Chapter 48 9. A masterpiece of Chen Geng

The "sweep" of the Japanese army adopted the tactics of attacking from east to west and advancing steadily. The Japanese army on the western front dispatched from strongholds such as Shijiazhuang, Xingtai, Handan, and Daming in early January 1939, and began to push toward Dongping, occupying one place, burning and killing one place, and then retained the garrison troops to establish a puppet regime, combining military and political means , The move is vicious and vicious. The Japanese army on the eastern front attacked westward from strongholds such as Botou, Dezhou, and Liaocheng in early February, forming a pincer attack with the Japanese army on the western front.

During this period, the five combat groups of the 129th Division used some small units to harass and delay the Japanese army, and achieved certain results.But until February 9, the main force of the Japanese army still occupied various counties in the central area of ​​southern Hebei. After Liu, Xu, and Deng calmly commanded the troops to move to the periphery, they carefully studied the situation and agreed that the enemy's "mopping up" cannot be completely smashed without inflicting a heavy blow on the Japanese army. On January 21, Liu, Xu, Deng and the leaders of the various groups discussed the combat issues of anti-"mopping up" at the headquarters of the 129th Division.Chen Geng, who has long been unable to hold back his anger, suggested:

"The devils are very aggressive in fighting on the plains. Because they have cars, machine guns, and small cannons, they will chase after the troops of the Eighth Route Army as soon as they find them, especially after being attacked. I think we can use this feature to stage an ambush .” "This idea is very good." Liu Bocheng readily agreed, "The devil is a snobbish thing, which is an inevitable manifestation of the arrogance of Japanese fascism. He looks down on us at all. Of course he is not convinced when he is attacked, and he is eager to retaliate. Didn't the Japanese army base camp say that Utilize our evasive mentality, attack bravely, pursue and destroy it? It is possible to surprise it with an ambush, but the key is to choose the terrain well.”

After research, everyone decided to set the ambush site at Xiangchenggu, south of Wei County. Wei County is a county seat south of Nangong.After the Japanese occupied Weixian County, they continued to attack northward. Weixian County became an important supply point for the Japanese army, and was stationed by the first part of the 40th Regiment of the 10th Division.At that time, there were only a small number of Japanese troops around it, and the vast countryside was still in the hands of the anti-Japanese forces.It is ideal to target the enemy of Wei County. On February 4, Chen Geng led his troops to Xiangchenggu.The deputy brigade commander Han Dongshan and the brigade chief of staff Zhou Xihan surveyed the terrain around Xiangchenggu and found that the beach in the northwest of Xiangchenggu was an ideal ambush battlefield: a river that was about to dry up passed through Xiangchenggu, and on both sides of the river were There are large areas of shrubs and grass, and the road is built in the river.Not far from the west side of Xiangchenggu, there is a sand mound tens of meters high and more than 1,000 meters long. There is a village called Zhangjiazhuang beside the mound.Zhuangtou Village, 1.5 kilometers to the northeast, is also uplifted, facing Zhangjiazhuang to the west.It is not difficult to see that this is a terrain with high sides and low middle, which is a relatively rare ambush battlefield in the plains.

When Han and Zhou reported the enemy's situation and the terrain in the northwest of Xiangchenggu to Chen Geng and Wang Xinting, Chen Geng said repeatedly: "Okay, good! The beach in the northwest of Xiangchenggu is indeed an ideal pocket-shaped ambush position, and Wei County Defending the enemy happens to be the target of my lure." Wang Xinting also supported Chen Geng's decision. After organizing the cadres of the various regiments to secretly inspect the terrain and landforms there, Chen Geng made combat deployments: Wei Jie, head of the 688th Regiment of the 344th Brigade, led the 1st Battalion of the regiment to perform a frontal blocking mission in Xiangchenggu, and the main force of the regiment entered Zhangjiazhuang In charge of flanking missions from west to east; the supplementary regiment is located on the front line of Zhuangtou Village, responsible for flanking missions from east to west; the new 1st regiment uses a battalion to clamp down on the enemy in Quzhou to prevent reinforcements, and the main force of the regiment is in charge of cutting off in the Maluobao area. The task of the enemy's retreat; the cavalry company is to lure the enemy.

