The 1943 Spring Operation in the Taihang Mountains was an operation initiated by the Japanese North China Area Army to destroy, capture, or force the surrender of Chinese guerillas based in the Taihang Mountains, one of the most renowned mountain ranges in China spanning across Hebei, Henan, and Shanxi provinces. The first phase of the operation was aimed at the Nationalist 24th Group Army in the southern part of the Taihang Mountains and the second phase targeted the base of the Taihang Military Region of the Communist Eighth Route Army. The National Revolutionary Army referred to the battle as the Second Battle of the Taihang Mountains District.Lasting from the first phase of the Japanese operation on April 20, 1943 until the last of the 27th Army abandoned the Taihang Mountains and crossed the Yellow River south on September 8, 1943. The Eighth Route Army referred to the second phase of the operation as the May 1943 Taihang Anti-"Mopping-Up" Campaign and the Summer Anti-"Mopping-Up" Campaign.Not relating to the '1943 Summer Operation in the Taihang Mountains', a Japanese Army term for its operation against the Nationalist 27th Army in July 1943.
Background Japanese view The 24th Group Army entrenched in the southern part of the Taihang Mountains had suffered repeated punitive expeditions and economic blockades and its combat strength had significantly declined. However, the Nationalist government had bolstered its troops to 82,000 by early 1943. Its defensive positions were strengthened and its disruptive activities in pacified areas became more active. At the same time, in the areas bordering the north, there were constant conflicts between the Nationalists and the Communists. Communist troops of the Taihang Military Region were regarded as the most elite troops of the Shanxi–Hebei–Shandong–Henan Border Region. The headquarters of the Eighth Route Army under deputy commander-in-chief Peng Dehuai was also located there. Despite repeated mopping-up and annihilation campaigns by the Japanese Army, the Communist Army had preserved its combat strength through clever withdrawal tactics. They continued conducting various political operations, attacks on small outposts, and destruction of communication and transportation lines. Moreover, since June 1942, they took advantage of the weakening of the Nationalist 40th Army to advance southward and expand their base.
The Japanese First Army drew up an operation plan on April 4, 1943 for a mopping-up operation in the Taihang Mountains. Originally, the plan was to be carried out independently by the First Army. However, as negotiations to obtain the approval from the North China Area Army were carried out, the scale of the operation was expanded and elements of the Twelfth Army would also participate in the battle. The operation, which would begin on April 20, aimed to destroy the 24th Group Army first in southern Shanxi. Then, the Japanese Army would move northwest to destroy the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army and the 129th Division. The first phase of the operation was planned to take place from April 20 to April 27 and would involve twenty-six infantry battalions from the 36th, 37th, and 69th Divisions and 3rd and 4th Independent Mixed Brigades of the First Army and eight infantry battalions from the 35th Division of the Twelfth Army. The second phase would take place from April 28 to May 10 and would involve twenty-nine infantry battalions from the five participating units of the First Army and two thousand soldiers from the collaborationist Shanxi Anti-Communist Army. The 206th Independent Air Squadron would provide support for the whole operation.
Chinese nationalist view In 1940, the Nationalist Hebei-Chahar military region, facing attacks by the Japanese Army and the Communist Army, withdrew from southern Hebei. As the Eighth Route Army continued expanding their base to Hebei Province, the 24th Group Army withdrew to the Taihang Mountains to established its guerilla base. In May 1942, the Japanese First Army launched a mopping-up operation against the Eighth Route Army in the Taihang Mountains. In June, the army conducted another operation in the Taihang district with the 24th Group Army as its target. In the "First Battle of the Taihang Mountains District", the Japanese North China Area Army inflicted heavy casualties on the 24th Group Army including the capture of divisional commander Liu Yueting (劉月亭) of the 3rd Provisional Division of the New 5th Army, but failed to destroy its base.
Since the First Battle of the Taihang Mountains, the 24th Group Army continued conducting reorganizations and operations in the area. In early April 1943, the 24th Group Army detected the build-up of the Japanese Army, estimated at roughly 50,000 men, at the outskirts of the Taihang Mountains. It was evident to the group army that another attack on its base was coming. On April 17, the headquarters of the 24th Group Army telegraphed General Jiang Dingwen, commander-in-chief of the First Military Region, and requested him to instruct neighboring friendly forces to actively conduct guerilla warfare. By April 20, the deployment of the Chinese and Japanese armies were complete.
Chinese communist view During the Japanese summer mopping-up operations of the Taihang Mountains of 1942, the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army and its escorts had lagged behind from most of the Taihang Military Region troops and was intercepted at Guojiayu (郭家峪) by the Mashiko advance team (益子挺進隊), one of the two advance teams formed from the Japanese 36th Division which consisted of approximately 100 plainclothes troops tasked with infiltrating enemy defenses and capturing the leaders of the Eighth Route Army. In the ensuing breakout, the advance team wounded deputy commander Peng Dehuai and killed deputy chief-of-staff Zuo Quan. By June 19, after defeating the Nationalist 3rd Provisional Division near Lin County, the Japanese First Army launched its next phase to destroy the Nationalist 27th Army near Lingchuan and the Taihang Military Region of the Eighth Route Army returned to its base.
