Devil's Army

After these days of small-scale battles with the devil troops, Commander-in-Chief Terauchi Hisaichi felt that the troops were not insufficient, so he transferred the 109th Division, which was encircling the Eighth Route Army in Shanxi, to the north to participate in the encirclement and suppression of the devil troops in Tangshan.

Commander Liu of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army was also puzzled by the sudden transfer of the 109th Division of the Japanese Army that was encircling and suppressing them to the north.

Later, combined with the intelligence sent back by the Beijing and Tianjin intelligence networks, it was judged that the Japanese 109th Division transferred north was most likely the First Anti-Japanese Army participating in the encirclement and suppression of Tangshan.

Commander Liu then led the 129th Division to launch two harassment campaigns in Shexian County and Wuan County of Handan, respectively, to tie down the Japanese 109th Division's retreat to the north.

When the vanguard of the Japanese Army's 109th Regiment of the 107th Division, led by Commander Shiro Nagasawa, passed through Shexian County, it was ambushed by the 129th Brigade of the 386th Division of the Eighth Route Army.

Brigade Commander Chen personally led the 386st Regiment of the 771th Brigade to ambush the vanguard of the Japanese 107th Regiment from the front.

The vanguard of the Japanese 107th Regiment suffered heavy casualties in the fierce attack of the 771st Regiment. They gathered light and heavy machine guns to fiercely fire at the 771st Regiment. The infantry also broke through fiercely.

The main force of the 107th Regiment of the Japanese Army heard that the vanguard was ambushed by the Eighth Route Army and advanced quickly, but was blocked by the 386nd Regiment of the 772th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army.

A Japanese infantry company launched two waves of large-scale attacks, but still failed to break through the position of the 772nd Regiment of the Eighth Route Army.

Regiment Commander Shiro Nagasawa brought in heavy artillery and began bombing the positions of the 772nd Regiment of the Eighth Route Army.

In order to reduce casualties, Brigade Commander Chen ordered the 772nd Regiment to retreat, and he and the 771st Regiment also withdrew from the battle.

The vanguard of the Japanese 107th Regiment escaped the encirclement of the Eighth Route Army with the support of the main force, but more than half of them were killed or wounded.

The commander of the 109th Yamaoka Division of the Japanese Army replaced the 119th Regiment as the vanguard and continued to advance.

When the 119th Regiment passed through Wu'an County, it was attacked by the 129th Brigade of the 385th Division of the Eighth Route Army.

At that time, Commander Wang of the 385th Brigade arranged the 770th Regiment to block the 119th Regiment of the Japanese Army head-on, and the 769th Regiment to harass from the two Hebei provinces.

The commander of the 119th Regiment of the Japanese Army, Kinzo Ishida, learned the lesson of the commander of the 107th Regiment, Shiro Nagasawa, and did not disperse his forces. When he was attacked by the 385th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army, he immediately launched an all-out attack.

The commander of the 385th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army, Wang, did not engage in a fight with the Japanese army. When the Japanese army bombarded them with heavy artillery, he immediately ordered his troops to retreat and set up an ambush on the Japanese army's advance path.

石田金藏想与八路军385旅决战，但是385旅的770团和769团滑得像泥鳅一样，日军119联队刚想包围或者重炮刚上轰炸770团和769团的阵地，八路军770团和769团马上撤退。

Ishida Kinzo's heavy punch was like hitting cotton and he had no way to exert any power.

The Japanese 119th Regiment moved forward cautiously, but was constantly attacked by the 385th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army. This gave Captain Ishida a headache.

At this time, the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army had already marched quickly through the jurisdiction of Wu'an County and arrived at the jurisdiction of Ci County, setting up an ambush on the enemy's advance route in advance. The 385th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army followed and waited for an opportunity to attack.

Deputy Division Commander Xu sent a telegram to Wu Lang of the North China Theater Command of the First Anti-Japanese Army: The Japanese 109th Division with more than troops plans to be transferred north to encircle and suppress your troops. Our troops plan to encircle and annihilate them in Ci County at around o'clock tomorrow morning. We hope you can provide air support to annihilate the Japanese artillery units.

After receiving the telegram from Deputy Division Commander Xu, Wu Lang immediately called Captain Yin to ask him to launch an airstrike on the artillery unit of the 109th Division of the Japanese Army in Ci County at around o'clock tomorrow morning.

The Japanese 109th Division was constantly harassed by the Eighth Route Army along the way, which affected the marching time of the troops.

In order to reach the destination on time, Division Commander Yamaoka ordered his troops to set off at daybreak.

After hearing the scout's report, Commander Liu made an estimate: if the Japanese army set out two hours earlier, they would arrive at the ambush site two hours earlier, which meant they would have to stop the Japanese army for two more hours.

Facing the bombardment of Japanese heavy artillery, if we could stop the Japanese for ten more minutes, there would be many more casualties, let alone stopping them for two more hours?

Commander Liu ordered: The following 385th Brigade should wait for an opportunity to harass the Japanese army and delay their marching speed.

As a result, the Japanese 109th Division was attacked by the Eighth Route Army while it was marching, and the rear guard of the Japanese 109th Division had to stop frequently to counterattack the attacks of the Eighth Route Army.

The vanguard of the Japanese 109th Division did not dare to advance deep into the enemy territory alone and had to slow down their march and wait for the rear guard of the 109th Division.

Division Commander Yamaoka was annoyed by the 385th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army and had originally planned to encircle and suppress the 385th Brigade before continuing his advance.

When Brigade Commander Wang of the 385th Brigade saw that the Japanese army was showing signs of encircling him, he immediately retreated.

The Japanese army fought and chased like this, and finally entered the territory of Ci County two hours late according to the deployment of the Eighth Route Army.

Shandi Village in Yijing Town, Fengfeng Mining Area, Ci County is surrounded by mountains on three sides and backed by Shijiling Mountain, which echoes Gushan Mountain and Yuanbao Mountain.

The main force of the 386th Brigade of the Eighth Route Army hid here, waiting for the arrival of the 109th Division of the Japanese Army.