The sketch map of the Zhurushan Operation

   In the light of the directive of the Central Committee of CPC and the actual situation of the border area, the No. 5 division of the New Fourth Army decided to push into the enemy's rear in the outskirts of Wuhan in October 1941and to step up the effort in establishing the Hanchuan-Hanyang-Mianyang Anti-Japanese Revolutionary Base. The puppet troops stationing in this area was non other than the Puppet Dingguo Corps, which was the mightiest among the puppet army units in Hubei Province. Of which, about 5,000 men from three regiments under the command of Wang Buqing of the Puppet No.1 Division entrenched in the area of Zhurushan in Hanyang and Nanhedu in Hanchuan.

　　Our 3rd Battalion of the 44th Regiment of the 15th Brigade and two companies of the Tianhan Detachment started a long-range raid towards Zhurushan and Nanhedu in two prongs on the night of December 7. By using the password of the puppet army, our troops passed three sentries of the enemies and swooped down on the headquarters of the Puppet No. 3 Regiment in the southeast of Zhurushan. Without firing one shot, our army captured all the 100 odd men from the regiment headquarters, the special task company and guard squad, only Wang Boyang, the regimental commander of the puppet regiment fled naked.

　　On December 24, the 43rd and 44th Regiments of the No. 15 Brigade and one team of the Tianhan Detachment staged a second attack on Zhurushan from the left and right. The No. 44th Regiment took Jiangjunling of Zhurushan at one stroke and annihilated the puppet troop's artillery battalion completely. The 43rd Regiment attacked Tongshan with part of its troops and captured a company of the puppet army, and another unit attacked Peijiashan, defeating the puppet recruit company.

　　Then on Jan.7 1942, the New Fourth Army waged the third attack on Zhurushan. The 43rd Regiment, the 44th Regiment and the Tianhan Detachment were all thrown into the battle. The 44th Regiment occupied Zhurushan at one stroke and the puppet troops stationed in Zhoujiabang were also utterly routed by the 43rd Regiment and a battalion was wiped out. On the 10th, Liu Guojun, corps commander of the puppet Dingguo Corps, led over 1,000 men in a concerted action with a unit of the Japanese aggressors to launch a fierce three-prong counteroffensive on our 43rd Regiment on Wugongling to the south of the Xiliu River. By taking cover behind the river dyke, our troops use light and heavy machine guns to fire at the enemies when they were about 200 m away. After a fierce battle, over 20 Japanese soldiers were killed or wounded, more than 400 puppet troops were taken captives and over 4,000 rifles and heavy and light machine guns and a large batch of military materials were captured.

　　After being attacked three times by our army, Wang Buqing dared not to go back to his previous den in Zhurushan any longer. He then gathered the remaining units on the border area of Hanyang-Mianyang in the hope of making a comeback. On January 28, our 13th Brigade and the 15 Brigade jointly launched a general attack on the remaining troops of the 1st Division of the puppet troops entrenched in Wangjiachang, Yujiachang and Hejiachang, annihilating over 1,500 enemies. Wang Buqing tried to flee with dozens of followers but only found themselves being captured by our men.

　　After the annihilation of the Puppet 1st Division, the enemies were greatly shocked. The Japanese aggressors then put together their forces in an attempt of driving our army out of the Hanchuan-Hanyang-Mianyang area. Over 100 Japanese troops and 50 odd puppet soldiers from Xiantao Town launched an attack on our army and occupied Hujiatai, Mianyang on February 2. The 13th Brigade of our army attacked on that night, giving the enemies a heavy blow. On the morning of the 3rd, dozens of Japanese soldiers came from Shahu to offer support and they were beat back by the 44th Regiment.

　　By then, the Zhurushan Operation was wound up successfully. The whole operation lasted for nearly two months. Our army has launched a total of 14 attacks on the enemies, annihilated over 5,000 men from the No.1 Division of the Dingguo Corps, routed 1,000 men from the Puppet No. 2 Division, beat back 7 times of reinforcement of the Japanese troops and killed or wounded over 200 Japanese soldiers.

　　By Sun Zhaoli and Lei Jian

　　(Aug 1, PLA Daily)