Chapter 148 9. The Eighth Route Army "abandoned the formation and fled"

Chen Sankan, the puppet army on the left, saw that the right was attacked, so he advanced along the west side of the Yihe River in an attempt to support the Japanese army on the right. When he went near Taogou, he was ambushed by the 4th Luzhong Regiment and the Secret Service Battalion.Chen Sankan commanded the puppet army to break through the encirclement four times, but all failed.At noon of the next day, Chen Sankan was killed, most of the puppet troops surrendered, and only more than 200 people fled. The Jellyfish Empress Temple was built on a low mound. There used to be a main hall, an apse and more than a dozen wing rooms. The Japanese army once set up a stronghold here, demolished the apse, and built walls around it.After the Japanese army was forced to retreat, the militia destroyed the wall.Kusano Kiyoshi retreated here and ordered to repair fortifications and build bunkers.

As night fell, the boat-shaped crescent was wandering in the sea of ​​clouds.Luo Shunchu and Hu Qicai rode to the front line, and Sun Jixian went up to meet them. "The superior called, saying that there is no sign of reinforcements coming from Juxian County, don't rush, fight slowly!" Luo Shunchu got off his horse and inspected the terrain of Niangniang Temple, "It's not easy to attack, you have to use your brain." Hu Qicai pondered for a moment, and said, "The enemy is short of food and water, so they can't last long, so they simply built fortifications around them, blocked them with firepower, and forced the enemy to break through."

"A good idea," Sun Jixian added, "open the net on the south side, and lure the enemy to break through to the Yihe River. We set up ambushes on both sides of the river to force them into the river. Whether it be beaten to death or drowned, it's all for the same purpose—— Destroy the enemy." At 9:30 p.m., the follow-up troops entered the position and began to attack with firepower. Light and heavy machine guns fired at the same time. A raging fire ignited in the southeast corner of the Niangniang Temple main hall, and the Japanese soldiers shouted and ran wildly in the fire.After a burst of shooting, several Japanese soldiers were shot and fell down, and the rest were too frightened to hide behind stone monuments and broken walls and did not dare to move.

In the middle of the night, the crescent moon disappeared, and the sky was dark.At this time, there was a commotion in the temple, the Japanese artillery roared, and then the machine guns also rattled.The firepower of the two sides confronted each other all night, and the gunfire fell silent until dawn. Kiyoshi Kusano survived a terrifying night. As soon as the sun came out, he became more courageous and decided to use his superior firepower to fight his way out.After observing for a while, he found that the south was the weak link of the Eighth Route Army, so he ordered a small team to make a feint attack to the north, and most of them broke through to the south.

At 8 o'clock in the morning, the Japanese artillery bombarded the northern position.Sun Jixian's heart sank suddenly, are the devils going to break out to the north?He was worried when he suddenly discovered that more than 30 Japanese soldiers were charging northward with a bluff, and the formation was stretched apart. "Hitting east and west! Very good." Sun Jixian thumped his thigh fiercely, "Hit! Knock the enemy back." The Japanese army rushed for a while, but seeing that the firepower was too fierce, they retreated hastily.Kusano Kiyoshi ordered to turn the artillery fire to bombard the south, and the Japanese army rushed out to the south.The Eighth Route Army fought and retreated, and finally "resisted" unable to "resist", abandoned the formation and "fleeed".The Japanese army rushed to the river bank and began to cross the river. Cannon carts, luggage and war horses crowded the narrow river bank in chaos.

At this time, the troops who had been lying on both sides of the Yi River suddenly broke out, and the Japanese army was surrounded and fell in pieces, and the river turned bloody.Knowing that he was in a desperate situation, Kusano Kiyoshi desperately resisted, and led his troops along the river to fight and retreat.The Eighth Route Army on both sides of the strait pursued in parallel, and at 6 p.m., most of the Japanese and puppet troops were wiped out, and Kiyoshi Kusano led the remnants in a desperate attack in the direction of Wuergu. The guard company of the 4th division was defending Wu'ergu, but seeing the lively killing on the Yihe beach, the company joined the battle without authorization, leaving only one defensive position.Due to the weak force, Kiyoshi Kusano broke through the position.

At dusk, Kiyoshi Kusano climbed up the dangerous peak of Wuergu and counted the number of people. There were only 45 Japanese troops and 126 puppet troops left. On September 6, the head of the Tiansaka brigade defending the enemy in Juxian County led more than 1,700 people, and rushed to the reinforcements under the cover of 13 planes. The remnants of Kiyoshi Kusano were rescued. In this battle, more than 300 Japanese soldiers were killed, 31 Japanese soldiers were captured, more than 1,300 puppet soldiers were killed, and 367 were captured; two mountain cannons were captured (one was destroyed, the other took part in the Liberation War and is currently on display in the Shanghai Museum), and 60 forced soldiers were captured. Two mortars and a large number of supplies.