On September 21, 1937, Itagaki Seishiro led the regimental headquarters of the 5th Division from Hunyuan over the mountains to the south and attacked the flank of the defenders' 17th Army. The main force of the Japanese 21st Brigade advanced south from Lingqiu and attacked Pingxingguan from the front, but was stubbornly resisted by the 33rd Army's MengxianJibu Dilu Brigade: the Japanese reinforcements continued to increase, so the two armies launched a major battle in front of Pingxingguan. At this time, Fu Zuoyi, commander-in-chief of the 7th Army, led the reserve troops to reinforcements, and the Japanese offensive was frustrated, blocked outside the Pingxing Pass, unable to continue to carry out the offensive forward, and the progress did not move.
On September 24, Lin Biao, commander of the 116th Division, and Nie Rongzhen, deputy commander of the division, personally led cadres at and above the battalion level to the front line, and after reconnaissance of the terrain, decided to set up ambush positions on both sides of the mountainous terrain on both sides of the road from Guangou northeast of Pingxingguan to Donghenan Village, which was about 10 kilometers long, and annihilated the Japanese troops from Lingqiu with the tactic of "blocking the head, cutting off the waist, and cutting off the tail". On the night of the 24th, the main force of the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army braved heavy rain to enter the ambush position and made full combat arrangements.
On the 26th, the 3rd Brigade of the 21st Wing of the 21st Brigade of the Japanese Army slowly drove along the road toward Pingxingguan in more than 100 cars and more than 200 heavy carriages, and at about 7 o'clock, all entered the pre-ambush position of the 116th Division. Due to the narrow roads and the muddy road surface after the rain, the Japanese vehicles and men were crowded and blocked, and the movement was relatively slow. Lin Biao seized the fighter and ordered the 115th Division to fire in all directions. Zeng Xiansheng, commander of the 5th Company of the 687th Regiment, led his troops to charge the enemy and blow up the enemy's last car with grenades, cutting off the Japanese retreat. The 685th Regiment intercepted head-on, blocking the Japanese route to the south. Destroyed Japanese cars and horse-drawn carriages flooded the roads, making it impossible to deploy their forces. The 686th Regiment repelled multiple enemy counterattacks at laoye temple heights. The officers and men of the 115th Division became more and more courageous in the war and began to divide and annihilate the enemy. By the afternoon, the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army had achieved its first major victory in the Chinese army's all-out war against Japan.
In order to support the 115th Division of the Eighth Route Army, Sun Chu, deputy commander-in-chief of the Kuomintang 6th Army, ordered Guo Zongfen's reserve 2nd Army to take the initiative and attack the Rear of the Japanese Flank. Before dawn on the 25th, when the 2nd Reserve Army was advancing through Jiantou and Mihui Village, it was suddenly attacked and surrounded by Japanese artillery fire from the fortifications on the Tuanchengkou side, with about one-third of the casualties. At this time, after the 115th Division won the victory of Pingxingguan, one of them advanced on the Big and Small Cold Water Ridges, so that Guo Zongfen's troops occupied a stable position, effectively reducing the pressure of the Japanese army's attack on the front of Pingxingguan.
In view of Yang Aiyuan and Sun Chu's limited ability to command the various armies, Yan Xishan ordered Fu Zuoyi to take charge of the commander-in-chief of the Battle of Pingxingguan, and ordered Chen Changjie's 61st Army to quickly assist Pingxingguan. The 61st Army was full of momentum and captured Xipaochi and Yazijian in one fell swoop. On the 26th, the Japanese army concentrated the superior strength of a brigade and regiment to launch a fierce counterattack against the 434th regiment of the Yazijian garrison, and the commander of Cheng Jixian commanded the remaining two battalions of soldiers to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese army, and the officers and men of the whole regiment bravely marched forward, and none of them escaped, until the final bullets were exhausted, and all the officers and men below the commander of Cheng Jixian regiment died heroically.
At this time, the east and west running pools also launched a fierce battle. When Japanese reinforcements arrived, they began an offensive in an attempt to retake The West Running Pool. Brigade Commander Lü Ruiying led his troops to stubbornly resist and smashed the Japanese offensive several times in succession. As soon as the Japanese heavy artillery arrived, they immediately bombarded the east and west running ponds and raven creek positions with powerful artillery fire. The 622nd Regiment of the 8th Brigade stationed in Dongpaochi fought a bloody battle for 5 days and nights, and the positions changed hands many times, and the two armies formed a tug-of-war, the enemy on the hillside was full of corpses, and the defenders also suffered nearly two-thirds of the casualties, but still held out.
At this time, the entire combat area of Pingxingguan had fallen into a state of stalemate. After a week of fierce fighting, the Japanese army had suffered more than 7,000 casualties, and Itagaki Seishiro, after consulting with his subordinates, ordered the Kwantung Army Chahar to send the commander of the 2nd Mixed Brigade of the Corps, Honda Masaki, to sneak up on Ruyuekou and move back behind the plagiarized Pingxing Pass. Ruyuekou was a key point between Hengshan and Yanmen Mountain, and was the combined unit of Liu Mao'en's 1st Army of the Central Army and the 34th Army of the Jin Army. Although Yang Chengyuan's 34th Army was of a military rank, it only had 2 brigades, and Jiang Yuzhen's 196th Brigade was stationed at Yangmingbao. Therefore, in fact, only the 203rd Brigade of Liang Jiantang's department was stationed in Fanzhi, and the defensive force was relatively weak.
Hideki Tojo's tactic was to attack the west from the east, first posing as an attack on Yanmen Pass, and then, sending the 15th Brigade and the 2nd Brigade to suddenly turn to the southeast, directly attack ruyuekou, and with a day and night of rapid marching, on the morning of September 28, they broke through the Ruyue pass in one fell swoop, and the Kuomintang 34th Army had to retreat into a prosperous position. In order to protect the rear safety of the Pingxingguan battlefield, Brigadier Liang Jiantang personally led the remaining battalion of men and horses back in an attempt to reoccupy the mountain pass, but due to the disparity in strength, Brigadier Liang Jiantang and most of the officers and men died heroically. Wang Jingguo, commander of the 19th Army, then hurriedly ordered the commander of the Fang KePhtli brigade to counterattack Ruyuekou, but was defeated by the Japanese army. On September 29, the Japanese occupied Fanzhi and Tiejiaoling, posing a serious threat to the flanks and rears of the main battlefield of Pingxingguan and the main position of Yanmenguan.
On September 30, in the face of the battle situation at this time at the Battle of Pingxingguan, Yan Xishan personally went to a small village in Shahe Town, west of the FanzhiNan camp, and convened a meeting of Fu Zuoyi, Sun Chu, Yang Aiyuan, Chen Changjie, Wang Jingguo and other front-line generals. After consultation, it was decided to withdraw from the entire line of the Pingxingguan combat troops. On October 1, Yan Xishan ordered the various routes on the Inner Great Wall line to move to the first line of Yunzhongshan, Wutai Mountain, and Luya Mountain, and concentrated their forces to organize defenses in the Xinkou area, and the Japanese army soon broke through the defensive line and finally occupied Taiyuan.
Resources
[1] Liu Dejun, Editor-in-Chief: Review of the Study of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression