The East Shanxi Operation, also known as the Operation No. 1 for the North China Area Army, was a large-scale Japanese mopping-up operation against Chinese guerilla troops in southeast Shanxi in the summer of 1939. The operation involved the largest number of units from the North China Area Army in 1939, with a total of six divisions and one independent mixed brigade. The National Revolutionary Army referred to the operation as the The Summer Offensive in Shanxi Province in 1939 which lasted until the end of the Chinese counterattack of Changzhi in September. The Eighth Route Army referred to the operation as the Anti-"Mopping-Up" Campaign in the Taihang Mountains Region.
Background Japanese view In April 1938, the 14th Division was detached from the First Army to participate in the battle of Xuzhou and the 108th Division, which was responsible for guarding the Lu'an (潞安) area, was relocated to the Datong–Puzhou line. As a result, the southeast Shanxi area, especially at Lu'an, became an active base for approximately 80,000 Central Army troops under Wei Lihuang and Pang Bingxun and approximately 20,000 Communist Army troops under Zhu De to disrupt the Datong-Puzhou and Beiping-Hankou railway lines. In April 1939, the 36th and 37th Divisions came under the command of the First Army and took over the defense duties of the 109th and 20th Divisions respectively, completing the transitions by June. With the two divisions now freed up, the North China Area Army planned to carry out a purge in the southeast Shanxi region as part of the second phase of the three-phase 1939 purge operational plan in North China.
The operation divided the operation into two fronts. The northern front involved approximately three infantry battalions from the 108th Division, five infantry battalions from the 109th Division, and one infantry battalion from the 36th Division. At the southern front, the 20th Division was initially supposed to deploy three infantry battalions into the operation. However, most of the division ended up participating early in the operation. Additionally, approximately one and a half battalion from the 108th Division and approximately one infantry battalion from the 36th Division was added to the front on July 10. In all, the northern front was divided into three phases involving approximately twelve infantry battalions and five artillery battalions and the southern front was divided into two phases involving nine infantry battalions and four artillery battalions. To support the First Army, the North China Area Army deployed the 10th and 35th Divisions to the frontline. For this operation, the First Army temporarily formed the Taniguchi Unit (composed of four infantry battalions, two mountain artillery companies, and one engineer company from the 109th Division) and put them under the command of the 10th Division to serve as the core unit for this division's mission of securing the Wu'an-She County-Lu'an line. In addition, the 10th Division deployed one and a half infantry battalions and one mountain artillery company from its own troops. The 35th Division, with five infantry battalions, six field artillery companies, and one mountain artillery battalion, was tasked with advancing towards Jincheng.
Chinese view Since the battle of Xuzhou, the Chinese and Japanese armies in Shanxi had engaged in many guerilla and mopping-up operations in the south and north. In April 1939, the First, Second, Fifth, Tenth, Shandong-Jiangsu, and Hebei-Chahar Military Fronts launched a massive offensive to support the Ninth Military Front in the battle of Nanchang. The Second Military Front began its large-scale April Offensive with the South, East, West, and North Route Armies on April 10. However, the build-up of the Chinese Army in Shanxi had attracted the attention of the Japanese First Army, which sent the 20th and 108th Divisions to launch pre-emptive mopping-up operations which disrupted the Chinese attack. The losses of the First Army in the offensive were still considerable, with 177 killed and 734 wounded in the first two weeks of combat.
In June 1939, the Japanese First Army launched several large-scale mopping-up operations in what the Chinese National Revolutionary Army considered as the Battle of West Shanxi and South Shanxi. In the South Shanxi Front, the Japanese First Army gathered more than 30,000 troops from the 20th and 37th Divisions to mop-up Wei Lihuang's South Route Army, sweeping the 4th Group Army and the 47th Army in the Zhongtiao Mountains in early June and the 5th Group Army and the 9th Army at Jiang County and Yuanqu in late June. In the West Shanxi Front, the Japanese 109th Division swept the 19th Army of Yan Xishan's Shanxi-Suiyuan Army at the Liulin area in early June. These operations succeeded in inflicting heavy casualties on the Chinese Army in Shanxi at a cost of 339 killed and 1,029 wounded for Yoshijirō Umezu's First Army.
In late June 1939 after the battle of the Zhongtiao Mountains, the Military Affairs Commission of the Nationalist government prepared for a summer offensive in mid-July to secure the anti-Japanese base areas in Shanxi Province and support guerrilla operations in the Hebei-Chahar and Shandong-Jiangsu Military Fronts to facilitate future offensive operations. The plan as outlined was to use approximately one-third of the forces of the Hebei-Chahar, Shandong-Jiangsu, and Second Military Fronts to launch localized offensives while reinforcing the remaining troops. On July 2, the Second Military Front received the Military Commission's telegraph and formulated its deployment plan with the 4th, 5th, and 14th Group Armies of Wei Lihuang's South Route Army, Eighth Route Army of Zhu De's East Route Army, and various units of the West Route Army, North Route Army, and Shanxi-Shaanxi-Suiyuan Border Region Army. Preparations were supposed to be completed by July 9, however, the Japanese Army had launched its own offensive in southeast Shanxi before the summer offensive began with more than 50,000 troops from five routes.
In March 1939, the 39th Division of the 40th Army crossed the Yellow River in Mianchi County, Henan, and proceeded towards the vicinity of Jincheng at the border of Henan and Shanxi provinces. In mid-May 1939, the 45th Division, 46th Division, and 8th Reserve Division of the 27th Army crossed the river at Mianchi Port to enter Shanxi. In the summer of 1939, the 27th Army entered the Taihang Mountains in southeast Shanxi along with Pang Bingxun's 40th Army and Zhu Huabing's 97th Army. At the time of the Japanese offensive, Pang Bingxun's 40th Army of the First Military Front had crossed the Yellow River to the north and advanced to the western section of the Daokou-Qinghua Railway and Sun Dianying's New Fifth Army had advanced from the northern section of the Beiping–Hankou Railway to the south of Wu'an to support the Second Military Front. The 65th Division of the 15th Army of the 5th Group Army cooperated with the 14th Group Army in combat.
Changping Village (常平村) was located in the southern part of the Taihang Mountains and was garrisoned by the 115th Brigade of the 39th Division which held the Yaotou (窑头), Laomaling (老马岭), and Changping areas of Qinyang. To protect the Taihang Military Region, the Eighth Route Army sent Tian Shifeng (田时风), secretary of the underground Communist committee and head of the 7th district of Qinyang, to lead his troops to block the Japanese Army at the southern Taihang Mountains and coordinate with the 115th Brigade under the command of Huang Shuxun (黄树勋). At the same time, the headquarters of the 40th Army dispatched the 117th Brigade of the 39th Division and the army's special forces battalion to the Xiaokou (小口) and Dakou (大口) areas bordering Jincheng and Qinghua to prevent the Japanese 35th Division from opening up the Jincheng-Bo'ai Highway and linking up with the 20th Division.
Battle process Northern front First phase The First Army ended up investing slightly more troops than originally planned, namely approximately two and a half infantry battalions from the 108th Division which advanced from Yicheng and Fushan to the vicinity of Mabi Village (馬壁村) and approximately one infantry battalion from the 36th Division which advanced from Fancun Town (范村鎮), Taigu to the vicinity of Yushe. On July 3, a portion of the 4th Independent Mixed Brigade (consisting of approximately one and a half infantry battalions and one platoon of a mountain artillery company) began its operation, occupying Liao County on July 4 and engaging in battles with the 385th Brigade of the 129th Division of the Eighth Route Army. The 109th Division captured Wuxiang and Qin County without encountering significant enemy resistance on July 5. On July 6, the 385th Brigade recaptured Liao County. On July 7, the 109th Division fought with the Independent Regiment of the 386th Brigade of the 129th Division near Yushe, resulting in the death of regiment commander . On July 8, the 4th Independent Mixed Brigade, with cooperation from the 36th and 109th Divisions, occupied Yushe. Taking into consideration the rising water level of the Qin River, the Yano Task Force of the 108th Division sent a portion of its force ahead to occupy the crossing point at Fucheng Town (府城鎮) on July 3 while the main force of the task force departed near Anze on July 5, occupying Fucheng Town, Liangma Town (良馬鎮), Qinyuan, and Zhangdian Town (張店鎮) by July 9.
Second phase On July 11, the 108th and 109th Divisions resumed their attack, capturing Tunliu and Xiangyuan on the same day. As the Japanese divisions advanced, the 129th Division took the opportunity to recover Yushe and Wuxiang. On July 12, Xiangyuan was also recovered. The 109th Division occupied Lu'an on July 13 and the 108th Division occupied Changzi the next day. Considering the heavy rain that made it difficult to link up with the 20th Division and the weak enemy resistance on the northern front, the First Army planned to eliminate the enemy near Jincheng. On July 15, the army headquarters ordered the 108th and 109th Divisions to conduct the third phase of the operation, with the 109th Division advancing towards Gaoping and the 108th Division providing support.
Southern front The 20th Division began attacking heavily fortified enemy positions east of Jiang County on July 5, deploying three of its infantry regiments to attack the 83rd Division of the 14th Army at Zhangma Village (張馬村) west of Qinshui and the 65th Division of the 15th Army east of Henglingguan (橫嶺關). Meanwhile, the 93rd Army was deployed north of Qinshui in an attempt to outflank the 20th Division. At the 78th Infantry Regiment's front, the 2nd Battalion was engaged with a regiment of the 83rd Division at Hill 1496 near Diaoshangou (吊山溝). The 3rd Battalion encountered great difficulties facing a regiment of the 65th Division near Caojiashan (曹家山), especially against the 2nd Battalion of the Yang Regiment which continued resisting from Hill 1386 and engaging in hand-to-hand combat with the Japanese troops after its position had all been destroyed by fierce artillery fire. At 19:00, the 2nd Battalion was forced to retreat to Hill 1700 due to heavy casualties and the Japanese battalion occupied Hill 1386 at 20:40, the fierce close combat having cost the battalion approximately 30 troops killed or wounded including Lieutenant Baba.國史館檔案史料文物查詢系統, 劉茂恩電蔣中正日軍二十師團七十八聯隊五日晨以來鴒縣東北地區分向我邢師李楊兩團南劉家虎頭莽牛蛋寺頭南高地一帶陣地猛攻我守兵沉著抵抗敵未得逞等情, 典藏號: 002-090200-00027-050