(Wang Junjie, male, born in 1922, joined the Communist Party of China in 1938. During the "May Day" anti-"mopping up" campaign, he was a teacher of the Third Regiment of the Anti-Japanese University Branch. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he served as deputy chief of staff of the Beijing Military Region Air Force.)
1942-5 In August, the Japanese imperialists carried out an unprecedented and cruel "sweep" against our Jizhong Military Region and its various divisions. The scale of this "mopping up", the amount of troops used, the length of the "mopping up" and the viciousness of the methods used are all rare. The enemy attempts to destroy our entire Jizhong Anti-Japanese Base Area in one fell swoop and turn it into its "security area". As a result, the enemy and ourselves launched an extremely fierce "mopping up" and counter-"mopping up" struggle. Here is a brief review of the anti-"mopping up" situation in our Sixth District in Central Hebei Province as follows.
The situation between ourselves and the enemy before the anti-"mopping up"
The Japanese army. Since the Japanese army launched the Pacific War on December 8, 1941, it has fallen into a situation of exhaustion and consumption. In order to support its so-called "Greater East Asia Jihad", consolidate its southward advance and step up its efforts to plunder China's abundant human and material resources, it dreams of first "ensuring Jizhong ".
In March 1942, the enemy chief Neji Okamura racked his brains, plotted and launched a "mopping up" attack on our anti-Japanese base area in central Hebei. Beiping, Tianjin, Baoding, and Shimen's Japanese and puppet troops were mobilized frequently. The clouds were gathering, and there was a strong trend of "a storm is about to come, and the wind is everywhere". The enemy first mobilized the 41st Shimizu Division, the 27th Harada Division, the 11th Iinuma Division, the 1st Suzuki Mixed Brigade, the 9th Ikegami Mixed Brigade and the 12th Regiment of the 26th Division. The two air forces (Itami and Kobayashi) belonging to the 13th Yamazaki Cavalry Regiment and the 29th Independent Flying Group have a total of more than 50,000 people. Based on the experience of previous "mopping up" operations, these units are divided into the first line Troops that directly participate in "mopping up" operations and troops that cooperate in blockade operations. The troops directly participating in the battle were the 41st Division (6 infantry brigades), the 9th Mixed Brigade (5 infantry brigades), the 11 Shirataki Infantry Regiment (6 infantry brigades) and the 20th Mixed 7th Brigade. Ninth Infantry Battalion (Ogawa Cedar Battalion). Among them, the 41st Division and the Mixed Ninth Brigade are the main offensive forces, and the others are all cooperating blockade combat forces. In March of that year, these troops began to move covertly and adjust their deployment frequently. Because the main offensive areas for the large-scale "mopping up" were selected in the southern part of the military region and the area north of the H1-Shide Railway in our division, they were originally stationed in Hunba on the -Shitai Railway and the western section of the Shi-De Railway. The brigade was transferred to the south, and the Hunjiu Brigade newly transferred from Wuhan took over the defense. Its brigade headquarters was located in From various major strongholds in Anping and Raoyang, the Yamazaki Cavalry Regiment assigned to the Hunjiu Brigade was transferred to Xinji at the end of April. The enemy's 41st Division also assembled covertly near Shimen in order to conduct a sudden attack and encirclement operation.
htmlIn mid-April, the enemy formulated a careful combat plan. This "sweeping" plan has overcome the previous so-called "sweeping" of a gust of wind, and implemented continuous and repeated "sweeping" (also known as "precision mopping"), and combined "precision mopping" with thorough "sweeping" Combined, they attempt to completely destroy our leadership organs and armed forces at all levels. In order to prevent me from moving to the east of the Fuyang River, the enemy quickly transferred the cavalry regiment from Xinji to the main ferries along the Fuyang River north of Hengshui on May 8, and strengthened blockade patrols. On the lower reaches of the river, Zangqiao, Xianxian County, implemented a gate closure. Before the "mopping up", the enemy also conducted special training on the field exercises of "dragging net" tactics.
The Sixth Army Division is a division on the southernmost edge of the Jizhong Military Region. It is connected to the Jinan Military Region and is adjacent to the Japanese strategic town of Shimen to the west. Like a sharp blade, it seriously threatens Shimen, the enemy's choke point. The enemy has long regarded our division as a thorn in the side and a thorn in the flesh. Therefore, before the anti-"mopping up" campaign in May 1942, the enemy and ourselves launched a fierce "cannibalization" and anti-"cannibalization" struggle.After about two years of repeated struggles, our base area has shrunk day by day. The leading organs of Zhao County, Gaocheng, Luancheng and other counties in the western part of the division, as well as county and district guerrilla armed forces, have been forced to retreat to a corner south of Jin County. Location - Weijiakou in the north and south, as well as Daxiaoshangcun, Hushizhuang, Lujiazhuang, Xicaizhuang and Zhangshizhuang. The areas to the west of the Xinhe, Luokou, Sizhilan, Xianmenlou, Da'an, and Wuqiu lines south of the Shide Railway were basically "cannibalized" by the enemy. At that time, the focus of our divisional struggle against the enemy was on the vast area south of Shide Road. Leading organs such as prefectural committees and special agencies are all located in Shuji County. In 1941, in order to facilitate timely understanding of the situation and direct the combat operations of the troops, the divisional headquarters appointed the divisional political commissar Kuang Fuzhao, deputy brigade commander Han Wei (transferred in early 1942 and later replaced by Ma Ze), and director of the political department Long Fucai. Led some cadres and confidential personnel of the government agencies to form a short and capable frontline command headquarters (referred to as the Lunan Command), responsible for commanding the third battalion of the second regiment and the first regiment, and the 44th and 31st regional teams. , under the unified leadership of the six prefecture committees, carried out armed struggle against the enemy. Division Commander Wang Changjiang and Chief of Staff Ye Chuping led most of the divisional agencies to remain in Shennan, commanding the First Regiment (under the Third Battalion) and the Forty Area Team to persist in the struggle against the enemy in the Shennan base area.
Wang Changjiang, commander of the Sixth Division of Hebei Province, was born in November 1899. He graduated from Baoding Military Academy in August 1923. In December 1938, Wang Changjiang, then deputy commander-in-chief of the Major General of the Hebei People's Army, was unwilling to cause friction with the Eighth Route Army. He left the civilian army and served under the Eighth Route Army.
In March and April 1942, before the enemy "mopped up" our divisions, we constantly received telegram instructions from our superiors: to report the enemy's situation mobilization, point out the enemy's signs of "mopping up", and require each division to strengthen reconnaissance and enter the battlefield. Established in time and completed combat readiness. Organizations must be dispersed, army regiments must be dispersed into battalions and companies; regional teams must be dispersed into companies and platoons; county guerrillas must be dispersed into platoons, squads, etc.
In accordance with the spirit of the superiors' briefings and instructions, our division conducted research and arrangements on combat preparations against "mopping up". At that time, a group of ministerial-level leaders from the Jizhong District Party Committee and the Military Region were evacuated to our division. The leaders of the prefectural committee had a premonition of the seriousness of this anti-"mopping up", so they held a meeting in Shuji County with the members of the prefectural committee, the responsible leader of the special agency, the head of the Lunan headquarters, and several responsible persons evacuated from the higher-level agencies. A joint meeting of the prefectural committee attended by comrades. Secretary of the Prefectural Committee Zhang Fengshi made a report on the current situation and preparations to counter "mopping up" at the meeting. The district political commissar Kuang Fuzhao also spoke about the actions and work of the troops. There was a lively discussion at the meeting, and it was finally determined: 1. Due to the emergency, it was decided to communicate and arrange the information in pieces. 2. The cadres evacuated from higher-level agencies, except those who stayed in the prefectural committee agencies, were all evacuated to various units. 3. The old, weak, sick, and wounded should be resettled in a dispersed manner. Those who can go home will temporarily go home, those with relatives will seek refuge with relatives, those without relatives will seek refuge with friends, and those without any connections will be resettled in relatively reliable villages near enemy-occupied areas. The houses are hidden in the fortress. 4. Leading agencies at all levels must be streamlined and decentralized. All non-combatants will be decentralized and combat units will be strengthened. Counties in the western part of the division immediately took the measure of "when the enemy advances, we advance", evacuated the base area, returned to the county behind enemy lines, and carried out work covertly. 5. Cancel the riding of horses for cadres at all levels and replace them with "carrying husbands".
After the meeting, Lunan’s party, government, military, mass and other units streamlined their work based on their specific circumstances. Ningjin merged various mass groups into the Anti-Japanese Federation; Zhao County merged the Civil Affairs Section and the Education Section into the Civil Education Section, and the Public Security Bureau was reduced to the Public Security Section. The remaining cadres were allowed to return to their hometowns to participate in production and do secret work for the Anti-Japanese War. The handymen who are physically suitable for army work will all be added to the county brigade; those who have no relatives or friends are scattered and placed in "fortress households" and "basic households" with good mass base for hiding. The divisional troops and county armed forces were broken into pieces, and with the active support of the people, they rushed to make plain clothes. In order to grasp the enemy's situation, the 44th District Team expanded the reconnaissance platoon into a reconnaissance company, canceled the cooking class , and dispersed the personnel to various combat squads. The Lubei Division Headquarters divided the areas where the troops dispersed their activities.It was decided that the first regiment would stop spring training and training. The regiment headquarters would lead the first battalion to move on both sides of the Shide Railway, and the second battalion would move with the division headquarters. The 40th District Team operates on both sides of the Shenmo Highway. Some staff officers and comrades from the propaganda department of the Political Department who were newly assigned to the headquarters were transferred to regiments or regional teams. The confidential training class and a temporary propaganda team were all disbanded. Rear service agencies are required to properly keep military supplies (guns, ammunition, cloth, dyes, etc.) and various simple machines are scattered and buried. Workers in the district's Flame Drama Club and the supply department's clothing factory, repair shop, shoe factory, leather factory and other units, as well as medical staff in the health department's two rest homes, nursing classes, stretcher rows, pharmacies and other units, were also conducted. evacuated. A printing factory in Shennan, in addition to printing some Marxist books, also printed a large number of border area tickets, so the 44th District Team sent 4 platoons to Fenghuang Pool on May 6 to print border currency A large number were transported away, and the rest were distributed to government officials with one or two thousand yuan each, which people called "the bank with the army." The health department organized plainclothes medical teams, each carrying a month's supply of medicines, to care for and treat the recuperating patients who were scattered and hidden. The two counties north of the railway, in accordance with the instructions from their superiors, held a meeting of cadres above the section chief and district chief level, and put forward the battle slogan "the district should not be separated from the district, and the county should not be separated from the county."
htmlOn May 7, the division received an emergency instruction from the military region regarding "the enemy's "mopping up" and our countermeasures." It was proposed that the enemy's "mopping up" had officially begun on May 1, and the main force in the division was required to quickly jump to the outside line in addition to leaving a necessary part to hold on. For the operation of the divisional headquarters, Commander Wang originally discussed with the head of Lunan and decided to move to the south of the Shide Railway. However, when the operation was moved to Beisiquan Village near the railway on the evening of May 3, Commander Wang changed his mind after careful consideration. After making the decision, he proposed that the enemy was "mopping up" the Shennan base area. At a time when the people were in need of soldiers, we left the people without fighting and lost the base area, so our responsibility was extremely important. Therefore, we "should live and die with the people of Shennan" and the enemy "mopped up" on a large scale, so we jumped to the north of Cangshi Road, where there are many pear trees and we are familiar with the terrain, which is convenient for guerrilla activities. After discussion, most comrades agreed with the commander's opinion. It was then decided that the divisional headquarters and the second battalion of the first regiment would not move out for the time being and would remain in Shennan. Operations section chief Yingli led the third platoon of the special agent company to Lunan.
Source: Hengshui Party History
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