At the beginning of 1941, the Japanese army had occupied most of north and central China, but the anti-Japanese forces led by revolutionary organizations were still active and fighting in this area, often disturbing the peace of the Japanese army.
In order to consolidate the Japanese forces in the occupied areas, the movement in the name of "strengthening public order" advanced rapidly, and the "combination of rigidity and softness" made the "public security areas" continue to increase, and the anti-Japanese forces were in a difficult situation.
The goal has been set
After several defeats with the Eighth Route Army, the Japanese slowed down their offensive and stepped up their divisions and Huairou. Following the orders of the Japanese headquarters, the Japanese troops stationed in North China also launched operations against the "non-public security areas".
In the southern Hebei region, the Japanese army took the communication lines and fortifications step by step as a battalion, and constantly pushed forward to blockade. At the same time, in order to advance smoothly and prevent our army from attacking and harassing, the Japanese army also dispatched a large number of troops to carry out repeated "sweeps."
The Japanese army was proud that the plan was going very smoothly, and soon they divided the anti-Japanese base area in southern Hebei into several small areas in an attempt to annihilate the anti-Japanese forces in this area.
In this regard, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army immediately began to discuss countermeasures:
When the enemy entered southern Hebei, its strength was very widely distributed, but relying on the fortifications and lines of communication built, it was difficult for our army's strength to concentrate on a breakthrough; and if it was a full-scale battle, our army's current strength would not be enough to support it.
In this way, we can only use surprise attack tactics to attack several key points, so as to shake the entire blockade of the Japanese army.
Zaoqiang is the basic area of the base area in southern Hebei, where the anti-Japanese forces can be used by our army and become a major reliance of our army; Louzi Town is a key market town south of Zaoqiang, where the Japanese puppet army has been rooted for 2 years, but it is still unpopular, giving our army a great advantage in breaking through; and from Louzi Town to the southeast is the large camp stronghold of the Japanese blockade line, and most of its strength.
Therefore, one of the next major goals of our army is to take the town of Louzi through Zaoqiang, and then attack the enemy's large camp strongholds, so as to improve the situation of the War of Resistance in southern Hebei.
At the same time, the Japanese army also made corresponding preparations according to our understanding:
The troops were already close to a core of the Eighth Route Army, and they were bound to launch an offensive to block the advance of the troops.
At present, there are still no effective means of combat against the Eighth Route Army, and can only rely on absolute strength superiority to blockade and "sweep"; but "sweeping" is difficult to cause damage to the Eighth Route Army, and it will also cause more obstacles to the troops, and the blockade is also the continuous dispersion of the strength of the troops, giving the Eighth Route Army a lot of opportunities.
Nevertheless, a blockade is still the best option for the time being.
In view of the current situation, the Eighth Route Army is likely to operate in the Zaoqiang area, so it is necessary to strengthen the defense of the surrounding strongholds. At present, the troops have strength branches in Zhengjiakou, Daying, Louzi Town, Houbianzhuang, and Chuanzi Town, and although they can reinforce each other, the specific number of the Eighth Route Army is still unknown, and it is inevitable that the situation of moving tigers away from the mountains will occur.
Then connect these places into a whole and build a solid defensive line to hold firm in the direction of Zaoqiang.
From April 12, the Japanese army sent a large number of forces to step up the construction of the blockade ditch wall (the ditch was one foot deep and two feet deep, and the wall was five feet high), from Zhengjiakou to the town of Juanzi, including Daying, Louzi Town and Houbianzhuang, a strong defensive line quickly rose from the ground.
Obviously, whatever form of strike our army wants to carry out must break through this blockade.
The battle before the war
In response to the Japanese army's ditch wall defense line, our army headquarters held a meeting to discuss countermeasures and planned a groundwork operation:
The Japanese army blocked all the plans of our army in the direction of Louzi Town, but the Japanese troops in front of them were forced by the pressure of north-south combat and the increasing shortage of transportation supplies, and their ditch wall defense line was bound to be weak.
According to the information obtained by our army's scouts in advance, the target of our current operation was set to be the section from Zhengjiakou to Houbianzhuang.
At the same time, we must mobilize and unite the people to make up for the shortage of our army's strength.
On May 4, the New 7th Brigade of our army in Southern Hebei was ordered to carry out a battle to break the ditch wall of the Japanese army, and more than 20,000 civilians volunteered to participate in the battle. They concentrated their forces on the japanese trench wall, and soon exchanged fire with the japanese troops stationed there, and engaged in a fierce battle.
