Chapter 44 17. The Third Counter-offensive War Raha

Laha Town, belonging to Nehe County, Heilongjiang Province, is located at the junction of two provinces (Heilongjiang Province, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region) and three rivers (Nenjiang, Longmenjiang, and Borongjiang). Today, it has a total population of 50,000.The area belongs to the north temperate continental monsoon climate. Because it is close to the Nen River, the water area is vast and the sand and stone resources are extremely rich. It is known as the "Sand City". Generally speaking, the small town of Laha is not very eye-catching today when economic construction is the center.However, in the history of the Anti-Japanese War in the Northeast, Laha, which is located at the center, was once the battlefield of a great war. In November 1932, Ma Zhanshan and Su Bingwen echoed each other and launched a major counterattack against Qiqihar, which was also the last counterattack against the Northeast provincial capital in the history of the Volunteer Army. The main battlefield was Laha.Among modern writers, it was probably Li Ao who mentioned Raha earlier.In his memoirs, he has a section "Zhang Xueliang's scapegoat", mentioning that after Jiang Qiao's War of Resistance, "the whole country was excited when the news came, because this was the first time that the Chinese openly resisted the Japanese aggression, and it was also the first time that they did not resist the Kuomintang. A blatant contempt, the Japanese devils felt too humiliated, and launched a general attack on General Ma Zhanshan, commanded by Lieutenant General Duomen, leading the Hase Brigade, Yano Brigade, Xianqian Troops, Korean Army, Yansong Seventh Flight The Taidaolai 4th Flying Wing and the Pyongyang 6th Flying Wing launched large-scale land and air operations. Because of the disparity in numbers and weapons, General Ma Zhanshan switched to guerrilla warfare on November 19, Ha Station killed 800 Japanese soldiers, and the name of the Northeast Volunteer Army shook the world."

Li Ao wrote things with passion, and sometimes exaggerated. This passage is vague, but it mentioned that the Volunteer Army led by Ma Zhanshan once fought a big battle with the Japanese army in Laha.Is this true or false?If true, when did it happen?Is the result really that big? In the Chinese records, there is indeed a record of the battle of Laha.This battle took place during the counterattack against Qiqihar launched by General Ma Zhanshan in October 1932, a full year since the "September 18th" Incident.At this time, this Chinese general who was born in the green forest was not only still fighting on the black soil, but also launched a counterattack against the provincial capital of Heilongjiang without any support at all, which is really inconceivable!

This battle is recorded in documents such as "The Anti-Japanese Struggle of the Heilongjiang Volunteer Army"—— On September 23, 1932, Su Bingwen, commander of the Hulunbuir Garrison and commander of the Haiman Road (from Hailar to Manzhouli) Guard Army, convened a gathering of major officers in Hailar. On October 1, the Northeast People’s National Salvation Army was held to form an oath meeting, officially raising the flag to resist Japan.The Japanese army mobilized heavy troops to suppress it, and the two sides fought at the Daxinganling pass. The Northeast People's National Salvation Army's war of resistance in the Haiman area attracted a large number of Japanese and puppet troops, which gave Ma Zhanshan, who was far away in Longmen, enough time to rest. He reorganized his forces and launched a new offensive against the Japanese army.He reorganized his forces and formed four armies to besiege Qiqihar, the provincial capital: on the east route, the First Army led by Deng Wen dominated and captured Anda Town; Li Haiqing of the three armies attacked Ang Angxi; North Road, the main offensive force, under the personal supervision of Ma Zhanshan, led the Fourth Army Xu Haiting, Nan Tingfang, Han Yulu and other volunteers to attack Laha Station.The plan is to take Raha and go south along Qike Road, and besiege the provincial capital Qiqihar together with the east, west, and south roads.

The so-called war against Laha was just one of a series of attacks launched by the Volunteer Army in the second half of 1932. Tai'an, Muling, and Dunhua were all battlefields where the Volunteer Army fought hard to counterattack. Due to the shortage of Japanese troops, Ma Zhanshan's army was like a broken bamboo, successively conquered Baiquan, Keshan, Nehe, Anda, Qinggang, Tongbei, Longzhen, and Bayan, and arrived near Laha Station on October 20. More than 2,600 Japanese Koizumi regiments were stationed Here, we will try our best to block Ma Zhanshan's attack.At this time, Li Haiqing and Deng Wen's armies also captured Angangxi and Anda on October 1 and 2, and Su Bingwen took Fulaerji. The situation is very good.Ma ZhanShan personally directed the attack on Raha.

