Introduction
This article is excerpted from the 11th volume of Lushan Literary and Historical Materials, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression** (published in December 1995).
Original note: The author Zheng Ping, a native of Suichuan County, Jiangxi Province, was born in 1916. He graduated from the 14th Huangpu Military Academy and the 8th Army University. He was the first chief of staff of the 144th Division and left the unit in 1949. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he engaged in financial and economic work and has retired. Now Tianjin. This article is excerpted from Henan Cultural and Historical Materials, No. 2, 1995.
Body
The 78th Army was established at the end of 1943 in Henan City, and it was one of the five main armies under the command of Tang Enbo (Shi Jue's 13th Army, Ma Liwu's 29th Army, Wu Shaozhou's 85th Army, Lai Ruxiong's 78th Army, and Liu Changyi's 15th Army). After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the unit was reorganized into the 144th Division, and I served as the chief of staff of the division, and I never left this unit, so I have a better understanding of the basic situation of the army. The process of the 78th Army's participation in the Lushan War of Resistance in 1944 is summarized as follows.
The 78th Army has jurisdiction over three divisions: the newly formed 42nd Division (the division commander was first Gu Zhiliang, and then Tan Yulin), the new 43rd Division (division commander Huang Guoshu), and the new 44th Division (the division commander was Yao Bingxun first, and then Zhang Hanchu).
Although General Lai Ruxiong and I served in the 29th Army (Lai was the commander of the 193rd Division, and I was the chief of staff of the 16th Provisional Division), we did not have much contact with each other. At the end of 1943, after Lai Ruxiong was promoted to the rank of army commander, he immediately called the staff class of the Army University and assigned me to the military headquarters of the army by name.
On New Year's Day in 1944, Commander Lai and I braved the snow to meet Deputy Commander Tang Enbo in Ye County. Tang called on us to quickly establish and improve the organizational structure of the 78 th Army at all levels, organize cadre training classes, and educate and train the troops.
On April 18 and 19, 1944, the 37th Division of the 12th Army (Commander Eitaro Uchiyama), the 7th Brigade and the 110th Division of the Japanese Army. Attacks were launched from the area of Zhongmu County and the bridgehead position of the Overlord City in Bishantou, which opened the prelude to the first phase of what the Japanese army called "Operation No. 1" (that is, the Battle of the Central Plains). The positions of the 28th Group Army (Commander-in-Chief Li Xianzhou) of the 27th Division of the 15th Army (Division Commander Xiao Jin) and the Reserve 11th Division of the 85th Army (Division Commander Zhao Lin) were quickly broken through, and the Japanese troops then advanced to Zhengzhou and its south, west, southwest and Zhongmu south, and the situation was very critical.
On April 20, Tang Enbo ordered a regiment of the newly formed 42nd Division of the 78th Army and the provisional 27th Division of the provisional 15th Army to hold Xinzheng and block the Japanese army. At that time, the 37th Division of the Japanese Army, with the exception of a unit under the command of Liu Changyi, commander of the 15th Army, had already arrived at Guodian north of Xinzheng and Liudian to the east of Xinzheng, except for a unit under the command of Liu Changyi, commander of the 15th Army, south of Zhongmu and Zhangzhuang Street.
On the morning of 21 April, the 7th Brigade of the Japanese Army's independent mixed brigade attacked Xinzheng under the cover of aircraft and artillery, and the officers and men of the newly formed 42nd Division led by Sun Yuanliangdu, deputy commander-in-chief of the 28th Group Army, bravely resisted. The fierce battle lasted until the afternoon, our army was serious, and Xinzheng City was broken by the enemy. In the afternoon, the main force of the 37th Division of the Japanese Army launched a fierce attack from the Peiligang area to the positions of our troops in Tuqiao Village, East and West, northwest of Xinzheng. The 1st Division of the newly formed 42nd Division relied on favorable terrain and fortifications to fight fiercely with the enemy for several hours and retreated in the evening.
