Chapter 28 5. The successful tactics of "surrounding the spot and fighting for aid"

Before He Long had negotiated with Zhao Chengshou and Guo Zongfen, and before the battle plan was formulated, He Long had already decided that the battle would begin with the battle of Kelan.Why is this? It turned out that on the second day after He Long returned to Lan County, that is, on March 5, Wang Zhen led two regiments of the 359 Brigade to the Kelan area.He Long ordered Wang Zhen to immediately besiege Kelan City, step up reconnaissance, and find out the enemy's situation. A few days later, Wang Zhen reported to He Long that there was a brigade of the Qiantian Regiment stationed in Kelan City, as well as some cavalry, artillery and engineers, about a thousand people.Due to the short period of occupation, the defense facilities are not yet complete.Kelan City is surrounded by mountains on all sides, and there is no water source in the city. All domestic water is taken from a ditch outside the south gate.He Long thought: This is a condition that can be used. As long as the high mountains around the city are controlled and the enemy is trapped in the city, they will not be able to defend if they cut off the water, so they must get out of the city.As long as the Japanese army leaves the city, the battle will be easy.Therefore, he made the decision to attack Kelan first, and ordered the 359th Brigade to step up the siege, cut off water sources and traffic, and force the enemy out of the city.

Kelan City is the gateway to the west of Shanxi, facing the Lanyi River in the front and Kelan Mountain in the back.After the Japanese army occupied the city, more than 1,000 people, including one brigade of the Qiantian Regiment, one cavalry unit, one artillery unit and one engineering unit, were stationed in the city to strengthen the city’s defenses and build fortifications for a long-term occupation plan in an attempt to connect Ningwu and Shuo counties. , Datong line, as a bridgehead for attacking the Northwest Shanxi base. In order to regain this important stronghold, according to the scheduled combat deployment, He Long commanded the 359th brigade to quickly occupy the commanding heights around Kelan City on March 7, and then continued to attack Kelan City from a condescending position.At the same time, use a force to attack the enemy who goes out of the city to fetch water, and cut off the enemy in the city from the outside world.As a result, not only food and ammunition cannot be supplied to defend the enemy in the city, but even drinking water is very difficult.

The Eighth Route Army besieged the city for three consecutive days and nights, constantly raiding and harassing the enemies in the city, causing the defenders in the city to be extremely panicked, hungry and thirsty, and were forced to abandon the city and flee towards Wuzhai at 3:00 pm on the 10th.He Long immediately ordered the 717th Regiment of the 359th Brigade to follow and pursue them. At the same time, he ordered the 358th Brigade, which had entered the Xinjiawan and Koujiacun areas southeast of Kelan, to rush between Kelan and Wuzhai at night to intercept the enemy retreating north.

That night, when the enemies of Kelan fled to Sanjing Town between Kelan and Wuzhai, they found that the 358th Brigade was moving south of Wuzhai, so they dared not move forward. waiting for help.However, seeing that the main force of the Eighth Route Army was concentrating, the Japanese invaders stationed in Wuzhai did not dare to rush out of the city to meet the enemy in Sanjing Town.At this time, the 717th Regiment of the 359th Brigade quickly chased to the vicinity of Mijing Town and surrounded the fleeing enemy again.He Long also rushed to the front position south of Sanjing Town overnight to personally command the battle.

At this time, the remnant enemy has less than one brigade, and they are frightened and exhausted.In order not to give the remnant enemies a chance to breathe, He Long commanded the 717th Regiment to launch a fierce attack on the enemy in Sanjing Town overnight, and fought fierce street battles with the Japanese invaders, only killing the Japanese invaders and fleeing in all directions. The 717 regiment took advantage of the momentum and captured most of Mijing Town. During the battle, Yang Shiyu, the platoon leader of the 1st company and 2nd platoon, led the entire platoon of soldiers, braved the barrage of bullets from the Japanese invaders, rushed to the enemy artillery position that was shooting at me, destroyed the enemy artillery position, and seized a mountain cannon.

