Did the Eighth Route Army and the Japanese Army engage in positional warfare?

Huangyadong Defense Battle

During the Anti-Japanese War, the Eighth Route Army mostly focused on guerrilla warfare in operations. It also fought some mobile warfare under favorable conditions, but it fought positional warfare, especially positional defense. The number of battles is relatively rare. However, in the winter of 1941, the Special Agent Regiment of the Eighth Route Army Headquarters fought a successful position defense battle in order to defend the Huangyadong (also known as Huangyandong) arsenal, that is, the Huangyadong Defense Battle. This was also a very famous positional defense battle fought by the Eighth Route Army during the entire eight-year Anti-Japanese War.

The Japanese army's frontline points directly at the Huangyadong Arsenal, and the Eighth Route Army Headquarters Secret Service Group is waiting

The Huangyadong Arsenal is located in the northwest of Licheng County, Shanxi, between Licheng County, Liao County, Wuxiang County is the largest weapons and ammunition production base established by the Eighth Route Army behind enemy lines in North China during the Anti-Japanese War. The arsenal was built and improved from 1939 to 1941 under the personal leadership of Zuo Quan, deputy chief of staff of the Eighth Route Army. Because it was built in a large natural stone cave called Huangyadong, which is 25 meters high, 20 meters wide and 40 meters deep, embedded in the west cliff of Huangya Peak at an altitude of more than 1,600 meters, it is called Huangyadong Arsenal. Under Zuo Quan's personal leadership and the care of Zhu De and Peng Dehuai, the arsenal's production developed rapidly. In 1940, the arsenal developed and produced Type 55 rifles, Type 81 rifles and a large number of various landmines. At the beginning of 1941, the 50th gun and its shells were developed and produced. From January to November 1941, the Huangyadong Arsenal produced more than 800 Type 50 artillery pieces and more than 20,000 artillery shells. In 1941, the maximum monthly output of the Huangyadong Arsenal was more than 400 rifles, 50 50-gun guns, and more than 2,000 artillery shells. After this batch of weapons was transported to the front line, it effectively enhanced the combat firepower of the Eighth Route Army. Commander-in-Chief Zhu De once praised the arsenal as the "jewel in the palm" of the Eighth Route Army.

In the battle with the Eighth Route Army, the Japanese army captured a small amount of Type 81 rifles, 50 artillery pieces and other weapons produced by Huangyadong Arsenal. After research, they found that the performance of these weapons was no worse than similar weapons in their hands. This aroused the Japanese invaders' attention and fear of the Huangyadong Arsenal. Tokyo news even reported that the Huangyadong Arsenal has at least 3,000 workers and is a modern arsenal with advanced equipment. The Japanese army regarded it as a serious problem and wanted to get rid of it quickly. For this reason, the Japanese army has stepped up its "mopping up" of the Huangyadong area since 1940. In the spring and summer of 1941, the Japanese army conducted two exploratory attacks on the Huangyadong Arsenal. However, due to harassment by local soldiers and civilians and the tight defense of the Eighth Route Army Headquarters' special agent regiment, their plan to destroy the arsenal failed.

On October 30, 1941, the Japanese 36th Division and the 4th Independent Mixed Brigade, under the orders of North China Front Commander Okamura Ningji, dispatched more than 7,000 troops under the cover of aircraft. Two routes, the north and the south, launched a "surprise attack" and "sweep" on the Taihang Anti-Japanese Base Area, in an attempt to capture and annihilate the Eighth Route Army headquarters and the 129th Division, and completely destroy the Huangyadong Arsenal. On the evening of November 3, when more than 2,000 Japanese troops dispatched from Licheng entered 30 miles away from Xiananhui Village in Liao County, they were discovered by the Eighth Route Army detachment responsible for reconnaissance. Based on all aspects of intelligence, Peng Dehuai and Zuo Quan judged that the purpose of the Japanese army's "mopping up" was to jointly attack the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army and destroy the Huangyadong Arsenal. So the two men immediately ordered that most of the headquarters' special agents tasked with protecting the arsenal should go out to meet the enemy, use the favorable terrain to fight against the enemy step by step, and prevent the peak of their offensive momentum from reaching the headquarters agencies and the arsenal. Peng and Zuo also asked the troops of the 129th Division to cooperate on the outside and wait to defeat the enemy.

After receiving the mission, the head of the special agent group Ou Zhifu immediately led his troops to set off. When we first arrived at Shangwen Village, about 20 miles west of Huangyadong, we immediately exchanged fire with the Japanese vanguard. Subsequently, the special agent team cooperated with the 129th Division troops to set up an ambush at the mountain pass in the area of ??Fifty Mu and Yuanquan Village to attack the Japanese army. On November 5, the enemy rushed to Xijing Town, southeast of Huangyadong. That night, Peng Dehuai issued orders directly to Ou Zhifu via phone. He asked all the reserve teams of the special agent group to withdraw into Huangyadong immediately. All Huangyadong garrison troops entered the position before dawn, and emphasized that bargaining was not allowed in case of difficulties.

