Chapter 4 third quarter

Chen Geng was trained in a formal military academy. His superb commanding skills and calm general demeanor were not only loved by our military commanders and the people, but even those senior Kuomintang generals who met in battle were also respected.In every historical period of the Chinese Revolutionary War, Chen Geng's brilliant achievements can be seen, so he is known as the "ever victorious general". In June 1932, the Red 4th Front Army decided to launch the Huangguang Campaign to recover the southern areas of Huangchuan and Guangshan occupied by the enemy.At this time, Chen Geng was already the commander of the 12th Division of the 4th Red Army.

On June 12, Chen Geng led the 12th Division to surround Shuangliushu. At dawn on the 13th, Chen Geng adopted the tactics of "siege on three sides, open one side", that is, "encircle three ques and one", and attacked an enemy brigade from the east, south, and west directions; Concealed and assembled in the area north of the surrounding mountains, leaving the north as the way out, luring the enemy to break through, and preparing to intercept the enemy when they break through to the north. After the battle started, the enemy saw that the Red Army in the north had fewer troops, so they broke through to the north.This was in Chen Geng's arms. He commanded the troops to rush into the village, annihilated the two battalions of the enemy, and then followed up and pursued them; while the troops who had ambushed in the north of the mountain in advance quickly detoured and gave the enemy a head-on blow at the ant shop.Seeing that there was no hope of fleeing north, the enemy turned and fled northwest again.Chen Geng commanded the troops to pursue them fiercely, fleeing the enemy in the Xuedian area south of Fuliudian and annihilating them, and the enemy brigade commander was also killed.

Xu Shiyou, a famous tiger general in the Chinese People's Liberation Army, was the commander of Chen Geng's subordinates at that time.When reviewing this battle, Xu Shiyou said: "The deployment of the Battle of Shuangliushu showed Comrade Chen Geng's witty and flexible command art. At that time, our three regiments were against the enemy's two regiments, and we did not have an absolute advantage in terms of strength. The enemy is defending within the fortifications, and it is not easy to attack by force, so we adopt the tactics of "surrounding on three sides, opening one side with the net" to lure the enemy to withdraw from the established position, which lays the foundation for our army to wipe out the enemy in the movement."

In October 1935, after the Central Red Army's Long March arrived in northern Shaanxi, it was co-organized with the Red 15th Army, and the designation of the Red 1st Front Army was restored. Chen Geng became the head of the Red 13th Army.At this time, Chiang Kai-shek sent five divisions to carry out the second "encirclement and suppression" of the Shaanxi-Gansu base area, in an attempt to wipe out the Red Army in an unstable foothold.After Mao Zedong found out the enemy's intentions, he decided to set up a battlefield in Zhiluo Town, put the enemy into Zhiluo Town, and then attack from both sides to destroy it.

At that time, because Chen Geng's leg was injured twice, Zuo Quan, chief of staff of the army, refused to let him participate in the battle and asked him to stay and rest.Zuo Quan and Chen Geng were old comrades-in-arms. They applied for the Guangzhou Army Lecture School together, and later entered the Whampoa Military Academy together, and then both became senior generals of the Red Army.Zuo Quan's sincere concern moved Chen Geng very much, but he insisted on refusing to stay, and even "complained": "There are three fires in the new palace, but you poured water on me!" Zuo Quan knew Chen Geng's character, so he had to do it. He agreed to make a concession, but he had to be allocated two horses to travel.Chen Geng still didn't accept it, saying: "I came here on the Long March, not on horseback!" Zuo Quan had no choice but to prepare a stretcher for him and follow Chen Geng all the time.

The mission of the 13th regiment was to serve as the security cover of the legion. As the regiment leader, Chen Geng walked almost twice as far as others before and after running.Before the big troops set off, he had to send out troops to search and guard along the way; after the big troops had passed, he had to turn back and check and guard along the way. Due to the long-distance travel, Chen Geng's disabled legs became more lame, and the stick he was leaning on was bent.But the stretcher specially prepared for him has been left unused, and it is useless to persuade him, he just refuses to sit on it.

After the 13th regiment arrived at the assembly area, it accepted a new task.The legion specially sent horses to take Chen Geng to see the terrain.After accepting the task and returning, Chen Geng was very excited. At the battle deployment meeting, he happily used metaphors and asked his subordinates: "Which one of you has killed a 'cow'? This time you will kill a 'cow'! The Central Red Army entered Shaanxi-Gansu Afterwards, this 'cow' kept gnawing on its butt. Although we chopped off its tail a few times, it was not honest. This time we will give it a hard hammer on its 'cow' head, and then open it up. Belly!" When he said this, everyone understood.This "bull" refers to Niu Yuanfeng, the commander of the enemy's 109th division.

