The most powerful long battles of Shaanxi army against Japan

The most formidable battles of the Shaanxi army against Japan were: the eastward expedition of the Shaanxi army, the defense of Yongji, the June 6th campaign and the Zhongtiaoshan campaign.

1. Shaanxi army's eastward expedition

To mention the contribution of Shaanxi army in the defense of Zhongtiaoshan, we must start with the "Xi 'an Incident". After the Xi 'an Incident, Zhang Xueliang was taken to Nanjing by Chiang Kai-shek and Yang Hucheng was dismissed. Shaanxi Army is under the command of General Sun Weiru.

Sun Weiru is a native of Chang 'an District, Xi 'an. He is over 1.9 meters tall, with a big waist and a round waist. He is a typical Guanzhong man. He and Zhao Shoushan, a native of Huxian County, both graduated from Xi 'an Army Surveying and Mapping School at that time. They started as junior officers under Yang Hucheng and later became army commanders.

after the July 7th incident in p>1937, Sun Weiru took over as the chairman of Shaanxi provincial government and commander of the 38th Army (downsized from the 17th Route Army of Yang Hucheng).

in the following six months, Sun Weiru sent the 17th Division, the 529th Brigade of the 177th Division and the training regiment to the front line in turn, and participated in the battles of Baoding, Niangziguan and Xinkou, which delayed the Japanese aggressors' military progress with great sacrifices. After the battle of Niangziguan and the battle of Xinkou, these troops retreated westward along the Yellow River to rest.

in February, 1938, Zhao Shoushan's 17th Division and 529th Brigade entered Taihang Mountain area in southeastern Shanxi to carry out guerrilla warfare, which belonged to the battle sequence of Taihang East Road Army and was under the command of Zhu De and Peng Dehuai. In the meantime, the 17th Division also participated in the battle of Xiyang Valley, which was the first time that the Shaanxi army confronted the Japanese army in Zhongtiaoshan.

in July, 1938, the 38th Army was reorganized into the 31st Army, which was in charge of the 38th Army and the 96th Army, as well as the teaching and cavalry regiments directly under the control of the Army Corps. Sun Weiru was relieved of the post of chairman of the province, served as the head of the army, and under the command of Chiang Kai-shek, he led the various ministries in Shaanxi to cross the Yellow River to fight against Japan.

after Sun Weiru led his troops across the Yellow River, he regained more than a dozen counties such as Yongji and fenglingdu in one fell swoop. However, after the "Xuzhou Battle" in August 1938, the Japanese soldiers on the West Road pointed at fenglingdu to threaten Xi 'an.

2. Defending Yongji

Puzhou Town, Yongji County, not far from fenglingdu, is a frontier town to protect fenglingdu. If you want to keep fenglingdu, you must first hold Puzhou City. According to the local villagers, the terrain is not dangerous. The ancient city faces the Yellow River in the west and an open field in the northeast. The mechanized troops of the Japanese army can reach Puzhou directly through the open field.

In the foothills of Zhongtiao Mountain, six or seven kilometers southeast of Puzhou City, there is a Wangu Temple, which was built in the Northern Wei Dynasty, opposite to the Pujiu Temple in the northern mountain.

according to local rumors, this Pujiu Temple is the place where "the matchmaker leads the red line under the moon, and Zhang Shengqiao meets Cui Yingying" in The West Chamber. Both temples are built on mountains, and this pass is the only place to pass from Yuncheng to Puzhou. Therefore, it is of great significance to defend Puzhou City if these two highlands can be controlled.

In order to stop the Japanese army, Sun Weiru ordered the 31st Army Corps to dig an anti-tank trench about ten feet deep in the open space between the two temples. In August 1938, the battle of Yongji started. At dawn on the 8th, the 2th Division of the Japanese Army stationed in Yuncheng, with the strength of a brigade, equipped with four artillery squadrons, three tank squadrons and more than ten planes, attacked Yongji in three ways.

Sun Weiru commanded the 31st Army Corps to fight hard, and a bloody battle began. On August 15, 1938, in the fierce battle, a Japanese army led by traitors took the Wangu Temple from the right-wing mountain, which disrupted the position of the 31 ST Army.