Finally, Zuo Quan specifically told Ou Zhifu to check again and quickly move the materials that had not been moved or buried in the factory and the personnel who had not evacuated to the designated location. Ou Zhifu immediately informed all battalions of Zuo Quan's instructions. At the same time, he asked the front-line companies of each battalion to pay close attention to the enemy's new movements.

The Japanese army's small-scale test of the "big knife" suffered a setback, and the secret service group calmly responded to the challenge and stabilized its position

On the afternoon of November 10, 1941, the Japanese army deployed its troops and began to test the artillery in an attempt to use Cannonballs clear mines. The soldiers of the mine-laying group of the special agent group engaged in "guerrilla" warfare with the enemy's artillery shells. After the enemy's full-scale shelling, they attacked and laid mines, waiting for the arrival of their infantry.

Before dawn on the 11th, the Japanese army made several sneak attacks at the south entrance, but they failed. After daybreak, they launched a strong attack on the south entrance. After a violent bombardment, the Japanese army launched a charge. In front of its attacking formation were more than a hundred sheep. The Japanese army originally wanted to use sheep to "ride the thunder" to clear the way, but they didn't know that the soldiers of the secret service group buried big thunder along the way, which would only sound when people stepped on it. The sheep's hooves are small and light, so except for occasionally stepping on a few minefields, the minefield is uneventful. The Japanese army seemed to be relieved. More than 300 infantrymen followed closely behind the sheep, trying to seize various targets separately and capture the arsenal in one fell swoop. Suddenly, rolling thunder fell from the sky, and the machine gun positions at the front of the 7th Company of the 3rd Battalion of the Special Agent Regiment also opened fire fiercely. The sheep in front of the mountain pass immediately fled for their lives, and the Japanese troops retreated in confusion. The Japanese army's first charge was repulsed, leaving more than 200 corpses scattered in front of the position, but there were no casualties in the secret service group.

An hour later, the Japanese army, which had suffered so much from the rolling thunder, started shelling again and targeted the position of the 7th Company of the Special Agent Regiment at the mountain pass in an attempt to weaken the power of my "Tiannu Sanhua". The Japanese army had two mountain cannons, and they fired at close range more than 2,000 meters away from the pass. Before the artillery fire stopped, the Japanese machine guns fired again, pressing towards the seventh company's position. With strong firepower to suppress the Japanese infantry, they began a second charge and rushed toward the mountain pass desperately. At this time, the bunker on the left side of the seventh company's pass had been chipped away by Japanese artillery fire, and the machine gunner was crushed under the rubble and passed out. The position of the 7th Company was overwhelmed by the Japanese firepower and had no chance to fight back. In the observation post, Ou Zhifu saw that the two mountain artillery pieces of the Japanese army were too bullying, so he notified the artillery platoon to prepare to kill them. At that time, the whole regiment only had two guns and 12 rounds of artillery shells, and each shot had to be approved by the headquarters. Ou Zhifu called Zuo Quan for instructions. Unexpectedly, Zuo Quan answered very simply: All 12 rounds were fired, three or four rounds hit the enemy's artillery positions, and the rest hit the enemy's group targets.

Following Ou Zhifu's order, two artillery shells accurately landed on the enemy's mountain artillery position, and all of a sudden the man and the artillery were overturned. The remaining shells also landed accurately on the enemy group, knocking down dozens of people.

After two fierce counterattacks, the firepower points on the forward position of the 7th Company have been basically exposed. After the Japanese infantry attack failed, they retaliated with powerful artillery fire. However, due to the very ingenious structure of the fortifications built by the leftist organization, it goes without saying that horizontal artillery is difficult to fire, and even curved artillery has basically no effect on it. The frustrated Japanese soldiers used poison gas. Ou Zhifu and the commander of the third battalion, Tu Yushan, were poisoned and passed out while observing the enemy's situation at the forward position.

After Zuo Quan received a report that the Japanese army had used poison gas, he instructed to immediately rescue the poisoned persons. Zuo Quan knew that the more disastrous the enemy's defeat was, the crazier his revenge would be. He looked at the map and analyzed that the 6th Company occupied the favorable terrain in the direction of Yushu Slope and could support the 7th Company with side fire. The 8th Company still occupied the broken bridge position, so the enemy would not be able to break through the defense line for a while. After analysis, Zuo Quan decisively ordered the Secret Service Regiment to ask the Sixth Company to support the Seventh Company's position at Nankou with side fire. At the same time, he asked the Seventh Company to step up the supply of personnel, weapons and ammunition in the forward positions, repair fortifications, and prepare for new enemy attacks.