The fire of the Japanese army was very fierce, and its artillery fire continued to explode, but the anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians were not afraid at all, and rushed to the stubborn anti-Japanese army to fight with them in close combat. Soon, the ditch wall of the Japanese army was blasted by our army, and a gap appeared, followed by another courageous charge of the anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians.
When the Japanese army saw a breakthrough, they turned their heads and blockaded it, while the puppet troops mostly retreated and prepared to retreat. The anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians stepped up their attacks against the fire of the Japanese army and opened several breakthroughs in succession. The fighting became more and more intense, and there were 5 consecutive days and nights.
By May 9, the target ditch wall had all been destroyed, and in addition, the Japanese strongholds in Yuezhuang, Song Lixiang, front and back Border Villages and other places had also been taken by the anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians in one fell swoop; but with the reinforcement of the Japanese troops in Louzi Town and other strongholds, the anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians were also forced to withdraw.
When all the people were successfully evacuated, the soldiers of our army also began to move. The main force of the 19th Regiment, led by regimental commander Huang Kexia and political commissar Li Hanying, retreated to the area of Beigaozhuang east of Chongyang to assemble and reorganize. Against the Japanese troops in Louzi Town, Huang Kexia and Li Hanying repeatedly planned against the map, ready to complete the task assigned by their superiors and eliminate this threat.
According to the information obtained by the scouts, the Japanese army in this stronghold had a total of only one 18-man Japanese squad and more than 30 pseudo-garrisons and policemen; but its logistical equipment was far superior to that of our army, and the fortifications it built were far stronger than the ditch walls.
The task was very difficult, but the task of the main force of the 19th Regiment was to "pluck the heart out of the tiger's belly".
Defensive momentum
At the same time, the Japanese puppet defenders stationed in Louzi Town were also ready to deal with our attack.
According to the advantages of the Eighth Route Army in night combat and attack operations, the Japanese squad leader who served as the commander-in-chief of the Japanese puppet army here made detailed arrangements:
Some of the Japanese troops stationed there were stronger combat strength, and they served as night garrisons to prevent the Eighth Route Army from attacking at night, mainly relying on bunker fortifications for entrenchment; while the daytime defensive tasks were held by puppet armies, and if the Eighth Route Army was ready to attack the stronghold, it would hold on with strong firepower and sufficient logistics.
After the deployment of the squad leader, the defense of Louzi Town was strengthened again, but despite this, he was still worried about losing the defense, and sent several requests for support to the headquarters in succession; after anxious waiting, he not only did not wait for even a single Japanese soldier, but was also severely reprimanded by the high-level.
Therefore, the squad leader used the existing strength as much as possible to strengthen the defense, first from the "maintenance meeting" to find some civilians to build fortifications, racing against time to strengthen the defense; and then stepped up the training and expansion of the puppet army, trying to organize an attack force to assist the defense.
Immediately after, the squad leader's new plan was officially launched, and although the number of puppet troops did not increase as expected, the construction of the fortifications was very smooth.
In the past few days, the Eighth Route Army has not taken the slightest action, and the Japanese puppet troops in the Louzi town stronghold have breathed a sigh of relief, and the atmosphere of panic has gradually eased.
Then, forced by the summer heat and thirst, the captain of the puppet army found the "maintenance meeting" and asked for some civilians to carry water.
After a few more days, the townspeople came and went, but the soldiers of the Eighth Route Army were still missing.
Soon, the Japanese puppet army stationed there began to become scattered, eating, drinking and having fun. However, under the public reprimand of the Japanese squad leader, they still held tightly on the defensive line.
Preparations before the war
The 19th Regiment, which was on standby in the distance, was still observing the enemy situation. In early May, the president and vice president of the "Maintenance Association" in Louzi Town recognized the disguised personnel of the revolutionary organization in the city, but they did not report them, but used this to send important information to our army.
The regimental commander Huang Kexia was already impatient, if it were not for Li Hanying to stop him, he would have rushed to the position of the Japanese puppet army and rushed to fight desperately, at this time important information came, he immediately sent people to do further reconnaissance and began the next step of combat preparations.
Immediately, the operational staff officer of the 19th Regiment, the deputy company commander of the 5th Company and the 11th Company, and the 1st Platoon Commander of the 7th Company were ordered to infiltrate and, together with the civilian husbands of the "Maintenance Society," undertook various "commissions" of the Japanese puppet army, so as to penetrate deep into the enemy's strongholds and investigate the enemy's situation.
