Author: Tai Shi Xiaosheng
In late November 1944, the 4th Brigade also took advantage of the victory to capture Zhoujiagang and other stubborn military strongholds, annihilating more than 300 of them. Although these two battles greatly dampened the vigor of Gui's 171st Division, Luxi's fundamental problem was not solved: Gui's attempt to seize the Luxi base area and break the strategic connection between the 2nd and 7th Divisions of the New Fourth Army was not abandoned. On December 16, 1944, Li Pinxian put forward the anti-communist slogan of "sweeping away and suppressing on a large scale, and eliminating bandits", and deployed Gui To continue to attack the New Fourth Army.
On February 13, 1945, more than 2,000 Japanese puppet troops stationed in Wuwei County "swept up" the eastern area of Wuwei, the anti-Japanese base area of the Anhui River. With two regiments of the 176th Division and three regiments of the local security forces, gui re-attacked the Chaowu central area on February 21, and on March 7, two regiments of the 171st Division went to the area around Hanshan Huayang Temple in an attempt to attack the Area of Hehan. The 7th Division was in a very disadvantaged position in the face of the attack of the Japanese puppet army and Gui Stubborn. In order to get rid of the predicament, according to the unified deployment of the New Fourth Army, the 7th Division adopted methods such as concealing the main force, attacking at the right time, and flexibly carrying out guerrilla warfare.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="4" >, and Gui Stubborn, constantly harassed and exhausted in the nest-free central area that Gui Stubborn once occupied</h1>
In order to support the 7th Division in crushing the "sweep" of the Japanese puppet army and the attack of Gui Stubborn, the New Fourth Army Headquarters urgently dispatched the 5th Brigade of the 2nd Division to reinforce the Chaowu area. At the same time, the 2nd Division launched an attack on the 171st Division of the Gui Army, and 12 Gui strongholds such as Liankejiepaiji, Wang Shantou, and Xiaojiaxu annihilated nearly a thousand of them, forcing Gui to withdraw from the attacking Anhui River area. However, Gui Stubborn did not stop the attack, and Li Pinxian sent the 172nd Division to the east, together with the original 2 divisions, with a total strength of 13,000 people, to attack again the Chaonan area of the 7th Division and the Luxi area of the 2nd Division.
At this time, the 2nd and 7th Divisions were preparing to develop southward, and Gui Stubborn had long wedged into the area west of Huainan Road and the Anhui River, which not only blocked the connection between the 2nd and 7th Divisions, threatened the security of the Luxi area and the anhui central base area, but also greatly restrained the New Fourth Army from carrying out new tasks in the south.
In order to change this unfavorable situation, on 12 March, Zhang Yunyi, Rao Shushi, and Lai Chuanzhu telephoned Chairman Mao, Zhu De, and Liu Shaoqi and decided to transfer the 7th Brigade of the 3rd Division from Huaibei to the west of Huainan Road, so that the Independent Brigade of the 3rd Division would rush from northern Jiangsu to Anhui to fight in coordination with the 2nd and 7th Divisions to completely solve the problem of The West Of Jinpu Road in Huainan and create convenient conditions for the troops to move south and the main force to move in the future.
On April 6, the New Fourth Army decided to form the Luxi Self-Defense and Anti-Stubborn Campaign Headquarters, with Tan Zhenlin and Peng Mingzhi as the main and deputy commanders. On the same day, Rao Shushi and Zhang Yunyi also went to Luxi to deploy for combat.
At the same time, the New Fourth Army received information that the recalcitrant army was also ready to attack only after the end of the Battle of laohekou.
Tan Zhenlin was about to cross the river to the south in January 1945 and was appointed political commissar of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang Military Region. However, due to the tense situation in Huainan, he continued to stay in Luxi and lead the struggle in the anti-Japanese base area in Huainan.
This time, Gui stubbornly attacked, no longer driving straight in, but building bunkers, step by step. Tan Zhenlin believes that the New Fourth Army should attack its strongholds with superior troops, carry out "encirclement point reinforcements," surround the recalcitrant Prince City stronghold, lure the recalcitrant troops to come to the aid, and strive to annihilate the main force of the recalcitrant side in the movement, and then attack its position with cameras.
On the night of April 14, the fighting officially began. The 5th Brigade of the 2nd Division of the New Fourth Army, in close coordination with the 4th Brigade, the 7th Brigade, and the troops of the Luxi Military Sub-district, dispatched attacking troops and launched a fierce attack on the Gui army's Prince City stronghold in two parts, and with its unexpected speed, broke through more than a thousand strong fortifications defended by Gui, broke into the polder, forced the recalcitrant army to retreat into the polder outside the northwest corner of the stronghold, and then organized a siege.
