What this article wants to take you back to is a period of Jiaodong history related to the Anti-Japanese War, that is, the process of "the recovery of Qixia County in 1944." When seeing the words "anti-Japanese war" and "county", many friends may think of the classic scene in the

Today is July 7th, the 85th anniversary of the " July 7th Incident".

remember history and keep the alarm bell ringing. What this article wants to take you back to is a period of Jiaodong history related to the Anti-Japanese War, that is, the process of "the recovery of Qixia County in 1944."

When seeing the words "anti-Japanese war" and "county", many friends may think of the classic scene in the TV series "Bright Sword" where Li Yunlong led his troops to attack Ping'an County . According to the description in the play, due to an emergency, Li Yunlong's troops adopted a "forced attack" tactic against Ping'an County. To this end, they assembled more than 10,000 troops, and finally used "Italian artillery" to blow open the city gate and won the victory.

Similar scenes should have many prototypes in the real Anti-Japanese War. However, the recovery of Qixia County in 1944 reflected another kind of combat thinking, that is: to defeat the enemy without fighting.

In this regard, "Qixia County Chronicles Major Events" records: "On December 14, 1944, when the puppet troops were stationed in Qixia City, they were forced to abandon the city and flee due to the anti-Japanese military and civilian offensive. At this point, the entire territory of Qixia was liberated."

"Without a fight, the puppet troops abandoned the city and fled." The concept of "subjugating the enemy's army" can achieve greater results at a smaller cost (to put it bluntly, it means that one's own losses are low). It has been praised by military strategists since ancient times. " Sun Tzu's Art of War" said: "This is why you will always win every battle. Those who are not good are good; those who subdue others without fighting are also good. "

Of course, it is highly recommended, but it is not easy to achieve this effect in actual combat. The reason why Qixia County was able to be recovered in this way was inseparable from the active struggle carried out by the Jiaodong army and people in the early stage. In the past few years, our Jiaodong base area adopted the strategy of "rural areas surrounding the city" and successively eradicated the Japanese puppet strongholds in the rural areas of Qixia. The county town gradually became "a lonely boat", and finally forced the enemy to flee without a fight. Next, we will briefly describe the general process based on historical records.

1. Qixia County fell twice.

During the Anti-Japanese War, Qixia County fell twice. Among them, the first time is very short, and the second time is longer.

According to "Qixia County Chronicles", the Japanese invaders first entered Qixia on February 2, 1938. At that time, more than 3,000 people from the enemy's Fifth Brigade invaded Yantai from Qingdao to the north. They passed through Qixia on the way and did not stop in the county seat.

On May 12 of the following year, with the cooperation of the Japanese air force, the puppet army Liu Guitang invaded Qixia, and the county fell for the first time. However, on the 17th of that month, the Fifth Detachment of the Eighth Route Army joined forces with Cai Jinkang (former commander of the 44th Detachment of the Kuomintang) and others to defeat Liu Guitang's troops and regain Qixia City.

Since Qixia is located in the hinterland of the peninsula and along the Yanqing Highway (the old route ran from Yantai via Fushan and Qixia to Laiyang, it was changed from Yantai to Laiyang via Taocun in the late last century), it has a high strategic position. . Therefore, on December 6, 1939, more than 500 Japanese and puppet troops invaded Qixia again. Cai Jinkang's troops abandoned the city and fled, and Qixia City fell again. The fall of

lasted from December 1939 to December 1944, which took about five years.

(▲The blue area is the location of Qixia County and some strongholds, and the red area is the general location of the Aigu Mountain and Yashan base areas)

2. The enemy’s troop deployment in Qixia

is to control the Yanqing Highway traffic line, 1939 After occupying Qixia again in December 2011, the Japanese and puppets not only occupied the county seat, but also built multiple strongholds (such as Yangchu, Songshan, Zhaili, Zangjiazhuang, Shewobo, etc.). On the one hand, these strongholds serve as tentacles for the enemy to exploit the place, and on the other hand, they can also be regarded as the outposts of county defense.

According to the records in the "Qixia County Chronicle", including the county seat and strongholds, the Japanese and puppets deployed about 1,100 standing troops in Qixia County.

Among them, there were about a hundred Japanese troops, from the fourth squadron of the 19th Infantry Brigade of the 5th Independent Mixed Brigade, concentrated in the city (three squads were sent to guard the three strongholds in Zhaili, Yangchu and Guanli during this period). There are also nearly a thousand puppet troops, designated as the Puppet Qixia County Guard (Security) Brigade, who are mainly responsible for garrisoning 18 strongholds in the Qixia section of Yanqing Road.

The deployment of troops above varies with time, but overall there is not much change (except for special periods such as raids).

(▲ Yashan scenery)

3, the opportunity for the recovery of Qixia County

After the anti-mopping up in 1942, the most difficult period of the Jiaodong base area was basically passed, and the balance of the war began to tilt towards our side. Especially on the Qixia battlefield, this situation is even more obvious.

(▲ Aishan heroic figure)

Looking at the historical map, it is not difficult to find that there are two large base areas in Jiaodong, both located around Qixia - the Aigu Mountain Base Area and the Yashan Base Area, one in the south and one in the north, compressing the enemy forces in the county and Within the strip area along the Yanqing Highway. In terms of local strength comparison, we already have the possibility of counterattack.

Against this background, starting in 1943, the Jiaodong base area successively launched offensives against strongholds outside Qixia City, starting an outpost battle to liberate the county.

4,

During the outpost battle, the three strongholds of Songshan, Shewobo, and Zangjiazhuang were relatively typical.

According to the "History of the Development of the Old Revolutionary Area of ​​Qixia City" and "Qixia County Chronicles", in May 1943, the Qidong Independent Battalion was ordered to uproot the Songshan stronghold. During the battle, the blaster Luan Fenghai stuffed explosives from the firing port of the gun tower and blew up the enemy. military fortification and successfully completed the mission.

Also in May of that year, the 13th Regiment of the Eighth Route Army, with the cooperation of the Qixia County Brigade, launched an attack on the Shewobo stronghold. In the end, with only two people injured, we captured the "biggest bunker in eastern Shandong" boasted by the enemy, which dealt a heavy blow to the arrogance of the Japanese and puppets.

In August 1944, it became the task of the Beihai Guard Battalion and the Qidong County Independent Battalion to eradicate the Zangjiazhuang stronghold. Due to the strong fortifications and strong firepower of this stronghold, our army decided to outwit it. Through external military pressure and internal disintegration work (Qidong County Enemy Industry Department cadre Yu Guanghua penetrated into the enemy as the principal of Zangjiazhuang Primary School), our army finally successfully achieved its goal.

In September of that year, the Qixia military and civilians launched an autumn offensive against the remaining strongholds. By the 17th, except for the county seat, all Japanese and puppet military strongholds in Qixia had been eradicated.

In November, our army launched an ambush in Nanqilizhuang on the outskirts of Qixia City and captured the pseudo county magistrate alive. By December, a siege had formed on the county seat.

With no food and grass inside and no reinforcements outside, the more than 700 Japanese and puppet troops entrenched in the city suddenly fell into panic, and finally chose to abandon the city and flee westward in the early morning of December 14. Qixia County was recovered without any attack (Dazhong Daily in the Jiaodong base published an editorial titled "Recover Qixia City").

5, Summary

Judging from the above process, the "conquering the enemy without fighting" strategy for the recovery of Qixia County was not a complete lack of fighting, but a series of smaller-scale active battles in the early stage, gradually accumulating an overwhelming advantage in the battle situation. Advantages, weaken the enemy's confidence in combat, thereby achieving the effect of avoiding urban attacks.

The achievement of this victory is inseparable from correct strategic and tactical decisions, as well as the close cooperation and heroic struggle of Jiaodong's military and civilians. All in all, the recovery of Qixia County can be called a classic chapter in the history of Jiaodong’s Anti-Japanese War. (author of this article: Er Zuoyue)