The Japanese army captured Mi County on the 23rd, captured Changge County and Monk Bridge on the 24th, and launched an attack on Xuchang and Xiangcheng Yingqiao Town at the same time on the 30th with an absolute superiority of troops. May 1, Xuchang fell to the enemy. In order to annihilate the main force of Tang Enbo's department and then besiege Luoyang, the Japanese army moved back from Xuchang with the main force, and approached Dengfeng, Yuxian, Jiaxian, and Xiangcheng. At this time, the 22nd Division of the 12th Army (Division Commander Tan Naida) guarded Xiangcheng, the 81st Division (Division Commander Ge Kaixiang) guarded Jiaxian, and the army commander of He Cui sent an urgent telegram to Tang Enbo for help. Tang Enbo urgently ordered Commander Lai to lead the newly formed 43rd Division to Xiangcheng to assist the 12th Army in defending the city; The new 44th Division was ordered to live in the garrison of Wuyang.
On the evening of May 2, the military headquarters of the 78th Army arrived at Xindian, southwest of Xiangcheng: the newly formed 43rd Division had reached Ye County and was advancing towards Xiangcheng; The main force of the newly formed 44th Division was in Wuyang, and the first part advanced to the camp in Beiwudu.
On May 3, the Japanese tanks, with the cooperation of aircraft, continued to storm Jiaxian. On the orders of Tang Enbo, the newly formed 44th Division, the 16th Provisional Division, and the Provisional 55th Division of the 12th Army attacked the enemy's flank and back in Jiaxian from Xiangcheng, Yuxian, and Baofeng respectively. At noon, the 81st Division retreated to Baofeng, and the Japanese army went straight to Linru without stopping after capturing Jiaxian. On the same day, the Japanese army independently mixed the 7th Brigade and the 37th Division to encircle Xiangcheng and launch a fierce attack. On May 4, Xiangcheng fell, and Yuxian County was also captured by the Japanese army on the same day.
On the morning of May 4, Japanese tanks began to attack Linru City. Li Xianzhou transferred Tang Enbo's instructions, and ordered the commander of He Cuizhi to command the provisional 55th and 20th divisions to advance to Linru and flank the Japanese army; Commander Lai was ordered to advance with the newly formed 43rd Division to the north of Baofeng, the area of Dashiqiao and Gaohuangmiao on the right bank of the Ru River, to protect the flank of the 12th Army, and to command the 81st Division in the area of Baofeng and Daying. Before that. Tang Enbo also ordered the 85th Army and the 29th Army to go to Linru, intending to fight a decisive battle with the Japanese army there. However, with the exception of the 85th Army, all the other divisions failed to arrive on time. Around noon, the Japanese army captured Linru City and its outlying positions guarded by the 47th Division and the 85th Army of the Fourth Army, and then rushed towards Yichuan through Linru Town. At this time, the main force of Tang Enbo's division had been surrounded by the Japanese army in the mountainous area between Yuxian, Dengfeng, Linru and Jiaxian.
In order to recover the lost territory in Xiangcheng, at 8 p.m. on May 4, Commander Lai ordered the troops to divide into two routes, advancing to the west gate and the south gate of Xiangcheng respectively, and arriving at the designated place at 4 a.m. on the 5th to prepare for the attack. In the early morning of May 5, our army surrounded the county town from all sides, and a regiment of division commander Huang Guoshu attacked Xiguan. The two sides fought fiercely, each side refused to give in, and by 3 p.m., the commanders of the two armies, Lai and He, had discussed and prepared to carry out the night attack plan.
At 4 p.m. on May 5, the troops received an urgent telegram order from Tang Enbo, demanding that our troops move to Lushan, occupy favorable terrain and build fortifications, and block the enemy's attack.
After receiving Tang Enbo's order, Commander Lai immediately ordered the troops to prepare for transfer, and asked me to call ** to inform Commander He to abort the plan to attack Xiangcheng at night.
Flanking the enemy has always been a taboo for soldiers, and our current transfer is precisely a flanking action. To move westward from Xiangcheng, it was necessary to pass through the area south of Jiaxian, where enemy tanks and armored troops were stationed, and if the enemy detected it, there was a danger that the entire army would be annihilated, but there was no hidden and safe place to go. At the pre-battle meeting, Commander Lai said: "We now know that there are tigers in the mountains, and we prefer to go to the tiger mountains. To protect ourselves from being eaten by the "tiger", our plans should be thoughtful, secretive, cautious and bold, so that we can achieve the goal of safe transfer. "At the meeting, careful study was carried out and it was decided that the action plan is as follows: (1) transfer the action target: the area north of Lushan and south of Liangwa; (2) Travel route: along the road south of Jiaxian County and north of Yexian County, through the south of Baofeng City and the north of Manyang; (3) Vigilance: The newly formed 43rd Division sent a reinforced battalion to serve as the right guard to cover the safe transfer of the main force of the army; Another battalion was left to contain the enemy in Xiangcheng, and then turned into a rearguard to follow up in the rear of the whole army; (4) All units shall march lightly, and all baggage and bulky items shall be buried or destroyed on the spot; (5) Each person carries one day's dry food; (6) Pay attention to close contact during the action, and it is strictly forbidden to make noise and fire; (7) The wounded and sick will be sent to the rear hospital for shelter, and those suffering from night blindness are not allowed to move with the team.
