On September 2, 1940, the blocking position of the Eighth Route Army in Yangerling was lost. Yangerling was condescending and seriously threatened the Juanyugou, and the Juanyugou was full of the leaders of the Eighth Route Army, the wounded, and the masses, and the commander of the left column, Zhou Xihan, was so anxious that he made up his mind: At all costs, recapture and hold Yangerling!
On the one hand, Zhou Xihan sent people to Dadongzu to transfer back the main force of the 38th Regiment, and on the other hand, he summoned Xie Jiaqing, the head of the 16th Regiment, and others to discuss the way to recapture Yangerling. Everyone was discussing that Cai Aiqing, the commander of the 38th Regiment, and Liu Youguang, the political commissar of the 38th Regiment, had returned with the main force of the regiment, and it turned out that Liu Bocheng had sent the commander of the guard battalion to convey the order to Zhou Xihan at the same time, and he had directly sent people to Dadongzu to inform the main force of the 38th Regiment to participate in the battle of Yangerling.
At noon on the same day, under the unified order of Zhou Xihan, all units launched an attack on Yangerling from all sides at the same time: the main forces of the 16th Regiment and the 38th Regiment, under the cover of artillery fire from the headquarters, carried out a counteroffensive from the front; The 16th Regiment drew two companies to attack the left back of the enemy at Yangerling; The 38th Regiment drew a battalion to attack the enemy's right flank at Yangerling.
Before the war, everyone already knew that the head of the Eighth Route Army was concentrated in Juanyugou, and Zhou Xihan's order was also conveyed: "At any cost, we must recapture Yangerling!" "The commanders and commissars of the two regiments were all on the front line and took the lead in the charge, so the battle was extremely fierce at the beginning, and as soon as the troops attacked, they were immediately pressed down by the enemy, and then attacked again, and the attack and counter-attack were repeated as many as thirteen times, during which the two sides fought with bayonets many times, and almost every participant was killed.
When the platoon of the 16th Regiment seized the main peak of Yangerling, it fought hand-to-hand with a small squad of the Japanese army, and after a sword and sword, they stabbed to death more than 20 devils, and the platoon commander took the only three remaining soldiers in the platoon to seize the main peak. When the 38th Regiment was charging, the Japanese army set off poison gas bombs, white smoke billowed on the battlefield, poison gas choked people, more than 100 soldiers were poisoned and fainted on the spot, everyone covered their mouths and noses with wet towels, and continued to rush up. The battle lasted two hours, and the 38th Regiment alone suffered more than 300 casualties, of which one deputy battalion commander and two company commanders were killed, and one battalion commander and one company commander were wounded.
After desperate fighting, "Zhao Zilong's" troops finally recaptured the commanding heights of Yangerling, and the safety of Juanyugou was initially guaranteed.
Zhou Xihan paid great attention to the details of the operation. During the pre-war deployment, it was planned that after the recapture of Yang'erling, the 16 th Regiment would hold the main position, and he specially told Xie Jiaqing, commander of the 16 th Regiment, how to deploy troops: "Lay less and more tuns, and minimize the number of troops injured by enemy artillery fire." ”
According to Zhou Xihan's instructions, Xie Jiaqing only placed one-third of his troops on the main position of Yangerling, and the rest of the troops were used as reserves, stationed nearby to hide and wait. In the stage of holding the position, although the enemy continuously bombarded Yang'er Ridge with artillery, the 16th Regiment relied on the method of "putting less and more tuns" and suffered few casualties. After the bombardment, the enemy continued to launch infantry attacks, but due to the frustration of the spirit, the attack was obviously not as fierce as before, and such an offensive was naturally thunderous and rainy.