Taihang Mountain, which is said to be in the south of Jizhou and the north of Heyang, but because the Emperor of Heaven was touched by the sincerity of Yugong, he ordered the son of the Hercules Qua'e clan to take his back and put it in the mountains east of Shuofang, which was called "the ridge of the world" because of its majestic and dangerous terrain.
The Taihang Mountains are cut by rivers such as the Juma River, the Hutuo River, the Zhanghe River, the Qin River, and the Dan River, and there are many east-west horizontal valleys. These yokogawa valleys, the ancients called "陉". 陉, that is, the place where the mountains are interrupted. These mountains on the Taihang Mountains are divided into Jundu, Feihu, Puyin, Jingxing, Fukou, Baixing, Taihang, and Zhiguan from north to south, and have been known as "Taihang Eight" since ancient times. The "Taihang Eight Temples" was the main traffic route from the Land of the Three Jins to the lower plains of the Yellow River, and it was a place where merchants and families had to fight.
Around these "陉", there have been many stories in history that can be sung and wept. But today we are talking about a defeat of the Eighth Route Army, and we understand the Eighth Route Army from another side.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > first, decisive battle Xinkou</h1>
In September 1937, after the Japanese army captured Pingjin, it divided its troops south along the three railways of Jinpu, Pinghan and Tongpu, with the intention of capturing all of Shanxi.
On September 12, the Japanese army captured Datong, and the troops pointed directly at Pingxingguan, and yan Xishan, commander of the Second Theater of Operations, ordered the main force to deploy on the front of Pingxingguan. On September 25, the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army ambushed the rear of the enemy flank and achieved the "Pingguan Victory" of annihilating more than 1,000 enemy troops.
On September 28, the enemy of Datong marched south, broke through the Ruyue Pass, cut off the rear road of Pingxingguan, and the defenders of Pingxingguan were forced to retreat. The Japanese then broke through Ningwu Pass, Yanmen Pass and the entire Inner Great Wall and occupied Dai County on the 30th.
Wei Lihuang
On October 2, Wei Lihuang led four main divisions and one brigade of the Central Army to reinforce Taiyuan through Zhengtai Road. After consulting with Yan Xishan, commander of the Second Theater of Operations in Taiyuan, Wei Lihuang believed that if he held Xinkou, he would be able to defend Taiyuan, and only by holding Taiyuan could he set shanxi and then protect north China. Therefore, it was decided to organize a battle in the Xinkou area north of Taiyuan. Wei Lihuang served as the commander-in-chief of the former enemy.
On October 7, the forwards of the 5th Division led by Sakagaki Seishiro of the Japanese army arrived at Xinkou, and from October 13, the Japanese launched a fierce attack on the entire line of Xinkou.
The vanguard of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, which penetrated deep behind enemy lines, found that the Japanese army had a large number of aircraft stationed at Yangmingbao Airport on the north bank of the Tuotuo River. So in the early morning of October 19, the 3rd Battalion of the 769th Regiment successfully smuggled across the Tuotuo River, infiltrated the airfield, launched an attack, and after an hour of fierce fighting, destroyed 24 Japanese aircraft and annihilated more than 100 Japanese troops.
The Chinese defenders on the Xinkou front fought fiercely with the Japanese army for more than 20 days, making it impossible for the Japanese army to advance.
As early as October 6, the Japanese North China Front, in order to cooperate with the offensive operations of the Xinkou side, the 20th Division of Fumizaburo Kawagishi marched west from Shijiazhuang along the Zhengtai Road, intending to attack Shanxi from Jingxing to the west, in response to the 5th Division's operations, and attack Taiyuan from east to west.
Huang Shaohu
Yan Xishan ordered Huang Shaohu, deputy commander of the Second Theater, to take charge of the command of the Niangziguan area, and ordered the Shaanxi Army Feng Qinzha to lead the 14th Army and Zeng Wanzhong to lead the 3rd Army of the Central Army to move to the reserve position of Niangziguan to cover the operations in the Second Theater.
