Chapter 40 Chapter 5 The Battle of Anti-"Mopping Up" in Southern Hebei: The New "Bagua Formation" on the Plain

On October 27, 1938, the Japanese army captured Wuhan.Since then, it has changed its previous policy of concentrating the main military force to attack the frontal forces of the Kuomintang, and changed it to a policy of politically inducing surrender, supplemented by military strikes, and gradually returned to North China. In the autumn of the same year, the North China Front Army of the Japanese Army formulated the "1939 Public Security Plan" in accordance with the order of its headquarters to ensure the occupied area. The rapid crusade expanded from the occupation of points and lines to the occupation of areas."At the same time as the "crusade against Suzheng centered on force", the so-called "total force war" of politics, economy, and culture must be carried out, especially to obtain the important resources needed to expand production in Japan, in an attempt to eliminate our army, destroy our anti-Japanese base areas, and put North China became its "military base".

In mid-November 1938, the enemy and Israel independently combined the 3rd Brigade and the 114th Division, with a total of more than 3,700 people, and carried out the first large-scale "mopping up" of our southern Hebei Anti-Japanese Base in 4 routes. Facing the ferocious enemy, our leading organs in southern Hebei took the initiative to withdraw from Nangong County, and transferred to the vast rural areas to carry out activities.As early as October, Xu Xiangqian, the deputy commander of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army, convened a meeting of cadres above the battalion and battalion level in the Southern Hebei District in accordance with the instructions of his superiors, and arranged preparations for anti-mopping up.

The heroic soldiers and civilians in southern Hebei and the military and political leaders in southern Hebei were not intimidated by the difficulties, and put forward powerful measures against "mopping up": 1. Raise a large amount of food, clothing, and money as soon as possible, and make material preparations. 2. Learn from Jizhong, and adopt methods of digging ditches, setting up roadblocks, destroying roads, and emptying houses to clear the fields to delay the enemy. 3. Decentralized operations and flexible control of the enemy.Don't stick to county towns and villages, but rely on the vast countryside, disperse guerrilla attacks, and deal with the enemy, knowing how to hide and then fight;

4. Resolutely suppress the traitors, be alert to the friction created by the Kuomintang, and prevent the new motley armed defection. Just when the enemy was rushing fiercely, our main force, with the strong cooperation of local armed forces and the active support of the broad masses of the people, actively attacked the enemy by means of attacks, blocking, and ambushes. This anti-"mopping up" lasted half a month from November 15th to 30th, with a total of 28 battles, forcing the enemy to withdraw from the central area of ​​our anti-Japanese base. Although the enemy's first "sweep" was crushed by me, the enemy occupied Ningjin, Yongnian, Gucheng, Enxian, Gaotang, and Liaocheng, forming a situation of encircling me from the east, south, and west.At this time, the War of Resistance Against Japan had entered a stalemate. The Japanese invaders stopped their strategic offensive on the frontal battlefield and turned to focus on conserving the occupied land. They adopted the policy of "controlling the plains first, then attacking the mountains" and massively increased their troops to North China. In a vain attempt to destroy the anti-Japanese base areas behind our enemy lines.

At the end of 1938, its troop strength in North China increased from 13 and a half divisions to 22 divisions.Our southern Hebei base area is a thorn in the enemy's side and a thorn in his flesh, and has inevitably become the primary target of the enemy's attack. In order to consolidate the anti-Japanese base area in southern Hebei and strengthen the fighting force against the enemy, on December 21, 1938, Commander Liu Bocheng led the 129th Division Division, the 386th Brigade Supplementary Regiment, and the Third Brigade of the Advance Detachment from Taihang Mountains to southern Hebei.The arrival of Master Liu greatly inspired the fighting spirit of the soldiers and civilians in southern Hebei and strengthened their confidence in fighting the enemy in the plains.