A few days later, the 4 brave men of our army had turned the enemy's stronghold inside and out and had a very detailed understanding of its deployment:
As the chairman said, the Japanese troops all turned into "night owls", who could not afford to sleep during the day and at night.
During the day they all huddled in a compound, which was easy to recognize, and there was a wall outside. The courtyard is not small, there is a front yard, a backyard, and a small courtyard on the east side. All the Japanese troops stationed here, especially the small courtyard, where their squad leader was. It is also worth noting that there are 2 bunkers in this courtyard.
The puppet army part was in another courtyard, far from the Japanese compound. And a little further south in the middle of these two is the warehouse of the whole stronghold, which contains equipment, ammunition, and food.
Every day, civilians would enter the courtyard to work, mostly in the early morning, and they could be released after being inspected by the last japanese sentry.
In response, Huang Kexia and Li Hanying and others began specific arrangements for the battle:
The above originally planned to carry out a surprise attack, so this operation was set as a surprise attack operation.
The first is the brave team that served as a surprise attack, the number can not be large, 15 is enough, all can only be equipped with pistols. After that, he infiltrated Louzi Town in disguise, joined the "Maintenance Society", and took advantage of the Japanese army's sleep in the morning to catch them all;
The second is the commando team, find 40 people, wait for the surprise attack team signal to arrive, take down the puppet army standing guard, break through and assist the surprise attack team to attack the remaining hostile forces;
Finally, there is the deployment of the perimeter. The Japanese stronghold of Louzi Town was hit, and the nearby strongholds, especially the large camp strongholds, would definitely send reinforcements, so some forces must be dispatched to contain them. The specific deployment is as follows:
The 2nd Battalion was assembled in a hidden house near the enemy's stronghold, acting as a guard outside the village, mainly responsible for monitoring and eliminating the puppet army, and secondly, preparing to strike reinforcements and carrying captured ammunition and materials;
2 companies of the 1st Battalion entered the enemy stronghold of Daying Town, responsible for blocking reinforcements from Daying Town;
The guerrillas in Jixian County guarded the town of Baozi and Datun respectively.
Finally, at dawn on May 23, the Louzi town attack battle officially began.
The battle begins
The night of May 22 was unusual, not only our troops marched in the night, but also many people in Louzi Town did not sleep all night.
At the home of the president of the "Maintenance Society", the wife coaxed the infant child to sleep, but the couple was silent and did not say a word. The president raised his head and looked at the bright moon that was gradually emerging from the clouds, and he secretly made up his mind.
At 3:30 a.m. on the 23rd, the troops of our army departing from Beigaozhuang had arrived at various designated locations in Louzi Town and were ready for war.
The 2nd Battalion and the Commando Team quickly entered the nearby houses to complete the rendezvous with the local people, and then hid in the 3 courtyards near the enemy stronghold with the help of the civilians.
The brave team has been camouflaged at this moment, the bucket, broom and other tools are also fully prepared, and the concealment of the pistol is foolproof.
The 2 companies of the 1st Battalion successfully completed the ambush, and the Jixian county guerrillas were also ready to attack.
At the same time, the revolutionary organization branch of Louzi Town also launched an operation to assist the troops in blocking news and other work.
With the help of the president of the "Maintenance Association", all 15 members of the brave team were hidden in the ranks of the minfu. After that, with the assistance of the people, the brave team of our army smoothly entered the position of preparation for the attack.
At 6 o'clock, the president approached the stronghold with eggs. After knocking on the door, a Japanese soldier opened a small opening and questioned the president. The president took out the egg and claimed to be a gift for the Japanese army, the soldier took the egg and examined it carefully, then looked at the president several times, and after confirming the safety, he immediately opened the door and let it go.
At this time, the Japanese sentries saw that the sky was bright and the situation was calm, so they walked down the bunker and prepared to go to the shift to rest. Seeing the president carrying eggs, they came forward to check, and several soldiers took the opportunity to take a few eggs.
But by this time they had been controlled by tiredness, and after some noise, they were ready to go back to the house to rest.
The president entered the courtyard smoothly, carrying eggs and walking with the Japanese sentry toward the kitchen. As he passed by the Japanese rest house, the president took a few more looks and saw that the Japanese were sleeping, and then he put the eggs on the kitchen table and prepared to leave lightly.