Sun Weiru urgently ordered the teaching regiment known as the "Iron Army" to rescue Wangu Temple. Li Zhenxi, the head of the teaching regiment, led two battalions to recapture Wangu Temple, and the Japanese army retreated to Xiyaowen Village.

"It was already late and it was raining lightly. But I don't know if Xiyaowen Village is still in our hands. Li Zhenxi told my father that it took a long time to figure out the situation. My father said, whether it is our people or the enemy, we should rush in first. " Zhang Zhenji, son of Zhang Xiwen, battalion commander of 3rd Battalion, said.

Zhang Xiwen is a native of Zhang Gui Village, Linwei District, Weinan City. He was admitted to Nanjing Central Military Academy in 193. After graduation, he was assigned to the 17th Route Army Teaching Camp in Yang Hucheng. On that day, Zhang Xiwen took the lead in rushing into Xiyaowen Village. Unexpectedly, the Japanese army deployed heavy troops in the village. After the third battalion rushed into the village, it was violently blocked by the Japanese army.

Zhang Xiwen led the 3rd Battalion to start a street battle with the Japanese army. From the evening of the first day to the morning of the next day, the Japanese kept increasing their troops, while the 3rd Battalion was left with only 1 soldiers. Later, Zhang Xiwen and all the soldiers were killed. Subsequently, the Japanese army took advantage of the situation to capture Puzhou City. On August 17th, the Japanese army surrounded Yongji City from the east, south and north (the Yellow River in the west).

At about 5 pm, the Japanese army rushed into the city under the cover of tanks and artillery, and the China army launched a street fight in the city. Even the cooks brandished kitchen knives and rushed into the enemy group ... At about 6 pm, Yongji fell, and 5 officers and men of the China army died heroically.

China's army retreated to Han Yang Town, the last line of defense with fenglingdu. At that time, the 31st Army Corps fought a desperate battle. If it didn't succeed, it would die. With such determination and the support of ordinary people, a small Han Yang town was attacked by the Japanese army for half a month, but it was not won.

3. The Battle of June 6th

After the Yongji Campaign, the various units of China's army were assembled and the defense of Zhongtiaoshan was basically ready. Sun Weiru deployed the main forces in Xiexian, Yuncheng, Anyi and Xiaxian to guard the western section of Zhongtiao Mountain. At this point, the Sun Department's defensive land spans more than 3 miles and the depth is 3 to 4 miles, which is one of the important battlefields in North China to defend the Yellow River and prevent the enemy from invading the south and invading the west.

The "bloodiness" shown by Shaanxi Army in Yongji Defence War was rewarded. In November 1938, Sun Bu was reorganized into the Fourth Army, with Sun Weiru as the commander-in-chief. Besides the original two armies, the troops under his jurisdiction also governed the 47th Army of Sichuan Army in Li Jiayu. Seven months later, on June 6, 1939, a fierce battle broke out again, known in history as the "June 6 Campaign".

On April 17, 215, Fu Pingning, director of the Literature and History Office of Pinglu County Political Consultative Conference in Yuncheng City, introduced that in June 1939, more than 3, men from the 2th and 35th divisions of the Japanese army, under the cover of more than 3 fighter planes, launched an attack on Maojindu, the Yellow River ferry at the western end of Zhongtiao Mountain. The 38th Army of Zhao Shoushan and the 96th Army of Li Xingzhong were deployed in Maojindu area.

Maojindu, fenglingdu and Dayudu are also called the three ancient ferries of the Yellow River, which is called the land of "Sanjin Pingfan".

On June 8th, 1939, the Japanese army captured Pinglu and occupied Maojindu on the 1th, isolating the 38th Army from the 96th Army. Li Xingzhong, commander of the 96th Army, had to retreat to the south bank of the Yellow River under the cover of soldiers.

However, other soldiers of the 96th Army were not so lucky. In a cropland in Dagounan Village, Ruicheng County, there stands a stone tablet set by volunteers, which records the tragic battle that took place here that year. It was written that the 157th Regiment of the 96th Army and the soldiers of the Engineering Battalion held on for several days in the "June 6th Campaign", but they ran out of ammunition and food until the whole army was wiped out.

Xiao Yongping, director of the Information Department of the Propaganda Department of Ruicheng County Committee, is a folk researcher in this history. Many old people he interviewed confirmed that after running out of ammunition and food, some soldiers retreated to try to break out, but many people were killed by Japanese machine guns.