Battle process First phase On April 20, the various participating units of the First Army began to depart from their initial deployment. Overcoming difficulties caused by the rugged terrain, the 36th Division broke through Nationalist positions near by the evening of April 21. Another section of the division defeated local Eighth Route Army troops and entered the western part of Lin County. At the same time, the 37th Division advanced towards the Lingchuan area and broke through Nationalist positions near Hengshui (横水). The 4th Independent Mixed Brigade entered the vicinity of Lin County and the 3rd Independent Mixed Brigade advanced towards Dongyaoji (東姚集). In these two days, the Japanese Army successively defeated the 8th Column, 27th Army, and 46th Separate Brigade.
In view of the smooth progress of the operation and based on intelligence which revealed the movement of the 24th Group Army, the various units of the First Army formed an encirclement around the Chinese units on April 22, and began to gradually tightened it by the morning of April 23. In the morning of April 24, General Sun Dianying led 2,038 of his troops to surrender to the Japanese 35th Division. Aside from army commander Sun Dianying, those who surrendered included the deputy army commander, the deputy divisional commander of the 4th Provisional Division, the chief of staff, the commander of the supply regiment, and the secretary. Meanwhile, the 37th Division pursued the retreating 27th Army and the 8th Reserve Division and 45th Division of the army were ordered to conduct maneuver warfare with the enemy southeast of Lingchuan. The 39th Division held on to Tianjiajing (田家井) for two bitter days despite very heavy losses.
On April 25, as General Pang Bingxun, commander-in-chief of the 24th Group Army, was accompanying the headquarters of the 40th Army to Lianhua Village (蓮花村), he learned that the New 5th Army, under the command of General Sun Dianying, had surrendered to the enemy. With the 27th Army broken up for operational warfare, the headquarters of the 24th Group Army and the headquarters of the 40th Army moved to establish contact with the 46th Separate Brigade. At the same time, the Japanese Army continued attacking the positions of the 106th Division at Baiyun Mountain (白雲山) and Dongyaoji and the 39th Division at Tianjiajing. In the early morning of April 26, the army headquarters and general headquarters advancing towards Shuicao'ao (水草凹) were intercepted by sections of the 36th and 37th Divisions near Sanjiaokou (三郊口) and lost more than half of its troops. By the afternoon, both headquarters had been scattered with most of the officers and soldiers killed or captured. Commander-in-chief Pang Bingxun was injured at the left leg and hid in a nearby cave. Army commander Ma Fawu was also wounded but was able to link up with the 46th Separate Brigade at Shuicao'ao. As the headquarters were being encircled, the guard battalion and the 117th Regiment of the 39th Division were also surrounded but managed to break out and went behind enemy lines to conduct guerilla warfare. The 37th Division continued its mopping-up operation against the 27th Army southeast of Lingchuan with the assistance of the 69th Division and dealt a heavy blow to the 137th Regiment of the 46th Division. The First Army prepared to conduct its second phase of the operation.
On April 29, the 36th Division engaged with the 8th Reserve Division near Hengshui and inflicted heavy casualties on the Chinese unit. The Chinese division moved to the vicinity to Shuzhang to continue maneuvering against the enemy. The 46th Separate Brigade continued covering the retreat of the headquarters of the 40th Army and engaged with a section of the 37th Division in several battles.
The 3rd Independent Mixed Brigade encountered very fierce resistance from approximately 2,000 troops of the 106th Division of the 40th Army near Dongyaoji. As a result, the Japanese First Army gathered three infantry battalions and the artillery and engineer units of the 3rd Independent Mixed Brigade, one infantry battalion of the 69th Division, two infantry companies and one artillery regiment (minus one battalion) of the 36th Division, and one company each of infantry, artillery, and engineer of the 4th Independent Mixed Brigade for the assault. During the battle, the Japanese Army fired a significant amount of poison gas shells. On April 28, the 36th Artillery Regiment fired 400 conventional shells and 100 "red canister" poison gas shells. On April 29, the artillery regiment fired 713 conventional shells and 181 red canister shells. By April 30, after nine days and nights of bitter fighting with more than a thousand casualties, the 106th Division was forced to abandon Dongyaoji and Baiyun Mountain. In the battle near Dongyaoji, the 3rd Independent Mixed Brigade suffered 54 killed and 106 wounded. Ida's engineer company of the 4th Independent Mixed Brigade suffered 10 killed and 13 wounded out of its 81 participating troops. On April 29 during the fiercest day of the attack, the 36th Artillery Regiment had 16 of its troops wounded.