At the end of 1942, in order to open up the Bohai and Jiaodong corridors and consolidate the Changwei anti-Japanese base area, our Changwei Independent Regiment aimed at another important stronghold - Xiaojiaying stronghold in Weibei after capturing the Shenjiaying stronghold.
At this time, the stronghold of Xiaojiaying had been occupied by Xu Xiangwu of the 28th Regiment of the 15th Brigade of the recalcitrant army Zhang Jingyue. However, the ministry is afraid of becoming ill in the day, and every day it comes during the day and leaves at night. After Zhao Jizhou, the commander of the independent regiment, sent reconnaissance personnel to find out the situation, he immediately assigned a combat mission. The specific deployment is that he personally led a company into the Xiaojia camp to attract the recalcitrant army, and after the fish took the bait, the surrounding ambushed troops attacked again to encircle and annihilate the recalcitrant army.
One night in December 1942, Zhao Jizhou led the first squadron of the Weixian County Brigade and a platoon of the first company directly under him to seize the stronghold of Xiaojiaying in one fell swoop and ordered other troops to ambush around. After dawn, Xu Bu came to Xiaojiaying as usual to garrison, and seeing that the stronghold had been occupied, Xu Xiangwu was so angry that he jumped three feet high: "Organize an attack!" Take Xiao's camp and capture Zhao Jizhou alive! ”
The tide of recalcitrant troops generally poured into the southeast corner of the village. The first time a platoon, the second a company, were repulsed. The third time a battalion, the regiment commander Xu Xiangwu personally supervised the battle, the forward rushed to the root of the wall at the risk of death, the ladder had been erected to the wall, and the situation was critical.
Zhao Jizhou was telling the guards in the courtyard about Kong Mingkong's retreat from the city, and the enemy's bullets were whizzing and flying overhead. The guards advised him to hide. Zhao Jizhou said: "It doesn't matter, the story is not finished yet, let's talk about it for a while." After a while, the soldier came and reported: "The enemy has entered the village." ”
Zhao Jizhou saw that the situation was almost over, so he said: "People won't let us talk about it, let's go!" When the guards heard this, they hurriedly stepped forward to protect the chief, withdrew to the inlet, and swam out along the reeds, and some soldiers threw their hats into the middle of the inlet. After Zhao Jizhou went ashore, he was escorted by soldiers who had been ambushed in advance and evacuated to a safe place.
After the recalcitrant army entered the village, they did not find the Eighth Route Army, and suddenly remembered that dozens of acres of water bay might be the breakthrough place of the Eighth Route Army, so they chased to the side of the water bay, saw the military cap floating in the water, and thought that the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army were breaking through in the water, and shot one after another. The reeds in the inlet were dense, and the recalcitrant troops were surprised by each other, shooting at each other, fighting for a long time, and suffering many casualties. Xu Xiangwu felt deceived and ordered to retreat.
The ambushed troops of the independent regiment besieged it, and after a fierce fight, one part of the recalcitrant army was annihilated, and the rest of the remnants of the army were defeated and fled.
Zhao Jizhou commanded the troops to smash the attack of the 28th Regiment of the recalcitrant army, completely destroyed the stronghold of Xiaojiaying, and broke through the blockade of the enemy and the puppet. Since then, Xiaojiaying has been controlled by the Eighth Route Army for a long time, and the recalcitrant army has never dared to attack again.
Commander Yang Guofu later recalled: "Zhao Jizhou was meritorious in opening up the transportation corridor of the two major anti-Japanese base areas in Bohai and Jiaodong. ”
Since Zhang Jingyue ordered his subordinates to surrender to the Japanese invaders, he became the main target of the Eighth Route Army's attack on the Bohai Naval Region. At the beginning of May 1945, the General Staff of the Bohai Military Region decided that the eastern front troops would be composed of the 2nd Battalion of the regiment directly under the Bohai Military Region and 2,000 troops of the Fifth Army Division, with Zhao Jizhou, commander of the Fifth Army Division, as the commander-in-chief of the front.
