In late April 1939, the 3rd Wing of the 27th Division received information that He Longzheng personally led his troops to Hejian. The wing thought that it had finally caught a big fish this time, so it transferred the second brigade (also known as the Hamada brigade) to Hejian County to prepare to "sweep" Helong's headquarters.
The 27th Division was well-equipped, well-trained, and fought fiercely, and was regarded as an elite journey by the Japanese army in North China. In the Black Horse Zhangzhuang ambush battle, judging from the fact that it was still able to preserve its strength after being ambushed, stick to it, and then break through the encirclement, its combat effectiveness is indeed extraordinary. The Hamada Brigade is the main infantry brigade of the 27th Division, and everyone from the officer to the soldier wears a medal, and he is usually nostrils to the sky, and he is arrogant.
Intelligence showed that the strength of He Long's unit was about 2,000 men, and the captain Hamada Shaoza predicted that it would be a fierce battle, so he asked his subordinates to bring as much ammunition as possible before leaving. The subordinates obeyed the order, and in addition to the two mountain guns, all kinds of shells, bullets, grenades, and grenadiers were all they could bring, of which there were more than 420 rounds of mountain artillery shells alone. The Hamada Brigade carried more than 50 cars, and there were more than 80 carts full of ammunition and supplies, so it is no wonder that even the soldiers of the Hamada Brigade themselves were surprised: "During the sweeping operation, the ammunition carried this time was surprisingly large!"
Hamada's intelligence is actually not very accurate, the Eighth Route Army assembled in the river is not only 2,000, that is more than 10,000 - in addition to the main force of the 120th Division, there is also the third column of the Jizhong Military Region co-organized with it, with a total of seven main regiments and one brigade!
On the evening of April 22, the Hamada brigade arrived at Sanlipu in the north of Hejian City. At this time, the 120th Division was holding a party meeting in Dazhu Village, where the division headquarters was stationed, to celebrate the integration of the old and new units. The distance between Sanlipu and Dazhu Village is less than 15 kilometers, and after receiving the report, He Long immediately decided to turn the gathering into a meeting of combat meritorious personnel. He humorously said to everyone: "Since the enemy has brought a gift to the door, can you not accept it?" Originally, the Combat Drama Club was asked to perform a few small plays for the comrades tonight, but now they will not be performed...... After the battle is won, we will have another victory rally!"
Accepting the gift means that he plans to eat the Yoshida Brigade that came to the door in one bite. In guerrilla warfare on the plains, it is usually to destroy a small group of enemies at once, accumulate small victories into big victories, and it is relatively rare to eat an elite Japanese brigade at once. The reason why He Long dared to do this was mainly because he saw that the Japanese army was insufficient, the Hamada Brigade did not know the truth and was a lone army, and the Eighth Route Army was strong and strong, and the morale was strong. At the same time, the Japanese puppet army scattered around was only more than 2,000 people, and it was impossible to reinforce them in large numbers because they had to defend the point and prevent guerrilla attacks.
Of course, daring to fight and underestimating the enemy are not the same thing. As far as the Hamada Brigade is concerned, the soldiers are still substantial, the firepower is even stronger, and there are many veterans, these veterans have good combat skills and bushido spirit, even in the case of defeat is very stubborn, usually would rather die than surrender, in contrast, the Eighth Route Army has poor weapons and equipment, firepower is not as good as the enemy, if it is to attack the Japanese army, it is difficult to take the initiative, the previous dark horse Zhangzhuang ambush is a typical example.
At that time, the Japanese army had an important flaw, that is, it was generally not good at night fighting, and it was usually necessary to withdraw troops after dark. After studying, He Long and others decided to grasp this weakness of the enemy and determine the tactics of warfare, specifically, to hold on during the day, counterattack at night, and then continuously surround and kill and inflict casualties, and finally annihilate them.