Chapter 26 3. The Kuomintang army lost 7 cities at the first touch

Since the Eighth Route Army carried out guerrilla warfare extensively in the enemy's rear and established and expanded base areas, it posed an increasingly serious threat to the enemy's rear.In order to consolidate their rear and cooperate with the attack on southern Shanxi, the Japanese invaders concentrated 12,000 troops in mid-February 1938 and launched a 4-way siege to the Jinchaji base area. At the same time, they gathered more than 10,000 Japanese and puppet troops. Launched a full-scale attack on the Northwest Shanxi base. In late February, more than 8,000 members of the Kuroda Brigade of the 26th Division of the Japanese Army stationed in Datong, together with more than 3,000 members of the Li Shouxin Division of the Puppet Mongolian Army, divided into three groups and attacked the base area in Northwest Shanxi from the north.The first route is the Qiantian United Team, which was dispatched from Shuo County. After occupying Ningwu and Shenchi, it was divided into two groups. One went west and occupied Baode, the ferry of the Yellow River on the 28th. The other went south through Yijing to Wuzhai, Ke Lan attacked.The second route is the Zhunei United Team, dispatched from Jingping, successively occupied Pianguan and Hequ, and crossed the Yellow River westward with a small number of troops, occupying Fugu in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region.The third route was Li Shouxin's Department of the Puppet Mongolian Army, which was invaded from the south of Suiyuan. After occupying Qingshuihe, it also entered Pianguan County to join the enemy's Zhunei United Army.

Before departure, the harem, head of the 26th Division of the Japanese invaders, yelled arrogantly: "This division will annihilate the anti-Japanese bases near Hequ, Wuzhai, and Pianguan in one fell swoop." The head of the Kuroda Brigade also threatened his subordinates: " The purpose of attacking Northwest Shanxi this time is to force the North China Communist Army to cross the Yellow River westward, occupy the counties in Northwest Shanxi, and eliminate the developing anti-Japanese guerrilla war." He asked his subordinates to carry forward the spirit of Bushido, "advance bravely", "expected within January" Occupy the counties in northwestern Shanxi.

At the same time, the 109th Division of the Japanese Army, which was concentrated on the Tai (formerly) Fen (Yang) Highway, also divided into two groups to attack westward.After more than 2,000 people from the first route occupied Lishi, they entered Jundu and Qikou on the east bank of the Yellow River on the 26th, and bombarded the river defense positions of the left-behind corps in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region across the river; the other route was dispatched to Wenshui and Jiaocheng to occupy After Chakou, Gujiao, and Hekou areas, attack Loufan. The Japanese aggressors from both the north and the south pointed their attack target at Hexi at the same time, posing as if they were going to invade the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region.In fact, the Japanese invaders were engaging in "striking from the east and attacking the west". Their real intention was to encircle and annihilate the main force of the 120th Division in Northwest Shanxi or force the 120th Division to cross the Yellow River westward to wipe out the anti-Japanese base areas in Northwest Shanxi to ensure the safety of its rear.

The Japanese army invaded on five routes. At this time, there were four Kuomintang troops stationed in the northwest of Shanxi, namely, Zhao Chengshou's 1st Cavalry Army, stationed in Jingle; Guo Zongfen's 71st Division, stationed in Dongcun, Lan County; Fu Zuoyi's 35th Army, stationed in Lin County He Zhuguo's 2nd Cavalry Army was stationed north of Pianguan. When these four Kuomintang armies were engaged in battle with the Japanese army, except for Fu Zuoyi's 35th Army, which resisted a little in Fangshan, Linxian, and Loufan areas, the rest of the troops had already fled.As a result, the seven cities of Ningwu, Kelan, Wuzhai, Shenchi, Baode, Hequ, and Pianguan in northwest Shanxi fell into the hands of the enemy one after another.

At this time, according to the instructions of the Eighth Route Army Headquarters, the 120th Division was fighting to attack the section from Tongpulugu County to Yangqu in order to cooperate with the Kuomintang army stationed in southern Shanxi to counterattack Taiyuan. Mao Zedong saw the real intention of the Japanese army with his sharp eyes, and immediately telegraphed He Long: "The enemy divided into 5 routes to encircle the 120th Division and Fu Zuoyi's army, trying to force our army to cross the river. My congratulatory master should work together with Fu Zuoyi to defeat each of them." "If you feel that Wang Brigade and Zhang Brigade cannot defeat the enemy's 1 route alone, but they can defeat 1 route together, it is appropriate to concentrate on 1 route." "The current focus After resolutely defeating the enemy advancing towards Jingle, Fangshan, and Wuzhai, one or two of these three routes must be defeated in order to destroy the enemy's encirclement plan, consolidate the base area in northwest Shanxi, and coordinate operations in other areas. ".

After receiving Mao Zedong's instructions, He Long immediately held a military meeting to conduct a detailed analysis of the situation at that time.Judging from the force distribution of the Japanese invaders at that time, the enemy in the south only played a coordinating role, and the three enemy lines in the north were the main force of the Japanese invaders. Among them, the Qiantian regiment of the first line directed the attack at the hinterland of our base area and was deployed in the enemy's "siege" It occupies a prominent place in the world and is most harmful to me.If we can deal a powerful blow, it will definitely shake the entire invading enemy army, and it will play a decisive role in smashing the entire "siege" of the enemy.Moreover, after occupying Ningwu and Shenchi, the enemy on this road was divided into two groups, one group attacked Wuzhai and Kelan, and the other group attacked Sanchabao and Baode.In particular, the Japanese invaders who invaded Wuzhai and Kelan have penetrated deep into the hinterland of our bases and are far away from the strongholds behind them. Gather and annihilate them.At the same time, the mass base in the Wuzhai and Kelan areas is relatively good, and the terrain conditions are also very favorable to our army.

According to the above analysis and judgment, He Long immediately decided to concentrate the main force of the two brigades, first to attack the enemies who occupied Wuzhai and Kelan, regain the two cities, and then attack in the direction of Shenchi and Ningwu, and deployed the troops: 359th Brigade The 717th Regiment and the 2nd Battalion of the 718th Regiment besieged Kelan City with the cooperation of local guerrillas; the 715th and 716th Regiments of the 358th Brigade quickly rushed from the area west of Lishi to the area north of Kelan, intercepting Wuzhai to the north. Kelan's traffic, fighting the enemy and reinforcements.When the enemy of Kelan retreats to the north, concentrate the main cameras of the two brigades to annihilate the enemy in motion.The 6th Guard Regiment continued to stay along the river, assisting the river defense forces to guard and contain the enemies of Pianguan, Hequ, and Baode; the 1st Independent Detachment and the Divisional Cavalry Battalion were active on the traffic line between Shenchi and Yijing; The 719th Regiment entered the vicinity of Ninghua Fort and harassed the enemies of Ningwu; the 718th Regiment mainly monitored the enemies of Yuanping and Xinkou; the 714th Regiment was active in the mountains west of Beixiaodian and Yangqu; the Yanbei Detachment was in Pinglu and Shuo County , Qingshui River area activities.