Chapter 74 4. Lieutenant General Norihide Abe was shot dead

As Yang Chengwu expected, in the early morning of November 4, Yang Chengwu received another intelligence: the Japanese army stationed in Zhangjiakou dispatched its elite troops to form an independent mixed unit of the 2nd Brigade, more than 1,500 people (excluding the puppet army), divided into more than 90 trucks Chi Laiyuan.Obviously, the enemy came for retaliatory "mopping up". When Yang Chengwu reported the situation to Commander Nie Rongzhen by phone at the Guantou headquarters, Nie Rongzhen quickly called: "Comrade Chengwu, you should strive for a bigger victory! Comrade He Long was afraid that you would not have enough troops, so he decided to let the The 120th Division Special Task Force went up from Shennan to North, and rushed to the Huangtuling area before dark, under your command. In addition, we let the 20th, 26th, and 34th regiments restrain the enemies in Mancheng, Xushui and other places." In this way, the troops participating in the war In addition to the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 25th regiments in the 1st division and the artillery units of the division, there are also the 2nd regiment of the 3rd division, the 120th Division Special Service Regiment, and the 3rd Guerrilla Detachment.

Yang Chengwu thought that the Japanese army suffered a big loss last time when they divided their troops into three groups. This time, they might not divide their troops again. They might concentrate their forces to "advance and suppress" all the way, trying their best to find the main force of the Eighth Route Army for a decisive battle.But he didn't know that the commander leading this enemy army was actually the well-known Lieutenant General Kihide Abe. Lieutenant General Norihide Abe is well-known in the Japanese military circles.He was born in Aomori Prefecture, Japan in 1886, and graduated from the 19th Infantry Division of the Japanese Army Non-commissioned Officer Academy on May 31, 1907.After graduating, he entered the army and served as the adjutant of the 32nd Infantry Regiment, the staff officer of the 18th Division, the captain of the student team of the Army Education School, the Infantry Colonel, and the regiment captain. The head of the brigade led the troops to invade the Northeast. In October 1939, Norihide Abe was promoted to lieutenant general. He is currently the commander-in-chief of the "Mengjiang Garrison Army" and concurrently serves as the head of the 2nd Mixed Brigade.

The brigade commanders of the Japanese army are generally served by major generals, and lieutenant generals often serve as division commanders.Since in October 1938, Major General Kanji Changoka, the former head of the 2nd Independent Mixed Brigade, was killed by the Eighth Route Army in Zhangjiawan, Guangling County, the Japanese army then transferred Norihide Abe to serve as the head of the elite brigade , and have high hopes for it. Norihide Abe has always been proud of his talents, arrogant and arrogant, and swears allegiance to the Emperor of Japan. He is a typical fascist militarist.After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, he has been committed to the crazy attack on the Chinese army, and launched the so-called "new tactics of mountain crusade".In the eyes of his superiors, he is a "talent" and an "expert in mountain warfare" who is good at using "new tactics" to deal with the guerrilla warfare of the Eighth Route Army.With his tough command style, Norihide Abe has been on the rise all the way, and enjoys the reputation of "Flower of Famous Generals" in the Japanese military circle, and is highly valued by the top Japanese military officials.

Since Norihide Abe led the troops to invade the Northeast, his journey has been unimpeded and he has never suffered any setbacks.After serving as the commander of the "Mengjiang Garrison Army" and concurrently as the head of the 2nd Mixed Brigade, he was ready to move, eager to express himself, eager to demonstrate how his "new tactics of mountain crusade" were useful for fighting the Eighth Route Army guerrillas efficient.Soon after taking office, he began to "sweep" the Jinchaji border area in an attempt to completely eliminate the armed forces of the Eighth Route Army in the Jinchaji border area.

This time he sent three brigades under the 2nd Independent Mixed Brigade to "sweep" the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei border area in three groups.He is proud and conceited, and looks down on the Eighth Route Army guerrillas from the bottom of his heart.In his eyes, the Eighth Route Army was just a group of mobs who had just put down their sickles and raised their guns, and they couldn't be compared with the elite imperial army of the Great Japanese Empire.He firmly believes that the Eighth Route Army will be completely wiped out in the near future, and what is needed now is only a matter of time.

Murakami's brigade was wiped out, embarrassing Abe Norihide, who had just been promoted, in front of the emperor.Therefore, the next day, he personally led an elite division to "sweep up", preparing to put the Eighth Route Army to death.Before leaving, he wrote in a letter home: ...Daddy is going to fight in the South starting today!The day back is November 13th, and while it won't be a big fight, it's going to be quite the fight. At 8:30, we set off to Laiyuan by car!When we fight, it is the most leisurely and fun time. The enemy has gradually weakened, and if we try harder, we will surrender...

On November 5, Kihide Abe personally led more than 1,500 Japanese troops to attack Shiraishikou from Longhu Village.The 1st Battalion, 5th and 6th Company of the 1st Regiment of the Eighth Route Army and the 1st Battalion of the 25th Regiment met the enemy at Baishikou. That night, the Japanese army arrived in Yinfang Town and implemented the "three light" policy.The fire in the villages around Yinfang burned into the sky and lasted all night. Fortunately, the people had already evacuated and there was not much loss. On November 6, the Japanese army left Yinfang Town and headed east to Huangtu Ridge after two empty strikes.

