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In July 1937, the full-scale War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression began, and hundreds of thousands of Japanese troops began to invade the Central Plains from the northeast. Although the people had already known that the Japanese army would launch a full-scale war, it was only when the war started that the people really saw the horror of the Japanese army.
With the advancement of major battles such as Songhu, Taiyuan, and Xuzhou, the iron hooves of the Japanese army stepped on various parts of China step by step. On the frontal battlefield, although it paid a great price, it did not successfully contain the rapid offensive of the Japanese army. North China, Shandong, Henan, Hubei and other places, or the whole territory or most of it, have fallen into the hands of the enemy.
But what is surprising is that the Japanese army spared the Eighth Route Army, which was stationed in northern Shaanxi and had only a few tens of thousands of troops.
Why didn't the Japanese army take the initiative to attack Yan'an? Is it really that I was scared by our army?
Click to pay attention and learn the story of the Eighth Route Army's Anti-Japanese War.
In 1937, after accumulating strength for many years, the Japanese army brazenly launched a full-scale attack on Chinese soil. Because of the negative attitude of the people towards the war before, the soldiers failed to prepare accordingly when the war came. In addition, there has always been intrigue between the major warlord forces within the country, and the military strength of the Japanese army itself far exceeds that of the people, so the resistance on the frontal battlefield is not optimistic.
In early August 1937, the Japanese army sent marines to attack Shanghai, the most developed city in China, and the Songhu War of Resistance broke out. Prior to this attack, the Japanese were still using their usual assault mode. Its marines took the initiative to provoke a dispute with the Chinese military in an attempt to repeat the two incidents of "18 September" and "7 July".
But as China's economic powerhouse and most prosperous commercial city, the Shanghai area is far more valuable to Chiang than Shenyang and Beijing. On the second day of the Japanese attack, the Ninth Army stationed in the Shanghai area successfully surrounded the Japanese marines who had landed in the operation. However, due to the superiority of the Japanese army's equipment and the continuous reinforcement of its naval and air forces, the Ninth Army, which surrounded the enemy, failed to take the enemy after launching charges again and again.
As the battle continued to drag, the Japanese army began to continuously increase troops in the Shanghai area, and ** also began to urgently mobilize combat troops to help Shanghai. A large-scale, tragic and unusual battle was staged in Shanghai.
During the three-month operation, the Japanese army mobilized eight main combat divisions and regiments, and reinforced two brigades with a total of more than 200,000 people. ** Nearly 150 main divisions, with a total of more than 800,000 troops put into the battlefield. Among these troops, there are many elite trump cards that Lao Chiang cherished the most, such as the ** Teaching Corps and the 87th Division.
In order to keep Shanghai and crush the Japanese army's plan to destroy China in three months, ** launched a stubborn resistance on the frontal battlefield. But because of the internal chaos and the fact that there is indeed a big gap in military strength. ** Under the loss of more than 300,000 compatriots, the troops had no choice but to withdraw from Shanghai. China's most prosperous metropolis fell, devastated by the Japanese invaders.
In September of the same year, the main force of the Japanese army in North China began to march towards Shanxi, trying to open another road to the hinterland of the Central Plains. In mid-September, the Battle of Taiyuan broke out. The Japanese army mobilized four divisions with a total of 140,000 troops from Beiping, Tianjin and other important towns in North China, and advanced to the Taiyuan area by three routes.
The Kuomintang and the Communist Party invested about 280,000 people to launch sectional blockades in Zhangjiakou, Datong, Niangziguan and other areas in an attempt to stop the Japanese army's invading footsteps. In this process, the troops of the Eighth Route Army contributed to the "Pingxingguan Victory", breaking the false lie that the Japanese army was "invincible" before, and enhancing the confidence of the squadron in the War of Resistance.
However, the partial victory could not make up for the overall loss, because there was a major problem in the scheduling, the Niangzi Pass was lost, and the Japanese army successfully entered and occupied Taiyuan.
In December 1937, the Japanese army gathered troops in the Shanghai area and launched an attack on Nanjing, the capital of China. Although there were corresponding precautions and a large number of combat fortifications were built in the Nanjing area, the 150,000 ** troops still failed to win the victory in the defense of Nanjing. Relying on the superiority of naval and air forces, the Japanese army easily broke through the water defenses of Nanjing. Under the leadership of some traitors, the Japanese army bypassed the tight defense and entered the city of Nanjing. As a large number of Japanese troops entered the city, the Kuomintang troops stationed in Nanjing suffered a serious blow. On December 14, 1937, the Japanese troops fully occupied Nanjing and began the tragic ** operation.
