Devil's Army

The Sixth Brigade and the Jidong Independent Brigade each left a company to garrison Hejian City and Botou City, while the main force continued to advance towards the Taihang Mountains.

Under the pressure of the powerful forces of the Sixth Brigade and the Jidong Independent Brigade, the Japanese defenders in the towns and villages west of Hejian City and Botou City either fled or could only put up a slight resistance before being defeated by the troops of the First Army.

The main forces of the 6th Brigade and the Jidong Independent Brigade met again outside the city of Hengshui.

The main force of the Japanese 36th Division was stationed in Hengshui City, and the Japanese troops in Shijiazhuang and Xingtai were also ready to reinforce the 36th Division in Hengshui City.

If Brigadier General Li and Brigadier General Gao attack Hengshui City, they will be attacked by the two Japanese divisions that are nearby to encircle and suppress the Eighth Route Army.

If we don’t take Hengshui City, we will have to take a detour to join forces with the Eighth Route Army in the Taihang Mountains.

Gray Wolf ordered Li Guozhu to be the commander-in-chief of the westward army, commanding the Sixth Brigade and the Jidong Independent Brigade in their fight against Japan.

Before Li and Gao came up with a plan to conquer Hengshui, a tough nut to crack, a scout came to report that there were gunshots near Kangzhuang. Judging from the size of the gunshots, it was probably a squadron-sized Japanese army fighting our army.

Brigade Commander Li immediately decided that instead of trying to tackle the tough nut of Hengshui City, it would be better to wipe out the Japanese troops around Hengshui City first.

This would not only help the Eighth Route Army that was being encircled, but also clear the obstacles for an all-out attack on Hengshui City.

Brigade Commander Gao also agreed with Brigade Commander Li's arrangement. He thought that it might be possible to surround the enemy and attack the reinforcements, and transfer the difficult-to-attack Japanese troops in Hengshui City to the outskirts of the city to annihilate them. He took the initiative to ask for battle.

Brigade Commander Li knew that the Jidong Independent Brigade was originally a unit of the Eighth Route Army, so he agreed to Brigade Commander Gao's request.

Soon, a company of the 2nd Regiment of the Jidong Independent Brigade rushed to Kangzhuang.

It turned out that Ma Benzhai, the commander of the Hui Muslim Brigade, ambushed the Japanese army in Kangzhuang area on the road from Hengshui to Anjia Village in order to strike a blow to the Japanese army's arrogance and protect the wheat harvest.

回民支队与衡水县游击大队配合，经过细致侦察，第2大队第7中队和衡水县第5中队准备佯攻安家村；第2大队第5、第6中队和衡水县游击大队主力在康庄两侧麦田设伏；第1大队隐蔽在邢家村，截击溃逃之敌并阻击衡水增援之敌。

On the night of May 5, all the troops arrived at their designated positions. At dawn on May 29, the troops in the direction of Anjia Village launched a feint attack on time. The enemy in the Anjia Village stronghold asked for help from the Japanese troops in Hengshui, and Ma Benzhai ordered the soldiers to cut off the telephone lines.

The Japanese troops stationed in Hengshui did not know that the Sixth Brigade of the First Anti-Japanese Army and the Jidong Independent Brigade had already arrived near Hengshui City, so they sent a squadron of Japanese troops by car and puppet troops out of the city to reinforce. When passing through Kangzhuang, they engaged in a battle with the ambush troops of the Hui Muslim Detachment.

The Japanese squadron leader ordered the artillery to bombard the ambush of the Hui Muslim detachment on both sides of Kangzhuang.

After a company of the Jidong Independent Brigade arrived from behind, they opened fire with both light and heavy weapons.

The Japanese army jumped into the roadside ditch to block the pincer attack from the Hui Muslim Detachment and the Independent Brigade Company.

Prior to this, the Eighth Route Army mobilized the masses through local party organizations to dig a two-meter-deep trench that went straight up and down, making it impossible for the enemy to shoot or escape in the trench.

After the Hui Muslim Detachment and a company of the Independent Brigade approached, they threw grenades into the ditch, killing all the Japanese soldiers.

The victory of the Kangzhuang ambush greatly inspired the anti-Japanese enthusiasm of the people in southern Hebei and was praised by Commander Nie Rongzhen of the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei Military Region.

Brigadier General Gao and Brigadier General Li also tasted the sweetness of luring the enemy out of Hengshui City and annihilating them. So they continued to hide the main forces of the Sixth Brigade and the Jidong Independent Brigade, and sent out small units in the form of companies to continue attacking the Japanese strongholds in the towns outside Hengshui City.

Soon, the Second Company of the Third Battalion of the Second Regiment of the Jidong Independent Brigade joined forces with the Hui Muslim Detachment to attack the Japanese railway protection team in Nanhuapen Village.

At that time, in order to open up the Beijing-Hankou and Jinpu railways, the Japanese invaders stepped up the construction of the Shide Railway and dispatched heavy troops to protect the road construction.

The railway guards of the Hengshui section were mainly stationed in the Nanhuapen Village stronghold next to the railway, where more than 100 Japanese and puppet troops were stationed, with sophisticated weapons. Moreover, the stronghold was strong and easy to defend but difficult to attack.

Commander Ma and the second company commander of the Jidong Independent Brigade jointly agreed on a battle plan of "luring the snake out of its hole and then annihilating it."

At dawn that day, nearly 400 officers and soldiers of the Hui Muslim Detachment, led by Commander Ma, were hiding in a ditch more than two miles away from the Nanhuapen stronghold.

They created the illusion of attacking the stronghold through feint attacks and other means, thus luring the Japanese and puppet troops in the stronghold to move out.

The Japanese and puppet troops in Nanhuapen heard the chaotic gunfire and realized that the Hui Muslim detachment was attacking the stronghold. They immediately carried sophisticated weapons and went out of the stronghold to encircle and suppress the enemy.

Who knew that as soon as the Japanese and puppet troops in the Nanhuapen stronghold left the stronghold and attacked the Hui Muslim detachment, the soldiers of the Second Company of the Independent Brigade immediately surrounded their retreat.

Immediately afterwards, the same sophisticated weapons continued to fire at the Japanese and puppet troops.

The more than 100 Japanese and puppet troops were busy dealing with the attack from the Second Company.

Commander Ma took the opportunity to lead the Hui Muslim Detachment to launch a direct attack on the Japanese and puppet troops.

The battle lasted less than an hour, and the Second Company and the Hui Muslim Detachment wiped out the Japanese and puppet troops in the Nanhuapen stronghold.

The Japanese puppet army's railway guards on the Shide Railway were wiped out, and the soldiers of the Second Company and the Hui Muslim Detachment carried out comprehensive destruction of the Shide Railway, delaying the Japanese army's attempt to open up the Beijing-Hankou Railway and the Jinpu Railway.