Chapter 88 4. Repeated and fierce battles for Bai Yan

At the beginning of 1940, the 115th Division developed to the north again, and launched a fierce battle with the enemy for Baiyan, an important town in Feixi. Baiyan, located in the middle of Baodugu and Tianbao Mountains, is also the transportation hub between Fei County and Teng County.Sun Heling, the big landlord who occupies Baiyan, is a local tyrant. After the 115th Division arrived in southern Shandong, Luo Ronghuan sent someone to contact Sun Heling, trying to win him to fight against Japan, but Sun was so stubborn that he colluded with the Japanese and puppets and forced dozens of surrounding villages to organize reactionary militias, cutting off our traffic and destroying our anti-Japanese bases Bai Yan became a huge obstacle for our army to develop to the Tianbao Mountains in the north and to open up contact with Yimeng Mountains.

On the eve of the Spring Festival in 1940, when the anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians stationed in Dalu, the headquarters of the 115th Division, were happily welcoming this traditional festival, Luo Ronghuan and Chen Guang were nervously carrying out the battle deployment to capture Bai Yan. Zhang Renchu, head of the 686 regiment, came to the division headquarters to accept combat missions.Luo Ronghuan warned: "It will take a lot of trouble to pull out the nail of Bai Yan. The enemy will never give up this throat easily. You must be mentally prepared to fight repeatedly with the enemy." He also explained to Zhang Renchu: Capture Bai Yan Finally, we must immediately and completely destroy all the defensive facilities left by the enemy, step up on-site military training, and quickly mobilize the masses.He especially emphasized that whether the masses can mobilize is related to whether we can capture and consolidate Bai Yan.

In order to strengthen Zhang Renchu's confidence in winning, Luo Ronghuan told Zhang Renchu: "The division has ordered Liang Xingchu's troops in Tancheng and the wharf to contain the enemy in the south and relieve your worries. The Hu (Bingyun) Tian (Weiyang) Brigade of the Suluyu Detachment also came from They have been transferred from the south of Longhai Road, and they will cooperate with you in combat with the Special Service Regiment and the Sulu Detachment, and our troops have an absolute advantage." On the sixth day of the Lunar New Year (February 12), Luo Ronghuan and Chen Guang led the division to leave Dalu and march towards Baiyan.It happened to be snowing heavily that day, and the land was completely white, which made it more difficult for the troops to march.Luo Ronghuan marched on the snow with everyone. On the first day, they walked more than 50 miles and arrived at Bailong Bay via Gaoqiao and Yangquan.When the troops set off the next day, the heavy snow had stopped, but the ground was covered with snow and ice, making it harder to walk than snow.Luo Ronghuan refused to ride a horse and insisted on walking all the way.The troops marched for more than 60 li, went north from Xuzhuang, passed through Liangzikou, and arrived at Bupleurum in the southwest of Baiyan.It is only 20 li away from Bai Yan.

On February 14, the 686th Regiment, commanded by regiment leader Zhang Renchu ​​and political commissar Liu Xiyuan, with the cooperation of the Secret Service Regiment and the Sulu Detachment and other fraternal troops, concentrated its forces and launched a fierce attack on Bai Yan's enemies, destroying Bai Yan and his troops. The surrounding strongholds took away Sun Heling's old nest. On February 15, Luo Ronghuan and Chen Guang moved to the sentry only 10 miles away from Baiyan, set up the division command post in this village, and commanded the battle for Baiyan that lasted for one month.

After the 686 regiment captured Baiyan, according to Luo Ronghuan's instructions, they mobilized a large number of cadres and coordinated with the local party organization to mobilize the masses. In front of the original puppet town office, a signboard of "Baiyan District Anti-Japanese Democratic Government" was hung.Open Sun Heling's granary to help poor farmers.The masses who had believed the enemy's deceptive propaganda and fled returned to their hometowns one after another.A week later, the Agricultural Rescue Society, the Women's Rescue Society, and the Children's Corps were organized one after another.The troops took advantage of the rest time to quickly conduct bombing, assassination, and shooting training to prepare for the enemy's counterattack.

The fortifications that Sun Heling has been operating for decades are very strong. According to Luo Ronghuan's explanation before the war, our army will dismantle all the defense facilities.At the beginning, some commanders and fighters couldn't figure it out: Since Baiyan is a strategic location, why not use the fortifications left by the enemy to hold on? On March 4, Luo Ronghuan came to Baiyan to review the training results of the troops.He told everyone: "We occupied Bai Yan and cut off the enemy's connection. It was like strangling his neck. The enemy couldn't breathe." Just a few words made everyone smile.He went on to explain that the enemy will not be reconciled, now that they have prepared their troops, the battle for Bai Yan will begin immediately.We can't fight head-to-head with the enemy here, we must prepare to withdraw from Bai Yan, and let the enemy draw water from the bamboo basket in vain.After repeated struggles, Bai Yan will return to our hands.