Sure enough, the recalcitrant army heard that the Prince City was surrounded, and immediately dispatched 4 main regiments and local reactionary forces to reinforce one after another, all of which were blocked by the New Fourth Army in the north and south areas of the Yellow Pupil Temple, and the Luxi troops immediately launched a counterattack.
After 6 days and nights of fierce fighting, the New Fourth Army conquered a total of 13 strongholds such as Prince City, annihilated the two regiments of gui's main force and more than 3,600 local reactionary forces, opened up the connection between the 2nd Division and the 7th Division, and basically achieved the purpose of the campaign. However, due to the initial joint operation of the two divisions of the New Fourth Army, the coordination was not good, and the battle was fought into a defeat battle, and Gui stubbornly retreated to the area south and east of the Yellow Pupil Temple, and the war situation formed a stalemate state. The New Fourth Army itself suffered more than 2,500 casualties, and the battle was unfavorable, and the New Fourth Army decided to withdraw its troops from the battle.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="10" >2, if a suspicious person is caught, the Japanese army wants to negotiate with the New Fourth Army? </h1>
In the middle of August 1944, the sun was shining like fire.
At the canal, a small unit of the 10th Brigade of the 3rd Division of the New Fourth Army was patrolling, and the commanders and fighters were all smiling on their faces, and their hearts were as hot as the weather of this summer: the day of the fall of the Japanese and the false was about to come!
At this point, the village guerrillas reported that a suspicious person had been captured. Before he could interrogate him, the guy pulled out a letter of introduction, claiming to be a "negotiator, saying that he wanted to "negotiate" with the New Fourth Army at the behest of a certain Japanese brigade commander.
Under the wave of local counter-offensives in the Liberated Areas of Central China, the Japanese Kou also became "reasonable" and even remembered to "negotiate" with the people of the Liberated Areas!
At the beginning of March, in order to cooperate with the Cheqiao Campaign, the military and civilians of northern Jiangsu took advantage of the emptiness behind the enemy and the panic of the Japanese army, and the 7th Brigade first conquered the Zhuxuzi stronghold between Lianshui and Cheqiao, annihilating more than 300 puppet troops. Subsequently, the 10th Brigade and the Huai naval sub-district troops launched a spring offensive, uprooting 10 Japanese puppet army strongholds on the Mu (Yang) Huai (Yin) Highway, annihilating nearly a thousand puppet troops, and completely cutting off the Shuhuai Highway. In late March, the brigade took advantage of the victory and expansion results to conquer the outer strongholds of Gaogou and Yangkou, such as Eight Rooms, Shimen, Xiaohouzhuang, Jiang Xingzhuang, Renwuji, Zhuping, and Lizhuang, and eliminated the Japanese and puppet forces along the Liutang River. On April 19, Huang Kecheng ordered the Battle of Gao (Ditch) Yang (Kou).
After 16 days of fierce fighting, the New Fourth Army conquered 14 strongholds in Gaogou and Yangkou and its surroundings, annihilated 1 brigade and 1 brigade of the puppet army and more than 2,000 people, including the puppet police, and destroyed the Japanese puppet army reinforcements from Xin'an Town, Lianshui, Xiangshuikou and other places on 6 occasions, annihilating more than 140 Japanese troops, including 3 captured Japanese troops, and fiercely dealt a blow to the arrogance of the Japanese and puppets. The New Fourth Army recovered 500 square kilometers of land on both sides of the Liutang River, liberated more than 80,000 people, and basically connected the long-divided Huaihai and Yanfu base areas.
At this time, the "negotiators" sent by the Japanese Kou did not have the arrogance of the past: "If you allow the canal in Suqian to Huaiyin to be opened, the imperial army will no longer sweep and secure the strongholds to you, and will be willing to give you more than a dozen machine guns and some bullets." ”
After the Battle of Gaoyang, the japanese and puppet rule in the Huaihai area was greatly reduced, many strongholds were isolated, and land and water transportation was intermittent. However, in order to save his defeat and maintain his communications, the enemy adopted the method of "connecting the lines by points," that is, re-establishing strongholds along the canal in an attempt to open up the canal and the salt river between Suqian and Huaiyin again, so as to block the connection between the two anti-Japanese base areas in Huaihai and Huaibei.
