Chapter 146 7. A series of autumn offensive operations

The autumn offensive operations of the Shandong Eighth Route Army were carried out in conjunction with smashing the enemy's "mopping up" of tens of thousands of people in the Binhai area.The enemy's successive victories against the Shandong Eighth Route Army attempted to retaliate against the "mopping up" to attack the Eighth Route Army's command organization, destroy the rear, control the coastal areas, and disrupt counter-offensive preparations.Beginning on August 15, the enemy's 59th Division jointly attacked the Lushan area, the 5th Brigade jointly attacked the Binbei area, and the 1st Brigade jointly attacked the Lunan area. On August 20, these three groups of enemies suddenly turned to the central area of ​​Binhai.They assembled more than 10,000 Japanese and puppet troops. Under the unified command of Hosokawa Nakayasu, the commander of the 59th Division of the Japanese Army, they dispatched 13 routes from Linyi, Juxian, Rizhao, Ganyu and other places in an attempt to jointly attack the command of the Shandong Military Region and the Binhai Navy Region. organ.

Luo Ronghuan learned from the enemy's documents obtained by the intelligence department that the enemy's "mopping up" this time was not only fierce, but also very fast and covert in the organization of the campaign.In this situation, the commander must first consider how to command the troops to safely jump out of the enemy's encirclement, and then wait for an opportunity to attack the enemy. Luo Ronghuan said to the staff in the war room: "The key issue at this time is to get rid of our passivity and strive for our own initiative." But in which direction should we shift?The situation at that time was very serious. The enemies in Juxian, Rizhao, Linyi, Qingkou, and Haizhou had all increased their troops and assembled; Rizhao also added more than 600 enemies to move northward, and threatened to "sweep" northward.

Luo Ronghuan looked at the enemy situation marked on the map and said: "The Rizhao enemy's going north is a feigned move, trying to confuse us, but actually a covert assembly." Then he raised his hands, drew two arcs along the map from north to south, and said: "The enemy mainly attacked us from the north, west, and east, and the enemy in the direction of Linyi cooperated." After speaking, he immediately and decisively decided to organize and direct the organization, including the personnel who were participating in the military work conference at that time, to quickly move southward and circle around the fringes of Shandong and Jiangsu provinces and border counties.Because Luo Ronghuan has understood the enemy's temperament and knows that the enemy's organizational system in the two provinces is different. Shandong belongs to the Japanese and puppet North China region, while Jiangsu is under the jurisdiction of the Japanese army and Wang Jingwei's puppet regime in Central China.It is difficult for the enemies in the two areas to cooperate closely, and our army can take advantage of it.This is another correct decision of Luo Ronghuan in the military.

At this time, long-distance telephones had been set up between the Shandong Military Region stationed in the Binhai District, the Binhai Navy District, and the Luzhong Military District.Luo Ronghuan ordered his staff to report the situation to the leaders of Luzhong and Binhai Districts by telephone, and told them that after the enemy entered our area, it was raining cats and dogs and the roads were muddy; Affects the speed at which the enemy advances.In addition, the enemy has about a thousand people in each route, and they cannot get supplies. The food is picked from a large number of civilians captured in Jinan, Yanzhou and other places.Therefore, it is estimated that the time for the enemy's "mopping up" will not last long, and all military regions must deal with the enemy's "mopping up" calmly and calmly.

For the sake of caution, Luo Ronghuan repeatedly asked Kuang Rennong, the director of intelligence, to continue to pay attention to the enemy's situation.He said: "Now the exposed enemy situation is easy to deal with. The problem is that the hidden enemy situation is difficult to deal with. You must pay special attention to the enemy situation in Rizhao." Then he deployed the Jiaodong and Bohai Navy Districts to take advantage of the enemy's concentrated forces to "sweep" Binhai, looking for and annihilating weak enemies, in order to cope with the Binhai Navy District's counter-"sweeping". Wazibu in the southwest of Ju County began to be transferred.

In this big "sweep" by the Japanese army, they successively attacked key points in the central area of ​​the Binhai base area, such as Shizilu, Sanjieshou, Pingshang (all in the southeast of Ju County), Beikuo (southwest of Rizhao), and Heilin (northwest of Ganyu). They were all in vain, so they had no choice but to "clear and suppress" the coastal base area, destroy our rear construction, plunder materials, livestock, and capture young men. In order to thwart the enemy's "clearance and suppression", the main corps of the Shandong Military Region not only actively attacked the enemy on the outer line, but also dispatched some elite troops to the inner line at the right time. Each with about 1 regiment of troops, with the cooperation of the militia, attacked the enemy and defended the base area.In this way, after being attacked continuously, the Japanese army began to retreat in different ways on the 27th.

The troops of the Shandong Military Region jumped out of the encirclement without any loss, but the enemy took away a large number of livestock and food, and more than 3,000 livestock were taken away.After Luo Ronghuan received this report, he immediately ordered the Luzhong, Binhai, and Lunan military regions to send troops to "sweep" the retreating enemies and intercept the looted supplies and livestock.The militiamen are also stepping up their deployment of mine warfare in the Yihe and Shuhe areas. At the same time, the Jiaodong, Bohai, and Lunan military regions also launched offensives against the invading Japanese and puppet troops in their base areas.

On August 24, the Jiaodong Military Region captured the waterway where the Japanese and puppet army strongholds intruded into our army in the south of Muping, and launched an offensive towards Penglai and Yexian areas.Wendeng County was recovered on August 31, and Rongcheng County was recovered on September 2, covering more than 20,000 square miles of land. The Bohai Navy District launched an offensive on August 19. After conquering Lijin, it also regained Leling, Linyi, Nanpi and other counties, liberating the entire territory of Zhanhua except the county.A total of more than 5,000 enemy and puppet troops were wiped out, 45,500 square miles of land were recovered, more than 4 million compatriots were liberated, and the connections between various divisions were opened up and expanded.Areas that were severely blocked and divided by the enemy in the past have become large base areas. 1943 was the most difficult year in the Bohai region. After a year, I did not expect the situation to change so quickly. It is really encouraging!

During this autumn offensive, the Lunan Military Region once completely destroyed the Zi (Yang) Lin (Yi) Road and Lin (Yi) Zao (Zhuang) Road, cut off the enemy's transportation, and seriously threatened the enemy who "mopped up" the Binhai area , expanding the connection between the various divisions.During the autumn offensive, they recovered 20,000 square miles of land and liberated more than 1.4 million people.