Chapter 41 2. Xu Xiangqian built a "human mountain" in southern Hebei

Xu Xiangqian has served in the army for more than ten years, and mostly fought in mountainous areas. He has visited Lianhua Mountain, Dabie Mountain, Daba Mountain, Qilian Mountain, and Taihang Mountain almost all of them.It can be said that he is already proficient in commanding operations in the interior, but it does feel fresh when he comes to the plains.In the Southern Hebei Plain, except for the lonely Yaoshan Mountain, there are endless flat sand and sparse forests.This will not cause any inconvenience to the common people who live here for a long time and make a living from farming, but it has become a big problem for the generals who command the battle.What's more, a weak army wants to fight a protracted war here in the form of a guerrilla!No wonder some people asserted at the time that guerrilla warfare would be impossible in plain areas without the backing and concealment of mountains.

Xu Qiangqian was not confident about insisting on guerrilla warfare in the plains, but he was determined to implement the correct policy of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China to develop guerrilla warfare in Hebei and Shandong plains.In the first days of entering southern Hebei, he asked Li Jukui a topic: talk about the issue of launching guerrilla warfare in the plains.The intention is to mobilize everyone to study this issue.He himself spent a lot of energy and time on this.He is a practical person, and his determination and confidence to implement the central government's policies are not based on enthusiasm and impulsiveness, but on the basis of a scientific attitude, paying attention to the study of the topography of southern Hebei, the conditions of the people, the law of the enemy's activities, and summing up the experience of struggle. On May 21, the "Mass" weekly published his "Guerrilla Warfare in Hebei".In this article, he clearly put forward the idea of ​​building "people's mountains" on the plains, and profoundly explained the mighty power of the people's war.

He believes that launching guerrilla warfare in Hebei is of great significance in China's protracted war of resistance and victory in the war of resistance.The unfolding of guerrilla warfare in Hebei could disrupt the transportation of the Japanese aggressors on the Ping-Han and Jinpu railway lines, paralyze the Japanese aggressors' resource plunder, material replenishment, and troop transfer, and enable the Japanese aggressors to use the Chinese to attack the Chinese people. The conspiracy came to naught; and it was of great help to the national war of resistance in terms of expanding the anti-Japanese positions, enriching the anti-Japanese forces, and supplying anti-Japanese resources.

He patiently explained the questions raised by some people: the terrain of Hebei, except for a part of the northwest two sides are mountains, the rest are vast and boundless plains. From a tactical point of view, the guerrillas are Naturally, there are not as many terrain conveniences as in the mountains. On the contrary, the enemy's mechanized troops or cavalry have more convenient conditions.Therefore, some people may doubt that it is impossible to carry out guerrilla warfare on the plains. Some people say that guerrillas have no support and concealment in mountains, and there is very little help from natural terrain, and how can people's two legs run faster than mobile vehicles? What about cars or tanks?It is true that the above-mentioned difficulties do exist in conducting guerrilla warfare on the plains, but they are merely difficulties and cannot be concluded from this that guerrilla warfare cannot be conducted on the plains, otherwise guerrilla warfare in the vast plains of North China will inevitably be denied.This kind of concept is very harmful to carrying out the protracted war of resistance in Hebei, expanding the positions of the war of resistance, and enriching the manpower and material resources of the war of resistance.The support of guerrilla activities is, on the one hand, convenient terrain conditions, such as mountains and forests; on the other hand, it is the combination with the broad masses of the people.But for a guerrilla army to be able to consolidate and develop itself, and to carry out agile and flexible actions, the main condition is to obtain the support and help of the broad masses of the people. The valuable experience of the past tells us this.Comrade Zhou Enlai said: "The army and guerrillas are fish, but the people are water." This analogy is most correct.

He put forward the famous idea of ​​creating a "human mountain": Hebei is a densely populated area. If we can push the majority of the people to the anti-Japanese front on the Hebei plain, we can turn the majority of the people into a "human mountain" for the guerrillas. ", I think no matter what kind of mountain, there is no such mountain as good. He said: The power of the people is the greatest power, and only the power of the people in this incomparably great activity is the power that the Japanese invaders cannot defeat.If we want to carry out guerrilla warfare on the plains, we must turn the broad masses of the people into "human mountains".But how can the scattered people be turned into a united "human mountain"?Then it is necessary to carry out extensive and in-depth education, persuasion, propaganda and organization among the people, to raise the people's national consciousness and political consciousness, to link the interests of the people themselves with the interests of the resistance against Japan, and to make every people realize that if they want their own To not be ravaged by Japan, the only way to sacrifice everything for the self-defense war of the Chinese nation is to fight to the end for the survival of the nation. This is the bounden duty and responsibility of every people.Anyone who cares about safety and life, and values ​​personal interests higher than the interests of the nation is extremely harmful. They don't know that "if there is no skin, how can the hair be attached?" The whole nation is dead, what else is there for the individual?

He said: Because the Japanese invaders felt that the distribution of troops was insufficient and the transportation was difficult to maintain, they bought the traitors where they arrived, set up puppet organizations, maintenance associations, the Qingxiang Army, and the Restoration Army, etc., in an attempt to use the traitors' regime to achieve their goal. It used the poisonous strategy of using China to control China to make up for the weakness of its insufficient military strength; at the same time, it massacred and burned, suppressed the growing people's anti-Japanese movement, and used conspiracy and tricks to sow discord and split the unity of the anti-Japanese army and the people. Good results, but under the unity of China's national consciousness and the War of Resistance, it was severely hit.The Japanese invaders' rape, looting, burning and killing aroused the hatred and indignation of the Chinese people.

He said: No matter from the subjective or objective point of view, the conditions to create the "mountain of people" are met.But it must be pointed out that empty shouting is not enough. We must have the determination to carry out this kind of work. All guerrillas must have good discipline and high enthusiasm for resisting Japan. In all actions, they must truly demonstrate that they are fighting for the interests of the nation. Only by truly standing on the standpoint of protecting the interests of the people can a "mountain of people" be formed. This is the most important job in politics.

In order to realize the above strategic thinking, Xu Xiangqian also proposed a set of specific tactical requirements and detailed organizational plans.The main points are: 1. The use of villages can only be used as a cover for attacks, not as a stronghold. 2. Organize a cavalry detachment, but it should not be too large, otherwise it will be cumbersome and tiring. 3. Generally, the organization of guerrilla units should not be too large, but in many guerrilla units there must be a core guerrilla unit, around which a number of small guerrilla units should be formed to cooperate with the main unit in fighting.

4. The main force of the guerrillas should be located in areas that can be turned around in all directions, and more bases or rest places should be selected. 5. Form a small bicycle guerrilla group to move on a long-distance journey. Understanding the meaning of an action from the perspective of the overall strategy and finding solutions to problems from specific conditions is a principle that Xu Xiangqian guides his work.Under the organization of Xu Xiangqian and others, the flames of guerrilla warfare in various parts of Hebei soon ignited.