<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" the > 333rd Brigade of the 117th Division of the 57th Army, after relieving the siege of Linyi, on April 1, 1938, was ordered to pursue the Japanese troops fleeing to the city and put it under the command of Tang Enbo, commander of the 20th Army. On 5 April, Tang Enbo ordered the 333rd Brigade to quickly occupy the area around Ditch and Dagushan and intercept the Japanese Fifth Division from the north of Taierzhuang. </h1>
The terrain around Dagushan is open, and the northwest direction is the highway line from Taierzhuang to Xiangcheng. The 665th Regiment of the 333rd Brigade (owed 1 battalion) arrived at the designated position on time, the 3rd Battalion quickly occupied the position of Dagushan, and the 2nd Battalion also occupied the ditch in time. At 1:00 p.m. on April 5, the Japanese army of 500 or 600 people, supported by artillery, launched a fierce attack on the defenders of Dagushan, and the 3rd battalion relied on fortifications to develop firepower superiority and repelled the first attack of the Japanese army. The Japanese bombarded our positions with artillery to cover their infantry to attack our army again. The soldiers of the 665th Regiment showed their bravery and tenacity, and fought with the Japanese army in a white-knife battle and grenades, and the two sides fought fiercely until 5 p.m., when the 665th Regiment killed and wounded about 200 or 300 Japanese troops, and the Japanese army finally had to take the road to the northwest due to heavy casualties. But in this battle, the 665th Regiment also paid more than 100 casualties.
On 8 April, the 333rd Brigade was ordered to move to the area around Sihu Town and Xidaokou as a reserve of the 20th Army. On the 12th, he was ordered by Tang Enbo, the commander of the 20th Army, to enter the town of Hongshan. At this time, in order to relieve the besieged 10th Division, the Japanese army sent a large number of reinforcements along the Jinpu Line to reinforce Taierzhuang, and also arrived here, and the Japanese army broke through the defense line of our army in Yixian County with strong firepower, directly threatening the flank of the 20th Army.
On April 18, Tang Enbo ordered the 333rd Brigade to occupy the positions of Lanling and Hongshan to cover the main force of the 20th Army to move southeast of Taierzhuang. On 20 April, after completing its cover mission well, the 333rd Brigade was ordered to garrison the towns of East and West Madian and Chahe, occupy the eastern and western Madian fronts, and cover the construction of positions by the 20th Army in the Area of Hushan in Pi County (present-day Pizhou City).
Wang Zhaozhi, commander of the 333rd Brigade, ordered lieutenant colonels of the 665th Regiment to lead the regiment to occupy the first-line defense of East and West Madian. The regiment's 2nd Battalion, plus the 7th and 8th Companies of the 3rd Battalion, occupied East Madian and the remaining troops of the 3rd Battalion occupied West Madian and completed the field fortifications on the afternoon of 20 April. The 666th Regiment, as a brigade reserve, was stationed in Chahe Town (in Pizhou City, Jiangsu Province) and waited for reinforcements.
At 9:00 a.m. on April 21, more than 2,000 members of the Isoya Brigade of the Japanese Itagaki Division, supported by artillery fire, attacked the position of West Madian, and our defenders relied on fortifications to defend and fought bravely to resist the strong offensive of the Japanese army. By 12:00 noon, the position was unmoving and no land had been lost. The Japanese had to turn to Gengzhuang, about two miles west of West Madan, and were captured by the Japanese due to the weak defense here. The situation in West Madian suddenly became tense, and on the evening of the same day, the 7th and 8th companies of the 3 battalions of East Madian were urgently transferred to the formation to strengthen the defense of West Madian.
At 9:00 a.m. on April 22, the Japanese army that captured Gengzhuang launched a fierce attack on Ximadian, and the battle was very fierce, and Ximadian was frequently anxious. Li Yadong's regiment attached and urgently transferred the 5th and 6th companies of the 2nd Battalion of East Madian to reinforce, and the fierce battle was fierce until 1 p.m., because the Japanese offensive was too strong, Wang Zhaozhi, brigadier general Lin Runhou, commander of the 1st Battalion of the 666th Regiment, to lead the 1st and 2nd companies of the battalion to reinforce Ximadian, and the 1st Battalion put into battle on the right flank of the Ximadian position, and the battle was fought until nightfall, but the Japanese offensive did not weaken.