Hou Town is not only an important town in the northeast of Shouguang, but also the original salt distribution center and salt transportation artery of Shouguang, the geographical location is very important, and it has always been a battleground for soldiers. In the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, Houzhen was located at the intersection of the east-west transportation corridor of the two major anti-Japanese base areas of Bohai and Jiaodong and the Houyang and Changda highways, and its geographical location was very important. The seizure of Hou Town is of special significance for consolidating the anti-Japanese base areas in Shou, Chang, and Wei counties, and opening up the connection between Bohai District and the Jiaodong and Lunan base areas.
Hou Zhen's defenders were Zhang Jingyue's Ninth Regiment Liu Shoulong and the Salt Police Squadron of the Yangjiaogou Salt Bureau, with a total of more than 1,000 people. All guarded in the fortifications, there are conditions for stubborn resistance.
After the Fifth Division accepted the task, the staff of the General Staff felt that the task was very heavy. In the Qingdong area, it was the first time to fight such a fortified battle, the first time to accept the task of encircling and annihilating a regiment of the enemy, and the first time to attack a strongly fortified town; The defenders have not suffered a major blow from our army, their weapons and equipment are better, and their ammunition is sufficient, and they are all cowering in turrets and bunkers, and they are bound to be arrogant and stubborn, and they are desperate. The slightest lack of battle planning will affect the progress of the entire campaign.
Zhao Jizhou understood everyone's thoughts, and he asked the staff office to lay out all the difficulties that might be encountered, find solutions, and then formulate a specific battle plan. He explained: "With the equipment and combat capability of the second battalion of the regiment directly under it, it is certain that it will break through the defensive line of the defenders of Houzhen. ”
The understanding was unified, and the combat plan began to be formulated. The specific plan is as follows: On May 7, the main force of the 5th Division rushed to attack the stronghold of Nanshao Village, annihilated the defending enemy, completed the long-distance encirclement of the enemy's 9th Regiment, and blocked its escape route; From the 9th to the 10th, the Changwei Independent Battalion approached Houzhen, and with the cooperation of the district squadron, carried out a feint attack on Hegouli, Yujia, and Donghenan, covering the movement of the main force; On the night of the 12th, the main force entered the designated area to hide, and launched a general attack at 23 o'clock.
The Bohai Naval Region quickly approved the operational plan of the troops of the Eastern Front, instructing it to attack decisively in accordance with the plan.
On May 6, 1945, the troops of the Bohai Naval Region approached Houzhen. On the 7th, the company directly under the Fifth Army Subdivision of the Bohai Naval Region pulled out the stronghold of Zhang Jingyue's department and cut off the passage between Hou Zhen and Shangjiazhuang, Zhang Jingyue's headquarters. The Changwei Independent Battalion approached Houzhen and seized the enemy's outpost position of Qijia Village. In the afternoon of the same day, the regiment directly under the Bohai Naval Region arrived and surrounded the enemy defending Houzhen.
After Houzhen was surrounded, the regiment commander Liu Shoulong hurriedly commanded his subordinates to rush to repair the fortifications, block the alleys, place deer barricades on the streets, and erect barbed wire, in a vain attempt to hold on and wait for help.
In view of the enemy's policy of stubbornly holding on and waiting for reinforcements, the participating units of the Eighth Route Army decided to adopt the tactics of first feints to exhaust the enemy, then storm and break through, and take turns to attack and harass the enemy day and night.
Four days later, in view of the fact that the enemy was exhausted from fighting day and night, and had become the end of a strong crossbow, he launched a general attack. The deployment of troops is as follows: the 2nd Battalion of the regiment directly under the Military Region will serve as the main attack at the southwest gate, and the 1st Company directly under the military subdivision will assist from the Yandian Bay Gate; The third company directly under the company is the reserve team, and the second company directly under the camera breaks through the door of the house to carry out assists; The Changwei Independent Battalion made a feint from the Great East Gate and prepared to block the reinforcing enemy; The regiment directly under the Bohai Naval Region carried out the main attack on Fengle Gate (Xiaonanmen); The third detachment of the 10th District Squadron of Shouguang served as a guide for the regiment directly under the military region, and the first and second detachments set up a cordon in the vicinity of Xichaizhuang and Lijianan Shao and prepared to block the enemy who might come to help.