In the evening, the troops set out for the west.
At about 7 o'clock in the morning of the 6th, we arrived near Liangwa and saw a big man riding a tall horse coming towards us, followed by a battalion of soldiers. When I got closer, it turned out to be Li Xianzhou, commander-in-chief of the 28th Group Army. Li Xianzhou said that he had received an order from Tang Enbo to Chiang Kai-shek at Sanya Street yesterday, ordering him to command the 12th Army and the 78th Army to attack the enemy's flank on the periphery of Luoyang, but he could not communicate with the two armies, so he had to lead his headquarters north through Liangwa first, looking for troops as he went. Commander Lai reported to him the battle situation in Xiangcheng, the orders he had received from Tang Enbo and his current whereabouts. Li said: Lushan is an important stronghold, which can be attacked and retreated, and can be defended, so when you get there, you must quickly deploy troops, build fortifications, and prepare to meet the enemy.
Li also expressed his dissatisfaction with Tang in the conversation, saying: "I am nominally the commander of the Southern Corps, but I am given seven inferior divisions, and I have a hard time.
Ten. III. Second.
Ten. 9. The 85th Army was all under the command of Wang Jiefu (Wang Zhonglian), commander of the Northern Corps. Lai said: "The 15th Provisional Army fought well this time, especially the bloody battle of the new 29th Division in Xuchangcheng, which is enough to add glory to this corps." Li said with emotion: "Alas, it's all over: I'm now the commander of the light pole, if your army is under my command, there is still a big thing to do, I don't know what your opinion is?" Lai and Li had no cause in the past, so he naturally didn't want to follow Li, so he replied vaguely: "It doesn't matter who commands me, but I don't know if Mr. Tang agrees, our army came to guard Lushan on his orders." Although the words were not speculative, Li still wanted to command our army, so he reported the current situation to Tang Enbo. Tang ordered our army to serve as a guard at Baofeng with one division, and the main force to occupy positions on the slopes of Lushan Mountain to the east of Lushan City. At parting, Li Xianzhou asked me if I knew about the situation of the 20th Army, and I said that since Commander He left Liuzhuang yesterday afternoon, we have not been in contact again, and we only know that the 81st Division of the army may still be in Baofeng.
After several days of continuous marching and fighting, the officers and men were so sleepy and hungry that they could no longer walk. Commander Lai ordered to rest and cook on the spot. Because the first day was a light march, all the cooking utensils were discarded, and they had to borrow from the people in the nearby villages, so a lot of time was delayed. After dinner, I rested for a while, and arrived at Lushan City on the afternoon of May 6. Unexpectedly, before our army could deploy, the Japanese army followed and tried to take advantage of our unstable foothold to capture Lushan City in one fell swoop. Commander Lai ordered Division Commander Huang Guoshu to immediately command the troops to block the enemy army and secure the city walls. At this moment, Division Commander Huang was not afraid of danger and ordered all units to rely on the city wall to block the enemy and secure the city wall. Our troops were condescending, and they fired heavily on the Japanese infantry with light and heavy machine gun and rifle fire, killing and wounding many enemies. Soon, the Japanese tanks broke through the pass, and the infantry also swarmed in, and the situation was extremely critical. After hearing the news, Division Commander Huang quickly rushed to Dongguan and ordered Zhao Ren, the commander of the 127th Regiment, to quickly organize a death squad to blow up the enemy tank. As soon as the order was given, dozens of people immediately signed up, and the head of Zhao selected more than 20 people from them. The team put their guns aside, picked up bundles of grenades and marched forward, quickly approaching the Japanese tanks. Japanese tanks fired deep into the city with flat-fire guns and machine guns on the front and sides of the city, causing some daredevils to die before they could fire their grenades. The rest of the team took advantage of the terrain to move on, quickly dropping cluster grenades when enemy tanks approached. With a loud bang, the tracks of the Japanese tank were blown off and could not move. There were also several warriors with grenades strapped to their waists, and the moment the enemy tank approached them, they suddenly jumped up and pounced on them. The enemy tank ran over the warriors, triggering grenades that were instantly blown up. After a tragic and tragic battle, all three Japanese tanks that entered the city were blown up, and most of the infantry behind them were also annihilated, and a few fled out of the city in a hurry. However, more than 20 daredevils of our army were either killed or wounded, some were crushed into pulp by Japanese tanks, and some of their bones were gone.
