Chapter 20 5. Mao Zedong paid close attention to the development of the war situation day and night

Facing the rampant Japanese invading army, Nie Rongzhen, the commander of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, knew in his heart that most of the newly formed troops in the military region, except for some old backbone forces, had no combat experience, and the situation was quite grim. On November 23, the day before the anti-siege operation began, Nie Rongzhen made the following judgments on the enemy's situation in a telegram to "Mao Zhupeng Renzhou" and the leaders of various military divisions: As the enemy penetrated into our territory, the rear contact line was extended, the Eighth Route Army continued to harass, and the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Rebel Army rose up in great momentum, so it was necessary for the enemy to clear the contact line and consolidate the rear.Therefore, the enemy may start to attack our Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei area, and first occupy Man (City), Wan (County), Tang (County), Qu (Yang), Xing (Tang), Ling (Shou), and Ping (Mountain) in the east. ) and other counties, and drove me into the mountainous area, away from Pinghan Road.In the west there is an attempt to attack Wutai and Yuxian and divide them into strongholds.

According to this judgment, based on the weakness of the Japanese army's unfamiliarity with the terrain, many puppet troops participating in the war, and not daring to rush into our hinterland, Nie Rongzhen is determined to deploy basic and experienced troops in mobile positions, attack the enemy with a camera, and use a large number of new troops to attack the enemy. The formed guerrilla armed forces carried out ambushes, side attacks, and night attacks on the enemy.The specific deployment is: the main force of the 1st military division is between Guang (Ling), Ling (Qiu) and Lai (yuan), the main force of the 2nd military division is in the Wutai area, and the main force of the 4th military division is in Shangshe Town, Hong In the Zidian area, the main force of the 3rd Army Sub-division assembled in Fuping in a concealed manner, waiting to wipe out the enemy.

On November 23, the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region issued an anti-siege operational instruction, requiring all military divisions to strengthen reconnaissance, quickly complete operational deployment and various preparations, and mobilize and organize the masses to carry out fortifications and blockades. On November 24, the enemy's 14th Division, which was dispatched along the Ping-Han Railway, attacked westward in two ways. All the way, more than 3,000 Japanese soldiers were dispatched from Baoding and Yixian County, and attacked Laiyuan under the cover of aircraft.Among them, the enemy of the western criminals in Yi County entered Dalonghua on December 2.The enemy was very tired and was not on guard due to the harassment of guerrillas along the way.According to this situation, the first detachment of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region attacked Dalonghua with a unit that day and night, broke into the town in one fell swoop, and started street fighting with the enemy. After a fierce battle overnight, more than 200 enemies were wiped out, and more than 100 remaining enemies fled back to Yi County; The enemy of the West Offender was stopped near Mancheng by the cavalry battalion of the Eighth Route Army.

Along the way, more than 1,000 enemy troops invaded from Dingxian and Xinle to Quyang and Xingtang.The enemy was strongly blocked by the 4th detachment in Gaomentun and Doujiazhuang, so the enemy who attempted to occupy Quyang retreated to Baoding.The enemy dispatched by Xinle also stagnated after occupying Xingtang.At this point, the enemy who invaded from the west by the Ping-Han Railway stopped attacking the hinterland of the Jinchaji border area. The Kwantung Army Chahar dispatched more than 1,400 troops from Yingxian County, the enemy of the Tongpu Railway, and continued to attack Guangling after occupying Hunyuan. On November 27, the main force of the 1st Detachment of the Eighth Route Army set up an ambush on both sides of the road at Luanling Pass between Hunyuan and Guangling.When the enemy entered the ambush area, they were suddenly attacked.After several hours of fierce fighting, the first detachment wiped out more than 200 enemies, and then voluntarily withdrew from the battle.The enemy did not dare to enter Guangling County after occupying it.

The Kwantung Army Chahar dispatched more than 3,400 troops from the enemy of the Pingsui Railway to the south, divided into two routes from Huailai and Tianzhen, and after occupying Yu County on December 4, they attacked Guangling and Laiyuan respectively. On the 5th, the main force of the 1st Detachment of the Eighth Route Army occupied Beikou Village in the south of Yuxian County and intercepted the enemy who invaded from the south of Yuxian County.When the enemy entered the valley entrance, the first detachment was condescending, attacked the enemy with fierce firepower, and launched an attack when the enemy was in chaos. After half a day of fierce fighting, more than 200 enemies were wiped out, and the enemy was forced to retreat to Yu County.

This anti-siege operation was the first severe test of whether the Eighth Route Army could gain a foothold behind enemy lines, so Mao Zedong attached great importance to it. Nie Rongzhen recalled: "The Party Central Committee and Comrade Mao Zedong have always cared about us and watched us. Because this is the first anti-Japanese base established by our party behind enemy lines." During the anti-siege days in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei base area, Mao Zedong often paid attention to the development of the battle situation day and night, and studied the enemy's situation all night long and thought about countermeasures. On November 27, he called Zhu De and Ren Bishi, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, and proposed three aspects of preparations for countering the siege: strengthening the political education and party work of the new troops; strengthening the necessary military and guerrilla warfare training for the new troops; strengthening the mobilization of local work of the people.

On December 5, at a critical moment in the development of the war situation, Mao Zedong and Peng Dehuai, who had returned to Yan'an to attend the Politburo meeting, called Zhu De and Ren Bishi and transferred them to the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, proposing: For the enemies attacking the border areas of Shanxi, Chahar and Hebei, in addition to the telegram on the 29th of last month and your incoming telegram, please pay attention to the following points: 1. Avoid frontal resistance and attack the enemy's rear rear troops. 2. To operate behind the enemy's far and near, so that the enemy is surrounded by us.

