In 1939, in accordance with the strategy of the Party Central Committee to "consolidate to the south and develop to the north", Ye Fei led the sixth regiment of the third detachment of the New Fourth Army to join the eastward column, marched from the Maoshan base area to the east road area of the Shanghai-Nanjing Line, and acted in the name of the "Jiangnan Anti-Japanese Volunteer Army" and marched all the way to the east. Soon after, he moved to Jiangbei and merged with the advancing column to form the first column of the Northern Jiangsu Command, with Guan Wenwei as commander and Ye Fei as deputy commander.
In northern Jiangsu, they not only had to fight against the Japanese, but also watched everywhere for the Kuomintang stubborn troops to stab them in the back. On June 28, 1940, Li Mingyang, commander-in-chief of the Sulu-Anhui Border Guerrilla Army of the Kuomintang Army in northern Jiangsu, and Li Changjiang, deputy commander-in-chief, at the instigation of Han Deqin, mobilized the strength of 13 regiments to march towards Guocun, ye fei's garrison, in an attempt to drive away and annihilate the New Fourth Army's advancing column.
At this time, Ye Fei could grasp only one or more regiments of troops to mobilize, and the strength of the troops was less than one-tenth of the strength of the "Two Lis," and the difference between the strength of the enemy and ourselves was very large. When the headquarters of the New Fourth Army learned of the information that Li Changjiang was preparing to attack Guocun, Chen Yi sent three urgent telegrams in a row, and the telegram clearly ordered: We must consider the long term and must not fight the enemy alone in Guocun.
After Ye Fei received the order, a joint meeting of the leaders of the advancing column and the Northern Jiangsu Special Committee was held overnight, at which everyone unanimously agreed to defend Guo Village. However, the headquarters has issued three reports saying that it does not agree to stick to it, what to do? In case of a bad fight, the troops will suffer heavy losses and bear heavy responsibilities. After calmly thinking about it, Ye Fei said, "Since everyone thinks that it is safe to fight here, then it is good to make up your mind to fight here." I am responsible for Commander Chen. Commander Chen said: "There will be no fate of the foreign king." "Now Commander Chen is not here, and he has only been to Wujiaqiao, not to Guo Village, and he does not understand the terrain, the conditions of the masses, and the enemy situation here. Our frontline commanders understand the situation, dare to seek truth from facts, and be independent and responsible; this is the real responsibility for Commander Chen! Responsible for the party! So Ye Fei sent a telegram to Chen Yi while lining up his troops to prepare for battle.
When the battle broke out, Chen Yi had already arrived in Xinlaozhou, and he said that Ye Fei was a daredevil, and the newborn calf was not afraid of tigers, so it was good, just wait for me to take you Ye Fei! However, after the battle began, Ye Fei made full use of the terrain of Guo Village, skillfully commanded the troops to give a strong counterattack to the attacking Kuomintang stubborn army, and completely annihilated its two brigades. Subsequently, after three consecutive days and nights of continuous fighting, they repelled the repeated attacks of the Kuomintang stubborn army.
On July 1, in order to break the passive situation of stubbornly waiting for help, Ye Fei ordered Qiao Xinming, the commander of a regiment, to lead his troops to attack the Yangtai Line and directly into the rear of the Kuomintang recalcitrant army, at which time the enemy detachment leader Chen Yusheng and the brigade commander Wang Cheng respectively led the troops to revolt, and Chen Yi's Suwan detachment, which had been urgently sent to reinforcements, also arrived at Guocun. On the 2nd, when the Kuomintang recalcitrant army once again attacked Guocun, Ye Fei commanded all the troops to counterattack with all their strength, causing the enemy to lose his armor and flee in a daze, and the New Fourth Army finally won the victory in the defense of Guocun.
The Kuomintang recalcitrant army carried out three general attacks on Guocun, annihilating a total of three regiments, and on July 3, when Chen Yi arrived at Guocun, the battle was already victorious. When he saw Ye Fei, he said, "Originally I came to scold you, but you won the battle, what else do I have to say!" ”
The victory of the battle of Guocun created conditions for the New Fourth Army to go east to open up the anti-Japanese base area in northern Jiangsu, after the founding of New China, the defense of Guocun was made into a movie, the title of the film is "Overture to the Eastward Advance", interested friends may wish to go to see it and relive the arduous and cruel years.