Chapter 47 8. Chen Zaidao uses fire attack technique

On February 2, 1939, the enemy on the Jinpu line was dispatched from Dezhou and Bozhen. Along the way, they were attacked by the Eighth Route Army's eastward anti-Japanese guerrilla column and the troops of the 5th division. Dozens of enemies were killed. Wuyi and Fucheng were once recovered . On February 9, the enemies on the east and west lines, under the cover of planes and tanks, jointly attacked central areas such as Nangong, Jixian, and Zaoqiang.All the counties in southern Hebei were occupied by the enemy. During this "sweep", the Japanese army carried out a bloody massacre of the people in the southern Hebei base area, which is unbearable to watch.Especially the bestiality against women and children is particularly cruel.Some women were stabbed to death with bayonets after being gang-raped.Some newborn babies were killed beside their mutilated mothers, and others were killed in the womb.The enemy's crazy "mopping up" and brutal suppression did not frighten the heroic people in southern Hebei. It aroused the people's hatred for the Japanese invaders, and made them more actively cooperate with our army in fighting and constantly attacking the enemy.

On February 24, more than 200 enemies from Ningjin County, armed with 2 cannons, "mopped up" the area around Dayangzhuang in the county and stayed overnight in Dayangzhuang.At this time, Commander Chen Zaidao was leading the 2nd Regiment of the Eighth Route Army to the east of the Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Column, and was operating in the area south of Dayangzhuang. After learning about this situation, he believed that the enemy was alone and reinforcements could not arrive quickly, so he concentrated the Eighth Route Army Go eastward to the 2nd Regiment of the Anti-Japanese Guerrilla Column, the 1st and 2nd Regiments of the Hebei-Henan Detachment, and a local armed force to annihilate the enemy.After the battle started, the enemy resisted tenaciously with their houses.Our army rushed to the enemy house by house, compressing the enemy in a courtyard.At this time, the enemy's reinforcements had already been dispatched, and Commander Chen immediately ordered the troops to burn the house from all sides. In the raging fire, the enemy was burned and fled everywhere. Except for a few enemies who fled, most of them were buried in the sea of ​​flames.After day and night fierce fighting, more than a hundred enemies were eliminated and a batch of weapons and ammunition were seized.Our army only suffered more than 60 casualties.

Chen Zaidao was born on January 24, 1909 in a poor peasant family in Chengjiachong, Chengmagang District, Macheng County (now Macheng City), Hubei. In 1926, he participated in the earliest peasant movement organization in Macheng—the Chengmagang Peasant Association, and became a member of the death squad of the Agricultural Association. In April, participated in the Macheng County Peasant Self-Defense Army. In September 1927, he participated in the Autumn Harvest Riot at the southern foot of the Dabie Mountains. In mid-November, he participated in the Jute Uprising. The Macheng Peasant Self-Defense Army where he was located was reorganized into the Eastern Hubei Army of the Chinese Workers and Peasants Revolutionary Army. Joined the Communist Party of China in 1928.In July of that year, the Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army was reorganized into the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army.He served successively as squad leader, platoon leader, and company commander, and successively participated in the smashing of the "Luo Lihui Suppression", "Euyuhui Suppression" and "Xuxia Meeting Suppression" carried out by the Kuomintang army on the Hubei-Henan border base areas, as well as the attack on the Ping-Han line.

After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Chen Zaidao served as the deputy brigade commander of the 386th Brigade of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army. He participated in the command of the Changshengkou Battle, two Qigen Village Ambush Battles and the Huangyadi Ambush Battle. This dealt a severe blow to the arrogance of the Japanese army and greatly encouraged the fighting spirit of the anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians. At the end of 1937, the 129th Division formed the Eastward Column of the Eighth Route Army and went to southern Hebei to establish a plain anti-Japanese base area. Chen Zaidao served as the commander of the column.In just over three months in southern Hebei, he assisted the Southern Hebei District Party Committee to establish more than 20 anti-Japanese regimes, and extensively united various anti-Japanese armed forces, so that the Eastward Column, which initially had only 500 people, quickly grew to more than 10,000 people. Our party and our army have gained a firm foothold in the southern Hebei Plain.

At the end of 1938, the Japanese army that had already occupied Wuhan gradually returned to North China and began to "sweep" the anti-Japanese base areas behind the enemy.Chen Zaidao successively led the army and civilians in southern Hebei to adopt guerrilla raids and ambush operations, smashing the siege of the base areas in southern Hebei by the Japanese and puppet troops many times.Therefore, Chen Zaidao won the hearts of the people in southern Hebei.Regarding this, Feng Zheng, former director of the Political Department of the General Staff Department, said in an article commemorating Chen Zaidao:

The commander is the son of a poor farmer. He participated in the jute uprising since he was a child. He was not afraid of the sky and the earth.He was a lone hero during the Red Army period. During the War of Resistance Against Japan, he was the commander of the Southern Hebei Military Region, but he often wore plain clothes and led troops to haunt the enemy's bunkers, catching devils and killing traitors.They also said vividly that once when he was calling out to the gun towers of the puppet army, he exposed his identity. The leader of the puppet army shouted: "Commander Chen, if you dare to come up to the gun towers, we will surrender our guns." Jumped up in the shelter, walked towards the enemy's suspension bridge, threw his pistol on the ground, and shouted to the puppet army: "I am Chen Zaidao, and I am here to rescue you today. Kind brothers are welcome to come down and fight devils with me." Dozens The puppet army was overwhelmed by his righteous prestige and heroic deeds.In an instant, the white flag was waved from the gun tower, the drawbridge was lowered, and they surrendered obediently.People in Jidi also said that because of his military exploits, Chairman Mao even allowed him to "not beheaded even if he committed a capital crime" when joking with him.The cadres also mentioned that he often quietly went to the squad to play housework and play poker with the soldiers... to help the grassroots solve such and other problems.The soldiers affectionately called him "Big Old Chen" and "Good Commander".The strange legends about him express everyone's reverence for General Chen Zaidao.At that time, he had gone south with Liu Deng's army to the Dabie Mountains and served as the commander of the second column.