After deploying this pocket array, Chen Geng said to several regiment leaders: "Your regiments sent some troops to attack Weixian County for three consecutive days on February 7, 8, and 9. You must do everything possible to lure the enemy out of the city." On the evening of February 9, preparations for battle began.The cadres and soldiers of the 386th Brigade launched an intense battle to build fortifications in the west bank of the Laosha River in the northwest of Xiangchenggu.Model militia squads and ordinary people from several nearby villages also came to help.They built a 2,500-meter-long diamond-shaped trench according to the fortification construction plan.Clumps of red willows were transplanted beside the trench to hide the position tightly.When it was almost dawn, this pocket array was built without anyone noticing it.

After Zhou Xihan checked the position carefully, he ordered the troops to enter the position and quickly prepare for battle.At this time, Hao Lishun, the head of Xiangchenggu District, came to report: more than 100 people participating in the battle, 5 guides, 7 fortress households covering the wounded, and 30 stretchers were all ready.It can be said that everything is ready, just waiting for the devil to come and die. The Japanese army in Wei County was attacked for two consecutive days.Knowing that the location of Wei County is unusual, they began to close the gates of the city and did not pursue.Unexpectedly, on the evening of the 9th, the Eighth Route Army set up a ladder to attack the city again, and the Japanese army was disturbed.The next morning, they saw war horses galloping and dust flying around Caochang Village in the south of the city. They judged that the main force of the Eighth Route Army was probably right under their noses, so they decided to go out of the city to take revenge.

In the morning, the 40th Regiment Supplementary Brigade of the Japanese Army stationed in Wei County and the Yasuda Infantry Reinforced Squadron took 9 vehicles, dragged a mountain cannon, and carried two 92 infantry cannons. They formed a fast force and rushed like hungry wolves. come over.The cavalry companies of the Eighth Route Army fought and retreated, luring the enemy to go deeper.At 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the cavalry company suddenly concentrated its firepower to block the village, wounded the enemy's supplementary captain on the spot, and killed his interpreter and guide.When the enemy jumped out of the car and organized a counterattack, the cavalry company deliberately withdrew from its position.Enraged, the enemy climbed into the car and gave hot pursuit.When the cavalry company reached Gengjiazhuang, it suddenly hid, and after a while, it appeared from Kangwa Village, 1 km southeast of Xiangchenggu, and fired fiercely at the enemy at the same time.The Japanese army immediately commanded the car team to leave the road and went straight to the cavalry company.The cavalry company saw that they had caught the enemy, and quickly ran towards the preset ambush circle - the Dasha River in Xiangchenggu, and the Japanese army followed closely into the ambush circle.

When the enemy all entered the ambush circle and reached the North Street entrance of Xiangchenggu Village, the 688 regiment ambushing there immediately gave the enemy a head-on blow and destroyed the first car.The enemy was suddenly attacked, and hurriedly organized troops to counterattack.Captain Yasuda of the Japanese army took a look through the binoculars and found that there was no movement on the east, west, and north sides. Only the south side was blocking the attack, so he ordered the troops to continue to attack the Zhengnan Eighth Route Army position.However, both charges were turned back.The cunning An Tian divided his troops from east to south in an attempt to copy the Eighth Route Army's rear.But as soon as this group of enemies approached Zhuangtou Village, they were blocked back by two battalions of the supplementary regiment ambushing there, and were forced to flee westward.Seeing that the east and south sides were suddenly blocked, An Tian concluded that he was in an ambush, so he wanted to break out of the encirclement and escape for his life.At this time, all the participating troops on the west, south, and east sides opened fire together, violently blocking and flanking the enemy.The enemy turned around and broke through to the north.

This side is the entrance to the ambush circle, and the terrain is low, so it is impossible to build concealed fortifications in advance, and it is also impossible to set up an ambush in advance.Therefore, it was decided at that time that after the battle started, the new 1st regiment hidden near Maluobao would seize it.However, due to the sudden return of the enemy, it caused great difficulties for the New 1st Regiment Movement to seize positions in the north. The situation is quite urgent.If the pocket opening to the north is not secured immediately, the enemy will break out and the ambush plan will fail.At this critical moment, Xu Shiyou led the 2nd Battalion of the New 1st Regiment and rushed up.When the enemy's vanguard had just set foot on the north slope of the beach, the soldiers of the New 1st Regiment suddenly rushed up the slope from the northwest, braving dense bullets, and fired violently at the enemy, cutting off the enemy's retreat and surrounding them. In the center of the big sandy beach - the concave depression.