"What if we don't allow navigation?" The commander of the 10th Brigade asked rhetorically.
The visitor said in a threatening tone: "The imperial army must continue to sweep and continue to lay out the strongholds of The Outer Security." ”
Before the words could be heard, a soldier of the 10th Brigade poked his gun into the ground and shouted, "The canal is a canal Chinese, and the invaders will never be allowed to sail." When the Japanese came out to 'sweep up,' we resolutely destroyed them; when the devils went to the Outer Security stronghold, we resolutely destroyed them. There is only one condition for negotiations: lay down arms and treat them leniently. ”
The "negotiator" felt that it was not easy to be soft and hard, and he was not confident enough, so he had to go back in ashes.
However, a few days later, Liu Zhen, commander of the 10th Brigade, received information: the 135th Brigade of the 72nd Brigade of the Japanese Army stationed in Suqian had sent more than 80 people from the Jinjing Squadron, as well as more than 90 local reactionary armed forces, and indeed wanted to take a stronghold in Lingongdu'an.
"After the autumn ant clams, I really want to jump a few times." It seems that the enemy is desperately trying to keep the canal route and once again test the power of the New Fourth Army. Our firm policy is to deny the enemy a foothold, determined to take advantage of the fact that its foothold is not stable and the bunker has not yet been built, and suddenly launch a battle to crush the enemy's plot. Liu Zhen said firmly.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" data-track="17" >3, the victory of the Battle of Lin Gongdu smashed the conspiracy of the Japanese Kou to cut off the base areas of northern Jiangsu and Huaibei</h1>
Lin Gongdu is a small village with only 12 families, 32 kilometers from Suqian County in the northwest, 20 kilometers from Siyang County in the southeast, canal in the north, and 200 meters in the south as the abandoned Yellow River embankment, which is the main water and land transportation route of Suqian and Siyang Counties, the surrounding terrain is open, easy to defend, and the area is small, which can save troops. In the eyes of the enemy, this is a very ideal stronghold that is conducive to defending and unfavorable to attack.
After receiving the information, the 10th Brigade immediately mobilized the masses, demolished the polder wall, and buried the grain. In terms of troop deployment, on the one hand, they organized local armed forces and militia to attack and harass the Jinjing squadron along the way, and on the other hand, they urgently ordered the main force of the New Fourth Army gathered near Qianji to advance rapidly towards Lin Gongdu.
The Jinjing Squadron is a "trump card" of the Japanese army in Suqian City, and it is equipped with some heavy firearms, which is menacing. In order to annihilate the enemy quickly and simply, the New Fourth Army must throw itself into battle with absolute superiority and deal it a devastating blow.
After the enemy entered Lin Gongdu, he began to build the artillery tower. When the 10th Brigade received this information, it concentrated the 1st, 2nd, and 4th detachments of the main force and quickly reached the pei wei and Lirenji areas more than thirty kilometers northeast of Lin Gongdu to assemble for political mobilization and pre-war preparations; at the same time, it sent two or three squads of detachments, together with local armed forces and militia, to carry out a wandering attack on Lin Gongdu every night, so that the enemy would not have a chance to breathe.
At dusk on September 6, the 2nd detachment, which was the main attacker, crossed the canal from Cuizhen, east of Lin Gongdu, and 6 main attack companies were divided into three roads in the east, west and south, and surrounded the enemy group before 8:00 p.m. on the 7th; at the same time, the 1st and 2nd detachments arranged reinforcements in the direction of Suqian and Huaiyin to prevent the enemy's reinforcements.
As soon as it got dark, the artillery began to shoot. Although the guns of the New Fourth Army were several modified bent and flat-firing mortars and a captured mortar, the gunners played very well and posed a great threat to the enemy.
At 9 p.m. that night, the general offensive began. The 3rd Company took the opportunity to launch an attack from the west side of the stronghold, and the instructor Xue Fuli led the assault squad to open the way, cut the barbed wire fence on the outskirts of the enemy bunker with a saber, and put grenades from the perforation to blow up the enemy bunker, breaking through the enemy's forward position. After a fierce battle, the New Fourth Army suddenly deepened into the enemy, and the divided enemy still tried to use the broken wall to make a dying struggle, and rushed out of the courtyard at the slightest opportunity, but was pushed back by the heroic soldiers of the New Fourth Army. The battle was fought house by house, and several courtyards held by the enemy were seized by the New Fourth Army one by one.