After the second battalion launched the main attack, the military sub-division took the initiative to launch an attack on the defending enemy, broke through the enemy's forward position as soon as possible, boldly penetrated the streets in the center of the town, and strived to annihilate most of the defending enemy before dawn and drive the remnants of the enemy into the "devil's courtyard."
On the night of the 12th, the faint moonlight was blocked by clouds from time to time, and a breeze blew in the sky. The enemy did not move, and the battlefield was as silent as death.
At 23 o'clock, the attack horn suddenly sounded, and the general attack began, and for a time there was a loud burst of gunfire and killing. The second battalion first launched an attack on the enemy defending the southwest gate, with two heavy machine guns and 12 light machine guns taking turns firing at the gatehouse and gatehouse; A platoon of guns and grenades kept bombarding the wall, and there was a sea of fire outside the southwest gate. Seeing this, the defending enemy concentrated their forces to block the attack, and the battle became a stalemate. There was gunfire around Hou Town, but Yandian Bay Gate was quiet.
Outside the Dadong Gate, the Changwei Independent Battalion, which carried out a feint, sent a demolition team to blow up the Dadong Gate under the cover of strong firepower. Liu Shoulong thought that the main force of the Eighth Route Army was on the east side, and the main attack was carried out by the Great East Gate, so he hurriedly transferred troops to defend the eastern front. Zhao Lanjin, the commander of Liu Shoulong's special agent company, took advantage of the chaos and led his troops to break through and escape from the southeast.
Just when the enemy changed its deployment and hurriedly transferred troops to Dadongmen, at 24 o'clock, the first company directly under the military sub-district and the regiment directly under the military region launched a fierce attack on Yandianwanmen and Fenglemen respectively. The enemy guarding the Yandian Bay Gate is the Salt Police Squadron, this gate is easy to defend and difficult to attack, the gate building is a solid pillbox, the avenue of 50 meters outside the gate is full of deer barricades, there is a deep water in the ditch next to the road, and then to the north to Yuezhuang is the open land of the 2-mile road.
Zhao Jizhou's headquarters was set up in the cemetery in front of Hou Zhenyuezhuang, and when it was hot, Zhao Jizhou simply threw off his hat, took off his shirt, and stood shirtless on the top of the grave to command.
Under the cover of the fire of five machine guns of the first and third companies, the demolition team composed of the first company and the second platoon pounced on the enemy's gate fort, blasted five times in a row, opened a passage from the enemy's three obstacles, and blew open the Yandian Bay gate. Instructor Geng Xuewen took the opportunity to lead three platoons and one platoon of soldiers to jump out of the trenches, rush to the breakthrough, and occupy the Yandian Bay Gate. Seeing this, Zhao Jizhou braved the rain of bullets and came to Yandian Wanmen to command the battle.
The arrival of the commander greatly encouraged the courage of the troops. The fighters repeatedly repelled the counterattacks of the defenders on both sides of the gate fort and on the north and south streets, consolidating the breakthrough. At this time, the three companies directly under the command entered the battle, except for a small number of troops to continue to consolidate the breakthrough, the main force has captured the Fujun Temple, and developed in depth. The first company directly under the company marched east to occupy the Houzhen Senior Primary School, and then advanced to the enemy attack of Gaotaizimiao, and quickly occupied the enemy position of Gaotaizimiao.
The second company directly under the assistant also broke through the Jiamen and joined the first company, and the two armies launched an attack on the enemy at the big crossing, and quickly seized the commanding heights. After capturing the Grand Crossing, the first company directly under it rushed to the east gate along the East and West Streets, joined up with the Changwei Independent Battalion, and quickly captured the Guandi Temple, and then attacked the enemy's core position from the east - the Devil's Courtyard.
