Author: Unsentimental
Tianmu Mountain is located in the northwest of Zhejiang, about 130 kilometers long from east to west, about 30 kilometers wide from north to south, and about 30 kilometers away from Lin'an County, with rich products and riches. In the autumn of 1944, our army, focusing on the coming strategic counteroffensive, could better coordinate with the Allied forces, and instructed Su Yu to lead his troops to cross the Yangtze River south, pass through Tianmu Mountain, and cross the Qiantang River to open up strategic links with eastern Zhejiang.
On February 5, 1945, the inaugural meeting of the Jiangsu-Zhejiang Military Region was held in The Village of Wentang, Changxing, with Su Yu as the commander of the Military Region, commanding the southern Jiangsu and Zhejiang troops in a unified manner, and reorganizing the 16th Brigade of the 6th Division of the New Fourth Army into the 1st Column, the Eastern Zhejiang Guerrilla Army into the 2nd Column, the 3rd Brigade of the 1st Division that came south with Su Yu as the 3rd Column, and the 1st Brigade of the 1st Division as the 4th Column. Each column has 3 detachments equivalent to regiments. Subsequently, the 1st Column advanced into the Moganshan area behind the enemy lines and took control of the cities of Wukang and Deqing; the 3rd Column advanced to the area south of Guangde and Si'an; while consolidating the Simingshan area, the 2nd Column gradually developed westward, planning the main force to advance southward.
The New Fourth Army's advance behind enemy lines not only greatly frightened the Japanese and puppets, but also made Gu Zhutong, commander of the Third Theater of Chiang Kai-shek's army, feel like a needle. He ordered the 28th Army under his command and the "Zhongyi National Salvation Army" to dispatch 5 regiments of troops, and the northwest of Xiaofeng took the lead in attacking the 7 detachments of our 3rd Column, in a vain attempt to cut off the rear road of our southward troops.
The 7 detachments were reorganized from the 7th Regiment of the 3rd Brigade, 1st Division, the New Fourth Army. This unit has always been a steel knife in Su Yu's hand, and its combat effectiveness is very strong. With the cooperation of 8 detachments and 2 battalions, from February 14, they first blocked the superior enemy's round attack for 4 days with a defensive defense, and then counterattacked in one fell swoop, not only destroying the opponent, but also liberating Xiaofeng County, controlling the northern area of Tianmu Mountain, and winning the first anti-stubborn battle.
Gu Zhutong
Gu Zhutong, who had suffered a loss, naturally refused to give up, so he mobilized the 52nd Division, the 62nd Division, the 192nd Division, the 1st Column of the "Zhongyi National Salvation Army", and the 4th Column of Security, a total of 12 regiments, and threw themselves at Xiaofeng in three ways: left, center, and right. At that time, Su Yu had only 6 detachments that could concentrate on the enemy's attack. From March 3, our 3rd detachment was under the offensive pressure of 4 regiments of the recalcitrant army on the position of Xiwei City. The independent 2nd Regiment, which cooperated with the 3 detachments to guard Xiaofeng, had to meet the enemy's 192nd Division and 62nd Division on the front lines of Bashan, Simingshan, Sun Mountain, and Qingmingshan.
The two units held their positions for 5 days. When they were running out of ammunition, they persevered by collecting ammunition from enemy corpses and sending small troops on night raids. By March 9, the 3rd Detachment drew three companies to reinforce the Independent 2nd Regiment, and in one fell swoop defeated 1 regiment of the enemy 62nd Division.
The bloody battle of the 3rd Detachment and the Independent 5th Regiment not only greatly damaged the vigor of the recalcitrant army, but more importantly, it bought time for Su Yu to mobilize the main forces of the 1st Column and the 3rd Column to counterattack the invading enemy. From March 27, Su Yu's counterattacks from west to east, like waves, not only occupied the Tianmu Mountain area, but also liberated the county seat of Lin'an. Among them, the decisive significance is the Battle of HuangNichong.
