In the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the three main divisions of the Eighth Route Army were "encircled" and "swept up" by the Japanese army many times, whether it was the 115th Division or the 129th Division, and even the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army were surrounded by the Japanese army. There have been a lot of losses. However, the 120th Division led by He Long hardly caused a single major loss as a result.
Why is that?
Naturally, He Long has special skills.
Let's take a look at how the Japanese army once besieged Helong and failed!
On March 9, 1940, the North China Front of the Japanese Army held a meeting of the chief of staff of the Corps, at which Major General Masashi Hirata, deputy chief of staff, shouted: "In this area in the northwest of Shanxi Province, the infiltration of the communist army has been particularly significant recently, and if it is allowed to develop, it will soon become a red zone." Then, he announced that he would mobilize more than 20,000 troops to attack the northwest of Jin.
In late May, Japanese troops began to sortie.
He Long was keenly aware of the movements of the Japanese army that its intention might be: Heavy troops occupied Lan County and Qilan, expelled our army in the mountainous areas northwest of Wenshui and Jiaocheng, and then besieged the central area of the base area from the east, south, and north by means of separate and combined attacks, and gradually compressed, divided, encircled, and annihilated each one. Therefore, he decided to avoid the real and carry out guerrilla warfare, and ordered the 2nd Brigade to take the initiative to attack the Japanese army and form the 3rd Brigade and Regiment independently; The 358th Brigade assembled in the Dongcun area of Lanxian County, waiting for an opportunity to strike at the enemy who was deep in.
On June 17, Zhang Zongxun commanded the 358th Brigade and the 2nd Independent Detachment to surround and attack the Japanese Murakami Brigade at Caojiazhang. Most of the village-upper brigade was annihilated, and there were more than 100 people who resisted stubbornly in the cave. The next day, He Long learned that there were two Japanese troops reinforcing the Murakami Brigade from Jingle and Gujiao, and that if Zhang Zongxun did not transfer, he would fall into the enemy's combined attack, so he ordered the 358th Brigade to withdraw immediately to avoid reinforcing the enemy. Zhang Zongxun was unwilling to lose these 100 Japanese troops, and before leading the main force of the brigade to transfer, he left the 4th regiment to clean up the mess, and ordered them to evacuate before dusk, regardless of whether they could eat the more than 100 Japanese troops. The 4th regiment stormed the recalcitrant enemy and settled the battle before dusk.
When Japanese reinforcements arrived, all they saw were the corpses of their compatriots. In this battle, He Longbu killed and wounded more than 500 Japanese soldiers and captured 4 prisoners.
This annoyed the Japanese army even more! As a result, the Ninth Independent Mixed Brigade rushed to Xingxian in a vain attempt to attack the command organ of the military region led by He Long.
On this day, He Long led his division to move to a small village called Tuan Zao. It is located on the west side of the valley west of Xingxian County, the target of the Japanese army's joint attack, not far from Heiyukou and the Yellow River. The headquarters of the new army and one guard company in Xu Fan Ting were located in another small village three or five miles to the southeast. He Long then ordered to stop here to see the movements of the Japanese army before making a decision.
The next day, it was drizzling, and the divisional organs and directly subordinate units ate before dawn, made preparations for transfer, and waited for the situation to be determined. Suddenly, guns rang out in the direction of the General Headquarters of the Forces nouvelles. The staff officer came in and reported: "The Japanese troops of 1 squadron from the direction of Kangning Town have engaged with the General Headquarters of the New Army, and the General Headquarters of the New Army has only 1 guard company, and I am afraid that it will not be able to withstand it." We're all surrounded by devils. ”
He Long said:
"Don't panic, let the division guard company go to the top and bottom. The cadres of the agency and those who had guns in the battle went to the southeast to prepare for cover, and the rest followed me. Tell the chief of staff to send someone to inform the commander-in-chief to withdraw and move with us. ”
So, He Long and Guan Xiangying walked ahead, led the division headquarters through the path southwest of the village, went down to the edge of the Yellow River, and turned to the south in a hurry.
Under the cover of the divisional guard company, Xu Fan Ting withdrew, followed the mark left by He Long, and soon joined He Long.
As soon as he saw He Long, he said, "Commander, the devils have surrounded us, and the situation is not good!" ”
He Long held his pipe and smiled: "It's okay, I'll get rid of them after a while." ”
As a result, as He Long said, the command organ made a few turns, and then safely jumped out of the encirclement of the Japanese army.
After arriving at the safety zone, Xu Fanting asked Zhou Shidi very strangely: "Why can Mr. He turn danger into a disaster in a tense situation?" ”
Zhou Shidi laughed: "People who are not familiar with him call him beard, but in fact, Mr. He is a fine person, has a strong memory, and has a clear understanding of the enemy's situation, especially the terrain and roads." Let's just say this time, where it may be the focus of the enemy's encirclement, where it may be the gap in the encirclement, he can judge it very accurately, and his determination is also fast. ”
Guan Xiangying said: "People say that Lao He has a detailed map in his head, and this is true. ”
He Bingyan, the general under He Long, said: "What kind of character is the old man, who led us in Sangzhi back then, and the enemy was familiar with every mountain, but he still couldn't surround us, why?" He Long has a special ability, no matter how tightly the enemy surrounds us, he can bring us out! ”
The Japanese army couldn't surround He Long, but He Long was going to fight it. Two days later, He Long learned that the Japanese troops in the north and south had withdrawn to their original positions, and that the Japanese troops in Shanyin had not yet left, and were setting fire to their houses, and there were signs of withdrawal. He Long said happily: "It's time." So it was decided to concentrate his forces and take him by surprise.
On the morning of July 4, more than 2,000 people of the 9th Brigade of the Japanese Army were divided into 3 echelons, withdrew eastward along Dachuan and fell into the pocket arranged by He Long. The 1st Brigade spared the vanguard and violently attacked the Japanese troops, fighting bravely and tenaciously, inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy. However, because some of the participating troops did not arrive at the ambush position on time, there were loopholes in the pockets, which allowed the Japanese troops to seize the favorable terrain and turn to the defense on the spot. The next day, more than 1,000 people from the 3rd Independent Mixed Brigade arrived from Baode South, joined up with the 9th Independent Mixed Brigade, and broke through to the east, with a total Japanese strength of more than 3,500. He Long considered that it was impossible to achieve the goal of total annihilation, so he ordered the withdrawal of the battle, and the Japanese army's counter-"sweeping" ended.