Because the old people in the village all know this history, there is no one to grow crops on a wide piece of land behind the tombstone, and it is still a pure yellow land. Below, there are countless anti-Japanese soldiers' bones buried.

a few miles away, it is rumored that the little soldiers in the engineering barracks would rather die than jump over the Matou Cliff of the Yellow River. Xiao Yongping said that at that time, most of the soldiers in these engineering barracks were very young, and some had not even fired their guns. Seeing the Japanese calling, they could only jump off the cliff to survive. Matou Cliff is more than 1 meters high, and there is no shelter under the cliff, so there is almost no possibility of survival if you jump.

It is two or three miles away from the Yellow River, and it is impossible to jump directly into the Yellow River from the cliff here.

Even so, these "Lengwa" in Shaanxi never thought of surrendering. According to Zhang Tiezheng, a descendant of the local Fourth Army veteran, the soldiers are determined not to surrender. At that time, there were dozens of female soldiers in the 96 th Army Department who didn't keep up with the troops. They were desperate and walked hand in hand into the Yellow River from Shakoutan and were swallowed up by the rushing river.

According to statistics, in the "June 6th Campaign", only 96 troops suffered more than 5, casualties, and even more civilians were killed and injured. Only in the Shakoutan area of the Yellow River, there were 4, China soldiers and civilians shot dead by the Japanese, and the river was full of floating corpses, which became the first "big floating corpse" of the Yellow River during the Anti-Japanese War.

However, after the adjustment was completed, Sun Weiru dispatched troops to take the initiative to attack, and after ten days of fierce fighting, he completely recovered his original position, breaking the Japanese attempt to sweep Zhongtiao Mountain.

For many years, with the Zhongtiaoshan Anti-Japanese War being known by more and more people, the number of people who come to burn paper in Tomb-Sweeping Day has increased every year. In April, 211, Xiao Yongping, together with many volunteers and with the help of a Chinese-American, built a "Zhongtiaoshan anti-Japanese hero who jumped into the Yellow River and died".

4. Battle of Zhongtiaoshan

From 1938 to 1941, there were 13 battles in Zhongtiaoshan area, but the scale was not large. However, a real crisis is approaching quietly.

At the end of p>194, the Japanese government adjusted the operational guidelines for China, and made a decision that "the China Incident must be solved quickly", demanding that "the last active battle should be carried out before the autumn of 1941 to try to solve the China Incident." In addition, China's ally, the Soviet Union, also signed a non-aggression treaty with Japan to resist the German invasion.

Therefore, the Japanese army was able to mobilize its main force to fight, aiming at opening up the North China Passage and completely destroying the national army stationed in Zhongtiaoshan, threatening Xi 'an, Luoyang and even Chongqing.

Although the senior officials of the Kuomintang are aware of the Japanese attempt to attack Zhongtiaoshan on a large scale, they believe that the Japanese ambition lies in crossing the Yellow River and taking Xi 'an and Luoyang directly. Therefore, heavy troops were sent to guard the two places to prevent the Japanese from crossing the river, and even the defenders of Zhongtiaoshan were transferred to Luoyang for garrison.

Among them, Sun Weiru's Fourth Army was also transferred on the eve of Jinnan Battle. This Shaanxi army was praised as "Zhongtiaoshan Iron Pillar" by Wei Lihuang, commander of the First Theater, because of its disastrous victory in the "June 6th Campaign".

After Sun Weiru was transferred, it meant that the original 24, defenders in Zhongtiaoshan suddenly became 18,. According to some data, the army seems to have 18, people. In fact, one-third of them are doing business, one-third are farming, and only one-third are practicing. Then only these 6 thousand people are actually fighting. The Japanese, on the other hand, increased their troops to 1,, and in fact, the Japanese army occupied an absolute advantage.

At the same time, because the various units have been stationed for a long time and have not changed their camps, the Japanese spies have clearly understood the situation of the various legions. Even when both sides get cold feet, the enemy can call out the names of the Kuomintang army battalions and heads.

In this situation, on May 7th, 1941, the Battle of Zhongtiaoshan broke out. Before and after the campaign lasted for more than a month, due to insufficient preparation in advance and lack of unified command, except for a few breakthroughs, most of China's troops broke up, captured 35, people and abandoned 42, bodies.