During the Japanese occupation of North China, in order to ensure local control, they set up the "North China Garrison Army" in North China, and let scattered Japanese troops and puppet troops garrison in counties and towns throughout North China.
This loose deployment mode provided a broad space for the activities of China's anti-Japanese forces behind enemy lines. After 1939, the Eighth Route Army's anti-Japanese war behind enemy lines in Shanxi, Hebei, Shandong, Henan and other places showed a trend of burning the prairies, leaving the Japanese army plagued by guerrilla warfare.
The counties under the control of the Japanese army were isolated, and the soldiers did not dare to go out of the city or into the mountains for fear of being ambushed.
In the spring of 1939, Yan'an issued an order requiring the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army to go to Shandong to establish a base behind enemy lines. A few months later, they fought a siege and annihilation battle in Liangshan, Shandong, and successfully eliminated hundreds of Japanese troops.
This siege and annihilation battle of Liangshan was a rare "one-on-one" battle in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, and the squadron successfully surrounded and annihilated the enemy when the number of Japanese troops was equal, and the ** of their own side was also very small.
So, how did the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army conduct this battle of annihilation at Yangshan? What was the difference in the number and equipment of the two sides in this big war? What impact did the "Liangshan Annihilation War" have on Shandong at that time?
In the spring of 1939, the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression entered a new stage. Japan's national strength was dragged down by the all-out war of resistance, and they established a puppet regime in North China and tried to confront China.
However, they encountered stubborn resistance on the front line in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and the mountains were so steep that the Japanese supply lines were already difficult to maintain. Under these circumstances, the Japanese stopped the offensive and bought valuable respite for the squadron.
The squadron relied on Soviet aid to sustain the war, while Chiang stepped up conscription in Hunan and Sichuan to prepare for future Japanese attacks. At the same time, the Eighth Route Army was also ordered to conduct guerrilla operations behind enemy lines to put pressure on the Japanese army.
At the beginning of 1939, Chen Guanghe led the 115th Division to Shandong. Some people may wonder, who is General Chen Guang? Why was he able to become the commander of the 115th Division?
In fact, General Chen Guang had great prestige during the Agrarian Revolution and the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, but he died earlier after the liberation, so he was less well-known. Although the original commander of the 115th Division was **, the Pingxingguan ambush he commanded was also hailed as a classic.
However, ** was accidentally wounded by a soldier of the Jin Sui Army in a battle and was seriously injured, so he was sent to the Soviet Union for **. And Chen Guang was a capable general under the **, so he was promoted to "acting division commander" and led the troops across the Yellow River into Shandong.
As soon as the 115th Division stepped into the territory of Shandong, it was learned by the Japanese army, but at the beginning of 1939, they were supported and supported by the local people in the Juancheng and Yuncheng areas"Fan Ba"Wiped out thousands of Japanese puppet troops and crushed several Japanese patrols at the same time.
Such a performance made the Japanese army panic and uneasy, and also made the Japanese puppet regime and puppet army in Shandong feel nervous. As a result, in the spring of that year, the 12th Division of the Japanese Army began to encircle and suppress the base areas behind enemy lines in the Luxi area.
The "Lufang Breakout" battle in May 1939 was a classic battle in the history of our army. Although the 115th Division suffered heavy losses in this battle, their backbone and courage were not crushed.
Only three months later, the 115th Division discovered a Japanese transport convoy in the territory of Liangshan County, they were a brigade of the 212th Wing of the 32nd Brigade Regiment of the Japanese Army, escorting artillery units to Heze.
** Immediately after receiving this news, a set of interception plans was developed. However, Yangshan had only 4 companies of the Eighth Route Army, and the rest of the troops were scattered in the surrounding counties.
But even so, they emerged victorious. Because the scouts reported to them that this Japanese force was an isolated force and had no reinforcements. Therefore, it was decided not to mobilize other troops, but to successfully encircle and annihilate this Japanese army with only more than 300 men.
