In recent years, in Huangtuling Village, Laiyuan County, Baoding, Hebei Province, a battle site has been selected into the list of classic scenic spots of China's red tourism. The Battle of Loess Ridge during the Anti-Japanese War was very famous. Students who are familiar with the history of the Anti-Japanese War know that Lieutenant General Abe Norihide of the Japanese invasion of China was killed by the Eighth Route Army in the battle. There are also many students who don't know about this battle, so we might as well briefly review it. 
In October 1939, the invading Japanese army launched a "sweep" against the Jinchaji base area of the Eighth Route Army. Among them, the Japanese army Tsujimura Kenyoshi Osa led a Japanese puppet army of more than 1,000 people to attack from Laiyuan County to the south. The Eighth Route Army received information in advance, and Yang Chengwu, then commander and political commissar of the 1st Division of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region, formulated an operational plan, which was supported by the commander of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region and others. On November 3, the enemy who rushed to the Yansu Cliff in the southeast of Laiyuan County entered the ambush circle of the three regiments of the Eighth Route Army, and after a fierce battle, the Japanese army was annihilated by more than 500 people, and was defeated and lost, leaving behind a batch of artillery and light and heavy machine guns and other materials, which were laughed at by the Eighth Route Army. 
Kenyoshi Tsujimura, who suffered a defeat at Yansu Cliff, was a subordinate of Abe Norihide, the commander of the Japanese Lieutenant General's Brigade. Norihide Abe has quite a lot of military merits and is known as the "Flower of Famous Generals" in Japanese military circles. He was an "expert in mountain warfare", and not long after he was promoted to lieutenant general, he was furious by the defeat of Yansu Cliff with heavy losses, and decided to fight in person. There is another reason why Norihide Abe personally led the main force to attack. He is known as an "expert in mountain warfare", but he only writes beautifully on paper, and he has no military merits in this area. Due to the favor of the emperor, Abe Norihide was eager to show something, desperate to annihilate the main force of the Eighth Route Army and make a great contribution. 
The Eighth Route Army worked very well behind enemy lines, and soon received information on the movements of the Japanese army. In addition, according to the experience of the Eighth Route Army, every time the Japanese army suffered a defeat, it would report it again. Yang Chengwu decided to use the same tactics to "treat" Abe Norihide again. In the Loess Ridge area, relying on the favorable terrain, Yang Chengwu quickly made a deployment, just waiting for the fish to take the bait. Sure enough, early in the morning of November 4, Abe Norihide personally led more than 1,500 Japanese troops, menacing, and went straight to the direction of Yansu Cliff. Of course, Abe Norihide will not go straight into the pocket of the Eighth Route Army in Loess Ridge, what should I do?It's not a big deal. Zeng Yongya, the head of the enemy engineering section under Yang Chengwu, is an "expert in luring the enemy" and is known as the "wolf lure". He led a small force to harass and mobilize the Japanese army all the way, and skillfully maneuvered with the enemy. Enraged, Norihide Abe obediently pursued eastward. On November 6, the Japanese army drove to the area of Loess Ridge. Due to the huge disparity in equipment between the enemy and us, this time the Eighth Route Army used 6 regiments and 1 artillery company to entertain Abe Norihide and form an encirclement posture against the Japanese army. 
On November 7, all the Japanese troops entered the path of the Loess Ridge Gorge, and the ambushed units of the Eighth Route Army suddenly came out, firing a volley, and the Japanese troops who were caught off guard were compressed to about 1 percent long5 km in the valley. Due to the complex terrain, the Japanese army still had vehicles as cover, and the Eighth Route Army lacked heavy **, and the two sides formed a confrontation. The artillery company of the Eighth Route Army had only a few mortars, and there were very few shells, and almost every shot was accurate. In the fierce battle, when Chen Zhengxiang, commander of the 1st Division and 1st Regiment, used a telescope to observe the enemy troops, he found that there was a lonely courtyard in the distance on the mountain bag that was wrong, and a group of Japanese officers wearing yellow tweed coats and carrying sabers stood inside, and people were constantly coming in and out. 
Chen Zhengxiang immediately transferred an artillery battery to prepare for the bombardment. He didn't know that it was the command post of Abe Hide. There were only 4 shells left in the Type 82 mortar equipped with the artillery company, and the experienced company commander visually inspected it and reported that at a distance of 800 meters, it could be hit, and the task was guaranteed to be completed!The task of bombarding the Japanese command post was entrusted to Li Erxi, a famous sharpshooter of the Eighth Route Army. Li Erxi, a young soldier from Shanxi, is only 18 years old and has excellent mortars. Since the mortar does not have sighting equipment, it is not easy to drop the bullet accurately depending on the sight and feeling. But this is not difficult for Li Erxi. 
Li Erxi looked at the target, adjusted the gun position as quickly as possible, and fired two shots first. It is said that according to the use of mortars, the first three shells of the senior gunners of the Eighth Route Army were used for positioning and ranging, and the fourth shot was very accurate. After Li Erxi fired 2 shells, he adjusted the gun position and fired the remaining 2 shells. Chen Zhengxiang was pleasantly surprised to find with a telescope that the Japanese soldiers in the small courtyard were in a mess, and a few people were carried out. Hit. Chen Zhengxiang and Li Erxi later learned that they had created a brilliant record in the history of the Anti-Japanese War and killed Abe Norihide, the highest-ranking Japanese general killed by the Eighth Route Army since the Anti-Japanese War. 
Speaking of the Battle of Loess Ridge, because the Japanese army sent aircraft reinforcements, the ground troops also approached the battlefield, and the Eighth Route Army took the initiative to evacuate after destroying more than 900 enemies. The captives captured by the Eighth Route Army said that they cried a lot because the Eighth Route Army had killed two senior officials. The death of Norihide Abe shook the Japanese government and the opposition. Subsequently, Japan's "Asahi Shimbun" published an article claiming that "the death of a lieutenant general-level commander is unprecedented since the founding of the Imperial Army" and that "the flower of a famous general is withering on Taihang Mountain." Speaking of which, this Abe Norishu is simply self-defeating. 
From the archives that were later disclosed in Japan, it can be found that Abe Norihide was too arrogant. Before sending his troops, he claimed that he would be victorious;After being surrounded, he was supposed to break through in the direction of a Japanese division that was closest to him, but he did not have a good relationship with the commander of the opposing side, so he chose the wrong direction to break through. Besides, Abe Guixiu looked down on the gunners of the Eighth Route Army too much, and when Li Erxi's first shell was in front of the courtyard, Abe Guixiu knew that the location was exposed, but he didn't plan to transfer at all, because he felt that the mortar couldn't hit accurately. In the end, Norihide Abe was also unlucky. It is said that Chen Zhengxiang found that there were Japanese officers in two places, and there was also a target on the mountain beam, and Chen Zhengxiang originally asked the artillery to knock out both targets, but the shells were not enough, so he hit the small courtyard first, and as a result, he killed Abe Norihide. References: "The Battle of Loess Ridge", "The Death of Norihide Abe".