HuangNichong is located in the southwest of Xiaofeng County, surrounded by mountains and mountains, and a large road runs west to east, along the valley. If our army captures this place, it will cut off the retreat route of the recalcitrant army from the altar of blessing to Anhui. Tao Yong, who was then the commander of the 3rd Column, personally led 7 detachments and 3 battalions to attack here at night, and met the strength of 4 battalions of the enemy's 52nd Division. Tao Yong immediately ordered Chen Guichang, commander of the 3rd Battalion, to lead the 7th Company and the 9th Company to intercept the enemy's marching column from the side, and ordered Xu Xinbo, an instructor of the 3rd Battalion, to lead the 8th Company to seize the 842 heights, block the enemy's way, and buy time for the follow-up troops to rush to the battlefield.
Highland 842 is an almost horseshoe-shaped hill with high west and low east. After a long-distance attack in the middle of the night, the 8th Company, which was already extremely tired, attacked from east to west, and many people were so tired that they collapsed to the ground for a while. When the enemy 52nd Division, which was guarding the top of the 842nd Heights, opened fire wildly, the commanders and fighters of the 8th Company could not resist for a while, and had to retreat to the offensive starting position. Instructor Xu Xinbo, deputy instructor Liu Shuqing, and Liu Xing, commander of the 8th Company, immediately held a brief meeting, feeling that they could use the defeat of the first attack to give the enemy the wrong impression that my attack was not strong.
Soon, the 8th Company regrouped and launched another attack on the 842 Heights, and the formation was very scattered, stopping and going, resembling the end of a strong crossbow. The enemy at the top of the mountain did not know what the plan was, and rushed down to fight back. The commanders and fighters of the 8th Company ran away from their legs, lured the counterattacking enemy down the mountain, and fought a beautiful three-sided counterattack with the 7th Company and the 9th Company. Not only did it completely annihilate the enemy, but it also took advantage of the situation to seize the 842 heights.
The failure of this commanding height on the battlefield caused panic among the enemy troops. The enemy concentrated the strength of 1 reinforcement battalion, and with the support of artillery fire, counterattacked the 842 heights in four ways. The warriors of the 8th Company held their positions, not giving in, and the corpses on the hillside were piled up layer by layer, and the blood stained the land red. When our follow-up troops arrived and finally wrapped all the enemy troops in the 4 battalions of dumplings, only 18 commanders and fighters were left in the 8th Company, of which only 7 did not hang flowers.
The victory of the second anti-stubborn battle at Tianmu Mountain alarmed The Chiang clan. He transferred Li Jue, the general of the Xiang Army and an old enemy of our army, from Fujian to the front line in western Zhejiang, where he served as the commander-in-chief of the former enemy, commanded the strength of 14 divisions, and launched a third attack on Su Yu's troops in three ways. Li Jue learned the lessons of the previous two failures, took it step by step, and slowly advanced in unison, making it difficult for me to divide and encircle him.
Enemies change and I change. On the night of 29 May, Su Yu commanded the 1st, 7th, and 10th detachments to move in the direction of Xindeng, continuously broke through the first-line defensive positions of the enemy's 79th Division's Daling, Yongchang, Songxi, and Fangjiajing, and on June 1, they entered Xindeng City, and on the morning of the next day, they conquered the city, breaking the reinforcements of more than 6,000 people of the enemy's commando corps and counterattacking with the enemy's 79th Division on eight occasions, annihilating more than 2,000 enemy troops. However, our army also suffered heavy casualties, and Liu Beisheng, the commander of the 1st detachment, died heroically.
The loss of the new deng, the defeat of the counterattack, and the morale of the recalcitrant army was dealt a heavy blow. However, just when the morale of our army was high, Su Yu judged the hour and sized up the situation, believing that the 20,000 men and horses of our army, which had been tired from the long war, could not be held in constant with the Third Theater of Operations with nearly 200,000 troops for a long time. After careful consideration and submission to the Central China Bureau for approval, he decided to abandon Tianmu Mountain and concentrate his troops in the area north of Xiaofeng, covering the rear organs to go to the anti-Japanese base areas behind enemy lines in southern Jiangsu, southern Anhui, and western Zhejiang.
