Just when the 115th Division was waiting for the net, the Japanese Sakagaki Fifth Division, which had always dreamed of "the invincibility of the imperial army," learned through reconnaissance that the Kuomintang troops were gathering forces in the area of Pingxingguan in an attempt to prevent it from advancing towards Taiyuan. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

However, they never expected that the Eighth Route Army and the Kuomintang Army would work closely together to form the front and rear battlefields, and they did not expect that the Eighth Route Army on the rear battlefield that cooperated with the Kuomintang Army in the battle was already waiting outside the Pingxing Pass at this time.

At dawn on the 25th, the baggage troops of the 21st Brigade of the 5th Division of the Japanese Army, carrying a large number of vehicles, marched westward along the road from Lingqiu to Pingxingguan, and at about 7 o'clock all entered the ambush circle of the 115th Division of Pingxingguan.

The 115th Division was condescending and prepared, and immediately launched a swift attack on the Japanese army. In an instant, the officers and men of the Eighth Route Army descended from heaven like divine soldiers, and the ambush troops on both sides of the highway rushed to the road, cutting the enemy into several sections, and the Japanese army panicked for a while.

When the Japanese learned that the baggage troops of the 21st Brigade had been ambushed by the 115th Division, reinforcements immediately moved into action, and a force of more than 2,000 people quickly rushed to the rescue.

Upon learning of the situation, the 115th Division command ordered the 345th Brigade, which served as a reserve, to block this enemy force. Before leaving, Lin Shuai said to the brigade commander Yang Chengwu: "If you can't block the enemy's reinforcements, the battle of Pingxingguan will be unpredictable." Therefore, you must do your best to resist the enemy to the death. ”

At 4 o'clock in the afternoon of the 25th, after a fierce battle, the 115th Division completely annihilated the encircled enemy and won the battle. Later, Matajiro Shimao, the field depot chief of the 5th Division of the Japanese Army, described the battlefield as follows: The corpses of countless very poor Japanese soldiers lay on the sides around the charred trucks and on the slopes of the hills behind them......

At the same time as the campaign was going on, the Eighth Route Army also organized guerrilla detachments to advance behind enemy lines in northern Shanxi, mobilize the masses, carry out guerrilla warfare, intercept transportation, sabotage communications, and seek opportunities to annihilate the enemy. In addition, the victory in the first battle won the precious time for the Chinese defenders to calmly deploy the defense of Xinkou.

The Eighth Route Army seized the fighters at Pingxingguan and flanked the Japanese army, winning the flag and exposing the myth of the "invincible" Japanese army. At one time, more than 100 congratulatory letters and telegrams were sent by people from all walks of life across the country to the Workers' and Peasants' Party and the Eighth Route Army.

Chang Kaishen sent a telegram to the Eighth Route Army on the 26th: "In the first battle on the 25th, the annihilation of the Kou was like hemp, which fully proved that the officers and soldiers used their lives, and it was deeply gratifying. Shang Xi encouraged the department and continued to work hard. ”

On the 28th, the Magic City Professional Salvation Association sent a telegram to the Eighth Route Army, saying: "Your army was ordered to resist the enemy, perform miraculous feats, save the dying situation on the Western Front, and break the flame of the Japanese Army." When the good news came, everyone rejoiced. Congratulations. ”

Xu Fanting, director of the Second Theater Field Mobilization Committee, praised in an article: "According to the Battle of Pingxingguan, the great victory of the Eighth Route Army is not only estimated by the heavy deaths of both sides, but also by breaking the myth of the invincibility of the 'Imperial Army', which made the Japanese army suffer a setback and did not dare to advance as long as before, so as to improve our morale. ”

Zhang Cheng looked at the telegram sent by the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, and his face was also full of envy, the 115th Division was worthy of being an old man from the Red First Army, and it was originally very brave and good at fighting in history, and its officer and cadre corps even Zhang Cheng coveted it.

Now with the blessing of his butterfly wings, the strength of the 115th Division is twice as strong as in history, originally Yang Chengwu was supposed to lead an independent regiment to block the Japanese reinforcements, but later because the enemy was outnumbered, the independent regiment was wiped out, and only 100 people were spared.

Now Yang Chengwu led a whole brigade of more than 6,000 people to block the enemy, and as a result, he not only eliminated nearly 1,000 Japanese reinforcements, but also suffered only 800 casualties, which was much stronger than the result of the annihilation of the entire independent regiment in history.

In the Battle of Pingxingguan, the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army annihilated 2,000 Japanese troops, destroyed more than 100 enemy cars, and captured 1 Type 92 infantry gun, more than 2,000 shells, more than 20 machine guns, more than 1,000 rifles and a large number of food and clothing.

In addition, the 115th Division also paid the price of more than 1,500 casualties, and more than 800 soldiers were buried in the hot land of northern Shanxi.

After reading the telegram, Zhang Cheng couldn't help but sigh at the strong combat effectiveness of the old divisions of the Japanese army, the 115th Division put into battle as many as 20,000 troops, the Japanese army only participated in the battle of more than 4,000 troops, the ratio of enemy and enemy forces almost reached 1 to 5, coupled with such a good ambush formation as Pingxingguan, it actually caused more than 1,500 casualties to the 115th Division, and the casualties still accounted for the majority, the combat effectiveness of the Fifth Division can be seen from this.

Lin Shuai also pointed out in his post-war summary that the officers and men of our Eighth Route Army will still fight more ambush warfare and guerrilla warfare in the future War of Resistance against Japan, and must not fight hard with the Japanese army.

Obviously, the strong combat effectiveness of the Japanese army had a great impact on Lin Shuai, which made him, who had always admired the operation of large corps, change his thinking and change his combat tactics against the Japanese invaders from the movement of large corps to the scattered guerrilla attack of small troops.

Just as the troops of the Eighth Route Army crossed the Yellow River and rushed to the anti-Japanese battlefield in northern Shanxi, the instructor of the Eighth Route Army, who had the largest number of troops and the strongest combat power, remained stationary, which made Zhang Cheng, who had always been calm, irritable.

Zhang Cheng thought that the battle of Xinkou was coming soon, and he couldn't sit here and wait for the battle order, so he had to take the initiative to ask for help. Thinking of it, Zhang Cheng sent a telegram of about 500 words to the commander-in-chief, and actively asked the commander for battle.

After receiving Zhang Cheng's telegram, the commander-in-chief was undoubtedly very satisfied with Zhang Cheng's desire to fight, but the commander-in-chief knew that Zhang Cheng liked to fight in large corps, and engaged in sports warfare, ambush warfare, and special operations, and that these tactics would naturally have little problem dealing with the Kuomintang army with backward weapons and weak will to fight, but whether they would still have an effect on the powerful Japanese army was very worthy of the commander's doubts.

Therefore, the commander-in-chief has always wanted to suppress Zhang Cheng's edge, and all units of the Eighth Route Army have already opened the anti-Japanese battlefield, and only the most powerful instructor is still holding back in the base area.

However, the results of the Battle of Pingxingguan have already come out, presumably Zhang Cheng has realized the strength of the Japanese army, and at this time, the instructor should be able to learn the lessons of the 115th Division and not rush and fight.

The commander thought about it again and again, and felt that Zhang Cheng's desire for war should not be suppressed too much, otherwise the troops would lose their edge and the gains outweighed the losses, so the commander finally agreed to Zhang Cheng's active request for battle, and ordered the instructor to join the sequence of the Eighth Route Army going to fight in northern Jin.

Zhang Cheng received the commander's telegram that agreed to teach his instructor to participate in the battle, and he couldn't help jumping up in ecstasy, and then immediately notified the members of the party committee of the division headquarters to urgently formulate a march route and study the combat deployment.

After the political commissar, Li Yunlong, Ding Wei and others learned that the headquarters had approved the instructor to fight, they were all very excited. To be honest, in the past two months, the officers and men of the instructor have always watched other brother units fight with the Japanese army, and they have long been suffocated from internal injuries, but now that the commander-in-chief has finally ordered the instructor to go on the expedition, everyone is as if they have taken a stimulant, and they are extremely excited.