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Looking back on 1937, after the Japanese army invaded and occupied Beiping and Tianjin, it drove straight along the Pinghan, Pingsui, and Jinpu railways in an attempt to encircle and annihilate the squadron in North China. After the Japanese along the Pingsui Railway broke through the Kuomintang defensive line in Datong, they continued to advance south.
The Japanese Fifth Division (i.e., the Sakagaki Division) aimed at the key pass on the Great Wall, in an attempt to cooperate with the main force of the North China Front to achieve a detour on the right flank and annihilate the main force of the Kuomintang Army in the Second Theater and the main force of the First Theater.
Let's look back at this history together, learn and grow from it!
Battle of Pingxingguan: The 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army fought hand in hand with the Kuomintang Army, relying on the narrow valley and taking advantage of the terrain, successfully ambushed the invading Japanese army, and fired the first shot of the War of Resistance against Japan.
The first opponent of the 115th Division in the Battle of Pingxingguan was the 21st Brigade of the Sakagaki Division, and after the brigade was stationed in the Dongpaochi area, the commander of the 115th Division made a decisive decision to gather the main force and arrange a defensive line in the Lingqiu area, and at the same time sent a regiment and a cavalry battalion to set up an ambush in the mountains on both sides of the Pingxingguan Road, preparing to surprise the enemy.
In the early morning of September 25, the 21st Brigade of the Sakagaki Division and its new crown column, carrying a large number of cars, carts and artillery, marched towards the flat gate.
In this battle, the Kuomintang army was responsible for frontal resistance, and the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army was responsible for cutting off the enemy's retreat and attacking from the flank. Although the continuous defeat of the Kuomintang army made the arrogance of the Japanese army more and more arrogant, these arrogant Japanese troops were negligent in their vigilance, completely unaware that they had fallen into the encirclement of the Eighth Route Army.
When all the Japanese troops entered the preset ambush area, the three regiments of the 115th Division launched an attack at the same time, and more than 1,000 guns were pointed at the enemy group at the same time. The battle was extremely fierce, and the 115th Regiment of the 685th Division dealt a fierce blow to the Japanese army, successfully annihilating part of the Japanese army and blocking their retreat; The 687th Regiment divided and surrounded the rear forces of the Japanese army in Caijiayu and Xigou Village, annihilated them, occupied the high ground on the north side of Hanjiawan, and cut off the enemy's retreat.
And the 686th Battalion and the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Regiment engaged in white-knuckle combat with the enemy. Although the Japanese were caught off guard, they were still able to put up desperate resistance under the wheels of the cars.
In this fierce battle, part of the enemy forces tried to seize the high ground on the western side of the road with fire superiority, but was preempted by the 2nd battalion of the 686th regiment.
The heroism and tenacity of the 686th Regiment successfully besieged the Japanese troops on all sides, leaving them with nowhere to escape. But the Japanese army still did not give up, trying to make a way out of the old man's temple and launched a crazy counterattack.
However, their attempts were thwarted by the resolute resistance of the 685th regiment. Although Sakagaki, the commander of the Sakagaki Division, wanted to send reinforcements, he was heroically blocked by the 685th Regiment and was unable to rescue the 21st Brigade in distress.
The battle lasted a full 6 hours and ended with the total annihilation of the Japanese army. In this battle, the 115th Division killed more than 1,000 Japanese troops, captured more than 1,000 rifles, more than 20 machine guns, and more than 100 cars and more than 200 carriages.
The Great Victory of Pingxingguan: An Irreproducible Victory The Great Victory of Pingxingguan was a glorious moment in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression of the Eighth Route Army, which not only annihilated the arrogance of the enemy, but also was highly praised for its achievements in fighting independently for the Eighth Route Army.
However, victory in this battle was not an easy one. The Kuomintang army, which was supposed to attack the Japanese army head-on, had already retreated under the fierce attack of the Japanese army, and the situation was extremely grim.
Although the victory of Pingxingguan made the anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians throughout the country full of confidence in resisting the enemy, *** said: "Such a battle should not be fought again." He knew very well that in the face of a powerful and superior enemy army, the Eighth Route Army could not bear such pressure and sacrifice again.
Judging from the results, the victory of Pingxingguan undoubtedly brought many benefits, but judging from the course of the campaign, the results were not ideal. Therefore, the battle, while memorable, cannot be replicated.
In the battle of Pingxingguan, although our army annihilated more than 1,000 Japanese troops, it also paid nearly 1,000 people. The reason for such a huge ** is that our army's ** equipment is backward, but our commanders and fighters are not discouraged by this.
They were well prepared, took advantage of the terrain, destroyed the enemy's transport, and finally succeeded in ambushing the Japanese army. Although in this battle, the number of our army was about the same as that of the enemy, but what we won was a valuable strategic advantage and precious lives.
Therefore, this battle can be called the first victory of our army to resist Japan.
How to destroy the enemy silently? No mines, no road damage, just a sharp knife, such as a sickle or guillotine. The Japanese entered our trap unsuspectingly, and were cut through the tires by the knives hidden on the ground, and had to be captured.
This is the ingenious strategy of the commanders and fighters, using simple agricultural tools to achieve a perfect ambush against the enemy.
Almost all the soldiers of the 115th Division took part in the battle against the Sakagaki Division, including the cooks. Although they didn't have **, the cooks still rushed to the battlefield with a flat pole to pick the pot.
In this battle, our army suffered a lot, some soldiers died in the battle with the enemy, and the other part died because of the brutality of the Japanese army. In the early days of the invasion of China, the Japanese army was deeply influenced by the spirit of "bushido", which led to the early days of the War of Resistance against Japan, tens of thousands of Japanese soldiers were killed in battle, but no one was captured.
However, our army has always adhered to the policies of "preferential treatment of prisoners" and "surrender guns but not kill", hoping to end the fighting with a humanitarian spirit. However, the Japanese army did not appreciate it, and in the process of persuading the Eighth Route Army to surrender, they still held guns and shots, resulting in a huge number of our troops.
There was a battalion commander who once carried a half-dead wounded Japanese soldier on his back, and was originally going to take him to the first-aid post for treatment, however, the wounded soldier regained consciousness halfway through and bit the battalion commander on the ear.
Another communicator found a wounded Japanese soldier lying under the car when he was collecting the ** line, and he bandaged the wounded soldier with gauze, but the wounded soldier suddenly raised his hand and stabbed the communicator in the abdomen.
These examples fully reveal the brutality of the Japanese army, and many officers and men of the squadron paid the price for it in order to capture a prisoner.
Despite the victory in the Battle of Pingxingguan, the results were not significant, so such a battle was no longer suitable for continuation.