Chen Geng also said: "After the 13th Regiment beat Loushan Pass during the Long March, they have been serving as guards to cover the whole army. This time I grabbed the hard task, took the lead, and stopped the 'niu' head to fight. But everyone, don't kill the red I don’t care about anything right now, and I have to pay attention to political disintegration. There are two slogans here, everyone should remember: one is ‘be lenient to the Northeast Army!’ and the other is ‘welcome the Northeast Army to fight Japan without a gun’!” Chen Geng is such a person who can't forget his humor all the time. The words coming out of his mouth are different from others.

On the evening of November 20, the front army issued a combat order, and all the troops rushed forward in the predetermined direction and went straight to Zhiluo Town. The troops have been recharging their energy for a long time, and they can leave and run as soon as they say they want.But this made Chen Geng miserable. He walked the night with a stick, and he couldn't walk as fast as the young man, so he gradually distanced himself from the troops.Ou Zhifu became anxious when he saw it, thinking about Zuo Quan's advice, he ordered the guards to carry Chen Geng on his back and leave.Chen Geng was also worried that he would miss the command, so the two guards had to take turns to carry the distance for a while, and took another stretcher before catching up with the troops.

After a night of running, the 13th regiment arrived at the designated location on time, and together with the neighboring troops surrounded the enemy in Zhiluo Town. In less than two hours of this battle, Master Niu Yuanfeng was basically wiped out. In this battle, Chen Geng was injured again, and his left thumb was pierced by a bullet.After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Chen Geng led the 386th Brigade of the 129th Division to the Shanxi battlefield with the division headquarters to carry out guerrilla warfare and establish an anti-Japanese base based on the Taihang Mountains. In the War of Resistance Against Japan, Chen Geng, who was both wise and brave, was like a god of war holding a sharp halberd.In the eyes of the Japanese invaders, he was a very troublesome "warlike" general.

