Chapter 24 Chapter 3 The Battle of Recovering the Seven Cities in Northwest Shanxi: Playing the Prestige of the Eighth Route Army

In January 1938, in order to quickly open up the Jinpu trunk line, the Japanese invaders dispatched some troops from Shanxi to reinforce the eastern battlefield.In order to cooperate with the defense of the Eastern Front, the Kuomintang Second War Zone planned to counterattack Taiyuan and Shijiazhuang when the Japanese army was transferred eastward, and asked the Eighth Route Army to cooperate.For this reason, the Eighth Route Army headquarters decided to use Jinchaji troops to attack the Ping-Han Railway north of Shijiazhuang, the 129th Division to attack the Zhengtai Railway, and the 120th Division to attack the northern section of the Tongpu Railway.

According to the deployment of the Eighth Route Army headquarters, He Long, the commander of the 120th Division, led the 2nd Battalion of the 715th, 716th, 717th, and 718th regiments to launch a large-scale attack on the main railway and highway between Xinxian and Taiyuan.In just 10 days from February 18th to 27th, 8 bridges were destroyed, more than 10 kilometers of railways were demolished, Pingshe Station, Douluo Station, and Japanese strongholds such as Shilingguan and Mahui were successively captured, and the enemy was wiped out. More than 400 people.At the same time, the main forces of the 714th, 719th, and 718th regiments of the 120th Division harassed the Japanese army in Naoxian, Xinkou, and Ningwu, wiped out more than a hundred enemies, and blew up three trains and more than ten cars.

These combat operations of the 120th Division have effectively attacked the enemy, cooperated with the Kuomintang army's operations, and posed a serious threat to the traffic in the northern section of the Datong, Taiyuan and Tongpu Railways occupied by the enemy. At that time, the Kuomintang troops in Northwest Shanxi had four armies (the 1st and 2nd cavalry armies and the 34th and 35th armies). However, due to their lack of courage to defeat the Japanese invaders, some of them collapsed at the first touch, and some Not only did the plan to counterattack Taiyuan never come true, but he also lost Linfen, an important town in southern Shanxi, to the enemy.The Japanese invaders drove southward, approaching Fenglingdu, and the entire Tongpu Road fell into the enemy's hands. However, Yan Xishan, the commander of the Kuomintang Second War Zone, fled with a part of his troops and retreated to the Qiulin area of ​​Shaanxi.

Yan Xishan united with the Communist Party to fight against Japan, but fled without fighting.It can be seen from this that his determination to support an all-round resistance to Japan is so unbelievable.In fact, the reason why Yan Xishan adopted the policy of uniting the Communist Party against Japan was to elevate his status and enhance his strength to cope with the coming Japanese imperialist aggression.Its essence is still anti-communist. Yan Xishan's anti-communism has a long history. In 1921, Yan Xishan heard the report of Shanxi businessmen living in Soviet Russia, and believed that "capitalism and communism are two extreme mistakes, and human beings should seek a moderate system", and held "Jinshan Conferences" one by one.Aiming at the Marxist theory of class and class struggle, the topic of "how is the organization of the crowd right?" will be discussed.Later, Yan Xishan supported Chiang Kai-shek's counter-revolutionary "encirclement and suppression" of the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, and sent a division to Jiangxi to participate in the war.

In 1935, when the Red Army established a revolutionary base in northern Shaanxi, Yan Xishan began to "defend against the Communists ideologically, with the masses, with politics, and with force." Suppress the Communist Party".In Shanxi, he also planned to implement "village public ownership" of land as a fundamental measure to prevent communism; set up "anti-communist defense groups" and "advocate justice groups" to organize and train the people to "prevent communism and protect the countryside." In the winter of 1935, the Japanese invading army concocted the "North China Incident" and then demanded "autonomy" for the five provinces in North China. In February 1936, the Red Army marched across the river, and the Jin army was defeated. Yan Xishan was in a hurry, and Chiang Kai-shek took the opportunity to send 5 divisions into Shanxi.The Red Army returned to northern Shaanxi in early May, but Jiang Jun refused to leave. In June, he established a general headquarters for "suppressing bandits" in the border areas of the four provinces of Shanxi, Shaanxi, Suining, and Chen Cheng, posing a threat to Yan.

In the face of these three forces, in order to survive the contradictions, Yan Xishan cautiously began to "dance on three eggs": Chiang Kai-shek is the de facto head of state and should be supported, but he is his number one political enemy and must reject Chiang Kai-shek. The forces of the Japanese army entered Shanxi; Japanese imperialism wanted to destroy China, but he was afraid of getting burned, so he did not mention resistance to Japan. When the Japanese army had already entered Suiyuan, he conditionally put forward the slogan of "defending the soil and resisting the war" in August; although the CCP and the Red Army It is a dangerous enemy, but it will not endanger its own existence for the time being, and it is a force that can be used bravely and resolutely against Japan.So he stopped clamoring against the Communist Party and came up with the idea of ​​the Communist Party.

Supporting Chiang and rejecting Chiang, fearing Japan and resisting Japan, and opposing the Communist Party and allying with the Communist Party have become the key issues that Yan Xishan needs to consider in formulating various policies. The impending Japanese imperialist aggression. In the face of Japanese imperialist aggression, "Left" progressives in the "Self-Strengthening and Saving the Nation Comrades" initiated the establishment of the "Shanxi Anti-Japanese and National Salvation League" on September 18. Yan Xishan changed its name to "Shanxi Sacrifice for fear of offending Japanese imperialism." National Salvation League", self-appointed president. In late October, Yan Xishan invited Communist Party member Bo Yibo to preside over the work of the "Sacrifice League".Since then, the Chinese Communist Party and Yan Xishan have established a special anti-Japanese national united front in Shanxi, that is, Communists wear Shanxi hats, join Yan Xishan's government-run organizations, and use some progressive language in Shanxi to implement the party's anti-Japanese national united front Based on the principles and policies of the Communist Party of China, carry out the Anti-Japanese National Salvation Movement.

Under the leadership of the "Sacrifice League", the Anti-Japanese National Salvation Movement flourished, and Taiyuan became a city with a strong voice for anti-Japanese war in the country. Thousands of progressive young people from more than 20 provinces and cities came to Taiyuan to participate in military and political training, and started the Anti-Japanese War. Later, political and organizational preparations were made for the formation of a new army, the launching of armed struggle and the establishment of anti-Japanese base areas.So far, under the premise of supporting Chiang, Yan Xishan basically established the line of uniting the Communist Party to resist Japan.