In the Yangsan area, there was a Japanese army unit consisting of 50 artillerymen, equipped with European artillery, which attracted great attention from the Japanese army. In order to prevent a sneak attack by the Eighth Route Army, the 32nd Division sent an escort team of 170 people, and added 50 puppet soldiers and more than 50 porters to escort them to Heze.
This time, the combat forces of both sides were essentially equal. The Japanese troops, of nearly 300 men, set out in the middle of the night in an attempt to covertly pass through the guerrilla zone in order to avoid a potential sneak attack, without giving any notice to the various county towns along the way.
However, not long after they left Wenshang County, our army scouts discovered their traces and reported the situation to the headquarters of the 115th Division.
** On the map, Chen Guang found a large area of farmland near Dushan in the south of Liangshan, which is a good place for ambushes. In order to avoid arousing the suspicion of the Japanese army, ** sent a small force to harass the Japanese convoy in order to attract the attention of the Japanese army.
On the evening of August 1, the Japanese army camped on the side of the main road and encountered harassment by the Eighth Route Army. For the rest of the night, the Japanese took turns to stand guard. Early the next morning, as soon as the Japanese army left, the ambush troops of the 115th Division had already entered the ambush position in Dushan.
At 9 o'clock that morning, the Japanese entered the Yangsan ambush site. The cavalry of the Eighth Route Army quickly launched an attack on the Japanese troops on the main road, causing the Japanese army to fall into confusion. Some porters and puppet soldiers scattered in panic.
However, the Japanese commander Nagata Toshie was furious and immediately ordered the infantry to hold the position, and ordered the artillery squad to carry out the artillery to Dushan ** to cover the Japanese attack.
Nagata Toshie thought at the time that he was only facing the stragglers of the Eighth Route Army, and he only needed to launch a fierce surprise attack to easily destroy the enemy. However, he did not realize that he was encountering the regular troops of the 115th Division.
As soon as the Japanese entered the ambush circle, the 115th Division immediately took action, encircling the Japanese from three sides at once. As the machine guns rang out, Nagata Toshie began to panic.
Why was the Japanese army so nervous when they heard the sound of machine guns? Because in the early days of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the worst of China's anti-Japanese armed forces was the Eighth Route Army, and only the militia was slightly better.
The Eighth Route Army's main ** were "old sleeve" rifles and captured Japanese rifles, plus homemade grenades, and not every Eighth Route Army soldier was equipped with these**, many soldiers were even armed only with broadswords and pike.
In contrast, the Japanese infantry was more advanced, with 38 rifles as the standard**, as well as grenadiers and crooked machine guns, and their firepower far exceeded that of the Eighth Route Army. Therefore, the Japanese army did not feel nervous when they were harassed by a small group of the Eighth Route Army, because the threat from the other side was not great.
However, the Eighth Route Army also had some elite units, such as the special service battalion and the old units with the old Red Army as the backbone, and the members of these units were armed with rifles and even Czech light machine guns.
Therefore, once the Japanese army heard the sound of light machine guns, it meant that they ran into the main force of the Eighth Route Army, and the combat effectiveness of these veterans was not inferior to that of the Japanese army, which gave the Japanese army a great headache.
The Japanese escort team led by Toshie Nagata chose to persist in fighting in the face of the encirclement of the Eighth Route Army. Although he could choose to retreat, the Japanese soldier was eager to destroy the Eighth Route Army in front of him in order to make a contribution.
However, this tactical decision ultimately led to the Japanese being in a difficult situation. During several hours of fighting, the Japanese army launched several attacks on Dushan, but failed, and was instead attacked by the Eighth Route Army from the farmland on the rear road, causing serious casualties.
After a morning of fighting, dozens of Japanese soldiers were forced to carry their bodies to Dushanzhuang next to Dushan Mountain for refuge. However, this choice led them to fall into an ambush by the Independent Brigade of the Eighth Route Army.
A few miles away from Dushanzhuang, the Japanese army was attacked, and they hurriedly occupied several commanding heights outside the village and quickly built fortifications.