On October 10, the Japanese 20th Division crossed the Tuotuo River, and on the 12th captured Shijiazhuang and cut off the Pinghan Line. The Japanese 20th Division then sent the 39th Brigade Toki Brigade to attack in the direction of Taiyuan in the direction of Taiyuan in a left and right pursuit team along the Zhengtai Line. Among them, the left pursuit team, Kuden Daisaku, commanded the main force of the 77th Wing, YanjingXing-Jiuguan, to attack in the direction of Jiuguan. Zhao Shoushan, who was stationed at Xuehua Mountain, fought fiercely with the Japanese army, and the Japanese army's attempt to capture Niangziguan as soon as possible failed.
On the morning of the 13th, the Japanese army set out from Changshengkou and marched all the way west to attack Laoguan. At 2 p.m., the old pass was captured.
At this time, the 26th Route Army of the Central Army Sun Lianzhong and the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army urgently reinforced Jiuguan. The 27th Division's Feng Anbang counterattacked desperately and formed a siege of the Japanese army at Jiuguan.
On the 15th, Huang Shaohu once again adjusted his troops, using the 3rd Army of Zeng Wanzhong, which had come to reinforcement, as the main force to attack the old pass, and on the 18th, although most of the Japanese troops in the old pass were annihilated, it was still unable to recover the old pass.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > two, first win and then lose</h1>
Liu Bocheng
In order to prevent the Japanese army from advancing westward, support the Frontal Battle of the Kuomintang Army, and defend Taiyuan, the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, according to the orders of the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army and under the leadership of division commander Liu Bocheng, quickly marched to the flank of the Japanese army southeast of Niangziguan and south of Niangziguan, seeking an opportunity to annihilate the enemy.
The 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army was reorganized from the 4th and 31st Armies of the Red Fourth Front, the 29th and 30th Armies of the Northwest Red Army, and the 15th Army, with a total of more than 13,000 people in the division, division commander Liu Bocheng, deputy division commander Xu Xiangqian, and the 385th Brigade and 386th Brigade under its jurisdiction.
On October 18, Liu Bocheng and Zhang Hao, director of the Political Training Office, led the headquarters of the 129th Division and Chen Geng's 386th Brigade into the Pingding County area of eastern Jin.
After the division headquarters and the 386th Brigade were stationed in Mashan Village, Pingding County, Liu Bocheng immediately convened a meeting of cadres at and above the battalion level, conveyed the instructions of the North China Branch of the Central Military Commission, introduced the experience of the Battle of Pingxingguan, and analyzed the situation of the War of Resistance.
On October 19, due to the bitter battle of the Japanese 5th Division at Xinkou, the Japanese North China Front asked the commander of the 20th Division, Fumisaburo Kawagishi, to capture the Niangziguan line as soon as possible and enter Yangquan to respond to the Japanese 5th Division at Xinkou and attack Taiyuan.
On October 20, Fumizaburo Kawagishi, commander of the Japanese 20th Division, decided to attack Yangquan in two columns, with the right column attacking the Chinese defenders along and north of the Jingxing-Xinguan-Shimen Avenue, and the left column advancing along the Weishui Town-Lateral Fish Town-Shimen Avenue area, intending to flank the back of the Chinese defenders.
Zeng Wanzhong
After Liu Bocheng learned of the Japanese army's detour to the south, he rushed to the command post of the 3rd Army to meet with Zeng Wanzhong and pointed out: "The Japanese army did not attack Niangzi Pass but attacked Xinguan, it seems that they have studied the characteristics of Niangzi Pass leaning on the wall and linyuan, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and want to avoid the real and attack the virtual. Now that the new level is not easy to get, it is likely to detour south. In this way, the stone gate south of Xinguan was located on the right flank of the main defensive position, and it was necessary to quickly send troops to occupy it to strictly prevent the Japanese from sneaking in. ”
However, Zeng Wanzhong did not pay any attention to Liu Bocheng's suggestion, and Liu Bocheng, seeing that Zeng Wanzhong adopted a perfunctory attitude towards his suggestion, ordered the 771st Regiment of the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army to quickly advance towards Shimen and use the tactics of movement defense to prevent the Japanese army from advancing westward on the shimen line. At the same time, the 772nd Regiment of the 386th Brigade was transferred back to Mashan Village, preparing to flank the Japanese troops advancing westward.