Sure enough, in just three days, more than 100 Japanese troops stationed in the western stronghold of Baiyan rushed towards Baiyan on March 7th.The division's special task force under the command of regiment leader Wu Shi'an and political commissar Wang Genpei set up an ambush, and the enemy fled back with their tails between their legs without even touching Bai Yan's side. On March 12, the Japanese army gathered more than 1,000 people from strongholds such as the back of the city, Dapingyi in the northwest of Feixian County, and Liangqiu in the southwest of Feixian County. attack.In vain attempt to adopt the tactics of splitting up and attacking together, put our army to death.

According to the pre-arrangement of the division headquarters, our army covered the masses and evacuated Baiyan actively. The division special task force, 686 regiment and Sulu detachment took advantage of the favorable terrain in the mountains around Baiyan to fight fiercely with the enemy in the area 40 miles outside Baiyan.The Japanese and puppet troops attacked our position continuously under the cover of fierce artillery fire.Our army responded to the battle calmly, using the favorable terrain of the mountains on both sides of Baiyan to block the enemy, and launched as many as five charges, inflicting heavy damage on the enemy.The enemy behind the city was blocked by the 686 regiment in Chaishan, southwest of Baiyan, and most of them were wiped out.The enemy who committed crimes in the south of Daping City was also severely beaten by our army in the north of Baiyan.In order to more effectively annihilate the enemy, our army adopted flexible strategies and tactics and voluntarily abandoned Bai Yan.When the enemy took advantage of my transfer, at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, they got into Baiyan like a pack of wolves.

The strongest central fortress built by Sun Heling has become a piece of rubble, with no fortifications to defend.There was no one to catch and renovate, and no food could be found. The well was sealed up, and people and animals had no water to drink. The enemy was so anxious that there was nothing they could do. At 12 o'clock that night, a part of the 686 regiment took advantage of the enemy's unstable foothold and bravely attacked Baiyan, fighting with the enemy house by house and fighting bravely.There was no strong defense against the enemy, and after struggling desperately, they fled northwestward at dawn on the 13th.The Secret Service Regiment and a company of the 686th Regiment tracked and chased and wiped out part of the enemy.Under our pursuit, the enemy released poisonous gas and took the opportunity to drill into the south path.Our army immediately surrounded the South Trail.At about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, more than 200 enemies behind the city came to reinforce them in multiple vehicles, but were defeated by our army again.At dusk, the remnant enemy fled in embarrassment under the cover of Dapingyi reinforcements, leaving more than 200 corpses in a pool of blood.

After our army won this great victory, the Japanese soldiers and traitors all over southern Shandong were in a state of panic and asked for help from the enemies in Teng, Yi, Fei and other counties.Unwilling to fail, the enemy vainly tried to save the defeat, gathered more than 2,500 people again, and launched a third attack on Bai Yan. On March 19, the 686th Regiment first met the enemy from Dapingyi in Guanzhuang, northwest of Baiyan. When the two sides were fighting fiercely, the first detachment of our Suluyu Detachment detoured to the enemy's back, dealt a heavy blow to the enemy, disrupted the the deployment of the enemy.The spy group intercepted another group of enemies in Taihuanggu.The Sulu detachment fought against the enemy from Sang Village in front of Chaishan, and relieved the enemy's threat to our army's rear.After a day of fierce fighting, the enemy was forced to withdraw from the battle after dusk.On the second day, the enemy mobilized more than 2,000 people to continue attacking me.

In the early morning of the 21st, the enemy occupied Baiyan.Chen Guang and Luo Ronghuan, who were commanding the battle on the front line, called together the commanders of the various troops in time to make a deployment to recapture Bai Yan.That night, the 686th regiment occupied a forest in the northwest of Baiyan, the secret service group occupied the highlands in the southeast of Baiyan, and the 1st Brigade of the Suluyu Detachment occupied the green hills in the south of Baiyan. Down, move towards Bai Yan covertly. The 1st company of the 686 regiment first touched the street and quietly entered a compound of Sun Heling, and the Japanese and puppet troops rushed to the battle.At this time, both the northwest corner and the southeast corner started.Our army launched a fierce hand-to-hand fight with the enemy in the streets, and the enemy's Captain Morikawa was wounded by me. At dawn on the 22nd, the enemy who came for reinforcements from Guanzhuang was repelled by our army, and the enemy trapped in Baiyan did not dare to continue to hold on and fled in embarrassment.In the three battles for 14 consecutive days and nights, our army wiped out more than 800 enemies and seized more than 300 long and short guns, smashing the Japanese army's attempt to occupy Baiyan. Bai Yan's victory in the battle gave great encouragement to the soldiers and civilians in the mountainous area of ​​Lunan.As soon as the battle was over, the surrounding people came to condolences to our army.An enlightened gentleman in Baiyan approached the head of the 686 regiment, Zhang, and said, "At first I saw you demolishing the fortifications and preparing to withdraw from Baiyan. I thought you would not dare to fight the Japanese devils. Now I know that this is a good plan!"