Chen Geng himself said: "If I don't fight for a few days, I will feel restless and bored."During the entire Anti-Japanese War, he led the troops to gallop across the vast land of Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong and Henan, leaving his footprints everywhere.During combat, he particularly emphasized guerrilla warfare and had a deep understanding of guerrilla warfare. He once said vividly: "The essence of guerrilla warfare is to make great strides forward and retreat in great strides. You want to strike. If you don’t swim, you don’t strike, but you will be hit.” In October 1937, the Japanese army arrived at Xinkou and invaded Niangziguan, and Niangziguan was in emergency.Chen Geng led the 386 brigade to reinforce Niangziguan and started the first battle of the 386 brigade against Japan. On October 25, the reconnaissance team reported to Chen Geng that the transport troops of the 20th Division of the Japanese Army had invaded Pingding, and more than a thousand people from the rear logistics troops were still camping in Ceyu Town. The head of the 129th Division judged that this enemy would follow its main force and follow up to Pingding through Qigen Village.Therefore, he immediately led his troops to set up an ambush in Qigen Village. In the early morning of the 26th, under the cover of more than 200 infantrymen, the Japanese army marched westward from Ceyu Town. At about 9 o'clock, when its leading cover unit passed Qigen Village, the follow-up cover unit was still in Dongshimen, and the mules and horses just entered the ambush area, the 386 brigade on both sides of the concealed road suddenly launched an attack on the enemy. The grenade was thrown, and the soldiers raised their sharp bayonets and rushed towards the enemy group.The Japanese army was under such a surprise attack. In a panic, they were unable to occupy favorable terrain to organize resistance, so they had to desperately break through and return to the direction of Ceyu Town, but they were intercepted by our pre-ambush troops in Nanling. In this battle, after only two hours of fierce fighting, I exchanged more than 10 casualties for a major victory in killing more than 300 Japanese soldiers, and captured more than 300 mules and horses full of military supplies.After winning the first battle, Chen Geng was not complacent about the victory. Instead, he was thinking: the Japanese army was very arrogant due to the smooth frontal attack, and the setback in Qigen Village could not change their plan. There is no other way outside the village.Therefore, the head of the 129th Division decided to set up an ambush in Qigen Village for the second time. The enemy had learned his lesson once and became more ferocious.And Chen Geng had the first experience, and deployed the second ambush more carefully and properly. At dawn on the 28th, the enemy's cover team consisting of more than 100 cavalry and more than 300 infantry escorted a large number of supplies and searched closely from east to west.Our army's ambush troops strictly abide by the discipline of concealment and camouflage, so that the enemy troops entered our ambush site and did not notice it when they were only forty or fifty meters away from the soldiers.When the enemy cavalry passed, I suddenly launched an attack on the enemy's follow-up logistics troops, wiped out more than a hundred enemies, and seized a large amount of supplies. In February 1938, the Japanese army began to attack the southern section of Tongpu Road.Chen Geng was ordered to hand over the guerrilla mission on Zhengtai Road to the brother troops, and led the 386 brigade to fight in the southeast of Shanxi. In March, Commander Liu Bocheng decided to attack Licheng by using the tactics of "Attack what he saves and wipe out those who save him" in "Sun Tzu's Art of War". The mission is to destroy and aid the enemy.After on-the-spot investigation, Chen Geng decided to set up an ambush at Shentouling. The road around Shentouling passes through the mountains, and it is not easy for ambush troops to choose a condescending position. Chen Geng decided to use the old fortifications on both sides of the road to camouflage tightly so that the enemy would not expect that our army would set up an ambush at such a short distance.At that time, some people were worried about whether the risk was too high. Chen Geng said humorously: "Wars are inherently risky! Some risks cannot be taken, and some risks must be taken. Isn't Zhuge Liang's empty city plan also a risk? If— If he doesn't take any chances, he can only be Sima Yi's prisoner, what else is there to see?" After the troops entered the ambush position, Chen Geng said to the soldiers: "Even if the enemy's horse's hoof stepped on your hand, if you don't find you, don't move. This is like fighting on a single-plank bridge. Hands are fast and hands are slow. As long as we camouflage well , it can be more sudden.” In the early morning of March 16, the battle of "Siege Point" started in Licheng, and the enemies of Lucheng rushed to reinforce them.When they passed Shentouling, although they searched a lot, they didn't find the ambush under their noses, so they hurried forward.When Chen Geng gave an order, our army opened fire suddenly, knocking the enemy soldiers on their backs, and the battle was resolved within two hours. It was really a neat ambush.This lightning-style encirclement and annihilation battle made the enemy desperate and shocked.The enemy was terrified and had to call the battle commanded by Chen Geng a "typical ambush".Like every time a combat mission came, Chen Geng commanded the battle with vigor throughout the battle, and with the joy of victory, he wrote down the battle process and feelings in his diary.On March 15, he described the moving scene of the troops dispatching by night: "We started to meet the enemy at 9 o'clock in the evening. Everyone was very happy and emotional, and they all held the determination to win. The bright moon was in the sky, shining like day, and it seemed to be specially prepared for our night march. The night march was very quiet, and no words were heard. With the sound of coughing, only the sound of footsteps, horseshoes, stepping on gravel and panting up the mountain echoed. This is a heroic action of a group of public heroes, regardless of fatigue, ready to make a heroic sacrifice, and go to the front line to attack the Japanese invaders.” A long time later, Chen Geng was still very excited when he mentioned this battle, saying: "The army was really well hidden that time, and even the local people didn't