Under the brave attack of the 717 regiment, the enemy of Mijing town suffered more than half of the casualties, and the remaining 300 people retreated to a few strong houses at the northern end of the town, fighting stubbornly.At dawn the next day, the 717th Regiment launched an attack again. Unexpectedly, at this moment, the two mountain cannons sent by Zhao Chengshou suddenly shot blindly at Sanjing Town, which seriously hindered the 717th Regiment's final attack. The direction desperately fled. Hearing the news of the Japanese breakout, He Long was angry and annoyed: "It's just playing the piano indiscriminately. It's not enough to succeed, but more to fail!" Then he ordered: "Pursue immediately!" The 717th Regiment of the 359th Brigade chased and fled according to the order of Master He Long. The enemy came to Wuzhai City.At this moment, the 358th Brigade also rushed to the outskirts of Wuzhai City.So the two troops joined forces and surrounded Wuzhai City.

At this time, there were more than 1,000 enemies from Wuzhai and Kelan who had fled in. After the two Japanese invaders joined forces, they gathered more than 400 people the next day and went out of the city to attack the siege troops of the 120th Division in an attempt to take advantage of the Eighth Route Army's unstable foothold. Run away.Unexpectedly, as soon as they walked near Hewan Village, 5 kilometers south of the city, they were repelled head-on by the 715th Regiment of the 358th Brigade. The 715 regiment took advantage of the victory and pursued, and captured the Nanguan of Wuzhai City that night.Therefore, the Japanese invaders had no choice but to retreat into the city, strengthen the fortifications, and prepare for persistent resistance.

How to fight against the enemies of Wuzhai?At that time, there were two opinions, one advocated a strong attack and the other advocated a siege. After carefully listening to the opinions of all parties, He Long, the commander of the 120th Division, calmly analyzed the situation at that time: Wuzhai City Wall is strong, the enemy's defense forces are strong, and there are strongholds such as Yijing Town and Sancha Fort to support each other, and our army has insufficient artillery fire. , unfavorable storm.However, Wuzhai County is located in the central area of ​​the base area in Northwest Shanxi. If this nail is not removed, it will be very detrimental to the consolidation and construction of our base area. Therefore, the enemy's nail must be pulled out as soon as possible.

Based on this situation, He Long decided to continue to use his experience in recovering Kelan, and adopt the tactics of "surrounding the point and fighting for aid", that is, to besiege Wuzhai City with a small force, concentrate the main force between Wuzhai and Shenchi, and annihilate any incoming reinforcements or flee. enemy.Therefore, on March 16, He Long ordered: the 2nd Battalion of the 718th Regiment of the 359th Brigade and the local guerrillas besieged Wuzhai City; between towns.In this way, the connection between Wuzhai and other strongholds was cut off, and the Wuzhai defenders were isolated.At the same time, He Long also ordered the 6th Guard Regiment to continue to harass and contain the enemies of Pianguan, Hequ, and Baode; the 1st Independent Detachment and the Divisional Cavalry Battalion moved between Limin Fort and Qingshui River to contain the enemy's reinforcements.

As expected, when they learned that the enemies of Wuzhai had been besieged, the Japanese invaders from Shenchi, Yijing Town, and Sancha Fort dispatched one after another to reinforce the siege. On the afternoon of March 17, when the 358th Brigade entered the area of ​​Hubei Village and Shankou Village south of Yijing, it suddenly encountered more than a thousand Japanese invaders dispatched by Shenchi to break the siege of Wuzhai. The warriors of the 358th Brigade disregarded the fatigue of continuous marching and combat, immediately seized the favorable terrain, condescended, and launched a fierce attack on the reinforcement enemy.Many soldiers fought hand-to-hand with the Japanese invaders barefoot on the snow. They fought fiercely for 6 hours and wiped out more than 300 enemies.