In order to cut off the enemy's rear, the Volunteer Army destroyed the 30-mile-long railway west of Yangdatun on the 21st, surrounded Laha Station, and launched a fierce attack on the Japanese army.Due to the strong firepower of the enemy, the Volunteer Army had no heavy weapons, and the fierce battle continued until the 28th. On the 31st, the Volunteer Army used the wooden axles of carts and made "wooden cannons" to bombard the buildings outside the station, and then poured kerosene into the cellar and set it on fire.From the fierce fighting to the 29th, the Volunteer Army captured the Laha block, and the Japanese army retreated to the station to stand firm.Due to the solid structure of the station, and Ma Zhanshan's army had no weapons and ammunition to attack the fortification at this time, the two sides became a stalemate.

At this time, the Japanese army completed the dispatch and began to counterattack.In view of the grim situation in North Manchuria, Commander of the Japanese Kwantung Army Nobuyoshi Muto decided on October 27 that the 1st Cavalry Brigade and the 4th Cavalry Brigade should be rushed to North Manchuria, and the bombing 12th Brigade and reconnaissance brigade of the Kwantung Army Flying Squadron should be sent to North Manchuria. The third squadron also moved to Qiqihar, all under the command of Naoliang Matsuki, the commander of the fourteenth division, to strengthen the combat power in northern Manchuria.After the Japanese army concentrated in the Qiqihar area one after another, Nobuyoshi Muto decided to eliminate the Volunteer Army in the area east of the Nenjiang River first, and then transfer the troops to the west of the Nenjiang River.Naoaki Matsuki took the lead in counterattacking the Volunteers in Laha and other places with the main force of the 14th Division, two cavalry brigades, and three flying squadrons.

While Ma Zhanshan's army was still entangled with the defending enemy in Laha, a reinforcement army composed of more than 4,000 Japanese troops and a brigade of puppet troops arrived and surrounded our army.At this time, the officers and soldiers of the Volunteer Army had been fighting fiercely for a long time, and the casualties were too exhausted, so they were forced to withdraw from Laha, and more than 600 enemies were wiped out in the whole battle. In the records of the Japanese side, traces of this battle can also be found.The Japanese side recorded the battle on page 14 of the book "Manchuria, the Field of the Setting Sun" (by Keichi Hara) published in 1963.Although the article described General Ma Zhanshan as the leader of the horse bandits, he admitted that the general's guards leaped into the town after shooting dumb Japanese machine guns in the ice and snow, pulled down the wooden fence with a lasso, rushed into the town, and hacked and killed the Japanese infantry with sabers.In the end, they did not retreat when the Japanese heavy artillery returned fire.In this battle, the Laha Japanese army was besieged for half a month, and General Ma Zhanshan's troops pushed all the Japanese troops who came to help out of Laha.The book records that the Japanese garrison killed 144 people and wounded 207 people. The puppet army and railway personnel were killed and injured twice as many as their husbands.It can be seen that although the results of the battle described by Li Ao are exaggerated, they are not unfounded.The series of offensive battles carried out by the Volunteer Army around Laha also caused heavy losses to the Japanese defenders in Keshan, Dunhua, Tai'an and other places. The captain was also killed.

According to the above records, although the battle of Laha was not complete, it was able to counterattack bravely despite being repeatedly pursued by the enemy and suffered heavy casualties.The heroic battle between Ma Zhanshan and the Heilongjiang Volunteer Army can only be described as "magnificent". The Japanese side also published many photos in its domestic publications, reflecting the real situation of this battle. When Sa was writing the article on the Anti-Japanese War, he suddenly discovered a somewhat special fact-General Ma Zhanshan, the famous general of the Anti-Japanese War in Heilongjiang province, and Chen Hanzhang, the famous general of the Anti-Japanese Alliance, were both Manchu; It is said that Quan Zhengxi, the hero of the Chinese Air Force who was killed in the surprise attack on the Nagato ship, was of Miao nationality.They are all excellent sons and daughters of the Chinese nation.

Is the Chinese nation really just a manufactured vocabulary?