Xiangcheng is solid, Chen Geng cleverly sets up a pocket formation, the Japanese army: specializes in attacking the 386th Brigade. Chen Geng: I’ll beat you next time

In October 1939, the Japanese invaders successively gathered the main force of the 10th Division, the 11th Division, the 14th Division, the 27th Division, and the 114th Division, with 30,000 troops each. They were divided into eleven groups and carried out a large-scale "mopping up" of the Jinan base area. In response to the enemy's joint "mopping up" campaign, the main force of the Eighth Route Army was divided into several groups, cooperating with local army divisional activities, and launched a guerrilla war against the Japanese invaders on the plains. Deal with the enemy skillfully.

During this period, the 386th Brigade of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army led by Chen Geng repeatedly attacked enemies in various strongholds. Taking advantage of the darkness, soldiers of the 386th Brigade disguised themselves as civilians and quietly approached the enemy, launching an attack unexpectedly. By the time the enemy found out, the soldiers had already disappeared.

When the new regiment of the 386th Brigade was harassing the enemy, they would often mix with the farmers who were leaving the city to farm during the day and enter the city. When the night was quiet, they would blow up the enemy's ammunition depot and burn the enemy. supplies. In order to confuse the enemy, the New Regiment organized the surrounding people for several nights, bluffed, set up native guns and cannons, and pretended to attack the city. At first, the enemy thought it was just a small group of eight soldiers and ignored them. However, when they went up to the city, they heard shouts from all directions, They mobilized their troops and generals overnight in an attempt to fight the new regiment to the death. Unexpectedly, as soon as they arrived, the soldiers of the new regiment broke into pieces and became ordinary people in the surrounding villages. The enemy, Monk Zhanger, was at a loss. The angry Japanese, under the constant harassment of the new regiment of the 386th Brigade, were determined to find the main force of the Eighth Route Army and carry out a decisive battle. Based on the enemy's eagerness to fight, Chen Geng decided to lay a trap, lure the wolves into submission, and gather together to annihilate them. The Xiangchenggu battle was one of the typical examples of luring the enemy in-depth to ambush the Japanese army.

The southern Hebei Plain in midwinter. It was a bare area, and Chen Geng didn't sleep for several nights in a row in order to choose a suitable ambush point. After in-depth understanding and on-site investigation, Chen Geng selected the beach in the northwest of Xiangchenggu at the southern end of Wei County as an ambush point.

Xiangchenggu is located in the Heilonggang River Basin. It is surrounded by red willow trees and wild jujubes. The terrain is sloping. To the south of the depression, in Zhangjiazhuang, there is a large sand hill about three miles long and several feet high. It corresponds to Zhuangtou Village to the east, tightly sandwiching the depression, making it an ideal bag-shaped ambush position.

"This is an ideal ambush position. Especially the thick river sand is the best rope to tie up the enemy's mechanized troops!" Chen Geng said happily.

After Chen Geng organized the cadres of each regiment to secretly inspect the local terrain and features, a plan to lure the enemy into ambushing the Japanese army was formed in Chen Geng's mind.

Chen Geng ordered the first battalion of the 688th Regiment to be in front of Xiangchenggu. The main force of the regiment moved to the Zhangjiazhuang area to gather in preparation for a feint attack on Wei County; the supplementary regiment was responsible for the defense of the first line of Zhuangtou; the new regiment's cavalry company In order to lure enemy troops, they went to Wei County to pretend to attack the county town and lure the Japanese troops out. The new regiment detached one battalion to contain the surrounding enemies, and the remaining two battalions were responsible for cutting off the enemy's retreat.

Late at night on February 9, the night was as dark as pitch black, and the cold north wind made a biting roar. The west bank of the Laosha River in the northwest of Xiangchenggu is crowded with people. The sound of the impact of iron picks on the sand, stone and frozen soil echoes the roar of the violent cold wind, playing a special music. After a night's work, a hidden trench was completed without anyone noticing. The troops have quietly entered the position to ambush the enemy.