know it beforehand. It was really spectacular at the time. The devils were caught off guard, and the battle was over in two hours. The corpses abandoned by the enemy on the battlefield are really everywhere.” Later, our army notified the enemy to carry the ruler body, and it took two days to carry it. On March 31, 1938, half a month after the battle of Shentouling, Chen Geng led his athletes to ambush the enemy's transport team at Xiangtangpu between Licheng and Shexian County. At dawn on March 31, two car squadrons of the Japanese army carried military supplies and drove from Licheng to Shexian County via Dongyangguan.According to Xu Xiangqian's instructions, Chen Geng led his troops to ambush the enemy at Xiangtangpu between Dongyangguan and Shexian County.The terrain for the ambush was good and the road surface was soft, so Japanese vehicles could only crawl slowly when passing by.When all the enemies entered our army's ambush circle, Chen Geng gave an order, and mortars, machine guns, and rifles fired together, forming a tight firepower net that enveloped the enemy.Afterwards, the soldiers jumped on the car and started hand-to-hand combat with the enemy.The enemy was suddenly attacked and fell into chaos. After two hours of fierce fighting, most of the more than 400 enemy vehicles were destroyed except for more than 30 people who escaped, and nearly a hundred vehicles were also burned down. When the battle began, Zhu De and Peng Dehuai specially invited some senior generals of the Kuomintang army to watch the battle.This beautiful battle made many senior Kuomintang generals admire the strategy, tactics and command art of the Eighth Route Army's guerrilla warfare. In the next year or so, Chen Geng led his troops to fight along the Pinghan Road, carrying out continuous large-scale raids on the traffic arteries controlled by the enemy and the puppet, restraining and consuming the enemy troops, and cooperating with the frontal battlefield operations.Opened up a new anti-Japanese democratic base behind enemy lines.He also fought in the plains of northwest Shandong and southern Hebei, where he lured and annihilated the Japanese motorized fast squadron in Xiangcheng, Weixian County, creating an excellent example of plain lure and ambush warfare. In January 1939, the Japanese troops stationed in Wei County were continuously attacked by the Eighth Route Army. Every time the Japanese troops were attacked, they would send troops to pursue them.In view of this situation, Chen Geng decided to use his tactics to continue to harass the Japanese army with a small unit, lure them to pursue, and concentrate superior forces to set up an ambush on the beach in the northwest of Xiangchenggu at the southern end of Wei County. On February 10, two battalions of the 386th Brigade quietly touched Wei County.They bluffed and erected ladders around the city wall, posing as if they were attacking the city with all their strength. The Japanese army in Yan County was reprimanded by Shang Feng for their recent raids, and ordered them to immediately find the main force of the Eighth Route Army for a decisive battle.At this time, seeing that the siege was very strong, they thought it was the main force of the Eighth Route Army, and they all went to the city to join the battle. Our army feigned a shot and quickly withdrew to the south of the city.The Japanese army was anxious and annoyed, and its supplementary brigade and Yasuda infantry squadron took 8 vehicles out of the city to pursue.Just when the Japanese army could not find the main force of the Eighth Route Army, our cavalry company hidden in the south of the city attacked the enemy again and killed the captain and interpreter of the Japanese supplementary brigade. The Japanese army, furious to the extreme, turned around and pursued our cavalry company, but they were nowhere to be found.The Japanese army was extremely impatient.At this time, our cavalry company fired at the enemy again in Kangwazhuang.The Japanese army was so angry that they left the road, turned to the river beach, and rushed towards the cavalry company. Chen Geng teased and teased again and again like this, leading the enemy into the ambush circle he had already set up.On that day, all the Japanese troops entered the ambush circle and were suddenly attacked head-on by our 688 regiment at the north entrance of Gu Village in Xiangcheng. A car was destroyed first.The Japanese army immediately divided its troops from east to south, trying to copy the rear of the 688 regiment.But when they just approached Zhuangtou Village, they were intercepted by our supplementary regiment who were in ambush again.It wasn't until this time that Yasuda Squadron Leader of the Japanese army woke up like a dream, knowing that he was trapped in a tight siege, and hurriedly broke through the encirclement and escaped to Wei County. When the fleeing enemy just set foot on the north slope of the big beach, he was intercepted by our new 1 regiment.The Japanese army, which had become a turtle in an urn, was surrounded by groups on the big beach. The cars trapped in the sand nest were spinning empty wheels on the spot, raising sand pillars more than ten feet high, but they couldn't move forward half a step.The dying Japanese army released poisonous gas. Our commanders and fighters used cluster grenades to disperse the poisonous gas, and immediately took up bayonets and rushed towards the enemy from all directions.Fighting until dusk, all the besieged Japanese troops will be wiped out.This was an extremely clean and neat annihilation battle, and Commander Liu Bocheng gave it a very high evaluation, praising it as an example in ambush warfare. After Chen Geng led the 386 brigade to the anti-Japanese battlefield, he repeatedly beat the enemy and became an opponent who felt palpitated by the enemy.The Japanese army posted a slogan on its armored vehicles, "Specially fight the 386 brigade", which shows its anger.However, every time the Japanese army encircled and suppressed, Chen Geng led the 386 brigade to compete with the enemy's mechanization on foot. Every time, he moved the station flexibly on the night of the camp, so that the Japanese army could not catch the 386 brigade and had to return angrily. Chen Geng used guerrilla warfare flexibly during the Anti-Japanese War and won consecutive victories.Every time he fights, his methods are different, such as waiting for work with leisure, luring the enemy to go deep, attacking east and west, and so on. Because of this, he has become the god of guerrilla that the enemy fears.