Why I say this is because Gubeikou guards the only standard highway from Rehe to Pingjin, which is the Taiping Highway.
At the same time, Gubeikou is also the gateway with the shortest straight line distance from the northeast into the Hebei Plain, and is the choke point from the Liaodong Plain and Inner Mongolia to the Central Plains.
For the semi-mechanized Japanese army, it was extremely dependent on and valued railways and roads. In addition, because its front line was too long, a large amount of logistics materials had to be transported by train or car to achieve timely and effective supply.
Therefore, no matter whether the Japanese army launched an offensive in the three eastern provinces or in Jehol, the route from beginning to end revolved around first occupying hubs and important towns along railways and highways.
The Great Wall War of Resistance was no exception. For the attack on Gubeikou, the Kwantung Army headquarters dispatched a reorganized division of the Japanese army, the 8th Division and the 3rd Cavalry Brigade.
We must know that the Japanese Kwantung Army during this period had a total strength of only 3 divisions plus several mixed brigades and several garrison brigades, which amounted to less than 100,000 troops.
Except for the 7th Division, which is responsible for staying in Jinzhou and guarding the gate to the northeast, it is equivalent to sending more than half of its troops to attack Gubeikou, which shows how much it attaches importance to Gubeikou.
Of course, the Japanese army attached great importance to Gubeikou at this time because the road transportation from Gubeikou to Chengde was convenient, which was more conducive to the transportation and deployment of large troops and heavy artillery.
They even arrogantly believed that using the entire force of a Japanese division to attack a small pass would be a thundering force that would completely crush China's determination to resist.
The importance of China to Gubeikou is self-evident.
To this end, Nanjing dispatched the most elite Central Army in China at that time. The newly formed 17th Army, also known as the 17th Army, was composed of the Guan Linzheng Department of the 25th Division, Huang Jie Department of the 2nd Division, and Liu Kan Department of the 83rd Division. The 17th Army was led by Army Commander Xu Tingyao. Lead the fight against the enemy.
At that time, these central troops were all in the south where spring was blooming. After receiving the order, they took the train to the northern front line all night and starry without having time to replenish their troops.
When we arrived in Peiping, we did not expect that the weather in the north was still very cold. The soldiers were wearing single clothes and straw sandals. Later, with the help of the Anti-Japanese Support Association organized by patriots, the soldiers put on cotton coats and cloth shoes, and got a lot of digging. Tools for defending military positions solved their urgent need.
At this time, Wang Yizhe, the 67th Army of the Northeastern Army stationed at Gubeikou, had been fighting bloody battles with the Japanese army in Gubeikou for many days. The Northeastern Army suffered heavy losses, its morale was low, and the front was in danger, and it was in urgent need of reinforcements.
Army commander Xu Tingyao ordered the 25th Division, which had just put on cotton-padded clothes, to serve as the vanguard of the entire army and rush to the rescue at night.
For the first time, the 25th Division used its ability to march thousands of miles, marching 900 kilometers in seven days, and arrived at the Gubeikou front line in the early morning of March 10. The 25th Division was also known as the "Thousand Miles Horse Division".
At this time, Wang Yizhe's troops of the Northeastern Army stationed at Gubeikou had been fighting bloody battles with the Japanese army for four days and nights. This was a rare example of heroic resistance against the enemy among the Northeastern Army at that time. However, due to the heavy losses, the demoralized Northeastern Army had already evacuated before the 25th Division arrived.
The Gubeikou position fell into chaos, and the Japanese 8th Division took the opportunity to launch an attack. Gubeikou City Pass was captured by the Japanese army. Guan Linzheng, who rushed into the battle, had to order the construction of a second line of defense in the south of Guannan.
Just three hours after the 25th Division arrived, the Japanese army launched an attack on Gubeikou. Enemy planes flew in in groups and bombarded our positions indiscriminately. Strings of artillery shells fell on the city walls and ravines, causing the city to collapse and rocks to crack, trees to break and rocks to fly.