Under the fierce attack of the 358th Brigade, the Japanese invaders retreated while fighting, and finally fled into Yijing Town. The 358th Brigade also followed and chased to Yijing Town.The next day, the Japanese invaders who were originally stationed in Yijing Town and the fleeing enemies assembled more than 800 infantry and cavalry, and went out of the city to attack the 358th Brigade violently. They were repelled by the warriors of the 358th Brigade again. Shenchi.On the same day, the enemy of Sancha Fort also dispatched more than 200 people in an attempt to reinforce Wuzhai City. Unexpectedly, they were ambushed by the 717th Regiment on the way.So far, the enemy's reinforcements from all walks of life have been repelled, and the enemy of Wuzhai has become a turtle in a urn. At the same time, the troops of the 120th Division who were responsible for the harassment mission also achieved greater results.The Yanbei Detachment attacked Jingping Town three times, captured Weiyuan Fort, and destroyed the railway bridge between Shuo County and Mayi; the 6th Guard Regiment harassed the enemies of Hequ, Pianguan, and Baode for days, making them unable to look east; The division cavalry battalion and local guerrillas successively attacked the traffic in Sanchabao, Shenchi, and Shuo County; the 719th regiment smashed the enemy's rear traffic between Shenchi and Ningwu, threatened the transportation of Tongpu Railway, and restrained the enemy.In this way, all the Japanese invaders who invaded the Northwest Shanxi base were caught in a precarious situation. The Japanese invaders were in an increasingly disadvantageous situation under the continuous attack by the army and civilians in the Northwest Shanxi base area. Their attempt to wipe out the 120th Division of the Eighth Route Army or to force the 120th Division to retreat across the Yellow River has long been a dream.On the contrary, the Japanese invaders' own rear was increasingly threatened by the Eighth Route Army.In desperation, on March 20, the Japanese invaders were forced to retreat across the board from the base area in Northwest Shanxi.On that day, the enemies of Pianguan, Hequ, Baode, and Wuzhai all abandoned their cities and retreated eastward. The Eighth Route Army recovered four counties without a fight. In order to expand the results of the battle and beat the invading enemy hard, He Long commanded the main force of the 120th Division to set up ambushes on the way the Japanese invaders retreated. On the 20th, after meeting up with the enemy of Sanchabao, Baode retreated to Shenchi on the 21st, and traveled to Tianjiawa, where he was ambushed by the 717th regiment. After the enemy was wiped out, he rushed into Yijing Town.At this time, the enemies of Wuzhai also fled into Yijing Town.He Long astutely judged that the enemy would continue to retreat eastward.Therefore, the 358th Brigade was ordered to set up an ambush at Fenghuang Mountain, east of Yijing. As expected, on the night of March 22, the three brigades of Japanese invaders gathered in Yijing began to retreat in the direction of Shenchi in a hurry, walked to the vicinity of Phoenix Mountain, and entered the ambush circle of the 358th Brigade. Taking advantage of the enemy's unpreparedness, the 358th Brigade rushed towards the enemy's marching column with a sudden movement, annihilating more than 300 enemies and destroying several vehicles.The Japanese invaders were beaten so dizzy by this sudden blow, they dared not love to fight, and fled to Shenchi overnight. The 358 brigade worked hard and followed up to the city of Shenchi, preparing to cooperate with the 359 brigade to attack the city. On the 23rd, the Japanese invaders in the city were afraid of being annihilated, so they abandoned the city and fled to Shuo County in the afternoon of the same day.In this way, Shenchi County also returned to the hands of the Eighth Route Army. After regaining Shenchi, there is only one isolated city of Ningwu left in the northwestern Shanxi base area, which is still occupied by Japanese invaders.Ningwu County is located among the three passes, on the northern section of Tongpu Road, with Jingle and Loufan in the south, and Shuo County and Datong in the north. It is an important station to the south of Yangfangkou. He sent troops to compete for the first time, but failed.After the Japanese occupation this time, they defended with heavy troops and built fortifications for a long-term occupation.Attempt to use Ningwu County as a bridgehead to control the northern section of Tongpu Road and Yangfangkou Highway. He Long, who is very experienced in military struggles, saw through the tricks of the Japanese invaders at a glance.He Long pointedly pointed out: The devils gathered their troops and retreated to Ningwu, trying to build a bridgehead at the gate of the northwest of Shanxi based on the dangerous terrain of Ningwu.We must smash the devil's wishful thinking and drive the devil out of Northwest Shanxi cleanly and thoroughly! According to the defense situation of Ningwu's enemy forces, He Long decided to continue to adopt the tactics of "surrounding points and attacking aid" to completely cut off Ningwu's connection with the outside world, resulting in a situation of closing the door and beating dogs, forcing the enemies of Ningwu to chaos without fighting, and to fight without attack. Going forward, it became an excellent fighter for the Eighth Route Army to wipe out the enemy in motion, and regained Ningwu County in one fell swoop.The specific deployment is: the 716th Regiment of the 358th Brigade and the 2nd Battalion of the 718th Regiment of the 359th Brigade are responsible for besieging Ningwu County; Go to Nanzhuangzi, Qianshihu, and Zhangsungou areas on the east side of Tongpu Road to cut off the connection between Ningwu and Yangfangkou. In this way, the enemy of Ningwu fell into the encirclement of the 120th Division.Under the continuous harassment and attacks of the siege troops of the 120th Division, the enemies of Ningwu, who had no food inside and no reinforcements outside, had no choice but to eat black beans to satisfy their hunger and kill war horses to quench their thirst. Like ants on a hot pot, they repeatedly called for help.Seeing this, the enemy chieftain stationed in Datong had no choice but to abandon their original plan and order them to abandon the city to break through. In order to cope with the breakout of the Ningwu defenders, on the 31st, the enemy at Yangfangkou dispatched more than 600 infantry and cavalry to Ningwu for reinforcements under the cover of aircraft.The aid to the enemy is coming in menacingly, and it will break through the deployment of the Eighth Route Army's siege in one fell swoop.However, when he traveled to the area of ​​Shihuhe and Mayu, he was hit head-on by the 359th brigade and suffered heavy casualties. He had to give up his rescue attempt and rushed into Shihuhe Town to resist.At the same time, the besieged enemies in Ningwu saw reinforcements and seemed to be looking forward to a savior. Captain Qiantian personally led more than 500 Japanese invaders out of Ningwu City, and attacked the 359th Brigade in an attempt to flank and break through the siege in one fell swoop. the way. The 715th Regiment of the 358th Brigade took the initiative to attack and cooperated with the 359th Brigade to pinch the enemy out of the city. They fought fiercely all day long and wiped out more than 300 enemies. The leader of the enemy Qiantian League was also seriously injured. On the same day, Yuanping's enemy also dispatched more than a thousand troops to come for reinforcements.According to the scheduled deployment, the 718th Regiment, which had been waiting in the Shenshan and Shangyangwu areas, rose up to block the attack. Although the reinforcements tried their best, they failed to advance half a step.At the same time, the Yanbei Detachment of the Eighth Route Army continued to attack Pinglu, Wujiayao, Qingshuihe, Jingping Town and other places, so that the enemies of Shuo County did not dare to act rashly.So far, the enemy and the enemy have launched fierce battles at the same time on the north and south sides with Ningwu as the center.Hearing the rumble of cannons and gunshots like roasted beans in a radius of dozens of miles, He Long couldn't help laughing happily: "Wow! It seems that the kid in the harem is really willing to put down his capital! However, this bet is not worth it." It's a little late!" After a day of fierce fighting, although the reinforcements from the north and the south of the Japanese invaders paid a heavy price, they still failed to join the Ningwu defenders. At dusk, the two Japanese invaders saw that rescue was hopeless, so they had to drag hundreds of corpses. Fleeing back to the original station in embarrassment, the captain of the Qiantian Alliance also fled back to Ningwu City with the remnants of the defeated soldiers. The battle had just ended, and He Long judged: Since the enemy's large-scale reinforcement plan failed, the enemy of Ningwu must put all their eggs in one basket, jump over the wall in a hurry, and take the risk to break through.Therefore, all troops were ordered to tighten the encirclement, strictly guard, and be ready to annihilate the enemy who broke through at any time. As He Long expected, on the evening of April 1st, the enemies of Ningwu could no longer bear the pain of hunger and thirst, risked their lives to break through overnight, and fled north along the Tongpu Railway in multiple columns.He Long immediately ordered the troops to catch up. The 358th Brigade and the 359th Brigade chased and wiped out a part of the fleeing enemy near Shizuizi and Shihu River respectively.In the end, the remaining remnants of the enemy fled back to Shuo County under the support of the enemy at Yangfangkou.In this way, Ningwu County was also recovered.