Chapter 38 8. Xu Xiangqian discusses the victory of the battle

The Battle of Changle Village was a battle of decisive significance in smashing the 9th Route Siege of the Japanese Army.After the enemy suffered an annihilating blow here, all other roads rushed back one after another.The various departments of the Eighth Route Army took advantage of the victory to pursue the enemy, and attacked the enemy effectively in the south of Qinyuan, between Qinxian and Qinyuan, Liaoxian and Heshun, and successively recovered Liaoxian, Licheng, Lucheng, Xiangyuan, Tunliu, Qinxian, Qinyuan, Gaoping, and Jincheng isolated the enemies of Changzhi. In late April, the enemy of Changzhi retreated to the southern section of Tongpu Road via Baijin Highway and Qu (Wo) Gao (Ping) Highway, and was intercepted by the 344th Brigade of the 115th Division and the 1st Desperate Column, causing nearly a thousand casualties.So far, the Japanese army's 9-way siege of the Shanxi-Hebei-Henan base was completely smashed.

After the siege campaign against the 9th Route, a symposium with the county magistrate, gentlemen and village chiefs was held in Liao County.At the meeting, Xu Xiangqian reported the process of the siege against the 9th Route and the significance of victory. Regarding the significance of this anti-siege victory, Xu Xiangqian summarized it as follows in a manuscript: First, after half a month of anti-siege operations, not only broke the enemy's plan to expel or eliminate the Eighth Route Army by means of split-and-joint attack tactics, but also wiped out more than 4,000 Japanese troops and recovered 18 county towns (the Eighth Route Army recovered 12, and the friendly forces recovered 6), In the end, the Japanese army was driven out of Southeast Shanxi.The Shanxi-Hebei-Henan area based on the Taihang Mountains was basically controlled by the Eighth Route Army, which further laid the foundation for the Shanxi-Hebei-Henan Anti-Japanese Base Area and created favorable conditions for the great development of guerrilla warfare.

Second, the broad masses of the people saw more clearly the ferocious face of Japanese imperialism, and further strengthened the relationship between the Eighth Route Army and the broad masses of the people.In this siege, the Japanese army adopted the method of burning and killing. Wherever they went, they burned and killed everything.Towns such as Hongshui, Wuxiang, and Panlong were all reduced to ashes.Panlong Town is a large town in Liao and Wujian, usually with prosperous business, when the Japanese army passed by, it was set on fire, and the few houses that did not catch fire had their doors, windows and furniture completely destroyed.The massacre of the masses was even more appalling.In Ma Village in Wuxiang, more than 60 people were killed. Most of the women were raped and then killed. Even the seven or eight-year-old girls were not spared.The people woke up from the butcher's knife, "If you don't fight against the Japanese, you can't live", "If you don't drive out the Japanese invaders, everyone will have no peace."At the same time, it was further seen that the Eighth Route Army is the real anti-Japanese team.As a result, they rose up one after another to assist the Eighth Route Army in combat.During the anti-siege process, the people in the southeast of Shanxi made empty homes and cleared the fields, troubled the enemy, led the way to the Eighth Route Army, sent letters, reported the enemy's situation, and transported the wounded, so that the troops could be quick-sighted, move freely, and concentrate their forces to attack the enemy in a timely manner.

Third, the anti-siege process is a good test of the work of building base areas in the past.In Xiangyuan and Wuxiang areas, in order to avoid friction with the Kuomintang, the staff sent by the Eighth Route Army were withdrawn before the anti-siege.In this way, most of the originally established guerrillas were reorganized and their composition was complicated. In this counter-siege, these guerrillas and the self-defense forces of the villages did not play much role.On the contrary, in Xiyang, Liaoxian, Lincheng, Zanhuang and other places south of Zhengtai Road and on both sides of Pinghan Road, the guerrillas in these places effectively attacked and delayed the enemy because the Communist Party insisted on definite leadership. attack.This shows that the construction of base areas must implement an independent policy and adhere to the leadership of the Communist Party.Any hesitation and wavering, even slight, will incur losses.