Chapter 14 13. The mystery of the number of enemies wiped out in Pingxingguan battle

On October 1, 1937, Mao Zedong called Bogu and Ye Jianying in Nanjing, as well as Pan Hannian, the director of the Eighth Route Army's Shanghai Office, to inform them of the results of the Pingxingguan Battle and the victory celebrations across the country: "On the 25th, in the Pingxingguan Battle, except for the cars seized 82 vehicles, 1 cannon, more than 2,000 shells, hundreds of rifles, killed more than 1,000 enemies, surrounded the enemy's high command, and seized many secret documents, including the enemy's entire North China combat plan and marked targets The map in Japanese. The besieged remnant enemy escaped from the Jin army's position at night. The Jin army originally agreed to attack in two routes, but they did not dispatch until dusk, so the enemy could not be completely wiped out. Our army suffered more than 400 casualties, including Two or three deputy regimental commanders and deputy battalion commanders..."

The Eighth Route Army won the first battle at Pingxingguan, and the saying that "more than 1,000 enemies were wiped out" has been recognized by the party history circles, but there are other sayings.Some say more than 5,000 people, some say more than 3,000 people, the gap is quite large. The argument that more than 5,000 enemies were wiped out in the battle of Pingxingguan is based on the fourth Chinese series of the Anti-Japanese War, "Chinese Military in the War of Resistance" (1957 edition): "The enemy's Banyuan Corps surrounded and wiped out our Eighth Route Army troops. The enemy was killed in 5,000 Above, more than a thousand prisoners." proposed.

The argument that more than 3,000 Japanese soldiers were wiped out in the battle at Pingxingguan was based on the entry "Pingxingguan" in "Ci Hai" (1979 edition): "After a day of fierce fighting, more than 3,000 Japanese troops were wiped out." "Memorabilia of the Chinese People's Liberation Army" also records: "After a whole day of fierce fighting, more than 3,000 enemies were wiped out." Which of these three statements is more accurate? Hou Shancai consulted the memoirs of the participants in the Pingxingguan Battle that year, and believed that the statement that 3,000 enemies were wiped out was accurate.The reason is:

1. Li Tianyou, head of the 686th Regiment of the 115th Division who was responsible for the frontal attack of the Pingxingguan battle, pointed out in the article "The First Battle of Pingxingguan": "Our army withdrew from the battlefield along the ravine more than ten miles long. Looking back, the road was blood-stained, lying More than 3,000 bloody and bloody enemy corpses." 2. Yang Chengwu, the head of the independent regiment directly under the 115th Division who participated in the battle, said in the article "From crossing the Yellow River to the Battle of Pingxingguan": "The fierce battle ended at 3 p.m., and the head of the division sent a telegram, announcing that Pingxingguan wiped out the Japanese invaders A great victory for the main force of the Itagaki Division with more than 3,000 people."

3. Yang Dezhi, head of the 685th Regiment of the 115th Division who participated in the battle, wrote three times that the number of enemies wiped out was more than 3,000 in the article "Recalling the Battle of Pingxingguan, Learning Mao Zedong's Military Thought".For example, "to wipe out more than 3,000 people from the 21st Brigade of the Itagaki Division, an elite Japanese army." "More than 3,000 people from the 21st Brigade really came from Lingqiu... They never imagined that they would soon be wiped out in this ten-mile long ditch, and they would become strange ghosts from other lands." "After only half a day of fierce fighting, the more than 3,000 enemies surrounded by me in the long ditch were completely destroyed."Based on the memories of several regiment leaders who came to the front to command operations above, especially the telegram from the division headquarters at that time also said that more than 3,000 enemies were wiped out, this should become a credible and exact figure.

However, Liu Wusheng's textual research article believes that the statement of "annihilating more than 1,000 Japanese soldiers" is relatively accurate.His basis is: 1. Mao Zedong’s telegram to Bogu, Ye Jianying, and Pan Hannian on October 1, 1937 said: “In the Battle of Pingxingguan on the 25th, in addition to seizing 82 vehicles, 1 cannon, more than 2,000 shells, hundreds of rifles, and killing 1,000 enemies In addition to many people, the enemy's high command was also surrounded." 2. Zhu De and Peng Dehuai also stated in the telegram to Chiang Kai-shek, Cheng Qian, Yan Xishan, etc. on October 3 of the same year that "more than a thousand enemies were killed".These two telegrams were sent shortly after the battle at Pingxingguan, and the statistics of their achievements are more realistic and authoritative.

3. Judging from the strength of the Japanese army surrounded by our army in an ambush during the battle, it is also reasonable to confirm the figure of "more than 1,000 enemies wiped out".The situation of the enemy and ourselves at that time was: the main force of the 21st Brigade of the Itagaki Division of the Japanese Army confronted the friendly forces in the east Paochi area in front of Pingxingguan. The Japanese reserve team of more than 1,000 people and the transport team were coming from the direction of Lingqiu along the valley road to reinforce their main force.In response to this enemy situation, our 115th Division decided to use the two regiments of the 343rd Brigade as the main attack, and entered the Xiaozhaiwang to Laoye Temple area at dawn on September 25 to set up an ambush.Subsequently, more than 80 Japanese vehicles and more than 100 horse-drawn carriages formed a line and entered the area where our army set up an ambush.There were more than a thousand enemy soldiers on the car, and a few cavalry escorted the convoy behind the car.When all the enemy troops entered our ambush circle, our army blocked both ends of the "pocket", condescendingly, and suddenly fired violently at the enemy troops.After several hours of fierce fighting, our army wiped out more than 1,000 besieged Japanese troops, and our army seized vehicles and materials.

At present, the statement of "killing more than 1,000 enemies" has been recognized by the party history community as relatively accurate.The text of "Selected Maps of the Chinese People's Revolutionary War" edited by the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution said: "This battle... wiped out more than 1,000 people from the 21st Brigade of the 5th Division of the Japanese Army, and captured more than 1,000 long and short guns." "The Communist Party of China" "Chronology of Major Events in Party History" also said: "The 115th Division ambushed the enemy near Pingxingguan in Northeast Shanxi, and won the first battle, annihilating more than 1,000 people from the 21st Brigade of the Itagaki Division of the Japanese Army." It also adopted the saying of "killing more than 1,000 enemies".