Devil's Army

The Japanese army in Zhejiang was on high alert against the invasion of their elite troops from Anhui. However, the Southern Independent Division was constantly lurking in the Yushan and Guanghua counties, leading to two major battles.

Lieutenant General Shimomura Sadakazu, commander of the Japanese 13th Army stationed in Zhejiang, ordered part of the 70th Division from Anhui to reinforce Jiangxi.

The First Army's Independent Brigade split into three routes and launched a surprise attack on Yuling Pass, Songjia Ridge, and the ancient pass of Baiji Mountain.

Lieutenant General Takayuki Uchida, commander of the Japanese 70th Division, was caught off guard.

Yuling Pass is located at the border of Shexian County, Huangshan City, Anhui Province and Lin'an District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province. It is an ancient pass on the border between the two provinces.

The pass was first built during the reign of Sun Ce in the Three Kingdoms period. It was constructed by the Yue people using granite. The pass is 8.1 meters high, the gate is 5.7 meters high, 6 meters wide and 5 meters deep, and the wall extends about 80 meters to the mountain ridges on both sides.

The novel *Water Margin* records that Lu Junyi fought a fierce battle here at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, and Xu Shouhui's troops and Zhu Yuanzhang's rebel army also carried out military operations here at the end of the Yuan Dynasty.

The First Independent Brigade of the First Army launched a surprise attack on Yuling Pass. The battle lasted less than an hour, and the First Regiment of the Independent Brigade broke through both outer fortifications of Yuling Pass.

When the regiment broke through the main position at Yuling Pass, it encountered fierce resistance from a part of the 1st Battalion of the 70th Division of the Japanese Army, which had recovered.

At this time, the Japanese battalion commander also continuously sent troops from Chun'an County to reinforce the area.

The Independent Brigade was launching a swift and decisive blitzkrieg this time. He had anticipated that the Japanese troops in Chun'an County would come to reinforce them, and had requested the air force to intercept them in advance.

Shortly after the Japanese troops left Chun'an County, they were subjected to a fierce bombing raid by three bombers from the First Army.

The Japanese reinforcements in Chun'an County moved slowly, and their supplies, including artillery, were unable to advance.

When the regimental commander saw his plane flying towards Chun'an County to fight, he knew that the Japanese army in Chun'an County had already mobilized and ordered the 1st Battalion to intensify its attack.

A regiment of artillery directly under its command was transferred to Yuling Pass as reinforcement.

Before the artillery fire had ceased, the soldiers of the 1st Battalion of the 1st Regiment launched a fierce attack on Yuling Pass.

The machine gunners and rocket soldiers of the First Battalion charged ahead, constantly suppressing the Japanese firepower at Yuling Pass.

Seeing that the First Battalion's attack was thwarted, the Second and Third Battalions of the First Regiment immediately climbed up the steep slopes of Yuling Pass and launched an attack on the Japanese troops at Yuling Pass from both flanks.

Under the combined attack of three battalions of the regiment, the Japanese troops at Yuling Pass finally could not withstand the onslaught and began to retreat under alternating cover.

At dusk, the regiment broke through the Japanese army's Yuling Pass and continued to advance towards Chun'an County.

Meanwhile, the Second Regiment of the Independent Brigade launched an attack on Chun'an County from the direction of Songjialing.

Songjia Ridge is located behind Wuxi Village, Langchuan Township, Chun'an County, Zhejiang Province. It is backed by Diaojin Mountain and is a branch of the Baiji Mountain Range. It has steep slopes and dense forests.

The area from Baojia to Lianlingjiao in Lingbei is an open area surrounded by high mountains, and it is an important passage to southern Anhui.

On September 24, 1934, the vanguard of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army's northward march against the Japanese engaged in a blocking battle with the 49th Division and the 1st Supplementary Brigade of the Nanjing government. The Red Army reconnaissance platoon cleverly utilized the terrain, causing the two enemy forces to mistakenly attack each other, thus breaking through the enemy's encirclement and pursuit at minimal cost and successfully covering the main force's transfer across the Dalian Mountains to southern Anhui. This battle is known as the Songjialing Campaign.

The Japanese army did not know these tactics and deployed artillery positions on the Lingbei Heights.

When the vanguard of the 2nd Regiment appeared in the open area, it was met with fierce bombardment by Japanese artillery.