Devil's Army

While the Second Army and the Third Independent Brigade of the First Army were engaged in fierce battles with the Japanese army in Zhejiang, the Qingdao naval fleet also sailed south to join the battle.

At that time, the main ports and transportation lines along the Zhejiang coast were under the control of the Japanese army.

The Nanjing government's Third War Zone was responsible for the main frontal defense in mountainous and rural areas, while the New Fourth Army's Zhejiang East Guerrilla Column carried out guerrilla warfare behind enemy lines.

The strong intervention of the Second Army Group, which marched south, disrupted the balance of power between the Japanese army in Zhejiang, the Nanjing government army, and the New Fourth Army.

The Japanese commander, Shimomura, hurriedly requested assistance from the Army Ministry.

At this time, the Japanese army had occupied only Zhejiang, Hunan, Jiangsu, and Shanghai in China. Their military strength was no longer comparable to its peak.

Faced with the fierce attacks of the devilish troops, Commander Shunroku Hata had no choice but to transfer the main forces of the 18th Division and the 20th Division from Jiangsu and Shanghai to Zhejiang as reinforcements.

As soon as the Japanese reinforcements set out towards Zhejiang, the New Fourth Army's underground liaisons, active in Jiangsu and Shanghai, immediately relayed the intelligence to the First Anti-Japanese Army.

Grey Wolf then ordered the Shandong Air Force to launch a full-scale attack to block Japanese reinforcements from Jiangsu and Shanghai.

Under the full-scale bombing by the Shandong Air Force of the First Army, the Japanese army was forced to change its marching pattern, becoming nocturnal.

To the Japanese army's dismay, their nighttime march was met with resistance from the New Fourth Army in Central Jiangsu and the New Fourth Army's Pudong Detachment. This severely hampered their reinforcement speed.

Commander Zhang of the Independent Brigade, who was in charge of the Second Front Army's southward advance, ordered the 15th Brigade to abandon its plan to besiege Hangzhou and instead launch a full-scale attack on Changxing County (a key route to Jiangsu), Deqing County, Yuhang County, and Wuxing County (a passage to Shanghai).

Changxing County and Deqing County were originally within the 15th Brigade's operational plan. Within a day, the 1st and 2nd Regiments of the 15th Brigade captured Changxing County.

Meanwhile, the 3rd and 4th Regiments of the 15th Brigade also captured Deqing County.

After the 1st and 2nd Regiments of the 15th Brigade captured Changxing County, the 1st Regiment built a defensive line along the Meishan-Baixian mountain area (northwest of Changxing, at the border of Zhejiang and Jiangsu) to resist the entry of the Japanese army from Jiangsu into Zhejiang.

The Second Regiment was deployed along the hilly area north of Lincheng-Si'an Town to resist the entry of the Japanese army from Jiangsu into Zhejiang.

Meishan-Baixian area is a typical low mountain and hilly area on the border of Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces, with steep mountains and dense vegetation (pine, fir and shrubs).

There was only one dirt road in the mountains (the prototype of today's Meibai Highway) connecting Changxing Meishan with Yixing Taihua. The road was narrow and had many "S-shaped bends" and "steep slopes".

The 1st Regiment of the 15th Brigade deployed along the dirt road to block the Japanese army from entering Zhejiang to reinforce the region.

The hills north of Lincheng-Si'an Town (north of Changxing, leading to Zhangzhu in Yixing) are the only way to travel north from Changxing County to Zhangzhu in Yixing. The terrain is "hills + valley".

The middle section is a narrow valley formed by the alluvial plain of the Si'an Port tributary. The hills on both sides are 150-300 meters above sea level and are mainly covered by mixed forests, providing strong concealment of the view. The road is laid along the valley and there is no open space on both sides, making it a good ambush location.

Two days later, the Japanese troops in Jiangsu finally broke free from the resistance of the First Army Air Force and the New Fourth Army in central Jiangsu and entered Zhejiang territory. When the Japanese troops entered the Meishan-Baixianshan area, the mountain roads became narrow and steep.

The Japanese troops became cautious, fearing that the "Devil's Force" might have an ambush.

Sure enough, as soon as the vanguard of the Japanese 18th Division in Jiangsu entered Xian Mountain, fierce gunfire erupted from the dense forest on both sides of the path.

Mortar shells and rockets continued to fly towards the group of Japanese soldiers on the path.

Japanese vanguard soldiers were blown away in the dense explosions.