In the fierce gun battle that broke out in Dushanzhuang, the 115th Battalion of the 3rd Independent Brigade of the Division became the main attacking force. In the face of the more than 200 Japanese troops who were frightened by the bow birds, although they carried dozens of wounded, they were no longer able to meet the battle.
The fighters of the 3rd Battalion cleared the way with grenades, and when the Japanese abandoned their positions, they fought hand-to-hand combat with broadswords and spears. Although the Japanese stubbornly resisted, they were still fighting for positions with the Eighth Route Army until the early morning of August 3.
During this period, ** quickly mobilized the 115th Regiment of the 1st Division to support Dushanzhuang. The 1st Battalion of the 3rd Regiment carried heavy ** and directly attacked the Japanese army. Due to the lack of ammunition, the Japanese began to shrink inward.
After 3 a.m., there were even puppet troops and Japanese troops who surrendered to the Eighth Route Army.
The siege of Yangsan achieved remarkable results: nearly 200 of the 230 Japanese soldiers were killed, and another 10 were captured by our troops. At the same time, our troops captured 1 infantry gun, 2 75mm mountain guns, 15 light and heavy machine guns, 150 rifles and 50 mules.
The commander of the Japanese army, Nagata Toshie Shaosa, was originally the captain of the 1st Brigade of the 212th Wing of the Japanese Army, but he only led more than 200 Japanese troops in this operation, less than the number of a brigade, and there were only 300 people in total plus the puppet army and porters.
Despite this, our army still described the result of the battle in its propaganda as the annihilation of a Japanese brigade.
In the battlefield behind enemy lines in Shandong, the Eighth Route Army completely annihilated the Japanese army for the first time, and ** and Chen Guang proved that they could win battles even in the open field with their victory in guerrilla warfare in the plains.
After the annihilation of Liangshan, only 20 Japanese soldiers escaped and fled back to Wenshang County in embarrassment. After in-depth research, the Japanese army found that the main force of the 115th Division was difficult to find, so it organized a 5,000-strong sweeping force in eastern Shandong and marched towards the Luxi guerrilla area.
However, in the half-month engagement, the Japanese 32nd Division fought with the Eighth Route Army many times, but it was never able to seize the main force of the 115th Division.
The Liangshan Annihilation Battle brought new hope to the squadron and stimulated the anti-Japanese enthusiasm of the people in the Luxi area. Since 1937, North China has fallen, frontal battles have been lost, the struggle behind enemy lines has been bogged down, and major victories have rarely been achieved.
However, the battle of annihilation in Yangsan reversed this situation and ignited the enthusiasm of the local people to join the army. As a result, the 115th Division added nearly 2,000 recruits and established an anti-Japanese information network in dozens of towns and villages, promoting the development of the War of Resistance behind enemy lines.
20 years later, Marshal ** also made a special mention of the "Liangshan Annihilation Battle", believing that this battle played a key role in the establishment of the anti-Japanese base in Shandong.
He said: "Without this great victory, there may not have been a later anti-Japanese base in Shandong. "Under the severe anti-Japanese situation in Shandong at that time, our party and our army lacked experience in fighting guerrillas on the plains, and many people felt pessimistic.
However, the "Liangshan Annihilation Battle" told the commanders and fighters of the Eighth Route Army that guerrilla warfare on the plains was completely feasible, which greatly boosted the morale of the anti-Japanese army and people. After that, the 115th Division fought for a long time in the Henan-Anhui Soviet region, fought against the Japanese army for more than 6 years, successfully established a vast anti-Japanese base behind enemy lines in Shandong, and made great contributions to the victory of the Anti-Japanese War.
This victory was the result of the joint efforts of all the anti-Japanese soldiers and civilians, and it was also a symbol of the brave fighting and tenacious struggle of the commanders and fighters of the Eighth Route Army. In short, the "Liangshan Annihilation Battle" is not only an important event in the history of the squadron, but also an important milestone to inspire the whole people and promote the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan.