Not only that, the Japanese army rarely stopped to rest except during meal times, so many cavalrymen fell asleep on their horses because they were too tired, and fell off their horses as a result.
Sun Desheng and Wei Monk led the cavalry troops to chase the Japanese army all the way. Since the places they passed on the road were enemy-occupied areas, they were intercepted by small groups of Japanese troops from time to time, so their speed slowed down greatly. They were far away from the Japanese cavalry coalition.
The team was getting farther and farther away. According to the location where the Japanese troops had arrived after the Eighth Route Army intelligence officer saw the Japanese cavalry troops, Sun Desheng and Wei Monk knew that it was impossible to catch up, so they had to give up the pursuit and turned around to attack the Japanese troops' rear.
The attack was launched.
The main target of Sun Desheng and Wei Monk was the Japanese transport team. They came and went like the wind, and the Japanese and puppet troops were unable to guard against them. The transport lines were completely cut off, resulting in a serious shortage of materials and supplies for the Japanese frontline troops. Not only ammunition had begun to be stretched, but also
Even eating has become a problem.
The Japanese generals on the front line complained to Yoshio Shinozuka and asked him to quickly send troops to restore transportation lines and send supplies to the front line.
Yoshio Shinozuka couldn't laugh or cry. Facing the fast-moving Eighth Route Army cavalry, he really didn't know how to deal with it without the help of the Chahar Dispatch Army cavalry.
Yoshio Shinozuka discussed with the chief of staff for a long time, but could not think of any good solution. He heard that the Eighth Route Army had a fine tradition of holding Zhuge Liang meetings, and felt that this could be emulated, so he reported the problems they faced to the headquarters
The staff members proposed it and asked everyone to come up with ideas and find ways. No matter who's idea is adopted, the headquarters will give a heavy reward.
Not to mention, this method mobilized the enthusiasm of the Japanese officers and soldiers. They came up with ideas and came up with solutions, and soon a large number of countermeasures were submitted.
One of the Japanese second lieutenants came up with an idea, which attracted Yoshio Shinozuka's great attention. He found relevant personnel to discuss it carefully, and finally decided to adopt the second lieutenant's opinion.
The name of the second lieutenant of the Japanese army was Oshima Nakanobu. He was handsome and talented, and he was from the same hometown as Yoshio Shinozuka. Yoshio Shinozuka admired him very much, and directly promoted him from the rank of second lieutenant to the rank of captain, and transferred him to the First Army Operations Department as a post.
Combat staff officer.
Since this idea came from Oshima Nakanobu, he was designated as the main person in charge of executing this plan and was sent to Fengdu County.
In order to cooperate with the Eighth Route Army's cavalry troops to cut off the Japanese army's transportation lines, the Eighth Route Army's intelligence stations actively acted in several counties around the main highway leading to Licheng County. Fengdu County is the gateway to Licheng County from the direction of Taiyuan.
The only way to go is that the intelligence station under the leadership of Zhou Mingde is paying close attention to the actions of the Japanese and puppet troops at all times.
That morning, an intelligence agent under the cover of a grain store clerk saw the Japanese troops in the city leaving the county seat and driving several large vehicles out of the city.
In order to understand their purpose, the intelligence agents pretended to go out to purchase food, followed the route that the Japanese army took out of the city, and drove the carriage out of the county.
After walking for about half an hour, the intelligence officer saw the Japanese troops leaving the city undergoing field training. The carts were carrying cooking utensils and food, which were used to provide food for the Japanese troops leaving the city. The Japanese troops returned that afternoon.
in the city.
For several days, the Japanese army repeated this kind of training. The intelligence station saw nothing strange about the Japanese army's behavior, and gradually became accustomed to it and stopped paying attention.
Later, the Japanese army changed to training out of the city at night, and the intelligence station still paid close attention. It was seen that they only conducted night combat training and returned to the city at dawn. There was nothing suspicious about it.
There was one detail that the intelligence officers did not notice, that is, when the Japanese troops went out of the city for training at night, they also drove several large vehicles. Since they did this during the day, the intelligence officers did not raise any suspicion about this.
What the intelligence agents failed to notice was that when the Japanese troops who left the city at night came back, their numbers were smaller than when they left the city.
That morning, a transport team consisting of more than 20 trucks drove out from the Japanese Army Station No. 1 in the direction of Taiyuan and headed for Fengdu County.
The most important task of the intelligence station these days is to monitor the Japanese transport convoys and provide interception targets for the Eighth Route Army's cavalry units.
After receiving the information from the intelligence station, Sun Desheng and Wei Monk led the cavalry brigade to Fengdu County, preparing to intercept the Japanese transport team halfway.
Driving from Fengdu County to Licheng, the Japanese army's transport team had to pass through a hilly area. Among these hilly areas, there was a wide valley, and the road passed through the valley.
After Sun Desheng and Monk Wei inspected the terrain, they saw that the road here was relatively far from the hillsides on both sides. Although the hillsides on both sides could not be used for ambush, it facilitated the rapid maneuvering of the cavalry troops.
They believed that with the strength of the special operations brigade and the cavalry brigade, as long as they blocked the two exits of the valley, it would not be a problem to annihilate the Japanese transport team. Therefore, they brought the main force of the cavalry brigade and the special operations brigade into the valley and laid an ambush.
On the hillsides on both sides, two cavalry squadrons were left at each end of the valley entrance to block the Japanese army's way out.
The information provided by the intelligence station was quite accurate, and the Japanese transport team entered the valley on time as scheduled.
These days, the cavalry troops of the Eighth Route Army attacked Japanese and puppet army transport convoys, and their operations were very smooth. This time, the passing of the Japanese transport convoy was also normal. Therefore, Sun Desheng and Wei Monk did not think much about it, and waited until the Japanese transport convoy entered the ambush.
Since they could not set up an ambush at close range, they launched a long-distance charge towards the Japanese transport team.
When the Japanese transport team saw the cavalry of the Eighth Route Army, it stopped. A small number of puppet troops jumped out of the car. When they saw the cavalry of the Eighth Route Army, they knelt on the ground and raised their hands in surrender.
The cavalry soldiers of the Eighth Route Army were very happy. They thought that the battle was fought so smoothly and so many supplies were captured. They all wanted to see what was in the car. Although they seized a large amount of supplies and could not transport them back to the base area,
But you can distribute these supplies to the people nearby, and of course you can keep some of them for daily use.
When the cavalry of the Eighth Route Army approached the Japanese truck, the puppet soldiers who had surrendered suddenly lay on the ground and aimed their guns at the cavalry soldiers. The Japanese truck spit out tongues of fire.
Each truck had at least two light machine guns, and some trucks even had heavy machine guns. The enemy's firepower was so fierce that the Eighth Route Army was caught off guard and fell one after another with bullets.
Knowing that they were in an ambush, the soldiers hurriedly fired at the truck, but the bullets hitting the truck had no effect. Both the cavalry brigade and the special operations brigade were equipped with 82mm recoilless rifles and rocket launchers, but the soldiers wanted to seize the enemy's supplies.
, they did not carry these weapons when they launched the charge. They were very passive for a while.
The light and heavy machine guns left on the truck by the Japanese army continued to fire at the cavalry of the Eighth Route Army. A large number of Japanese soldiers jumped out of the truck. They got off the truck and lay on the ground, shooting at the cavalry of the Eighth Route Army.
It turned out that these trucks were not loaded with supplies at all, but were filled with Japanese soldiers. Not only that, the Japanese soldiers also installed steel plates with pre-reserved shooting holes on the baffles on both sides of the truck compartment. The Eighth Route Army’s bullets fired
It didn't work at all in the past.
At this time, the Japanese troops were either hiding behind the steel plates or lying on the ground, while the Eighth Route Army's cavalry were riding on tall horses. Their targets were very obvious. Under the fierce firepower of the Japanese troops, they suffered heavy casualties.
Sun Desheng and Wei Monk saw that they had been ambushed by the Japanese army. The Japanese army had so many troops, almost an infantry brigade, and their firepower had been specially strengthened. They hurriedly asked the bugler to blow the trumpet and order the troops to retreat.
The soldiers heard the order to retreat and hurriedly rode away from the road.
The Japanese army continued to chase the Eighth Route Army cavalry with firepower, and soldiers continued to be shot and fell off their horses.
Seeing the sacrifice of the officers and soldiers of the Eighth Route Army, Sun Desheng and Wei Monk's hearts were bleeding. However, it was extremely unlikely for them to eliminate the Japanese army in front of them in such an open area, and they would pay a heavy price. They held on
With grief and anger in his heart, he decided to lead his troops to leave the valley immediately and look for other fighter planes to eliminate this group of Japanese troops in the future.
After a brief discussion, the two decisively issued the order to retreat, and led the main force of the cavalry brigade and special operations brigade to rush out toward the southeastern valley entrance.
When the Japanese saw the Eighth Route Army's cavalry leaving the battlefield, they only chased them with firepower and were not in a hurry to pursue them.
Seeing the Eighth Route Army cavalry moving away and out of the range of their rifles, they all got up from the ground and started to form a team.
Leading this Japanese army was a captain, and standing next to him was Chunobu Oshima.
The captain looked at the corpses of a large number of Eighth Route Army soldiers, gave Oshima a thumbs up, and sincerely praised: "Oshima-kun, your strategy is very successful. What these damn Eighth Route Army cavalry are best at is sneak attacks. As long as the tactics are
Properly, it seems that dealing with them is not as difficult as imagined."
Seeing that his strategy was beginning to work, Oshima Chunobu felt very proud, but he still did not dare to make a mistake in front of the captain.
He hurriedly said humbly: "Your Excellency, Captain, I am just making a small suggestion. This battle can achieve such results only because of your wise command and the bravery of the Yellow Army soldiers."
The Japanese captain was very satisfied with Oshima Nakanobu's attitude. He stretched out his fat palm and patted him on the shoulder. Then he ordered the troops to assemble quickly, followed the cavalry troops of the Eighth Route Army, and chased him towards the valley.
Wei Monk and Sun Desheng led the cavalry of the Eighth Route Army to quickly evacuate towards the mouth of the valley. Suddenly, the horse of the cavalry running in front fell into a pit on the ground. Under the influence of huge inertia, the horse fell down with a cry, and the Eighth Route Army soldiers above it also fell.
Overturned to the ground.
The cavalry soldiers behind saw this scene and hurriedly reined in their horses.
They saw holes as thick as a bowl exposed on the ground in front of them. Although these holes were not big, they were enough to sink the horses' hooves. Most of the horses' legs would be broken when the horses were moving at high speed.
Seeing this scene, Sun Desheng and Wei Monk immediately realized the serious crisis. It seemed that all this was prepared by the Japanese army in advance, and these holes were drilled specifically to deal with the Eighth Route Army's cavalry. With their many years of experience, they
They believe that the Japanese army's methods are not limited to this, and there should be Japanese troops ambushing around.
Sure enough, a large number of Japanese troops appeared at the entrance of the valley ahead.
At this time, the cavalry troops of the Eighth Route Army were blocked in the valley, with Japanese troops intercepting them in front and a large number of pursuers behind them. The situation was extremely critical. If they did not leave here in time, there would be a danger of the entire army being destroyed.
Sun Desheng and Wei Monk were both brought out by Xu Dalong himself. They had carefully surveyed the terrain in this area in advance before the battle. There was a hillside on their left front with gentle mountain terrain, through which the cavalry troops could leave the valley and avoid
The Japanese and puppet troops were surrounded. However, the dense potholes in front of them greatly restricted the movement of the war horses.
Seeing the Japanese troops approaching from both ends, Sun Desheng and Wei Monk ordered themselves to stay calm and seize the time to think of countermeasures.
In order to prevent the enemy from approaching, Monk Wei decisively ordered the two special operations squadrons to dismount and block the Japanese troops attacking from the front and back respectively, buying time for the main force to pass through the trap in front.
Sun Desheng squatted in front of those pits, comparing them with his hands, thinking about how to let the war horses pass through these pits. The density of the pits was too great, and the war horses were not as flexible as humans, and the horses' hooves could not avoid those pits.
For a moment, Sun Desheng was really scratching his head. He looked around, hoping to find something like a wooden board to block these holes. But except for gravel, there was nothing on the ground that could block these holes.
Suddenly, Sun Desheng looked at the backpacks carried by the soldiers. His eyes lit up and he hurriedly shouted: "Brothers, quickly take off your backpacks and spread the quilts on the ground."
The cavalry soldiers all understood and hurriedly untied their backpacks and spread the quilts on the ground. The soldiers led their horses and walked over on the quilts.
This trick really worked, and the war horse crossed the large pit on the ground very easily.
The Japanese army saw the Eighth Route Army's cavalry passing through the pits and hurriedly launched an attack.
The special operations team members who served as cover used their superior firepower to block the Japanese offensive, and also caused considerable casualties to the Japanese army.
After all the war horses crossed the pit, Sun Desheng and Wei Monk led the cavalry troops to break out quickly toward the low hills.
The two special operations squadrons continued to block the attack. When the Japanese saw that the main force of the Eighth Route Army had gone up the hillside, they also mounted their horses to catch up.
The cavalrymen of the Eighth Route Army rode up the hillside, dismounted when they reached the top of the hill, led the horses over, and finally descended into the valley below. Then they got on their horses and left the hilly area at high speed, finally highlighting the Japanese army.
siege.
Seeing the main force of the Eighth Route Army breaking through the encirclement, the Eighth Route Army officers and soldiers tasked with covering the enemy retreated while fighting, and finally jumped out of the enemy's encirclement and overtook the main force.
This battle was very thrilling. If we had not spent a lot of time in advance, carefully surveyed the terrain, and predicted such a retreat route, all the cavalry units of the Mawushan Military Division would have been surrendered in this valley.
Despite this, the cavalry brigade and the special operations brigade suffered extremely heavy losses this time, with more than 300 Eighth Route Army officers and soldiers killed or injured.
The Japanese army was very successful in this battle, and all the tactics adopted were provided by Oshima CITIC. This guy was very thoughtful. In order to deal with the Eighth Route Army's cavalry, he put a lot of effort into research and formulated a quite complicated plan.
In order to prepare the battlefield and dig pits in advance, the Japanese troops in Fengdu County deliberately went out for training every day. The training during the day was real and there were no tricks. Later it was changed to night training, and those carts transported many wooden piles that had been processed in advance.
It is used to dig pits in the ground.
The intelligence agents turned a blind eye to the daily training of the Japanese army and did not find anything fishy in it. As for adding steel plates to the trucks and hiding a large number of Japanese troops inside, it was all planned by Oshima CITIC in advance.
He also knew that the Eighth Route Army had rocket launchers and 82mm recoilless rifles. If they were attacked by these artillery, even the steel plates installed on the trucks would be of no avail. However, he had checked the terrain in the valley in advance, because the road was far away from the hillsides on both sides.
It is relatively far away, and the Eighth Route Army's cavalry cannot set up such artillery in advance. They will definitely charge on horseback.
In this way, the artillery strikes can be avoided, and the steel plates on the vehicle can effectively protect the Japanese soldiers. As a result, the Japanese army caught the Eighth Route Army cavalry by surprise.
In fact, Oshima Zhongxin noticed in advance the gentle slope in the valley where the Eighth Route Army cavalry escaped, so he laid the trap in front of that gentle slope.
He believed that it would be very difficult for the Eighth Route Army to pass through these pits, or at least their movements would be very slow. Before they could pass through the pits, the Japanese army had already surrounded them. Therefore, no ambush was arranged around the gentle slope in advance.
Seeing the main force of the Eighth Route Army fleeing the battlefield, Oshima Zhongxin was very upset.
In any case, the results achieved by the Japanese army this time were still very huge. It can be said that it was the most successful battle between the Japanese army and the cavalry brigade and special operations brigade of the Mawushan guerrillas. The Eighth Route Army's cavalry brigade and special operations brigade lost a total of 329 officers and soldiers.
More than 500 war horses were lost.
The Japanese army was overjoyed with this victory. Yoshio Shinozuka personally commended the Japanese troops who participated in the war, and greatly appreciated Chuxin Oshima who provided the plan.
Oshima Nakanobu had just been promoted from second lieutenant to captain, and this time he was promoted to major sergeant, and he suddenly enjoyed great success.
Sun Desheng and Wei Monk suffered such a big loss, and they both felt that this time it was their own negligence that caused such heavy losses.
The two of them first conducted a self-examination, analyzed the reasons for the mistakes and how to correct them, and then sent a telegram to the military division headquarters to review their mistakes and take the initiative to take responsibility for the failure.
Xu Dalong did not blame Sun Desheng and Wei Monk. He said in the telegram: "Wars are ever-changing. There is never a victorious general. Failure is inevitable. Continuous summarization is experience and lessons. Fighting to make further progress is the growth of every outstanding commander.
The only way to go. I believe that you will continue to make progress in the future, reduce mistakes, and become more mature and outstanding. Don’t have any ideological baggage, be bold and careful, fight bravely, and you will definitely achieve more brilliant victories."
Xu Dalong is the person that Sun Desheng and Wei Monk admire the most. His encouragement helped them to untie their knots and double their confidence.
In this failure, there was no problem with our army's tactics. The main problem was that we underestimated the enemy and did not conduct detailed reconnaissance of the entire battlefield in advance. Even the Japanese army did not discover in advance that they had set up an ambush in the valley.
In addition, the purpose of future operations is no longer to seize supplies. If we encounter an enemy convoy this time and directly attack with 82mm recoilless rifles and rocket launchers, the Japanese troops on those trucks will be living targets, and the Eighth Route Army will not suffer such heavy losses.
loss of leaven
As for dealing with the traps laid by the enemy, this is easy to handle. First of all, the Japanese army cannot dig such traps everywhere. Even if the Japanese army digs traps in certain areas, as long as the leading troops of the cavalry brigade have a small number of cavalry to clear the way,
The damage caused will be minimal.
Sun Desheng and Wei Monk have fought countless battles with Xu Dalong over the years and have learned a lot of skills. This little trick of the Japanese army is nothing. Both of them are confident and confident to continue to attack the Japanese transport team and keep the name.
They never come back.
This time the cavalry brigade and the special operations brigade suffered heavy losses, which would inevitably have some impact on the morale of the entire unit.
Sun Desheng and Wei Monk led the troops to rest for three days. All officers and soldiers attended the memorial service held for the martyrs who died. After the memorial ceremony, Sun Desheng and Wei Monk both delivered speeches in front of the officers and soldiers.
The two of them took the initiative to take responsibility for the failure and praised the heroic fighting spirit displayed by all the officers and soldiers who participated in the battle.
The officers and soldiers of the Cavalry Brigade and the Special Operations Brigade respected Sun Desheng and Monk Wei very much. Seeing that they took the initiative to take responsibility, they not only did not complain about them, but also trusted them more.
The officers and soldiers of the cavalry brigade and the special operations brigade have experienced hundreds of battles, have fought and won countless battles, and have a strong endurance. After a short rest, they dispelled the shadow of frustration and regained their morale.
Of course, Wei Monk and Sun Desheng could not suffer this loss in vain, and soon launched a new round of retaliation against the Japanese army.