At the same time, the 2nd Battalion of the Regiment directly under the Military Region, under the guidance of the 3rd Division of the District Squadron, launched a fierce attack on Fengle Gate, successfully blasted in succession, occupied Fengle Gate, and repelled the enemy's repeated counterattacks after breaking the door.
Liu Jiaxing, the squad leader, led five soldiers, carrying explosives and holding large guns, under the cover of artillery fire, to break into the village. But as soon as they entered the village, they encountered the patrol led by Wang Yeheng, deputy of the Ninth Regiment of the Third Division. Liu Jiaxing and other enemies opened fire, killed Wang Yeheng, and started hand-to-hand combat with the enemy patrol, at this time, I attacked the follow-up troops to arrive, annihilated the enemy patrol, and swept through Houxi Village to defeat the enemy, and after meeting with the three companies directly under the horse road, they approached the Devil's Courtyard.
By the early morning of the 13th, the battle on the periphery of Houzhen was all over, and the enemy's core position, the Devil's Courtyard, was also surrounded by water.
The Devil's Courtyard is the enemy's core position, and Liu Shoulong's regimental headquarters is located here.
At 6 o'clock on the 13th, the sun rose from the east, and at about 7 o'clock, the east gate of the Devil's Courtyard suddenly opened, and a group of enemy troops rushed out. It turned out that Liu Shoulong organized a death squad in a vain attempt to open the gap and lead the remnants to break through. However, the regiment was already in full position, and the fire deployment was very tight, and as soon as the enemy appeared, he was met with a head-on attack, and he threw a few corpses in disarray, shrank back, and closed the gate again.
Commanders of various units went to the headquarters one after another to ask for battle, asking to take part in the attack on the "Devil's Courtyard" and destroy the enemy who dared to resist stubbornly. Commander Zhao Jizhou judged the situation and said: "The regiment directly under the military region is the new force of the Bohai Eighth Route Army, and the second battalion of the regiment directly under the military region is the main force to conquer Houzhen. "Let's take the guards to the forward position to observe the command.
At around 8 o'clock, Zhao Jizhou issued an attack order to the second battalion: "If the enemy does not surrender, resolutely destroy them!" Wang Lianfang, the squad leader of the fifth company of the second battalion and the demolition hero of the Bohai Naval Region, ran over and said: "Don't worry, chief, I'll go!" With that, he picked up the explosives bag and rushed up. Zhao Jizhou immediately ordered to cover with a machine gun.
Wang Lianfang flexibly dodged the enemy's fire, rushed to the side of the bunker, placed the explosives bag, pulled the fuse and ran back, and then there was a loud "boom", the bunker in the northeast corner of the Devil's Courtyard was blown up, the wall was blown up a big gap, and the second battalion of sharp knives rushed into the "Devil's Courtyard" with billowing smoke, and started a fierce battle with the enemy, fighting for forts one by one, and blowing up all the bunkers. Finally, the enemy was suppressed in the devil's turret and tightly sealed with firepower.
The recalcitrant army had no way to go to the sky and no way to enter the ground, and when they saw that the general trend had gone, they threw all kinds of weapons out of the turret one after another. Liu Shoulong was the first to walk out of the turret with a white flag, followed by the remnants of the defeated army, dejected and embarrassed.
Our soldiers, all in high spirits and with high fighting spirits, stood neatly in the street with bayonets in hand, watching the prisoners pass through the middle at exactly 10 o'clock in the morning of the 13th.
In this battle, after 10 hours, the 9th Regiment of the 3rd Bao Division was completely annihilated, the enemy regiment commander Liu Shoulong was captured alive, the enemy's deputy regiment commander Wang Yeheng was killed, and more than 1,000 enemy troops were killed and captured, Zhang Jingyue's vital forces were wiped out, and the eastern defense line of the 3rd Bao Division was completely crushed. The transportation corridor of the two major bases of Bohai and Jiaodong has been opened.
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