It is reasonable to say that such a major strategic withdrawal operation should be strictly kept secret in the process of implementation. However, Su Yu pondered how to make the enemy real and unreal, so that it was difficult to distinguish between true and false in order to smoothly get rid of the strategic pursuit that the enemy was bound to launch. And where possible, it is best to cover the strategic retreat with a resolute tactical offensive. Therefore, while ordering the troops to take the initiative to withdraw from Lin'an and Xindeng, he asked the troops to throw torn clothes and straw hats everywhere along the way, and also let the 1st detachment carry the coffin of the martyr Liu Beisheng through the market, and dispatched logistics personnel to buy grain everywhere.
For a time, the "good news" of various stubborn troops flew like snowflakes to the Headquarters of the Third Theater and the headquarters of Li Jue's 25th Group Army. Li Jue's mind was quite clear, and he vigorously warned his subordinates: "Do not be deceived, the jungle is deep in the valley, it is easy to be ambushed, and it is necessary to search for and annihilate the enemy in a meticulous way" and "all the departments should immediately hold their positions, make thoughtful preparations, and then make advances and suppressions." However, Gu Zhutong sent a telegram to Li Jue on June 9: "Quickly and with a powerful corps, first clear Tianmu Mountain, and build a pillar to hold on to it." The main forces formed the left and right advancing corps, and attacked Xiaofeng from Lin'an and Ningguo in a unified attack, taking Xiaofeng in one fell swoop and seeking the main force of bandits to annihilate them."
Li Jue had no choice but to gather half of the elite main forces of the Third Theater, a total of 12 divisions, 42 regiments, and a total of 66,000 men and horses, and launched an attack on our Soviet-Zhejiang Military Region on June 19. At that time, in order to compete for the first merit, all kinds of stubborn troops lied about military information. The 33rd Brigade of the Recalcitrant Army had not yet reached Xiaofeng, and reported that it had seized the land. The enemy's 52nd Division believed this and sent a reconnaissance platoon leader to Contact Xiaofeng, but was captured by the scouts of our army swimming on the outskirts of the city, and the company brought the letter to Su Yu.
Su Yu personally interrogated the prisoners, and upon learning that the enemy's 52nd Division had changed its previous steps into a battalion and was driving straight into Chao Xiaofeng, he immediately concentrated on the 6 detachments of the 2nd, 3rd, 7th, 9th, and 10th divisions and launched a rapid and effective counterattack against the enemy 52nd Division, basically annihilating this unit that actively participated in the incident in southern Anhui and had the blood of the new Fourth Army generals on its hands.
This battle swept away the resentment that the officers of the New Fourth Army had previously felt because they did not understand Su Yu's painstaking efforts. However, Su Yu was not satisfied with this result, he left 1 detachment to clean up the battlefield, clear the remnants of the recalcitrant army, and at the same time monitor the "Loyal National Salvation Army" branch behind the 52nd Division, and the remaining 5 detachments immediately swung eastward and surrounded the enemy 79th Division and the 12,000 men of the 1st Assault Corps.
On this battlefield, the strength of the enemy and us is roughly 1 to 1. This large force of enemy stretched its defensive range to 30 miles during the day, and at night it shrank to a narrow area of only 3 miles in length and length, in order to prevent our army from dividing and encircling at night. Seeing this, Su Yu ordered his troops to occupy all the outlying strongholds at night when the enemy was shrinking, and after dawn concentrated artillery fire on the enemy, taking advantage of the fact that the enemy's combat formation could not be unfolded to inflict a large number of casualties on the enemy.
This battle was fought from the night of June 21 to the dawn of the 24th, and most of the besieged enemies were annihilated by us, and the remnants of the enemy fled south. The third anti-stubborn battle at Tianmu Mountain ended with the complete victory of our army. After that, whether it was Li Jue or Gu Zhutong, they could only watch Su Yu's troops calmly transfer, and did not dare to cross the thunder pool.
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