The 10th Brigade learned something from the captives: the third compound captured by the New Fourth Army in the east of the village was the command post of Jinjing. Under the fierce attack of the New Fourth Army, he abandoned this courtyard and ran to other courtyards in a panic. Kanai was now terrified because most of his squadron members had suffered more than half of the casualties, and the most nerve-wracking thing was that some of the heavy firearms had been captured by the New Fourth Army and the chain of command had been disrupted. Kanai was bent on breaking through, but there was no way and no rescue, so he had to stubbornly resist in two or three courtyards.
After finding out the enemy's details, brigade commander Liu Zhen quickly adjusted the deployment. In the main direction of attack, in addition to concentrating some heavy firearms, he put in two more companies. The battle developed rapidly, and in about twenty minutes, the New Fourth Army occupied two more compounds. At 3:00 a.m. on the 8th, the battle was still fierce, and the telephone of the brigade command post rang crisply from time to time, and the battle situation and good news came frequently.
Suddenly, a rapid bell rang. Liu Zhen picked up his headphones, and Yu Hetan, the commander of the 6th Regiment, reported: "A small part of the enemy has broken through from the north of the village and is fleeing west along the canal. Liu Zhen immediately ordered the peripheral troops to immediately block the pursuit, and ordered the attacking troops in the village to step up their attacks on the remnants of the enemy, never allowing an enemy to escape from Lin Gongdu again.
The remnants of the village were crushed into the last two houses, and in order to end the battle as soon as possible, the New Fourth Army concentrated all its mortars and some demolition men to shoot and blast at the remnants of the enemy. Suddenly, the roaring light of the fire illuminated the small village, and after a loud bang, the more than thirty Japanese troops who had retreated in the house were all buried in the fire cave. Feng Zhixiang, commander of the 2nd Detachment, reported to the brigade headquarters: "The enemy who broke through has all been annihilated, and there are five Japanese troops who tried to dive into the water to escape, two were captured alive and three drowned. ”
Before dawn, the New Fourth Army successfully uprooted The Lin Gongdu stronghold. In this battle, a total of 66 Japanese squadron leaders below Kanai were killed, 5 Japanese soldiers were captured, and more than 90 puppet soldiers were killed or captured.
The victory in the battle of Lin Gongdu smashed the conspiracy of the Japanese Kou to cut off the base areas of northern Jiangsu and Huaibei, and also gave great encouragement to the local people, and more than 60,000 people welcomed the triumph of the new Fourth Army troops. Since then, the enemy has had no choice but to cling to several isolated counties in Huaiyin, Linyang, Siyang, and Suqian, and is no longer able to come out to "sweep up."
Finally, in order to preserve the central stronghold of Shuyang, the enemy sent two reinforcement squads of the Japanese army and a brigade of the puppet army to set up a stronghold in the west of Linyang City and the cross bridge in the south of the city.
However, the Yexuzi stronghold was not settled for a few days, and it was conquered by the 10th Brigade, and the New Fourth Army annihilated more than 40 Japanese troops and more than 200 puppet troops.
The 10th Brigade and the Huai Naval Sub-district fought hundreds of battles in 1944, eliminating more than 10,000 Japanese puppet troops and destroying more than 140 strongholds.
At the same time, the 7th and 8th Brigades of the 3rd Division in the Yanfu area were not idle, and under the command of Huang Kecheng, Zhang Aiping, and others, they carried out a series of local counter-offensives in the coastal area: in April and May, they successively captured Chenjiagang and nearby strongholds; in June and July, they launched a seaside campaign, which further weakened the control of the Japanese puppet army in the Yanfu area; in September and October, they attacked the core Japanese and pseudo strongholds of Hede Town and its peripheral strongholds.
The military and people of the Yanfu base area launched a five-month offensive operation to expand the coastal liberated areas, liberated the coastal areas south of the Guanhe River and north of the Sheyang River, smashed the economic blockade imposed by the Japanese puppet army on the Yanfu base area, destroyed and destroyed a large amount of salt, cotton, and other strategic materials plundered by the Japanese and puppets, and compressed the Japanese puppet army into a narrow strip of land along the sheyang River along the lines of Hede Town, Tongyang Port, Chen Jiayang, and Haihe Town, so that they did not dare to act rashly.
About the author: Taishi Xiaosheng, a lover of history, is especially passionate about reading and writing party history and military history. I have always wanted to look back at history more clearly, look at history more rationally, and write history more fluently.
The majority of history buffs are welcome to exchange axes.