Under the moonlight of Wuzhi Dongxu, Wu Chengzhong, the commander of the Eighth Route Army, and his guards followed closely behind the troops, chasing the fleeing enemy troops. Suddenly, a group of stationary figures appeared in front of them, confusing them.
Regiment commander, why did the troops in front stop and not go? The guard asked, confused. Wu Chengzhong decided to step forward to investigate the situation. He shouted, "Why didn't you stop after the enemy?" ”
However, when he approached, he was surprised to find that this unit was not the Eighth Route Army, but a battalion of Chiang's army. With only a few guards around him, how would he deal with such a formidable opponent?
The cause of all this must start with the friction incident provoked by Jiang Jun.
People generally believe that Chiang Kai-shek's anti-Japanese stand was passive and passive, and he always adhered to the policy of "first reassuring the interior before attacking the outside" and regarded our army as a serious danger to his henchmen. Although after the Xi'an Incident, our army and the Kuomintang army formed a united front against Japan, Chiang Kai-shek's hostile policy towards our army did not completely change.
In 1939, Chiang Kai-shek's army triggered the first upsurge of friction, and Pang Bingxun's 40th Army also actively participated in it, launched an attack on the anti-Japanese base area in the southeast of Shanxi, pointed the muzzle of the gun at his own people, and had a fierce battle with our army, but ultimately suffered a heavy defeat.
At the same time, the 69th Army of Chiang Kai-shek's army, under the command of Lu Zhonglin, launched an attack on the anti-Japanese base area in central Hebei, and was also beaten to the ground. In early 1940, Chiang Kai-shek's Hebei provincial chairman, Lu Zhonglin, was forced to resign because of a failure in creating friction.
Subsequently, Pang Bingxun was appointed chairman of Hebei Province and continued to serve as the vanguard of Chiang Kai-shek's suppression of our army. In March of the same year, Pang Bingxun reached a secret agreement with Zhu Huaibing, commander of the 97th Army in Hebei, and Zhang Yinwu, commander-in-chief of the Hebei People's Army, to launch a large-scale attack on our Taihang anti-Japanese base area.
On March 12, 1940, the commander of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army received a report that the two divisions of Jiang Army, Zhu Huaibing and Zhang Yinwu, who were stationed near Taihang Shanlin County and intended to invade our Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei base area, were sneaky.
Chief Liu Deng judged that the enemy had bad intentions, because their historical record was unsightly and provoked internal friction in our army many times. Although we have always adhered to the overall situation of resisting Japan and exercised restraint, they have to make indemnity.
I can't bear it, I don't need to endure it anymore. In order to protect our base area, Chief Liu Deng decided to act in advance to teach these shameless people a lesson.
On March 14, Xu Shenji led a youth anti-Japanese guerrilla column to attack a regiment on the enemy's right side. At this time, the enemy had just arrived at the battlefield and was still in a state of confusion, and he was stunned by the Eighth Route Army.
But they soon came to their senses and retreated to the area of Niuchi Village, ready to resist to the end. The mountains here are undulating, the terrain is dangerous, and the pillboxes on the mountains are dotted around, so you can look down on the surroundings from a high place and resist.
At this time, Xu Shenji faced a problem: our army lacked heavy **. In fact, our army has a mortar, but the number of shells is limited. If you attack hard, not only will you not be able to achieve victory, but you will also cause a major **.
At this time, Chen Yuanlong, director of the Political Department, reminded him: "Commander, we just captured a machine gun ...... not long ago"Two months ago, we captured this Type 96 25 mm cannon from the Japanese in a battle, which was mainly used for air defense, and it is not known how effective it is in flat fire, and it is not used very often in peacetime.
Although there is no better ** in hand, considering the current situation, it is only possible to try it first. So, Chen Yuanlong asked the fighters to pull the machine gun to the position, put it in a posture, let it maintain a flat fire angle, aim at the target and start shooting.
Although this gun was mainly used for air defense, the results were not satisfactory. Although it can hit the target, hitting the bunker is like tickling. However, the sound of machine guns was very loud, which frightened the unwitting puppet army, who mistakenly thought that the Eighth Route Army had used heavy artillery, and they were so frightened that they rushed out of the pillboxes and fortifications to hide elsewhere, and the scene was very embarrassing.
Xu Shenji laughed when he saw this scene from the telescope, and then he had an idea and thought about it. He immediately ordered Wu Chengzhong's 711th Regiment and Li Jikong's 3rd Regiment to encircle the enemy's pillboxes at close range.
Then, Xu Shenji ordered the soldiers of the artillery company to start shelling with machine guns, and immediately the smoke of gunpowder was filled with gunfire and the sound of artillery rumbled. The enemy heard the rumbling of cannons, and sure enough, they fled from the pillboxes and scurried in all directions.
The soldiers, who had been waiting for a long time, were like little tigers descending from the mountain, and rushed to the enemy's fortifications under the cover of the smoke of gunpowder. At this time, the bunkers were in a state of no defense, and became decorations, and more than a dozen bunkers were conquered in an instant.
