihuang arrived in Luoyang and took full charge of the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain. At the meeting, he made careful arrangements for the Jinnan army, but then turned to an attitude towards the Communists. At the critical juncture of the fight against the Japanese invaders, the Kuomintang was still vigilant against every move of the Communist Party in the battle.
In the western part of Zhongtiao Mountain, the 38th and 96th armies were born out of Yang Hucheng's 17th Route Army. In these two teams, the ideas of the Communists were widely disseminated, and the soldiers were full of enthusiasm and determination to fight the war, and vowed to contribute to the prosperity and stability of the country.
This enthusiasm aroused the suspicion of Chiang Kai-shek sitting in the rear, and he decisively ordered this bloody anti-Japanese army to withdraw from the front. In its place was a poorly equipped and mediocre 80th Army, which greatly weakened the defense force in the western part of Nakajo Mountain, and undoubtedly provided great convenience to the Japanese army.
In addition to Chiang Kai-shek's long-range command, the defenders of Zhongtiao Hill began to be complacent with the previous victories of the 38th and 96th armies. Some of the governors even enjoyed playing cards and smoking opium, and were indifferent to the construction of fortifications, and were completely unwilling to analyze the strategic topography. This negative attitude is worrying and can have a negative impact on the combat effectiveness of the defenders.
In addition, the KMT was rife with problems such as corruption and embezzlement. Due to the long-term war, food and drinking water resources in Shanxi are extremely scarce. The KMT's top brass failed to come up with an effective response and could only acquiesce to the plunder.
As a result, the internal discipline of the Kuomintang army was lax and morale was depressed, and the perverse actions of the Kuomintang in the rear brought a deep shadow to the entire war situation.
[Fiasco]
Since the flames of war began in May 1941, the Kuomintang 43rd Army hastily withdrew to Beishan after a short period of resistance. Therefore, the 17th Army held its position alone, and in less than a day the first line of defense was lost, and it retreated to the second line in disarray. During this period, a company was responsible for cover, fighting to the death with the Japanese army in a narrow valley, with swords and swords, killing voices shaking the sky, and blood pouring in.
In the middle of Nakajo Mountain, the 98th Army and the Japanese army were engaged in fierce battles, but unfortunately, similar situations occurred again. The 15th Division of the 65th Army hurriedly fled into the mountains without any resistance, which undoubtedly put serious pressure on the central defensive line.
Knowing that the 98th Army was in the thick of a fierce battle, Wei Lihuang quickly dispatched the 94th Division to reinforcements. Unexpectedly, it was ambushed by the Japanese army on the way, and the entire division of the Nationalist army was instantly routed and had to surrender, and the Kuomintang reinforcements were almost completely annihilated.
With an astonishing speed, the Japanese army annihilated 5,000 enemies every day, and successively conquered Hengling Pass and Yuanqu County, all the way to more than 100 miles. The two Kuomintang armies at Zhongtiao Mountain were forced to separate on the north and south hills, lost contact, and became two isolated and helpless forces.
As the Kuomintang troops withdrew, there were many clashes with the local people, resulting in many innocent people suffering heavy casualties. At the same time, the Japanese army completed the assembly of several group armies and began to form an encirclement of the Kuomintang 5th and 14th armies in the north and south mountains.
At a critical juncture, the Eighth Route Army in Taiyue District, commanded by the Communists, broke through the weak defense line of the enemy's encirclement and successfully saved two infantry divisions, one cavalry division and several regimental headquarters of the Kuomintang.
In addition to these, the headquarters of the 14th Army and most of the 15th Army were completely annihilated by the Japanese. Some of the soldiers who survived fled into the mountains and forests, while others became prisoners of the Japanese army and suffered brutal torture. The defense system of the Nakajo East Road has completely collapsed.
The Japanese troops on the east and middle routes quickly converged and formed an encirclement of the Kuomintang troops in the central and western parts of Zhongtiao Mountain. The 80th Army fell into a heavy siege, and the commander of the 25th Division, Wang Jun, the commander of the 22nd Division, Liang Xixian, and the major general of the 27th Division, Chen Wenqi, sacrificed their lives for the country and died bravely.
Seeing that the defeat was decided, Tang Huaiyuan, the commander of the 3rd Army, regrouped after leaving a suicide note and was determined to break through. In the fierce battle, Zhang Yongan, the commander of the 21st Regiment, Huang Xiangu, the commander of the 36th Regiment, Xue Jinwu, the commander of the 100th Regiment, and many other officers of the National Army died bravely and slept on this land forever.
After six days and six nights of fierce fighting, the Kuomintang army suffered heavy casualties and lacked food and ammunition, but it still could not escape the tight siege of the Japanese army. Whenever they came close to breaking through the encirclement, the Japanese quickly redeployed and trapped them again. Faced with a desperate situation, Commander Tang Huaiyuan felt hopeless to break through, and finally, on the top of Jianshan, he tragically raised the gun in his hand and chose to sacrifice himself.
The commander of the West Road Division had a strange character, and he failed to rescue Tang Huaiyuan many times, but was chased by the Japanese army. When Hujiayu broke through, he was unfortunately shot in the left shoulder, and the blood flowed profusely. During the retreat, he fought alone and bloodily, and finally his right leg was blown off by a Japanese artillery shell, and he died heroically and died a martyr.
At this time, the unified combat capability of the Kuomintang army had been greatly reduced, and the strategic objectives of the Japanese army had been basically achieved. Under Chiang Kai-shek's orders, the remaining Kuomintang troops launched guerrilla warfare against the Japanese. The Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain was basically over, marking the end of this stage of the War of Resistance.
In the battle, the Kuomintang troops bravely resisted the enemy and paid a heavy price. They lost more than 40,000 of their comrades, 40,000 were taken prisoner, and more than 20,000 were missing. There are also six generals above the rank of major general who sacrificed their lives for the country. Despite this, the Kuomintang army still held its ground, paying 5,000 casualties a day for a full 20 days. In comparison, the total number of Japanese casualties was only nine thousand.
The defeat in the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain is rare in the history of the Anti-Japanese War, and the lives of dozens of warriors were exchanged for the survival of one of the enemy, but the result was still a bitter battle. This battle was even jokingly dubbed the "Maginot Line of the East" by foreign military experts.
This battle was a direct manifestation of the internal problems of the Kuomintang army and political party, and 40,000 warriors were buried in the land of southern Jinnan, indicating that the decline of the Kuomintang was irreversible.