Xu Shenji, commander of the 771st Regiment, and Han Dongshan, deputy regimental commander, served as the chief and deputy commander of the 91st Division of the Red 31st Army of the Red Fourth Front, respectively. They saw the 769th Regiment of the 385th Brigade attacking Yangmingbao Airport at night, made great achievements, and were already eager to try and wanted to show their skills.
Liu Bocheng felt an ominous sign from Zeng Wanzhong's perfunctory attitude and the arrogance of the 771 regiment before its departure. He immediately sent someone to warn Xu Shenji, commander of the 771st Regiment: "You cannot trust all your flanks to the friendly forces, and you must take strict precautions." At the same time, Liu Bocheng informed Chen Geng, commander of the 386th Brigade: "Ready to receive the 771st Regiment at any time." ”
Xu Shenji
At noon on October 22, Xu Shenji's 771st Regiment rushed to shimen gate, seized favorable terrain, and built fortifications. As Liu Bocheng expected, the vanguard of the Japanese 79th Wing was also rushing towards the stone gate. The narrow road met the brave and victorious, facing the oncoming Japanese Kou, the 771st Regiment immediately gave a resolute blow, and after a fierce battle, the Japanese army was not defeated.
Seeing the Japanese retreat, the 771st Regiment also withdrew from the battle and returned to the village of Qiqi to rest. However, at this time, Xu Shenji, the commander of the 771st Regiment, was careless with the enemy. He thought that his left flank was protected by Nationalist troops and that his flank was safe. Coupled with the fatigue of the troops marching and fighting, Xu Shenji did not take the time to properly inspect the surrounding terrain, and even sent out sentries according to the usual state, and did not send additional personnel.
On the evening of the same day, most of the main force of the Japanese 40th Brigade reached the south and north barriers, forming a wing encirclement of the 771st Regiment. Immediately, the Japanese sent a brigade of the 79th Infantry Regiment and more than 200 cavalrymen to avoid the main road, bypass the village head of Qiquan Village from the valley bottom ditch, and quietly approach the Eighth Route Army from the side.
When the Japanese army advanced to a distance of 200 meters from the village of Qiqi, the commander of the 1st Company of the 771st Regiment, who was then inspecting the gang, finally found it. The commander of the 1st Company immediately opened fire, and the Japanese reacted very quickly, immediately changing the sneak attack to a strong attack, and attacking the 771st Regiment from the front and left flank. The officers and men of the 771st Regiment were sleeping, unprepared, hastily responded to the battle, and all of a sudden the whole regiment was scattered.
For more than 10 hours, the headquarters of the 129th Division and the 386th Brigade completely lost contact with the 771st Regiment.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" > third, the troops you bring cannot be defeated</h1>
At about 3:00 a.m. on October 23, an anxious Chen Geng sent an urgent telegram to Liu Bocheng, reporting that the 771st Regiment had been raided by the Japanese army and that the troops had lost contact. Liu Bocheng immediately instructed Chen Geng not to panic, and the first priority was to send someone to gather the troops as soon as possible.