The enemy was taken to the old nest, only to know that he was fooled, but it was too late, so he could only run to the top of the mountain with oil on the soles of his feet. This time, it is not easy to fight, because the enemy is in a relatively high position, and there will be a major ** when attacking.
Seeing this, Xu Shenji had no choice but to order the troops to stop the attack and find a way. At this time, Wu Chengzhong, the commander of the 711th Regiment, came to report that on the right position, there was a mountain beam running north-south, which could reach the top of the mountain.
But this mountain beam was ignored by the enemy, there were no fortifications on either side, and no troops were arranged. As soon as Xu Shenji heard the great joy, he immediately made a decision and ordered the 1st Battalion of the 711th Regiment to go to the top of the mountain from this mountain beam and detour back to Muniuchi Village, while the other troops were responsible for bluffing and feints to divert the enemy's attention.
The ingenious tactics of our troops succeeded again, and the 1st Battalion successfully flanked and appeared in the village of Cattle Pond like a god soldier descending from the sky. The enemy there did not expect the sudden appearance of our troops at all, and was taken by surprise and in great confusion.
At this moment, the enemy on the left also fell into confusion, as if they had agreed to flee to the southeast of the cattle pond. However, it is not so easy to escape. This is not an inn, we need to clean up the remnants of the enemy and collect it**.
Xu Shenji ordered the 2nd Regiment to be responsible for cleaning up the remnants of the enemy and collecting **; The 711th and 3rd regiments were responsible for the pursuit of the fleeing enemy. The fighters of the 711 regiment received an order to pursue the enemy in high spirits.
As night fell, the village and the road became blurred. However, this did not affect everyone's progress, as many of their warriors were locals and knew the road well.
According to the enemy's escape, Wu Chengzhong ordered all companies to disperse to pursue the enemy. After giving the order, he followed with several guards. This leads to the scene at the beginning of the article, where Wu Chengzhong encounters a force that is standing still.
At the critical moment of pursuing the fleeing enemy, the troops actually stopped, which made Wu Cheng loyal and angry. He stepped forward and asked in a loud voice, "Which army are you?"
Why did it stop? The other party replied: "Sir, we are from the 2nd battalion." ”
Wu Chengzhong frowned, thinking in his heart, this is not our army's camp, then this must be the enemy's. At this critical moment, he remained calm because he had already gone through countless trials of life and death.
Wu Chengzhong was a tiger general of the Red Fourth Front Army, who participated in five anti-"encirclement and suppression" campaigns, walked the Long March, and participated in the anti-"three-way siege" and "six-way siege" in the Sichuan-Shaanxi base area.
Before the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Wu Chengzhong was already the political commissar of the 25th Division of the Red 9th Army. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the Northern Red Army was reorganized into the Eighth Route Army, and basically all the generals were demoted to two levels to the Eighth Route Army, and Wu Chengzhong was initially only the deputy commander of the 711 Regiment.
But he didn't care, because he knew that a true warrior was fighting for victory on the battlefield, not on the ranks. In 1940, Wu Chengzhong was only 29 years old, but he was already a "veteran" who had experienced a hundred battles, what kind of scene had he not seen?
He came to the guard Xiao Liu and whispered to him to look for the 1st Company in the back. Xiao Liu hesitated, because he was afraid that Wu Chengzhong would be more dangerous alone. But Wu Chengzhong did not flinch, he firmly pushed Xiao Liu and encouraged him to carry out the task.
At this time, the enemy also seemed to sense that something was wrong and began to whisper. In order to stabilize them, Wu Chengzhong was calm and calm, and took the initiative to communicate with them with a smile: "Let your battalion commander come over." ”
The enemy battalion commander met Wu Chengzhong on the battlefield, and when he saw Wu Chengzhong's composure, he felt unconfident. Coupled with the defeat just now, he has become a frightened bird, and at this time his heart is already flustered, not knowing whether to continue fighting or fleeing.
At this moment, the 711 Company of the 1st Regiment of the Eighth Route Army rushed up from behind and surrounded him. Not reluctant, he pulled out his pistol and shouted, "Brothers, give it to me!" ”
However, at this moment, before his three words "give me up" could be spoken, several agile guards had already rushed forward and suppressed him. He immediately changed the "give it to me" to "put it down for me" in the back like a deflated ball
When the surrounding soldiers saw his order, they all put down their guns and took them in hand. In the end, after several days of fierce fighting, the Eighth Route Army successfully annihilated most of Zhu Huaibing's 97th Army and Zhang Yinwu's three divisions of more than 8,000 people in the area of Linxian County, striking a blow to the arrogance of the recalcitrant army, and they no longer had the courage to launch an attack on our anti-Japanese base areas.
During the breakthrough in the Central Plains, Wu Cheng led a regiment to pinn down 8 enemy divisions in eastern Hubei, and his performance was highly praised by the head of the sub-bureau.
Wu Chengzhong, a famous Chinese general, was awarded the rank of major general in 1955. However, he died of illness in October 1968 at the age of 57.
He has made outstanding contributions to China's national defense and deserves to be remembered and cherished forever. If you have an in-depth study and unique insight into the history of war, please submit your paper to us, and we will respond positively and take your suggestions on board.