Chapter 132 6. Zero casualties in the siege

On June 20, the Jizhong Military Region and the 27th Regiment, led by Commander Lu Zhengcao and District Party Committee Secretary Huang Jing, were surrounded by the enemy in Zhangshi Village, north of Weixian County.At that time, at dawn, more than 300 enemy troops launched an attack on Lu Zhengcao's department.By noon, reinforcements were pouring in from nearby enemy strongholds, numbering more than 500. Lu Zhengcao remained calm in the face of danger, and commanded the troops to repel the enemy's attacks continuously.At 15:30 in the afternoon, the number of enemies had increased to more than 700.Huang Jing was so anxious that he yelled to Lu Zhengcao: "Commander, find a way to break out of the siege, or you won't have a chance!"

Lu Zhengcao replied calmly: "Break out now, we will definitely suffer heavy losses." "Then we can't sit still!" Huang Jing said. Lu Zhengcao said: "This is not just waiting for death. The enemy has 700 troops, and there will be no more. According to my observation and calculation, this is the largest number of troops dispatched by all the enemy strongholds nearby. As long as we persist for a few more hours, when it gets dark, the world will be ours." It's gone." As expected, by 6:00 p.m., Lu Zhengcao's troops repelled five consecutive enemy attacks.At 9:00 p.m., under the cover of night, Lu Zhengcao led his troops to cover the leading agency to leave the village from the east of Zhangshi Village, and began to break out of the encirclement.

That night, it was dark and dark, and the enemy's rifles and machine gun bullets shuttled under their feet, and there were many dangers.When they rushed to the enemy, it happened that the enemy fired two flares. The enemy was stunned to see such a large-scale team rushing towards them.Seeing that the enemy dared not move with a bayonet, the troops successfully broke through the encirclement with the help of the enemy's flares.In the battle of Zhangshi Village, more than 300 enemies were killed. Lu Zhengcao later recalled: "I expected that we lost at least half of our troops that time. As a result, our army suffered no casualties in the breakout, only one horse was injured, but one bicycle was confiscated from the enemy." (Lu Zhengcao: "Memoirs of Jizhong" ")

After breaking through the encirclement, Lu Zhengcao and Huang Jing led their troops to the base of the Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region, where they were warmly received by Commander Yang Dezhi and Political Commissar Su Zhenhua. At the end of August, they moved to Taihang District. When they arrived in Shexian County, Liu Bocheng and Deng Xiaoping greeted them in person, and Peng Dehuai also came to visit and express condolences. In the central Jizhong area, due to the encroachment, suppression and division of the enemy, it was very difficult for the main force of the Eighth Route Army to move. On July 4, the Northern Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China issued the "Instructions on the Current Work in Central Hebei", stating: "In the future, the general policy of Central Hebei will still be to maintain the anti-Japanese guerrilla warfare of the plain masses, but the current work policy should be It is to covertly control the township power, establish and carry out urban work, and strengthen the extensive united front work in the traffic points and line areas. The way of struggle is mainly covert armed struggle, but there must be open small-scale armed struggle and In order to deceive the enemy and cover the existence of hidden armed forces. At the same time, we must be good at using various open and legal methods of struggle to protect the daily interests of the masses, so as to maintain strength and maintain the connection between the party and the masses.” (Chinese People's Liberation Army Historical Materials Series. : "Eighth Route Army Literature")

Since then, tunnel warfare, mine warfare, and armed forces behind enemy lines have developed in the central Hebei region.In a newer and more flexible form, the Eighth Route Army is still fighting against the Japanese invaders.