Not long after, Huang Shaozhen, deputy commander of the Kuomintang Second Theater, sent a telegram from Taiyuan to "comfort" Liu Bocheng. Seeing that the Eighth Route Army had suffered defeat, Huang Shaohu was a little proud, and he laughed: "You Eighth Route Army only talk about guerrilla warfare, but the result is guerrilla warfare by the Japanese." ”
Tombaugh
Tang Enbo, commander of the 2nd Army of the Kuomintang Army and commander of the 13th Army, had always looked down on the Eighth Route Army, and when he learned of this situation, he immediately called Liu Bocheng: "It seems that your guerrilla warfare is not working, so let's withdraw!" ”
Almost at the same time as Tang Enbo taunted Liu Bocheng, the soldiers of the 771st Regiment who had been scattered were gradually rebuilt under the convergence of Chen Geng and the 771st Regiment Headquarters. This time it was attacked by the Japanese army, and the 771st Regiment suffered more than 40 casualties, and the rest all returned to the team. Although they suffered defeats, the mental outlook of the troops was still very good, especially the soldiers, some wore the yellow five-star hat of the Japanese army, some wore the yellow tweed coat of the Japanese army, some carried the Japanese 38-type rifle, and almost everyone had a piece of booty captured by fighting the Japanese army.
This scene made the journalists present very emotional. At that time, the soldiers of many units were also quite brave and tenacious in battle, but once they lost the battle, they were defeated like mountains, and the entire army was completely scattered. This is in stark contrast to the defeat of the Eighth Route Army. One journalist who witnessed the entire return process wrote: "The victory they fought did not surprise us, and the defeat they fought was really impressive. ”
This sentence is the truth, when losing the battle, it can best reflect the tactical quality of a unit. At that time, after a brief period of confusion, the officers and men of the 771st Regiment fully demonstrated the combat ability of the Red Army. 8 soldiers from 5 squads of 3 companies took the initiative to rush to the highlands on the edge of the village and launched a tenacious resistance. At the cost of 7 casualties, time was bought for the main force of the 771st Regiment to withdraw to a nearby hill.
The soldiers in the village who were scattered by the Japanese cavalry quickly changed from fighting separately to taking the initiative to form groups, squads, platoons and other combat units, and broke through with each other's fire support.
The communicators of the 771 regimental headquarters were even better. When the regimental headquarters was scattered and the Japanese army could already be seen, several messengers went back and forth to the regimental headquarters 3 times, moved all the documents and items clean, and finally returned to the team safely with the documents.
Xu Xiangqian
Before the 771st Regiment was reorganized into the Eighth Route Army, the Red Fourth Front, commanded by Xu Xiangqian, deputy commander of the 129th Division, saw that the troops were successfully closed and the morale was still high, Liu Bocheng said to Xu Xiangqian: "Admire, the team you led cannot be defeated!" ”
After the war, Liu Bocheng sternly warned the troops that they must clearly understand the combat effectiveness of the Japanese army and must never have the idea of taking the enemy lightly, and all units must take this as a warning. At the same time, Liu Bocheng took the initiative to write a review and reported to the central government the detailed history of the attack on Qiquan Village.
Two days later, Chairman Mao telegraphed the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army and the divisions: "After repeated victories, you will be arrogant and despise the enemy, thinking that you are invincible." The attack on the village of Qiqi of the 771st Regiment was the result of this victory. It is advisable for you to issue a circular order to the whole army, all the way to the soldiers of the company, to show that the war against Japanese imperialism is a long and arduous process. All cadres who claim to be the first in the world, who are arrogant and have no children, must tell them in deep words: We must link bravery with prudence and oppose one-sided views and mechanism in the army. This was the first telegram from the Central Committee in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression proposing to smash the "arrogance."
However, this is not the whole of the battle in Qiqi Village. Soon, Liu Bocheng would lose the Japanese army twice here, and responded to the ridicule of Huang Shaohu and Tang Enbo with his battle results.
The author of this article: RuiCai Xiangyun, "This is the war" to join the author, without the author himself and "this is the war" permission, any media, self-media shall not be reproduced, violators will be investigated for legal responsibility, readers welcome to forward.
About the author of the public account: Wang Zhengxing, a former officer of a field unit of the People's Liberation Army, has served in infantry detachments, headquarters, logistics departments and other units, is committed to the study of war history and tactics, and has a unique understanding of military tactics and non-war operations. His book "This is War" was recommended in two issues in May and June 2014 by Phoenix TV's "Eight Minutes of Open Volume" column. His public account name is also "This is war", welcome to pay attention