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

On June 1939, 6, all teams of the Yimeng Guerrillas stopped recruiting soldiers. Except for the best candidates, they would make exceptions and no one else would be accepted.

A few days ago, Li Yunyan counted the troop strength and garrisons of each unit, including the activity areas and alert ranges of each unit, as well as the cities where the team's spies were stationed. Chen Feng felt that the guerrillas could no longer recruit soldiers, as recruiting more would affect the already formed combat effectiveness, and the guerrillas were no longer suitable for a regimental-level organization. Promotions were irrelevant, and the main issue was joint command. For example, letting a company ambush two squads, and having more than a hundred people ambush sixty or seventy people was no problem at all, but a company of three hundred people would be a bit of a waste of talent.

The guard battalion stationed in Pingyi City has grown from 450 people to 820 people, the first battalion stationed in Mengyin City has grown from 430 people to 960 people, the second battalion stationed in Feixian County has grown from 395 people to 870 people, and the third battalion left behind on Mount Meng has also grown from 480 people to 920 people. There are still 1050 new recruits and more than 400 auxiliary forces. The total strength of the Yimeng Guerrillas has reached a terrifying 5000 people, which is comparable to the New Fourth Division. It is time to change the guerrillas' organization.

On June 6, all units received orders to upgrade and restructure. The Yimeng Guerrillas were upgraded to a division-level organization, and all units were automatically upgraded one level. The battalion became a regiment, and the company became a battalion. The organization of the new recruit regiment remained unchanged and continued to stay in Mengshan for training and guard. Wang Hanqiang's Third Regiment moved southeast to Dingzigou to guard the direction of Linyi.

In addition to the changes in the organization, Chen Feng issued the current main strategy, which was to focus on training troops and supplemented by raids. The strategy was to thoroughly understand the terrain of the defense zone, pre-plan various ambushes and sneak attacks, control the main roads and bridges, and be able to block the Japanese army's march in time at critical moments. Civilian forces were organized to establish militias, which were not included in the organization of the Yimeng Guerrillas. They would be given guns and food, and would have no missions. When the Japanese came, they would be able to protect their homes. Another point was emphasized that as long as the Japanese did not attack, all troops must not provoke the Jinpu Line. Other directions could develop freely, and they could reach Qingdao if they had the ability, but the Jinpu Line could not be moved.

The 5000-man guerrillas not only shocked Shen Honglie, but also the Lunan Detachment was shocked when they heard the news. The Yimeng guerrillas really attracted bees and butterflies. How long has it been? It's too scary. Hearing that the Yimeng guerrillas stopped recruiting, Yang Qingfeng and Political Commissar Li were relieved. The Lunan Detachment recruited people in a big way, but only recruited more than people in a month. Do you believe it? Most of these people were recruited from troops in remote areas.

The four regiments outside fully implemented Chen Feng's orders. Except for the Jinpu Line, any other Japanese and puppet troops in the surrounding areas were within the attack range. The Third Regiment in Dingzigou and the Second Regiment in Feixian focused on Linyi City and the surrounding garrison troops. After several attacks and raids, a Japanese regiment could only retreat and defend.

The Third Regiment also joined forces with Shen Honglie's Cavalry Regiment to clean up the route from Yinan to Shijiu. Wherever they went, they wiped out the Japanese and puppet troops. The two forces launched a joint attack, pushing north to the north of Liangcheng and south to the south of Lanshan, and then they entered Lianyungang.

The Mengyin regiment was also not idle. It headed north to Zibo and northwest to attack Pingyang (now Xintai). If it were not for the consideration that the Jinpu Line could not be provoked, it would have been no problem to reach Taishan.

The development route of the Guards Regiment was somewhat restricted. The Jinpu Line could not be moved, so they could only attack the small county of Sishui. There was only one squadron of Japanese devils stationed in Sishui, so how could they withstand the torture of a regiment-level guerrilla force? After losing a large number of troops, they retreated to Qufu and completely abandoned the city of Sishui.

The guard regiment began to expand southward, near Shanting District and Taierzhuang, and the team was able to reach Lanling County south of Linyi overnight.

The rapid development of the Yimeng guerrillas did not attract Bin Shanyuan's attention. In his impression, the Yimeng guerrillas were still more than a thousand people in the mountains. These active troops were either from Shen Honglie's New Fourth Division or from the Lunan Detachment.

There were flames everywhere east of the Jinpu Line in Shandong Province, but Bin Shanyuan didn't care too much. As long as the Jinpu Line was safe, other places didn't matter. There was no good way at the moment, so let them do whatever they wanted! Jump hard and wait for the Central China Expeditionary Force to send troops to let them know that the higher they fly, the harder they fall.

Guo Dapeng from the recruit regiment was the first recruit to be added to the four battalions. At that time, he joined the second company of the third battalion as a machine gunner. The third battalion went to the southeast and occupied Dingzigou. Guo Dapeng and several more outstanding recruits were retained and returned to the recruit regiment. He was promoted to platoon leader by Chen Feng.

The 1050-strong recruit corps was divided into ten companies by Chen Feng. The company commanders were all elites from the four battalions, and the other chief officers were all promoted from the recruit corps. Of the ten recruit companies, five had to remain on the mountain every day, along with four hundred auxiliary team members stationed at Mengshan, and training could only be conducted on the mountain.

There are no restrictions for the other five companies. How and where to train are all decided by their own company commanders. It is not enough to just know how to shoot. It doesn't matter if you can't reach special warfare standards in a short period of time, but you must be able to withstand rigorous training.

On June 6, the last batch of arms ordered with the written-off funds arrived, 13 oceans for the Yimeng Guerrillas and oceans for the New Fourth Division. Nearly oceans worth of arms were all half price, which was equivalent to ordering million oceans worth of arms. The Yimeng Guerrillas and the New Fourth Division had completely controlled the line from Mengshan to Shijiu.

The goods were unloaded in Shijiu at night. The New Fourth Division dispatched 2,000 troops to transport the goods. The Yimeng Guerrillas dispatched five companies of new recruits and the Third Regiment stationed at Dingzigou. In order to prevent the Japanese army from getting the news and bombing, the goods were only transported from Shijiu to Yinan on the first night and were hidden at dawn. This batch of arms was of vital importance and no risk could be taken.

They were originally planning to set off in the evening, but after noon, the sky suddenly became overcast and soon it began to drizzle. Wang Hanqiang and Shen Zizhong, who were in charge of the transportation, immediately ordered the troops to set off from Yinan back to Menglianggu and Dingzigu. It took only four hours. Before dark, the Third Regiment left its own quota and continued to transport the rest to Mengshan.

At nine o'clock in the evening, the transport team returned to the foot of Mount Mengshan. The Guard Regiment of Pingyi, the 1st Regiment of Mengyin and the 2nd Regiment of Feixian all sent transport teams. Chen Feng did not plan to let this batch of arms go up the mountain. The defensive firepower on the mountain was sufficient. Two hundred anti-aircraft machine guns, minus the part used by each regiment, the rest were all distributed to the troops going out of the mountain. Each regiment was guaranteed fifty machine guns, with the regiment headquarters, special operations team and three battalions each receiving ten. Chen Feng had always been worried about the lack of firepower of the troops going down the mountain. With this supplement, large-scale operations for half a year would not be a problem.

In addition to anti-aircraft machine guns, bullets and gas masks were also distributed. Of the 270,000 yuan in write-off funds, 180,000 yuan was for ordered bullets, sold at half price. The bullets really piled up into a mountain.