"The enemy is coming!" When the news came, the morale of the regiments was greatly boosted. In order to lure the enemy to go deep and to facilitate the siege and mass annihilation, the Eighth Route Army ambushing near Huangtuling did not disturb the enemy slowly advancing eastward.In the evening, the Japanese army set up tents, unpacked their luggage, and camped in Huangtuling and Sigezhuang. The troops of the Eighth Route Army took advantage of the night to deploy their forces. The place name Huangtuling sounds like an earthen mountain, but it is not. It is a pass in the mountains at the junction of Laiyuan and Yixian in the northern part of the Taihang Mountains, surrounded by many deep valleys and a not very wide river beach.It was late autumn, the mountains were cold early, the woods had shed all their leaves, and the ground was covered with dry grass.

On the morning of November 7, the Japanese army marched forward in the dense rain.At 12 noon, the vanguard of the Japanese army had approached Zhaituo Village near Huangtuling.At around 3 o'clock in the afternoon, all the Japanese troops left Huangtuling and entered the small road in the narrow valley one after another. At this time, the 1st and 25th regiments of the Eighth Route Army rushed forward, and the 3rd regiment and the 2nd regiment of the 3rd division attacked from the south, west and north, surrounded the Japanese army regiments, and compressed them in a road about 1.5 kilometers long and 100 meters wide near Shangzhuangzi. in the ditch.More than 100 machine guns of the Eighth Route Army swept into the ditch from all hills.The divisional artillery unit fired several shells in succession, and the ravine was immediately covered with shrapnel, rubble, and thick smoke.

But after all, it was the elite troops of the Japanese army. Later, under the supervision of the generals, the Japanese army began to organize troops in the riverbanks of the east and west valleys of the teaching field to fight for the lonely rocky mountain and the narrow mountain ridge at the foot of the mountain.The red-eyed Japanese army shouted frantically, and rushed to the mountain ridge under the intensive firepower of the Eighth Route Army. The enemy's dying struggle must not be allowed to succeed. At this moment, Chen Zhengxiang, the head of the 1st regiment, discovered through the binoculars that on the east-west ridge of Nanshangen, there were three small hills protruding north. Several Japanese officers with sabers and a few entourages are holding binoculars to look at the direction of 793 Heights and Shangzhuangzi; there are also Japanese officers with sabers in an independent small courtyard about 100 meters south of the small river ditch in Jiaochang. in and out.

Chen Zhengxiang judged that the independent small courtyard should be the enemy's command post, and the small hill to the south should be the enemy's observation post.He immediately ordered the communication director Qiu Ronghui to run down the mountain to transfer the artillery company up the mountain quickly, and immediately deployed on the left side of the regiment command post.At that time, the commander of the artillery company was company commander Yang Jiuxiang. 4 shells roared and hit the target.Observing through the binoculars, the enemy on the hill rolls down the hill dragging the dead and wounded.The enemies in the independent small courtyard ran in and out, panicked. In order to further annihilate the enemy, the artillery company fired several shells into the ravine north of the independent courtyard. Chen Zhengxiang's judgment was correct, and the independent courtyard was the command post of the Japanese army.But neither he nor Yang Jiuxiang knew that Kihide Abe was killed by this shelling. Soon, the Japanese 110th Division stationed in Baoding, the 26th Division stationed in Datong, and the rest of the independent mixed brigade stationed in Zhangjiakou were dispatched one after another. Huangtuling joined forces, and the vanguard was less than 15 kilometers away from Huangtuling.The enemy tried to form a larger encirclement circle against the Eighth Route Army outside the encirclement circle of the Eighth Route Army, and wiped out all the Eighth Route Army troops participating in the battle. The battle situation has changed, and the opportunity to wipe out all the enemies has been lost.After Nie Rongzhen learned of the above situation, he immediately instructed the troops to withdraw from the battle. The Battle of Huangtuling was another great victory of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region after the annihilation of Yansuya.In this battle, more than 900 Japanese troops were wiped out, more than 200 mule carts carrying military supplies, 5 artillery pieces, hundreds of long and short guns and a large amount of ammunition were seized, and more than a dozen Japanese soldiers were captured alive. One afternoon after the battle, Nie Rongzhen suddenly called Yang Chengwu, and he happily said loudly: "Comrade Chengwu, good news! Yan'an sent a congratulatory message, saying that you killed Lieutenant General Kihide Abe, I congratulate you!" Yang Chengwu was surprised and delighted. He never thought that the commander of the Lieutenant General's brigade would personally lead his troops into Huangtuling and be killed by the Eighth Route Army.So, I hurriedly called the 1st regiment, told the good news, and asked them to go to the battlefield to find the relics of Lieutenant General Abe. On the same day, Kihide Abe's yellow woolen coat embroidered with two gold stars and a gold-handled command knife were sent to Yang Chengwu.Later, Yang Chengwu sent these things to the military region, and the military region sent them to Yan'an. Lieutenant General Norihide Abe was killed, and the Japanese government and the public were shocked. The Ministry of the Army issued a bulletin on Norihide Abe's death. "Asahi Shimbun" continuously published mourning articles with the headline "Flowers of famous generals withered on Taihang Mountain".The newspaper said: "Since the establishment of the Imperial Army, there has been no such example of the sacrifice of a lieutenant-level officer." Other newspapers also frequently reported Abe's life, military exploits, and death.When his ashes were sent back to Tokyo, "the imperial capital lowered the flag at half-staff", which can be described as extremely "sorrowful"! Norihide Abe was the first time the Eighth Route Army killed a Japanese lieutenant general commander on the North China battlefield, and it was also the first time in the history of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.The Party Central Committee, the Eighth Route Army Headquarters, and friendly troops, anti-Japanese groups, and celebrities from all over the country sent congratulatory messages to congratulate the Eighth Route Army on its victory.Newspapers all over the country also reported the battle of Huangtuling one after another, and published various congratulatory poems.Chiang Kai-shek also sent a telegram in December 1939: