Chapter 37 7. Bloody Battle in Changle Village

According to the determination made by the headquarters, at the beginning of the counter-siege, guerrilla warfare was mainly carried out to exhaust and exhaust the enemy.For this reason, the various departments of the Eighth Route Army, in accordance with the scheduled combat deployment, with the active cooperation and support of local guerrillas and the masses, actively carried out attacks and harassment with flexible and mobile guerrilla warfare, exhausting and weakening the invading enemy.Therefore, all Japanese troops were hit to varying degrees. Just as the soldiers and civilians in the Shanxi-Hebei-Henan base area were fighting bloody battles with the besieging enemies, the main force of the 129th Division and the 689th Regiment of the 115th Division were deployed as planned, and moved from the area south of Liao County to the area north of She County outside the enemy's joint attack circle. standby.

On April 10, Liu Bocheng set up ambushes in the Piandian and Jimingpu areas, intending to attack the Japanese army's rear supply line on Hanchang Avenue to break the Japanese army's siege.The Japanese army suffered repeated setbacks on Hanchang Avenue, and became cautious, and did not send larger troops through for several days. At this time, the Japanese army from Changzhi in the south entered the west camp from Xiangyuan and Xialiang, and from Tunliu and Yanting to occupy Qinxian County.The Japanese army marched from Yangquan in the north, from Pingding via Xiyang to Heshun, from Xiyang via Gaoluo to Qinquan, and penetrated into the heart of the base area.The rest of the roads were blocked and delayed by the Eighth Route Army troops and the Kuomintang friendly forces pre-positioned inside, and there was no plan to realize the encirclement of the enemy's 9th Route.The two Japanese troops to the east were stopped in Matian by the first part of the 129th Division and the 4th KMT Cavalry Division.The other two Japanese troops in the south were blocked in Qinyuan by the 343rd Brigade of the 115th Division and the 17th Army of the Kuomintang.The two Japanese armies to the west were pinned down by the Qinlai Detachment and the 98th Army of the Kuomintang in the East and West Tuancheng and Mafang areas.The Japanese army along Zanhuang Road in the north was unable to advance after being harassed by the guerrilla detachment in western Hebei.

Seeing that the enemy's siege situation had become chaotic, Liu Bocheng decided to send out the main force, detoured to the left flank of the Japanese army on the North Road, and waited for an opportunity to strike. On April 14, the Japanese army from Changzhi in the south continued to advance eastward.On the right wing, the 105th Regiment of the 104th Brigade led the 104th Brigade and other units to occupy Liao County via Panlong and Mo Ting. Liu Bocheng saw that Tomidi went deep alone without coordinating actions with his neighbors, and didn't care about exposing his back at all. He judged that Tomidi had committed the old habit of making great achievements, and tried to monopolize the 9th route siege. He couldn't help saying to the staff beside him: " How dare this guy, Tomidi, break the taboo of military strategists, thinking that our Eighth Route Army is easy to bully, let's see how long he will go crazy?" Liu Bocheng decided to use his tricks and put Tomidi between Wuxiang and Liaoxian County to fight.The terrain in this area is favorable, the mountains are high and the roads are dangerous. The Panlong and Moding areas are good ambush battlefields.

On the same day, Liu Bocheng, Xu Xiangqian, and Deng Xiaoping agreed on a battle plan and reported it to the headquarters: "Our division and Xu's brigade will cooperate to cooperate with Zeng (Wanzhong)'s army to besiege Duan Village, strike reinforcements, or cooperate with Zhu Huaibing's division, or leave Liao County." Commander-in-Chief Zhu De and Deputy Commander-in-Chief Peng Dehuai of the Eighth Route Army Headquarters immediately replied to approve the plan after receiving the call. That night, Liu Bocheng led his troops across the Zhuozhang River through Dongfang Mountain, arrived at Xihuangyan and Mamu areas north of Duancun, and transferred to the left flank of the 117th Regiment, creating an extremely favorable situation for annihilating the Japanese army.

The next day, the reconnaissance staff reported: After the Japanese army in Wuxiang entered Yushe, they could not get food and fodder supplies because the people in the city "emptied their houses and cleared the fields", and the road to Liao County was severely damaged, making it difficult for large troops to pass, so they returned. came back. After listening to the report, Liu Bocheng stood up "teng", and said happily: "Birds are in the cage, turtles are in the urn, there will be a big battle now, let the 771st regiment send two companies to closely monitor this enemy .”

At 10:00 p.m., Brigadier Chen Geng reported by phone: According to reports from the surveillance troops, the enemies in Duancun and Wuxiang retreated eastward, and their rear guard troops were still staying at Mazhuang. "Chase!" Liu Bocheng ordered Chen Geng without hesitation, "The 689th Regiment is under your command, and the 772nd Regiment is the left column and pursues along the north bank of the Zhuozhang River. The 771st Regiment is the right column and pursues along the south bank. The 769th The regiment is a follow-up force, following up along Wuxiang to Xiangyuan Avenue."

The pursuit troops set off quickly, and Liu Bocheng led his division in front of the command post to follow up. Chen Geng led the 772nd and 771st regiments to chase eastward.At 7 o'clock in the morning of the next day, the 386th Brigade chased near Changle Village. The Japanese army was marching in a narrow river valley with the Zhuozhang River on one side and cliffs on the other.The left and right troops of the 771st and 772nd regiments formed an excellent flanking situation. At this time, the 689th Regiment and the 769th Regiment had not yet arrived due to the late notification.Chen Geng saw that part of the enemy had walked out of the valley, and the opportunity to attack was fleeting. He immediately made up his mind to attack and ordered the 771st and 772nd regiments to open fire on the Japanese army.