3. Tongpu and Zhengtai Road must be active and provide strong cooperation. 4. Pay attention to destroying puppet organizations and puppet troops in the enemy's rear. 5. Intensify the disintegration of the enemy's work. 6. Under certain favorable conditions, it is necessary to gather appropriate forces to partially annihilate and forcefully strike the enemy, increasing the enemy's terror and difficulties, but it must be detailed and prudent. At the same time, Mao Zedong also ordered the 120th Division and the 129th Division to be active in Tongpu Road and Zhengtai Road respectively to cooperate with the anti-siege struggle in the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei base area.

In accordance with the above-mentioned instructions, the troops of the Jinchaji Military Region actively operated behind the enemy's far and near, and seized favorable opportunities to attack the enemy. On December 14, 1937, when more than 1,000 people from the 109th Division of the enemy in Daixian, Yuanping, and Xinkou entered the emptiness behind Fanzhi, the 2nd Detachment attacked Yuanping Town at night, captured the town in one fell swoop, and wiped out more than 100 enemies , The remnants of the enemy fled to Dai County and Xinkou.At this time, the enemy who occupied Fanzhi quickly returned to help, and the second detachment moved immediately.

In mid-December, the 5th and 109th Divisions of the Zhengtai Railway, each with a total of 4,000 people, invaded Pingshan and Yuxian respectively.Nie Rongzhen seized this favorable opportunity in time and ordered the 344th Brigade of the 115th Division to enter the Hongzidian area west of Pingshan from Dongye Town, southwest of Wutai, and cooperate with the 3rd Detachment to wait for the opportunity to attack the enemy who invaded Pingshan. On the 15th, more than 1,500 people from the 109th Division of the Japanese Army were dispatched from Shouyang and Pingding to jointly attack Yuxian County.The 3rd detachment concentrated its main force in the southeast of Yuxian County and waited in concealment. When the enemy dispatched from Pingding entered Qingcheng Town, the detachment took advantage of its unstable foothold and suddenly launched an attack. It fought fiercely until dusk, wiped out more than 200 enemies, and then voluntarily withdrew. fighting.On the same day, the 344th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army, with a part of the 687th Regiment, set up an ambush in the Xiaozhai area, repelled the enemy who invaded from the north of Jingxing, and wiped out more than 100 of them.

On the 21st, the enemies of Jingxing and Pingshan attacked the Eighth Route Army's troops stationed in Fangshan and Dongxihuishe separately.At dusk that day, the enemy of Jingxing entered the north and south Mazhong, and the enemy of Pingshan entered Louzhigang east of Wentang. They neither attacked nor retreated, but stationed in these two places.Judging from the situation, "the enemy may attack Wentang tomorrow (22nd), and after they succeed, they will reunite and advance to Hongzidian, and drive our army to the northwest area of ​​Hongzidian."The 344th Brigade and Zeng Detachment were determined to choose favorable terrain, ambush the weaker enemy on the left and destroy it. In order to destroy the invading enemy, all participating troops arrived at the designated location on time and hid in the southeast mountain of Xiban Mountain. At 9 o'clock on the 21st, gunshots erupted from the east of Wentang, and the enemies from the north and south of Mazhong all advanced. The 5th detachment confronted each other, and the main force of the enemy was crushed into the ditch after being defeated by the Eighth Route Army. One part occupied Xinzhuang village and the mountains to the southwest.The commanders and fighters of the Eighth Route Army fought bravely, charged repeatedly, and defeated the enemy on the hill.The enemy threw machine guns and gun barrels in the ditch, and most of the enemy occupied houses and ditches to continue to resist.At this time, the enemy had been completely surrounded by the Eighth Route Army, but they refused to hand in their guns, and retreated in the direction of Pingshan in small groups, and the battle became a confrontation. At this time, fierce fighting also took place on the east side of Wentang. The Jinchaji Military Region retreated to the area west of Wentang to confront the enemy one hour after the other troops in the area came into contact with the enemy. Around 13:00, seven or eight hundred enemies from the direction of Pingshan came to reinforce with several artillery pieces.About two to three hundred people aided the enemy, and under the cover of artillery fire, they first launched a fierce attack on the Eighth Route Army's position west of Wentang. The Eighth Route Army braved the enemy's artillery fire and responded calmly, but the enemy's attack failed.Another large part of the enemy went through Houjiazhuang and Taitou to reinforce the besieged enemies in Xinzhuang. The command post of the 344th Brigade found that the enemy's reinforcements had arrived, and the besieged enemies in the ditch could not be quickly resolved, so they ordered the assault troops to monitor the enemy with a small force, and the main force withdrew to the vicinity of Xiban Mountain. Pick up machine guns, cannons, luggage, ammunition and other items abandoned by the enemy in the ditch. The enemy's reinforcements approached Xinzhuang, and their artillery immediately bombarded the Eighth Route Army's position south of Xinzhuang. The enemy in the ditch also took the opportunity to counterattack. None of them had any experience in dealing with enemy artillery battles. When the enemy's artillery shells hit, they ran around and suffered heavy casualties. Since the development of the battle situation was not good for us, by 16:00, the attacking troops of the Eighth Route Army received an order to retreat, and the enemy did not dare to act rashly, and the battle came to an end.After this battle, more than 400 enemies were wiped out, and the remaining enemies retreated to Pingshan without daring to come back.