I fought guerrilla warfare in the Yimeng Mountains during the Anti-Japanese War

The recruits had just been trained for five days when the spy in charge of Mengyin County reported that a Japanese infantry regiment had entered Mengyin City. They had no heavy weapons or tanks, but they had more than a dozen Type 92 cannons, many mortars, and light and heavy machine guns. Their strength was less than that of a regiment, but there were still about 2,000 people.

The atmosphere in Mengshan suddenly became tense. Chen Feng quickly ordered all teams to stop training and prepare for battle. However, Mengshan's current strength was too much. With a platoon of new recruits, there were only more than a hundred people at most. The Japanese army had at least two thousand people. This gap could not be made up by tactics and individual soldier capabilities.

Just as Chen Feng was hesitating to hide the supplies and the team was moving to avoid the enemy, the alert was lifted. It was discovered that the Japanese army's target was not them, but the Shandong Provincial Provisional Government in Yishui County.

In November 1937, Qin Qirong, a member of the Shandong Provincial Party Committee of the Kuomintang, organized the Lu-Ji Border Region Guerrilla Command in Huimin, Lubei. After the fall of central Lu, the headquarters moved to Yishui and Laiwu. At the same time, Shen Honglie, the former mayor of Qingdao, also led part of the marines and local armed forces to withdraw to Zhucheng in central Lu. After the Battle of Xuzhou began, in order to strengthen harassment behind enemy lines, Shen Honglie was appointed as the chairman of the Shandong Provincial Government and the commander of security, and took over Wu Huawen's former 11rd Army and reorganized it into the new 3th Division.

This Japanese army regiment was heading for the provisional government. If they wanted to stabilize the rear, they had to wipe out the remaining troops first.

Chen Feng breathed a sigh of relief. He had to expand the army as much as possible! At least he could pull out a battalion of soldiers. With three or four hundred people, he could fight a battle anyway.

The team continued training. Chen Feng sent two veteran team members, Wu Tianxiang and Ding San, to ride on horses with radios to keep an eye on the battle in the direction of Yishui and report immediately if there was any opportunity for combat.

To the west of Yishui City, in Cuijiayu Township, Xiawei District, Shen Honglie was leading the New Fourth Division in an ambush. According to intelligence, a regiment of Japanese troops had left Mengyin City and were rushing towards Yishui. Shen Honglie made a prompt decision to abandon the natural barrier of the Yi River and the team advanced 20 kilometers to ambush in Cuijiayu.

Cuijiayu is a typical terrain of two mountains and a valley. The peaks on both sides are not high but very steep. There is a road in the middle of the valley, which is an important route connecting Mengyin and Yishui. Other than that, you have to take a detour through Yinan or Yiyuan. Unless the Japanese army commander's brain is rusty, he would not go the long way instead of the near one.

Qin Qirong and Shen Honglie were lying behind a grove of persimmon trees. Through the gaps between the thick persimmon trees, they could clearly see everything on the road.

"Commander Shen, it's almost time! Why is there no sign of the Japanese troops yet? Could it be that they received the news in advance and changed their route?"

"Impossible, they can't cross the mountains! The only way to change the route is from Gaozhuang. It's thirty kilometers longer if we go through Yinan, and forty kilometers more if we go through Yiyuan. Let's wait, if there is no movement for two hours, we have to go back to Yishui City immediately, we will still make it in time."

Although Shen Honglie is now a division commander, he does not have the strength of a division under his command, not even a Type B division. The regular troops have only more than 5,000 people, and the other miscellaneous troops added up to only 1,300 people. Shen Honglie was very bold. This time he led 4,500 troops out of Cuijiayu, leaving only less than 2,000 defense troops in Yishui City, which were mainly miscellaneous and local armed forces. No wonder Qin Qirong was worried.

Shen Honglie was not worried. The Japanese had already occupied most of Shandong, leaving only the central mountainous areas that they did not care about. The vanguard had already reached Henan and Anhui. In their eyes, Shandong was their rear base, and they would not be cautious.

"Here it comes!"

