The New Fourth Army in Dianhu Town broke the Japanese puppet "surprise attack"

After the Southern Anhui Incident, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China decided to rebuild the New Fourth Army headquarters in Yancheng, northern Jiangsu. Chen Yi was the acting commander and Liu Shaoqi was the political commissar. The fifth column of the Eighth Route Army was organized as the Third Division of the New Fourth Army, and Huang Kecheng served as the division commander and political commissar. The main task was to defend and build the anti-Japanese base area in northern Jiangsu.
In 1942, in order to cooperate with the Pacific War and plunder strategic resources in northern Jiangsu, the Japanese army began to carry out crazy "mopping up" the base areas of the New Fourth Army in northern Jiangsu ". Under the leadership of the Communist Party and the New Fourth Army, the army and people in the base areas smashed the "mopping up" and "encroaching" of the Japanese and puppet forces many times, and consolidated and developed the anti-Japanese base areas. In October, in order to show its strength, the Third Division of the New Fourth Army held a military parade in Sunhezhuang, Yangzhai South, Funing County. The meeting was presided over by the division commander and political commissar Huang Kecheng. After learning of this information, the Japanese army pieced together more than a thousand troops from various strongholds and rushed to Sun Hezhuang in two "secret" routes in an attempt to carry out a "surprise attack" on the third division headquarters of the New fourth Army ".
The Japanese and puppet troops attacked Sun Hezhuang and must pass through Dianhu Town. Dianhu Town is located more than 40 kilometers northeast of Lianshui County, facing the old Yellow River in the east and connecting with the river embankment. The town is short from east to west, long from north to south, and has a wall of more than two meters high on the south, west and north. Although it is a small town, its geographical location is very important, and it is an important town on the edge of the northern Jiangsu base area.
The head of the Third Division of the New Fourth Army had already obtained accurate information about the enemy's advance through underground workers. After research, the head of the Third Division of the New Fourth Army decided to send the 22nd Regiment of the Eighth Brigade and the Liandong County Corps to Dianhu Town to meet the enemy.
After accepting the task, the 22nd Regiment of the Eighth Brigade and the Liandong County Corps rushed to Dianhu Town. It took 3 days to complete the reinforcement of the wall fortifications with the local people, and built five solid bunkers on the wall. There are traffic ditches between the bunkers. The soldiers filled the walls with branches and deer, and dredged the trenches outside the walls, injecting water 3 meters wide and 5 meters deep.
When everything was ready, the head of the 22nd regiment announced the battle deployment: one company of the 3rd battalion was responsible for holding the commanding height at the turn on the north bank of the old Yellow River in the southeast of Dianhu, and one company blocked the enemy mobile. Another company and Liandong County Corps stationed in Dianhu Town, sticking to the wall fortifications. The regiment headquarters and the second battalion are the general reserve teams, preparing to launch a general attack on the enemy after dark. Subsequently, the various ministries entered the positions in accordance with the deployment, stepped up their vigilance and waited patiently for the arrival of the enemy.
At 8 o'clock on November 9, the enemy finally came to the outside of Dianhu Town. Seeing that the town was quiet, he thought that the "surprise attack" had succeeded, so he divided into two groups and rushed to the levee all the way in an attempt to seize the commanding heights, all the way to Dianhu Town. The Eighth Route Army had been ready for a long time. When the enemy entered 50 meters away from the position, all kinds of weapons were fired at the same time, and a large number of clusters of "hemp tail bombs" were thrown at the enemy, which quickly repelled the enemy's first attack. Seeing this, the enemy hurriedly adjusted its tactics, using machine guns and grenades to suppress the New Fourth Army positions, and then pounced on the New Fourth Army positions with several small groups of troops. Relying on the established positions, the various departments of the New Fourth Army responded calmly and repelled the enemy's attacks one after another.
During the battle, the commander of the third battalion was unfortunately injured. The battalion instructor used the gap between the battles to report to the commander by phone. The Chief of Mission immediately sent the Chief of the Organization to assist in the command. In the afternoon, the enemy found that the firepower of the positions stationed by the Liandong County Corps was weak, so they concentrated on launching a new offensive against the positions of the Liandong County Corps. The Liandong County Corps held its position and launched a fierce battle with the enemy. At the critical moment, a platoon of the 22nd Regiment came along the traffic ditch for reinforcement, and both sides made a concerted effort to repel the enemy's attack.
In the evening of the battle, the enemy suffered heavy casualties and had to hide in a "safe zone" 300 meters away. Relying on the advantage of the long range of its weapons, it continued to fire and drop bombs at the positions of the New Fourth Army in an attempt to open the gap. The New Fourth Army garrison immediately transferred their secretly developed grenade launchers to attack the enemy. The grenade has an iron handle more than a foot long at the end and can hit 500 meters away. As several grenades roared into the enemy group and exploded, the enemy fled in a hurry and dared not approach the position of Dianhu Town any more.
After nighttime, the enemy retreated to a nearby village in an attempt to take a temporary respite. At about 19:00, the two battalions of the 22nd Regiment and the troops directly under the regiment, as the reserve team, suddenly launched a charge against the enemy from both wings, and the defenders of Dianhu Town also rushed out of the position to cooperate in the counterattack. The already exhausted enemy was caught off guard and the positions were captured one after another by the New Fourth Army. In a panic, the crippled enemy used poison gas as a cover to break through and flee.
While cleaning the battlefield, the soldiers found an officer among the enemy's corpses, with a telescope hanging around his neck, a command knife slung around his waist, and a pistol falling beside him. After verification, this person is the commander of the enemy's "secret surprise attack", Dazhi Wanxianji.
After a day of fierce fighting, the New Fourth Army killed more than 100 Japanese and puppet troops, and seized a copy of the Japanese army's combat plan and military land map for "sweeping" the northern Jiangsu base area. This map played an important role in the later anti-"mopping up" battle. In recognition of the merits of the 22nd Regiment and the Liandong County Corps in this battle, the head of the Third Division of the New Fourth Army specially presented a commendation.
 

Source: People's Political Consultative Conference