As the Japanese army occupied Yuanqu, the 14th Army voluntarily abandoned the Yuncheng area and crossed the river from Hejin into Shaanxi Province. The battle of Zhongtiao Mountain slowly came to an end.
This time the Japanese army dispatched more than 50,000 troops, including at least 20,000 puppet troops, but the results achieved were enough to reverse the decline of the Japanese army in North China.
On the other hand, the 3rd, 5th, 14th, and 24th Group armies deployed in the first theater north of the Yellow River have 13 corps and more than 200,000 troops. However, they are always in a passive situation and are led by the Japanese army.
Missed opportunity.
Troops at all levels lacked the spirit of independent combat and relied on orders from superiors everywhere. They were unable to act arbitrarily at the right time. Moreover, orders from headquarters at all levels were issued too late, resulting in a lack of coordination among various units in their operations, and they were defeated one by one by the Japanese army.
In fact, in this battle, only the 9th Army, the 3rd Army, and the 93rd Army faced the Japanese army head-on. The various units of the national army did not play the role of superior strength.
As the Japanese army occupied the Yuncheng area, although Hejin and other places were recovered by Zhou Weiguo's First Army, the newly recovered areas had been under the rule of the Japanese army for a long time, and the national army had no foundation. Moreover, Hejin and other places were located at the junction of Yuncheng and Linfen, and there were
The risk of a north-south pincer attack by the Japanese army.
Therefore, after the 14th Group Army crossed the river, Zhou Weiguo took the initiative to abandon the newly occupied territory and shrink his troops to the west of the Yellow River.
Although the Japanese army occupied a large area of Zhongtiao Mountain, five armies were still entrenched in the Jincheng and Changzhi areas in the east. The important town of Jincheng was in the middle of a pincer attack by the two national armies, the 3rd Group Army and the 24th Group Army.
The middle and lower-level officers of the Japanese army on the front line demanded to continue attacking eastward, but in fact the Japanese army had no power to advance. Ishihara Kanji, who was in command in Taiyuan, was not dazzled by the current victory, so he ordered all ministries to clear the place.
Although the frontal battle is over, the cruel bloodshed has really begun.
There is a village called Gurongshu to the north of Henglingguan. It is named after a thousand-year-old tree growing at the entrance of the village.
More than forty Japanese and puppet troops rushed to the village to search for the defeated Nationalist troops. More than ten Nationalist soldiers hiding in fellow villagers' homes were found one by one, and more than a hundred villagers in the village were gathered on the threshing floor.
.
After experiencing this war, both the Japanese army and the puppet army had already become jealous. They dragged the women out and forced them to take off their clothes and let out their bestiality.
Anyone who dared to resist was ruthlessly massacred by the Japanese army. After the Japanese army had finished venting their anger, a real massacre had just begun.
In an instant, the threshing floor turned into a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. The Japanese soldiers stabbed the crowd with bayonets. Some people had their heads chopped off, and some had their limbs chopped off.
Following an order from a Japanese military sergeant, this group of Japanese and puppet troops gathered under the shade of a banyan tree at the entrance of the village. Unexpectedly, a Chinese soldier was hidden in the tree.
This soldier witnessed the atrocities of the Japanese army with his own eyes. Seeing these beasts at his feet, he angrily pulled the grenade on his body, and then jumped from the tree into the ranks of the Japanese army.
After the defeat of the national army, similar scenes were staged across Zhongtiao Mountain, and the Japanese army committed countless atrocities.
Cun Xingqi, commander of the 12th Division, led more than 1,300 remnant troops to escape into Wangwu Mountain, then climbed over the mountains and finally arrived in Yangcheng County, where they joined the first section of the 3rd Group Army.
More than 2,000 people organized by the new commander of the 9th Army, Zhong Xinsheng, were trapped in the mountainous area. Due to lack of food, they knew that the mountainous area was not a place to stay for a long time, so they had no choice but to go north to attack the Japanese blockade, but they were driven back.
As a result, the Japanese army noticed that a group of organized national troops were stranded in the mountainous area north of Hengling Pass, so Tanabe Moritake immediately assembled rear troops to blockade the mountainous area.
Fortunately, the Eighth Route Army Headquarters had anticipated this situation in the National Army in advance. The boss had already ordered the Taiyue Military Region to send elite troops to support. Chu Daming, commander of the 20th Regiment of the Third Division, personally sneaked into the mountains to contact the remnants of the 9th Army.
"Commander Zhong, you must have received the order to retreat as a whole. Once all the organized national troops in Zhongtiao Mountain have been withdrawn, the next step for the Japanese army is to clear out the occupied areas. By then, none of you will be able to escape!"
"Don't talk about the Japanese army entering the mountains to encircle and suppress you. You are now short of clothes and food. Do you have ammunition supplies? How can you survive this winter?"
Zhong Xinsheng didn't understand the reason. Originally, he planned to break out of the encirclement to the north and then march to Yangcheng in the east. However, although this group of national troops was large in number, their physical strength was low and their morale was even lower. As soon as the Japanese army counterattacked, they
Was driven back.
After the two met, Chu Daming proposed that the Eighth Route Army should support them from the outside. However, Zhong Xinsheng led his troops to withdraw all the way north to the Taiyue Military Region to rest and recuperate.
After the commander of the First War Zone ordered all the national troops to withdraw as planned, Zhong Xinsheng secretly called Jiang's attendant's room to inquire about the way out of the 9th Army.
Chiang called back and instructed that Zhong Xinsheng could lead his troops to surrender to the Japanese in order to preserve his strength and return to the national army when the time was right.
Zhong Xinsheng was unwilling to carry out Jiang's instructions. After all, no one wanted to become a traitor if there was a way out.
Just when Zhong Xinsheng was hesitating, the Eighth Route Army came to his door. Although Chu Daming was full of sincerity, every national army general knew that Chiang was more on guard against the Eighth Route Army than the Japanese.
"Commander Chu, if our army withdraws to your army's defense area, then..."
Seeing Zhong Xinsheng's hesitant gesture, Chu Daming certainly understood what he was thinking. The 20th Regiment was a small regiment formed after the Eighth Route Army refined its troops and streamlined its administration.
According to the instructions from his superiors, Chu Daming originally planned to come to Zhongtiao Mountain to gain some advantages and recruit some stragglers from the national army to expand his strength.
"Commander Zhong, when the time comes, your troops can rest and recuperate briefly in our regiment's defense area, and then withdraw eastward to the Changzhi area to join the 24th Group Army, or you can stay in the Jiangxian area to fight guerrillas. You and I will work together to
Let’s fight the little devil together!”
"Okay, we will talk about the specific plans later. I would like to thank your army for helping our troops break out of the encirclement. I will thank you deeply in the future!"
The two agreed to break out of the encirclement, each saluted with a military salute, and then said goodbye.
That night, while the main force of the Japanese army was still circling around Yuanqu, the two troops attacked the Japanese blockade on the outside of the mountainous area, and then withdrew all the way to the Taiyue Military Region according to the route that had been scouted in advance.
There are more than 16,000 people in the two divisions of the 9th Army. This is the only unit that broke through the encirclement in an organized manner. The remaining stragglers who were disrupted and organized, at least tens of thousands of people, are trapped in the mountainous area. What awaits them may be the fate of encirclement and suppression by the Japanese army.
The situation of the remaining troops of the National Army in the Yuncheng area was slightly better. Although the remaining troops of each army were small, they were all connected with each other. After the main force retreated, the remaining troops carried radio stations and supplies to the mountainous areas.