Following Chen Geng's order, the raid on Changle Village started.The commanders and fighters chanted slogans such as "shatter the enemy's new siege", "win the battle and compete with friendly forces", "destroy the enemy resolutely", and used various weapons to severely attack the Japanese army. The Japanese army was already in a panic, and it was even more panicked after being hit suddenly and violently.The commanders and fighters of the Eighth Route Army took the opportunity to charge.The 3rd Battalion of the 772nd Regiment rushed down the mountain. When they reached the side of the mountain, they found that it was a cliff about 3 feet high. The battalion commander Lei Shaokang took the lead and rolled down desperately. rushed down.

The commanders rushed into the enemy group, stabbing from left to right and slashing from right to left. They were extremely brave and killed the Japanese soldiers on their backs, cutting the more than 1,500 Japanese soldiers in the valley into three sections at once. The Japanese army who had already passed through Changle Village gathered more than a thousand people to turn around and rescue the besieged troops.They attacked Daijianao on the left wing of the 772nd regiment's position, trying to open a gap from here to meet the besieged rear team.Daijianao should have been defended by the 689th regiment, but the regiment has not yet arrived on the battlefield, and the situation is very critical!Liu Bocheng received the report and ordered Chen Geng to deploy a company to guard Daijianao, resolutely preventing the enemy from breaking through.The 10th Company of the 772nd Regiment was ordered to go to Daijianao, and fought bloody battles with the Japanese army, which was 10 times larger than itself, and held on tenaciously for more than 4 hours.

At this moment, the 689th Regiment caught up. They didn't even stop, and with a brave charge, they took back the position.The Japanese army organized forces to fight back again and again.The commanders and fighters of the 689th regiment responded calmly. The Japanese army prepared for artillery fire, and they hid in the fortifications; the enemy infantry charged, and they bombed them with grenades; Drive the enemy down. Liu Bocheng watched the battle in Daijianao's position through a telescope, and was deeply moved by the fearlessness of the commanders and fighters of the 689th regiment. He couldn't help saying: "How brave the 689th regiment fought!"

"It's really a good job." Xu Xiangqian, who was observing from the side, felt the same way, "The soldiers of the 115th Division are tenacious." The heroic blocking battle at the entrance of Changle Village effectively guaranteed the annihilation battle in the valley.The 771st and 772nd regiments, and part of the 769th regiment that caught up later, concentrated their forces and repeatedly rushed towards the separated enemies.At the beginning, the enemy still counted on the front team to turn around for rescue, and the resistance was relatively tenacious. Later, when they found that the reinforcements were delayed, they became frustrated.The commanders and fighters of the 129th Division fought more and more bravely, and gradually wiped out most of the enemies. At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the command post in front of the division received a report: a wave of reinforcements came from the direction of Panlong.This direction was originally in charge of the Kuomintang's 3rd Army, but the reinforcements from the Japanese army came over without any hindrance.Liu Bocheng frowned: "What is Zeng Wanzhong doing?" Urgently ordered the 772nd Regiment to send a small force to seize it with the tactics of copying the flank.At 5 o'clock in the afternoon, more than a thousand enemies were added in the direction of Liao County, and the battle across the board was unprecedentedly fierce. Liu Bo admitted that in order to continue to destroy and aid the enemy, it was no longer certain, and it was necessary to consolidate victory, so he ordered the 769th Regiment and the 689th Regiment to draw 1 company each, spread them out, form a guerrilla network, attack and confuse the Japanese army from the flanks, and cover the retreat of the main force. After the battle in Changle Village was over, the enemy troops from all walks of life retreated one after another for fear of repeating the same mistakes.The Japanese invaders who occupied Liao County from Xiyang were also isolated after Tomidi led the 105th Regiment to return to Changle Village. On April 16, the 5th Detachment of the 115th Division and the Hebei Detachment began to besiege Liao County. At the same time, the independent detachment disrupted traffic on the Liao County-Heshun Highway, preparing to block the fleeing enemy.Under the siege of the Eighth Route Army, the enemies of Liao County abandoned the city and fled north, and the Eighth Route Army recovered Liao County. On the 19th, they took advantage of the victory to recover Heshun and approached Xiyang. The Japanese invaders in Qinxian County, under the continuous harassment and attacks of the Eighth Route Army Headquarters Special Task Force and local guerrillas, abandoned the city and fled south on April 19. The main force of the 344th Brigade of the 115th Division and the 1st Desperate Column launched a pursuit according to the orders of the headquarters.Near Baijiagou, the 344th Brigade caught up with the enemy's rear guard and wiped out part of it after fierce fighting.That night, the pursuit troops attacked the enemies who fled into Fengyan at night, and wiped out one of them. On the 20th, the enemy abandoned all his supplies and fled south with light clothes. By April 25, the Eighth Route Army had successively recovered more than ten counties including Yushe, Wuxiang, Qinxian, Qinyuan, Xiangyuan, Anze, Tunliu, Changzi, Pingshun, Huguan, Lucheng, Licheng, etc. The enemy is isolated. On the 27th, the enemies of Changzhi, Gaoping, and Jincheng were frightened by the powerful offensive of the Eighth Route Army. At the same time, they abandoned the city and retreated to the southern section of Tongpu Road.So far, the 23-day anti-enemy 9-way siege campaign has ended successfully.