At this time, the army commander rushed to the scene from the army command post, and when he saw this scene, he couldn't help but burst into tears. He ordered the stretcher soldiers to bury the bodies of the martyrs and transport the wounded as soon as possible, and announced the military order: "All officers and soldiers must have the determination to live and die with Lushan City, fight to the end, and those who violate the order will be punished on the spot!" After speaking, he and Division Commander Huang studied the enemy situation and adjusted the deployment. The presence of the commander in the line of fire boosted the morale of the troops, and the officers and men stepped up their efforts to repair the fortifications and prepare for a larger Japanese attack.
After 0:00 on May 7, the Japanese infantry attacked again under the cover of heavy artillery and tanks. This time, the Japanese tanks learned a lesson and did not dare to advance rashly, but the fierceness of their artillery fire also caused our troops to suffer greatly. Because our army had no artillery, its firepower was far inferior to that of the enemy, and although it repelled the Japanese charges many times, our army gradually felt overwhelmed as the Japanese follow-up troops arrived one after another. After hours of fierce fighting street by street, house by house, our army was forced to leave the city by the west gate before dawn. After dawn, our army carried out ** many times, and had approached the city wall, but finally failed because the Japanese army desperately defended and there were planes to help the battle, our army was not strong enough to suppress the Japanese army.
On the order of Tang Enbo, our army was under the command of Li Xianzhou to guard Xia Tang and its surrounding positions. Li Xianzhou assigned the provisional 27th Division, which had only more than 1,000 men left, to the command of Commander Lai, and the new 42nd Division, which had less than two battalions, and the 132nd Regiment (regiment commander Yao Wei) of the newly formed 44th Division were also successively placed under the command of our army. The 9th Independent Engineer Regiment and the Beguanghan Advance Column were also attached to our army.
On May 9, the Japanese army in Lushan attacked westward, and our army resisted step by step, and Xiatang was broken through on the 12th. At this time, the main force of our army guarding the high ground around Xia Tang launched a fierce **, beating the corpses of the Japanese army all over the place, discarding a large number of ** baggage and fleeing in a hurry. Division Commander Huang led his troops to pursue the victory. On the evening of the 13th, the soup was recovered. After that, our army and the 15th Provisional Army fought repeatedly and fiercely with the Japanese army in Zhongtang, Shangtang, Sikeshu, Erlangmiao and other places, and repeatedly defeated the enemy's front.
After more than 20 days of intense continuous fighting, he had no time to take care of personal hygiene, and his body was covered with lice. In late May, I had a high fever of 40 or more, a splitting headache, and body aches, which was diagnosed by the military doctor as relapsing fever. Commander Lai asked the commander of the special service battalion to send a squad to carry me to the hospital of the rear military station in the inner countryside. After the meticulous ** of the military doctors, I gradually**.
After I recovered from my illness and was discharged from the hospital, the Battle of the Central Plains was over. At a summing up meeting held in Qingyouhe Town, Shangnan County, Shaanxi Province, Chen Cheng, the new commander of the First Theater, while severely criticizing Jiang Dingwen and Tang Sibo, gave a high evaluation to the 78th Army: "Soon after the establishment of Lai Ruxiong's 78th Army, he participated in the Battle of the Central Plains. The army fought in Xiangcheng at the beginning and then in Lushan, relying on the favorable terrain of the Funiu Mountains, fighting steadily and steadily, repeatedly defeating the enemy's front, and should be commended. ”
May 1995.
Editor-in-charge: Li Xueqian).
Source**: Excerpted from the 11th edition of Lushan Literary and Historical Materials to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression** (published in December 1995).