After emergency rescue by the health worker, the poisoned Ou Zhifu woke up. At this time, the forward troops had repelled two enemy attacks. Battalion Commander Tu was slightly poisoned and had been wearing a gas mask to direct operations. He briefly reported the battle to Ou Zhifu. After Zuo Quan learned that Ou Zhifu had woken up, he immediately called the third battalion command post. Zuo Quan asked with concern about Ou Zhifu's poisoning situation and whether he could continue to command operations. Ou Zhifu refused to get out of the firing line.

Zuo Quan then asked the operator to answer the call of the secret service group. Zuo Quan reminded Ou Zhifu on the phone to be calm and to stand by to act in order to adapt to changes, and said that detailed steps had been sent by telegram.

After receiving the telegram, Ou Zhifu immediately adjusted his deployment and ordered Chief of Staff Guo Shuangjiang to lead the second, third platoon and seventh company of the fourth company to counterattack. After heroic fighting, the commanders and fighters of the Special Agent Regiment resumed the forward position of the Fourth Company. However, a small number of enemies climbed into the crevices of the rock cliffs on the high ground of Paoma Station and hid in them, but they were not discovered at the time. After a while, the enemy organized a new attack.

At this time, Ou Zhifu came to the command post of the second battalion. After observation, Ou Zhifu believed that the Japanese army started from the most difficult and dangerous place, mainly to seize the ditch at the foot of the horse racing station and use the road to attack the water cellar cave where the arsenal was located. So he reported the situation to Zuo Quan and suggested that the enemy should make way for the garrison to withdraw to the mountains and lay mines at the bottom of the "line of sky" ditch. Then, they would attack with fire from both sides and eliminate the enemy at the bottom of the ditch. Zuo Quan thought about the map for a while, and finally agreed to Ou Zhifu's suggestion.

This trick of the secret service team really worked. The Japanese troops fought all morning, and dozens of people were killed sporadically before they advanced more than 200 meters. Even so, the Japanese army was quite proud. While they urged the people behind them to quickly climb up the cliff and consolidate the area they had just occupied, they also attacked the ditch from the right, trying to capture the entrance of the Shuijiao Cave in one fell swoop. At first, the Japanese army was eager to occupy the entrance of the cave and attacked from multiple directions. As a result, they stepped on many landmines. In order to reduce casualties, they changed to attack all the way. In this way, they were caught in the fire from the high ground on the left side of the secret service group and the cliff on the right side of the water cellar entrance. The Japanese army could neither hide nor escape. For a whole afternoon, more than 200 Japanese troops who rushed to the bottom of the ditch were all wiped out before they could get close to the core fortifications at the entrance of the water cellar.

The Japanese army suffered the loss of the Eighth Route Army's side firepower, so on the 14th, they attacked the west mountain of Taohuazhai and 1568 Highlands, the 2nd Battalion of the Special Agent Regiment, in an attempt to eliminate the firepower threat from the flanks. But as soon as the battle began, the enemy's attack was withstood by the soldiers of the second platoon of the Fourth Company of the Special Agent Regiment. The battle remained stalemate all morning. Ou Zhifu was worried that the troops would suffer too many casualties, so he ordered the second platoon to withdraw to the company's main position. After occupying the position of the second row of the Fourth Company of the Special Agent Regiment, the Japanese army consolidated a little and then violently attacked the position at the entrance of the water cellar. However, at this time the enemy was at the end of its strength, and by the evening the attack had lost its stamina and had to withdraw its troops hastily.

On the 15th, the Japanese army strengthened its troops and firepower and divided its troops into two groups to attack the Shuijiaodongkou factory area defended by the 8th Company of the Special Agent Regiment. The battle presented the most intense scene in the past four days: bullets were like locusts, cannons were like volleys of fire, explosions were heard continuously, smoke was thick on the Huangya Cave, and the sky was dark and the earth was dark. The commanders and fighters of the Eighth Company of the Special Agent Regiment fought off several enemy attacks one to ten, and held the position from the south entrance to the broken bridge and the entrance of the water cellar.

While commanding the battle, Ou Zhifu reported the situation to the Eighth Route Army headquarters. Peng Dehuai instructed that the enemy just wanted to "visit" the arsenal. After the machines were moved, they could just climb in and visit. Zuo Quan asked Ou Zhifu on the phone if the five days were up and he could hold on. Ou Zhifu confidently replied that he could hold on for another five days. Zuo Quan happily told him that the foreign reinforcements of the Eighth Route Army were about to arrive, and it would be enough for the special agent team to tie up the enemy for another three or four days. However, he demanded that the special agent group must be stationary and withdraw all troops to the second line at night, both to lure the enemy deep and to defend tenaciously. After dark, Ou Zhifu adjusted his deployment according to Zuo Quan's instructions. Except for those who held their positions, the seventh and eighth companies used night cover to lay mines on the road leading to the entrance of the water cellar and on the enemy's retreat route, and then withdrew to the second line. In this way, the battle situation is alive again, and the secret service team can fight from a high position again.

Throughout the whole day on the 16th, the enemy was still blocked at the entrance of the water cellar and could not enter the factory area. The angry Japanese army used flamethrowers, and the position at the entrance of the water cellar suddenly burst into flames. In the evening, Ou Zhifu reported to Zuo Quan that the arsenal's machinery and equipment had been transferred, leaving only one large boiler that could not be transferred, and asked for instructions. Zuo Quan asked Ou Zhifu to send people to blow up all the buildings in the factory, especially the boiler room. After blowing up the rocks, he buried mines around it and marked it.

Zuo Quan ordered the pursuit to take advantage of the victory, and the Japanese army was forced to withdraw from Licheng on the night of the 20th. His planned one-month "mopping up" plan was shattered.

The Special Agent Regiment was commended for its brilliant performance

During the battle to defend Huangyadong, the commanders and fighters of the Special Agent Regiment went through hardships and fought bloody battles for eight days and nights, and finally won the final victory in the battle.

On November 22, the Eighth Route Army headquarters announced the results of the Huangyadong defense battle. In this battle, under the direct command of Zuo Quan, the Eighth Route Army Headquarters Special Agent Regiment with 1,300 people resisted the attack of more than 5,000 Japanese troops, annihilating nearly a thousand enemies, with 166 casualties on our side (including more than 40 sacrifices), and the ratio of casualties between the enemy and ourselves was 6 ∶1, brilliant record.

At the end of November, Zuo Quan came to Suyugou, Hong Kong Town, where the Special Agent Regiment is based, to warmly congratulate and cordially express condolences to all the officers and men of the Special Agent Regiment, and held a celebration summary meeting for the Special Agent Regiment on behalf of the headquarters. At the meeting, Zuo Quan read out the congratulatory messages from Zhu De and Peng Dehuai to the commanders and soldiers of the entire regiment, and read out the order from the Eighth Route Army Headquarters to confer the honorary titles of "Model in Execution of Orders" and "Heroic Regiment of Huangyadong Defense Battle" to the Special Agent Regiment. A banner with the words "Defend the water cellar and achieve military exploits".

After the commendation ceremony, Zuo Quan summarized the battle. He said happily: The Huangyadong defense battle lasted for eight days and nights, and the fight was very good. The special agent team finally achieved a record of 6:1 casualties between the enemy and ourselves, creating an example of defeating more with less, and defeating the strong with weak, ensuring that The safety of personnel and machinery and equipment in the arsenal has been successfully completed and the glorious mission assigned by the headquarters has been achieved. Zuo Quan also said that the victory of this battle has many meanings: first, it ensures the safety of personnel, machines, and materials in the arsenal; second, it eliminates the enemy's effective forces and severely blows the arrogance of the Japanese army; third, it exercises The troops have improved their combat effectiveness; fourth, they have smashed the enemy's "mopping up", boosted the anti-Japanese fighting spirit of the soldiers and civilians in the base areas, and strengthened their confidence in the victory of the Anti-Japanese War; fifth, they have accumulated combat experience of holding on to defensive positions and annihilating a large number of enemies. Zuo Quan also pointed out the mistakes that existed in the battle, mainly the inaccurate judgment of the enemy's attack direction, insufficient mutual support of troops and firepower during the battle, and insufficient force in counterattacking the enemy at night. He asked the special agents to sum up experience, accept lessons, and make persistent efforts to maintain and carry forward the fine traditions and combat styles of the Huangyadong Defense War, accelerate the improvement of the combat effectiveness of the troops, and work with the people of the country to win the Anti-Japanese War.

In 1942, the Licheng County Government established the Martyrs' Monument in Huangyadong. The front of the monument is engraved with the battle to defend Huangyadong, and the back is engraved with more than 40 people who died heroically in the battle. The name of the martyr. In 1971, the Licheng County Government renovated the monument and erected a memorial tower more than two feet high in front of the monument, which read: "The revolutionary martyrs are immortal!" In 1980, the Huangyadong Arsenal and its defenses Begin minor renovations. In 1985, Huangya Cave was officially designated as a tourist area and opened to tourists. In order to commemorate the heroes who fought here and educate future generations, the local people's government built a memorial arch here. Deng Xiaoping personally inscribed three characters on the arch: Huangya Cave.