This is an oval sand nest, and most of the Japanese vehicles got stuck in the sand nest, unable to move.Several moving cars were also damaged by cluster grenades from the 2nd Battalion.Yasuda was terrified, and immediately ordered the troops to get off the car, and reorganized the troops to attack the position of the new 1st regiment.The enemy bombarded Xin 1 regiment's position with heavy firepower. The artillery fire was so overwhelming that people could not lift their heads, and the dust from the explosion was so confusing that people couldn't even open their eyes.The commanders and fighters of the new 1 regiment responded calmly. The new 1 regiment is a new regiment, and it has only been 6 months since the formation of the regiment to participate in this battle.It is indeed very difficult for such a new force to stop the pounce of the two reinforced squadrons of the Japanese army in the case of unfavorable terrain and no fortifications.Zhou Xihan kept calling Ding Silin, head of the New 1st Regiment, to inquire about the battle situation, and repeatedly asked him to pay attention to the safety of Deputy Brigadier Commander Xu.During the fierce battle, Xu Shiyou always rushed to the front.For his safety, Ding Silin asked the guards to pull him back to the command post, and led the troops to continue to block the enemy. The enemy's artillery fire stopped, and more than a hundred Japanese soldiers rushed up with bayonets.Zhou Xihan recalled: "At that time, we lacked ammunition. In such a battle, each person only fired a dozen rounds of ammunition. After consumption, there were not many left. However, our soldiers insisted on using grenades and bayonets to force the enemy to attack. Leaving more than 20 corpses and retreating." From about 16:30 until the evening, the enemy launched 4 charges, but failed to break through the "pocket" mouth.As a result, the Japanese army threw poisonous gas bombs at the position of the new 1st regiment.Many Eighth Route Army soldiers were poisoned on the ground, but the cadres and soldiers persisted in fighting and held the ground firmly.Xu Shiyou was deeply moved by the heroic fighting spirit of the commanders and fighters of the New 1 Regiment. Later, he said to others: "Everyone in the New 1 Regiment, from the regiment leader, political commissar to every soldier, is doing well." The 1st regiment was awarded the honorable title of "Model Zhu De Youth League" by the Eighth Route Army Headquarters. Yasuda saw that it was difficult to break through, so he sent out a series of red flares for help, and ordered the Japanese army to rush to the east position of the new 1st regiment again.The 6th company that blocked the enemy there had run out of ammunition. Company commander Xu Zegui and instructor Liu Zimo led the whole company to hold up bayonets and start a hand-to-hand fight with the rushing Japanese army, repelling the enemy. Night fell slowly.Enemies are like ants on a hot pot, jumping around in the pocket array. At this time, Chen Geng and Wang Xinting rushed back from the division headquarters, and the time was ripe to gather and annihilate the enemy.Hearing the sound of the charging horn, the commandos and the armed masses jumped out of their positions, holding bayonets, and rushed towards the enemy from all directions... By 12 o'clock in the middle of the night, the battle came to an end.In the middle of the night, when a car slipped through the net and fled to Dishiying Village, it was found and surrounded by the crowd, captured the driver alive, and burned the car.When the cavalry platoon was cleaning the battlefield, they found 5 wounded enemies behind a sandy slope. One of them raised a knife and slashed at the platoon leader.Later, I learned from the captives that the one who was hacked to death was Captain Yasuda.At dawn, a Japanese soldier who escaped by chance met two fellow villagers who picked up dung in Gecun. The two fought with the enemy with dung forks and beat the Japanese soldier to death.This incident was later compiled into the story of "Two Dung Forks Fighting the East". In this battle, more than 200 enemies were killed, 8 were captured, 9 cars were destroyed, 1 mountain artillery, 2 92 infantry artillery, 1 mortar, 10 long and short guns, and 1 ammunition were seized. The Eighth Route Army suffered 50 casualties. people.Chen Geng wrote in his diary: "This battle is the first time I have entered the plains."