At 3:00 a.m. on 23 April, the 333rd Brigade transferred the remaining troops of the 2nd Battalion of the 665th Regiment of the East Madian regiment to reinforcements due to the fierce fighting in West Madian, and the 3rd Battalion of the 666th Regiment was replaced by the 3rd Battalion of the 666th Regiment. At 6 o'clock in the morning, the Japanese army, with the coordination of infantry and artillery, coupled with the cooperation of tanks, once again launched a fierce attack on the positions of East and West Madian, and the vast number of officers and men of the 333rd Brigade fought bravely, and both sides suffered heavy casualties, and at 7 o'clock, Lin Runhou, commander of the 1st Battalion of the 666 Regiment, was killed. At 8 o'clock, the Japanese offensive was frustrated and retreated to Hezhuang. The 333rd Brigade took advantage of the battle gap to adjust its defenses. The 3rd Battalion of the 666th Regiment in East Madian sent a company to occupy the Huang family to prevent the Japanese from sneaking in a roundabout way. Ximadian as an important direction of attack of the Japanese army, the enemy and us have repeatedly strengthened their strength, the 333rd Brigade with the street center as the focus of the battle, the 666th Regiment 1 Battalion as the right wing, the 665th Regiment (owed 1 Battalion) as the left wing, under the command of Liu Jinwu, commander of the 666th Regiment, the generals took advantage of the night to seize the time to repair the fortifications, ready for the Japanese army to attack again.
On April 24, the Japanese army received reinforcements, and at 9 a.m., the Japanese army dispatched several aircraft and artillery fire to bombard the village of Ximadian fiercely, with hundreds of shells and bombs, and the position suddenly burst into flames and became a sea of fire. The Japanese infantry launched an attack under the cover of tanks, our defenders on the position were not afraid of strong enemies, tenacious battles, and held their positions, in one day, the Japanese army launched 3 attacks, each time the two sides were short-armed, hand-to-hand fighting, and the Japanese army's attacks had to fail again and again under the desperate resistance of our defenders.
The Japanese attacked for 4 consecutive days and nights, but under the stubborn resistance of the 333rd Brigade, it was difficult to cross the thunder pool and suffered a heavy defeat. Since then, apart from the daily shelling of our positions, they have not dared to carry out large-scale offensives. In order to prepare for friendly forces to fight, the 333rd Brigade also sent multiple small units from time to time to attack and harass the Japanese army, which caused headaches for the Japanese army.
The 333rd Brigade held out in the east and west of Madian until May 8, when the new 5th Division took over the defense, and the 333rd Brigade was transferred to suqian, Jiangsu Province, to reorganize and replenish. The 333rd Brigade suffered heavy casualties in three battles before and after Linyi, Dagushan, and East and West Madian, with 26 officers and 519 soldiers below the battalion level, 18 wounded officers and 441 soldiers, and a total of 1,004 casualties ("Detailed Report on the Participation of the 333rd Brigade of infantry of the 11th Infantry Division in the Battle of Xuzhou"), reaching nearly half of the total number of people participating in the battle. However, the 333rd Brigade killed and wounded more than 2,000 Japanese troops at a cost of 1:2, which was a rare and brilliant record in countless battles in the entire War of Resistance Against Japan!!! As a result, the 333rd Brigade was commended by orders from the 5th Theater of Operations and the 20th Army.
In the Battle of Taierzhuang, the 333rd Brigade of the 111th Division of the 57th Army of the Northeast Army showed bravery and tenacity, and was not afraid of sacrifice, and wrote a brilliant page in the history of the Northeast Army's War of Resistance.
The 333rd Brigade of the 111th Division rushed to the aid of Taierzhuang, made great sacrifices to relieve the siege of Linyi, and annihilated nearly a thousand Japanese troops