Just as the chairman put his hand on the door handle, the Accompanying Japanese soldier suddenly asked:
"How did you think of gift-giving today?"
The President hastened to reply:
"This is a little bit of the hearts of the villagers, and when they see that the Japanese army is too hard, they want to dedicate a little bit of effort."
Hearing the president's answer, the soldier yawned and prepared to drive him away.
The president who had left the compound immediately signaled to the brave team, indicating that it was safe to advance ahead.
Subsequently, each of the 1st group took a load of water and walked ahead, and the 2nd and 3rd groups followed, and when they entered the Japanese compound and approached the kitchen, several enemy sentries coming down from the bunker saw them passing by, and out of vigilance they went forward to investigate.
The soldiers of our army were about to draw their guns, but the captain of the brave team ordered the team members to wait for the opportunity, and then stepped forward with a smiling face. The Japanese soldiers and the "minfu" exchanged views, and for half a day neither side understood what they were talking about.
At this time, the stomach of a Japanese soldier began to protest, urging his companions to go to the kitchen to find something to eat. Seeing the Japanese army leaving, our brave team was relieved and was preparing to leave; but at this moment, a Japanese soldier turned his head to look at the group of "civilian men", and when he saw the outline that resembled a pistol, he immediately informed his companions next to him.
The soldier who had first come forward to interrogate him was keenly aware of the anomaly and immediately aimed his gun at preparing for battle, but when he was about to shout, he was shot dead by the brave captain of our army.
The first shot of the battle in Louzi Town was fired.
The battle begins
The fighters of groups 1 and 2 immediately rushed to the front yard and backyard as planned, trying to control them before the Japanese counterattacked.
Soon, The 1st Group killed all the Sleeping Japanese soldiers in the north house of the front yard and delivered a Type 92 heavy machine gun to the gate; the 2nd Group on the other side also quickly rushed into the Japanese room in the backyard and shot at the enemy sleeping on the bed.
In just 10 minutes, all 15 Japanese soldiers had been killed.
Meanwhile, The 3rd Group had just entered the courtyard where the Japanese squad leader lived. Gunfire had sounded, and the Japanese squad leader drew his knife in the West House and prepared to resist.
The leader of the group, Liu Wen, pushed the door into the house and shot at the enemy, but did not hit the enemy's key point, and was cut in the head by the enemy with a combat knife, and unfortunately died. The Japanese captain took advantage of the confusion of our army to climb to the roof and then entered the bunker.
There were 2 Japanese soldiers in the East House, one was killed by our army, the other was wounded and pretended to be dead, and then took advantage of the gap to sneak into the bunker and resisted with the Japanese squad leader.
Immediately afterward, our commandos joined the valiants and launched an attack on the bunkers held by the remnants of the enemy; but the Japanese grenades came as if tilting, forcing our army to seriously hinder the attack.
In the interval between the grenade attacks, the Japanese dropped several more gas canisters, making the battlefield full of poisonous smoke. Since our army was not prepared for drug prevention, our army had to withdraw from the compound.
"It seems that the squad leader of the Japanese army has been prepared for this!" Looking at the battlefield full of poisonous smoke, the front-line commanders of our army ordered the commandos and valiant teams to lay an ambush on the outskirts of the compound, ready to attack when the smoke cleared.
On the other side, the 2nd Battalion of our army has carried out a lot of ammunition and materials, and the people in the town have also prepared 10 large trucks for our army, and quickly pulled away the captured materials.
The puppet army, which lived in another courtyard, panicked after the battle was launched, surrendered to our army under the political disintegration and military blows of our army; but until the end of the battle, there was still a hidden part in the city, which had not been searched by our army.
The regimental commander saw that many soldiers were poisoned, and the bunker was difficult to capture for a while, and at the same time, the Japanese reinforcements in Daying Town had made contact with the 1st Battalion's blocking troops and engaged, and forced by the situation to order the troops to take the initiative to throw out the battle at 9:20.
At this point, the Eighth Route Army's attack on Louzi Town was over.
In this battle, our army killed a total of 16 Japanese troops, wounded 2 Japanese soldiers, captured 9 puppet soldiers, captured 1 light and heavy machine gun, 1 grenade launcher, 15 rifles, more than 10,000 rounds of various bullets, and a large number of military supplies. Our army, on the other hand, was wounded only 10 and 1 was killed.
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