The Chinese army's position was engulfed in thick smoke and fire, and the soldiers suffered heavy casualties. Despite this, they did not take a step back and repelled a tentative attack by the Japanese infantry under the cover of artillery fire.
When the two sides were fighting, Guan Linzheng led the division's special agent company to the front line. As a result, he was accidentally injured by the Japanese army. Du Yuming, then deputy division commander, took over Guan Linzheng's command of the operation and repelled the Japanese attack with great difficulty.
On March 12, the Battle of Gubeikou entered a fierce stage. The 25th Division's communication lines were completely destroyed, all frontline units lost contact with the division command post, and the national army position was broken into two by the Japanese army.
The Japanese army launched a fierce attack on our positions, and the 25th Division fought to the death against the Japanese invaders.
After three days of fierce fighting, more than half of our army was killed or wounded, including almost all low-level officers. There were about 4,000 casualties and about 2,000 Japanese soldiers were killed. The battle was very brutal.
Under the continuous attacks of the Japanese army's superior force and aircraft and artillery, Du Yuming finally gave up Gubeikou and retreated to Nantianmen, about five kilometers away from Gubeikou.
Xu Tingyao ordered Huang Jie of the 2nd Division to take over from the 25th Division to garrison the Nantianmen defense line.
On the evening of March 20, the Japanese 8th Division began to attack Nantianmen. The 2nd Division fought fiercely with the Japanese for five days and nights. As our army suffered heavy casualties and could not support itself, Liu Kan's 83rd Division replaced the 2nd Division and continued to fight the Japanese to the death.
After another three days and nights of fierce fighting, all the military fortifications on the position were razed to the ground by Japanese artillery and aircraft. Our army suffered heavy casualties and had to retreat to Shixia Town. After Shixi Town was lost, our army retreated to Miyun to defend.
The Battle of Gubeikou lasted for two months.
During this period of retreat and resistance, our army suffered more than 10,000 casualties, and the Japanese suffered more than 5,000 casualties. The Japanese army exclaimed that it was a "fierce battle within a fierce battle."
When it comes to the Gubeikou War of Resistance, the officers and men of the 17th Army are neither unheroic nor unpatriotic.
Even after Army Commander Xu Tingyao ordered the 25th Division to withdraw and reorganize, the soldiers did not want to retreat at this time, so they said to the acting division commander Du Yuming: "When we came to Gubeikou, we had no intention of returning alive. Now that so many brothers have died, the devils The fight is not over yet, how can we go back!"
Du Yuming held back his tears and said: "Brothers, our retreat is not not to stop fighting the Japanese, but to eat and drink enough so that we can have the energy to fight the Japanese more happily! What are you afraid of if you want to fight? This war will not be completed in two or three years. As long as he’s not dead, you will definitely fight him!”
With no reinforcements, they with an army of more than 40,000 people resisted the attack of more than 30,000 elite troops of the Japanese 8th Division and a cavalry brigade supported by aircraft, artillery and tanks for 2 months. Long.
However, throughout the entire campaign, the 17th Army had little to commend itself in terms of tactics, except for its bravery and spirit of sacrificing one's life to serve the country.
First of all, because the Nanjing side and the Peking Military Commission had a mentality of making peace with the enemy, for fear of overstimulating the Japanese army and triggering a larger-scale war, they strictly ordered the officers and soldiers of the 17th Army not to take the initiative to attack the enemy, which was equivalent to tying their own hands and feet with the most brutal When the enemy fights, it would be strange not to lose.
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Note: Lao Shan dedicated two chapters to describe the Battle of Gubeikou not for hydrology, but the Battle of Gubeikou was indeed the most tragic and tragic battle in the entire Great Wall War of Resistance. The tenacity and bravery and sacrifices of the 17th National Army were worth it Future generations will remember it.