At the same time, the enemy-baiting troops also set off. The two battalions of the 688th Regiment, which were gathered in the Zhangjiazhuang area, quietly reached the foot of Wei County City and distributed themselves around. They set up ladders with bluffing and placed Take a siege posture. The cavalry company advanced to Wei County, deliberately exposing the troops' actions to the enemy.

When the Japanese troops in Wei County saw this posture, they thought it was the main force of the Eighth Route Army coming, and they all boarded the tower one after another. Unexpectedly, the siege troops just fired a false shot and quickly withdrew to the south of the city.

How could the supplementary brigade and Yasuda Infantry Squadron in the Japanese city miss such a good opportunity? The team was immediately assembled, and eight cars were sent out to pursue the cavalry company.

The cavalry company deliberately stayed away from the Japanese army, fighting and running away, allowing the Japanese army to catch up, and making it impossible for the Japanese army to catch up, luring the enemy deeper and deeper.

When the cavalry company entered Gengjiazhuang, they suddenly hid themselves. When the Japanese saw that the cavalry company was missing, they were very impatient. After a while, the cavalry company appeared again from two miles southeast of Xiangchenggu and launched a fierce attack on the Japanese army's flank and rear. The Japanese immediately directed the car convoy to leave the road and attack the cavalry company.

In this way, the enemy's nose was firmly held by the cavalry company, and they followed closely into the ambush circle.

Brigade Chief of Staff Zhou Xihan saw this situation with a telescope from the roof of the brigade command post, and happily reported to Chen Geng: "The enemy has taken advantage of our golden hook!"

The Japanese army aggressively pursued the cavalry company into the ambush circle. When they arrived at the North Street entrance of Gucun, Xiangcheng, with a crisp starting gun, the 688th Regiment ambushing there quickly opened fire on the enemy and destroyed a vehicle. car.

Only then did the Japanese realize that they had been fooled and suffered a sudden and violent attack. They immediately panicked and hurriedly organized troops to fight back. The Japanese squadron leader Yasuda picked up his binoculars and looked east, west, north, and west, but found nothing. Only a small group of troops from the south shot at him, so he immediately ordered to continue attacking our army's positions in the south. However, he was pushed back twice.

Yasuda seemed to feel that something was even worse, so he detached a force from east to south, trying to take my retreat in a roundabout way. As soon as he reached the flank of the frontal ambush force, he was attacked by someone who had already been ambushing me. The replenishment regiment's sortie there.

"Oh no, I've been ambushed by the Eighth Route Army!" Yasuda really panicked at this time. He realized that this should be a circle, not just a frontal ambush! In panic, he howled loudly and ordered: "Break out quickly! Break out quickly!"

Yasuda understood, but it was too late! At this moment, our troops from the west, south and east opened fire together. The Japanese troops hurriedly turned around and swarmed toward the north in a stumbling manner.

To the north is the entrance to the ambush circle. The terrain is low and it is impossible to build concealment fortifications in advance. It was originally planned that the new regiment would seize this side after the Japanese entered the ambush circle and seal the opening of the ambush circle.

But the new group has not arrived yet. The situation was very critical. The enemy relied on the manpower advantage and the rapid movement of the "cars" to set up two mountain guns and bombard them to the north. At the same time, they mobilized the "cars" to spread the distance into a fan shape and launch an all-out assault to the north.

At this moment, a new group of warriors suddenly rushed up the slope from the northwest, raised their guns and fired fiercely at the enemy, cutting off the enemy's only retreat.

The entrance to the north was blocked by the New Group, so the Japanese army became a turtle in a urn and was trapped in the center of the Dasha River. The Japanese's car got stuck in the sand, and the car sank deeper and deeper. Captain Yasuda was horrified and immediately ordered the Japanese to get out of the car and fight back. Hundreds of Japanese soldiers rushed to the new regiment's position with bayonets in hand. The brave soldiers threw grenades and picked up bayonets to fight the enemy. The dying Japanese army actually released poison gas. After the soldiers used grenades to disperse the poison gas, they picked up their bayonets and charged at the enemy. It was approaching evening, and Yasuda saw that it was difficult to break through, so he sent out a signal flare to ask for help. He was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot.

"Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, shall be", a loud blast of charge will sound, and the order for the general attack has arrived! The Eighth Route Army commandos and local civilians jumped out of their positions like tigers emerging from a hole, bayonets raised, and charged at the enemy from all directions.

In an instant, there was only the sound of killing, and the Japanese fell down one after another. After a fierce battle, the corpses of the Japanese were everywhere, and the desperate howls of the Japanese spread throughout the entire position! The Japanese cars were burned one by one, and thick smoke billowed out. At twelve o'clock in the night, the battle ended victoriously.

That night, our army began to clean the battlefield. The cavalry platoon found five wounded Japanese behind Shapo. One of them raised his knife and slashed at the platoon leader. The platoon leader jumped off his horse, hacked him to death, and captured the rest alive. The enemy who was hacked to death was Captain Yasuda. In this battle, 250 enemies were wiped out and eight Japanese were captured alive. Destroyed nine enemy cars. When the moon rose in the sky, the main force of the 386th Brigade, filled with the joy of victory, left Xiangchenggu wearing Kenguang.

The news of the victory reached the Southern Hebei Military Region, and the leaders of the military region spoke highly of it: "It shocked the entire Southern Hebei Liberated Area greatly, thus strengthening the confidence of the anti-Japanese military and civilians in the North China Plain that they will win."

Commander Liu also appreciated this battle very much. When summing up his experience, he said: "The pockets of the 386th Brigade are well arranged! Its advantages are, first, that it is good at showing weakness and luring the enemy, especially stimulating the enemy's arrogance to despise our army. Psychology; second, he was good at inducing an ambush into a mobile siege, and occupied nearby houses, leaving the Japanese with no way to immobilize and escape; third, he was good at coordinating actions. The ratio of casualties between the enemy and us in this battle was four. Comparatively, this was a beautiful ambush."

Shortly afterwards, Chiang Kai-shek and Wei Lihuang also called to commend the 386th Brigade.

The cheerful people praised the 386th Brigade in jingle: The 386th Brigade is a good man, led by Chen and Wang. There are pocket arrays on the beach and huge nets on all sides of Xiangcheng. The big car burst into flames, and the Japanese ghost saw the King of Hell. Relieve the hatred in our hearts and preserve our good hometown.

The 386th Brigade led by Chen Geng has won many battles since the Anti-Japanese War and has long been a thorn in the side of the Japanese army. After the Battle of Xiangchenggu, the enemy gathered another 70 vehicles and dispatched five aircraft to search and pursue the 386th Brigade for seven days. "Is it the 386th Brigade?" The enemy asked like this along the way. If they asked if it was not the case, the car would drive away in a flash. The day after the 386th Brigade camped at a certain place, enemy planes would come to conduct reconnaissance. However, the 386th Brigade had already moved, and the enemy could not find the whereabouts of the 386th Brigade. However, the 386th Brigade used flexible tactics to attack the enemy again and again. The Japanese army's plan of crazy revenge failed.

Chen Geng and the 386th Brigade were powerful in the anti-Japanese resistance field, and his destruction of the Japanese army's communication lines made the Japanese army even more frightened. Hino, a Japanese soldier in Ota, wrote to his superiors: "On both sides of the railway, the Eighth Route Army is heavily present. For security purposes, there is no peace day and night. There is not a single day without combat. It is incredible that I can survive to this day!"

A soldier of the Japanese army said: "Everything you deal with Chen Geng's troops will make you miserable! At night, the wires and railways were destroyed. Half a step away from the barracks, there was an eight-way camp. Five people ten I personally don’t dare to come out!”

The 386th Brigade became a thorn in the side of the Japanese army. When the Japanese army launched a nine-prong siege in southeastern Shanxi, the leading armored vehicle had a sign saying “Specially attack the 386th Brigade, specialize in fighting.” Chen Geng" slogan. The enemy is afraid of the 386th Brigade and attacks the 386th Brigade exclusively. The people are also familiar with the 386th Brigade. The masses affectionately call the 386th Brigade "our team!" The 386th Brigade is powerful in North China with its bravery and good fighting. As one of the most heroic troops in China, brigade commander Chen Geng became famous and became a banner of victory for the Eighth Route Army.