Although Lao Chiang has invested a large number of ** troops since then, he has organized many major battles in an attempt to stop the Japanese army's step-by-step attack. However, the national ** was always at a disadvantage, and the Japanese army invaded a large area of China in a short period of time, and a large area of land north of the Yangtze River fell into the hands of the Japanese invaders.
As the Japanese army occupied most of Shanxi, Shaanxi, which was across the river, was exposed to the eyes of the Japanese army. But what is strange is that the fierce Japanese army did not launch a cross-river attack, and launched an attack on the Eighth Route Army, which had a total strength of only tens of thousands of people and equipment far behind the first army.
What's the secret?
At the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War, the Japanese army drove straight into China and occupied a large area of China. Why did the Japanese army stop at the Yellow River after occupying most of Shanxi and voluntarily give up the capture of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo border area?
In fact, the reason why the Japanese army made this seemingly unbelievable behavior was because of a battle between the Japanese army and the Eighth Route Army. It was this battle that dispelled the arrogance of the Japanese army and made the Japanese abandon the battle plan of crossing the river to attack the Eighth Route Army.
And this far-reaching battle is the Battle of Wucheng.
In March 1938, the Japanese army successfully occupied Linfen, an important town in Shanxi. After a period of rest, the Japanese troops stationed in Linfen divided into two routes and continued to attack China. One of them, a force of about 5,000 men, went all the way to the west, in a vain attempt to forcibly occupy the crossing of the Yellow River and achieve its goal of invading the border area.
And the troops in the area near the crossing of the Yellow River were the 115th Division under **. Although at this time, Mr. Lin had gone to the Soviet Union because he was accidentally shot, but Chen Guang, as the acting division commander, and the political commissar were both good hands. After receiving the instructions of ***, the two immediately followed the chairman's arrangement and launched an ambush centered on Wucheng, the place where the Japanese army must pass.
In order to test the combat strength of the 5,000 Japanese troops, Chen and Luo only sent a guard company to engage in skirmishes with the Japanese army in the Wucheng area. After figuring out that the enemy was definitely the elite of the Japanese army, Chen Luo and the others took the initiative to abandon Wucheng and make another plan to annihilate.
At that time, although the 115th Division had the title of division on its head, due to the battlefield transfer, there was actually only one brigade with a total of more than 4,000 troops, which was basically the same as the number of Japanese troops. Judging from the battle loss ratio between China and Japan in the early days of the Anti-Japanese War, it was impossible for the 115th Division to eat this group of Japanese troops under such circumstances.
However, Chen and Luo were very interested in this group of Japanese soldiers, and vowed to tear some flesh and blood from them, so that they would dispel the idea of invading the border area.
After comprehensively considering the occupation, the two finally decided to launch an ambush with Wucheng as the center. After the Japanese army occupied Wucheng, only more than 200 people were left to garrison, responsible for providing supplies for the main force, and the rest of the main force rushed to the Yellow River crossing. If the Japanese army in the Wucheng area is surrounded and the method of encirclement and reinforcement is adopted, it is likely to be able to inflict heavy losses on this group of Japanese troops. As for the Japanese troops in the area around Wucheng, they were handed over to the Jin Sui Army under Yan Laoxi, as well as the 686th Regiment under our army.
The key to this ambush battle is the 200 Japanese troops in the Wucheng area, and only by taking this place and cutting off the supply of the Japanese army can we mobilize the main Japanese army to return to reinforcements and fall into the ambush of our army.
Don't look at the Japanese army here, there are only more than 200 people, but with advanced ** and strong fortifications, the Japanese army of more than 200 people is enough to resist the attack of our main force for a while.
Fortunately, our army can always play to its strengths and find the enemy's weaknesses. Under the arrangement of Chen and Luo, our army took advantage of the night to launch an encirclement attack on Wucheng. At that time, it was the middle of the night, and the Japanese army was in a deep sleep, and before they could pick up the **, they fell into the hands of the Eighth Route Army. That night, our army successfully occupied Wucheng and annihilated more than 100 enemies.
When the main force of the Japanese army, which was halfway there, learned the news, it immediately organized a team of 1,000 people and began to retreat quickly. And this unit naturally quickly fell into the encirclement of the main forces of the 685th Regiment of our army. Another line of Japanese troops from Linyi, which happened to be east of the Wucheng area, also sent a force of more than 1,000 people to the Wucheng area after learning the news. Our army had long expected that the Japanese army would make such a move, and had already arranged for the 686th Regiment to wait on the road.
