Set a record for the highest military rank of a Japanese officer captured alive by the Chinese military!, This battle

In August 1943, Su Yu came to Huanghuatang to attend a meeting of the New Fourth Army headquarters. After the meeting, Su Yu did not return by the original route, but took a detour north and walked more than 200 miles, delving deep into the dangerous enemy occupied area.

Su Yu came to the vicinity of the car bridge for investigation. The Cheqiao stronghold has 53 bunkers, with more than 600 Japanese puppet troops stationed. They are deeply entrenched and heavily defended, cutting off the connections between the four base areas of central, northern, southern, and northern Jiangsu.

Through reconnaissance, the idea of a encirclement point for support gradually matured in Su Yu's mind.

Liu Jintian

Researcher at the Institute of Party History and Literature of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China

When Su Yu was considering launching the Battle of Cheqiao, he said that we had already overcome the darkness before dawn. In the past, we fought guerrilla warfare and mobile warfare, but we cannot engage in offensive warfare. Launching the Battle of Cheqiao marked a turning point for us from guerrilla warfare and mobile warfare to siege warfare.

In February 1944, Su Yu submitted the half year long plan for the Cheqiao Campaign to the Central Soviet Area Party Committee for discussion.

Su Yu believed that the closest Japanese puppet army stronghold to the main force of the 1st Division of the New Fourth Army was Jingkou. If we first attack Jingkou, the Japanese and puppet troops at the Cheqiao stronghold will surely rush to provide reinforcements. But by building the car bridge first, the center can suddenly blossom, dragging all the Japanese and puppet armies from Jingkou in the east to Huaiyin in the west into the battlefield.

Su Yu summarized the policy of the Cheqiao Campaign as a combination of attacking points and providing reinforcements.

Su Yu's plan received unanimous approval from the deputy commander of the 1st Division, Ye Fei, and other district party committee leaders. Su Yu ordered Ye Fei to serve as the overall commander of the front line, with one column attacking and two columns supporting.

On the early morning of March 5, 1944, a signal flare sliced through the night sky. Under the cover of night, soldiers from the 7th Regiment of the 1st Division of the New Fourth Army rushed towards the important stronghold of the Japanese puppet army, Cheqiao.

The 7th Regiment of the "Old Tiger Regiment", capable of conquering battles, launched a rapid assault and engaged in coordinated artillery combat for the first time. Within 25 minutes, it broke through the earthen enclosure and entered the town.

After 12 hours of the battle, Lieutenant General Sanzawa Kinfu from the 60th Independent Infantry Brigade of the Japanese army rushed to Cheqiao to provide support. He encountered persistent resistance from the New Fourth Army troops all the way until around 3 pm in the afternoon when he finally arrived at Lujiatan. The Japanese army was exhausted from the long-distance attack, and their cannons sank into the reed marshes. They were ambushed by the 1st Regiment of the New Fourth Army, resulting in heavy casualties.

Sanzawa Kinfu led his troops to withdraw into the nearby Hanzhuang. After dark, the New Fourth Army broke through the Japanese positions in Hanzhuang and entered the village, engaging in a fierce battle with the Japanese. In the fierce battle, Mitsuzawa Kinfu was wounded and captured by the New Fourth Army. Due to his severe injuries, he passed away.

After a day and two nights of fierce fighting, the New Fourth Army killed 465 Japanese soldiers and captured 24 Japanese soldiers below lieutenant level. The New Fourth Army achieved a complete victory, liberating all areas more than 50 kilometers east of Huai'an and Baoying.

The good news arrived in Yan'an, and the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army issued a notice: "The Battle of Cheqiao was the most enemy captured by our army in the history of the Anti Japanese War before 1944."

Hu Zhuoran

Former Associate Researcher at the Nanjing Massacre History and International Peace Research Institute

We have reviewed all the battles of the Anti Japanese War, regardless of the records of the front-line battlefield and the enemy's rear battlefield. Throughout the entire 14 years of the War, the highest ranking officer of the Japanese army who was captured through ground operations was Mitsuzawa Kinfu, who held the rank of Colonel. This battle set a record for the highest military rank of Japanese officers captured by the Chinese military through combat.

The headquarters of the 2nd Division of the New Fourth Army, Da Liuying, is often bustling with activity. A burly New Fourth Army general walked out of the headquarters surrounded by a group of dolls. This "child king" is the teacher Luo Binghui.

Famous American journalist Helen Snow described Luo Binghui in "Journey to the West" as follows: "He is the burliest Chinese person I have ever seen, tall and with a waist size like a giant, but every piece of his body is made of iron like muscles." "His round face reminds us of Maitreya Buddha."

In order to effectively reduce the casualties of the New Fourth Army in combat, Luo Binghui invented the "Plum Blossom Stake Tactics" through multiple conceptualizations and exercises.

Wang Xiaojian

Military historian

In guerrilla warfare tactics, it is also combined with positional warfare, not just about fighting and running away. Liu Shaoqi praised Comrade Luo Binghui for his very meaningful tactics. If our New Fourth Army forces all follow this tactic, it can reduce casualties and expand the results of the war.

In early February 1945, the Japanese puppet army mobilized more than 10000 people and 24 planes to launch a large-scale attack on the location of the New Fourth Army headquarters.

Under the command of Luo Binghui, the 2nd Division of the New Fourth Army, which was responsible for defending the military headquarters, used various tactics to deal with the Japanese and puppet forces, sometimes attacking and sometimes hiding, and fought 75 times, annihilating a large number of enemies. The one month plan to "destroy" the New Fourth Army headquarters, which was meticulously designed by Japanese military experts, only barely lasted for 12 days and ended hastily.

On September 19, 1945, the Central China Bureau of the Communist Party of China and the New Fourth Army Headquarters were ordered to move north and leave the Huanghuatang area where they had been stationed for over two years and eight months. At that time, with the Huanghuatang area as the command center, a vast Central China Liberation Area with an area of over 250000 square kilometers and a population of over 34 million had been formed at the end of the Anti Japanese War.

Yue Siping

Researcher at the former Institute of Military History, Academy of Military Sciences

In the later stage of the National Anti Japanese War, Huanghuatang served as a strategic support for the party, government, and military organs behind the enemy lines in central China. It made significant historical contributions to consolidating and developing the New Fourth Army and the anti Japanese base in central China, winning the victory of the national anti Japanese war, and then transitioning into the period of the National Liberation War.

The victorious flowers watered with blood and life by the soldiers of the New Fourth Army remain deep in history, but the iron blooded military spirit they embody transcends time and space, enduring forever!

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