Chapter 4 Chapter Four Yellow River Elegy (1)

The "North China Front Army" wanted to attack Zhongtiao Mountain, not on a whim, but a long-planned plan. After the Battle of Taiyuan, this mountainous area located at the southernmost tip of Shanxi and named after the long and narrow mountain became a thorn in the side of the Japanese army in North China.There are 200,000 troops from the first war zone distributed on the mountain. If you want to go south, it will flank you; appendicitis". There is a poem praising it: "The dusty day is white and the wind is rustling. Ordinary people carry knives. As long as the general Wei is present, the enemy dare not peek at Zhongtiao."

The "General Wei" in this poem refers to Wei Lihuang. Maintaining the status quo Wei Lihuang, a native of Hefei, Anhui, was the commander-in-chief of the first theater at the time. In the early days of the Kuomintang, there was the title of "Five Tiger Generals", and Wei Lihuang was also one of them. However, unlike other people who were either Lu Shi or Baoding, he was a pure soldier who rose slowly from the barracks. One of Wei Lihuang's special honors was that he worked as a guard for Sun Yat-sen and was injured on duty. Since then, he has been promoted all the way, and became a battalion commander at the age of twenty-two.

Fearing that young people will not be able to control people, the "Little Battalion Commander" deliberately grew a beard just like Tang Shengzhi taught him back then-I am so old, who can question my ability? Wei Lihuang is capable, otherwise there would be too many guards for Prime Minister Sun, and not everyone would be able to stand out. The Battle of Xinkou in the Battle of Taiyuan was the first time that Wei Lihuang, as the commander-in-chief of the former enemy in the second theater, took on the responsibility for the first time in the War of Resistance.After Taiyuan fell, everyone fled desperately. Wei Lihuang was also very embarrassed at that time, and ran across the Yellow River to Shaanxi.

Within a few days, Chiang Kai-shek's telegram came, and everyone who crossed the Yellow River was scolded.So, everyone packed up their packages, turned around and turned back to Shanxi——Yan Xishan was in the west of Shanxi, and Wei Lihuang was based in the south of Shanxi. Both were semi-regular warfare and half-guerrilla warfare, and life was very difficult. In Yan Xishan's words, "If you don't have enough food for a day, you can't change your clothes." In the end, the suffering was not in vain, Yan Xishan stood firm, and Wei Lihuang also stood firm in Zhongtiaoshan.

In the winter of 1938, Wei Lihuang succeeded Cheng Qian and was promoted to the commander-in-chief of the first war zone and the chairman of Henan Province. He was stationed in Luoyang and was responsible for commanding all troops in southern Shanxi including Zhongtiaoshan. From 1938 to 1940, the "North China Front Army" successively launched twelve attacks on Zhongtiao Mountain, but each time they returned in dismay.One summer, the Japanese Army Nine Routes invaded and besieged. However, after three days of fierce fighting, not only failed to capture Zhongtiao Mountain, but also suffered a lot of losses. The corpses that were too late to take away were lying on the mountain road. No one dared to pass there.

The defenders of Zhongtiao Mountain repelled the Japanese attack twelve times. This is indeed a good report card. Unfortunately, over time, Wei Lihuang became paralyzed in thought. Before the Battle of Zhongtiao Mountain, Chiang Kai-shek’s high command had received information and judged that the scale of the attack by the "North China Front Army" was different from the past. Since Zhongtiao Mountain is backed by the Yellow River, it is not easy to hold on to it under the pressure of large troops. Therefore, it was suggested that Zhongtiao Mountain The defenders withdrew to the south bank of the Yellow River and defended according to the river.

But Wei Lihuang disagreed. Zhongtiao Mountain is the place he has been operating for many years. Relying on this mountain, a semicircular defense line has been formed. The dangerous land and then born. Enthusiastically, Wei Lihuang also praised Haikou, saying that Zhongtiao Mountain was the "Magino" in the Anti-Japanese War. The fortifications were strong and the morale of the officers and soldiers was strong, so there was no need to worry about being unable to defend. Chief of Staff and Minister of Military and Political Affairs He Yingqin personally went to Luoyang to meet with Wei Lihuang, who still insisted on his strategy.

In a last stand, no one else dared to use this tactic. Only I dared to use it successfully. This time, I will continue to defend Zhongtiao Mountain as usual. He Yingqin finally agreed. not for good but for bad Many military examples throughout the ages have shown that dangerous places can be defended, but they must be held firmly, otherwise dangerous places will quickly become "dead places". According to Wei Lihuang's understanding, his first fortification was the fortification, which is what he called "Magino". However, we may be able to draw a rule, but there is almost no one called Maginot that has not been broken by others.

The "Oriental Maginot" during the Battle of Songhu was not of much use from the beginning to the end, and the real Maginot in France was bypassed by the Germans a year ago. It's not that the line of defense is not important, but that if you place too much emphasis on and rely on fortifications, the final result must be bad.The north-south depth of the Zhongtiao Mountain defense area is very small. Even if the fortifications really reach the Maginot level, it will be difficult to stick to it for a long time, let alone not up to the standard. There are three kinds of fortifications on Zhongtiao Mountain: "stand, kneel, and lie down", there are traffic ditches, and stronghold forts. Wei Lihuang walked around the mountain, thinking that this is not bad.

But the Soviet adviser also went up the mountain to inspect, and people shook their heads after seeing it. Know what a modern fortification is?A mountain has to be hollowed out, and cars and cannons can be passed in the cave.Are you still called Maginot?It's just child's play, so funny. If the fortifications are not good, then only the officers and soldiers are left with high morale.Although Wei Lihuang has never been to a regular military academy, he has studied in the special class of the Army University, and he still understands the art of war and strategy. When Zhang Zizhong first crossed the Xianghe River, he was escorted by the 59th Army for the first three times. On the fourth time, the Sichuan Army was in front and the Lu Army was beside him. Their combat effectiveness was much inferior to that of the 59th Army. important reason.

Being able to stop the Japanese occupation twelve times made Wei Lihuang quite confident in the defenders of Zhongtiao Mountain. However, he was stationed in Luoyang and rarely crossed the river himself like Zhang Zizhong did, so he was very unfamiliar with the real situation on the front line. From time to time, Zhongtiao Mountain in 1941 has undergone fundamental changes, not for the better, but for the worse. This of course has to do with the environment.Historian Huang Renyu mentioned that by 1941, when the Anti-Japanese War was halfway through, domestic prices were already twenty times what they were before the war.With increasing poverty and undersupply, war weariness began to spread, and emptying and smuggling among the military was all too common and difficult to contain. This situation occurs in all theaters, but it is especially serious in Wei Lihuang's first theater. The garrison of Zhongtiao Mountain is claimed to be 200,000, but in fact it is less than 200,000.First of all, due to dissatisfaction with the recruiting, the "strong man" was reduced to a commodity, and he was able to enter the market for trading. At first it was secret, but later it became public.For example, in Luoyang, the price of a strong man is a thousand catties of cotton, or thirty shi of wheat. After being profitable, "strong man" has also become a profession.The same person can be sold more than ten times, that is, first go to the market to "sell" himself, then escape from the army, and then "sell" again. The second is that the phenomenon of deserters cannot be controlled.The living conditions in Zhongtiao Mountain were extremely difficult. Soldiers had to collect firewood, carry food, and even push the mill by themselves. It can be said that they worked hard during the war and worked hard before the war.As long as the soldiers in the rear troops heard that they were heading for Zhongtiao Mountain, they would cry and run away. Being a soldier is tough, and being an official is hard, as the salary is low, so you have to think of other ways, or you can eat up your quota, or send some people to do business in the enemy-occupied areas.