The Japanese troops who had returned from the ferry area quickly lost their fighting spirit and approached the main force after encountering stubborn resistance from our troops. The other Japanese army, which came to the rescue, fought a bloody battle with our blocking troops. Together with the local guerrillas, the main forces of our army engaged in fierce white-knuckle battles with this Japanese army.
In the end, after paying the price of more than 500 people, our army successfully eliminated this support army. In the first battle of Wucheng, our army killed and wounded more than 2,000 Japanese invaders, and captured a large amount of first-class ammunition, but only more than 500 people were killed or wounded. This battle successfully suppressed the arrogance of the invading Japanese army, and also made the Japanese army in North China give up the plan of crossing the Yellow River west and attacking Shaanxi and Gansu.
But can a single operation of the Eighth Route Army ensure the safety of Shaanxi and Gansu for a long time? Are there other reasons?
At the beginning of the Anti-Japanese War, the Japanese army drove straight into China and occupied a large area of China. Why did the Japanese army stop at the Yellow River after occupying most of Shanxi and voluntarily give up the capture of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningbo border area?
In fact, in addition to the heroic fighting of the Eighth Route Army itself, there was also an objective reason, which to a certain extent restrained the energy of the Japanese army and forced it to abandon its plan against Shaanxi and Gansu.
First of all, the first is the containment of the frontal battlefield. Although since the outbreak of the National War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, ** has basically been in a state of defeat, but it has really played a role in restraining it. After the Kuomintang was confined to Chongqing, Lao Chiang also had to change his attitude towards our party. After all, judging from the war situation at that time, the Chongqing area was relatively safe and far from the front between China and Japan. However, the Shaanxi and Gansu regions in the north are closest to Chongqing, and if the Japanese army enters and occupies Shaanxi and Gansu, Chongqing will be in danger.
So in order to protect himself, Lao Jiang also took the initiative to reinforce a lot of ** troops in Shanxi.
During this period, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party helped each other and fought many battles against the Japanese army in Shanxi. Through the combination of guerrilla warfare and positional warfare, the squadron locked the Japanese army in Shanxi to the death in the Zhongtiao Mountain area, and never gave it a chance to break through the defensive line and enter Shaanxi.
Although in the later stage of the Anti-Japanese War, Lao Chiang got a respite because the Japanese army was busy with public security warfare, and once again provoked the contradiction between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party. However, because of the excessive pulling and loss before, and the fatigue of dealing with the Eighth Route Army active in the rear, the Japanese army did not launch another attack on Shaanxi.
In addition, changes in the international situation have also changed the Japanese army's strategy of aggression against China, and it no longer regards the Shaanxi and Gansu regions as its own offensive focus. One of the most crucial was the unfolding of the Pacific War.
As the war situation in the Chinese battlefield fell into a stalemate, Japan could not wait to launch the Pearl Harbor air raid to open up the situation, and the Pacific War began.
At the beginning of the war, the Japanese army relied on the first-mover advantage and won many victories, large and small. This gave Japan great confidence in its troubled situation and made it firm in its policy of outward expansion. The Japanese General Staff Headquarters even rekindled its confidence in fighting against China and planned to launch attacks in Xi'an, Yan'an, Lanzhou, and other areas of northwest China.
However, after the order was issued to the Japanese garrison in North China, it was not implemented for a long time. And the reason for this change is that the situation in the Pacific has changed.
Although in the early days of the war, the Japanese army had a certain advantage by winning by surprise. But after all, its opponent is the United States, which is known as the "world's factory", and its industrial production capacity is far from being comparable to that of an island country like Japan. In the middle and late stages of the Pacific War, the strong industrial production capacity of the US military showed its terrible characteristics. Giant ships are like dumplings and join the US Navy. One plane after another, artillery shells quickly made a trip in the United States and soon arrived at the front line of the Pacific Theater. In the face of such an industrial behemoth, it is clear that Japan has no chance of winning.
With the further expansion of the naval and air power of the United States, the Japanese forces in the Pacific suffered a comprehensive blow. This crushing defeat not only dampened the Japanese army's confidence in expansion, but also caused it to have no more energy to devote to foreign expansion. Therefore, the offensive plan issued by the General Staff Headquarters can only become waste paper and become a bubble in the air.
After 1942, the Japanese army was basically unable to launch a large-scale campaign in the Chinese theater, and began to shift its operational focus to the Pacific, hoping to recover the decline at sea. However, it is clear that this strategic shift has not had an effect, and the economic pressure within Japan has increased, and contradictions have gradually erupted.
In 1945, with the war situation and the domestic situation completely deteriorating, Japan announced its surrender. The Japanese army's plan to advance Shaanxi and Gansu has completely become a plan that will remain on paper forever.
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