Shen Honglie quickly picked up the telescope and looked west. The Japanese vanguard had already appeared. It was a search team of more than 30 Japanese soldiers who walked while on guard. After turning the corner of the mountain pass, they started firing. They were all Type 38 rifles, which posed no threat to the ambushed officers and soldiers of the New Fourth Division.

After a while, the large army appeared. Except for the heavy machine guns carried by the Japanese, all the mortars and light machine guns were carried on their shoulders, and the Type 92 cannons were pulled by mules and horses.

Shen Honglie and other Japanese troops in front entered the cordon and opened fire with a bang of their pistols. In an instant, gunfire rang out on both sides of the road. Maxim heavy machine guns, Czech light machine guns, various rifles, and more than 20 mortars had already adjusted their firing parameters. The shells all flew out of the muzzles and swooped towards the Japanese army.

The Japanese army was instantly thrown into chaos. The mules and horses were frightened first and could not pull the carriages, so they pulled the carriages into the dry riverbed. After suffering certain casualties, the Japanese army, under the command of the commander, began to counterattack, using the slopes on both sides of the road as support, and started to shoot at the national army.

However, the position of the National Army was too tricky. The northern hillside was only thirty to fifty meters away from the road, and the southern hillside was only more than a hundred meters away from the road even though it was separated by a ditch. The Japanese army had no blind spots to hide. As soon as the heavy machine guns were set up, they were focused on by the National Army's mortars and Maxims.

The commanders of the Japanese corps had no choice but to point their swords at the northern hillside:

"Go to hell!"

Except for the Type 99 light machine gunner and mortar operator, all the soldiers began to charge up the northern slope, using grenades to clear the way. A line of smoke and dust was first blown up to block the Kuomintang army's line of sight. The soldiers then rushed towards the Kuomintang line despite casualties.

The troops in charge of the northern hillside were the Marines brought out by Shen Honglie from Qingdao. After the fierce fighting outside Qingdao, they could totally withstand such a scene. They first blasted a line of death with grenades from a high position, and then kept firing with various firearms, and forcibly stopped the Japanese army's intention to attack.

The only pity was that the Japanese marching team was too long. When the front opened fire, there were still 500 troops in the back who had not entered the ambush circle. Although Shen Honglie thought of this possibility and used two companies on the hillside at the corner to prepare for an ambush, a force of 300 people could not stop the crazy Japanese attack.

The Japanese army paid the price of more than 200 lives, opened a passage, and quickly attacked eastward. Mortars began to bombard indiscriminately, and heavy machine guns were set up on the high ground. These hundreds of Japanese soldiers moved like a snowball, and the defenses gradually stabilized wherever they went. Light and heavy machine guns and mortars also began to fire. The Marines on the north position were attacked from below and on the right wing, and were under great pressure.

Upon seeing this, Shen Honglie immediately ordered the Nationalist troops on the southern slope to launch a charge. The timing was just right. The Japanese army's defense was all directed towards the northern slope, and the soldiers were lying halfway up the slope shooting at the Nationalist troops, completely ignoring the attack from the southern slope.

Seeing that the Kuomintang troops on the southern hillside had launched a charge, the Type 99 rifles quickly turned their guns around and fired at the Kuomintang troops rushing into the river. After a severe drought in early summer, the river was bare, which had no effect on the charging Kuomintang troops. Dozens of Type 99 rifles were unable to stop the charge of the Kuomintang troops, and they came into close combat with the Japanese army in just three to five minutes.

Seeing this, the commander on the north hillside immediately ordered the bugler to blow the charge. The soldiers of both sides were instantly intertwined. The entire road and the north hillside were in chaos. The Marines rushed down from the north, the National Army rushed over from the south, the Japanese army was attacked from both sides, and the Japanese army came to rescue from the west. The whole valley was in complete chaos.

Shen Honglie ordered the guard company to launch a charge. He and Qin Qirong only brought a squad of guards to observe under the persimmon tree. Although it was a pity that they didn't surround them all, it was considered a successful ambush. The rest depended on the soldiers' willpower!